Virtual Museum of Tolerance Exibits!
02.29.04 (5:23 pm) [edit]
[b]Now you can see exibits on the net!
http://motlc.wiesenthal.com/exhibits/index.html" title="http://motlc.wiesenthal.com/exhibits/index.html" target="_blank"http://motlc.wiesenthal.com/e...
I think everyone, no matter if they're black, white, brown, yellow, pink, purple, or grey should take a look at these!
Highly educational and highly important!
Please take a look![/b]
02.29.04 (4:22 pm) [edit]
[i]By ALI DARAGHMEH[/i]
Associated Press Writer
February 29, 2004, 1:51 PM EST
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=http://img19.photobucket.com/...
[i]A masked militant of Islamic Jihad distributes leaflets to supporters during the funeral of Islamic Jihad commander Mahmoud Judah in Beit Lahiya northern Gaza Strip, Sunday, Feb. 29, 2004. Judah and two other Islamic Jihad militants were killed during an Israeli air strike on their car in Gaza city Saturday. (AP Photo / Adel Hana)
NABLUS, West Bank -- They were young, perhaps the youngest ever to try an armed attack against Israelis, and they were ready to die.
The arrest of three boys ages 12, 13 and 15, accused of trying to slip into Israel with homemade guns, sparked horror among their families and concern by Palestinian officials that militant groups have gone too far in their choice of recruits.
"That's absolutely unacceptable," said Palestinian Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat. "Our children should have hope and a future and should not be suicide bombers. We want them to be doctors and engineers."
Israeli forces arrested the three Palestinian youths from the village of Tubas, near Nablus, on Thursday as they tried to cross a checkpoint, Israeli police spokesman Gil Kleiman said.
The boys said they planned to shoot people in the northern Israeli city of Afula, he said.
The army said it was still investigating the case and had not decided whether to charge the boys.
Palestinians have carried out thousands of attacks against Israelis during 41 months of violence, killing 930 people, while 2,688 have been killed on the Palestinian side, almost all in Israeli military strikes.
The boys, Jaffar Dababaat, 12, Tarek Abu Mahsen, 13, and Ibrahim Suafta, 15, left behind a letter saying they wanted to strike a blow against the barrier Israel is building in the West Bank. The note identified Tarek as a member of Islamic Jihad and the other two as members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a militant group linked to Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement.
"If we die, if we become martyrs, don't feel sorry for us. Just have a massive protest in our honor and distribute sweets to everyone," the letter said.
Tarek's parents were outraged and criticized Islamic Jihad for recruiting youngsters for an attack that would likely lead to their deaths.
"My son doesn't know how to write such a letter and never belonged to any groups. Someone older wrote this letter for him," said his mother, Amira Abu Mahsen.
"If it is proved that someone in specific sent them on this mission, I will make sure they are punished. They shouldn't send my young boy on such missions," said his father, Mohammed Abu Mahsen.
An Al Aqsa official who declined to be named strenuously denied the group had sent the boys. "This is impossible. I don't know where these kids came from," he said. Islamic Jihad spokesmen could not be reached for comment.
Criticism of attacks on Israelis is rare among Palestinians, but in recent months more people have been condemning the recruiting methods used by the militant groups.
In January, Hamas sent a mother of two young children as a suicide bomber to attack a crossing point between Gaza and Israel. Days earlier a 17-year-old bomber died when his bomb belt exploded prematurely, a week after his 15-year-old brother, Amjad, and a cousin were killed in clashes with Israeli forces.
But the ages of the Tubas youths was especially shocking for many.
Neither police nor the army knew if the would-be attackers were the youngest sent against Israel, but most militants are in their late teens or early 20s.
The three boys "don't have enough life experience to make such decisions," said Hafez Barghouti, editor of the Palestinian daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida.
Barghouti said the use of youngsters to carry out attacks was on the rise, though he declined to speculate why. Others have said that as Israel has become more adept at stopping attacks, the militant groups have been forced to turn to people less likely to arouse suspicion.
The boys' parents found it hard to reconcile their image of their children with that of militants.
Amira Abu Mahsen said Tarek learned to love motorcycles from his father, a mechanic. He also kept birds as pets. "They were his greatest joy," she said.
His father recalled that a neighbor had told him that two strange men were looking for the boy about a week ago. Relatives said they were stunned to find out the boys had been arrested.
"We never thought he was ever involved in politics," said Jafar's father, Hussein Dababaat, before he burst into tears.
"I lost my son," he said.
[i]Copyright © 2004, The Associated Press [/i]
[i]By ALI DARAGHMEH[/i]
Associated Press Writer
February 29, 2004, 1:51 PM EST
[i]A masked militant of Islamic Jihad distributes leaflets to supporters during the funeral of Islamic Jihad commander Mahmoud Judah in Beit Lahiya northern Gaza Strip, Sunday, Feb. 29, 2004. Judah and two other Islamic Jihad militants were killed during an Israeli air strike on their car in Gaza city Saturday. (AP Photo / Adel Hana)
NABLUS, West Bank -- They were young, perhaps the youngest ever to try an armed attack against Israelis, and they were ready to die.
The arrest of three boys ages 12, 13 and 15, accused of trying to slip into Israel with homemade guns, sparked horror among their families and concern by Palestinian officials that militant groups have gone too far in their choice of recruits.
"That's absolutely unacceptable," said Palestinian Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat. "Our children should have hope and a future and should not be suicide bombers. We want them to be doctors and engineers."
Israeli forces arrested the three Palestinian youths from the village of Tubas, near Nablus, on Thursday as they tried to cross a checkpoint, Israeli police spokesman Gil Kleiman said.
The boys said they planned to shoot people in the northern Israeli city of Afula, he said.
The army said it was still investigating the case and had not decided whether to charge the boys.
Palestinians have carried out thousands of attacks against Israelis during 41 months of violence, killing 930 people, while 2,688 have been killed on the Palestinian side, almost all in Israeli military strikes.
The boys, Jaffar Dababaat, 12, Tarek Abu Mahsen, 13, and Ibrahim Suafta, 15, left behind a letter saying they wanted to strike a blow against the barrier Israel is building in the West Bank. The note identified Tarek as a member of Islamic Jihad and the other two as members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a militant group linked to Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement.
"If we die, if we become martyrs, don't feel sorry for us. Just have a massive protest in our honor and distribute sweets to everyone," the letter said.
Tarek's parents were outraged and criticized Islamic Jihad for recruiting youngsters for an attack that would likely lead to their deaths.
"My son doesn't know how to write such a letter and never belonged to any groups. Someone older wrote this letter for him," said his mother, Amira Abu Mahsen.
"If it is proved that someone in specific sent them on this mission, I will make sure they are punished. They shouldn't send my young boy on such missions," said his father, Mohammed Abu Mahsen.
An Al Aqsa official who declined to be named strenuously denied the group had sent the boys. "This is impossible. I don't know where these kids came from," he said. Islamic Jihad spokesmen could not be reached for comment.
Criticism of attacks on Israelis is rare among Palestinians, but in recent months more people have been condemning the recruiting methods used by the militant groups.
In January, Hamas sent a mother of two young children as a suicide bomber to attack a crossing point between Gaza and Israel. Days earlier a 17-year-old bomber died when his bomb belt exploded prematurely, a week after his 15-year-old brother, Amjad, and a cousin were killed in clashes with Israeli forces.
But the ages of the Tubas youths was especially shocking for many.
Neither police nor the army knew if the would-be attackers were the youngest sent against Israel, but most militants are in their late teens or early 20s.
The three boys "don't have enough life experience to make such decisions," said Hafez Barghouti, editor of the Palestinian daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida.
Barghouti said the use of youngsters to carry out attacks was on the rise, though he declined to speculate why. Others have said that as Israel has become more adept at stopping attacks, the militant groups have been forced to turn to people less likely to arouse suspicion.
The boys' parents found it hard to reconcile their image of their children with that of militants.
Amira Abu Mahsen said Tarek learned to love motorcycles from his father, a mechanic. He also kept birds as pets. "They were his greatest joy," she said.
His father recalled that a neighbor had told him that two strange men were looking for the boy about a week ago. Relatives said they were stunned to find out the boys had been arrested.
"We never thought he was ever involved in politics," said Jafar's father, Hussein Dababaat, before he burst into tears.
"I lost my son," he said.
[i]Copyright © 2004, The Associated Press [/i]
Interesting Times: The war for human rights
02.29.04 (2:45 pm) [edit]
[b]Feb. 26, 2004
[i]By SAUL SINGER, the Jerusalem Post[/b][/i]
[i]"The group was led to the front of the bus, where the headlights were directly on them. They were pushed to the ground and then were pulled up one at a time to be executed. He does not remember any words being spoken - except the plea of the three brothers, who begged that at least one be spared. They were executed one at a time. Next, the woman was shot in front of her five-year-old child. The child lunged at the legs of the executioner and was kicked away and shot in the face." [/i]
I apologize for sharing this with you, but this just-released report has received no discernible press attention. It describes the raw face of a genocide, and the evidence left behind. Not in Rwanda, Cambodia, Bosnia, or Auschwitz, but in Iraq.
The report, written by the US Agency for International Development (www.usaid.gov) and titled "Iraq's Legacy of Terror: Mass Graves," says that since the fall of Saddam, 270 mass grave sites have been reported, 53 of which have so far been confirmed. According to British Prime Minister Tony Blair, an estimated 400,000 people were buried in these mass graves, many of them non-Iraqis. Human Rights Watch estimates that 290,000 Iraqis were "disappeared" by Saddam's regime.
The report includes an important survey of how the US has been working with Iraqis to discover and investigate the mass grave sites. The chilling part, however, is the collection of survivors' stories, including that of "Ali" above. In the stories, like those of Holocaust survivors, each witness narrowly escaped execution while witnessing others being mowed down or burned alive.
It is remarkable enough that there is no news interest in this report, not even of the sneering political kind (such as "Administration spotlights evils of former regime"). What is even more striking is that there is no similar report by a non-governmental agency, such as Amnesty International or Human Rights Watch.
One might think that human rights organizations would have regarded the removal of totalitarian regimes, in Afghanistan and Iraq, reason for common cause, or at least grounds for celebration once accomplished. Yet now, even with the extent of Saddam's human carnage emerging, there is not only a total lack of retroactive support but an active effort to deny the war any humanitarian label.
Last month, Human Rights Watch director Ken Roth even issued a long statement called, "War in Iraq: Not a Humanitarian Intervention." Sounding much like those who defended right-wing dictators like the Shah, Marcos, or Pinochet to the howls of groups like his own, Roth writes, "One is tempted to say that anything is better than living under the tyranny of Saddam Hussein, but unfortunately it is possible to imagine scenarios even worse. Vicious as his rule was, chaos or abusive civil war might well become even deadlier, and it is too early to say whether such violence might still emerge in Iraq."
PROPER MOTIVES are a critical factor for Roth. Though it was "reasonable to believe" that Iraqis would be better off without Saddam, "it was not designed or carried out with the needs of Iraqis foremost in mind."
The war not only failed to qualify as a humanitarian intervention, but "risks undermining an institution that [is a necessary] tool for rescuing people from slaughter."
To Roth, the war in Iraq is giving humanitarianism a bad name. But if removing Saddam does not advance human rights, what does? How did it happen that those who claim to care most don't seem to have a dog in the fight between the West and militant Islam?
To human rights groups, the war against terrorism seems to be mainly a source of abuses, by either the unintentional killing of civilians, the abuse of the civil rights of suspected terrorists in Guantanamo, or because some brutal regimes have used it as an excuse for their own crackdowns.
Many, or even all, of these criticisms might have substantial validity. But to focus only on such derivative matters is to ignore what these same people like to call the "root causes" of the problem.
