Obama Letting Up on Sanctions on Iran

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                          

Obama must be under the spell of  Iran's President  Rouhani's  smile.   On Thursday, his administration has asked Congress to hold off on starting any new sanctions against Iran.

He things negotiators need flexibility in talks to get Iran to comply with demands that it must prove its nuclear program is peaceful.

Does anyone in this whole world really think they are on a peaceful path with their uranium?  Come on now.  Everything they are doing points to developing speedily an atomic bomb.

" Israel's opinion through Yadlin is that we should not let Rouhani drag talks out for 2 years and then realize that he deceived us, and that we don't have military option on the table anymore."  "Yadlin is anxious to see a good deal that will stop the Iranian capability to produce nuclear weapons.  If negotiations fail, then there will be legitimacy to take preventative action to stop Iran."
                                                                         

Jen Psaki, State Department spokeswoman, said that a pause "would be helpful" in gaining flexibility while seeing if negotiations will move forward.  They had asked for a pause in the past, as well.  More sanctions can always be added later if the Iranians fail to show reason of peaceful intent.  None are being lifted that are already in place.

Rouhani is in fact a radical Iranian speaking for the regime but he doesn't set the rules.  He wants to reach an agreement because the sanctions are hurting his country and are in the way of their basic goal to produce atomic weapons.  "If the Iranians get the sanctions lifted now, they will never stop the nuclear program.  Lifting the sanctions should be only an end result, when Iran will answer fully to the UN Security Council demands.  The important thing is the deal itself and what it entails.

Meanwhile, Reza Olangian,  a Californian with dual USA-Iran citizenship,  was  arrested in Estonia in October 2012 and brought to New York on federal charges because he tried to buy surface to air missiles for Iran, beating the sanctions.   In 2007 he was actively engaged in buying missiles for Iran.  They were  the SAMs.  This Friday a multicount indictment was unsealed of conspiring to get weapons and violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.  He said that both times he  had been working for the Iranian government.

Israel has been watching Iran for years, ever since they started acquiring uranium and building a plant.  Their former defense-intelligence chief, Amos Yadlin, is with Netanyahu on Israel's decisions about Iran.  They have two choices; to live with an Iran with an A bomb or bombing their source to building it.  He's with the Prime Minister on the bombing.

Israel is such a small country.  The Iranian ex-president, Rafsanjani said in 2001 that Israel is a one-bomb country and that a proud Iranian or Islamic nation can absorb 2 or 3 bombs.  But the real problem is that if Iran gets the bomb, then all the other Middle Eastern countries will have to have this capability as well.  Nuclear weapons in terrorist hands will be a nuclear nightmare.
                                                                             

The whole Middle East is against an Iran with an Atom Bomb.  He sees something happening at the end of this year, which is about here, or the beginning of 2014.  It's that close.  Yes, Israel can handle the necessary steps to be taken.  They don't need the USA, but it would certainly be nice if they were together on this.  Yes, they are prepared for repercussions from Iran.  Israel has been patiently waiting for a change of heart from Iran as they are in a" zone of immunity."  This means that there is a time when Israel can achieve their goal and if they wait too long they won't be able to do so.  It will be too late.

Yadlin said that the leading factor in deciding Israel's next move   "is the negotiations and the parameters of any future deal.   Their decision may not be an attack or not.  It might be just leaving the problem to Obama to solve, a decision to live with a problematic deal, or a decision to live with the bomb, with all its ramifications."  

Because of this change in the White House in working to stop congress from siding with Netanyahu on Iran, Senators are concerned that there will be an easing of sanctions on Iran to facilitate talks.  Congress has been leading the way to tighten sanctions on Iran.  The first round of talks ended last week.  The chief negotiator, Wendy Sherman, is the one calming their fears.  Negotiators, such as Wendy,  had praised Iran's supposed flexibility.  Republican Senators are ready to impose more sanctions on them and Marco Rubio drafted a new resolution against Iran, saying that they cannot be trusted.  He pointed out that Tehran has disregarded previous international agreements and that they need to take a firm stand about the nuclear capabilities Iran will be permitted to keep.

Resource:  http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=12827
http://www.blog.standforisrael.org/articles/a-leading-voice-of-restraint-is-starting-to-worry-about-iran:  from New Republic "Israel Doesn't Need America on D-Day by Ben Birnbaum-9 pages
Oregonian newspaper 10/26/13  page A4; Obama administration seeks to pause push for Iran sanctions by Matthew Lee, AP, and  The Buzz; Missile buyer, McClatchy Washington Bureau
update: 10/28/13 http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=12873 from Netanyahu

The Scattering of Jews Throughout the World: Where Did They Go After 70 CE?

