Kiev, Ukraine's Jewish Connections

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                

Kiev is the capital of the Ukraine.  It was a Russian city at one time.  It's possible that the Khazars founded it in the 8th century.  Khazaria, ruled by Bulan, had selected Judaism for the Royal Court out of the 3 religions of Islam, Christianity and Judaism to follow.  It had become a haven for Jews suffering from anti-Semitism in those days. They came to Ukraine from Khazaria, the Caliphate and Byzantium between the 9th and 12th centuries; from Central Europe in the 14th and 15th centuries, and from Poland in the 16th and 17th centuries.  Severe massacres happened there during the Chmielnicki and Haidamak uprising of the 17th and 18th centuries.   This state lay in what is the southern part of Russia on today's maps.  Jewish merchants had visited the Kiev  in the 9th and 10th centuries causing the Jewish population there to grow steadily, despite persecutions which started in 1113.
                                                                         

Jewish scholars from Kiev were known from the 12th century.  The community was then destroyed by the Tatars of Russia in 1240.  From the end of the 14th century, Jews were encouraged to return.  Both a Rabbanite and Karaite community existed there during the 15th century.

Expulsions were decreed in 1495, shortly after the 1492 ones from Spain by the Catholic church.  It happened again in 1619.  Peter the great permitted Jews to trade in Kiev from 1708.
                                                                             
In 1827, Kiev was excluded from the Pale of Settlement, which was land set aside in 1791 by Catherine II.  where Jews were allowed to live. it included Ukraine, Crimea, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland,  White Russia, Bessarabia, 25 provinces of Czarist Russia in all.   They were excluded from Russia.  Therefore Kiev became one of the largest Russian communities.
                                                                             

Sholem Aleichem (Shalom Rabinovich 1859-1916) wrote Fiddler on the Roof, about Jews in the Ukraine.  In his most difficult years, he created the character of Tevye the milkman in the story.

Many pogrom happened here in 1881 and on, and even in 1905.  1,200 Jewish families were expelled in 1910.

  The Beilis Ritual Murder Trial occurred in 1913, which is hard to imagine happening at that late date.   Jews do not use blood in any way.  They do not eat blood, either, like some people do.  It's part of the laws of kashrut (kosher) not to do so, so when people say they use blood in matzos at Passover time, it's against all reason.  Here the Russians, who were very anti-Semitic, were accusing a Russian Jew, Menahem Mendel Beilis,  of Kiev,  of this.

350,000 Jews lived in Kiev in 1939, at the height of the Nazi days where Jews were definitely not safe anymore.  Most of those trapped by the Nazi advance were massacred in 1941.  Babi Yar is an example.  This was a ravine outside of Kiev where tens of thousands of Jews were killed in September 1941.  The massacre was a horror.  No memorial was erected until the 1980's to remind people of what had happened which was caused by anti-Semitism.  The Soviet poet, Evgeni Yevtuschenko, used it in his poem, "Babi-Yar" in 1962.  Later the event was used in a symphony by Shostakovitch and the subject of a novel by Anatoly Kuznetzov.  Jews who had lived in Ukraine were wiped out by the Ukrainians and Germans  from 1942 to 1942.
                                                                         

In the post-war period, Soviet anti-Semitism has been felt strongly in Kiev.  In 1988 there were 152,000 Jews living there.  Today Jews are not safe again due to the Russian and Rebels fight over Ukraine as a independent state.  In February, "“The situation here is dire,” said Yossi Asman, a Chabad yeshiva student and son of the chief rabbi. “We have been gathering up families and shuttling them out to safer neighborhoods.”  Two Chabad Yeshiva students had been attacked in Kiev.  Even the food supply in the city was dwindling.  The Israeli Embassy told the Jewish community not to go outside their homes.  Too many attacks had been discovered that were planned on Jews.  Again, 2014, Jews are still the scapegoats  of attacks in the battle between Ukrainians and Russia.   Perhaps Israel is the only answer for them.  