The world will debate forever whether it was necessary to carpet bomb Dresden or use atomic weapons against Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Yet no one could argue, from a humanitarian perspective, of all things, that the cause of defeating Nazism and fascism was not just.
Retail humanitarianism has its place, but it is not enough, and it must not forget that our only hope lies in the wholesale victory against the greatest engine of tyranny and human suffering of our day.
The fall of Baghdad and Kabul has not ended the global struggle with militant Islam, its "secular" variety remaining in Damascus, and its fundamentalist variety left in Teheran. We can argue about means, but we are, in fact, in the greatest human rights struggle since the 1930s.
The war in Iraq, in both a local and a global context, was a super-humanitarian intervention. Terrorism and those behind it are the greatest threats to human rights - the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The fight against terrorism does not compete with the struggle for human rights. It is that struggle.
[i]saul@jpost.com
- Editorial Page Editor Saul Singer is author of the book, Confronting Jihad: Israel's Struggle & the World After 9/11 -- http://search.barnesandnoble....
V&isbn=1593600011&itm=1[/ i]
The UN's favorite occupation
02.29.04 (2:36 pm) [edit]
[b]Feb. 29, 2004
[i]By SHLOMO AVINERI, the Jerusalem Post[/b][/i]
On May 1, 2004, Cyprus will join the European Union. The island has been divided since the Turkish invasion in 1974, with a Turkish puppet regime in the North. For decades, futile negotiations have been going on for reunification.
Despite this, the European Union has decided that Cyprus will be admitted in any case: If reunification occurs before accession, the whole island will join the EU; if negotiations fail, only the Greek part, represented by the legitimate Republic of Cyprus, will become a member. In such a case the current Green Line dividing Cyprus – and running through Nicosia – will also become the external border of the EU.
This, of course, raises a number of serious concerns for the EU. Hence its support for the UN-sponsored Annan Plan, aimed at reuniting the island before May 1, has now gone into high gear, with intensive talks taking place between the two sides under UN sponsorship, with the blessing of the EU.
The Annan Plan is a 400-page document. Few people in Cyprus have read it, despite the fact that both communities will have to vote on it before May 1. In typical UN arrogance, it has not been translated into either Greek or Turkish, so most people have only a vague idea of what is in it.
But despite its promise to end the division of the island by setting up a complex loose federal system, a poll released last week suggests that in the Cypriot Greek community 61 percent oppose it, while only 27 percent support it.
Why such meager support for what promises finally to bring peace to the island? The answers are in the details.
Many Greek Cypriots feel that the haste now evident by the UN and the EU stems from the wish to pave the way for talks about the accession of Turkey to the EU. Obviously, if Turkey continued to occupy part of an EU member state, negotiations about its membership could not begin.
GREECE ITSELF has now – wisely – dropped its opposition to Turkish EU membership. Looking at the details of the Annan Plan, however, it appears that the international community, through its wish to pave Turkey's accession, will be legitimating the outcome of Turkish aggression. It is obvious that the Annan Plan contradicts some basic values of both the United Nations and the European Union:
Most of the 200,000 Greek Cypriot refuges who were uprooted by the Turkish invasion will not be able to return to their former places, nor will they receive full compensation;
Most of the Anatolian Turks who have been settled in the North by the Turkish occupation authorities will remain in place;
Until Turkish accession to the EU, Turkish forces will remain in the North;
Greek Cypriots will not be able to move freely or settle in the Turkish part.
The last prohibition rattles Greek Cypriots most: It means that in a united Europe – where every French, Portuguese, Polish or Estonian citizen will be more or less free to take up residence and work in the Turkish part of Cyprus – Greek Cypriots will not have freedom of movement in their own country. In a way, the Greek Cypriots will be ghettoized.
Furthermore, the provisions regarding Turkish settlers and the continued presence of the Turkish army will mean that Turkish aggression has been rewarded.
The UN and the EU, which justly condemn Israeli occupation and settlements in the West Bank, now condones Turkish occupation and Turkish settlers.
If the negotiations prove successful, Kofi Annan may get the Nobel Peace Prize for an agreement which legitimizes ethnic cleansing and occupation. As always, the gap between the lofty ideals of the UN and the sleazy way in which it goes about its business could not be wider.
Many Greek Cypriots feel that they are being bludgeoned into submission in order to appease a much stronger Turkey. They may be exaggerating; but if the negotiations fail because of the Greek Cypriots' feeling of being, once again, victimized by realpolitik, they will not be totally wrong.
[i]
The writer is professor of political science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and former director-general of the Foreign Ministry. [/i]
The Writing on the Wall is in Arabic
02.29.04 (2:20 pm) [edit]
[i][b]by Carl Alpert[/b][/i]
Haifa -- Gradually and belatedly the western world, particularly the European states, are awakening to the realization that the Arab/Islamic campaign against Israel is only a preliminary step in their avowed goal, the ultimate Islamization of the West. The popular slogan, "Today the Saturday people; tomorrow the Sunday people" was long reguarded as a joke. Suddenly it is being revealed as a threat.
What is strange is that until very recently the West has overlooked or ignored open declarations of extreme Islamic ambitions. Scores of assertions of the Islamic goal are on record, and more are constantly being added. Very recently the chariman of the board of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) was quoted as telling a large public meeting in California that, in effect, Islam is not in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. Later he denied the statement, but there were too many auditors who provided confirmation.
Other Muslim leaders, whether deliberately or accidentally, have been even more outspoken. Some have no hesitated to warn the Western world of what is in store. Bassam Tibi, of an Islamic reform movement, and a teacher at Goettingen University in Germany, warns that the quest of converting the entire world to Islam is a fixture of the Muslim attitude to the non-Muslims. Only then will peace be possible.
In Britain, Shekh Omar Bakri wrote in the London-based [i]Al Hayat[/i] that, "Allah willing, we will transform the West into Dar Al-Islam (that is, a region under Islamic tule) by means of invasion from without... We will be the army and its soldiers from within."
Sheikh Muhammad bin Abd Al-Rahman Al-'Arifi, of Saudi-Arabia, is explicit: "Allah is with us. We will control the land of the Vatican. We will control Rome and introduce Islam in it -- and before then, in Bosnia and before then in many places in the world."
sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradhawi, an influential Sunni Islam cleric, is at least reassuring: "Islam will return to Europe as a conqueror and victor... (but) the conquest this time will not be by the sword, but by preaching and ideology."
More outspoken, Sheikh Nasser bin Hamud al Fahd, one of the leaders of the extremist movement opposing the Saudi leadership, issued a decree calling for the death of ten million Americans.
The Americans preferred to ignore the many manifestations of enmity that marked the calendar even before the twin tower attack on Sept 11, 2001. There was the bombing of Pan-Am flight No. 1103... The earlier attempt at the World Trade Center in 1993... The bombing of the marine barracks in Lebanon... The military barracks in Saudi Arabia... The attack on the [i]USS Cole[/i]. The list is long, all perpetuated by Muslims. We tend to forget.
In Indonesia and E. Timor thousands of Christians have been massacred, and others forcibly converted to Islam. It is reported that Christians in Pakistan and Iran live in terror of accusations against them. Most of the extremism is so common that it no longer merits reporting. Fortunatly there are groups that follow what is going on, and provide translations of what the extremist Islamic press is fomenting. Outstanding is the Middle East Media Researche Institute, {MEMRI) which flashes a spotlight on the Machiavellian plotting. Most of the quotations we have cited come from MEMRI.
Only very recently have western European countries begun to be aware of what is giong on within their own borders. [b]Long overlooked was the warning by H.G. Wells, many years ago, that "the armies of Islam were advancing triumphantly in the conquest of the world."[/b] And the West does not yet fullyl realize that as in the days of Hitler Nazi period, the Jews are once again serving as a barometer of a threat to our civilization.
As Prof. Yehuda Bauer pointed out recently: "It is commonly and mistakenly thought that Islamic fundamentalists seek to banish the West only from the Middle East. In effect, Islamic fundamentalism wants to control the entire world."
02.29.04 (1:27 pm) [edit]
[b]Sat Feb 28, 7:21 AM ET
[/b]
JENIN, West Bank (Reuters) - Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed group inside Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction, claimed responsibility on Saturday for the killing of an Israeli settler couple in the West Bank.
The 30-year-old man and his wife, 25, were shot dead in their car outside the Jewish settlement of Eshkolot on Friday night. Israeli security sources said military trackers were searching nearby Palestinian towns for the gunmen.
A Brigades spokesman claimed responsibility for the drive-by shooting in call to Reuters in the West Bank city of Jenin.
The Brigades have recently stepped up attacks amid rancour over an Israeli barrier going up in the West Bank. Israel calls it a security precaution. Palestinians call it a land-grab.
On Thursday, two Brigades gunmen killed an Israeli soldier on the Gaza Strip boundary before being shot dead by troops.
Israel points to Brigades operations as evidence that Arafat has fomented violence during a more than three-year-old Palestinian uprising. He denies involvement.
Dismantling the Brigades was up for discussion at a reform debate by Fatah's Revolutionary Council, a key decision-making organ in the Palestinian Authority due to end on Saturday.
But Palestinian officials said the faction was powerless to act against the group, comprising roving bands in the West Bank and Gaza Strip that have become increasingly fragmented and autonomous under Israeli military crackdowns.
[b]Sat Feb 28, 7:21 AM ET
[/b]
JENIN, West Bank (Reuters) - Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed group inside Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction, claimed responsibility on Saturday for the killing of an Israeli settler couple in the West Bank.
The 30-year-old man and his wife, 25, were shot dead in their car outside the Jewish settlement of Eshkolot on Friday night. Israeli security sources said military trackers were searching nearby Palestinian towns for the gunmen.
A Brigades spokesman claimed responsibility for the drive-by shooting in call to Reuters in the West Bank city of Jenin.
The Brigades have recently stepped up attacks amid rancour over an Israeli barrier going up in the West Bank. Israel calls it a security precaution. Palestinians call it a land-grab.
On Thursday, two Brigades gunmen killed an Israeli soldier on the Gaza Strip boundary before being shot dead by troops.
Israel points to Brigades operations as evidence that Arafat has fomented violence during a more than three-year-old Palestinian uprising. He denies involvement.
Dismantling the Brigades was up for discussion at a reform debate by Fatah's Revolutionary Council, a key decision-making organ in the Palestinian Authority due to end on Saturday.
But Palestinian officials said the faction was powerless to act against the group, comprising roving bands in the West Bank and Gaza Strip that have become increasingly fragmented and autonomous under Israeli military crackdowns.
02.29.04 (1:25 pm) [edit]
[b]Sun Feb 29, 4:31 AM ET [/b]
CAIRO (Reuters) - Syria has joined Arab heavyweights Saudi Arabia and Egypt in opposing Washington's plan for political and other reforms in the Middle East, according to an interview published Sunday.
"Our position is that we don't want any reform project to be dictated to us from abroad. Reforms must spring from the specifics of the region and not through the diktats of external forces," Syrian Information Minister Ahmad al-Hassan told the London-based daily Arabic newspaper al-Hayat.
"No regime would accept the implementation of reforms under external pressure or diktats from abroad."
Saudi Arabia and Egypt, both with close U.S. ties, said last week the Arab world was going through its own reforms and would reject any change imposed from outside.
They were reacting to Washington's Greater Middle East Initiative, which proposes funding for projects which would promote free elections, civil society, the empowerment of women and the modernisation of education.
Relations between Syria and the United States have been strained for years because of U.S. support for Israel and U.S. complaints about the presence in Damascus of Lebanese and Palestinian militant groups.
Hassan defended Syria's emergency laws on the grounds that part of the country, the Golan Heights, is under Israeli occupation. The laws, in force since 1963, give the security authorities wide powers of detention.
"There is no country to the world which has part of its territory under occupation that does not have exceptional laws that might be used if its security is at risk," he said.
