Wednesday, August 31, 2011
www.mustdefeatobama2012.blogspot.com
http://mustdefeatobama2012.blogspot.com/
CHRISTIANS AND JEWS AGAINST THE RE-ELECTION OF Barack Hussein Obama JOIN THE MOVEMENT TO SAVE THE UNITED STATES AND ISRAEL
OBAMA-
Trying to destroy Israel
Aiding the Islamic Caliphate and terror
He's a fraud
Honors Antisemites
Same radical leftist/Muslim
Dangerous foreign policy
Destroying the US economy
Helping Iran get the bomb
Thank God America is wising up
His world view "I will bless those who curse you and curse those who bless you" opposite of Genesis 12:3
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Defeat-Obama-2012/170024166406281
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Moral bankrupcy of the Christian liberals vis-a-vis Israel
THE VELVET KIPPAH
The Quiet Death of Interfaith Activity?
Israel must find its friends among religious individuals of all faiths, abandoning the so-called Christian leadership to its moral mediocrity.
By Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein, August 25, 2011
14
Share
What important bonds of friendship were formed in six decades of Jewish-Christian interfaith activity? Judging from last weekend, probably none.
Silence, more than anything else, moved Christians and Jews closer in the aftermath of the Holocaust. Church leaders, coming to grips with the enormity and bestiality of Hitler's Final Solution, had to deal with guilt. They understood the role that church-inspired anti-Semitism played in the centuries before the Holocaust, and they felt some long-distance guilt. Greater, local guilt came from their own silence. They had watched Hitler promise to exterminate the Jews, and observed each step toward the crematoria of Auschwitz. They spoke up in horror only when it was too late—after six million had been murdered.
They knew that they had slept on their moral watch. They had let G-d down in their responsibility to innocent human beings, and they had failed the Jewish people—despite the deep roots of Christianity within Judaism. They called for affirmative action to improve relations between the sister religions. The effort was sincere, and much good came of it. But they could not provide what Jews may have needed the most: genuine friendship and caring. When you care, you don't remain silent when your friend is in mortal danger.
The Velvet Kippah
The Quiet Death of Interfaith Activity?
Are Jews Hung Up About Memory?
Aftermath of a Brooklyn Murder
Delta Blues Hit the Jews
Anthony Weiner Can Stay
Author Bio »
Last weekend, Israelis and Jews around the world watched in horror a significant escalation in the campaign of Hamas—acting on direct orders from Iran, according to political analysts—to bring an end to the State of Israel. Over one hundred rockets were launched at civilian targets—not at "settlements," but at Israel's pre-1967 heartland. One million citizens—Jews, Christians, and Muslims—had to hunker down as death came hurtling toward homes, schools, and places of worship. A series of coordinated terror attacks killed more than a dozen, as a bus was ambushed, and anti-tank weapons struck civilian passenger cars.
A fragile cease-fire—almost certainly temporary—was put together after a few days. Now only a few rockets each day are heading toward Ashdod, Beersheba, and Ashkelon. Is that supposed to be tolerable? Life, though, has changed for another million citizens of Israel, who now have firsthand experience with the seriousness with which Hamas and Hezbollah will pursue their goal of ridding the Middle East of all non-Arab presence and influence.
American media paid little attention to the scope of the attacks—at least until Israel took out a handful of terrorist leaders. Perhaps they were too preoccupied with Wall Street, Libya, and Katy Perry.
Church leaders, however, read the news carefully, even on weekends. The liberal churches—the ones who had initiated interfaith activity after the Holocaust—have been unanimous in their silence. It matters not in the slightest whether crying out in protest would make any difference. From genuine friends, you expect genuine concern and commiseration. Decades of interfaith activity have yielded photo-ops and high-minded rhetoric . . . but not friendship.
Jay Leno may have said it best. "Go through your phone book, call people and ask them to drive you to the airport. The ones who will drive you are your true friends. The rest aren't bad people; they're just acquaintances." If "interfaith partners" will not even cry out in outrage as others try to pound you to oblivion, what good are they?
12Next
Yitzchok Adlerstein is an Orthodox rabbi who directs interfaith affairs for the Simon Wiesenthal Center, and chairs Jewish Law at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. He is hopelessly addicted to the serious study of Torah texts.
Adlerstein's column, "The Velvet Kippah," is published on alternate Tuesdays on the Jewish portal. Subscribe via email
The Quiet Death of Interfaith Activity?
Israel must find its friends among religious individuals of all faiths, abandoning the so-called Christian leadership to its moral mediocrity.
By Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein, August 25, 2011
14
Share
What important bonds of friendship were formed in six decades of Jewish-Christian interfaith activity? Judging from last weekend, probably none.
Silence, more than anything else, moved Christians and Jews closer in the aftermath of the Holocaust. Church leaders, coming to grips with the enormity and bestiality of Hitler's Final Solution, had to deal with guilt. They understood the role that church-inspired anti-Semitism played in the centuries before the Holocaust, and they felt some long-distance guilt. Greater, local guilt came from their own silence. They had watched Hitler promise to exterminate the Jews, and observed each step toward the crematoria of Auschwitz. They spoke up in horror only when it was too late—after six million had been murdered.
They knew that they had slept on their moral watch. They had let G-d down in their responsibility to innocent human beings, and they had failed the Jewish people—despite the deep roots of Christianity within Judaism. They called for affirmative action to improve relations between the sister religions. The effort was sincere, and much good came of it. But they could not provide what Jews may have needed the most: genuine friendship and caring. When you care, you don't remain silent when your friend is in mortal danger.
The Velvet Kippah
The Quiet Death of Interfaith Activity?
Are Jews Hung Up About Memory?
Aftermath of a Brooklyn Murder
Delta Blues Hit the Jews
Anthony Weiner Can Stay
Author Bio »
Last weekend, Israelis and Jews around the world watched in horror a significant escalation in the campaign of Hamas—acting on direct orders from Iran, according to political analysts—to bring an end to the State of Israel. Over one hundred rockets were launched at civilian targets—not at "settlements," but at Israel's pre-1967 heartland. One million citizens—Jews, Christians, and Muslims—had to hunker down as death came hurtling toward homes, schools, and places of worship. A series of coordinated terror attacks killed more than a dozen, as a bus was ambushed, and anti-tank weapons struck civilian passenger cars.
A fragile cease-fire—almost certainly temporary—was put together after a few days. Now only a few rockets each day are heading toward Ashdod, Beersheba, and Ashkelon. Is that supposed to be tolerable? Life, though, has changed for another million citizens of Israel, who now have firsthand experience with the seriousness with which Hamas and Hezbollah will pursue their goal of ridding the Middle East of all non-Arab presence and influence.
American media paid little attention to the scope of the attacks—at least until Israel took out a handful of terrorist leaders. Perhaps they were too preoccupied with Wall Street, Libya, and Katy Perry.
Church leaders, however, read the news carefully, even on weekends. The liberal churches—the ones who had initiated interfaith activity after the Holocaust—have been unanimous in their silence. It matters not in the slightest whether crying out in protest would make any difference. From genuine friends, you expect genuine concern and commiseration. Decades of interfaith activity have yielded photo-ops and high-minded rhetoric . . . but not friendship.
Jay Leno may have said it best. "Go through your phone book, call people and ask them to drive you to the airport. The ones who will drive you are your true friends. The rest aren't bad people; they're just acquaintances." If "interfaith partners" will not even cry out in outrage as others try to pound you to oblivion, what good are they?
12Next
Yitzchok Adlerstein is an Orthodox rabbi who directs interfaith affairs for the Simon Wiesenthal Center, and chairs Jewish Law at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. He is hopelessly addicted to the serious study of Torah texts.
Adlerstein's column, "The Velvet Kippah," is published on alternate Tuesdays on the Jewish portal. Subscribe via email
How Obama aids the emerging Islamic caliphate surrounding Israel Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg
A. LIBYA
1. Obama urged NATO jets to end Gaddafi's reign
"Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has lost legitimacy and must leave office, US President Barack Obama said while authorising the use of military aircrafts for humanitarian purposes in the strife-torn African nation on Thursday.
"Muammar Gaddafi has lost legitimacy to lead, and he must leave," Obama said at a White House news conference. The US president said, the "violence must stop. Those who perpetrate violence against the Libyan people will be held accountable... The aspirations of the Libyan people for freedom, democracy and dignity must be met. I have approved the use of US military aircraft to help move Egypt [ Images ]ians who have fled to the Tunisian border to get back home to Egypt."
http://www.rediff.com/news/report/obama-wants-gaddafi-out-sends-jets-to-libya/20110304.htm
2. The forces that will replace Gaddafi will be far worse-Islamic jihadistsObservations: from Daily Alert Aug 30 2011
The Islamist Factor in Post-Gaddafi Libya: Will Libya Become "Libyastan?" - Jacques Neria (Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs)
The U.S. and the West's military intervention in Libya finally succeeded in toppling Gaddafi's 42-year reign in Libya and brought to power an amorphous body called the National Transitional Council (NTC). There are plenty of reasons to fear that the military action undertaken by the West might be playing into the hands of its worst foes and ideological enemies. A statement released on February 24 on the Al-Qaeda affiliated Al-Fajr media website quoted the group known as Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM): "We declare our support for the legitimate demands of the Libyan revolution." Abdelhakim Belhadj, today the commander of the Libyan rebel Tripoli Military Council, emerged as a leader during the Libyan rebel operation to liberate the Libyan capital from Gaddafi's control. Belhadj, is also a former Emir of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG). In 1988, he joined the Afghan jihad against the Soviet occupation forces along with other Arab volunteers, many of whom would form the core of al-Qaeda. Abdel Hakim Al-Hasidi declared that his jihadists had fought the American coalition in Iraq and "now they are fighting Gaddafi." Al-Hasidi is a current member of the NTC.
See also Ex-Jihadists in the New Libya - Omar Ashour (Foreign Policy)
Abdalhakim Belhadj, the commander of Tripoli's Military Council is the former commander of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), a jihad organization with historical links to al Qaeda, the Taliban, and the Egyptian al-Jihad organization. By 1998, the LIFG was crushed in Libya. Most of its leaders and members fled and joined forces with the Taliban in Afghanistan. They even gave a religious oath of loyalty (bay'a) to Mullah Omar. After 9/11 and the invasion of Afghanistan, Belhadj and most of the LIFG leaders fled that country as well, only to be arrested in 2004 by the CIA and then handed over to Qaddafi's regime, following interrogations in Thailand and Hong Kong.
See also What about the Jihadists in Libya? - Mshari al-Zaydi (Asharq al-Awsat)
In my estimation, there is a dangerous fundamentalist presence in the depths of the Libyan revolution, and this is something we should take heed of now. This presence could turn into a source of danger for Libya's future, in the days to come. These radicals could easily turn their guns from the Bab al-Aziziya compound towards the Libyan National Transitional Council, targeting it for being "secular" and an ally of the "Crusaders" (NATO). These radicals may seek to establish a Shariaa law state in Libya, and unleash their Jihad across North Africa"ran "Discreetly Aided Libyan Rebels" (AFP)
Iran "discreetly" provided humanitarian aid to Libyan rebels before the fall of Tripoli, Jam-e-Jam newspaper quoted Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi on Sunday as saying.
"We were in touch with many of the rebel groups in Libya before the fall of Gaddafi, and discreetly dispatched three or four food and medical consignments to Benghazi," Salehi said.
"The head of the National Transitional Council (NTC), Mustafa Abdel Jalil, sent a letter of thanks to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for having been on their side and helping," he added.
On Tuesday, Iran "congratulated the Muslim people of Libya" after rebels overran the capital Tripoli, but it has so far distanced itself from officially recognizing the NTC.
B. EGypt
1. Obama threw Mubarack under the busWhy Obama Pushed Mubarak Out, Occam's Razor often leads to the conclusion that the simplest explanation is usually the correct one. Why is Obama among the first to call for Mubarak's ouster, even before many thought it remotely possible, or even wise?(And histroy will probably prove it was very unwise!)It's very simple. Of all the leaders of Arabic countries, Mubarak was the friendliest to the US, providing us with airbases, logistic support, Soviet weaponry and cover for many black ops in SW. who does Obama support, and who does he cut off at the knees? The answer is obvious.... and instructive.
The answer to "why" is obvious too. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2686841/posts
2. Obama wants to dialogue with Muslim Brotherhood, who are islamic jihadistssee http://rabbireflects.blogspot.com/2011/08/obama-wants-to-dialogue-with-muslim.html
3. Egypt will be taken over by the Muslim BrotherhoodNEW POLL: ‘TROUBLE FOR THE WEST’ AS EGYPTIANS ON PACE TO ELECT MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD
Posted on July 28, 2011 at 7:32am by Jonathon M. Seidl Print »Email »
Comments (200)
Remember Amr Moussa? He’s the Egyptian presidential candidate — who is also a part of the Muslim Brotherhood — who said in May that Hamas — the terror group — is not a terror group. Now, a new Newsweek/Daily Beast poll finds that he‘s the likely winner in Egypt’s upcoming election, and his party is likely to gain power. And according to Newsweek, that’s bad news for Israel and America.
“The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s largest Islamist group, is poised to win the largest share of the vote in parliamentary elections,” the Daily Beast writes, “the man who appears to have a clear shot at the presidency, Amr Moussa, has made his name criticizing Israel; and a large majority of respondents favor amending or revoking the cornerstone of regional stability, the Camp David Accords.”
According to the poll of just over 1,000 respondents, the Muslim Brotherhood’s “Freedom and Justice Party” garnered the most support at 17 percent. The same support ringed true for Moussa:
On paper, the Newsweek/Daily Beast survey found a close race: Former Arab League chief Amr Moussa leads the pack with the support of 16 percent of likely voters, former diplomat Mohamed ElBaradei and former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik follow with 12 percent each, and a smattering of others trail in single digits. But Moussa clearly has wider appeal: When we surveyed likely voters with just the three front-runners, the former foreign minister, who talks tough on Israel, garners 47 percent, with “Undecided” running even with the remaining two. [Emphasis added]
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/new-poll-trouble-for-the-west-as-egyptians-on-pace-to-elect-muslim-brotherhood/
CONCLUSION: Israel is almost surrounded by emerging Islamic caliphate. Libya, Egypt, Hamas, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Syrai/Iran, Jordan will be next. Much of this with with Obama's assistance
Congr. Allen West R Florida on his recent return from Israel
So where does that take us today?
As one sits back and assesses the strategic and operational environment across the Middle East and the Maghreb, one thing becomes quite apparent.
This so-called “Arab Spring” is less about a democratic movement, than it is about the early phase of the restoration of an Islamic Caliphate, the last being the Ottoman Empire.
We are witnessing secular Muslim leaders being deposed in very volatile and unstable nations. This growing Islamic Totalitarianism manifested in militant Islam has had a modus operand of capitalizing on unstable political situations (Iran, Afghanistan, Somalia).
Now we see these same types of instances occurring in Egypt, Libya, and Syria and the rose-colored glasses of some seek to portray this as a great awakening of liberty. History does not support this in the Middle East.
We must evaluate these occurrences through the prism of keen strategic and operational insight which looks out 10, 20, or 30 years.
If we had done so during the deposing of the Shah of Iran, we might have been able to prevent what arose. The Iran with which we must contend today is the major exporter of Islamic totalitarianism and state sponsored terrorism.
In the midst of it all is Israel, that tiny defiant bastion of freedom, liberty, and democracy in an evolving storm. One only needs to survey a map of the Middle East, and the immediate peripheral states to see the very threatening situation.
"\
www.rabbijonathanginsburg.org
1. Obama urged NATO jets to end Gaddafi's reign
"Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has lost legitimacy and must leave office, US President Barack Obama said while authorising the use of military aircrafts for humanitarian purposes in the strife-torn African nation on Thursday.
"Muammar Gaddafi has lost legitimacy to lead, and he must leave," Obama said at a White House news conference. The US president said, the "violence must stop. Those who perpetrate violence against the Libyan people will be held accountable... The aspirations of the Libyan people for freedom, democracy and dignity must be met. I have approved the use of US military aircraft to help move Egypt [ Images ]ians who have fled to the Tunisian border to get back home to Egypt."
http://www.rediff.com/news/report/obama-wants-gaddafi-out-sends-jets-to-libya/20110304.htm
2. The forces that will replace Gaddafi will be far worse-Islamic jihadistsObservations: from Daily Alert Aug 30 2011
The Islamist Factor in Post-Gaddafi Libya: Will Libya Become "Libyastan?" - Jacques Neria (Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs)
The U.S. and the West's military intervention in Libya finally succeeded in toppling Gaddafi's 42-year reign in Libya and brought to power an amorphous body called the National Transitional Council (NTC). There are plenty of reasons to fear that the military action undertaken by the West might be playing into the hands of its worst foes and ideological enemies. A statement released on February 24 on the Al-Qaeda affiliated Al-Fajr media website quoted the group known as Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM): "We declare our support for the legitimate demands of the Libyan revolution." Abdelhakim Belhadj, today the commander of the Libyan rebel Tripoli Military Council, emerged as a leader during the Libyan rebel operation to liberate the Libyan capital from Gaddafi's control. Belhadj, is also a former Emir of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG). In 1988, he joined the Afghan jihad against the Soviet occupation forces along with other Arab volunteers, many of whom would form the core of al-Qaeda. Abdel Hakim Al-Hasidi declared that his jihadists had fought the American coalition in Iraq and "now they are fighting Gaddafi." Al-Hasidi is a current member of the NTC.