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                       

                  The Arch of Titus in Rome Depicting the Jewish Slaves Taken from Jerusalem
                                                               
The last king of Israel was Hoshea (730-721 BCE).    Assyria in western Asia  had attacked Israel and taken away many of the people as slaves in 732 BCE.  Jerusalem had become a vassal of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.   Judah had divided from Israel and was the southern section of Israel. The last king of theirs was Zedekiah (597-586 BCE).  From 587-6 BCE The Babylonians, also of western Asia, the land of Shinar or of the Kasdim (Chaldees),  of Ur, (Iraq), were from the Chaldees, an ancient Babylonian city.  It was Abraham's place of birth.  The Babylonians  had conquered Jerusalem.  Nebuchadnezzar II fought Pharoah Apries's attempt to invade Judah.  Jerusalem was mostly destroyed including the 1st Temple and the city's prominent citizens were deported to Babylon.

Cyrus the Great came along in 539 BCE and conquered Babylon.  He allowed the Babylonian Jews who had been there for almost 50 years to return from captivity to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple.  That was about 2 generations that had lived in Babylon.

Artaxerxes III tried to retake the city and Jerusalem revolted against him in 350 BCE.  The city burned down in the melee.  Jews who supported the revolt were sent to Hyrcania on the Caspian Sea.

Jerusalem capitulated from 332-200 BCE  to Alexander the Great and is later incorporated into the Ptolemaic Kingdom in 301 BCE and then the Seleucid Empire of 200 BCE.  Things got worse for Jews.  By 175 BCE Antiochus IV Epiphanes, a Seleucid,  tried to eradicate the Jewish religion by outlawing Sabbath and circumcision.  He sacked Jerusalem and erected an altar to Zeus in the 2nd Temple after plundering it.  In 164 BCE the Hasmoneans take control of part of Jerusalem while the Seleucids had control of the fortress (Acra) in the city and most of the surrounding areas.  By 63 BCE the Roman Empire under Pompey took Jerusalem.

Before 70 CE Jews were living in France.  Communities existed there during the Roman Empire period.  Christianity came along and established anti-Jewish laws.  By 1306 they were thrown out.  In 1420 the Jewish community in Toulouse, France was annihilated.

General Titus 70 CE, a Roman, ended the major part of the Great Jewish Revolt that had begun in 66 CE and destroyed  the 2nd Jewish Temple. that he referred to as "Herod's Temple."   Many Jews were killed.  Those residents of Jerusalem who survived the attack were scattered through Rome's Empire by the Romans themselves.  This victory was called early as the fighting went on for 3 more years.  Vespasian had commanded the Roman campaign against the Jews until the death of Nero in 68.  Vespasian then passed his command to his son, Titus and returned to Rome.  There he was declared the new Emperor in 69.

A parade took place in Rome.  Besides all the booty that the Romans seized out of Jerusalem which was gold and silver, yards and yards of fine material were the Jewish slaves.  They walked not as a mob but an orderly line of prisoners worth seeing clothed in a variety and beauty of clothing that diverted the eyes of the Romans from their injuries incurred in battle.  The sacking of Jerusalem is depicted on the Arch of Titus in Rome today.  Romans viewed the objects taken from the holy Temple:  a golden table, a 7 golden lamp stands with branches or arms extended emphasizing the honor paid by the Jews to the number seven.  The tablet of the Jewish Law was carried last, then ivory and gold  objects.  Vespasian and Titus rode on horseback at the end.  This was a holiday celebrating their victory against the Jews. Jews have lived in Italy since the 2nd century BCE in Rome and then in the southern ports and along trade routes in at least 40 places. In the 1200's in Naples persecution in Naples forced some Jews to convert.    In 1541 the Jews of of kingdom of Naples were kicked out.  

From 132 - 135 CE the last stand against the Romans was fought by the Jewish Bar Kochba who lost the fight with the very brutal Romans.  Hundreds of thousands of Jews were killed or exiled.   Hadrian formally re-established Jerusalem in 136 as Aelia Capitolina and the land as Palaestina.   He forbade the Jewish and Christian presence in the city, but Jews lived in other parts of what was Israel and Judea.  Two years later the restrictions were relaxed for Christians but not for Jews.  From Italy many Jews wound up in Middle East lands until 1948.  Others headed for Germany and on up from there into Eastern Europe.