Resource: The New Jewish Encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menahem_Mendel_Beilis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babi_Yar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Ukraine
http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/02/21/chief-rabbi-of-ukraine-urges-jews-to-flee-kiev-after-attack-on-students/

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

USA In Danger: UnAmerican View of the World Today

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                           

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What Obama's Backing of Muslim Brotherhood Has Led To

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                     

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fox Hired to Watch Over Henhouse: Russia's Involvement in Syria

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                                

    UN inspectors searching for Sarin Gas use on shrouded bodies

Forty-eight hours previously, President Obama was going to make a call to arms against Syria.   Evidence has been found that Sarin gas was used on the population killed.   At the last hour yesterday, President Obama pulled the rabbit out of the hat with the announcement that instead of hitting Syria with missiles as a punishment for killing hundreds of children and adults of his own people with chemical weapons identified as Sarin gas, their sponsor, Russia, will take over and collect the chemical weapons and see to their destruction, saving Obama from a vote that would not pass at this time to do his bidding.  The fact that Assad has killed over 100,000 of his people by modern and horrible conventional weapons in their 2 1/2 year old civil war is not being dismissed in our minds, only by our government's agenda.

 It is, after all, Syria's own civil war.  A country of over 22 million people, several million are already overpowering the capabilities of Jordan and Lebanon, who is full of terrorist groups already.  Many took refuge in Egypt and are not even registered as refugees due to the bungling of Morsi.  Their government troops number about 296,000 and it is they who must have used the Sarin gas on their own people.  Otherwise, Al Qaeda terrorists are part of the rebels along with other terrorist groups.  Christian groups are divided in their loyalty.  Syria is backed by Iran and Iran is backed by Russia who backs them both.  The country is now physically and economically in ruins.  Homes and cars have been demolished by weapons.  Businesses are no more.  One anti-government activist, K. Ibrahim, is one of the refugees who is completely bewildered by the USA action.  She doesn't understand what is happening or why but was against US striking Syria.  Just recently the Syrian government bombarded towns across the Damascus suburbs with air and artillery strikes.  Barrages around Homs went on between rebels and security forces.  There is infighting between the rebels.  It has all made normal residents continue to run to another state such as nearby Lebanon.

Did our government realize that Russia will now feel free to be  in the act of selling to Iran some S-300 missiles so they could down other ballistic missiles and commercial airplanes from a distance of 120 miles?  They will be in a good position to get away with such a sale of one of the most lethal anti-aircraft systems in the world.

If any sanctions are created, Russia is ready to sell them the Antei-2500,AKA S-300VM, or SA-23 Gladiato,  something ground forces would be using.  .

Russia is also willing and able to build them a 2nd nuclear reactor in Bushehr, which would make it very clear to Israel what their intentions for that is for.  Russia, when the USSR fell apart, has been in dire need for money.  China has also, and has been loaning out money to the USA.  They both have become weapon suppliers to Iran and Syria which give these countries something to counter Western superiority.

Selling these missiles will net Russia about $700 million and puts Putin in the lead of all nations.  Iran's Defense Minister, Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan,  is anxious for this sale, promised in 2005.
                                                                         

Obama is now giving serious consideration that international monitors would be able to take over and destroy Syria's arsenal of chemical weapons.  He can't tell now if they will really succeed.  He feels that any agreement must verify that the Assad regime keep its commitment, and who is the verifier but Russia, the fox watching the henhouse for us.

Syria's foreign minister, Walid al-Moallem, said yesterday that Syria will turn over its chemical weapons arsenal to Russia, the UN and other countries, which is quite a concession.  It was just this week that Assad said they never possessed chemical weapons.
                                                                             

Obama asked his congressional leaders to postpone a vote to authorize the use of force while he pursues "this diplomatic path."   Some of our leaders, however, feel that this gives Syria time for further mischief and play on our instincts of not striking if things go awry.  Securing chemical weapons stockpiles in the middle of this civil war is going to be an impossible goal.  He didn't promise to stop his war.

The steps since Monday have led to Russia clashing with the USA and France in making the proposal binding and backing it up with the threat of force or not.  Kerry is pushing for a full resolution on this measure and will meet with Sergey Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, in Geneva on Thursday to work on their disagreements, so its not all light and roses yet.  Kerry wants swift action.