See also Ex-Jihadists in the New Libya - Omar Ashour (Foreign Policy)
Abdalhakim Belhadj, the commander of Tripoli's Military Council is the former commander of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), a jihad organization with historical links to al Qaeda, the Taliban, and the Egyptian al-Jihad organization. By 1998, the LIFG was crushed in Libya. Most of its leaders and members fled and joined forces with the Taliban in Afghanistan. They even gave a religious oath of loyalty (bay'a) to Mullah Omar. After 9/11 and the invasion of Afghanistan, Belhadj and most of the LIFG leaders fled that country as well, only to be arrested in 2004 by the CIA and then handed over to Qaddafi's regime, following interrogations in Thailand and Hong Kong.
See also What about the Jihadists in Libya? - Mshari al-Zaydi (Asharq al-Awsat)
In my estimation, there is a dangerous fundamentalist presence in the depths of the Libyan revolution, and this is something we should take heed of now. This presence could turn into a source of danger for Libya's future, in the days to come. These radicals could easily turn their guns from the Bab al-Aziziya compound towards the Libyan National Transitional Council, targeting it for being "secular" and an ally of the "Crusaders" (NATO). These radicals may seek to establish a Shariaa law state in Libya, and unleash their Jihad across North Africa"ran "Discreetly Aided Libyan Rebels" (AFP)
Iran "discreetly" provided humanitarian aid to Libyan rebels before the fall of Tripoli, Jam-e-Jam newspaper quoted Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi on Sunday as saying.
"We were in touch with many of the rebel groups in Libya before the fall of Gaddafi, and discreetly dispatched three or four food and medical consignments to Benghazi," Salehi said.
"The head of the National Transitional Council (NTC), Mustafa Abdel Jalil, sent a letter of thanks to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for having been on their side and helping," he added.
On Tuesday, Iran "congratulated the Muslim people of Libya" after rebels overran the capital Tripoli, but it has so far distanced itself from officially recognizing the NTC.
B. EGypt
1. Obama threw Mubarack under the busWhy Obama Pushed Mubarak Out, Occam's Razor often leads to the conclusion that the simplest explanation is usually the correct one. Why is Obama among the first to call for Mubarak's ouster, even before many thought it remotely possible, or even wise?(And histroy will probably prove it was very unwise!)It's very simple. Of all the leaders of Arabic countries, Mubarak was the friendliest to the US, providing us with airbases, logistic support, Soviet weaponry and cover for many black ops in SW. who does Obama support, and who does he cut off at the knees? The answer is obvious.... and instructive.
The answer to "why" is obvious too. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2686841/posts
2. Obama wants to dialogue with Muslim Brotherhood, who are islamic jihadistssee http://rabbireflects.blogspot.com/2011/08/obama-wants-to-dialogue-with-muslim.html
3. Egypt will be taken over by the Muslim BrotherhoodNEW POLL: ‘TROUBLE FOR THE WEST’ AS EGYPTIANS ON PACE TO ELECT MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD
Posted on July 28, 2011 at 7:32am by Jonathon M. Seidl Print »Email »
Comments (200)
Remember Amr Moussa? He’s the Egyptian presidential candidate — who is also a part of the Muslim Brotherhood — who said in May that Hamas — the terror group — is not a terror group. Now, a new Newsweek/Daily Beast poll finds that he‘s the likely winner in Egypt’s upcoming election, and his party is likely to gain power. And according to Newsweek, that’s bad news for Israel and America.
“The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s largest Islamist group, is poised to win the largest share of the vote in parliamentary elections,” the Daily Beast writes, “the man who appears to have a clear shot at the presidency, Amr Moussa, has made his name criticizing Israel; and a large majority of respondents favor amending or revoking the cornerstone of regional stability, the Camp David Accords.”
According to the poll of just over 1,000 respondents, the Muslim Brotherhood’s “Freedom and Justice Party” garnered the most support at 17 percent. The same support ringed true for Moussa:
On paper, the Newsweek/Daily Beast survey found a close race: Former Arab League chief Amr Moussa leads the pack with the support of 16 percent of likely voters, former diplomat Mohamed ElBaradei and former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik follow with 12 percent each, and a smattering of others trail in single digits. But Moussa clearly has wider appeal: When we surveyed likely voters with just the three front-runners, the former foreign minister, who talks tough on Israel, garners 47 percent, with “Undecided” running even with the remaining two. [Emphasis added]
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/new-poll-trouble-for-the-west-as-egyptians-on-pace-to-elect-muslim-brotherhood/
CONCLUSION: Israel is almost surrounded by emerging Islamic caliphate. Libya, Egypt, Hamas, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Syrai/Iran, Jordan will be next. Much of this with with Obama's assistance
Congr. Allen West R Florida on his recent return from Israel
So where does that take us today?
As one sits back and assesses the strategic and operational environment across the Middle East and the Maghreb, one thing becomes quite apparent.
This so-called “Arab Spring” is less about a democratic movement, than it is about the early phase of the restoration of an Islamic Caliphate, the last being the Ottoman Empire.
We are witnessing secular Muslim leaders being deposed in very volatile and unstable nations. This growing Islamic Totalitarianism manifested in militant Islam has had a modus operand of capitalizing on unstable political situations (Iran, Afghanistan, Somalia).
Now we see these same types of instances occurring in Egypt, Libya, and Syria and the rose-colored glasses of some seek to portray this as a great awakening of liberty. History does not support this in the Middle East.
We must evaluate these occurrences through the prism of keen strategic and operational insight which looks out 10, 20, or 30 years.
If we had done so during the deposing of the Shah of Iran, we might have been able to prevent what arose. The Iran with which we must contend today is the major exporter of Islamic totalitarianism and state sponsored terrorism.
In the midst of it all is Israel, that tiny defiant bastion of freedom, liberty, and democracy in an evolving storm. One only needs to survey a map of the Middle East, and the immediate peripheral states to see the very threatening situation.
"\
www.rabbijonathanginsburg.org
Obama wants to dialogue with Muslim Brotherhood-they are islamic jihadists
Please click here to donate to Our Soldiers Speak
Our Soldiers Speak is proud to introduce our in-house analyst, Yaakov Lappin.
Yaakov will be proividing regular, fact based updates on current affairs in Israel. Please forward his analyses to any and all on your mailing list, or visit his blog at www.oursoldiersspeak.org.
Kindest Regards,
Benjamin Anthony, Founder, Our Soldiers Speak
This week - Who are the Muslim Brothers?
History, ideology, and evolving tactics
Major changes are expected to occur in Egypt in the coming months and years, as the country of 83 million reshapes itself to adjust to the post-Mubarak era.
A myriad of political forces are in a race with one another to build up bases of popular support ahead of the upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections, scheduled for October or November.
The elections will provide a most significant glimpse into Egypt's future, that will allow observers to identify the forces that will play big roles in running the country.
As the elections approach, one organization in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood, is enjoying a head start in the race over the other political parties and ideologies.
The Muslim Brotherhood has spent the past six decades working to create a loyal support base among Egyptian society, while waiting for the day that the secular autocracy of Egypt would crumble.
Founded by Hassan al- Banna in 1928, the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood believes in the establishment of a fundamentalist state ruled according to a strict interpretation of Sharia (Islamic law). (i)
The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood's history can be divided into two phases; In the first, it grew from 800 members (1936) to 2 million members (1948), and took part in a direct, ideologically-driven confrontation with the Egyptian state, in an effort to rise to power and realize its vision.
In the second phase, it adopted a deceptive pragmatism aimed at allowing it to survive and grow inside a secular-run Egypt, while also branching out around the world to create a global network, made up of overt and covert branches. (ii)
After its founding, as the movement grew over the next two decades, tensions with the Egyptian establishment grew with it.
In December 1948, A Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated gunman assassinated Egyptian prime minister Mahmud Nokrashi. Soon afterwards, Egyptian security forces killed the movement's founder, Hassan Banna in retaliation. (iii)
In 1954, secular nationalist leader Gamal Abdel Nasser banned the Brotherhood, and it has remained officially prohibited in Egypt right up until the toppling of ex-president Hosni Mubarak.
The Brotherhood's ideology places secular Arab regimes as the biggest obstacle to setting up fundamentalist Islamist states. The organization's motto is: "Allah is our goal, the Koran is our constitution, the Prophet is our leader, jihad is our way, and death in the service of Allah is our loftiest goal." (iv)
These ideas have been expressed most virulently by Islamist ideologue and Muslim Brother Sayyid Qutb, who published the seminal book, Milestones. In his book, Qutb called for the establishment of a 'true' Islamic state.
Qutb divided the world into a "House of Islam," defining this as any country where the most stringent and fundamentalist interpretation of Islam reigns as the law of the land, and the "Land of the War," which is the rest of the world.
"A Muslim can have only two possible relations with Land of War: peace with a contractual agreement, or war,- he wrote. (v)
Muslims who do not support jihad are "hollow and full of contradictions," and stuck in a state of darkness, Qutb wrote. He identified secular Arab states as puppets of the West's satanic camp.
Qutb was executed in Egypt in 1966. His writings have become the foundation of most radical Sunni Islamist organization.
Throughout the 60s and 70s, thousands of members of the Muslim Brotherhood were imprisoned in Egyptian jails, and many were routinely tortured.
The destructive confrontations with the Egyptian state led to a new generation of Muslim Brotherhood leaders who came to the conclusion that in order to achieve their objectives, they would need to adopt a more pragmatic, tactically flexible modus operandi, that would enable them to work within Egypt's political system in order to eventually replace it.
The organization's ideologues came to believe that instant jihad was useless as long as the Muslim masses were not sufficiently indoctrinated with their ideas.
Armed rebellion would be pointless, they reasoned, until the Egyptian people themselves would demand a "House of Islam" Shari'a state.
The Muslim Brothers therefore dedicated themselves to spreading their ideology and interpretation of Islam throughout society in a nonviolent manner, and set up a large network of charities, medical clinics and social aid stations to spread their ideas to the poor.
Hence, while the objective of an Islamist state is unchanged, the means of reaching it " via the ballot rather than the bullet " has evolved.
This is in contrast to violent present-day jihadis, known as Salafis, which are the elements that form the al-Qaeda network. Salafis believe that force of arms alone can create a radical Islamic state.
While Al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brothers emerged from common roots, and share common goals, they have splintered into two wholly different forces today, and a bitter rivalry exists between the two over the correct path to realize their aims.
Current structure
Today, the Muslim Brothers in Egypt are led by Muhammad Badi, elected as head of the organization in 2010.
In addition to its national Egyptian structure, an international Muslim Brotherhood also exists, led by exiled Egyptian Sheikh Yussuf al-Qaradawi, who lives in Qatar, and who is considered by many to be the most preeminent Sunni scholar in the world.
Projected political power in Egypt
The Brothers took a back-seat as an organization during the Egyptian revolution, wanting to ensure that Mubarak was truly gone before raising their profile - a cautious conduct that was learned during its many violent run-ins with the Egyptian state.
Other senior members include the more charismatic Essam el-Erian. During a recent media interview with Radio Free Europe, el-Erian summed up the Brotherhood's goal of having the masses demand a Shari'a state, saying: "Shari'a comes from inside the people." (vi)
The Brothers have formed a political party to contest the upcoming parliamentary elections, called the Freedom and Justice Party. They have insisted that Egypt's new constitution be written after the parliamentary elections, because they are confident that they will win enough seats to significantly influence the future constitution.
Prof. Elie Podeh, of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's Department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies, told me earlier this year that the the exact popularity of the Brothers cannot be measured due to the lack of democracy in Egypt, but that the 2005 parliamentary elections in Egypt saw 88 Muslim Brotherhood representatives - who ran as independents to bypass the ban on them - voted into the 454 member parliament.
The Mubarak regime had become alarmed at their influence, and not one Muslim Brotherhood candidate won a seat during the subsequent 2010 elections.
"That means that 88 out 454 is the minimum number of seats they could win, and their popularity could be greater," Podeh said.
Relations with Israel
In 2009, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt published a draft charter on its website, in which it said that the peace treaty with Israel would be 'reviewed' if it came to power.
More recently, on August 23rd, el-Erian said in his Radio Free Europe interview that he rejected the right of the Jewish people to national self-determination, saying: [The] existence of a state for Jews is against all rules of states all over the world." (vii)
In the same interview, he added: "I hope the revolutions in the Arab world can change the map. All the maps can be changed."
Relations with Hamas
Hamas is one of the branches of the Muslim Brotherhood, as Hamas openly states in its charter.
The Muslim Brotherhood views Hamas as a sister organization which should be supported, and has justified Hamas terrorism and rocket attacks on Israeli civilians.
El-Erian said in his recent interview: "Hamas is a resistance group fighting for freedom and liberation of their lands from occupation. And the West must revise their knowledge about Hamas!"
Should the Muslim Brotherhood form a major part any future Egyptian government, Egypt's relationship with Hamas would drastically change, and the Hamas regime in Gaza could find itself with an ally to its south. Mubarak took a highly hostile view of Hamas, but the Egyptian blockade he place on Gaza together with Israel is already beginning to crumble.
A Muslim Brotherhood elections victory could greatly enhance Hamas's ability to smuggle Iranian weapons through Sinai into Gaza.
Relations with Iran
The Muslim Brotherhood would steer Egypt to friendly relations with Iran, according to El-Erian.
Relations with the US
The Brotherhood views the US as an imperialist dark force in the world, and has hinted it would seek to break Egypt's alliance with Washington should it come to power. "America has, during the Mubarak regime, imposed its policy and vision via Mubarak himself as a pharaoh. Now there are no pharaohs' Any decision must be taken in the parliament, in the cabinet, maybe it will be taken to referenda. There is no way to follow all American policies in the region or the world," El-Erian said. (viii)
(i) Steve Emerson, Report on Roots of Violent Islamist Extremism for State Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, July 10, 2008, http://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/testimony/353.pdf
(ii) Emerson, Report.
(iii) The Muslim Brotherhood, Jewish Virtual Library, http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Terrorism/muslimbrotherhood.html
(iv) Emerson, Report.
(v) Qutb, Milestones.
(vi) Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood Leader Wants Reforms Across The Arab World, Radio Free Europe, April 23, 2011, http://www.rferl.org/content/interview_with_muslim_brotherhood_leader_essam_el-/24305890.html
(vii) Egyptian, Radio Free World
(viii) Egyptian, Radio Free World
Yaakov Lappin is author of the recently published book Virtual Caliphate; Exposing the Islamist State on the Internet, which takes the reader into the heart of the online jihadi presence. The book is available here.
www.amazon.com
There will never be peace with the PA-impossible demands
Abbas Won’t Give Way on Refugee “Return” Even If He Gets State
Jonathan S. Tobin | @tobincommentary 08.29.2011 - 9:30 AM
Those inclined to blame Israel for the lack of peace in the Middle East like to talk about the necessity of a two-state solution. But as much as a scheme that left Jewish and Palestinian Arab states living in peace with each other might seem like the only way out of the century-long conflict, Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas gave us yet another reminder yesterday about the problem with merely focusing on the creation of a Palestinian state. As the Jerusalem Post reports, in an interview with a Jordanian newspaper, Abbas made it clear even if the General Assembly of the United Nations voted to recognize an independent Palestinian state in the 1967 lines, the PA would continue to insist on the “right of return” for Arab refugees to swamp Israel.
If he gets his way, Abbas will have a Jew-free state in the West Bank and Gaza next to a Jewish state that will have to live under the threat of being deluged with Palestinians who would transform it into yet another Arab state. That helps explain why he continues to refuse to recognize the legitimacy of a Jewish state. But, along with this promise of unending strife, Abbas’ statement also points to another issue that explains why his UN initiative represents more of a danger to the PA than it does to Israel.
As Khaled Abu Toameh explains in the Post, if the General Assembly does vote in favor of the Palestinian statehood resolution, it won’t actually create such a state, but it will raise the question of whether or not the PA could be said to still represent the interests of the millions of descendants of the 1948-49 refugees who are still kept in camps by Arab nations. They are currently represented in New York by the Palestine Liberation Organization’s UN observer office. But if the GA votes in favor of statehood then that status will be transferred to the PA, which is the putative government of the West Bank, though not Gaza, which remains under the thrall of the Hamas terrorist movement.
Considering the PLO created the PA after Israel allowed Yasir Arafat back into the territories after the 1993 Oslo Accords, this may strike those not immersed in the legalisms of the UN as confusing. But the transference of representation from the PLO to the PA may actually complicate the efforts of Abbas to try to legally represent the refugees.
Abbas’ remarks about not giving up the right of return also illustrate the zero-sum nature of the conflict from the Palestinian frame of reference. Abbas still balks at recognizing the legitimacy of a Jewish state no matter where its borders would be drawn. Left-wing critics of Israel dismiss this as a non-issue, but the PLO and the PA it spawned came into being fighting against the existence of Israel before the so-called “occupation” of the West Bank and Gaza. Palestinian national identity is inseparable from the idea of opposing Zionist sovereignty over any part of the country and of returning refugees to pre-1967 Israel.