The Roman Empire dates from 27 BCE, when Octavian became Emperor, Augustus.  Kings ruled it first, then the Roman Republic, and then by an emperor.  The slaves brought to Rome could have been sold and transported to other parts of the Roman Empire which would be in today's lands of Britain  but not yet Scotland,  Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Germany, Egypt and the north coast of Africa.  The Romans in charge spoke Latin.  By 1355 there were 12,000 Jews who were massacred by a mob in Toledo, Spain.

Trade was most important for Rome, a city of more than a million people, the largest in the world at that time.  Possibly Jews got involved in this.  They needed wheat from Egypt, tin from Britannia, mainly from the peninsula of Cornwall, grapes from Gaul, etc.  In return, the Romans built capitals into fine cities, protected people from raids by barbarians and provided education and career opportunities for the young adults in the provinces such as careers in the Roman army.  They had a staff of civil servants.

Their political power shifted to Constantinople and the Catholic Church replaced Rome's authority.  Germanic tribes living along the northern borders of the empire and were mercenaries in the Roman army emerged as powerful forces in their own.  The Visigoths were one of many German tribes.  Rome experienced an invasion of the Visigoths.

Hungary became home to Jews from the 100's as a Jewish grave was found dating back to the 2nd century.  .  Jewish communities were known about in the 800's.  From 1349 till 1360 Jews were thrown out of Hungary.

In 321 there were Jews living in Cologne, Germany.  They settled in other places then along the Rhineland.  Jewish soldiers were in the Roman garrisons in Germany as well.  by the 8th and 9th centuries the Carolingian royal house was pro-Jewish and encouraged the settlement of Jews because they wanted to develop trading.  Romania was also home to Jews since the 300's.  They were among the 1st settlers of the city of Roman in 1391.  In 1421 Jews were kicked out of Austria.  Jews had come to Austria with the Romans, but for sure in  906.  It was the persecutions going on in Germany that forced them to move to Austria.  The Holocaust, murdering 6 million Jews started in Germany with the Nazi regime from 1939 to 1945, but offenses started much earlier in the 1930's.

By 324-325 the Emperor Constantine held the 1st council of Nicaea and made Jerusalem a Christian patriarchate.  Waves of Christian immigration to the city began.  Jews were finally allowed to enter once a year to pray at the Western Wall on Tisha b'Av.  The first monastery in Jerusalem on the Mount of Lives was built in 380.

Jews lived in Poland from the 800's on.  It is thought that settlers came from either Germany, Bohemia or Kiev in Russia or the Byzantine Empire.  The thought is that they were reinforced by KHAZAR elements.  Khazaria was an empire in southern Russia created in the 700's.  The Kagan converted to Judaism and it was a haven for Jews suffering from discrimination in other states.  Early settlers in Poland were thought to be traders.  In the Dark Ages they helped to open up the area to civilizing influences.  The first Jewish charter was in 905.  Then the Tartars of Russia invaded Poland in 1240. To restore the economy, the kings encouraged immigration of merchants from Germany.  They brought with them their language of Yiddish which is a combination of Hebrew and German, rituals and passionate devotion to Talmud study.  1648-1656 was the scene of 100,000 Jews murdered in Poland in the Chmielnicki massacre.

Also in the 800's were Jews that immigrated to the Ukraine in waves from KHAZARIA, the Caliphate and Byzantium until the 1100's.  Jews immigrated there from Central Europe from the 1300's to the 1400's.   and from Poland from the 1500's to 1600's.  Massacres of Jews then took place. to the 1700's.  Hasidic movements sprang up in the 1700's.  Zionism took place here from 1800 to 1900's.  People moved in here from Galicia and White Russia.  It was always a center of anti-Semitism and the scene of many pogroms.from 1905 to 1918.

In 1099 the 1st Crusaders captured Jerusalem from Muslims and slaughtered most of the city's Muslim and Jewish inhabitants.  The Dome of the Rock was converted into a church.  In 1267 Nachmanides went to Jerusalem and prayed at the Western Wall and reported that he found only 2 Jewish families in the city.  As they weren't allowed to really live there, Jews found other places nearby that weren't on the radar of tourists.