Ten days ago Obama described the Security Council as "completely paralyzed and unwilling to hold Assad accountable and now our government  is doing just that.  Carl Levin,, chairman of the USA's Senate Armed services Committee,  said that a resolution to authorize a military strike is set it aside for now if Assad complied is "kind of a twofer".  It's a way of keeping the pressure on Syria and on Russia to get rid of chemical weapons, which is the goal of the whole effort.  If they fail, it would keep the authorization to launch a strike as planned originally.

There is no doubt that Syria has committed atrocities and the question is what the USA and the international community is prepared to do about it because such acts also threaten our own security, and especially Israel's security, as if they hadn't been receiving enough threats already.  What affects Israel's neighbors affects Israel's security as well.  Israel must stay out of this civil war, but is prepared if it reaches their shores.  "The Jewish state deployed strikes in July against Syrian missile convoys destined for one its principal enemies on its northern border, the Lebanese-based Hezbollah."  If Sarin gas is ever used on Israel, their reaction will be "fierce."  One personal  comment about the USA standoff from an Israeli minister was "“One doesn’t need to wait for tens of thousands more to die in order to intervene.”  I think that is how many of us feel, though intervening doesn't necessarily mean to react with more violence.  

Would Russia be then ready with their own S-300 missiles and down ours?  Would the 2 superpowers be pulled into battling each other?

Resource: http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/russia-heats-up-cold-war-with-threat-to-sell-iran-s-300-missiles/2013/09/11/
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/09/will-syria-attack-israel-if-the-us-attacks-syria/279469/
Oregonian newspaper 9/11/13 page A6, Official admits syria has chemical arms by Anne Barnard NY Timees News, Front page, Obama calls for vote delay on Syria by Mark Landler and Jonathan Weisman NY Times 

Russian Intervention in Syria Signals A Big Fight

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                       

                       Russian warships gather in the Mediterranean

Russia is sending several ships that will arrive in a few days in the Mediterranean to protect their interests in Syria.  Two Russian warships and a missile cruiser are coming to strengthen their fleet.  Russia is one of the big FIVE who would not vote for an  intervention attack against Syria since they are Syria's main backer.

In the meantime, talk is discussing back and forth about  a date for the USA to punish Assad and tell him he can't use chemicals while Britain has had second thoughts and is still bantering the matter in their parliament.  Actually, so is the USA, but Obama has already spoken and has said that the USA would take action even without the backing of allies or the UN.  What he had chastised Bush about, he  is now facing a very similar situation.

Obama has meetings in Sweden and Russia to attend.  He's leaving on Tuesday, so it is thought that something might happen before then.  Are we going to hit and then have our Commander in Chief leave when all fireworks can start?

If anyone attacks Syria, their promise is to attack Israel, who is prepared for that.  They of course will immediately answer an attack, and they have been trying to stay out of the Syrian devastation.   Syria's Civil War has been so close that some missiles had even landed in The Golan, which looks down on Syria.  When you live among lions, it's difficult at best to get into the middle of a roaring and fighting  pride.   Assad has threatened Israel with a deadly attack  from Lebanon, Iraq, Iran and what is left of their military and a surprise element of devastation.  What?  Atomic rockets from Iran?  More chemicals, no doubt.  Meanwhile, Assad has had time to leave Damascus and is safely hid out in Iran.

Israel is ready with gas masks for any surprise in Assad's retaliation against their tiny nation.  Psalms 108: 13-14 says it all.  "Give us help against the adversary:  for vain is the help of man.  Through G-d we shall do valiantly:  for He it is that will tread down our adversaries."   Israeli's warriors know they cannot run and hide anywhere.  They have nowhere to go.  This is a fight of the likes of the 300 Spartans,  only Israel feels they have help from their outer space guardian.