The State Department, in its annual human rights report released last week, said members of the Syrian security forces committed numerous serious human rights abuses in 2003.
Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail, arriving in Cairo Sunday for Arab League meetings, also objected to the Greater Middle East Initiative.
"The countries which want to impose reform from outside must know that this will fail as long as it is not in the framework of a partnership," he told reporters.
[b]Sun Feb 29, 4:31 AM ET [/b]
CAIRO (Reuters) - Syria has joined Arab heavyweights Saudi Arabia and Egypt in opposing Washington's plan for political and other reforms in the Middle East, according to an interview published Sunday.
"Our position is that we don't want any reform project to be dictated to us from abroad. Reforms must spring from the specifics of the region and not through the diktats of external forces," Syrian Information Minister Ahmad al-Hassan told the London-based daily Arabic newspaper al-Hayat.
"No regime would accept the implementation of reforms under external pressure or diktats from abroad."
Saudi Arabia and Egypt, both with close U.S. ties, said last week the Arab world was going through its own reforms and would reject any change imposed from outside.
They were reacting to Washington's Greater Middle East Initiative, which proposes funding for projects which would promote free elections, civil society, the empowerment of women and the modernisation of education.
Relations between Syria and the United States have been strained for years because of U.S. support for Israel and U.S. complaints about the presence in Damascus of Lebanese and Palestinian militant groups.
Hassan defended Syria's emergency laws on the grounds that part of the country, the Golan Heights, is under Israeli occupation. The laws, in force since 1963, give the security authorities wide powers of detention.
"There is no country to the world which has part of its territory under occupation that does not have exceptional laws that might be used if its security is at risk," he said.
The State Department, in its annual human rights report released last week, said members of the Syrian security forces committed numerous serious human rights abuses in 2003.
Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail, arriving in Cairo Sunday for Arab League meetings, also objected to the Greater Middle East Initiative.
"The countries which want to impose reform from outside must know that this will fail as long as it is not in the framework of a partnership," he told reporters.
Israel can't even take the weak way out
02.29.04 (10:45 am) [edit][b]JNW Editorial
[i]By Ryan Jones[/i]
Jerusalem - February 24, 2004[/b]
Israel has for the past decade conducted a limited war on Palestinian terrorism, consisting largely of reactionary, rather than proactive, military efforts to curb Islamic violence against its citizens.
IDF raids on terrorists who only recently slaughtered Israeli Jews, or who were preparing to do so, invariably raised howls of indignation throughout the world.
So rather than up its military campaign to destroy, expel and otherwise do away with the Palestinian terrorist infrastructure plaguing its people, Israel last year flinched at the catcalls, and opted for the weak way out.
Amid the international hypocrisy and the slaughter of its own civilians, the Jewish state decided to take what it felt would be the least provocative path, while still providing some semblance of security.
So Israel built a fence.
But even that was too much for the Arab world and its allies in the Non-Aligned Movement of nations - "the usual collection of dictatorships and Arab states against Israel."
Between them, both groups habitually hijack the UN General Assembly, exploiting the world body as an arena in which to gang up on, and bash, the "Zionist entity."
They did so again, voting to put Israel on trial for building a fence behind which the Jews could take shelter from the forces of terror.
Instead of boldly supporting Israel - whose infants, little children and old women have been blown to smithereens along with the mothers and fathers of countless others - most of the other UN member states abstained from the vote.
(Just a few decades before these same nations made do with mouthing weak complaints while Hitler went after Europe's Jews.)
Their abstentions revealed that they, too, had a problem with Israel putting up a barrier between itself and the "Palestinian" terrorist hordes.
Thus, for doing the absolute minimum any nation could be expected to do to defend its citizens, Israel is today paraded as an outlaw before the world.
Israel's decision to erect a flimsy wall between its people and those desiring to murder them, rather than go after and obliterate the forces of evil arrayed against it, is indeed regrettable.
At least one American lawmaker believes that the correct and sensible response would be to "carpet bomb" the "Palestinians." Is this, or is this not, a war?
If the case against Israel at the United Nations' International Court of "Justice" proves anything, it is this: The Muslim world will suffer no attempt by Israel, no matter how weak, to protect itself from what Islam insists is the Allah-decreed fate of the Jewish state - annihilation.
02.29.04 (10:40 am) [edit]
[b]JNW News
IDF nabs Arab youths en route to attack
[i]By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff[/i]
February 29, 2004[/b]
Jerusalem (jnewswire.com) - Israeli security forces operating in Samaria last week apprehended three Palestinian Arab youths en route to carry out a shooting attack in the northern town of Afula.
The boys were age 14 and 16.
Their parents expressed outrage that Palestinian terror groups would recruit children so young for a "mission" that would inevitably end with the boys' deaths.
The Palestinian Authority has long cultivated a culture of death in "Palestinian" schools, regularly glorifying "suicide" bombers and pushing the "honor" of being killed in the struggle with Israel.
In other violence, two Palestinian Arab gunmen slaughtered a young Jewish couple in a roadside ambush south of Hebron Friday evening.
The killers made an orphan of the couple's two-year-old daughter.
[b]Child killers[/b]
Israeli forces conducting anti-terror operations near Jenin last Thursday captured three Palestinian Arab youths toting improvised firearms en route to carry out a shooting attack in the nearby Israel town of Afula.
The boys, two aged 14, one aged 16, left a letter for their families, saying they had gone to carry out "an attack against Sharon's fence," and that they didn't expect to return.
"Palestinian" terror groups have upped their efforts to carry out attacks inside sovereign Israel in order to prove Israel's separation fence will not provide its Jewish citizens with security.
"We want you to give out candies and don't cry for us and hold a big demonstration," one of the boys wrote, referring to the traditional mass funeral processions for Palestinian Arab "martyrs."
The boys' parents were outraged that "Palestinian" terror groups had recruited children so young for a "mission" that must inevitably end with their deaths.
"My son doesn't know how to write such a letter and never belonged to any groups. Someone older wrote this letter for him," the Associated Press quoted the mother of one boy as saying.
Security officials have reported a worrying trend whereby "Palestinian" children are more often being called on to carry out attacks as they have a better chance of slipping by Israeli security forces.
The two 14-year-old members of the cell claimed to be members of the Palestine Islamic Jihad, while the older boy said he belonged to Yasser Arafat's Fatah Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.
[b]Cultivated culture of death[/b]
The Palestinian Authority has long cultivated a culture of death among the next generation of Palestinian Arabs.
Schoolchildren are regularly taught to regard death during violent confrontations with Israeli soldiers as honorable, while posters of favorite "suicide" bombers hang from classroom walls.
Youth soccer teams are typically named after "suicide" bombers, and trading cards and other trinkets bearing the pictures of "Palestinian" mass murderers are popular commodities.
Children's television programs on official PA-controlled TV push the idea of martyrdom among children at the youngest ages.
[b]Terrorist murder[/b]
In other "Palestinian" violence, two terrorist gunmen slaughtered a young Jewish couple as they made their way from their home in Judea to the coastal city of Ashdod Friday evening.
Eitan Kokoyo and Rima Novikov were gunned down shortly after leaving the Judean Jewish community of Livna, which sits on Israel's 1967 border.
The murder took place west of the "Green Line", inside sovereign Israel.
After firing an initial volley of bullets and bringing the couple's car to a halt, the gunmen reportedly approached the vehicle and fired another round of bullets into their victims' heads at point-blank range.
The killers left the couple's two-year-old daughter, Michelle, an orphan.
Kokoyo's sister, Tasia Levine, said that she and her husband would not let Michelle suffer, but would adopt and raise her in place of her murdered parents, Arutz 7 reported.
[b]JNW News
IDF nabs Arab youths en route to attack
[i]By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff[/i]
February 29, 2004[/b]
Jerusalem (jnewswire.com) - Israeli security forces operating in Samaria last week apprehended three Palestinian Arab youths en route to carry out a shooting attack in the northern town of Afula.
The boys were age 14 and 16.
Their parents expressed outrage that Palestinian terror groups would recruit children so young for a "mission" that would inevitably end with the boys' deaths.
The Palestinian Authority has long cultivated a culture of death in "Palestinian" schools, regularly glorifying "suicide" bombers and pushing the "honor" of being killed in the struggle with Israel.
In other violence, two Palestinian Arab gunmen slaughtered a young Jewish couple in a roadside ambush south of Hebron Friday evening.
The killers made an orphan of the couple's two-year-old daughter.
[b]Child killers[/b]
Israeli forces conducting anti-terror operations near Jenin last Thursday captured three Palestinian Arab youths toting improvised firearms en route to carry out a shooting attack in the nearby Israel town of Afula.
The boys, two aged 14, one aged 16, left a letter for their families, saying they had gone to carry out "an attack against Sharon's fence," and that they didn't expect to return.
"Palestinian" terror groups have upped their efforts to carry out attacks inside sovereign Israel in order to prove Israel's separation fence will not provide its Jewish citizens with security.
"We want you to give out candies and don't cry for us and hold a big demonstration," one of the boys wrote, referring to the traditional mass funeral processions for Palestinian Arab "martyrs."
The boys' parents were outraged that "Palestinian" terror groups had recruited children so young for a "mission" that must inevitably end with their deaths.
"My son doesn't know how to write such a letter and never belonged to any groups. Someone older wrote this letter for him," the Associated Press quoted the mother of one boy as saying.
Security officials have reported a worrying trend whereby "Palestinian" children are more often being called on to carry out attacks as they have a better chance of slipping by Israeli security forces.
The two 14-year-old members of the cell claimed to be members of the Palestine Islamic Jihad, while the older boy said he belonged to Yasser Arafat's Fatah Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.
[b]Cultivated culture of death[/b]
The Palestinian Authority has long cultivated a culture of death among the next generation of Palestinian Arabs.
Schoolchildren are regularly taught to regard death during violent confrontations with Israeli soldiers as honorable, while posters of favorite "suicide" bombers hang from classroom walls.
Youth soccer teams are typically named after "suicide" bombers, and trading cards and other trinkets bearing the pictures of "Palestinian" mass murderers are popular commodities.
Children's television programs on official PA-controlled TV push the idea of martyrdom among children at the youngest ages.
[b]Terrorist murder[/b]
In other "Palestinian" violence, two terrorist gunmen slaughtered a young Jewish couple as they made their way from their home in Judea to the coastal city of Ashdod Friday evening.
Eitan Kokoyo and Rima Novikov were gunned down shortly after leaving the Judean Jewish community of Livna, which sits on Israel's 1967 border.
The murder took place west of the "Green Line", inside sovereign Israel.
After firing an initial volley of bullets and bringing the couple's car to a halt, the gunmen reportedly approached the vehicle and fired another round of bullets into their victims' heads at point-blank range.
The killers left the couple's two-year-old daughter, Michelle, an orphan.
Kokoyo's sister, Tasia Levine, said that she and her husband would not let Michelle suffer, but would adopt and raise her in place of her murdered parents, Arutz 7 reported.
02.29.04 (10:38 am) [edit]
[b]JNW News
[i]By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff[/i]
February 29, 2004[/b]
Jerusalem (jnewswire.com) - Israel resumed its assassination of Jew-killers in Gaza Saturday, sending two rockets into a car carrying three terrorists, including the head of the Palestine Islamic Jihad's so called 'military wing' in the Strip.
The IDF issued a statement confirming it had "attacked a car in which senior Islamic Jihad operatives [sic], who were responsible for a number of murderous attacks, were traveling."
The strike came a few days after Israel's political and military leaders reportedly decided to increase assassination operations of Hamas and PIJ members after the February 22 Jerusalem bus bombing in which eight Israelis were killed.
[b]Judgment from heaven[/b]
The strike came at around 6.30pm, plunging out of the clear, darkening sky over Gaza City, where an IAF Apache helicopter had reportedly been seen circling overhead.