Again, Hungarian Jews had a segregation of Jews from others in the 1200's and they had to wear a badge.  Jews living in England in 1290 were thrown out.

In 1321 Jews were starting to live in Lithuania.  By 1398 Karaites lived around Kovno totaling 10,000. by 1495, after the Spanish Inquisition, to 1502 they were thrown out of the country, in line with Spanish Christianity.  They were allowed back in by 1529 but had to wear the Jewish badge by 1566.  Jews were living in Latvia in Courland from the 1500's.  2,000 lived there in 1795 when it was annexed to Russia.

In 1492 was the Spanish Inquisition in Spain when all Jews either had to convert to Catholicism or leave the country. They left for Portugal.  180,000 Jews left.  50,000 converted and remained.  In 1497 Jews in Sicily, Sardinia and Portugal were kicked out of their countries.  In 1502 all Jews in Rhodes were either converted or taken into slavery.

By 1517 the Ottoman Empire captured Jerusalem under Sultan Selim I, now Caliph of the Islamic world.  In 1700 Judah the Pious and 1,000 followers settled in Jerusalem.  In 1821 the population majority in Jerusalem were the Greek Orthodox Christians.  In 1860 the first Jewish neighborhood was built outside the Old City walls, so from 1873 to 1875 Mea Shearim was built.  The returning Jews came in 1882, known as the 1st Aliyah. They were Russians tired of being in pogroms.   However, by 1901 the Ottomans had restrictions on Jewish immigration and land acquisition in Jerusalem.  1901 to 1914 was the period of the 2nd Aliyah and 40,000 Jewish pioneers entered.

It wasn't until 1812 that Bessarabia, formerly Romanian, part of Moldavian and Ukrainian Republics, were found to have Jews living there.  At this time it was annexed to Russia.  Jews weren't allowed in Russia proper  from 1791 until 1882 as decreed by Catherine II.  That's why they were confined in the Pale of Settlement which constituted Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraiane and Belorussia.  Bessarabia and White Russia are also included in this.  Jews had been kicked out of Russia by 1727 and again in 1747.  In 1871 to 1921 anti-Jewish pogroms took place in the towns of Russia.   From 1882 to 1890, there were 750,000 Jews living in Russia who were forced to re-settle in the Pale, even though the decree was up. This is when many Jews managed to leave for the USA and Great Britain.  Even in 1891, Jews were expelled form Moscow and St. Petersburg.  

In 614, a Jewish force of about 20,000 aided the Persians (today's Iran) in the conquest of the land of Palestine.  In exchange, the Persians promised some autonomy and the right to return to Jerusalem.  This was ended by the Byzantines coming to power.  In 1838 in Meshed,  Persia, the entire Jewish community was forced to convert to Islam or face death.

WWI from 1914-1917 had the Ottomans on the side of the Axis powers of Germany and they lost.  The British took control and held the mandate.  The Balfour Declaration was issued a month before the end of the war.  The 3rd Aliyah happened from 1919 to 1923 and brought in 35,000 Jewish immigrants to the mandatory Palestine region.  From 1924 to 1928 the 4th Aliyah had 82,000 Jewish immigrants entering Palestine.  From 1929 to 1939, a bad year in Germany for Jews, the 5th Aliyah brought in 250,000 Jewish immigrants.  Many were turned back that were escaping Nazi Germany.  This was already announced to be the National Jewish Home and was cleared by the League of Nations, but Britain had sided with the Arabs by then.

In 1941, when WWII started, the Jewish community in Baghdad was attacked by mobs which killed 180 Jews.
1948-49 amounted to an Arab Israeli War and all Jewish residents of the eastern part of the city were kicked out by the Arab forces and the entire Jewish Quarter was destroyed.

Jews found land to live in-but only temporarily.  They had to be on the move.  Now they're staying put in their own country after 2,000 years of this turmoil only to face fighting for it for dear life.  As for the Land of Israel and Judah, it was never occupied by people who ruled for 1878 years from 70 to 1948.  Foreign governments claimed the land; and that was it.  The name was changed and not much else.