Thousands of Syrians have already fled to nearby Lebanon to get out of the way of the West's attack.  Not only did they have to worry about a crazed government with chemicals to use on them willy nilly, but now the West's answer to this use of chemicals which is not in the book of allowed war weapons.  The signal these people had of their eventual fate was in how their government treated the Jewish population in their country.  Confined on "Jew Street" and held as captives in a worse condition of any of the other dhimmis of the Middle East, the last remaining ones  were finally rescued by Israel in 1994.  As a country treats its Jewish population, so will the rest eventually wind up as the next scapegoat.  The Christians of Egypt have found that out already with the Muslim Brotherhood's first reprisal being their churches and people.

The Mediterranean will be full of Israeli, American, and Russian ships ready to fire missiles somewhere.  The British might be in the mix as well. At this point, the USA is not sure what the target is to be as the Syrians have been busy moving their arms to high ground surrounding Damascus.

Starting September 4th in the evening and going on into September 5th is the Birthday of the World, Rosh Hashanna, the start of a 10 day period of Jewish High Holidays ending with Yom Kippur, a day they were attacked on October 6, 1973 when everyone was in a synagogue asking for forgiveness from G-d of any sins they might be guilty of.  It is a day of fasting and is the most serious day of the year.  Unfortunately, the whole beginning of this  New Year is now colored with threats from a neighbor of all their lives once again.

On the sidelines of this stage are many Middle Easterners who are chomping on their bits at the thought of taking over Jerusalem.  I say that G-d has been on Israel's side through thick and thin for 65 years since May 14, 1948.  Israelis have been threatened when the odds were completely against them.  What makes the haters of Zionism  think that G-d's protection and direction has evaporated?  It is even miraculous that as a people Jews have continued to exist from the days when Judah, 4th son of  Jacob  and Leah, was born.  King David was from this tribe.  Of all the ancient people, it is only the Jews who have been able to survive, even with Hitler's determination to do Jews in.  The creation of their state once again has been prophesied to the amazement of all people. Just look into the "Old Testament.,"  It takes a lot more than plain luck to live that long in  a world  constantly against them.

Resource:  http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/israel-continues-to-prepare-for-worst-as-russian-warships-set-to-move-in/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=israel-continues-to-prepare-for-worst-as-russian-warships-set-to-move-in
Oregonian newspaper, 8/29/13/ Front page, Evidence, allies slow for strike on Syria, by Deb Riechmann and Kimberly dozier, AP, also page A5

Jews' Return to Their Land Sparked By Pogroms and Government Restrictions

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                    

                                           19th Century Pogrom in Russia
Ever since 70 CE, life was one event after another of persecution for Jews. 1096 saw Crusaders slaughtering Jews as they went through European towns on their way to take Jerusalem.  1492 was the year of the Spanish Inquisition and forced conversions of Jews in Spain.   In 1648 to 1656, 100,000 Jews were murdered in the Chmielnicki massacres in Poland.  In 1727 and 1747, Jews were expelled from Russia.   In 1838, the entire Jewish community in Meshed, Persia (today's Iran) were forcibly converted to Islam..

 Jews finally had a formal emancipation in Central and Western Europe from the 18th to 20th centuries, but it did not put an end to discrimination and social ostracism of Jews. This was supposed to be the removal of the disabilities imposed on Jews that had been in place from the 4th century  on.  The Christian Empire enacted an elaborate system of discrimination against Jews which was adopted and intensified in medieval Europe as well as in the Islamic world.  It brought in the Ghetto system aiming at keeping Jews away from the gentile society.      The Dreyfus case in France was a good example of Jewish discrimination and anti-Semitism in 1894 when he was condemned to life imprisonment and ordered to Devil's Island. This led to the affect it had on Herzl and to the development of Zionism.

Continued oppression and outbreaks of pogroms in Eastern Europe were combined with extreme poverty for most of the Jews.  The Hep Hep riots against them began on August 2, 1819 in Wurzburg, Germany. Hep! Hep! was an anti-Jewish slogan used during these riots.  The cry was then said to be of Crusader origin, being formed from the initials of the words Hierosolyma est perdita (Jerusalem is lost).   This continued and reached Denmark, Poland, Latvia and Bohemia.  By 1821 Odessa, Russia  had pogroms against them.  This started up a wave of pogroms.  More occurred in 1859.