Eyewitnesses reported between two and four missiles slammed into a car carrying three members of the Palestine Islamic Jihad through what were said to have been crowded streets in the Saftawi neighborhood.
"Palestinian" sources originally claimed that a six-year old boy had been killed in the hit, but this report was altered a few hours later to say that 10 bystanders, "including several children," had been hurt.
[b]Head of the snake[/b]
One of the three terrorists killed was Mahmoud Juda, believed to be the number one leader of the PIJ's "military wing."
[Ed note: The Palestinian organizations Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah all have what they call their "military wings." These branches, however, are no more separate from the main terror group than, for example, the IDF is separate from the Israeli government. Their special designation is employed by these terrorist organizations to create an artificial "distance" from, and deniability for terror attacks.]
According to Israeli sources, Juda had directed numerous attacks on Israeli civilians and soldiers, and had been responsible for an attack last October on the Gaza Strip Jewish community of Netzarim, in which three IDF soldiers were killed.
Like the mythical hydra-headed serpent, Juda will be promptly replaced by another Israel-hating Muslim Arab.
A second wanted terrorist, Ayman Dahdou, had been sought by Israel for planting bombs aimed at Israeli civilians and soldiers.
The third victim was also a PIJ member, but he reportedly had not been a target in this attack.
[b]Vows of vengeance[/b]
Television cameras recorded "Palestinian" crowds milling around what was left of the killers' Subaru automobile shortly after the strike.
Efforts were made to extricate the dead men from the car, a task that appeared virtually impossible.
Later reports said hundreds of Arabs had descended on the morgue where the remains were eventually taken. Armed men had fired shots into the air, while cries for revenge had gone up from the crowd.
PIJ leader Abdallah al-Shami declared Sunday that, in response to the killings, "The coming days will be the blackest days in Israel's history."
[b]Fair warning[/b]
Israeli leaders warned last week the country would resume its execution of terrorists and their leaders following the February 22 "suicide" attack on a Jerusalem bus that killed eight Jews and wounded another 70 people.
That attack was the work of Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction, whose "military wing," the Al-Aqsa martyrs Brigades, claimed credit for it.
Back to News Archive
[b]JNW News
[i]By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff[/i]
February 29, 2004[/b]
Jerusalem (jnewswire.com) - Israel resumed its assassination of Jew-killers in Gaza Saturday, sending two rockets into a car carrying three terrorists, including the head of the Palestine Islamic Jihad's so called 'military wing' in the Strip.
The IDF issued a statement confirming it had "attacked a car in which senior Islamic Jihad operatives [sic], who were responsible for a number of murderous attacks, were traveling."
The strike came a few days after Israel's political and military leaders reportedly decided to increase assassination operations of Hamas and PIJ members after the February 22 Jerusalem bus bombing in which eight Israelis were killed.
[b]Judgment from heaven[/b]
The strike came at around 6.30pm, plunging out of the clear, darkening sky over Gaza City, where an IAF Apache helicopter had reportedly been seen circling overhead.
Eyewitnesses reported between two and four missiles slammed into a car carrying three members of the Palestine Islamic Jihad through what were said to have been crowded streets in the Saftawi neighborhood.
"Palestinian" sources originally claimed that a six-year old boy had been killed in the hit, but this report was altered a few hours later to say that 10 bystanders, "including several children," had been hurt.
[b]Head of the snake[/b]
One of the three terrorists killed was Mahmoud Juda, believed to be the number one leader of the PIJ's "military wing."
[Ed note: The Palestinian organizations Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah all have what they call their "military wings." These branches, however, are no more separate from the main terror group than, for example, the IDF is separate from the Israeli government. Their special designation is employed by these terrorist organizations to create an artificial "distance" from, and deniability for terror attacks.]
According to Israeli sources, Juda had directed numerous attacks on Israeli civilians and soldiers, and had been responsible for an attack last October on the Gaza Strip Jewish community of Netzarim, in which three IDF soldiers were killed.
Like the mythical hydra-headed serpent, Juda will be promptly replaced by another Israel-hating Muslim Arab.
A second wanted terrorist, Ayman Dahdou, had been sought by Israel for planting bombs aimed at Israeli civilians and soldiers.
The third victim was also a PIJ member, but he reportedly had not been a target in this attack.
[b]Vows of vengeance[/b]
Television cameras recorded "Palestinian" crowds milling around what was left of the killers' Subaru automobile shortly after the strike.
Efforts were made to extricate the dead men from the car, a task that appeared virtually impossible.
Later reports said hundreds of Arabs had descended on the morgue where the remains were eventually taken. Armed men had fired shots into the air, while cries for revenge had gone up from the crowd.
PIJ leader Abdallah al-Shami declared Sunday that, in response to the killings, "The coming days will be the blackest days in Israel's history."
[b]Fair warning[/b]
Israeli leaders warned last week the country would resume its execution of terrorists and their leaders following the February 22 "suicide" attack on a Jerusalem bus that killed eight Jews and wounded another 70 people.
That attack was the work of Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction, whose "military wing," the Al-Aqsa martyrs Brigades, claimed credit for it.
Back to News Archive
More on the Saudi Jew-hating issue...
02.29.04 (9:45 am) [edit]
Here are a few links that may interest you...
http://www.littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=9967_Sa udis-_No_Jews_Allowed" title="http://www.littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=9967_Sa udis-_No_Jews_Allowed" target="_blank"http://www.littlegreenfootbal...
http://www.freeman.org/m_online/jan98/fistel .htm" title="http://www.freeman.org/m_online/jan98/fistel .htm" target="_blank"http://www.freeman.org/m_onli...
http://www.mideastweb.org/log/archives/00000205 .htm" title="http://www.mideastweb.org/log/archives/00000205 .htm" target="_blank"http://www.mideastweb.org/log...
And, of course, once again, the origional version of the website for Saudi tourism: http://homepage.mac.com/cfj/....
I urge you to check all of these out! Enjoy!
Middle East “Super Monday” in Washington
02.28.04 (8:34 pm) [edit]
[b]DEBKAfile Special Analysis
February 28, 2004, 9:25 PM (GMT+02:00)[/b]
[i]Javier Solana - these days a welcome visitor to DC[/i]
Monday, March 1, several hives of activity will focus on the Middle East’s most intractable conflict and the next stage of the Bush design to remake the region.
Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon’s two senior aides, Dov Weisglass and his new national security council director Giora Eiland, will be in Washington, officially to present the essentials of the prime minister’s initiative for Israel’s unilateral disengagement from the Palestinians by means of the partial evacuation of Israeli dwellers from the Gaza Strip and from isolated locations in the West Bank and the construction of a fence - both for protection against terrorists and as a divider.
To ease acceptance, the fence was shortened by 80 km and underwent major surgery to straighten out loops curving into the West Bank. The biggest sacrifice is the section that was supposed to guard Israel’s international Ben Gurion airport, the densely populated Modi’in-Re’ut-Maccabim region, and highways linking it to Jerusalem, from terrorist attack. These vital areas will be denied the protection of a defense barrier separating next-door Palestinian areas.
The European Union’s foreign affairs executive Javier Solana will land in Washington on the same day as the Israeli delegation. He will be coming to hear arguments from secretary of state Colin Powell and the president’s national security adviser Condoleezza Rice in favor of Europe joining forces with the United States in the execution of a regional strategy and the Sharon plan.
All parties are aware that Israel will be at the receiving end of demands for further “adjustments” to make the Bush strategy attractive to the European Union.
Therefore, the fate of the Weisglass-Eiland presentation depends largely on the outcome of Solana’s talks with US leaders.
Not entirely by chance, Friday, February 27, Irish foreign minister Brian Cowan handed visiting foreign minister Silvan Shalom in Dublin with a plan that Solana will also discuss with his American hosts. Ireland is the present EU president. The plan centers on the deployment of NATO forces in areas evacuated by Israel, NATO being a euphemism for European troops. Long dreamed of by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and embodied in the Geneva proposals developed by Israeli dove Yossi Beilin and Palestinian Yasser Abd Rabbo, every Israeli government has rejected the notion in the past. Shalom explained to the Irish minister that the presence of foreign troops would hold Israel back from pursuing terrorists and prejudice its national security.
As he spoke, the subject was being thoroughly explored in the White House, according to DEBKAfile’s Washington sources, by President George W. Bush and German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder when they met to bury their pre-Iraq War hatchet.
Solana will almost certainly take up the American offer. He will not miss the opportunity to gradually forced Israel back, step by step, into a comprehensive withdrawal - not only from the Gaza Strip but also from the West Bank under the US-European aegis. Every peace proposal he ever initiated always hinged heavily on Israeli concessions to the Palestinians.
The erosion has begun. Sharon’s proposed removal of 17 of the 19 Gaza Strip Jewish settlements has morphed in diplomatic parlance to total withdrawal of settlers and troops alike. The most unobtrusive casualty of this projected stampede is the security strip along the Israel-Egyptian frontier that was enshrined in the 1979 peace treaty signed by the late Menahem Begin and Anwar Sadat, for which they shared a Nobel Prize and which holds up to the present day. Eliminating the border crossing at the southern tip of Rafah would push the Israeli frontier 70 km north almost up to the Mediterranean town of Ashkelon.
And that is just for starters. Powell, Rice and Solana are both old hands at the negotiating table. Concessions made at the outset are likely to snowball. The European official will not miss the chance of building on the Gaza withdrawal and partial removal of West Bank settlements. He will get his chance when Washington asks to hear what concessions Europe requires from Israel to get the Europeans behind the United States on other issues like Iraq and Syria.
Both sides will be keen to accommodate one another and increase Bush’s Middle East momentum. The mission that takes Weisglass and Eiland to Washington is therefore not the presentation of the Sharon plan but rather to hear what further concessions are demanded before the Israeli prime minister is invited for his oft-postponed visit to the White House.
The Bush administration faces a far tougher challenge to its plans for the region on the Arab side of the Middle East. Monday, too Mark Grossman, the state department’s Number Three, heads out for Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Bahrain and Turkey, to sell the president’s democratic reforms program to key Arab leaders as well as Ankara. His trip follows a little-noticed declaration delivered in unison last week by two moderate Arab leaders, Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah and Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak. Together, they flatly rejected the Western model of democracy that “does not suit a region largely driven by Islamic teachings.” They affirmed that the US “Greater Middle East Initiative” is not compatible with the “its specificities and Arab identity.” Bahrain has since endorsed this declaration.
To make sure the message is audible in Washington, 22 Arab League foreign ministers meet in Cairo this same “Super Monday” to draft a common stand against “the controversial American plan to spread democracy in the region.” It will be tabled at the Tunis Arab summit on March 29-30.
02.28.04 (8:27 pm) [edit]
I wish there was a way to give it BACK to the families of whom they belong to? :evil:
[line]
[b]Last Update: 28/02/2004 23:41
[i]By Amiram Barkat, Haaretz Correspondent [/b][/i]
France has proposed loaning to the Israel Museum hundreds of works of art stolen from Jews during the Holocaust, a group of French MPs and diplomats told Minister of Diaspora and Jerusalem Affairs Natan Sharansky last week.
Among the works are Monet's "Women in the Park," Renoir's "Portrait of William Sisley" and other 19th century masterpieces.
The delegation told Sharansky that the National Museum Authority of France is completing a list of works that are presumed to have been owned by Jews, but have no documentation or legal heirs. A French Embassy spokesman confirmed to Haaretz that the list is nearing completion and will be presented to the Israeli authorities. The Israel Museum will then reportedly be able to choose any item for long-term loan. However, Israel Museum director James Schneider believes only a small number of the works will be worthy of display.