Resource:http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/rometriumph.htm
 http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/roem/hd_roem.htm
http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0015_0_15340.html
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/pale.html
facts about Israel from division of information, ministry for foreign affairs, Jerusalem
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

FIRST; MIRACLE OF ISRAEL; And Why There Hasn't Been a Peace Between Arabs and Jews

Nadene Goldfoot
Back in November 29, 1947, when another uncle of mine was able to finally buy a new Ford in Oregon, Jews in Palestine were  being attacked by Arabs.  May 14, 1948 finally came along at which the regular Arab armies invaded and attacked the Jews within the hour. They came from Syria, Lebanon, Transjordon, Iraq, a Saudi-Arabian contingent. and Egypt to reinforce local Arabs.  This was going to be a war of extermination and a momentous massacre of Jews that was to be spoken of like the Mongolian massacres and the Crusades according to Azzam Pasha, Secretary-General of the Arab League who proclaimed this in Cairo.

 Civilian villagers faced each other armed with just rifles, grenades and homemade Stens.  Teen-aged Jewish girls along with other children aged 10 and 11 fought side by side with the men.  The Jews had later received arms shipments from abroad but only in the midst of the battle that went on till March 1949.  They owed many of their victories to their unyielding spirit than to any military equipment or proficiency.  Their religious thanked G-d for being on their side.

 The Arab peasants got in on the act, too with hardly a day's military training and blindly stormed Jewish settlements.  Jordan had the advantage of the British-commanded Arab Legion who knew how to fight.   These invaders came with artillery, tanks and  planes but didn't know how to use them well.  There is an old movie showing Frank Sinatra as an American pilot in a little plane helping out the Jews. It's "Cast a Giant Shadow", also with Kirk Douglas which is part fact and part fiction about Israel's 1947-48 struggle for Independence.

The Jews, who became Israelis on May 14, 1948 in the midst of the battle,  wound up with from 7,000 to 10,000 dead.  Of the 600,000 Jewish population, this meant one out of every 100 Jews living in Israel then died in battle.  The Arab toll was higher.

Jews had to fight again over the Suez in 1956.  By the time 1967's war came around,  Israel lost 800 out of a population of 2.5 million in the Six Day War.  These wars were manifestations of the original belligerence of non-acceptance of Israel.  To Arabs, Jews were despicable.  Their Nazi peers had said so.  In their country they had always been dhimmis, 2nd class citizens.  They couldn't have a state of their own so near Muslims!

Arafat -leader of PLO, now Fatah, had adopted a worldwide program of terror activities aimed at Israelis, Zionists and Jewish targets.  Palestinians were ousted from Jordan in 1970 by King Hussein, and ousted from Lebanon in 1982 by the Israel army.  Arafat supported Saddam Hussein in the 1991 Gulf War.  Finally Arafat became president of the Palestine that wasn't created as yet in 1998.  .

The Palestinian question is not the core of the Arab-Israeli conflict.  It is the result of the conflict.  It comes from the Arab unwillingness to accept a Jewish State in the Middle East.  After 65 years, are we any closer to the Arab's change of heart?  This is the question that Obama should be asking Fatah's Abbas and his unruly other half, Hamas.

Had the Arabs not fought the Jews in 47-49 and block the UN partition plan, a Palestinian state in Judea-Samaria, Galilee and the Negev would be celebrating their anniversary of its independence.  Had the Arab states not supported terrorism directed at Israeli civilians like Hamas is today, this would have happened.  Had they not provoked 6 subsequent Arab-Israeli wars, the conflict could have been settled long ago.  There would be no Palestinian problem.

Long ago the Palestinian refugees could have been resettled among their people in Arab lands, which happens to extend over 5 million square miles, so don't say there wasn't any room for them.  They came from these lands in the first place.  Arabs had entered Palestine to find jobs.  Their numbers increased due to economic prosperity brought about by Jewish immigration which brought about rapid development.  Within 30 years the Arab population nearly doubled.

Israel, with 8,000 sq miles and a fraction of Arab wealth, absorbed 820,000 Jews driven from Arab countries in the 1950's.  Their refusal shows they are more interested in using their refugees as political weapons against Israel than they are in truly solving this problem.