This is why Abbas and his predecessor Yasir Arafat have always refused Israeli offers of an independent state no matter the terms. Though their UN gambit is creating legal problems for the PA, the refugee issue shows it must nonetheless stick to it simply because Abbas’ overriding imperative is to avoid peace talks at any price.
www.israelgreatest.blogspot.com
www.rabbijonathanginsburg.org
www.rabbireflects.blogspot.com
www.rabbijonathanginsburg.net
www.rabbijonathanginsburg.com
Monday, August 29, 2011
radio show this shabbat
I'm speaking on this Shabbat to 10,000 US Veterans or so 12 PM CDT on http://www.thevoiceofveterans.com/ as part of radio program with host and a minister on the topic of Israel and the US. If you want to listen, tune in there. Shomer shabbos? leave the station on.
iPetition Jews can live anywhere in Judea and Samaria Rabbi jonathan Ginsburg
http://www.ipetition.com/str-asp-PetitionID_7-end-SignPetition.htm
1. In 1917, the Balfour Declaration stated that a homeland for the Jewish people should be re-established in the lands of biblical Israel (an area including Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem.) This was confirmed by the League of Nations in 1922 and the U.N. Charter.
2. The Arab nations rejected the U.N. plan and in 1948 invaded the new Jewish State, inciting the local Arab population to flee and thus creating the artificial “refugee problem.”
3. From 1948-1967 Jordan illegally occupied Judea, Samaria, and Jerusalem desecrating and destroying Jewish and Christian religious sites and barring Jews from their historic homeland.
4. In 1967 Jordan invaded Israel. Israel fought a successful defensive war in which it reacquired its original sovereignty over Judea, Samaria, and Jerusalem, reestablishing Jerusalem as its eternal, undivided capital, a fact recognized by the U.S. Congress in 1995.
Therefore:
We, the undersigned, request that the U.S. government support the right of Jews to live anywhere in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria;
Furthermore, we request that the U.S. government fulfill the legislation overwhelmingly passed in December, 1995 supporting Jerusalem as the eternal, undivided capital of Israel and move the U.S. Embassy there, and further request that the President stop invoking the national security waiver to prevent the Embassy's relocation to Jerusalem.
1. In 1917, the Balfour Declaration stated that a homeland for the Jewish people should be re-established in the lands of biblical Israel (an area including Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem.) This was confirmed by the League of Nations in 1922 and the U.N. Charter.
2. The Arab nations rejected the U.N. plan and in 1948 invaded the new Jewish State, inciting the local Arab population to flee and thus creating the artificial “refugee problem.”
3. From 1948-1967 Jordan illegally occupied Judea, Samaria, and Jerusalem desecrating and destroying Jewish and Christian religious sites and barring Jews from their historic homeland.
4. In 1967 Jordan invaded Israel. Israel fought a successful defensive war in which it reacquired its original sovereignty over Judea, Samaria, and Jerusalem, reestablishing Jerusalem as its eternal, undivided capital, a fact recognized by the U.S. Congress in 1995.
Therefore:
We, the undersigned, request that the U.S. government support the right of Jews to live anywhere in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria;
Furthermore, we request that the U.S. government fulfill the legislation overwhelmingly passed in December, 1995 supporting Jerusalem as the eternal, undivided capital of Israel and move the U.S. Embassy there, and further request that the President stop invoking the national security waiver to prevent the Embassy's relocation to Jerusalem.
Iran quiz Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg
I know I am way ahead of the curve and many think I'm crazy and worse ("war monger, monster, racist etc") but I see it so clearly and can't not say what I absolutely believe is the right cost, when everything is weighed. Before reading take this quiz.
Iran quiz
1. How soon will Iran posses nuclear bombs?
2. The Iran President says there was no Holocaust and Israel will be destroyed. Why should we not believe he means it? When he says he does not care if he loses half of Iran's population in a war because it would bring fort h the hidden 12 Imam, why don't we believe him?
3. Do you seriously believe after all these years, that any kind of sanctions will deter Iran from going ahead?
4. Even if our Navy destroyer off Iran's coat can shoot down 95% of Iran's missiles, and Israel in a few years could shoot down most of the rest, are you SO sure of technology and no human error that 0 nuclear bombs will get through?
5. Are you sure we can stop all dirty bombs from getting through cargo at US ports? Stop all Hezbollah suicide bombers with dirty bombs in the backpacks from crossing the Mexican border?
6. Iran has at least 27 sites, many deep underground. Israel has no b52s, is far away and has to cross much enemy territory. The US is also threatened by Iran, is right next door in Iraq, and is being begged by all the rest of the Arab states in Asia to stop Iran. Why should it not be the USA?
7. Even though there will be terrorism, mined gulf, increased oil prices for awhile, is that worse than Iran with nuclear bombs?
8. Many other Arab nations have said they want nuclear bombs if Iran gets them? Is that something the USA can live with?
9. name one issue in the world more important than this?
www.esynagogue.org
www.rabbirflects.blogspot.com
www.israelgreatest.blogspot.com
www.rabbijonathnginsburg.org
www.rabbijonathnginsburg.info
www.rabbijonathnginsburg.com
Iran quiz
1. How soon will Iran posses nuclear bombs?
2. The Iran President says there was no Holocaust and Israel will be destroyed. Why should we not believe he means it? When he says he does not care if he loses half of Iran's population in a war because it would bring fort h the hidden 12 Imam, why don't we believe him?
3. Do you seriously believe after all these years, that any kind of sanctions will deter Iran from going ahead?
4. Even if our Navy destroyer off Iran's coat can shoot down 95% of Iran's missiles, and Israel in a few years could shoot down most of the rest, are you SO sure of technology and no human error that 0 nuclear bombs will get through?
5. Are you sure we can stop all dirty bombs from getting through cargo at US ports? Stop all Hezbollah suicide bombers with dirty bombs in the backpacks from crossing the Mexican border?
6. Iran has at least 27 sites, many deep underground. Israel has no b52s, is far away and has to cross much enemy territory. The US is also threatened by Iran, is right next door in Iraq, and is being begged by all the rest of the Arab states in Asia to stop Iran. Why should it not be the USA?
7. Even though there will be terrorism, mined gulf, increased oil prices for awhile, is that worse than Iran with nuclear bombs?
8. Many other Arab nations have said they want nuclear bombs if Iran gets them? Is that something the USA can live with?
9. name one issue in the world more important than this?
www.esynagogue.org
www.rabbirflects.blogspot.com
www.israelgreatest.blogspot.com
www.rabbijonathnginsburg.org
www.rabbijonathnginsburg.info
www.rabbijonathnginsburg.com
Cong West great piece on his trip to Israel
From Cong. Allen West (just returned from Israel)
Greetings to our constituents, fellow Floridians, and all Americans, this week’s update will be a special edition focused purely on my week-long congressional delegation visit to Israel.
(A few pictures Here)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/allenwestfl/sets/72157627542361210/
Having just returned earlier today- Sunday, August 28th- I want to first extend my sincere thanks to all the great Americans and Israelis that I met on this trip who came up to meet me to personally shake my hand.
This was my second visit to the modern State of Israel and it will certainly not be my last. People always ask you, “What did it feel like to be in Israel?"
For me, the response is quite simple. America is my physical homeland. It is a Constitutional Republic in which my entire adult life has been spent under an oath to support and defend. It embodies the fundamental principles of liberty, freedom of will and conscience, and democracy.
Israel, however, is my spiritual homeland. It is a place about which I have read and studied my entire life. It is the place where my Judeo-Christian faith heritage was born. Israel is the place that completes me as a person.
When you consider the shared values, culture, faith, and commitment to democratic principles, it is easy to understand why many believe America is not complete without Israel.
So, what did I feel while in Israel? I felt a sense of being home, especially on those mornings when I ran from our hotel to the Knesset and around the Old City walls of Jerusalem.
It was tough to not be glued to the stories about the constant rocket and missile attacks coming out of Gaza, while visiting Israel.
We arrived just days after a Thursday terrorist attack which claimed the lives of eight Israeli citizens.
We visited the borders with Lebanon and learned of the 50,000 rockets and missiles now in the arsenal of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, all in violation of United Nations Mandate 1701. But hardly any of that made our American news. Instead, 24/7 coverage of a 5.8 magnitude earthquake and a Tropical Storm/Category 1 Hurricane Irene.
Now, do not get me wrong, these were important events. But what I witnessed was almost “over-coverage,” while sirens were going off daily in southern Israel.
Our delegation visited the so-called “settlements” and all we found were neighborhoods and suburbs. When we went to Bethlehem to visit the birthplace of Jesus- a Jew- our group was not allowed to have our regular Jewish guides or bus drivers because Israeli citizens are not allowed in Bethlehem or the ancient city of Jericho where the Bible teaches us that Joshua blew down the wall with trumpets.
My point is that the hypocrisy is revealing.
I believe the most important question we must begin to ask ourselves is, “What is Palestine?"
The word Palestine comes from the Roman word, Palestina, which was first introduced to the region circa 73 AD. This was after the Romans had conquered and suppressed the Jewish rebellion and Emperor Hadrian decreed that the region would no longer be called Judea, a derivative of one of the Twelve Tribes, Judah. Instead, it would be called Palestina, today, Palestine.
The word Palestina was derived from the word Phillistia, in other words, Phillistines. However, interesting enough, the original Phillistines were Greek.
After World War I and the defeat of the Ottoman Empire, the British Mandate referred to the region in this term, Palestine. And all residents, Jews and Arabs, had passports declaring them from Palestine.
The Peel Commission, the British Mandate, and the United Nations Mandate all sought to create a region where both Jew and Arab could coexist, which the Jews accepted, but the Arabs rejected.
Therefore, let us no longer operate under the misconceived notion that Palestine has anything to do with being Arab. For those who tout, “Free Palestine,” I agree, return it back to the inhabitants who had the land taken from them back in the early 1st Century AD by the Romans.
When we walked last week through a 2,000-year-old tunnel under the ancient City of David to the Western Wall, there can be no historical or archaeological argument to refute that there has always been a nation of Israel.
It is a nation whose borders are clearly stated in the Bible, Numbers Chapter 34, a people who have a definitive bond to the land, their homeland.
So where does that take us today?
As one sits back and assesses the strategic and operational environment across the Middle East and the Maghreb, one thing becomes quite apparent.
This so-called “Arab Spring” is less about a democratic movement, than it is about the early phase of the restoration of an Islamic Caliphate, the last being the Ottoman Empire.
We are witnessing secular Muslim leaders being deposed in very volatile and unstable nations. This growing Islamic Totalitarianism manifested in militant Islam has had a modus operand of capitalizing on unstable political situations (Iran, Afghanistan, Somalia).
Now we see these same types of instances occurring in Egypt, Libya, and Syria and the rose-colored glasses of some seek to portray this as a great awakening of liberty. History does not support this in the Middle East.
We must evaluate these occurrences through the prism of keen strategic and operational insight which looks out 10, 20, or 30 years.
If we had done so during the deposing of the Shah of Iran, we might have been able to prevent what arose. The Iran with which we must contend today is the major exporter of Islamic totalitarianism and state sponsored terrorism.
In the midst of it all is Israel, that tiny defiant bastion of freedom, liberty, and democracy in an evolving storm. One only needs to survey a map of the Middle East, and the immediate peripheral states to see the very threatening situation.
And with that analysis, comes the resulting conclusion that Israel lacks one clear asset, and that is strategic depth for defense.
This is why any intonation of reverting to pre-1967 lines for Israel is not just ludicrous, but insane, and clearly evidences a lack of strategic security intelligence.
Slowly Israel is being surrounded on all sides: Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, an unstable Egypt and Syria, and a theocratic regime in Iran led by a 21st century "Madman."
As well, Israel must contend with an internal infiltration. How many Americans would tolerate having some 50-100 rockets and missiles launched across its border? Then why should we expect Israel to tolerate the same?
The objective could not be any clearer to a seasoned military strategist: isolate and eliminate the modern day Jewish state of Israel.
And what is most appalling, western civilization is watching it happen, again.
It all comes back to visionary leadership. Israel has it with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, whom I had the distinguished honor of meeting.
America is so severely lacking this type of leadership, which is why the enemy is making its move now. The enemy knows that America has a Chamberlain, not a Churchill at the helm.
During our trip, we met with Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad. He spoke of freedom and dignity -- but what of recognition and respect of Israel? Let me be clear, I do not see a credible peace partner in the Palestinian Authority. While we were in Israel, the PA never denounced the most recent heinous terrorist attack. There is no unity between Fatah and Hamas and therefore, no two-state solution exists. At best it would have to be a three-state solution; Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza.
The proposed United Nations unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state is nothing more than a sham, coming from an international organization which has little to no credibility, as evidenced with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) mission.
If the United Nations really wanted to do what is right, they would settle the homeland situation for the world’s largest ethnic group without a homeland, our dear friends, the Kurdish people.
In closing, let us realize that the Muslim Brotherhood is not a college fraternity but an organization with a well-developed strategic plan.
Let us no longer operate in the realm of irrational emotionalism, but rather study and come to learn true geopolitics based upon history and fact.
There is an inextricable bond between America and Israel, and we must stop denying it or feeling ashamed about it. When we visited the Mount of the Beatitudes on the Sea of Galilee, in Matthew Chapter 5, Jesus referred to a city that sits upon a hill. Several American Presidents have made reference to America being that “shining city that sits upon a hill.” I learned that Jews refer to going to Jerusalem as “ascending.”
And I am so grateful to now have firsthand experience running up both Knesset Hill as well as Capitol Hill, both very present beacons of liberty, freedom, and democracy amidst a sea of despots, dictators, autocrats, and theocrats.
God bless Israel, and God bless America!
Steadfast and Loyal
Allen
www.rabbijonathanginsburg.org
www.rabbijonathanginsburg.com
www.rabbijonathanginsburg.info
Greetings to our constituents, fellow Floridians, and all Americans, this week’s update will be a special edition focused purely on my week-long congressional delegation visit to Israel.
(A few pictures Here)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/allenwestfl/sets/72157627542361210/
Having just returned earlier today- Sunday, August 28th- I want to first extend my sincere thanks to all the great Americans and Israelis that I met on this trip who came up to meet me to personally shake my hand.
This was my second visit to the modern State of Israel and it will certainly not be my last. People always ask you, “What did it feel like to be in Israel?"
For me, the response is quite simple. America is my physical homeland. It is a Constitutional Republic in which my entire adult life has been spent under an oath to support and defend. It embodies the fundamental principles of liberty, freedom of will and conscience, and democracy.
Israel, however, is my spiritual homeland. It is a place about which I have read and studied my entire life. It is the place where my Judeo-Christian faith heritage was born. Israel is the place that completes me as a person.
When you consider the shared values, culture, faith, and commitment to democratic principles, it is easy to understand why many believe America is not complete without Israel.
So, what did I feel while in Israel? I felt a sense of being home, especially on those mornings when I ran from our hotel to the Knesset and around the Old City walls of Jerusalem.
It was tough to not be glued to the stories about the constant rocket and missile attacks coming out of Gaza, while visiting Israel.
We arrived just days after a Thursday terrorist attack which claimed the lives of eight Israeli citizens.
We visited the borders with Lebanon and learned of the 50,000 rockets and missiles now in the arsenal of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, all in violation of United Nations Mandate 1701. But hardly any of that made our American news. Instead, 24/7 coverage of a 5.8 magnitude earthquake and a Tropical Storm/Category 1 Hurricane Irene.
Now, do not get me wrong, these were important events. But what I witnessed was almost “over-coverage,” while sirens were going off daily in southern Israel.
Our delegation visited the so-called “settlements” and all we found were neighborhoods and suburbs. When we went to Bethlehem to visit the birthplace of Jesus- a Jew- our group was not allowed to have our regular Jewish guides or bus drivers because Israeli citizens are not allowed in Bethlehem or the ancient city of Jericho where the Bible teaches us that Joshua blew down the wall with trumpets.
My point is that the hypocrisy is revealing.
I believe the most important question we must begin to ask ourselves is, “What is Palestine?"
The word Palestine comes from the Roman word, Palestina, which was first introduced to the region circa 73 AD. This was after the Romans had conquered and suppressed the Jewish rebellion and Emperor Hadrian decreed that the region would no longer be called Judea, a derivative of one of the Twelve Tribes, Judah. Instead, it would be called Palestina, today, Palestine.
The word Palestina was derived from the word Phillistia, in other words, Phillistines. However, interesting enough, the original Phillistines were Greek.
After World War I and the defeat of the Ottoman Empire, the British Mandate referred to the region in this term, Palestine. And all residents, Jews and Arabs, had passports declaring them from Palestine.
The Peel Commission, the British Mandate, and the United Nations Mandate all sought to create a region where both Jew and Arab could coexist, which the Jews accepted, but the Arabs rejected.
Therefore, let us no longer operate under the misconceived notion that Palestine has anything to do with being Arab. For those who tout, “Free Palestine,” I agree, return it back to the inhabitants who had the land taken from them back in the early 1st Century AD by the Romans.
When we walked last week through a 2,000-year-old tunnel under the ancient City of David to the Western Wall, there can be no historical or archaeological argument to refute that there has always been a nation of Israel.
It is a nation whose borders are clearly stated in the Bible, Numbers Chapter 34, a people who have a definitive bond to the land, their homeland.
So where does that take us today?
As one sits back and assesses the strategic and operational environment across the Middle East and the Maghreb, one thing becomes quite apparent.
This so-called “Arab Spring” is less about a democratic movement, than it is about the early phase of the restoration of an Islamic Caliphate, the last being the Ottoman Empire.
We are witnessing secular Muslim leaders being deposed in very volatile and unstable nations. This growing Islamic Totalitarianism manifested in militant Islam has had a modus operand of capitalizing on unstable political situations (Iran, Afghanistan, Somalia).