A new movement came out of all this suffering of returning to their land and of a revival of Jewish national life.  The Yishuv-the Jewish community already living in Palestine that had never left, started it all.  In 1860, they built the first quarter outside the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem.  Two Hebrew periodicals were regularly published in Jerusalem calling for a return to the Land.  It couldn't have happened at a better time.

In 1870, the first Jewish agricultural college was established in Mikveh Israel which today is on the outskirts of Tel Aviv.  Back in Russia, the next year of 1871 and non-stop until 1921 were years of anti-Jewish pogroms in the towns of Russia including the Pale.  By being in the Pale, it was so much easier to attack Jews.  It was no wonder that the early 1900's saw the immigration of over a million Jews.

By 1881 and subsequent years, Jewish immigrants that belonged to the Hibbat Zion (Love of Zion) movement arrived in Israel from Eastern Europe.  Meyer Levin's "The Settlers", a historical novel, tells about their arrival from the turn of the century to the Balfour Declaration and covers over a 1/4 of a century of turbulent events and their hardships as pioneers.  Some had joined existing villages while others founded new ones.  Some of the villages established during the last 2 decades of the century are large towns today; Hadera and Rishon Le-Zion, for example.

From  1882 to 1890, 750,000 Jews living in Russia were forced to re-settle in the Pale of Settlement; 25 provinces of Czarist Russia,  areas under Catherine II's reign of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, White Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and the Crimea.  In 1891 Jews were then expelled from Moscow and St. Petersburg and sent to the Pale.

The Jews who returned to the Land during this period are known as "the First Aliya."  Aliya  literally means: going up-spiritually, ascent;.  In practice, it has come to signify immigration to Israel.   The conditions in which the first Aliya-and subsequent waves of immigration-settled in the Land were extremely harsh.  The population was small and dispersed.  Communications were poor and insecure.  The Land had been completely neglected.  Pioneers faced swamps,and with it,  malaria,  The Ottoman Empire, which lasted for 400 years by 1917, was hostile and oppressive towards both Arabs and Jews, which is probably  why the native Jews hadn't been able to keep up the land.  Life for these pioneers was a continuous ordeal and new villages survived precariously.

By 1897, Theodor Herzl organized the First Zionist Congress in Basle and founded the World Zionist Organization.  Zion  had been the traditional synonym for Jerusalem and for the entire land, so was the proper word to use.  A growing realization that Jews should follow the path of self-determination which other nations were following such as the Greeks, Italians and Poles.  Zionism became the national liberation movement of the Jewish people.  It's aims were to carry out the return of Jews to the Land and the revival in it of Jewish national life; socially, culturally, economically and politically.

So a 2nd Aliya came to Israel in 1904 to 1914 which reinforced existing villages and founding new ones.  The Yishus began to organize itself politically with socialist groups figuring prominently.  In 1909 the first kibbuts-Degania-was establish on the southern shore of Lake Kinneret.  That same year was when Tel Aviv was founded on the sand dunes outside of Jaffa.

Hebrew was becoming the principal language of the Yishuv with the emerging Hebrew literature.  Life was still harsh and many of the newcomers left.  However, by 1914, there were 85,000 Jews in the Land.  The Land became occupied by Britain 4 years later with the end of WWI and they governed it for 30 more years.  They left and Israel was declared a state on May 14, 1948.  .

After all the suffering Jews have had to endure for 2,000 years at the hands of the governments of the world, they finally passed the Balfour Declaration that gave Jews the right to have their own land back, a decision on November 2, 1917 with the League of Nations.   The promise on paper was given to establish the Jewish National Home, and now even that is in limbo with nations today with discrimination in the UN.  The struggle continues for rights and recognition in our own homeland.  This time we're not going to be driven out.  