In 1995, a secret report of the French State Ombudsman found that some 2,000 works of art were in the possession of France's national museums, including paintings, sketches, sculptures, tapestries, furniture, and other items. The items were presumed confiscated from Jews by Nazis and members of the Vichy regime during World War II.
In 1997, the report was leaked to the press, arousing a storm in the French Jewish community.
Shortly thereafter, a commission of inquiry was established and it presented its findings in April 2000 to then prime minister Lionel Jospin. The report, which also dealt with real estate, bank accounts, and insurance policies stolen from the Jews during the Holocaust, noted that more than 100,000 works of art had been confiscated by the Nazis and French collaborators. Only 61,233 items were returned to the French authorities after the war. Of those, 45,441 items were returned to their owners or heirs, and 13,500 items, estimated of low value, were sold in 1954 by the French state custodian. However, 2,000 works of art, defined as masterpieces, were transferred to the National Museum Authority.
Most of those were kept in the basements of various museums, although - to the embarrassment of the French government - the report revealed that dozens of items went on display in government offices.
Jospin admitted in a 1999 interview that nine confiscated pictures were on display in his official residence. Prior to the interview, Jospin ordered an original copy of Rodin's "Thinker" removed from his home after it was realized it was stolen Jewish property.
Museum director Schneider confirmed that negotiations with the French National Museums Authority have been underway for the last few months. "I believe that most of the items will not be of interest to us," Schneider noted. "We will be borrowing only those works that have unusual artistic, historic, or other special value from a French-Jewish perspective."
I wish there was a way to give it BACK to the families of whom they belong to? :evil:
[line]
[b]Last Update: 28/02/2004 23:41
[i]By Amiram Barkat, Haaretz Correspondent [/b][/i]
France has proposed loaning to the Israel Museum hundreds of works of art stolen from Jews during the Holocaust, a group of French MPs and diplomats told Minister of Diaspora and Jerusalem Affairs Natan Sharansky last week.
Among the works are Monet's "Women in the Park," Renoir's "Portrait of William Sisley" and other 19th century masterpieces.
The delegation told Sharansky that the National Museum Authority of France is completing a list of works that are presumed to have been owned by Jews, but have no documentation or legal heirs. A French Embassy spokesman confirmed to Haaretz that the list is nearing completion and will be presented to the Israeli authorities. The Israel Museum will then reportedly be able to choose any item for long-term loan. However, Israel Museum director James Schneider believes only a small number of the works will be worthy of display.
In 1995, a secret report of the French State Ombudsman found that some 2,000 works of art were in the possession of France's national museums, including paintings, sketches, sculptures, tapestries, furniture, and other items. The items were presumed confiscated from Jews by Nazis and members of the Vichy regime during World War II.
In 1997, the report was leaked to the press, arousing a storm in the French Jewish community.
Shortly thereafter, a commission of inquiry was established and it presented its findings in April 2000 to then prime minister Lionel Jospin. The report, which also dealt with real estate, bank accounts, and insurance policies stolen from the Jews during the Holocaust, noted that more than 100,000 works of art had been confiscated by the Nazis and French collaborators. Only 61,233 items were returned to the French authorities after the war. Of those, 45,441 items were returned to their owners or heirs, and 13,500 items, estimated of low value, were sold in 1954 by the French state custodian. However, 2,000 works of art, defined as masterpieces, were transferred to the National Museum Authority.
Most of those were kept in the basements of various museums, although - to the embarrassment of the French government - the report revealed that dozens of items went on display in government offices.
Jospin admitted in a 1999 interview that nine confiscated pictures were on display in his official residence. Prior to the interview, Jospin ordered an original copy of Rodin's "Thinker" removed from his home after it was realized it was stolen Jewish property.
Museum director Schneider confirmed that negotiations with the French National Museums Authority have been underway for the last few months. "I believe that most of the items will not be of interest to us," Schneider noted. "We will be borrowing only those works that have unusual artistic, historic, or other special value from a French-Jewish perspective."
Forget about a Palestinian state
02.28.04 (8:24 pm) [edit]
[b]Feb. 29, 2004
[i]By EFRAIM INBAR, the Jerusalem Post[/b][/i]
Sharon's proposal for unilateral withdrawal from Gaza challenges the widespread conventional wisdom favoring a negotiated two-state solution to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Despite the fact that a large majority of Israelis favor partition, they are also quite aware that the Palestinians are incapable of establishing a political entity living peacefully next to the Jewish state.
Moreover, it has become increasingly clear that a two-state settlement is elusive because of the Palestinian national movement's inability to establish a state and maintain it.
Next to Israel lies a sick society led by a pathological national movement. It is a society that produces suicide bombers that have become a role model in kindergartens and schools. Recent pronouncements by Yasser Arafat on the occasion of Fatah Day, as well as statements from many other nationalist figures in the Fatah camp, laud those "shaheeds" while clinging ferociously to the ethos of "the right of return" for the refugees.
Palestinian Islamists, drawing the support of about a third of the Palestinian people, do not, of course, foresee any coexistence with a Jewish state. Official Palestinian incitement against the Jews, who are blamed for all Palestinian misfortunes, will inevitably turn a Palestinian state into an irredentist one, that is, a state dissatisfied with its borders and intent on using force to achieve territorial aggrandizement.
The liberal belief that replacing poverty with affluence would moderate the Palestinian political agenda is unlikely to be tested. It is doubtful that the corrupt economic system established by Arafat could produce widespread economic benefits.
Massive foreign aid rendered in the previous decade generally failed to filter down to the masses. Moreover, the high rates of economic growth needed to match the high fertility rate of the Palestinians (among the highest in the world) are very improbable, and will actually doom the Palestinians to even greater poverty in the near future.
Thus the impoverishment of Palestinian society, coupled with a very high level of hatred toward the Jewish state, would guarantee the continuous existence of a very hostile community.
The proposition that statehood inevitably produces responsible behavior – a doubtful belief, considering the number of leaders who have led their states into the abyss – will also remain untested because the Palestinians have already proven their inability to build a state.
GIVEN THE opportunity of self-rule in 1993, the Palestinians have established a corrupt, inefficient, lawless and authoritarian political system. Its main failure has been in the area most critical to state-building – monopoly over the use of force.
The existence of many armed militias defies central authority and preserves a fractured Palestinian community. What we see in the territories is another example of a failed state.
Even with the best intentions and much territorial largesse there is nothing Israel could do to bring about a Palestinian state any time soon.
Unfortunately, then, Israel is left with only one option: unilateral measures to minimize the repercussions of living next to a rather young and poor population indoctrinated to hate their Jewish neighbors and with relatively easy access to weapons. Nothing Israel can do will spare it the need to deal with extremely hostile neighbors ready to pay a high price for acting on their hatred.
Israelis have to get used to the idea that there is no peaceful solution in sight – only interim measures to manage the conflict. If they want to have a state, there is no choice but to continue to fight Palestinian terrorism for decades.
Unilateral withdrawal involves inevitable risks. It will obviously not remedy the basic situation – perennial terror. It may even encourage it since Israeli withdrawals are seen by the Palestinians as capitulation.
On the other hand, the removal of several settlements may minimize friction between Israelis and Palestinians. It may bring greater Egyptian involvement in Gaza because of the daunting prospects of a Hamas-ruled territory. Moreover, it may buy Israel some good will in the international community (whatever that is worth), as unilateral withdrawal will demonstrate that Israel is serious about partition.
Such a demonstration may also be necessary to maintain social cohesion at home, an important precondition to withstanding the tests of protracted conflict.
The Herculean attempt to remove several settlements in Gaza will clearly show Israelis the political costs and tragic circumstances of implementing such a decision, thereby strengthening popular determination to avoid or minimize such steps in other parts of the land of Israel.
*[i]The writer is professor of political science at Bar-Ilan University and director of the Begin-Sadat (BESA) Center for Strategic Studies. [/i]
02.28.04 (8:21 pm) [edit]
[b]28 Feb 2004 23:35:23 GMT
[i]By Mohammed Assadi[/b][/i]
RAMALLAH, West Bank, Feb 28 (Reuters) - A top decision- making body in Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah group on Saturday reiterated calls for a ceasefire with Israel but failed to announce major reforms of the group.
The Fatah Revolutionary Council said in a statement after a four-day meeting that it was in favour of a mutual ceasefire.
The meeting was a bid to head off a slide into chaos signalled by mass Fatah resignations, accusations of corruption by the group's ruling old guard and its faltering control over Fatah militants.
"Fatah's Revolutionary Council announces Fatah's commitment to the peace process," the statement said. "Based on this, the Revolutionary Council urges Israel to an immediate mutual and binding ceasefire agreement."
The council said it would form a committee "to carry out internal reforms... within (Fatah's) central committee, down to the smallest organisational cell (in Fatah)".
It was the council's first meeting since the start of a Palestinian uprising three years ago. It said it will reconvene in a year.
Participants in the session said there was no discussion at the council on disarming Fatah's armed wing, al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, that has carried out dozens of attacks on Israelis since the September 2000 start of the Palestinian uprising.
Arafat has blocked Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie from revamping Palestinian security forces and assuming security powers key to a U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan, which calls on the Palestinian Authority to dismantle militant groups and on Israel to freeze all construction works in Jewish settlements.
Azzam Al-Ahmad, a member of Fatah's Revolutionary Council, said that should Israel agree to a ceasefire, the resolutions of the council would be binding to al-Aqsa as well.
"When Fatah takes a decision on the level of leadership, this is binding to anyone who belongs to Fatah, be it al-Aqsa Brigades or others," Ahmad told Reuters.
Council member Jamal al-Shubaki said another committee was formed to prepare for elections to Fatah's central committee, the movement's highest decision-making body. A vote was intended to take place within a year, in an apparent bid to limit the influence of Fatah's old guard.
[b]28 Feb 2004 23:35:23 GMT
[i]By Mohammed Assadi[/b][/i]
RAMALLAH, West Bank, Feb 28 (Reuters) - A top decision- making body in Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah group on Saturday reiterated calls for a ceasefire with Israel but failed to announce major reforms of the group.
The Fatah Revolutionary Council said in a statement after a four-day meeting that it was in favour of a mutual ceasefire.
The meeting was a bid to head off a slide into chaos signalled by mass Fatah resignations, accusations of corruption by the group's ruling old guard and its faltering control over Fatah militants.
"Fatah's Revolutionary Council announces Fatah's commitment to the peace process," the statement said. "Based on this, the Revolutionary Council urges Israel to an immediate mutual and binding ceasefire agreement."
The council said it would form a committee "to carry out internal reforms... within (Fatah's) central committee, down to the smallest organisational cell (in Fatah)".
It was the council's first meeting since the start of a Palestinian uprising three years ago. It said it will reconvene in a year.
Participants in the session said there was no discussion at the council on disarming Fatah's armed wing, al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, that has carried out dozens of attacks on Israelis since the September 2000 start of the Palestinian uprising.
Arafat has blocked Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie from revamping Palestinian security forces and assuming security powers key to a U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan, which calls on the Palestinian Authority to dismantle militant groups and on Israel to freeze all construction works in Jewish settlements.
Azzam Al-Ahmad, a member of Fatah's Revolutionary Council, said that should Israel agree to a ceasefire, the resolutions of the council would be binding to al-Aqsa as well.
"When Fatah takes a decision on the level of leadership, this is binding to anyone who belongs to Fatah, be it al-Aqsa Brigades or others," Ahmad told Reuters.
Council member Jamal al-Shubaki said another committee was formed to prepare for elections to Fatah's central committee, the movement's highest decision-making body. A vote was intended to take place within a year, in an apparent bid to limit the influence of Fatah's old guard.
TROUBLED KINGDOM
02.28.04 (8:06 pm) [edit]
[b]Saudi tourism: No Jews please
Islamic nation opens to holiday travelers, but not all
Posted: February 27, 2004
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com [/b]
Saudi Arabia will begin issuing tourist visas for the first time, bringing more attention to its restrictive policies, which include banning Jews.
