Palestine Arab Lawyers' Values Not Like Israeli Values

Nadene Goldfoot
The Palestine Committee of Arab Lawyers Union is honoring a mass killer.  That's their idea of a good deed.  They probably hope this will be a deed attained by others as they awarded this person with the "Martyr Hanadi Jaradat plaque of honor which was presented to the Jaradat's family.

A very misguided 29 year old  female lawyer, Hanadi Jaradat decided to be a suicide terrorist and connected herself with the Islamic Jihad people and went to Maxim,  a restaurant in Haifa in 2003. Maxims was jointly owned by Jews and Arabs.  She blew herself up in the middle of the restaurant.   The Arabs call this day "the sweet anniversary of her Martyrdom."  3 children plus a baby girl were blown up with everyone plus 3 Arab Israeli security men.

Now, men in this culture who kill themselves if in the act of killing their enemy are to be rewarded in heaven with 72 virgins according to Islamic beliefs.  I wonder what reward Hanadi was promised?  72 male virgins?  Who wants a male virgin, anyway, plus 71 others to deal with.  Good grief!  The least they could do is promise her 72 great lovers!

This is so sick to me to honor a mass murderess.  In her horrific act she managed to kill 21 unsuspecting Israelis and injured 60 others.  I ate in so many restaurants in Haifa from 1980-1985, and many were Arab restaurants.  Suicide bombers were not as plentiful then, I don't think.

To have the lawyers honor her shows what type of morality they are following, something that is completely contrary to our system and belief in the 10 Commandments.  In 2005 she was honored by the PA Ministry of Culture who produced a poetry collection named "What did Hanadi say," and this was given to the newspaper Al-Ayyan to be distributed to people.  The ending of a poem is: "Oh Hanadi!  shake the earth under the feet of the enemies!  Blow it up!  Hanadi said: "This is my wedding."  It's Hanadi's wedding, the day when death as a Martyr for Allah becomes the highest goal, that redeems my land."  (Al-Ayyam, Aug. 22, 2005)

Fifteen countries connected to the Arab Lawyers Union (ALU) which is an NGO are: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Mauritania, Morocco, (Palestine-not a country- but they list it as one of them) Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Tunisia and Yemen.

They have a mission.  One is to struggle against Zionism and its greed as a form of racism.  Are you ready to run out and hire one of these lawyers?   No wonder Israel is given such a hard time from the UN.   I have argued for hours on this one line alone.  Zionism is the right of Israel's existence and as you see, these Arab lawyers don't believe in that at all.  Racism?  Jews come in every color under the sun; white, black, beige, yellow, red, you name it, from every country.  How can we be racist?  Moses was not racist.  The rest is just lying trying to defend their anger at Israel having become a state-legally. Greed?  Islam has more than 48 Muslim majority countries in the world and Israel is our one and only Jewish country no bigger than a matchbox.  And they proudly proclaim that they want all of Israel. They are not just talking about Gaza, which Israel left for them, but Judea-Samaria (West Bank) , all of Jerusalem and now-all of Israel, oh yes, their latest proclamation is everyone as of the 1967 lines as well.   Who is the greedy one?

How do we know all this?  In Israel, street signs are in 3 languages, Hebrew, Arabic and English. Israeli  Schools teach not only Hebrew and English but Arabic, too, and even French.  There are lots of people who are bilinqual and trilingual.  My teacher in Haifa, Mr. Kohavi, spoke 16 languages.  Arabic speakers would sit with Hebrew speakers and they would help each other with their homework in the Safed Jr high I taught in.  1.4 million Arabs are citizens of Israel.  They like their country of Israel.  

http://www.palwatch.org  by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik; Suicide terrorist who killed 21 receives "highest honor" from Palestine Committee of Arab Lawyers Union...Union is observer at UNESCO, in consultative status with ECOSOC
http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/2000_2009/2004/1/Suicide+bombing+of+Maxim+restaurant+in+Haifa+-+4-O.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Muslim-majority_countries  I am shocked to see today's copy includes Palestine as a country.  When I printed off on 12/8/2011, it was not.  They include it as the 49th.  It is not a country as of today and should not be accepted as any type of statehood in the upcoming UN meeting.  .

What Had Happened to Jewish Syrians?