Now we see these same types of instances occurring in Egypt, Libya, and Syria and the rose-colored glasses of some seek to portray this as a great awakening of liberty. History does not support this in the Middle East.
We must evaluate these occurrences through the prism of keen strategic and operational insight which looks out 10, 20, or 30 years.
If we had done so during the deposing of the Shah of Iran, we might have been able to prevent what arose. The Iran with which we must contend today is the major exporter of Islamic totalitarianism and state sponsored terrorism.
In the midst of it all is Israel, that tiny defiant bastion of freedom, liberty, and democracy in an evolving storm. One only needs to survey a map of the Middle East, and the immediate peripheral states to see the very threatening situation.
And with that analysis, comes the resulting conclusion that Israel lacks one clear asset, and that is strategic depth for defense.
This is why any intonation of reverting to pre-1967 lines for Israel is not just ludicrous, but insane, and clearly evidences a lack of strategic security intelligence.
Slowly Israel is being surrounded on all sides: Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, an unstable Egypt and Syria, and a theocratic regime in Iran led by a 21st century "Madman."
As well, Israel must contend with an internal infiltration. How many Americans would tolerate having some 50-100 rockets and missiles launched across its border? Then why should we expect Israel to tolerate the same?
The objective could not be any clearer to a seasoned military strategist: isolate and eliminate the modern day Jewish state of Israel.
And what is most appalling, western civilization is watching it happen, again.
It all comes back to visionary leadership. Israel has it with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, whom I had the distinguished honor of meeting.
America is so severely lacking this type of leadership, which is why the enemy is making its move now. The enemy knows that America has a Chamberlain, not a Churchill at the helm.
During our trip, we met with Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad. He spoke of freedom and dignity -- but what of recognition and respect of Israel? Let me be clear, I do not see a credible peace partner in the Palestinian Authority. While we were in Israel, the PA never denounced the most recent heinous terrorist attack. There is no unity between Fatah and Hamas and therefore, no two-state solution exists. At best it would have to be a three-state solution; Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza.
The proposed United Nations unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state is nothing more than a sham, coming from an international organization which has little to no credibility, as evidenced with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) mission.
If the United Nations really wanted to do what is right, they would settle the homeland situation for the world’s largest ethnic group without a homeland, our dear friends, the Kurdish people.
In closing, let us realize that the Muslim Brotherhood is not a college fraternity but an organization with a well-developed strategic plan.
Let us no longer operate in the realm of irrational emotionalism, but rather study and come to learn true geopolitics based upon history and fact.
There is an inextricable bond between America and Israel, and we must stop denying it or feeling ashamed about it. When we visited the Mount of the Beatitudes on the Sea of Galilee, in Matthew Chapter 5, Jesus referred to a city that sits upon a hill. Several American Presidents have made reference to America being that “shining city that sits upon a hill.” I learned that Jews refer to going to Jerusalem as “ascending.”
And I am so grateful to now have firsthand experience running up both Knesset Hill as well as Capitol Hill, both very present beacons of liberty, freedom, and democracy amidst a sea of despots, dictators, autocrats, and theocrats.
God bless Israel, and God bless America!
Steadfast and Loyal
Allen
www.rabbijonathanginsburg.org
www.rabbijonathanginsburg.com
www.rabbijonathanginsburg.info
Sunday, August 28, 2011
latest from the PA
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has just laid down his conditions for ending the Palestinians' bid for a U.N. General Assembly vote on full statehood: Total capitulation by Israel.
According to a Jerusalem Post report, Abbas told a Ramallah audience on Saturday that Palestinians would forgo the U.N. vote if they recieved "acceptance of the 1967 lines as the basis for a two-state solution and a cessation of settlement construction."
Such a concession would, in effect, decide the outcome of negotiations over borders before these negotiations have even begun, including the division of Jerusalem. All such issues have always been meant to be decided through bilateral negotiations.
Abbas denied this, however, saying that the Palestinians only
want to fulfill our dream of achieving official recognition of our Palestinian state with full sovereignty over the territories occupied in 1967 and a full membership in the UN.
It is unclear whether this statement, meaningless as it is, constitutes a stalling tactic or an act of desperation. Several European countries have expressed their distaste for the Palestinians' unilateral move at the U.N., and the U.S. has apparently made its displeasure known in no uncertain terms.
Although the story has been officially denied, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat claims that the U.S. consul-general informed him that, in the event of a unilateral declaration of statehood, all U.S. aid to the Palestinian Authority will be cut off. The PA is almost entirely dependent on foreign aid from America and Europe.
According to a Jerusalem Post report, Abbas told a Ramallah audience on Saturday that Palestinians would forgo the U.N. vote if they recieved "acceptance of the 1967 lines as the basis for a two-state solution and a cessation of settlement construction."
Such a concession would, in effect, decide the outcome of negotiations over borders before these negotiations have even begun, including the division of Jerusalem. All such issues have always been meant to be decided through bilateral negotiations.
Abbas denied this, however, saying that the Palestinians only
want to fulfill our dream of achieving official recognition of our Palestinian state with full sovereignty over the territories occupied in 1967 and a full membership in the UN.
It is unclear whether this statement, meaningless as it is, constitutes a stalling tactic or an act of desperation. Several European countries have expressed their distaste for the Palestinians' unilateral move at the U.N., and the U.S. has apparently made its displeasure known in no uncertain terms.
Although the story has been officially denied, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat claims that the U.S. consul-general informed him that, in the event of a unilateral declaration of statehood, all U.S. aid to the Palestinian Authority will be cut off. The PA is almost entirely dependent on foreign aid from America and Europe.
Friday, August 26, 2011
Maimonides on diet and exercise
www.rabbiJonathanginsburg.org
www.rabbiJonathanginsburg.com
www.rabbiJonathanginsburg.info
Thursday, August 25, 2011
PA wants it all!!
The cartoon is a clear example of the PA's lack of recognition of Israel's right to exist, and sends a message that the PA's real goal is a complete dismantling of Israel and its replacement by a Palestinian state. This sentiment is implicit in PA ideology but only occasionally is it expressed so explicitly in its controlled media.
Palestinian Media Watch has reported that the PA continuously presents all of Israel as "Palestine." In recent months, this message appeared in cultural and educational settings.
www.rabbiJonathanginsburg.org
www.rabbiJonathanginsburg.com
www.rabbiJonathanginsburg.info
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
We must stop Iran militarily now Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg
We must stop Iran militarily now Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg
The Moral and Jewish legal Imperative to Stop Iran from Acquiring Nuclear Bombs Immediately
We must convince President Obama and the US Congress that military action alone can stop Iran before it is too late. We need a USA few-month-long sustained bombing campaign of every known Iranian nuclear site. We should widely publicize we will do this to limit civilian casualties. It is necessary and it is the only way to prevent a nightmare.
There is no more pressing issue of our time then stopping Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. They have delivery systems that can reach Israel and Europe and smart bomb delivery capability for the USA and everywhere. The evidence is clear that they are working diligently to develop nuclear weapons. Nothing anyone has tried (diplomacy, sanctions, threats) has, or will stop them. The use of force the only way and there isn’t much time. There will be dire consequences to the use of force, but it will be much worse for the world if force is not used. They say they will use them and we should believe them. The United States alone is capable of stopping them. The Arab world is begging the US to do so. Defenses as they exist today are not 100% guaranteed to stop Iranian missiles and certainly not suitcase dirty bombs. The problem is that Obama and the Congress have no current will to use force. Ron Paul says no problem if Iran gets nuclear weapons. We must mobilize to persuade them to bomb. Such an attack is Jewishly justifiable.
Levitcus 19 teaches : "Do not stand idly by while the blood of your neighbor is spilt"
On Thursday Aug. 25 2011 Iran's president reaffirmed his intention to wipe out Israel
" Ahmadinejad: Iran Determined to Eradicate Israel
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Iran was determined to eradicate Israel, ISNA news agency reported Thursday.
"Iran believes that whoever is for humanity should also be for eradicating the Zionist regime [Israel] as symbol of suppression and discrimination," Ahmadinejad said in an interview with a Lebanese television network, carried by ISNA.
"Iran follows this issue [the eradication of Israel] with determination and decisiveness and will never ever withdraw from this standpoint and policy," the Iranian president added in the interview with the Al-Manar network. (DPA)
Imagine a year from now Iran launches 100 missiles towards Israel with nuclear bombs. The US Destroyer off her coast shoots down 94, Israel missile defense shoots down 4, releasing some radioactivity over the area and 2% get through, destroying Tel Aviv and the north. Imagine Iran send 100 Hezbollah agents with dirty bomb backpacks over the porous Mexican border. Eightb get through and blow up Las vegas, downtown LA, Chicago, Miami, Washingon,New York ETC. Is anyone so confident our impotent sanctions can stop this? If not, we have no choice but bomb Iran now. Israel can't stop them, and nothing we do short of bombing will stop them.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
"The pretext (Holocaust) for the creation of the Zionist regime (Israel) is false "Confronting the Zionist regime is a national and religious duty." "This regime (Israel) will not last long. Do not tie your fate to it ... This regime has no future. Its life has come to an end," he said in a speech broadcast live on state radio.
Will Obama allow this man to control nuclear bombs and missiles?
One. Iran is trying to achieve nuclear weapons capability.
They get closer and closer and have the missiles. It is estimated that Iran will have enough highly enriched uranium for one nuclear bomb within two months and currently has enough low-enriched uranium for three nuclear bombs.” 1
Two. They have delivery systems.
Iran Developing Long-Range Missiles - Reza Kahlili (Washington Times) Iran is also perfecting its missile-delivery systems. Recently, the Revolutionary Guards tested two long-range ballistic missiles, capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. The guards' ballistic missiles have a range of 1,200 miles, covering all U.S. bases in the Middle East and all of Israel, and now they possess missiles from North Korea with a range of 2,000 miles, which covers most of Western Europe.”
Three. Sanctions, hoping for regime change and diplomacy will not stop them “For years it was assumed that economic sanctions and diplomacy would produce a pliable negotiating partner in Iran. But Iran’s truculence has effectively undermined the once-popular notion, while a degree of confusion and consternation has gripped the international community. The often-unstated hope is that denial of critical technologies and sabotage can slow the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program until, somehow, an alternative strategy, or an agreement, emerges. The thinking has been that time is on our side and that Iran’s weak scientific foundation can be further derailed through such pressure. Contrary to such presumptions, however, Iran’s scientific infrastructure has grown in sophistication and capability in the past two decades.” . Ray Takeyh,The writer is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. For full article see http://bombirannow.blogspot.com/2011/08/who-will-stop-iran.html
Sanctions will not work
But Russia and India have made it clear that they intend to continue legitimate trade with Iran, providing Tehran with hope that some nations will accept its solution for the insurance crisis: coverage guaranteed by the Iranian government. "These sanctions have not affected us much," said Mohammad Hussein Dajmar, the managing director of the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL), which has 160 ships in its fleet. "The world has many ports. We will sail to those nations that want to do business with us."
Ehud Barak: History Will Judge Obama on Nuclear Iran
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu “History will judge this [Obama] administration when it comes to the end of its term whether Iran has nuclear weapons or not,” Defense Minister Ehud Barak told Fox News in an interview. He also said sanctions are not enough to stop Iran from reaching nuclear capability.
Four. Dangers of Iran possessing the bomb.
Iran will use the weapons if they possess them
We should take them at their word that they will use them. Mutually Assured Destruction does not work with a suicide bomber mentality government. Ahmadinejad would sacrifice half of Iran to wipe out Israel' Jerusalem Post ^ | | DAVID HOROVITZ Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, if he ever became the supreme decision maker in his country, would "sacrifice half of Iran for the sake of eliminating Israel," Giora Eiland, Israel's former national security adviser, told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday. The Iranian president, he said, "has a religious conviction that Israel's demise is essential to the restoration of Muslim glory, that the Zionist thorn in the heart of the Islamic nations must be removed. And he will pay almost any price to right the perceived historic wrong. If he becomes the supreme leader and has a nuclear capability, that's a real threat." Reza Kahlili is a pseudonym for the author of a book called “A Time To Betray: The Astonishing Double Life of a CIA Agent Inside the Revolutionary Guard of Iran.” He joined the Revolutionary guard in 1979. He contacted the CIA and worked as an agent. In July, speaking in Washington, he predicted that Iran will eventually attack Israel, Europe and the Gulf. He advocated a preemptive military strike saying, “Stop dreaming please, you’re not dealing with rational people. Every time you extend a hand, it is not seen as sincerity but stupidity.”
There are other dangers too. Unless Jerusalem bombs, the Israelis will soon be confronting a situation without historical parallel. We’re not talking about the stolid (but at times dangerously foolish) Pakistani Army controlling nuclear weapons; we’re talking about folks who’ve maintained terrorist liaison relationships with most of the Middle East’s radical Muslim groups…Without a raid, if the Iranians get the bomb, Europe’s appeasement reflex will kick in and the EU sanctions regime will collapse, leaving the Americans alone to contain the Islamic Republic. Most of the Gulf Arabs will probably kowtow to Persia, having more fear of Iran than confidence in the defensive assurances of the United States. And Sunni Arabs who don’t view an Iranian bomb as a plus for the Muslim world will, at daunting speed, become much more interested in “nuclear energy”; the Saudis, who likely helped Islamabad go nuclear, will just call in their chits with the Pakistani military
Five. The Arab world wants the USA or Israel to stop Iran
The Israelis know that many in the Sunni Arab world would be enormously relieved if the Israelis did what the Americans have declined to take on. The United Arab Emirates’ ambassador to the United States recently revealed what is likely a Sunni Arab consensus: Bombing Iran might be bad; allowing Khamenei to have a nuke would be worse. 3
Six. Time is running out to bomb
Ehud Barak: History Will Judge Obama on Nuclear Iran
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu Barak estimated that Iran “technically” may be able to possess a nuclear weapon within a year and a half “if they break all the rules.” He explained the major problem is that Iran may “become immune” to a military strike by building several sites and protecting them by burying them deep underground.
Seven. The USA currently does not intend to stop them
The USA is not trying to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons
US drops ball on Iranian nuks.
First the numerous skipped deadlines….the silence and lack of support for Iranian protesters..the continual pushback of the date that Iran would be nuclear-weapon capable..and now “US has no problem with Iran’s Busherh atomic plant”. Iran is rich with natural gas- a relatively clean way to generate electricity. Iran does not need nuclear power. “ Ed Lasky
“And if we assume that ultimately there will be sanctions, so what? The involvement with sanctions, who's for and who's against, when, why and to what extent, deflects from the primary problem - the absence of an American strategy for tough negotiations with Iran. Even more serious, however, is that there are worrying signs that the Obama administration is beginning to resign itself not only to the fact that Iran will continue to enrich uranium, but also to recognition that the Islamic republic could ultimately build a nuclear bomb.” 4
Eight. A sustained US bombing campaign is the only way.
The US Navy believes its destroyer off the shore of Iran can shoot down any Iranian missiles. With 100% accuracy? Can it stop 100% cargo coming into to world ports? Dirty bombs being smuggled across porous borders.“Without genuine American determination, there is no prospect of preventing the Iranians from developing nuclear weapons.” The writer is a senior research associate at the Institute for National Security Studies, where she is also director of the Arms Control and Regional Security Project. 5
Diplomacy and sanctions won't stop Iran from building a nuclear warhead, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu."There has only been one time that Iran actually stopped the program," Netanyahu told Fox News' Chris Wallace Sunday. "That was when it feared U.S. military action."The prime minister agreed with CIA Director Leon Panetta that sanctions would "probably not" stop the Iranians http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/node/38298..
Nine. Jewish law justifies military action
Halachik justification for preemptive bombing campaign to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Such a war would be a mamlechet mitzvah.
The Torah does not expect us to submit to armed aggression, to stand silently and passively when others seek to conquer and dominate us. The people of Israel have the right to defend themselves from attack.
Indeed, we are commanded to do so: the obligation to defend and preserve our lives overrides virtually every other religious duty.[10] Though the word "mitzvah" has a particularly Jewish connotation, there is no reason to believe that the Jews are the only people that is entitled to self-defense. Every nation must possess the right to take up arms if necessary to protect itself and its citizens against military attack.
Analogy using Israel’s strike on Iraqi reactor in 1981
All we can say is that if the Iraqis were building a bomb there, then Israel was morally justified in attacking the facility in the name of national defense. When diplomacy fails, when our foes spurn the offer of peace that our tradition bids us to make them, when they are clearly bent upon their aggressive course, then the time to initiate preemptive action is sooner rather than later. 8
10. Yes there would be negative be consequences, but on balance much less probelmactic than allowing Iran to go nuclear. . Iran may mine the Gulf or sink ships making it impossible to transport gasoline. They may unleash terrorists cells everywhere, have Hezbollah and Hamas send its 70,000 missiles at Israel etc. Not stopping them though will be much worse. Contemplate one nuclear missile getting through Israeli defenses destroying Tel Aviv, or dirty bombs in LA, Chicago, NY etc.
11. Will/Should Israel have to take care of it?
a. Why Hasn't Israel Bombed Iran (Yet)?
The military risks are large; the political risks could be even bigger.
By BRET STEPHENS
Here are four theories in ascending order of significance and plausibility.
The first is that Israeli military planners have concluded that any attack would be unlikely to succeed (or succeed at a reasonable price). …senior Israeli military and political leaders insist it is not completely beyond it.
A second theory is that Israel is biding its time as it improves its military capabilities on both its offensive and defensive ends..