Travel to the desert kingdom has been limited to business, employment, pilgrimages and specially approved visits, but in the next several weeks a new tourism law will be enacted, reports Arab News, an official English-language newspaper.
The government says it plans to set up a national council for tourism to promote the country in world markets.
But on the Supreme Commission for Tourism's website is a list of those who are not allowed in the county: [i][Editor's note: Since this story was posted early this morning, the Saudi commission has edited the page. Here -- http://homepage.mac.com/cfj/.... is how it originally appeared. This is the current version -- http://www.sauditourism.gov.s... .] [/i]
1. An Israeli passport holder or a passport that has an Israeli arrival/departure stamp.
2. Those who don't abide by the Saudi traditions concerning appearance and behaviors.
3. Those under the influence of alcohol ... .
4. Jewish People
The website also says if a woman arrives in the country alone, "the sponsor or her husband must receive her at the airport."
"Every woman must have confirmed accommodation for the duration of her stay in the Kingdom," the rules say.
Also, "A woman is not allowed to drive a car and can therefore only travel by car if she is accompanied by her husband, a male relative or a driver."
Saudi Prince Abdul Aziz told Arab News the government expects the tourist industry to create 1.5 million to 2.3 million new jobs for young Saudis by 2020.
"There are more than 10,000 tourist attractions in the Kingdom," he said.
A college for tourist and hotel management is under construction and the government has plans for 50,000 new hotel rooms.
Saudi writers also have called for opening up the Kingdom to foreign tourists, the Arab News said.
"Foreign tourists would love to enjoy swimming, tanning and water sports in our warm seas in fall and winter, and all-year activities like mountaineering, hiking, car racing and conferences," wrote Dr. Khaled M. Batarfi of Al-Madinah newspaper.
For Saudis and expatriates, however, the U.S. State Department paints a dark picture of life, stating in its human-rights report the Islamic government has "prohibited or restricted freedom of speech, the press, assembly, association, religion and movement."
The State Department's annual report on religious freedom says bluntly, "freedom of religion does not exist in Saudi Arabia."
In its May report, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom ( http://www.uscirf.gov/index.p... ) said "Saudi Arabia is a uniquely repressive case where the government forcefully and almost completely limits the public practice or expression of religion to one interpretation: a narrow and puritanical version of Islam based on the Wahhabi doctrine."
Jewish students are attacked and persecuted on campuses all over the world!
02.28.04 (7:58 pm) [edit]
[b]Jewish students are attacked and persecuted on campuses all over the world - not due to Israels policy, but due to them being Jewish![/b]
[b]The World Union of Jewish Students (WUJS)[/b] held a Press Conference at the opening of the World Zionist Congress in Jerusalem. WUJS had assembled the members of its Executive Committee, who at the same time are leaders of the Continental Union of Jewish Students around the world.
[b]“Anti-Israelism is just an excuse for Antisemitism”[/b]
The Chairperson of WUJS, Peleg Reshef, expressed his concern over the increasing number of attacks on Jews and Jewish institutions. Peleg declared that the same way as students are in the forefront of the attacks, they must be in the forefront of the attempts to fight Antisemitism. “There is no difference between Antisemitism and Anti-Israelism. The latter is just an excuse for reviving the old fashioned Antisemitism”, Peleg Reshef said.
The head of the Australasian Union of Jewish Students (AUJS), Jason, explained that Jewish students in Australia are facing frequent assaults by pro-Palestinian and socialist groups on campuses, under claims that it only is a question of being Anti-Israeli. It has also become increasingly difficult to send groups of Australian students to Israel.
Martha, the Chairperson of the European Union of Jewish Students (EUJS) is experiencing the problems of representing Jews in 32 countries. Many countries in Europe have a large Moslem community and face antisemitic attacks as a result thereof including burning of synagogues and attacks on Jewish people and property. Other countries in Europe, who did not experience the Holocaust have a very indifferent attitude to Antisemitism, and in order to increase the fight against Antisemitism, EUJS recently held a Hasbara Leadership Training Programme with delegates from over 30 countries.
The Chairperson of the South African Union of Jewish Students (SAUJS), Jody, expressed her concern over the rising Antisemitism, but explained that it at least has brought the Jewish community closer together. Israel rallies are being held under threats from fellow students, but the solidarity is so far bigger than the fears.
Josi, the Vice-Chairperson of the Latin and South American Union of Jewish Students (FUSLA), explained that the old-fashioned Antisemitism as it is known in Europe is not yet affecting the Jewish students in this area, but ignorance about the situation in the Middle East is a big problem. Josi pointed out that better education of the Jewish students in the Hasbara of Israel is needed, since it is better to act before it is needed to react.
The Chairperson of the Union of Jewish Students in Great Britain (UJS), was happy to announce that he this morning received a delegation of over 100 students, who arrived on a solidarity trip to Israel. In Great Britain, there has been a significant rise in Antisemitism on campuses and Palestinian and Right Wing groups are joining forces against Jewish students. UJS are arranging rallies against the heavy Antisemitic propaganda that continues to compare Zionism to Nazism. UJS are also involved in Interfaith contacts as well as contacts with the leadership of England, including Prime Minister Tony Blair in order to improve the conditions for Jewish students and Jews in general.
Paul, the representative of the French Union of Jewish Students (UEJF), declared that the job of Jewish student leaders today is to fight Antisemitism. On universities around France, there are daily attacks on Jewish students, who are increasingly afraid to identify themselves as Jews. UEJF has published a book that in details explain all the attacks taking place on Jewish institutions, children, students, synagogues, etc. A copy of the book was handed to President Jacques Chirac, who promised the Jewish students to do his utmost for their security and their right to live freely as Jews in France.
[b]“The Future is Here”[/b]
The Chairperson of WUJS, Peleg Reshef, closed the press conference by declaring that WUJS through its global network and its leadership potential, has all the possibilities of leading the battle against Antisemitism. “If WUJS will be given the right tools, what we have presented here today is the future leadership of the Jewish world – in fact, the future is here!”, Peleg Reshef concluded.
[i]For further information, please contact [b]WUJS [/b]Chairperson Mr. Peleg Reshef on 053-310123 or Press Officer Mr. Kim Melchior on 051–264017.[/i]
02.28.04 (6:47 pm) [edit]
Feb 26, 2004 6:42 pm US/Pacific
WASHINGTON (AP) Rep. Anthony Weiner, a frequent critic of United States policy toward Saudi Arabia, said Thursday that the Middle East country's new visa policy outlined on a tourist Web site should be quickly condemned by American officials.
The Web site, promoting a new Saudi program to offer tourist visas to encourage more foreign visitors, lists four groups not entitled to tourist visas, including "Jewish People."
The Saudi government has traditionally only issued travel visas for employment, Hajj pilgrimages, and other visits with official sanction.
In addition to Jews, the Web site by the Supreme Commission for Tourism also says it will refuse visas to anyone with an Israeli passport or a passport that has an Israeli stamp.
"It is very difficult to see the Saudis as anything other than a backward country with backward ideals and this reaffirms that," said Weiner. "I think the administration should take a hard look at this Web site and decide whether a country that has these policies should be considered our ally."
Weiner said the U.S. should close its doors to Saudis until they "clarify" their immigration policy.
[i]© 2004 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. [/i]
Feb 26, 2004 6:42 pm US/Pacific
WASHINGTON (AP) Rep. Anthony Weiner, a frequent critic of United States policy toward Saudi Arabia, said Thursday that the Middle East country's new visa policy outlined on a tourist Web site should be quickly condemned by American officials.
The Web site, promoting a new Saudi program to offer tourist visas to encourage more foreign visitors, lists four groups not entitled to tourist visas, including "Jewish People."
The Saudi government has traditionally only issued travel visas for employment, Hajj pilgrimages, and other visits with official sanction.
In addition to Jews, the Web site by the Supreme Commission for Tourism also says it will refuse visas to anyone with an Israeli passport or a passport that has an Israeli stamp.
"It is very difficult to see the Saudis as anything other than a backward country with backward ideals and this reaffirms that," said Weiner. "I think the administration should take a hard look at this Web site and decide whether a country that has these policies should be considered our ally."
Weiner said the U.S. should close its doors to Saudis until they "clarify" their immigration policy.
[i]© 2004 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. [/i]
Oooh!
02.27.04 (3:50 pm) [edit][b]I really, really liked this quiz!!![/b]
Which Silver Screen Siren are you?
brought to you by Quizilla
'There are TWO sides of the story'
02.27.04 (3:38 pm) [edit]
[b]That is the mantra I hear from those who purely and only recognize the postion of the Palestinians.
'There are TWO sides of the story,' I am told when I make my point.
IF there are two sides of the story, why is our side dismissed?
Recently, after making a comment on someone's blog I was told:[/b]
[i]RedTigress You are a propagandist who doesn't even read the articles you comment on and you care nothing for truth. There are 2 sides to this tragic war and people like you will perpetuate hate. People like you will never broker a peace deal because you love the slaughter of Palestinians.[/i]
[b]Oh reallly? Well, I have this to say...[/b]
[i]And i'm talking about my side of the story. There are two, remember? You dismiss my side because it actually doens't include killing Jews. You've forgotten that there are two sides to the story, my friend.
And I don't want to see the slaughter of anyone. Once again, you are farce. You dismiss my position as you refuse to listen to it stating, "There are two sides to the story."
If you really thought that, you'd actually hear what I say.
If there are two sides to the story, how come you don't recognize the Israeli side to the story?
I, on the other thand, do recognize both sides. I think the terrorist rulers of the Palestinians are awful and have sold out their own people. The leaders perpetuate violence. I feel sorry for them. Once you conspire to kill an innocent, you are guilty of that crime though. Israel has a right to protect it's men, women and children. Oh, but you won't hear that because all you care about is YOUR side of the story. Right? there are two sides, but (blogger)'s side is the most important.
You're blog is one-sided, hateful, lying, and farce.
You make me laugh, really.
If you actually paid attention to what I have to say, you'd not need to make up false accusations about how i allegedly want to slaughter Palestinians.
You advocate the slaughter of Israelis.
There ARE two sides of the story. :)[/i]
[b]Yes, my friends, there are TWO sides of the story. Don't silence mine because it isn't yours!
I won't be silenced and I will stand by my people and their 'side.'
Obviously, this individual is illogical. I only speak truth and they make ad-hominim attacks toward me. ZERO credibility. ZERO.
Why don't you go assasinate you're own character, sir.
Oh wait, you do that with your very own blog![/b]
Palestinian Mayor in West Bank Resigns
02.27.04 (2:17 pm) [edit][b]45 minutes ago
[i]By ALI DARAGHMEH, Associated Press Writer [/b][/i]
NABLUS, West Bank - The Palestinian mayor of Nablus has resigned, citing frustrations over rising lawlessness in the West Bank's largest city.
Mayor Ghassan Shakaa told The Associated Press he has submitted his resignation to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to protest inaction by Palestinian leaders and security forces to stop the chaos.
The Palestinians' police forces have been weakened during more than three years of fighting with Israel. With no real authority on the streets, gangs and rival clans wage deadly gunbattles, while militants have kidnapped and beaten government officials.
"I have submitted my resignation to President Arafat because I see my city collapsing and I don't want to stand idly by and watch this collapse," Shakaa said. "My resignation is a warning bell to the Palestinian Authority and the residents of Nablus, because both of them are doing nothing for this city."
In November, Palestinian gunmen killed Shakaa's brother. The mayor, who had been locked in a power struggle with armed gangs, named suspects, but security forces still have not arrested them.
The mayor said Friday that was not the reason he stepped down.