Resource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pogrom
Facts About Israel by the Division of Information, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem 1973

Kerry's Reviving 2002 Peace Plan-Deplorable

Nadene Goldfoot
 Back to the 1967 lines is all Kerry can come up with .  The long dormant plan of 2002 would be slightly modified by Kerry.  How has not been explained.   This is a plan which Saudi  Arabia introduced and the 22-member Arab League had endorsed.  It goes against everything that spells out security for Israel.  Israel never went for the plan and the Palestinians want nothing changed in it which most likely spells doom for Israel.  According to the Oregonian newspaper, the" basic parameters seem to be gaining traction as a framework for future talks between the Israelis and Palestinians."   This makes my heart sink as I think of watching and listening to Netanyahu explain to Obama just why going back to the 67 lines is unthinkable for Israel today.

 How can Kerry have the audacity to come up with this?  This includes providing Israel with recognition throughout the Arab world  This should be a given. It also asks for the pullout from territory taken in 1967.   If the Arabs can't accept Israel's creation through the UN as a legal state with rights, then they do not plan to follow any of the rules and regulations.  Obviously the explanation that Netanyahu gave on public TV went in and out of the Democratic party's ears without any understanding at all.

Let's look at what was going on in 1967.  The Arabs objectives were solidified after the war at the Khartoum Summit Conference in August 1967.  Arab leaders laid down 4 principles:
1. No peace with Israel
2. No negotiations with Israel
3. No recognition of Israel
4. Insistence on the rights of Palestinian people in their "own country." (which is fallacious).  There never was a country of Palestine.

Their main goal has been directed towards bringing about the withdrawal of Israel to the pre-1967 lines by every means other than negotiations with Israel.  What the Arab States have used since 1967 have not brought them any closer to their objective of forcing upon Israel a decision which is not acceptable to it until today with Kerry approaching with this impossible 11 year old plot that the Arabs like.  This would say, "It's okay to attack Israel as we will lose nothing by it as the world stands behind us."

As former Major-General, then President Chaim Herzog wrote, "Israel's belief that the war had come to an end and that peace would now reign along the borders was soon dispelled.".  It only took 3 weeks after the conclusion of hostilities, the first major incident happened on the Suez Canal.

 The Great Powers have pressured Israel but Israel insists that this should be solved directly between the 2 sides and that an imposed settlement is no solution of it.  #3 Recognition does not guarantee erasing numbers 1,2,and 4, either.  Israel wants and expects  "a just and lasting peace in which everyone can live in security.  Using 242  written on 22 November 1967 calls for the withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in the conflict.  So where's the protection for Israel if this comes about?  According to their word, they aim to destroy Israel.  The Arab Governments and their supporters interpret the resolution as requiring a complete Israeli withdrawal.  UN Mediator, Ambassador Jarring, submitted a proposal that Israel should withdraw to "the former international boundary between Egypt and the British Mandated territories of Palestine.  His mission came to a halt in February 1971 with this proposal.

In 1968, Israel's population was 2,841,100, so was a little less in 1967. Iraqi  President Abdur Rahman Aref stated:  "The existence of Israel is an error which must be rectified.  This is our opportunity to wipe out the ignominy which has been with us since 1948.  Our goal is clear:  to wipe Israel off the map."  June 4th was the day Israel faced down Iraq, Egypt, Jordan and Syria.   It faced in 1967 the Arab forces 250,000 troops (nearly half in Sinai), more than 2,000 tanks and 700 aircraft which formed a ring around Israel.  Jordan's Hussein was told that if he stayed out of the fight he would not be attacked unless he initiated hostilities, but he ordered the shelling of West Jerusalem.  Syrian and Iraqi troops attacked Israel's northern frontier.  In a week,  Israel was in a position to march on Cairo, Damascus and Amman.  A cease-fire was invoked on June 10th.

The United States could do nothing.  They couldn't stop Nasser or the other Arab states.  The war began on June 5th and the State Department announced:  "Our position is neutral in thought, word and deed."  To top it off, Johnson imposed an arms embargo on France, who was Israel's arms supplier.  At the same time, the Soviets were supplying massive amounts of arms to the Arabs.  The armies of Kuwait, Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Iraq were adding their troops and arms to the Egyptian-Syrian-Jordanian fronts.  When the war ended in 6 days, President Johnson said, "Certainly, troops must be withdrawn; but there must also be recognized rights of national life, progress in solving the refugee problem, freedom of innocent maritime passage, limitation of the arms race and respect for political independence and territorial integrity.  Who supplies the most weapons to Egypt today when it is under the government of the Muslim Brotherhood?  The USA.