The third theory concerns the internal dynamics of Israeli politics. Mr. Netanyahu may favor a strike, but he will not order one without the consent of Defense Minister Ehud Barak, President Shimon Peres, Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi and perhaps also Mossad chief Meir Dagan. This inner cabinet is said to be uniformly against a strike, with the wavering exception of Mr. Barak. But Mr. Ashkenazi and Mr. Dagan are due to step down within a few months, and who Mr. Netanyahu chooses to replace them will have a material bearing on the government's attitude toward a strike.
Finally, Israeli leaders are mindful of history. Put aside the routine comparisons between a prospective military strike on Iran with Israel's quick and effective destruction of Iraq's Osirak reactor in 1981. As I'm reminded by Michael Doran, a Middle East scholar at NYU, Israel's leaders are probably no less alert to the lessons of the Suez War in 1956. Back then, a successful military operation by Britain, France and Israel to humiliate Egypt's Gamel Abdel Nasser (in many ways the Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of his day) fell afoul of the determined political opposition of the Eisenhower administration, which mistakenly thought that it could curry favor with the Arabs by visibly distancing itself from Israel and its traditional European allies. Sound familiar?
“Unless Jerusalem bombs, the Israelis will soon be confronting a situation without historical parallel. We’re not talking about the stolid (but at times dangerously foolish) Pakistani Army controlling nuclear weapons; we’re talking about folks who’ve maintained terrorist liaison relationships with most of the Middle East’s radical Muslim groups…Without a raid, if the Iranians get the bomb, Europe’s appeasement reflex will kick in and the EU sanctions regime will collapse, leaving the Americans alone to contain the Islamic Republic. Most of the Gulf Arabs will probably kowtow to Persia, having more fear of Iran than confidence in the defensive assurances of the United States. And Sunni Arabs who don’t view an Iranian bomb as a plus for the Muslim world will, at daunting speed, become much more interested in “nuclear energy”; the Saudis, who likely helped Islamabad go nuclear, will just call in their chits with the Pakistani military. So then, does the Israeli air force think it can do it? Historically, Israeli politicians have taken the assessments of their air force as canonical. If the air command believes it can, will Bibi Netanyahu and his cabinet proceed with preemption, which has, most Israelis will tell you, repeatedly saved the Jewish state from terrible situations? 9.
Therefore, it is our sacred and solemn duty to work day and night to convince President Obama and the US Congress that military action alone can stop Iran before it is too late.
Notes
1. DAILY ALERT Monday, August 1, 2011
Iran Developing Long-Range Missiles - Reza Kahlili (Washington Times)
2. ibid
3. Should Israel Bomb Iran? Better safe than sorry
BY Reuel Marc Gerecht
http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/should-israel-bomb-iran
4. http://bombirannow.blogspot.com/2011/08/us-wont-stop-iran.html
5. http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/sanctions-alone-won-t-stop-iran-s-nuclear-work-1.265981
6. http://bombirannow.blogspot.com/2011/08/why-hasnt-israel-bombed-yet.html
7. http://bombirannow.blogspot.com/2011/08/good-time-for-israel-to-bomb.html
8. http://bombirannow.blogspot.com/2011/08/jewish-justification-for-bombing.html
9. http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/should-israel-bomb-iran Should Israel Bomb Iran?
Better safe than sorry BY Reuel Marc Gerecht
The Moral and Jewish legal Imperative to Stop Iran from Acquiring Nuclear Bombs Immediately
We must convince President Obama and the US Congress that military action alone can stop Iran before it is too late. We need a USA few-month-long sustained bombing campaign of every known Iranian nuclear site. We should widely publicize we will do this to limit civilian casualties. It is necessary and it is the only way to prevent a nightmare.
There is no more pressing issue of our time then stopping Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. They have delivery systems that can reach Israel and Europe and smart bomb delivery capability for the USA and everywhere. The evidence is clear that they are working diligently to develop nuclear weapons. Nothing anyone has tried (diplomacy, sanctions, threats) has, or will stop them. The use of force the only way and there isn’t much time. There will be dire consequences to the use of force, but it will be much worse for the world if force is not used. They say they will use them and we should believe them. The United States alone is capable of stopping them. The Arab world is begging the US to do so. Defenses as they exist today are not 100% guaranteed to stop Iranian missiles and certainly not suitcase dirty bombs. The problem is that Obama and the Congress have no current will to use force. Ron Paul says no problem if Iran gets nuclear weapons. We must mobilize to persuade them to bomb. Such an attack is Jewishly justifiable.
Levitcus 19 teaches : "Do not stand idly by while the blood of your neighbor is spilt"
On Thursday Aug. 25 2011 Iran's president reaffirmed his intention to wipe out Israel
" Ahmadinejad: Iran Determined to Eradicate Israel
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Iran was determined to eradicate Israel, ISNA news agency reported Thursday.
"Iran believes that whoever is for humanity should also be for eradicating the Zionist regime [Israel] as symbol of suppression and discrimination," Ahmadinejad said in an interview with a Lebanese television network, carried by ISNA.
"Iran follows this issue [the eradication of Israel] with determination and decisiveness and will never ever withdraw from this standpoint and policy," the Iranian president added in the interview with the Al-Manar network. (DPA)
Imagine a year from now Iran launches 100 missiles towards Israel with nuclear bombs. The US Destroyer off her coast shoots down 94, Israel missile defense shoots down 4, releasing some radioactivity over the area and 2% get through, destroying Tel Aviv and the north. Imagine Iran send 100 Hezbollah agents with dirty bomb backpacks over the porous Mexican border. Eightb get through and blow up Las vegas, downtown LA, Chicago, Miami, Washingon,New York ETC. Is anyone so confident our impotent sanctions can stop this? If not, we have no choice but bomb Iran now. Israel can't stop them, and nothing we do short of bombing will stop them.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
"The pretext (Holocaust) for the creation of the Zionist regime (Israel) is false "Confronting the Zionist regime is a national and religious duty." "This regime (Israel) will not last long. Do not tie your fate to it ... This regime has no future. Its life has come to an end," he said in a speech broadcast live on state radio.
Will Obama allow this man to control nuclear bombs and missiles?
One. Iran is trying to achieve nuclear weapons capability.
They get closer and closer and have the missiles. It is estimated that Iran will have enough highly enriched uranium for one nuclear bomb within two months and currently has enough low-enriched uranium for three nuclear bombs.” 1
Two. They have delivery systems.
Iran Developing Long-Range Missiles - Reza Kahlili (Washington Times) Iran is also perfecting its missile-delivery systems. Recently, the Revolutionary Guards tested two long-range ballistic missiles, capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. The guards' ballistic missiles have a range of 1,200 miles, covering all U.S. bases in the Middle East and all of Israel, and now they possess missiles from North Korea with a range of 2,000 miles, which covers most of Western Europe.”
Three. Sanctions, hoping for regime change and diplomacy will not stop them “For years it was assumed that economic sanctions and diplomacy would produce a pliable negotiating partner in Iran. But Iran’s truculence has effectively undermined the once-popular notion, while a degree of confusion and consternation has gripped the international community. The often-unstated hope is that denial of critical technologies and sabotage can slow the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program until, somehow, an alternative strategy, or an agreement, emerges. The thinking has been that time is on our side and that Iran’s weak scientific foundation can be further derailed through such pressure. Contrary to such presumptions, however, Iran’s scientific infrastructure has grown in sophistication and capability in the past two decades.” . Ray Takeyh,The writer is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. For full article see http://bombirannow.blogspot.com/2011/08/who-will-stop-iran.html
Sanctions will not work
But Russia and India have made it clear that they intend to continue legitimate trade with Iran, providing Tehran with hope that some nations will accept its solution for the insurance crisis: coverage guaranteed by the Iranian government. "These sanctions have not affected us much," said Mohammad Hussein Dajmar, the managing director of the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL), which has 160 ships in its fleet. "The world has many ports. We will sail to those nations that want to do business with us."
Ehud Barak: History Will Judge Obama on Nuclear Iran
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu “History will judge this [Obama] administration when it comes to the end of its term whether Iran has nuclear weapons or not,” Defense Minister Ehud Barak told Fox News in an interview. He also said sanctions are not enough to stop Iran from reaching nuclear capability.
Four. Dangers of Iran possessing the bomb.
Iran will use the weapons if they possess them
We should take them at their word that they will use them. Mutually Assured Destruction does not work with a suicide bomber mentality government. Ahmadinejad would sacrifice half of Iran to wipe out Israel' Jerusalem Post ^ | | DAVID HOROVITZ Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, if he ever became the supreme decision maker in his country, would "sacrifice half of Iran for the sake of eliminating Israel," Giora Eiland, Israel's former national security adviser, told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday. The Iranian president, he said, "has a religious conviction that Israel's demise is essential to the restoration of Muslim glory, that the Zionist thorn in the heart of the Islamic nations must be removed. And he will pay almost any price to right the perceived historic wrong. If he becomes the supreme leader and has a nuclear capability, that's a real threat." Reza Kahlili is a pseudonym for the author of a book called “A Time To Betray: The Astonishing Double Life of a CIA Agent Inside the Revolutionary Guard of Iran.” He joined the Revolutionary guard in 1979. He contacted the CIA and worked as an agent. In July, speaking in Washington, he predicted that Iran will eventually attack Israel, Europe and the Gulf. He advocated a preemptive military strike saying, “Stop dreaming please, you’re not dealing with rational people. Every time you extend a hand, it is not seen as sincerity but stupidity.”
There are other dangers too. Unless Jerusalem bombs, the Israelis will soon be confronting a situation without historical parallel. We’re not talking about the stolid (but at times dangerously foolish) Pakistani Army controlling nuclear weapons; we’re talking about folks who’ve maintained terrorist liaison relationships with most of the Middle East’s radical Muslim groups…Without a raid, if the Iranians get the bomb, Europe’s appeasement reflex will kick in and the EU sanctions regime will collapse, leaving the Americans alone to contain the Islamic Republic. Most of the Gulf Arabs will probably kowtow to Persia, having more fear of Iran than confidence in the defensive assurances of the United States. And Sunni Arabs who don’t view an Iranian bomb as a plus for the Muslim world will, at daunting speed, become much more interested in “nuclear energy”; the Saudis, who likely helped Islamabad go nuclear, will just call in their chits with the Pakistani military
Five. The Arab world wants the USA or Israel to stop Iran
The Israelis know that many in the Sunni Arab world would be enormously relieved if the Israelis did what the Americans have declined to take on. The United Arab Emirates’ ambassador to the United States recently revealed what is likely a Sunni Arab consensus: Bombing Iran might be bad; allowing Khamenei to have a nuke would be worse. 3
Six. Time is running out to bomb
Ehud Barak: History Will Judge Obama on Nuclear Iran
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu Barak estimated that Iran “technically” may be able to possess a nuclear weapon within a year and a half “if they break all the rules.” He explained the major problem is that Iran may “become immune” to a military strike by building several sites and protecting them by burying them deep underground.
Seven. The USA currently does not intend to stop them
The USA is not trying to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons
US drops ball on Iranian nuks.
First the numerous skipped deadlines….the silence and lack of support for Iranian protesters..the continual pushback of the date that Iran would be nuclear-weapon capable..and now “US has no problem with Iran’s Busherh atomic plant”. Iran is rich with natural gas- a relatively clean way to generate electricity. Iran does not need nuclear power. “ Ed Lasky
“And if we assume that ultimately there will be sanctions, so what? The involvement with sanctions, who's for and who's against, when, why and to what extent, deflects from the primary problem - the absence of an American strategy for tough negotiations with Iran. Even more serious, however, is that there are worrying signs that the Obama administration is beginning to resign itself not only to the fact that Iran will continue to enrich uranium, but also to recognition that the Islamic republic could ultimately build a nuclear bomb.” 4
Eight. A sustained US bombing campaign is the only way.
The US Navy believes its destroyer off the shore of Iran can shoot down any Iranian missiles. With 100% accuracy? Can it stop 100% cargo coming into to world ports? Dirty bombs being smuggled across porous borders.“Without genuine American determination, there is no prospect of preventing the Iranians from developing nuclear weapons.” The writer is a senior research associate at the Institute for National Security Studies, where she is also director of the Arms Control and Regional Security Project. 5
Diplomacy and sanctions won't stop Iran from building a nuclear warhead, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu."There has only been one time that Iran actually stopped the program," Netanyahu told Fox News' Chris Wallace Sunday. "That was when it feared U.S. military action."The prime minister agreed with CIA Director Leon Panetta that sanctions would "probably not" stop the Iranians http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/node/38298..
Nine. Jewish law justifies military action
Halachik justification for preemptive bombing campaign to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Such a war would be a mamlechet mitzvah.
The Torah does not expect us to submit to armed aggression, to stand silently and passively when others seek to conquer and dominate us. The people of Israel have the right to defend themselves from attack.
Indeed, we are commanded to do so: the obligation to defend and preserve our lives overrides virtually every other religious duty.[10] Though the word "mitzvah" has a particularly Jewish connotation, there is no reason to believe that the Jews are the only people that is entitled to self-defense. Every nation must possess the right to take up arms if necessary to protect itself and its citizens against military attack.
Analogy using Israel’s strike on Iraqi reactor in 1981
All we can say is that if the Iraqis were building a bomb there, then Israel was morally justified in attacking the facility in the name of national defense. When diplomacy fails, when our foes spurn the offer of peace that our tradition bids us to make them, when they are clearly bent upon their aggressive course, then the time to initiate preemptive action is sooner rather than later. 8
10. Yes there would be negative be consequences, but on balance much less probelmactic than allowing Iran to go nuclear. . Iran may mine the Gulf or sink ships making it impossible to transport gasoline. They may unleash terrorists cells everywhere, have Hezbollah and Hamas send its 70,000 missiles at Israel etc. Not stopping them though will be much worse. Contemplate one nuclear missile getting through Israeli defenses destroying Tel Aviv, or dirty bombs in LA, Chicago, NY etc.
11. Will/Should Israel have to take care of it?
a. Why Hasn't Israel Bombed Iran (Yet)?
The military risks are large; the political risks could be even bigger.
By BRET STEPHENS
Here are four theories in ascending order of significance and plausibility.
The first is that Israeli military planners have concluded that any attack would be unlikely to succeed (or succeed at a reasonable price). …senior Israeli military and political leaders insist it is not completely beyond it.
A second theory is that Israel is biding its time as it improves its military capabilities on both its offensive and defensive ends..
The third theory concerns the internal dynamics of Israeli politics. Mr. Netanyahu may favor a strike, but he will not order one without the consent of Defense Minister Ehud Barak, President Shimon Peres, Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi and perhaps also Mossad chief Meir Dagan. This inner cabinet is said to be uniformly against a strike, with the wavering exception of Mr. Barak. But Mr. Ashkenazi and Mr. Dagan are due to step down within a few months, and who Mr. Netanyahu chooses to replace them will have a material bearing on the government's attitude toward a strike.
Finally, Israeli leaders are mindful of history. Put aside the routine comparisons between a prospective military strike on Iran with Israel's quick and effective destruction of Iraq's Osirak reactor in 1981. As I'm reminded by Michael Doran, a Middle East scholar at NYU, Israel's leaders are probably no less alert to the lessons of the Suez War in 1956. Back then, a successful military operation by Britain, France and Israel to humiliate Egypt's Gamel Abdel Nasser (in many ways the Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of his day) fell afoul of the determined political opposition of the Eisenhower administration, which mistakenly thought that it could curry favor with the Arabs by visibly distancing itself from Israel and its traditional European allies. Sound familiar?
“Unless Jerusalem bombs, the Israelis will soon be confronting a situation without historical parallel. We’re not talking about the stolid (but at times dangerously foolish) Pakistani Army controlling nuclear weapons; we’re talking about folks who’ve maintained terrorist liaison relationships with most of the Middle East’s radical Muslim groups…Without a raid, if the Iranians get the bomb, Europe’s appeasement reflex will kick in and the EU sanctions regime will collapse, leaving the Americans alone to contain the Islamic Republic. Most of the Gulf Arabs will probably kowtow to Persia, having more fear of Iran than confidence in the defensive assurances of the United States. And Sunni Arabs who don’t view an Iranian bomb as a plus for the Muslim world will, at daunting speed, become much more interested in “nuclear energy”; the Saudis, who likely helped Islamabad go nuclear, will just call in their chits with the Pakistani military. So then, does the Israeli air force think it can do it? Historically, Israeli politicians have taken the assessments of their air force as canonical. If the air command believes it can, will Bibi Netanyahu and his cabinet proceed with preemption, which has, most Israelis will tell you, repeatedly saved the Jewish state from terrible situations? 9.
Therefore, it is our sacred and solemn duty to work day and night to convince President Obama and the US Congress that military action alone can stop Iran before it is too late.
Notes
1. DAILY ALERT Monday, August 1, 2011
Iran Developing Long-Range Missiles - Reza Kahlili (Washington Times)
2. ibid
3. Should Israel Bomb Iran? Better safe than sorry
BY Reuel Marc Gerecht
http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/should-israel-bomb-iran
4. http://bombirannow.blogspot.com/2011/08/us-wont-stop-iran.html
5. http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/sanctions-alone-won-t-stop-iran-s-nuclear-work-1.265981
6. http://bombirannow.blogspot.com/2011/08/why-hasnt-israel-bombed-yet.html
7. http://bombirannow.blogspot.com/2011/08/good-time-for-israel-to-bomb.html
8. http://bombirannow.blogspot.com/2011/08/jewish-justification-for-bombing.html
9. http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/should-israel-bomb-iran Should Israel Bomb Iran?