Nadene Goldfoot
Aleppo, Syria has been taking a pounding from Syria's own army because they are in a Civil War, having started with the Arab Spring  in March 2011.  So far, 19,000 people have been killed in this uprising.  Russia is backing the regime who controls the country's army, but the USA is backing the rebel fighters.  The war is now centered in Salaheddiin, a neighborhood in Aleppo, Syria's largest city and its commercial center.  Syria has about 22,505,000 minus the deaths of which 90% are Sunni/Shi'a Muslims.  Jews have lived there, as they have lived in all the states in the Middle East.  In 1948 there were 30,000 living in Syria.

Then Israel was created on May 14, 1948.  Syria was one of the Arab states that had attacked the new state.  Syrian Jews were not expelled but weren't allowed to leave, either.  They had severe restrictions placed on them which lasted for over 20 years.

In the 1967 Six-Day War where Israel won against all odds having been attacked by all the Arab nations, restrictions on Jews in Syria were even tougher. and 57 Jews in Qamishli may have been killed in a pogrom. The communities of Damascus, Aleppo and Qamishli were under house arrest for 8 months.  Jews lost their freedom of movement.  They weren't allowed to work for the government or banks, couldn't get telephone or drivers' licenses and were banned from buying property.  Many Jewish workers were laid off following the Six-Day War.  Generally, they all were banned from leaving, but were sometimes allowed aboard for commercial or medical reasons, but if they did leave they had to put up a bond of $300-$1,000 and members of their family were used as hostages.  Bank accounts were frozen.  An airport road was paved over the Jewish cemetery in Damascus.  Jewish schools were closed and handed over to Muslims.  The Jewish Quarter of Damascus was watched by the secret police who were into their synagogue services, weddings, bar mitzvahs and other Jewish gatherings.  They monitored contacts between Jewish and foreigners and kept files on all Jews.  Jews had their phones tapped and mail read.

When I lived in Israel from 1980 to the end of 1985, I remember watching our TV which received programs from Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon, and most likely Syria.  I believe it was from Syria that I remember seeing rows of soldiers standing at attention outside showing how brave they were by doing the most ghastly act I've ever seen:  They were biting snakes and puppies in unison on command.  I know this sounds unbelievable, but it was so shocking to me that I've never forgotten it.  At the time my thoughts were that I hated to see anyone who had to tangle with them!

It wasn't until November 1989 that Syria started letting out Jews through pressure from the USA, but it was done on condition that they didn't emigrate to Israel!  In 1992, 4,000 remaining Jews were granted exit permits and left for the USA, France or Turkey.  About 300 mostly elderly Jews stayed.  By 2001 there were still about 200 Jews living in Syria of which 30 lived in Aleppo.  In 2003 there were fewer than 100 Jews living, and in 2005 the USA estimated that there were about 80.

The ban remains on Jews keeping them from politics and government employment.  They are the one minority that has their religion marked on their passports and ID cards.  Occasionally they have been attacked by Palestinian protesters, but the Syrian government supposedly took measure to protect them.  Two synagogues remain open in Damascus, and every 2 or 3 months a rabbi from Istanbul, Turkey visits to take care of koshering meat, which they freeze and use until his next visit.  Somehow, 41 Syrian Jews moved to Israel between 2000 and 2010.  That was quite an achievement from this country.

This is also a war of Sunni Muslims that are against Shi'a Muslims. " This clash pits the "Sunni front," led by Arab states and Turkey, which support the Sunni rebels, against the “Shiite front,” led by Iran and Hezbollah, which support Syria’s Alawite regime"  .Civilians are not being used as human shields, something we see in Gaza, but as cannon fodder.  This is even a higher level of brutality and cruelty that they are capable of.  

After reading about what has really been going on in Syria for Jews, I believe that Jack Avital's comments that he believe in the future of Bashar Assad are the bunk.  He told the Algemeiner that "everything is good, you can bet on it-Assad will be there another 20 years...he is an honest guy and 95% of the population supports him and will protect him."  If he said anything different, he most likely would have been killed.

Jews had lived in Syria since the beginning of times of their history with Abraham.  Another wave of Jews entered the country in 1492 when they were kicked out of Spain and had to go someplace.  Today, the largest Jewish Syrian community is right in Brooklyn, New York with a population of 75,000.

Reference: Oregonian newspaper, Sunday, July 29, 2012 page A9, Syrian tanks, artillery intensity attack on Aleppo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Syria
http:/www.sfgate.com/news/article/Jews-in-Syria-say-life-easier-but-f  (problems with viewing)
http;//algemeiner.com/2011/06/14/what-happening-to-syrias-jews/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Syria
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4236855,00.html