The feisty Arab countries who are in on destroying Israel have their own personal fights.  Iraq's rape of Kuwait and Syria's brutal subjugation of Lebanon and now its own people have nothing to do with Palestine and Israel.  This is what has been characterizing the Middle East.  How about when Iraq and Iran warred against each other in the 80's?   Since 1991, what has been going on?
1.  The 1991 Gulf War
2. Iran-Iraq War-Sunni and Shi'as
3. Lebanese Civil War-Christians and Muslims
4. Libya's interference in Chad
5. Sudanese Civil War
6. Syria-Iraq conflict
7. Polisario Front and Morocco War
8. Syria and Rebels and 70,000 dead and now possible chemical warfare
9. Iran making uranium to be be used in weapons on USA and Israel

Borders in the Middle East, from Libya to Pakistan, from Turkey to Yemen, are either ill-defined or in dispute.  If suddenly we did have Palestine created and everybody was happy, which will not be the realistic case since they insist all Jews are to move out of their state, so we cannot start singing Kum Bi-ya, if this happened, it would have no impact on the many inter-Arab rivalries that start wars in the Middle East.  It would not stop Arab opposition to Israel, who still will not accept Israel.  Luckily President Hafez Assad of Syria has more than he can handle with his own rebellious people, as he has long advocated a "Greater Syria" as he eyes Israel.  Israel has already had several stray missiles land in the Golan Heights from Assad

Right now Obama is in Israel on his first visit and has talked with Abbas.  Is he and the Palestinian Arabs going to be happy and contented with parts of Judea, Samaria and Gaza?  Abu Iyad, who was the #2 man of the PLO, Fatah's original name, died in 1991 but had said of their plans:

"There should be no illusion as to the solutions, whether through the US or through an international conference.  According to the phased plan, we will establish a Palestinian state on any part of Palestine the enemy (Israel) will retreat from.  The Palestinian state will be a stage in our prolonged struggle for the liberation of Palestine and the establishment of a democratic state on all of its territory.  

We cannot achieve the strategic goal of a Palestine state in all of Palestine without first establishing a Palestinian state on part of its territory.  "

Obama thinks that Abbas is going to be a great partner.  Arafat spoke in Geneva and supposedly recognized Israel's right to exist, but the prominent PLO officials continued to reiterate their support for the strategy of stages.  So one must recognize what their goal is to be.  Hamas's goal is to eliminate Israel.  It's in their charter.  Yet Obama took delight in speaking to the Israeli college students on this trip and urged them to think of the Palestinians and to forget about the older leaders of Israel.  I don't think that President Shimon Peres of Kadima appreciated that remark.  I just pray the college students have more sense.  Most all of them have already served in the IDF before starting college.  They should understand why they have been protecting Israel .  For that matter, all Jews, not just college students, already think about the Palestinians and want to be fair  However, it can't always be one-sided, can it.

Resource:  Genesis 1948 by Dan Kurzman  The first Arab-Israeli War
Myths and Facts, a concise record of the Arab-Israeli conflict by Mitchell G. Bard, Joel Himelfarb
Facts About Israel 1973, Division of Information, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
http://www.algemeiner.com/2013/03/21/obama-to-israelis-peace-is-necessary-urges-youth-to-claim-the-future/

What Happened to the Planned Jewish National Home During World War I: Arabs and Jews

Nadene Goldfoot
World War I ran from 1914 to 1918.  On August 1, 1914 the Ottoman Empire signed a secret alliance treaty with Germany, who declared war on Russia that very day.  By the 5th of August the Ottomans closed the Dardanelles.  On November 1st Russia declared war on the Ottoman Empire.  By the 5th,  France and the United Kingdom also declared war on them.

November 8th, Sultan Mehmed V declares Jihad on the Allies.  The Ottomans try to take the Suez Canal but fail to do so January 28 to February 3, 1915.  April 29, 1916 was when the British forces were under siege at Kut and surrender to the Ottomans and June 5, 1916 was the start of the Arab Revolt.  Arabs wanted to break away from the Ottoman Empire, a land of Turks who were not Arabs, and establish their own land from Aleppo, Syria to Aden, Yemen.  However, even by 1908 this wasn't very strong.  "Many Arabs gave their primary loyalty to their religion or sect, their tribe, or their own particular governments."  Sherif Hussein bin Ali , Arab, sided with the UK and France.  In 1913 the Arabs held the 1st Arab congress in Paris and wanted reforms in the Ottoman Empire, not a new established country of their own.  


August 3-5, 1916  was when Ottoman attack on the British in the Sinai peninsula failed. This is now bringing the fight to the land that is to be the Jewish Homeland.  By January 9, 1917 Battle of Rafa took place when. the British drive the Ottomans out of Sinai.  On March 26, 1917 started the first Battle of Gaza. The British attempt to capture the city fails.


APRIL 6, 1917  THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ENTERED THE FIRST WORLD WAR BY DECLARING WAR ON GERMANY.  