Better safe than sorry BY Reuel Marc Gerecht
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Israel must destroy Hamas
Pinpoint strikes and limited retaliation won't end the terror from Gaza, writes one of Israel's leading columnists. Only the total destruction of Hamas will allow Israel to live in peace.
Yoram Ettinger, writing in Israel Hayom a few days after terror attacks in Israel killed seven people, says that "co-existence" is not a viable option when dealing with terrorists groups.
A decisive defeat of terrorism requires a victory over – and not coexistence or ceasefire agreements with – terrorism. We need to uproot – not just stop – terrorism. Any response to terrorism that falls short of devastating the ideological, political, financial, logistic and operational terrorist infrastructures only serves to reassure terrorists that they are immune to annihilation.
Moreover, it nurtures their hope-driven terrorism. They hope to destroy Israel’s defiance, wreck Israel’s steadfastness, and sustain the momentum of sweeping Israeli ideological and territorial retreats between the years 1993-2011.
And the more defensive -- rather than offensive -- Israel becomes, the more terrorists are emboldened.
Limited response has also been implemented in order to soothe international public opinion - which is never satisfied with Israeli concessions - thus recklessly subordinating national security to public diplomacy considerations. Sometimes it yields a false sense of security and enhances short-term tactical popularity.
However, limited response always undermines long-term strategic interests and international respect towards Israel, unleashing more pressure on Israel, radicalizing Palestinian terrorism and distancing the region from peace.
Whether Israel decides to live with terrorism or destroy it will become apparent in the days to come.
www.rabbijonathanginsburg.com
Yoram Ettinger, writing in Israel Hayom a few days after terror attacks in Israel killed seven people, says that "co-existence" is not a viable option when dealing with terrorists groups.
A decisive defeat of terrorism requires a victory over – and not coexistence or ceasefire agreements with – terrorism. We need to uproot – not just stop – terrorism. Any response to terrorism that falls short of devastating the ideological, political, financial, logistic and operational terrorist infrastructures only serves to reassure terrorists that they are immune to annihilation.
Moreover, it nurtures their hope-driven terrorism. They hope to destroy Israel’s defiance, wreck Israel’s steadfastness, and sustain the momentum of sweeping Israeli ideological and territorial retreats between the years 1993-2011.
And the more defensive -- rather than offensive -- Israel becomes, the more terrorists are emboldened.
Limited response has also been implemented in order to soothe international public opinion - which is never satisfied with Israeli concessions - thus recklessly subordinating national security to public diplomacy considerations. Sometimes it yields a false sense of security and enhances short-term tactical popularity.
However, limited response always undermines long-term strategic interests and international respect towards Israel, unleashing more pressure on Israel, radicalizing Palestinian terrorism and distancing the region from peace.
Whether Israel decides to live with terrorism or destroy it will become apparent in the days to come.
www.rabbijonathanginsburg.com
Monday, August 22, 2011
Not Arab Spring, Islamic ascendancy
From Newsmax magazine Sept 2011 issue article on Arab Spring
Obama Peace Chance with Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood
"Today the MB is quietly gaining influence in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Syria, Jordan and Yemen....In Egypt the secular reformers, were routed 78-22% by advocates of the MB demand for quick elections that are certain to favor Islamists... What is happening in the region is an ISLAMIC ascendancy, not an Arab Spring....In Egypt alone, the MB has an estimated 100,000 members...If the MB appears in any way to be moderate, IT IS ONLY in comparison to other groups that are even worse. Already MB splinter groups are campainging openly...The MB may seem like unusual company for the Obama administration to keep diplomatically, but it is not alone. The British too.. James Brandon, head of resarch at the Quilliam Foundation, a think tank that studies extremnist movements, told the Jer. Post that diplomacy will only embolden the MB, which he called a "past master of using such engagement to further its own anti-Western agenda and sideline more liberal Muslim voices." McCarthy, who has witnessed first-hand the devestation wrought by radical islamists on US soil, tells Newsmax that while the MB has some tactical disagreements with al-Qaida, they both support terrorism. And they want Shariah implemented as the necessary precondition
to Islamicizing societies and ultimately uniting them under a global caliphate."
www.rabbijonathanginsburg.info
Obama Peace Chance with Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood
"Today the MB is quietly gaining influence in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Syria, Jordan and Yemen....In Egypt the secular reformers, were routed 78-22% by advocates of the MB demand for quick elections that are certain to favor Islamists... What is happening in the region is an ISLAMIC ascendancy, not an Arab Spring....In Egypt alone, the MB has an estimated 100,000 members...If the MB appears in any way to be moderate, IT IS ONLY in comparison to other groups that are even worse. Already MB splinter groups are campainging openly...The MB may seem like unusual company for the Obama administration to keep diplomatically, but it is not alone. The British too.. James Brandon, head of resarch at the Quilliam Foundation, a think tank that studies extremnist movements, told the Jer. Post that diplomacy will only embolden the MB, which he called a "past master of using such engagement to further its own anti-Western agenda and sideline more liberal Muslim voices." McCarthy, who has witnessed first-hand the devestation wrought by radical islamists on US soil, tells Newsmax that while the MB has some tactical disagreements with al-Qaida, they both support terrorism. And they want Shariah implemented as the necessary precondition
to Islamicizing societies and ultimately uniting them under a global caliphate."
www.rabbijonathanginsburg.info
GOP candidates on Israel Jer Post
Tevi Troy, who served as a Jewish liaison in the George W. Bush White House, pushed back against the notion that the GOP candidates represented a threat for Israel.
“It would be hard to find a more pro-Israel collective than the people running for president on the Republican side of the aisle,” he said. “I haven’t seen anything that indicates a diminution of support for Israel.”
And he argued that politicians who were more interested in America going it alone could actually translate into more support for Israel, because they would be less concerned about placating the international community’s antagonism toward the Jewish state.
“They might be willing to take a stronger stand for Israel because they’re willing to risk criticism in the international arena,” he said.
So far, the Republican contenders have spoken of strong support for Israel and used the issue to take aim at Obama.
“He’s treating Israel the same way so many European countries have: with suspicion, distrust and an assumption that Israel is at fault,” Romney charged in the speech launching his presidential bid, in one of his only references to foreign policy.
“He seems firmly and clearly determined to undermine our longtime friend and ally.”
And Troy argued that the concerns American Jews have about Obama’s stance on Israel is their paramount foreign policy issue, and would trump any anxiety about an isolationist streak.
“The Obama administration’s policy toward Israel is the one that would concern Jewish voters who might be willing to consider a Republican,” he said. “They would be comforted by the views that the bulk of the Republican candidates have on Israel.”
Dorf, however, said the vast majority of criticism regarding Obama’s stance on Israel has come from the 20 percent of the Jewish community that reliably votes Republican. He dismissed the impact they would have on the race.
“Those are [the ones] we in politics call the unpersuadables,” he said.
According to Lawrence Korb – a former assistant secretary of defense, now with the Center for American Progress – however isolationist the Republican party veers, it sees Israel as different than other international alliances.
“Israel is separate. Regardless of whether people say we ought not to referee the world, there will always be support for Israel,” he said.
“It would be hard to find a more pro-Israel collective than the people running for president on the Republican side of the aisle,” he said. “I haven’t seen anything that indicates a diminution of support for Israel.”
And he argued that politicians who were more interested in America going it alone could actually translate into more support for Israel, because they would be less concerned about placating the international community’s antagonism toward the Jewish state.
“They might be willing to take a stronger stand for Israel because they’re willing to risk criticism in the international arena,” he said.
So far, the Republican contenders have spoken of strong support for Israel and used the issue to take aim at Obama.
“He’s treating Israel the same way so many European countries have: with suspicion, distrust and an assumption that Israel is at fault,” Romney charged in the speech launching his presidential bid, in one of his only references to foreign policy.
“He seems firmly and clearly determined to undermine our longtime friend and ally.”
And Troy argued that the concerns American Jews have about Obama’s stance on Israel is their paramount foreign policy issue, and would trump any anxiety about an isolationist streak.
“The Obama administration’s policy toward Israel is the one that would concern Jewish voters who might be willing to consider a Republican,” he said. “They would be comforted by the views that the bulk of the Republican candidates have on Israel.”
Dorf, however, said the vast majority of criticism regarding Obama’s stance on Israel has come from the 20 percent of the Jewish community that reliably votes Republican. He dismissed the impact they would have on the race.
“Those are [the ones] we in politics call the unpersuadables,” he said.
According to Lawrence Korb – a former assistant secretary of defense, now with the Center for American Progress – however isolationist the Republican party veers, it sees Israel as different than other international alliances.
“Israel is separate. Regardless of whether people say we ought not to referee the world, there will always be support for Israel,” he said.
Watch Glen Beck in Israel on the internet
Dear Friends:
For those of us who could not be in Israel at this historic time with Glenn Beck and his RESORTING COURAGE events in Israel, we can, through the internet, watch four major events.
Sign up for GBTV.
(If you can’t watch the events live, you can watch the replays.)
For those of us who could not be in Israel at this historic time with Glenn Beck and his RESORTING COURAGE events in Israel, we can, through the internet, watch four major events.
Sign up for GBTV.
(If you can’t watch the events live, you can watch the replays.)
Rodfei kodesh pursuing these Jewish values of holiness
What might these values be? The list would have to include self-discipline; a willingness to work hard and share; a respect for authority; consideration for others; an appreciation of the importance of education; a developed sense of personal responsibility; the ability to defer pleasure and restrain one’s impulses and desires, and a degree of modesty about one’s own worth and accomplishments. These are the virtues that Jews traditionally associated with
Read more: http://forward.com/articles/141668/#ixzz1VlmzJbQl
www.rabbijonathanginsburg.org
Read more: http://forward.com/articles/141668/#ixzz1VlmzJbQl
www.rabbijonathanginsburg.org
Joke
JOKE:the difference between the Jewish optimist and the Jewish pessimist. “The Jewish pessimist says, ‘Things can’t get any worse,’ and the Jewish optimist says, ‘Sure they can!’”
Jews have african Blood
By Gianna Palmer The Forward
Published August 02, 2011, issue of August 12, 2011.
PRINT EMAIL SHARE AUTHOR ARCHIVE GENETICS
In the Book of Kings, Solomon is depicted as an international businessman of sorts who sent ships from the port of Etzion-Geber, near modern day Eilat, to trade precious metals and other goods with various parts of the world, including Africa. Solomon also famously received a visit from the Queen of Sheba, who is thought to be from what is presently Ethiopia.
Now, a new scientific paper offers a genetic timeline that could support these biblical tales. The paper builds on two studies published last summer that were the first to use genome-wide analyses to trace the history of the Jewish people through DNA.
“It demonstrated that there was a biological basis for Jewishness,” said Dr. Harry Ostrer, director of the human genetics program at the New York University School of Medicine, who led one of the studies.
Related
Could Kashrut Be Partly To Blame for Crohn's Disease?
The Ibos of Nigeria: Members of the Tribe?
Out of Africa: The Rescue of Ethiopian Jews
Among its many findings, Ostrer’s paper indicated that Jews have African ancestry — an observation that David Reich, associate professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School, and his colleagues decided to explore further.
Reich’s team analyzed more than half a million DNA markers across the entire genomes of people from seven diverse Jewish populations — including Ashkenazim from northern Europe; Sephardim from Italy, Turkey and Greece, and Mizrahim from Syria, Iraq and Iran. They then compared the genetic data with DNA from 15 sub-Saharan African populations.
Reporting in the April issue of PLoS Genetics, the researchers found that modern day Jews can attribute about 3% to 5% of their ancestry to sub-Saharan Africans, and that the exchange of genes between Jews and sub-Saharan Africans occurred approximately 72 generations, or about 2,000 years, ago.
Priya Moorjani, a doctoral student in Reich’s lab who led the research, was surprised that the degree of African DNA was so consistent across the various Jewish populations. She had expected, for example, that North African and Middle Eastern Jews would have a greater degree of genetic mingling than Europeans, based on their geographic proximities.
So the findings, Moorjani said, may point to a shared ancestry among the various Jewish groups. “It’s definitely suggestive that most Jewish populations have a common ancestral population,” she said.
Although the Harvard team couldn’t determine where exactly the exchange of genes took place, the results complement historians’ understanding of the Jewish narrative.
“This is interesting, and it gives me food for thought,” said Norman Stillman, a professor of Judaic history at the University of Oklahoma. “Does it prove something historically specific beyond the fact that we know the Jewish bloodline was open to some extent throughout history? No. But it fits in with the rest.”
Lawrence Schiffman, a professor of Hebrew and Judaic studies at Yeshiva University, said two time periods came to mind that could support the geneticists’ findings. The first is during the First Temple Period, between about 950 B.C.E. and 600 B.C.E., when Solomon’s kingdom would have had contact with Africans.
Or, Schiffman said, the mixing of populations could have taken place a bit later, during the Hellenistic period, from about 320 B.C.E. to 30 B.C.E., when Jews were living all over the southern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and could have come into contact with Africans to the south of them.
Yet even though the biblical accounts offer possible explanations for the Reich lab’s findings, Schiffman stresses that he and other social scientists can only offer historical interpretations of the genetic data. “The facts are the ones that scientists are developing; the theories are what [historians] have,” he said. “We now have to take what they are giving us, and we have to add it to our picture of history.”
Stillman pointed out that Jews are often thought of as an insular group, because they tended to marry within their community. “But,” he said, “that doesn’t mean there wasn’t, all throughout history, an inflow of others into the group.”
As Reich sees it, genetics and history are not actually so disparate. His work, he said, is “a kind of complementary way of studying history.”
Contact Gianna Palmer at palmer@forward.com
Read more: http://www.forward.com/articles/140721/#ixzz1VlkGY7GK
www.rabbijonathanginsburg.org
Published August 02, 2011, issue of August 12, 2011.
PRINT EMAIL SHARE AUTHOR ARCHIVE GENETICS
In the Book of Kings, Solomon is depicted as an international businessman of sorts who sent ships from the port of Etzion-Geber, near modern day Eilat, to trade precious metals and other goods with various parts of the world, including Africa. Solomon also famously received a visit from the Queen of Sheba, who is thought to be from what is presently Ethiopia.
Now, a new scientific paper offers a genetic timeline that could support these biblical tales. The paper builds on two studies published last summer that were the first to use genome-wide analyses to trace the history of the Jewish people through DNA.
“It demonstrated that there was a biological basis for Jewishness,” said Dr. Harry Ostrer, director of the human genetics program at the New York University School of Medicine, who led one of the studies.
Related
Could Kashrut Be Partly To Blame for Crohn's Disease?
The Ibos of Nigeria: Members of the Tribe?
Out of Africa: The Rescue of Ethiopian Jews
Among its many findings, Ostrer’s paper indicated that Jews have African ancestry — an observation that David Reich, associate professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School, and his colleagues decided to explore further.
Reich’s team analyzed more than half a million DNA markers across the entire genomes of people from seven diverse Jewish populations — including Ashkenazim from northern Europe; Sephardim from Italy, Turkey and Greece, and Mizrahim from Syria, Iraq and Iran. They then compared the genetic data with DNA from 15 sub-Saharan African populations.
Reporting in the April issue of PLoS Genetics, the researchers found that modern day Jews can attribute about 3% to 5% of their ancestry to sub-Saharan Africans, and that the exchange of genes between Jews and sub-Saharan Africans occurred approximately 72 generations, or about 2,000 years, ago.
Priya Moorjani, a doctoral student in Reich’s lab who led the research, was surprised that the degree of African DNA was so consistent across the various Jewish populations. She had expected, for example, that North African and Middle Eastern Jews would have a greater degree of genetic mingling than Europeans, based on their geographic proximities.
So the findings, Moorjani said, may point to a shared ancestry among the various Jewish groups. “It’s definitely suggestive that most Jewish populations have a common ancestral population,” she said.
Although the Harvard team couldn’t determine where exactly the exchange of genes took place, the results complement historians’ understanding of the Jewish narrative.
“This is interesting, and it gives me food for thought,” said Norman Stillman, a professor of Judaic history at the University of Oklahoma. “Does it prove something historically specific beyond the fact that we know the Jewish bloodline was open to some extent throughout history? No. But it fits in with the rest.”
Lawrence Schiffman, a professor of Hebrew and Judaic studies at Yeshiva University, said two time periods came to mind that could support the geneticists’ findings. The first is during the First Temple Period, between about 950 B.C.E. and 600 B.C.E., when Solomon’s kingdom would have had contact with Africans.
Or, Schiffman said, the mixing of populations could have taken place a bit later, during the Hellenistic period, from about 320 B.C.E. to 30 B.C.E., when Jews were living all over the southern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and could have come into contact with Africans to the south of them.
Yet even though the biblical accounts offer possible explanations for the Reich lab’s findings, Schiffman stresses that he and other social scientists can only offer historical interpretations of the genetic data. “The facts are the ones that scientists are developing; the theories are what [historians] have,” he said. “We now have to take what they are giving us, and we have to add it to our picture of history.”
Stillman pointed out that Jews are often thought of as an insular group, because they tended to marry within their community. “But,” he said, “that doesn’t mean there wasn’t, all throughout history, an inflow of others into the group.”
As Reich sees it, genetics and history are not actually so disparate. His work, he said, is “a kind of complementary way of studying history.”