Still, he said, the security forces under the control of Arafat's Palestinian Authority could do more to restore order.
The Palestinian Authority holds Israel responsible for the growing anarchy, saying military campaigns have weakened the Palestinian security forces.
"I don't deny the role of the (Israeli) occupation in destroying the city through the frequent invasions, but we as an authority and as citizens are doing nothing to protect the city," Shakaa said.
Shakaa said he would stay on until May 1 to finish several development projects, including the construction of a shopping mall.
02.27.04 (2:10 pm) [edit]
[b]52 minutes ago [/b]
To: International Desk
Contact: Michele Ammons of Christian Coalition, 202-549-6257 or 202-479-6900
WASHINGTON, Feb. 27 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Christian Coalition today condemned the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague for attempting to sanction Israel for erecting a 450-mile security fence to keep out terrorists, saying "Earlier this week, a Palestinian terrorist blew up a bus killing 8 innocent Israelis including 2 teenagers and wounding another 60. Israel contends that the ICJ has no jurisdiction and indeed it does not. The International Court of Justice -- as well as the General Assembly of the United Nations (whose membership is dominated by dictatorships and despots) which authorized the hearing against Israel -- has no right to intervene with the sovereignty of a nation."
National President Roberta Combs said, "The International Court of Justice should be putting on trial international criminals rather than putting Israel on trial for just trying to defend itself. When I and some of my staff visited Israel in late 2002 upon invitation of the Sharon government, we witnessed the site of a terrorist bus bombing which killed a dozen innocent Israelis and wounded many others. Since then, the terrorists' campaign of violence has continued as evidenced by Sunday's bus bombing. Israel has the right to protect itself with a security fence, just as the United States has the right to protect our borders.
"The Israeli government is correct when it says its security fence is a defense against suicide bombers. In fact, in areas where the security fence has already been constructed, the incidents of suicide bombings has decreased. The Israeli people overwhelmingly support such a barrier between them and the Palestinian terrorists. Quoted on Christian Broadcasting Network's 700 Club Monday, New York Democrat Congressman Jerrold Nadler who was one block from Sunday's terrorist bombing when it occurred said, 'How can you question the necessity of whatever security measures Israel takes?' If Israel's security fence had already been completed, the innocent lives lost Sunday in the Palestinian terrorist attack in Jerusalem, probably would not have been lost."
[i]http://www.usnewswire.com/
© 2004 U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/[/i]
[b]52 minutes ago [/b]
To: International Desk
Contact: Michele Ammons of Christian Coalition, 202-549-6257 or 202-479-6900
WASHINGTON, Feb. 27 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Christian Coalition today condemned the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague for attempting to sanction Israel for erecting a 450-mile security fence to keep out terrorists, saying "Earlier this week, a Palestinian terrorist blew up a bus killing 8 innocent Israelis including 2 teenagers and wounding another 60. Israel contends that the ICJ has no jurisdiction and indeed it does not. The International Court of Justice -- as well as the General Assembly of the United Nations (whose membership is dominated by dictatorships and despots) which authorized the hearing against Israel -- has no right to intervene with the sovereignty of a nation."
National President Roberta Combs said, "The International Court of Justice should be putting on trial international criminals rather than putting Israel on trial for just trying to defend itself. When I and some of my staff visited Israel in late 2002 upon invitation of the Sharon government, we witnessed the site of a terrorist bus bombing which killed a dozen innocent Israelis and wounded many others. Since then, the terrorists' campaign of violence has continued as evidenced by Sunday's bus bombing. Israel has the right to protect itself with a security fence, just as the United States has the right to protect our borders.
"The Israeli government is correct when it says its security fence is a defense against suicide bombers. In fact, in areas where the security fence has already been constructed, the incidents of suicide bombings has decreased. The Israeli people overwhelmingly support such a barrier between them and the Palestinian terrorists. Quoted on Christian Broadcasting Network's 700 Club Monday, New York Democrat Congressman Jerrold Nadler who was one block from Sunday's terrorist bombing when it occurred said, 'How can you question the necessity of whatever security measures Israel takes?' If Israel's security fence had already been completed, the innocent lives lost Sunday in the Palestinian terrorist attack in Jerusalem, probably would not have been lost."
[i]http://www.usnewswire.com/
© 2004 U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/[/i]
Lord Knows
02.27.04 (2:00 pm) [edit]
[b]Thu Feb 26, 6:34 PM ET
[i]By Phyllis Berman [/b][/i]
People have used the Bible to predict the Second Coming and the end of the world. But John M. Brown is one of the first to rely on the Old Testament to hunt for oil in Israel, where others have tried and failed. "Over the last five years significant amounts of gas have been discovered off the shore of both Israel and Gaza," insists Brown, chairman of Dallas-based Zion Oil & Gas.
Decoding verses from Deuteronomy, he is determined to look for black gold to the south of the Mount Carmel range, a region known as "the head of Joseph," and an area near the Mediterranean, a.k.a. "the foot of Asher."
How to pay for this holy flyer? Zion recently went public on Nasdaq in a best-efforts offering for 1.3 million to 7 million shares at $5 apiece. The kicker: Brown must pay a hefty 8% to 10% of the proceeds to the underwriters--no believers, they.
The money will support drilling on sites licensed from the Israeli government. And if the first efforts bear no fruit? Brown seems ethereally unconcerned. Many of his backers are evangelical Christians who want him to succeed. Besides, we are entering the season of miracles.
Man, woman killed in Negev shooting incident
02.27.04 (1:51 pm) [edit]
[b]Feb. 27, 2004
[i]By MARGOT DUDKEVITCH[/b][/i]
A man and woman were killed Friday night in a drive-by shooting on the Hebron-Beersheba road (No. 38) near Eshkolot in the southern Hebron Hills.
A Border Police patrol driving along the southern part of the Green Line spotted the vehicle at the side of the road, its windows shattered.
Paramedics and a doctor who reached the site confirmed the deaths of the two passengers.
Magen David Adom officials said they received a report at 8.24 p.m. and within minutes a team was at the site.
IDF forces and Southern Police District are searching the area for the perpetrators.
Security officials said, according to initial findings, that as a result of the shooting the driver lost control of the vehicle which overturned.
They added that while the findings point to a terrorist shooting, they have not ruled out possible criminal motives as the cause of death.
02.27.04 (1:44 pm) [edit]
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=http://img19.photobucket.com/...
[i]An Orthodox boy hastening.[/i]
[b]Feb. 27, 2004
[i]By ETGAR LEFKOVITS[/b][/i]
Jewish worshippers at the Western Wall were briefly evacuated from the site Friday, after hundreds of rioting Palestinians teens pelted police with stones from the Temple Mount at the culmination of Friday Muslim prayers.
Police in riot gear then rushed into the ancient compound, and dispersed the Palestinians with stun grenades.
Three policemen were lightly wounded by rocks during the violence, while four Palestinians were lightly hurt in the melee.
As a police helicopter hovered in the air, the crackle of stun grenades could be heard from the Old City throughout central Jerusalem on a balmy February afternoon.
Several large rocks were later discovered on the section of the Western Wall allocated for women's prayer. None of the worshippers were injured in the noontime violence, police said.
An hour later, calm was restored to the site.
[i]An Orthodox boy hastening.[/i]
[b]Feb. 27, 2004
[i]By ETGAR LEFKOVITS[/b][/i]
Jewish worshippers at the Western Wall were briefly evacuated from the site Friday, after hundreds of rioting Palestinians teens pelted police with stones from the Temple Mount at the culmination of Friday Muslim prayers.
Police in riot gear then rushed into the ancient compound, and dispersed the Palestinians with stun grenades.
Three policemen were lightly wounded by rocks during the violence, while four Palestinians were lightly hurt in the melee.
As a police helicopter hovered in the air, the crackle of stun grenades could be heard from the Old City throughout central Jerusalem on a balmy February afternoon.
Several large rocks were later discovered on the section of the Western Wall allocated for women's prayer. None of the worshippers were injured in the noontime violence, police said.
An hour later, calm was restored to the site.
02.27.04 (1:25 pm) [edit]
Published on Feb 28, 2004
Israeli tourist Carol Cohen, whose body parts were recovered from a Bangkok canal earlier this week, might have been knocked out by a blow to the chin before being stabbed to death, the chief of forensic medicine said yesterday.
The 26-year-old's husband, Eli Cohen, has been charged with her murder but denies committing the crime.
Pol Maj-General Wichit Samathiwat, commander of the Forensic Medicine Institute, said the autopsy of the body parts indicated that the victim's chin was struck once with a fist and then again with a hard object.
"The cause of death should be the knife wounds to the lungs and heart," he added.
Wichit said Eli Cohen might have been able to skin and cut up the body as he used to be a barber and cook.
He said the institute had completed the DNA tests of the severed head and body parts and was awaiting DNA samples and dental records to be sent from Israel by Carol's parents to confirm that she was the murder victim.
Wichit said wounds that were found on the murder suspect's hands might have been accidentally self-inflicted while using both hands to try to cut the corpse.
Cohen, 36, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with murdering his wife, cutting up her body and then stuffing it into a suitcase and dumping it in Klong Phadung Krung Kasem.
The torso of the body was found in a large black suitcase on Wednesday near a sluice gate on the canal near Government House.
The head was found in a blue plastic bag on Thursday and a leg and some human skin was recovered from nearby.
Cohen continued to profess his innocence yesterday, saying he might have been framed.
"I love my wife and I have two children. I am innocent. I never do anything like this," the dishevelled, bespectacled Cohen told Reuters after he was arraigned in court to be remanded in custody for another 12 days.
"Maybe someone try to make me look like I am doing this, but it's not me. I hope they find out."
Cohen told Israeli reporter Guy Sharett that his wife went missing after leaving the hotel room to buy a swimming suit.
Sharett quoted Cohen as saying that he broke a glass bottle and used a piece to hurt his hands out of anxiety over his wife's disappearance.
The reporter also quoted Cohen as begging that his picture not be published for fear that it would affect his nine-year-old son in Israel.
Published on Feb 28, 2004
Israeli tourist Carol Cohen, whose body parts were recovered from a Bangkok canal earlier this week, might have been knocked out by a blow to the chin before being stabbed to death, the chief of forensic medicine said yesterday.
The 26-year-old's husband, Eli Cohen, has been charged with her murder but denies committing the crime.
Pol Maj-General Wichit Samathiwat, commander of the Forensic Medicine Institute, said the autopsy of the body parts indicated that the victim's chin was struck once with a fist and then again with a hard object.
"The cause of death should be the knife wounds to the lungs and heart," he added.
Wichit said Eli Cohen might have been able to skin and cut up the body as he used to be a barber and cook.
He said the institute had completed the DNA tests of the severed head and body parts and was awaiting DNA samples and dental records to be sent from Israel by Carol's parents to confirm that she was the murder victim.
Wichit said wounds that were found on the murder suspect's hands might have been accidentally self-inflicted while using both hands to try to cut the corpse.
Cohen, 36, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with murdering his wife, cutting up her body and then stuffing it into a suitcase and dumping it in Klong Phadung Krung Kasem.
The torso of the body was found in a large black suitcase on Wednesday near a sluice gate on the canal near Government House.
The head was found in a blue plastic bag on Thursday and a leg and some human skin was recovered from nearby.
Cohen continued to profess his innocence yesterday, saying he might have been framed.
"I love my wife and I have two children. I am innocent. I never do anything like this," the dishevelled, bespectacled Cohen told Reuters after he was arraigned in court to be remanded in custody for another 12 days.
"Maybe someone try to make me look like I am doing this, but it's not me. I hope they find out."
Cohen told Israeli reporter Guy Sharett that his wife went missing after leaving the hotel room to buy a swimming suit.
Sharett quoted Cohen as saying that he broke a glass bottle and used a piece to hurt his hands out of anxiety over his wife's disappearance.