Kerry is going along with 242 pretty much which requires Israel's total, unconditional withdrawal from the "occupied" territories", of which Israel isn't occupying Gaza or Judea and Samaria, unless withdrawal means to force Israelis to leave their cities and homes in Judea and Samaria.  I ask Kerry then, why is it that Israel  doesn't ask Arabs to leave Israel?  Why can't Jews stay in Judea and Samaria if they so wish?  What's fair for the goose is fair also for the gander.  Yet Arafat, in accepting 242 and 338, inserted his clarification of his 3 principals;
1. A Palestinian State
2. Self-determination
3. The right of return.

The Likud position at that time, with Benjamin Begin as speaker, said that by giving up the Sinai, they did withdraw from 91% of the territories and thereby fulfilled its obligation under 242.  The question asks if Israel has to give up territory it still holds and Begin thought a compromise was possible.  The position that Israel must withdraw from all the territories is inconsistent with resolution 242.  Since then, Israel withdrew from Gaza in the name of peace all its Israeli occupants much to the shock and awe of Israel since it has become a shooting center upon southern Israel.  Yet all the people who are pushing Israel to withdraw to the 67 lines did nothing about the attacks; no outcry, no complaining in the UN, no meetings or punishments.  The attacks  have been the heaviest since 2005 till today.

Resource:  Oregonian Newspaper page A5, News update:  Mideast peace efforts, by AP.
Myths and Facts, a concise record of the Arab-Israeli conflict by Mitchell G. Bard and Joel Himelfarb page 52-70 Six Day War
Facts About Israel, Division of Information, Ministry for foreign affairs, Jerusalem,  page 46-49

Natan Sharansky Came to Portland

Nadene Goldfoot
Tonight the Jewish Federation of Portland brought Natan Sharansky to speak to an audience of over 500 people, not all from the Jewish community.  He is a very well known human rights advocate who had been imprisoned in Russia for wanting to leave and immigrate to Israel.  He told us of his wife, Avital, who had been called to the Russian Visa office and told to leave, so she did in about 1974.  Her husband was imprisoned for being a traitor for wanting to leave and was in the Gulag for over 12 years, with 9 of those years in solitary confinement.  He kept telling himself what Jews have been saying in their prayers for the past 2,000 years:  Next Year in Jerusalem.

He knew only that he was Jewish because it said so on his identity papers.  He didn't know a thing about his religion because all religions were against the law in Russia.  He was discriminated against for being Jewish. Because of being Jewish, he couldn't have certain jobs, or was fired for being Jewish.   It was for him like  having a kind of disease, like cancer.  He felt he had to be the best in everything he did to absolve this hatred.  If one did that, they would feel better about themselves.  People went into science to suffer less.  This was their response to such discrimination.  Sharansky had become the symbol of freeing the Soviet Jewry because although they were treated like dirt, they weren't allowed to leave the country, either.  It was like being kept in prison.  Sharansky, however, made that same plea Moses had said to the Pharoah of Egypt:  Let my people go!

One thing he liked to do was to irritate his 17 interrogators when they came to his cell.  He would tell all the jokes people knew about the Kremlin, and they in turn wanted to laugh but couldn't allow themselves to do so, with the result that they would yell and shout at him.  He said, "see, you're a prisoner yourself because you can't laugh and you know it to be true."  Then he was threatened with having only 2 choices:  death or giving in and stop insisting on immigrating.  He said it was the same as being a slave in Egypt. Finally he was released in a prisoner exchange.   .  .