Contact Gianna Palmer at palmer@forward.com
Read more: http://www.forward.com/articles/140721/#ixzz1VlkGY7GK
www.rabbijonathanginsburg.org
Sunday, August 21, 2011
First YU Woman Talmud PHD
Share Email Print
YU gives Talmud doctorate to woman for first time
August 11, 2011
NEW YORK (JTA) -- Yeshiva University is awarding a doctorate in Talmud to a woman for the first time.
The university's Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies is awarding the doctorate to 30-year-old Shana Strauch Schick. A New Jersey native now living in suburban Detroit, Schick successfully defended her dissertation on Aug. 4 and will formally graduate in September.
“Orthodoxy has long emphasized the value of the study of Talmud,” Schick told JTA in an interview. “But Talmud study, which in yeshivot is the central focus of the religious duty to learn Torah, is still rarely emphasized as a vital part of women’s education.”
Schick holds a master’s degree in Bible from Revel and a bachelor's degree in Judaic studies from YU’s Stern College for Women. She plans to spend the next academic year in Israel doing post-doctoral studies at Bar-Ilan University.
Stern College also has a master's program in biblical and talmudic interpretation, as well as a graduate program for women in advanced talmudic studies, but it does not award doctorates.
www.rabbijonathanginsburg.org
YU gives Talmud doctorate to woman for first time
August 11, 2011
NEW YORK (JTA) -- Yeshiva University is awarding a doctorate in Talmud to a woman for the first time.
The university's Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies is awarding the doctorate to 30-year-old Shana Strauch Schick. A New Jersey native now living in suburban Detroit, Schick successfully defended her dissertation on Aug. 4 and will formally graduate in September.
“Orthodoxy has long emphasized the value of the study of Talmud,” Schick told JTA in an interview. “But Talmud study, which in yeshivot is the central focus of the religious duty to learn Torah, is still rarely emphasized as a vital part of women’s education.”
Schick holds a master’s degree in Bible from Revel and a bachelor's degree in Judaic studies from YU’s Stern College for Women. She plans to spend the next academic year in Israel doing post-doctoral studies at Bar-Ilan University.
Stern College also has a master's program in biblical and talmudic interpretation, as well as a graduate program for women in advanced talmudic studies, but it does not award doctorates.
www.rabbijonathanginsburg.org
Palestinians want to kill Jews-rockets hit a school
Once again proving its utter disregard for all human life, Hamas continued its indisciminate rocket fire into Israel today, striking a Beersheva school. The school was thankfully unoccupied due to summer vacation. That vacation is due to end in a few weeks. Had school been in session, the casualties may well have been horrific.
On Saturday night, Hamas succeeded in its attempts to murder Israeli civilians when a Grad rocket landed on a house in Beersheva, killing one and wounded several others. Two children, including a four-month-old baby, were wounded in the town of Ofakim.
Rockets have been falling steadily since a series of coordinated terrorist attacks on Thursday. The IDF has been responding with a series of retaliatory strikes, and the Jerusalem Post is currently reporting that the government is considering a ground offensive against the Gaza Strip.
However, the defense establishment has apparently already ruled out a major offensive operation. Air Force strikes resumed after a brief lull early Sunday afternoon.
Perhaps the only bright spot in recent days has been the relative success of the Iron Dome defense system. While it has not been 100 percent successful in indicting rockets fired at Israel, and it is not currently widely deployed, the IDF is apparently impressed with the system's success thus far.
www.rabbijonathanginsburg.org
On Saturday night, Hamas succeeded in its attempts to murder Israeli civilians when a Grad rocket landed on a house in Beersheva, killing one and wounded several others. Two children, including a four-month-old baby, were wounded in the town of Ofakim.
Rockets have been falling steadily since a series of coordinated terrorist attacks on Thursday. The IDF has been responding with a series of retaliatory strikes, and the Jerusalem Post is currently reporting that the government is considering a ground offensive against the Gaza Strip.
However, the defense establishment has apparently already ruled out a major offensive operation. Air Force strikes resumed after a brief lull early Sunday afternoon.
Perhaps the only bright spot in recent days has been the relative success of the Iron Dome defense system. While it has not been 100 percent successful in indicting rockets fired at Israel, and it is not currently widely deployed, the IDF is apparently impressed with the system's success thus far.
www.rabbijonathanginsburg.org
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Friday, August 19, 2011
Pro Bombing Iran
Saudi Arabia told US to bomb Iran: WikiLeaks
November 29, 2010 14:54 IST
A number of Middle Eastern nations have expressed concern over Iran's aspirations of becoming a nuclear armed state, according to the secret cables released by whistleblower website WikiLeaks.
Saudi Arabia's leader King Abdullah has even asked the US to consider bombing Iran's nuclear facilities, reveal the cables.
"He told you (US administration) to cut off the head of the snake," the Saudi ambassador to Washington Adel al-Jubeir is quoted as saying.
Other neighbours of Iran are equally paranoid about its might, with Jordan and Bahrain urging US to stop Iran's nuclear programme 'by any means'.
Iran is often referred to as 'evil' and an 'existential threat', while its President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad [ Images ] will 'take the volatile region' to war, believe many.
The cables reveal US's anxiety about Israel deciding to undertake a military strike against Iran, after the country's military intelligence chief Major General Amos Yadlin warned last year: "We are not in a position to underestimate Iran and be surprised like the US was on September 11, 2001."
Israel has taken the most aggressive stance on Iran's nuclear ambitions, repeatedly threatening a military strike and urging the US to be more pro-active. Israel and its ally US both believe that time is running out to contain Ahmadinejad.
The Jewish nation has publicly stated that military action is the only way to prevent or stop Iran's nuclear programme.
King Abdullah has warned the Obama [ Images ] administration that once Iran manages to develop nuclear weapons, the entire Middle East will jump into the fray for nuclear armament.
"Bomb Iran, or live with an Iranian bomb," a Jordanian politician told an US official, says a WikiLeaks release.
"Personally, I cannot risk it," Abu Dhabi crown prince Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed told US officials, warning them against the ambitious Ahmadinejad.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak [ Images ] claimed that "Iran is always stirring trouble" and a nuclear-armed Iran would be "the biggest threat to non-proliferation efforts since the Cuban missile crisis".
U.A.E. tells U.S. It's Time To Bomb Iran
Yousef Al-Otaiba, the ambassador from the United Arab Emirates to the United States, on July 6 endorsed US bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Speaking at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado, Al-Otaiba said: "It's a cost-benefit analysis. There will be consequences, there will be a backlash and there will be problems with people protesting and rioting and very unhappy that there is an outside force attacking a Muslim country; that is going to happen no matter what." But “we can’t live with a nuclear Iran.”
He directly challenged the notion, gaining ground in US policy circles in the wake of US fecklessness, that a nuclear mullocracy could be contained: "Countries in the region view the Iran threat very differently, I can only speak for the U.A.E., but talk of containment and deterrence really concerns me and makes me very nervous. Why should I be led to believe that deterrence or containment will work? Iran doesn't have a nuclear power now, but we're unable to contain them and their behavior in the region. What makes me think that once they have a nuclear program, we're going to be able to be more successful in containing them?”
Al-Otaiba reiterated the age-old truth--small countries, in the absence of dependable allies, of necessity hedge their bets: "There are many countries in the region who, if they lack the assurance the U.S. is willing to confront Iran, they will start running for cover towards Iran. Small, rich, vulnerable countries in the region do not want to be the ones who stick their finger in the big bully's eye, if nobody's going to come to their support."
One hopes President Obama is listening. There is a significant rift in the Middle East, with Syria, Lebanon and Turkey cozying up to Iran; but with the majority of countries, led by Saudi Arabia and Egypt, wishing and waiting for strong US leadership to prevent Iran from gaining nuclear weapons.
Robert Frost once wryly described a liberal as a person too open-minded to take his own side in a quarrel. America needs to clearly take its own side, and that of its allies, in the war against Islamism, of which Iran is the premiere exponent.
Bolton: If Mubarak falls in Egypt, Israel should bomb Iran
By Eric W. Dolan
Tuesday, February 1st, 2011 -- 11:24 am
0
Tags: Mubarak, position, time
Former US Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said the ouster of embattled Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak would speed the timetable for an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.
"Do you think that the Israelis are going to have to strike — they are going to have to take action?" Fox News Republican opinion host Sean Hannity asked the former ambassador on his radio program Monday.
"As you pointed out, ElBaradei ran cover for the Iranians for all those years that he was with the IAEA. And, I just don’t think the Israelis have much longer to wait… they're going to have to act in fairly short order."
"I think that's right," Bolton responded. "I don't think there’s much time to act. And I think the fall of a Egyptian government committed to the peace agreement will almost certainly speed that timetable up."
Bolton chided the protests in Egypt last week, saying that "the real alternative is not Jefferson democracy versus the Mubarak regime, but that it’s the Muslim Brotherhood versus the Mubarak regime, and that has enormous implications for the US, for Israel, and our other friends in the region."
The former ambassador was appointed to his position by President George W. Bush in 2005 after facing heavy resistance from Democrats. He resigned from his position in December 2006 after failing to be confirmed by the Senate.
Bolton, a neoconservative, has a long history of promoting military strikes on Iran.
In August 2010, he warned that Israel only had eight days to launch an attack against Iran's nuclear facilities to prevent the nation from acquiring a functioning atomic plant.
"Once that uranium, once those fuel rods are very close to the reactor, certainly once they're in the reactor, attacking it means a release of radiation, no question about it," he told Fox Business Network.
"So if Israel is going to do anything against Bushehr it has to move in the next eight days."
He also predicted in June 2008 that Israel would attack Iran's nuclear sites before the next US president was sworn in.
"An Obama victory would rule out military action by the Israelis because they would fear the consequences given the approach Obama has taken to foreign policy," Bolton said. "With McCain they might still be looking at a delay. Given that time is on Iran's side, I think the argument for military action is sooner rather than later absent some other development."
Iran's Russian-built Bushehr nuclear plant has already been hit with a computer worm that damaged the facilities' centrifuges. The malicious code, known as "Stuxnet," is suspected to be a joint American and Israeli effort.
A recent Russian intelligence assessment warned that "Stuxnet" could cause a "Chernobyl-like disaster" should the site be switched on.
Iran continues to maintain its nuclear program is for the peaceful generation of energy, not weapons.
November 29, 2010 14:54 IST
A number of Middle Eastern nations have expressed concern over Iran's aspirations of becoming a nuclear armed state, according to the secret cables released by whistleblower website WikiLeaks.
Saudi Arabia's leader King Abdullah has even asked the US to consider bombing Iran's nuclear facilities, reveal the cables.
"He told you (US administration) to cut off the head of the snake," the Saudi ambassador to Washington Adel al-Jubeir is quoted as saying.
Other neighbours of Iran are equally paranoid about its might, with Jordan and Bahrain urging US to stop Iran's nuclear programme 'by any means'.
Iran is often referred to as 'evil' and an 'existential threat', while its President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad [ Images ] will 'take the volatile region' to war, believe many.
The cables reveal US's anxiety about Israel deciding to undertake a military strike against Iran, after the country's military intelligence chief Major General Amos Yadlin warned last year: "We are not in a position to underestimate Iran and be surprised like the US was on September 11, 2001."
Israel has taken the most aggressive stance on Iran's nuclear ambitions, repeatedly threatening a military strike and urging the US to be more pro-active. Israel and its ally US both believe that time is running out to contain Ahmadinejad.
The Jewish nation has publicly stated that military action is the only way to prevent or stop Iran's nuclear programme.
King Abdullah has warned the Obama [ Images ] administration that once Iran manages to develop nuclear weapons, the entire Middle East will jump into the fray for nuclear armament.
"Bomb Iran, or live with an Iranian bomb," a Jordanian politician told an US official, says a WikiLeaks release.
"Personally, I cannot risk it," Abu Dhabi crown prince Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed told US officials, warning them against the ambitious Ahmadinejad.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak [ Images ] claimed that "Iran is always stirring trouble" and a nuclear-armed Iran would be "the biggest threat to non-proliferation efforts since the Cuban missile crisis".
U.A.E. tells U.S. It's Time To Bomb Iran
Yousef Al-Otaiba, the ambassador from the United Arab Emirates to the United States, on July 6 endorsed US bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Speaking at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado, Al-Otaiba said: "It's a cost-benefit analysis. There will be consequences, there will be a backlash and there will be problems with people protesting and rioting and very unhappy that there is an outside force attacking a Muslim country; that is going to happen no matter what." But “we can’t live with a nuclear Iran.”
He directly challenged the notion, gaining ground in US policy circles in the wake of US fecklessness, that a nuclear mullocracy could be contained: "Countries in the region view the Iran threat very differently, I can only speak for the U.A.E., but talk of containment and deterrence really concerns me and makes me very nervous. Why should I be led to believe that deterrence or containment will work? Iran doesn't have a nuclear power now, but we're unable to contain them and their behavior in the region. What makes me think that once they have a nuclear program, we're going to be able to be more successful in containing them?”
Al-Otaiba reiterated the age-old truth--small countries, in the absence of dependable allies, of necessity hedge their bets: "There are many countries in the region who, if they lack the assurance the U.S. is willing to confront Iran, they will start running for cover towards Iran. Small, rich, vulnerable countries in the region do not want to be the ones who stick their finger in the big bully's eye, if nobody's going to come to their support."
One hopes President Obama is listening. There is a significant rift in the Middle East, with Syria, Lebanon and Turkey cozying up to Iran; but with the majority of countries, led by Saudi Arabia and Egypt, wishing and waiting for strong US leadership to prevent Iran from gaining nuclear weapons.
Robert Frost once wryly described a liberal as a person too open-minded to take his own side in a quarrel. America needs to clearly take its own side, and that of its allies, in the war against Islamism, of which Iran is the premiere exponent.
Bolton: If Mubarak falls in Egypt, Israel should bomb Iran
By Eric W. Dolan
Tuesday, February 1st, 2011 -- 11:24 am
0
Tags: Mubarak, position, time
Former US Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said the ouster of embattled Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak would speed the timetable for an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.
"Do you think that the Israelis are going to have to strike — they are going to have to take action?" Fox News Republican opinion host Sean Hannity asked the former ambassador on his radio program Monday.
"As you pointed out, ElBaradei ran cover for the Iranians for all those years that he was with the IAEA. And, I just don’t think the Israelis have much longer to wait… they're going to have to act in fairly short order."
"I think that's right," Bolton responded. "I don't think there’s much time to act. And I think the fall of a Egyptian government committed to the peace agreement will almost certainly speed that timetable up."
Bolton chided the protests in Egypt last week, saying that "the real alternative is not Jefferson democracy versus the Mubarak regime, but that it’s the Muslim Brotherhood versus the Mubarak regime, and that has enormous implications for the US, for Israel, and our other friends in the region."
The former ambassador was appointed to his position by President George W. Bush in 2005 after facing heavy resistance from Democrats. He resigned from his position in December 2006 after failing to be confirmed by the Senate.
Bolton, a neoconservative, has a long history of promoting military strikes on Iran.
In August 2010, he warned that Israel only had eight days to launch an attack against Iran's nuclear facilities to prevent the nation from acquiring a functioning atomic plant.
"Once that uranium, once those fuel rods are very close to the reactor, certainly once they're in the reactor, attacking it means a release of radiation, no question about it," he told Fox Business Network.
"So if Israel is going to do anything against Bushehr it has to move in the next eight days."
He also predicted in June 2008 that Israel would attack Iran's nuclear sites before the next US president was sworn in.
"An Obama victory would rule out military action by the Israelis because they would fear the consequences given the approach Obama has taken to foreign policy," Bolton said. "With McCain they might still be looking at a delay. Given that time is on Iran's side, I think the argument for military action is sooner rather than later absent some other development."
Iran's Russian-built Bushehr nuclear plant has already been hit with a computer worm that damaged the facilities' centrifuges. The malicious code, known as "Stuxnet," is suspected to be a joint American and Israeli effort.
A recent Russian intelligence assessment warned that "Stuxnet" could cause a "Chernobyl-like disaster" should the site be switched on.
Iran continues to maintain its nuclear program is for the peaceful generation of energy, not weapons.
Aug 24 great movie on the UN
Invites you to a
SNEAK PREVIEW SCREENING OF U.N. Me
Screening followed by Q & A with the director, Ami Horowitz.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
7 pm
Wilmette Theatre
1122 Central Avenue, Wilmette, IL
U.N. Me is the hilarious and harrowing adventure of one man who
is willing to expose the most powerful organization in the world.
Watch the trailer at www.unmemovie.com
Admission is $18.
Muslims return to judaism after 1300 years
1. Describe the factors which have drawn you to Judaism.
There are several factors that I can list here but I would rather not because I don’t want to focus on some of the values but all the values I have found in Judaism. Judaism is a way of life. It is a path that shows you how to live your life in a way that G-d has set for us which is the most perfect and the best match to our lives as human beings. Judaism in my opinion is the origin of monotheism religion, the first and the best. I wanted to be in the covenant with G-d. I believe in G-d and the teachings in Judaism best matches what I have always thought and felt about him.
2. Which Jewish values do you find most appealing and persuasive?
Judaism is the religion of Law. The first religion that had written down commandments directly from him. The commandments that include every major activity of mankind and have rules and principles for it. Judaism has been always ahead of its time due to the humanitarian principles. It always values concepts like the family, respect for parents ,and education.