April 19, 1917 was when Second Battle of Gaza took place. The Ottoman lines resist a British attack. On  July 6, 1917,  Arab rebels led by Lawrence of Arabia seized the Jordanian port of Aqaba.  From October 31 to November 7th  the Third Battle of Gaza took place.   This time the British broke through the Ottoman lines.  During this period, on November 2nd, the  Balfour Declaration was received:  The British government supports plans for a Jewish "national home" in Palestine.


DECEMBER 7, 1917 THE UNITED STATES DECLARES WAR ON AUSTRIA-HUNGARY.


December 8 to the 26, 1917 Battle of Jerusalem. The British enter the city (December 11).  February 21, 1918 was when the British captured Jericho.  September 19 to 21, 1918 was the Battle of Megiddo. The British conquered Palestine.  October 1, 1918 and Damascus was entered by the British.  By the 30th of October The Ottoman Empire signs the Armistice of Mudros.


Finally, on November 11, 1918, At 6 am, Germany signs the Armistice of Compiègne. End of fighting at 11 a.m.


Because the Ottoman Empire had been on the Axis side with Germany, they lost the war and had to give up their empire.  The war had also sapped their treasury.  This is how the British came to hold the mandate over the land until May 14, 1948.

 There were 15 million deaths in this war; 10 million were military personnel and 7 million were civilians. The United States had lost  116,708 soldiers or 117,465 total deaths.  This amounted to 0.13% of their population, which was at that time 92 million people.  The Ottoman Empire had lost 2,921,844 or 13.72% out of a population of  21.3 million people. Military deaths alone for them amounted to 771,844 soldiers. They had lost a lot of people from famine and disease.   It was the deadliest conflict in human history.  

Resource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I_timeline
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Revolt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I_casualties

Middle East Cyber Attack: Espionage Worm Invasion

Nadene Goldfoot
Iran delving into producing atomic energy brings to mind the atomic bomb.  Combine that with their constant diatribes against Israel, calling them pigs, lowlife and such, and that they needed to be wiped off the face of the earth gives one the feeling that they really don't like Israel or Jews and really want to do them harm.

Along came the Stuxnet worm virus saving the day temporarily getting into their 16,000 centrifuges and destroying them in these past two years.  It was like a decree from up high saving the day for us all.  Who needs such a malicious threat?  Whoever caused it should be blessed.  Shame on whoever invented atomic bombs in the first place!

A 2nd virus then appeared called Duqu.   It was a virus of reconnaissance. It came about because Iran was dealing with Stuxnet and overcoming it.  They were thus able to plod on with their intentions of needed atomic energy to create some medical tools, as they said, or perhaps it was because they had a shortage of fuel?  

Now that Iran has been making progress in their goal of controlling the world through fear of their atomic capabilities, another virus has appeared on the scene.  It is "Flame."  It has been infecting computers in not only Iran but according to the Oregonian newspaper through the New York Times News Service, Israel right along with Lebanon, Sudan, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.  Chana Ya'ar, reporter for Arutz Sheva lists the same countries only listed the Palestinian Authority of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) and Gaza instead of Israel, which is interesting.

What the virus does is it grabs images of the users' computer screens, records their instant messages, turns on their microphones and records their conversations and also monitors keystrokes and network traffic.  So if they're getting into porn, it's recorded!  It's one of the most complex threats ever discovered.  The majority of computers that are infected with Flame are in Iran.

Whoever would think that viruses could save the day.  At least maybe it can prolong the utter destruction of human life and give our leaders a chance to come to their senses in stopping such an eventuality.  Thank goodness for these creative scientists who came up with this preventative cure.

Arutz Sheva by Chana Ya'ar
Oregonian newspaper  May 29, 2012 page A 10: Report:  virus steals information by Nicole Perlroth

Ashkelon's Desalination Plant

One of Portland's sister cities is Ashkelon, Israel. It happens to be the home of the world's largest desalination plant. In March of 2006 it was voted "Desalination Plant of the Year" in the Global Water Awards.

In October of 2006, which was a little more than a year after it started its first productions, it delivered its first 100 million m3 of water. It produces arund 13% of Israel's domestic consumer demand. It does this at a very low price for desalinated water.

Most all countries in the Middle East have chronic problems of having water resources. The Desalination Master Plan set out in 2000 to address these problems. By 2020, they hope to raise production to 750 million m3. Here, water is more precious than oil.

Resource: http://www.water-technology.net/projects/israel/