When he finally got to Israel in 1986  through his wife's appeals to Jewish communities and governments and with the assistance of President Ronald Reagan, he discovered that as a Jew he had a history and belonged to a people. 250,000 people had demonstrated in Sharansky's behalf to be freed.   It was like going from darkness to light for him.  He said that there is strength in knowing who you are and that you have a family behind you.  To those young people who would choose being world peacemakers over the good of their own family, he said that he thought you had to start with your family first and then broaden out to the world's affairs to do a good job.

Today he sees assimilation as a big problem.  Another thing that bothers him is seeing that there are so many lies about Israel coming out of American Universities.  Education is a very important need to combat such brain-washing.   He has been very active in the Knesset and works for the Jewish Agency in Israel.

Post Script:  In reading my own book, Letters From Israel, on page 32 I wrote: about Natan and my Hebrew  teacher, Sarah in the Ulpan in Haifa:  "Our teacher Sarah is quite famous herself.  She is the teacher that has been writing letters to the Russian refusniks for seven years, helping them to learn Hebrew in this way, and the famous Sharansky who was put into prison for 15 years because he wanted to go to Israel was put in solitary confinement once when he was caught with her letter.  She told us a lot about it last night. (December 15, 1980 letter) 

Jewish Spy Treated Differently than American in Russia

Nadene Goldfoot
The United States has had many spies.  Francis Gary Powers was one in a U2 spy plane that was shot down over air space of the Soviet Union on May 1, 1960.  He was sentenced to 10 years, 7 of which was to be hard labor, but was exchanged for a Russian spy after serving only 1 year 9 months on February 10, 1962.  The situation was very embarrasing for Eisenhower's administration.  Khrushchev was not happy with us.

Yet, our fumbling Mr Bean type spy for Israel is still serving time.  Jonathan Pollard, not a member of Mossad but an American  Jew, tried to help Israel get information that should have been willingly passed to them,  but it hadn't happened and he was concerned.   He was a U.S. naval intelligence clerk who was arrested in 1986.  He received the maximum sentence of life imprisonment in 1987.  Caspar Weinberger came down very hard on him, and since then our Vice President, Joe Biden,  has been most harsh when approached about it. 

After Michael Oren, Ambassador to the USA from Israel,  visited him he was operated on for gallbladder and kidney problems that still exist.  His wife is very worried.  This is a humanitarian disgrace.  She has asked for his release after all these years as he is a sick and nondangerous man.  The Obama administration has been pleaded with by Israel, to no avail. 

Biden became quite angry when approached about freeing him. He was heard to say, "over my dead body!" It looks like this Catholic is a man without compassion, even though a priest was in favor of it.   Why is it that our administration is so adamant about this one person?  When Obama was stumping for president 4 years ago he was supporting Pollard's cause for freedom.  They are not treating him like our spy was treated by Russia.  Even there, Powers only had to serve in  total  ten years whereas this mild clerk was given life.  Was it because he was Jewish?  Is that what gets Biden's ire up? 

I keep hearing stories about how our government has been so careful about not affronting Muslims, and yet one Jewish person is treated with malice.  It's not fair at all, and gentlemen, I notice the difference.  It's time Obama shows he has some sincerity and freedom from hypocrisy and gives up Pollard before he passes away. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1960_U-2_incident
http://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com/2011/09/whatever-happened-to-jonathan-pollard.html
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/jonathan-pollard-undergoes-medical-operation-as-health-deteriorates-1.376606
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Letters/Article.aspx?id=240582
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=qtjfMjjce2Y

Recent Russian Anti-Semitism

Foreign immigrants have been coming into Russia. The Russian's negative reaction included a hatred for Jews in the capital Sunday, November 4th. By careful manuevers, about 2,000 marchers avoided arrest while chanting slogans against them. They shouted "glory to the Russian nation" and called for the death of Jews but not the foreign immigrants. Other rallies took place within Russia while observing their National Unity Day. President Vladimir Putin was near Red Square, and declared that efforts to divide Russia from the outside were bound to fail. Who does he consider the outside trying to divide Russia?

Jews in Russia have been there for eons. They are not foreign immigrants. Yet when it comes to finding a scapegoat, they are the first to be sacrificed.

Resource: Oregonian, November 5, 2007 page A9