3. How is Judaism more appropriate for you than your former religion or worldview/lifestyle?
I am from Iran a country that was turned Muslim by force of sword. My people had to convert to Islam in order to stay alive otherwise were killed by Muslim invaders. My people have been never free to choose their own religion and way of life and all the minorities have been living there under the fear of being labeled as spy and executed.
Since the day I entered America, I gradually started to realize that I am living in a free country in which people are free to practice their own chosen religion. Therefore, I started studying about Judaism which is very close to me regarding its values and ways of life. I feel much more connected to G-d and closer to him since the day I decided to convert. While my previous religion was only giving me fear of G-d and other Muslims because they can easily kill you if they think you are not a good Muslim. How can I let my child live under this fear and what kind of G-d Muslims are talking about which allows you to kill another human being if they don’t believe in your G-d.
4. Describe your understanding of and relationship to God.
G-d is the creator, the source of purity and innocence. The source of Goodness who created us out of love and equal. There is only him and no other G-d. I feel so close to him now and don’t scare while I feel him that close to me. He is the first and the last. Whatever happens is happening by his will and he always wants the best for us and wants us to be honest and truthful to him and to each other.
5. How has your personal and home life changed because of Jewish tradition? How do see your Jewish life progressing in the future?
It has changed a lot. My husband and I have bought the same wedding ring with David star all over it to get married by Jewish tradition after conversion and are wearing Hamsah necklace all the time as a protection. We have chosen Hebrew names for ourselves. We are reading Torah weekly and discuss the values of Jewish way of life with each other although far from each other. Whenever I take a shower I think I am going to Mikvah and pray. I have contacted two conservative congregation nearby and have asked them to accept me as part of their congregation member and Jewish community which I hope will be accepted after conversion.
6. Describe your sense of identification with the Jewish people in relation to Israel , world Jewry, the local Jewish community and your synagogue.
I feel so close to them I feel I am part of them and I hope they will accept me, too. I love Israel and wish to be able to live there with my family one day and help building a great and strong Jewish land which belonged to us forever and will do anything to protect it against those who have false claims about it. I will never let them touch my land, Israel.
I will devote myself to my Jewish community and do whatever I can to support my synagogue and strengthen the community.
7. What is your commitment to prayer, Shabbat and keeping kosher?
I will always observe Shabbat and keep it holy by any means I will be able to. As a matter of fact I am observing it each week and already keep our food kosher although they are more expensive but I have noticed the quality is much better.
8. How do you plan to continue your Jewish study?
I want to become an active member of my synagogue and take part in prayer gatherings. I want to keep contact with my conversion Rabbi and be a member of e-synagogue as well. In different occasions, I buy different books about Judaism for myself and my child to help us with a better understanding of Judaism and being a good Jew.
the brother-in-law
1.Describe the factors which have drawn you to Judaism.
I have always been intrigued by the Jewish culture since childhood and fascinated by the fact that many of the most prolific people in history were Jewish. Intellectuals such as Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud were among some of my roles models in life. As I grew up, I became more and more drawn to the Jewish culture and absorbed by its tradition, I decided to explore it. Although my understanding of Judaism during my childhood years was quite limited, I felt a sense of belonging to the Jewish community. Over the years, I have found several Jewish friends who were ambitious to accustom me to their culture and in the course of time I learned from them the Jewish philosophy of life, core beliefs, rituals, and celebrations. I was amazed by the magnitude of their respect and love towards family and their closeness and affection for each other. Consequently, I decided that if I was ever going to have children and create a family, it would be in a Jewish atmosphere.
2.Which Jewish values do you find most appealing and persuasive?
I find the Jewish values of helping others and contributing to the community very intriguing. Values such as Tzedakah, Shalom bayit, and Tikkun olam are among some the Jewish obligations that are essential to fulfill in order to create a peaceful and ideal community.
3.How is Judaism more appropriate for you than your former religion or worldview/lifestyle? I was raised in a liberal Muslim family and spent most of my childhood in Iran. The Iranian population is dominated by Muslims, nevertheless there is a very small Jewish minority living there. During my school years, I managed to find two Jewish friends who enlightened me on the origins of Judaism. After discovering that Judaism is the first monotheistic religion in the world, it suddenly became unreasonable for me to follow any religion other than Judaism. I'm Persian and considering the fact that Judaism is one of the oldest religions practiced in Iran, it became apparent to me that Islam had no true place in my country and it is dominant only because people were forcefully converted against their will.
As a child, I observed how Islam turns people against each other and spreads hate. Children were being brainwashed from a very young age to commit violence against those who question Islam. I saw the misery of the Jewish people and other minorities in my country and decided I wouldn't want anything to do with Islam. Unfortunately the punishment for apostasy in Islam is death, so after migrating to the United States I saw the opportunity to convert without being prosecuted.
4.Describe your understanding of and relationship to G*d. My relationship to G*d is that of a master and servant. He is the creator of the whole universe who is the ultimate cause of all existence. He is infinitely wise and powerful who cares about the future and wellbeing of humanity. We must obey his laws in order to improve our society and make the world a better place.
5.How has your personal and home life changed because of Jewish tradition? How do see your Jewish life progressing in the future? My personal life and mentality have changed tremendously since I've considered conversion. I've recently started to keep Kosher to my best ability and only buy products that are Kosher. I bought my first Menorah last week and plan on lighting it this Hanukkah. I read the Torah on a regular basis and I've started to learn Hebrew. I observe the Shabbat every week, light candles, and eat Challah. I see my Jewish life progressing in the future by marring a Jewish girl and raising a Jewish family in a Jewish house.
6.Describe your sense of identification with the Jewish people in relation to Israel , world Jewry, the local Jewish community and your synagogue. I'm a determined supporter of the state of Israel and its people. I hope to visit Israel one day and become a Israeli myself. I disagree with those who oppose its existence and it is my personal belief that Israel has been too soft on its enemies. Iran, the country that I'm originally from, is advancing towards nuclear weapons at a dangerously accelerated rate and nobody seems to do anything about it. I've spent the first 14 years of my life in Iran and I know how serious the Iranian government is about wiping Israel off the map. They continuously feed the anti-semitic propagandas to the Iranian people and brainwash kids into hating Israel and the Zionism. I know without a doubt in my mind that the Iranian government will destroy Israel without hesitation if they get hold of nuclear weapons. There is also a high chance for the Iranian government to use nuclear weapons on its own people due to high levels of social unrest and opposition to the government. Bombing Iran seems to be an effective way of putting a stop to Iran's nuclear programs, but unfortunately nobody seems to take the first step unless it is too late.
I will be attending services at my local synagogue once I'm converted and I would like to become an active member of the Jewish community and contribute to it to my best ability.
7.What is your commitment to prayer, Shabbat and keeping kosher? I have started to observe the Shabbat every week and recite candle lighting blessings and Havdalah in Hebrew and I refuse to work on Fridays and Saturdays. I am currently learning Hebrew to better understand the Torah and the meaning of prayers. I keep kosher to my best ability and always purchase products that are kosher and avoid foods that aren't kosher such as cheeseburger.
8.How do you plan to continue your Jewish study?
I'm planning on joining the Jewish organization at my college this semester and become an active member. I've also decided to visit Israel soon through Birthright Israel organization to learn more about Judaism and the Israeli people.
www.rabbijonathanginsburg.info
There are several factors that I can list here but I would rather not because I don’t want to focus on some of the values but all the values I have found in Judaism. Judaism is a way of life. It is a path that shows you how to live your life in a way that G-d has set for us which is the most perfect and the best match to our lives as human beings. Judaism in my opinion is the origin of monotheism religion, the first and the best. I wanted to be in the covenant with G-d. I believe in G-d and the teachings in Judaism best matches what I have always thought and felt about him.
2. Which Jewish values do you find most appealing and persuasive?
Judaism is the religion of Law. The first religion that had written down commandments directly from him. The commandments that include every major activity of mankind and have rules and principles for it. Judaism has been always ahead of its time due to the humanitarian principles. It always values concepts like the family, respect for parents ,and education.
3. How is Judaism more appropriate for you than your former religion or worldview/lifestyle?
I am from Iran a country that was turned Muslim by force of sword. My people had to convert to Islam in order to stay alive otherwise were killed by Muslim invaders. My people have been never free to choose their own religion and way of life and all the minorities have been living there under the fear of being labeled as spy and executed.
Since the day I entered America, I gradually started to realize that I am living in a free country in which people are free to practice their own chosen religion. Therefore, I started studying about Judaism which is very close to me regarding its values and ways of life. I feel much more connected to G-d and closer to him since the day I decided to convert. While my previous religion was only giving me fear of G-d and other Muslims because they can easily kill you if they think you are not a good Muslim. How can I let my child live under this fear and what kind of G-d Muslims are talking about which allows you to kill another human being if they don’t believe in your G-d.
4. Describe your understanding of and relationship to God.
G-d is the creator, the source of purity and innocence. The source of Goodness who created us out of love and equal. There is only him and no other G-d. I feel so close to him now and don’t scare while I feel him that close to me. He is the first and the last. Whatever happens is happening by his will and he always wants the best for us and wants us to be honest and truthful to him and to each other.
5. How has your personal and home life changed because of Jewish tradition? How do see your Jewish life progressing in the future?
It has changed a lot. My husband and I have bought the same wedding ring with David star all over it to get married by Jewish tradition after conversion and are wearing Hamsah necklace all the time as a protection. We have chosen Hebrew names for ourselves. We are reading Torah weekly and discuss the values of Jewish way of life with each other although far from each other. Whenever I take a shower I think I am going to Mikvah and pray. I have contacted two conservative congregation nearby and have asked them to accept me as part of their congregation member and Jewish community which I hope will be accepted after conversion.
6. Describe your sense of identification with the Jewish people in relation to Israel , world Jewry, the local Jewish community and your synagogue.
I feel so close to them I feel I am part of them and I hope they will accept me, too. I love Israel and wish to be able to live there with my family one day and help building a great and strong Jewish land which belonged to us forever and will do anything to protect it against those who have false claims about it. I will never let them touch my land, Israel.
I will devote myself to my Jewish community and do whatever I can to support my synagogue and strengthen the community.
7. What is your commitment to prayer, Shabbat and keeping kosher?
I will always observe Shabbat and keep it holy by any means I will be able to. As a matter of fact I am observing it each week and already keep our food kosher although they are more expensive but I have noticed the quality is much better.
8. How do you plan to continue your Jewish study?
I want to become an active member of my synagogue and take part in prayer gatherings. I want to keep contact with my conversion Rabbi and be a member of e-synagogue as well. In different occasions, I buy different books about Judaism for myself and my child to help us with a better understanding of Judaism and being a good Jew.
the brother-in-law
1.Describe the factors which have drawn you to Judaism.
I have always been intrigued by the Jewish culture since childhood and fascinated by the fact that many of the most prolific people in history were Jewish. Intellectuals such as Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud were among some of my roles models in life. As I grew up, I became more and more drawn to the Jewish culture and absorbed by its tradition, I decided to explore it. Although my understanding of Judaism during my childhood years was quite limited, I felt a sense of belonging to the Jewish community. Over the years, I have found several Jewish friends who were ambitious to accustom me to their culture and in the course of time I learned from them the Jewish philosophy of life, core beliefs, rituals, and celebrations. I was amazed by the magnitude of their respect and love towards family and their closeness and affection for each other. Consequently, I decided that if I was ever going to have children and create a family, it would be in a Jewish atmosphere.
2.Which Jewish values do you find most appealing and persuasive?
I find the Jewish values of helping others and contributing to the community very intriguing. Values such as Tzedakah, Shalom bayit, and Tikkun olam are among some the Jewish obligations that are essential to fulfill in order to create a peaceful and ideal community.
3.How is Judaism more appropriate for you than your former religion or worldview/lifestyle? I was raised in a liberal Muslim family and spent most of my childhood in Iran. The Iranian population is dominated by Muslims, nevertheless there is a very small Jewish minority living there. During my school years, I managed to find two Jewish friends who enlightened me on the origins of Judaism. After discovering that Judaism is the first monotheistic religion in the world, it suddenly became unreasonable for me to follow any religion other than Judaism. I'm Persian and considering the fact that Judaism is one of the oldest religions practiced in Iran, it became apparent to me that Islam had no true place in my country and it is dominant only because people were forcefully converted against their will.
As a child, I observed how Islam turns people against each other and spreads hate. Children were being brainwashed from a very young age to commit violence against those who question Islam. I saw the misery of the Jewish people and other minorities in my country and decided I wouldn't want anything to do with Islam. Unfortunately the punishment for apostasy in Islam is death, so after migrating to the United States I saw the opportunity to convert without being prosecuted.
4.Describe your understanding of and relationship to G*d. My relationship to G*d is that of a master and servant. He is the creator of the whole universe who is the ultimate cause of all existence. He is infinitely wise and powerful who cares about the future and wellbeing of humanity. We must obey his laws in order to improve our society and make the world a better place.
5.How has your personal and home life changed because of Jewish tradition? How do see your Jewish life progressing in the future? My personal life and mentality have changed tremendously since I've considered conversion. I've recently started to keep Kosher to my best ability and only buy products that are Kosher. I bought my first Menorah last week and plan on lighting it this Hanukkah. I read the Torah on a regular basis and I've started to learn Hebrew. I observe the Shabbat every week, light candles, and eat Challah. I see my Jewish life progressing in the future by marring a Jewish girl and raising a Jewish family in a Jewish house.
6.Describe your sense of identification with the Jewish people in relation to Israel , world Jewry, the local Jewish community and your synagogue. I'm a determined supporter of the state of Israel and its people. I hope to visit Israel one day and become a Israeli myself. I disagree with those who oppose its existence and it is my personal belief that Israel has been too soft on its enemies. Iran, the country that I'm originally from, is advancing towards nuclear weapons at a dangerously accelerated rate and nobody seems to do anything about it. I've spent the first 14 years of my life in Iran and I know how serious the Iranian government is about wiping Israel off the map. They continuously feed the anti-semitic propagandas to the Iranian people and brainwash kids into hating Israel and the Zionism. I know without a doubt in my mind that the Iranian government will destroy Israel without hesitation if they get hold of nuclear weapons. There is also a high chance for the Iranian government to use nuclear weapons on its own people due to high levels of social unrest and opposition to the government. Bombing Iran seems to be an effective way of putting a stop to Iran's nuclear programs, but unfortunately nobody seems to take the first step unless it is too late.
I will be attending services at my local synagogue once I'm converted and I would like to become an active member of the Jewish community and contribute to it to my best ability.
7.What is your commitment to prayer, Shabbat and keeping kosher? I have started to observe the Shabbat every week and recite candle lighting blessings and Havdalah in Hebrew and I refuse to work on Fridays and Saturdays. I am currently learning Hebrew to better understand the Torah and the meaning of prayers. I keep kosher to my best ability and always purchase products that are kosher and avoid foods that aren't kosher such as cheeseburger.
8.How do you plan to continue your Jewish study?
I'm planning on joining the Jewish organization at my college this semester and become an active member. I've also decided to visit Israel soon through Birthright Israel organization to learn more about Judaism and the Israeli people.
www.rabbijonathanginsburg.info
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Obama medals antisemitie tutu Rabbi Jonathan ginsburg
Tutu's war on Israel, Jews
Special: Archbishop Tutu leads vile, racist campaign against Israel and Jewish people
Giulio Meotti
Published: 08.11.11, 21:47 / Israel News
share
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, whose role in the fight against South African apartheid in the 1980s gained him the Nobel Peace Prize and global fame, is among the world’s most respected figures.
Barack Obama awarded him the US highest honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Tutu has been called “an inspiration" and was compared to Albert Schweitzer and Gandhi. The Wall Street Journal labeled him “the best known priest in the world.” Tutu was even asked to donate his genome to scientists to discover the African roots of mankind.
Receive Ynetnews updates directly to your desktop
With Nelson Mandela in jail, it fell to Tutu to steer the struggle against institutionalized racial oppression in a nonviolent direction. From his church in segregated Soweto, Tutu urged the imposition of economic sanctions against the white government. Since then, Tutu’s face has become the symbol of tolerance and goodness.
However, the Archbishop’s iconic voice has also found another cause no less popular: The global campaign against Israel and the Jewish people. Tutu just promoted an appeal to the US pension fund of the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association for cutting the partnership with Israeli companies. He also helped the Australian Marrickville Council approve a boycott of Israel's goods.
Special: Archbishop Tutu leads vile, racist campaign against Israel and Jewish people
Giulio Meotti
Published: 08.11.11, 21:47 / Israel News
share
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, whose role in the fight against South African apartheid in the 1980s gained him the Nobel Peace Prize and global fame, is among the world’s most respected figures.
Barack Obama awarded him the US highest honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Tutu has been called “an inspiration" and was compared to Albert Schweitzer and Gandhi. The Wall Street Journal labeled him “the best known priest in the world.” Tutu was even asked to donate his genome to scientists to discover the African roots of mankind.
Receive Ynetnews updates directly to your desktop
With Nelson Mandela in jail, it fell to Tutu to steer the struggle against institutionalized racial oppression in a nonviolent direction. From his church in segregated Soweto, Tutu urged the imposition of economic sanctions against the white government. Since then, Tutu’s face has become the symbol of tolerance and goodness.
However, the Archbishop’s iconic voice has also found another cause no less popular: The global campaign against Israel and the Jewish people. Tutu just promoted an appeal to the US pension fund of the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association for cutting the partnership with Israeli companies. He also helped the Australian Marrickville Council approve a boycott of Israel's goods.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