The reporter also quoted Cohen as begging that his picture not be published for fear that it would affect his nine-year-old son in Israel.
02.27.04 (1:13 pm) [edit]
[b]Last Update: 27/02/2004 19:03
[i]By Haaretz Service and Agencies [/b][/i]
Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat agreed Friday to hold elections in his ruling Fatah movement within a year, but young party rebels clamoring for more influence said they doubt he'll keep his word.
Arafat's promise came at meeting of Fatah's 126-member Revolutionary Council in the West Bank city of Ramallah, called against the backdrop of reformers' demands to elect new Fatah leaders.
The reformers have chided Arafat for widespread corruption in Fatah, and an unwillingness to give residents of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip a leading voice in its Central Committee, the main decision-making body.
The committee is dominated by officials Arafat brought with him when he returned to the Palestinian territories from Tunisia in 1994.
Participants at the Revolutionary Council meeting said Arafat agreed to hold a party convention within a year, rejecting demands to hold it within six months. The participants said the main purpose of the convention would be to elect a new Central Committee.
However, some participants were skeptical that Arafat would carry out his promise. They said he has often made such promises in the past and could easily use Israeli-Palestinian tensions as an excuse for delays.
A Fatah convention is to be held every five years, but the last one took place in 1989. Delegates come from Lebanon, other Middle Eastern countries as well as the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The three-day Revolutionary Council meeting, which was to conclude Friday evening, was tense at times.
During Thursday's session, Arafat branded his former security chief, Nasser Yousef, a traitor and threw a microphone at him, participants said.
Arafat became angry when Yousef questioned the efficiency of the security forces.
"You traitor, spy, shut your mouth, you have no right to talk," Arafat was quoted as shouting to Yousef.
Yousef chucked a pen at the veteran Palestinian leader before other members of the Fatah Revolutionary Council intervened and calmed down the two septuagenarians.
On Wednesday, Arafat told a crisis meeting of the council that he would push again for peace with Israel and hold internal elections to promote reform.
"Security and peace are not only a Palestinian interest but an Israeli interest. Our option is peace and we will work [anew] for this goal... There is [also] the need to bring new blood into Fatah based on democratic steps," Arafat told the council.
Arafat, who has increasingly been criticized for vagueness and lack of follow-through by Fatah's younger generation, gave no details or timetable.
"His promise to hold leadership elections is a positive step in response to demands of the rank-and-file, and we will see to it that happens within six months," said former security chief Mohammed Dahlan, a reform advocate recently at odds with Arafat.
Most of the 130 Revolutionary Council members demand elections to start replacing an elite around Arafat that has dominated for decades.
Participants in the meeting said a possible dissolution of a Fatah armed wing, the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, which has been behind suicide bombings against Israelis, could come up during the gathering.
[b]Last Update: 27/02/2004 19:03
[i]By Haaretz Service and Agencies [/b][/i]
Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat agreed Friday to hold elections in his ruling Fatah movement within a year, but young party rebels clamoring for more influence said they doubt he'll keep his word.
Arafat's promise came at meeting of Fatah's 126-member Revolutionary Council in the West Bank city of Ramallah, called against the backdrop of reformers' demands to elect new Fatah leaders.
The reformers have chided Arafat for widespread corruption in Fatah, and an unwillingness to give residents of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip a leading voice in its Central Committee, the main decision-making body.
The committee is dominated by officials Arafat brought with him when he returned to the Palestinian territories from Tunisia in 1994.
Participants at the Revolutionary Council meeting said Arafat agreed to hold a party convention within a year, rejecting demands to hold it within six months. The participants said the main purpose of the convention would be to elect a new Central Committee.
However, some participants were skeptical that Arafat would carry out his promise. They said he has often made such promises in the past and could easily use Israeli-Palestinian tensions as an excuse for delays.
A Fatah convention is to be held every five years, but the last one took place in 1989. Delegates come from Lebanon, other Middle Eastern countries as well as the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The three-day Revolutionary Council meeting, which was to conclude Friday evening, was tense at times.
During Thursday's session, Arafat branded his former security chief, Nasser Yousef, a traitor and threw a microphone at him, participants said.
Arafat became angry when Yousef questioned the efficiency of the security forces.
"You traitor, spy, shut your mouth, you have no right to talk," Arafat was quoted as shouting to Yousef.
Yousef chucked a pen at the veteran Palestinian leader before other members of the Fatah Revolutionary Council intervened and calmed down the two septuagenarians.
On Wednesday, Arafat told a crisis meeting of the council that he would push again for peace with Israel and hold internal elections to promote reform.
"Security and peace are not only a Palestinian interest but an Israeli interest. Our option is peace and we will work [anew] for this goal... There is [also] the need to bring new blood into Fatah based on democratic steps," Arafat told the council.
Arafat, who has increasingly been criticized for vagueness and lack of follow-through by Fatah's younger generation, gave no details or timetable.
"His promise to hold leadership elections is a positive step in response to demands of the rank-and-file, and we will see to it that happens within six months," said former security chief Mohammed Dahlan, a reform advocate recently at odds with Arafat.
Most of the 130 Revolutionary Council members demand elections to start replacing an elite around Arafat that has dominated for decades.
Participants in the meeting said a possible dissolution of a Fatah armed wing, the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, which has been behind suicide bombings against Israelis, could come up during the gathering.
02.27.04 (1:07 pm) [edit]
Feb. 27 — JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A Palestinian suicide bomber on a bicycle blew himself up next to an Israeli military jeep in the Gaza Strip on Friday, but caused no casualties among its occupants, the army said.
It said only the bomber had been killed in the afternoon incident outside the Jewish settlement of Kfar Darom, a frequent target of Palestinians waging a three-year-old uprising. There was no immediate comment from Gaza militant groups.
Tensions are simmering among Palestinians over a barrier that Israel is building in the West Bank, now under World Court review.
On Thursday, two Palestinian gunmen killed a soldier guarding a crossing point on Gaza's boundary with Israel, before being shot dead themselves by security personnel on the scene.
[i]Copyright 2004 Reuters News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. [/i]
Feb. 27 — JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A Palestinian suicide bomber on a bicycle blew himself up next to an Israeli military jeep in the Gaza Strip on Friday, but caused no casualties among its occupants, the army said.
It said only the bomber had been killed in the afternoon incident outside the Jewish settlement of Kfar Darom, a frequent target of Palestinians waging a three-year-old uprising. There was no immediate comment from Gaza militant groups.
Tensions are simmering among Palestinians over a barrier that Israel is building in the West Bank, now under World Court review.
On Thursday, two Palestinian gunmen killed a soldier guarding a crossing point on Gaza's boundary with Israel, before being shot dead themselves by security personnel on the scene.
[i]Copyright 2004 Reuters News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. [/i]
My Letter To Bill O'Reilly
02.26.04 (10:11 pm) [edit]
So I figured I'd send a letter to Bill O'Reilly tonight. I wanted to give him my 'pithy comments' and my two cents. I also figured I'd share it with my readers here. Tell me what you think...
[line]
Subject: The Passion not Anti-Semitic according to the Anti-Defamation League?
To: oreilly@foxnews.com
Dear Mr. O'Reilly,
I'm a big fan of your show and I watch it on Fox and
listen on the radio whenever I can.
Tonight I was watching and you were talking to a guest about why the 'Passion' has been feared to be anti-Semitic. You mentioned in passing that the head of the ADL made a statement saying that the movie is not anti-Semitic. Well, I wanted to see that for myself so I went to the ADL website to look it up. I didn't find that statement, but I did run across this:
http://www.adl.org/media_watch/newspaper s/20040224-TheDailyNews.htm" title="http://www.adl.org/media_watch/newspaper s/20040224-TheDailyNews.htm" target="_blank"http://www.adl.org/media_watc...
I was curious to know what you have to say about this?
As an Orthodox Jewish person, I fully respect the convictions of Christians everywhere and, while I haven't yet seen the movie (I plan on it), I haven't formed an opinion of whether or not the movie is actually anti-Semitic because to do so without viewing
it isn't truly fair. I hope that the movie isn't anti-Semitic because I just plain don't want to see anyone get hurt, verbally or physically. I also am semi-skeptical about this film because, given the history of what has happened to my people, I have reason to. I think that's fair as well. There are lots of whackos out there who still believe in the libel of deicide at the hands of the Jews. I don't know if Mr. Gibson is one of them because I don't know him personally. All I can do is see the film.
Yet, having a concern over the possibilities that a movie is hateful, rather than not seeing it and condemning it as hateful, are two different things. I think what a lot of Jewish leaders are voicing is pure and mere concern. Others, like the media, are taking it out of hand and running with it to be sensationalist.
At any rate, I look forward to viewing the film and forming my own opinion of it and its message!
Thank you for being on the air and I hope to continue to enjoy your show!
Warmly,
(My Signature)
ADL Outraged at Church Sign Blaming Jews for Death of Jesus
02.26.04 (9:42 pm) [edit]
And it continues. It has begun again...
[line]
Denver, February 25, 2004 ... Bruce H. DeBoskey, Mountain States Regional Director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), issued the following statement today in response to the Lovingway United Pentecostal Church's sign that stated: "Jews killed the Lord Jesus…Settled!":
We are outraged by the outdoor marquee of the Lovingway United Pentecostal Church to post a sign blaming Jews for the death of Jesus. For more than 1,900 years, this accusation has fueled anti-Semitism in the Western world. Now those same words appear on a sign on a busy Denver thoroughfare.
In a private conversation with Pastor Maurice Gordon, we asked him to remove the sign. He refused to do so. We continue to call upon Pastor Gordon to remove his church's divisive and painful message.
We also call upon the leaders of other Christian groups in Denver to reaffirm the statements they have made: that all of mankind shares responsibility for Jesus' death, and that blame should not be placed collectively on the Jews of the time or the Jews of today.
We fervently hope that Jews and Christians can use this time as an opportunity for dialogue and learning, not blame and divisiveness.
[i]The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.[/i]
Bill O'Reilly Wrong About the 'Passion'?
02.26.04 (9:35 pm) [edit]I've been watching the O'Reilly facter for a long time now. If you've been watching lately, he's been doing segments all week about Mel Gibson's movie "The Passion of the Christ." Tonight, while I was watching, he said that the Head of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) said that the movie, "The Passion of the Christ" wasn't anti-Semitic. Well, after the show, I went looking for that statement on the ADL website. I found no mention of a statement of that nature, rather, I found this letter to the editor.
The following can be found at: http://www.adl.org/media_watc...
[line]
Anti-Defamation League
Letters to the Editor
The Daily News
February 24, 2004
To the Editor:
Bill O'Reilly is wrong to suggest that Mel Gibson's film "The Passion of the Christ" is an accurate rendering of the four Gospels ("Lay Off Mel Gibson," Feb. 22). Religious scholars who have seen the film state that it in fact deviates substantially from religious teachings and historical fact.
Prominent Jewish and Christian leaders are deeply troubled by Gibson's sources for the film, which include the writings of a 19th Century anti-Semitic nun.
It is unfortunate that O'Reilly has positioned himself as an unquestioning backer of this film, while engaging in attack-dog style rhetoric against Gibson's detractors.
Sincerely,
Joel J. Levy
New York Regional Director
Woman collapses during screening of "The Passion of the Christ," dies at hospital
02.26.04 (7:10 pm) [edit]This is just weird!
[line]
WICHITA, Kansas (AP) - A woman collapsed during the final, bloody crucifixion scene at a screening of "The Passion of the Christ" and later died at a hospital, local media reported.
Peggy Law Scott, 57, of Wichita, collapsed while attending a morning screening with co-workers Wednesday, The Witchita Eagle newspaper said.
Scott was later taken to a local hospital, where spokeswoman Roz Hutchinson confirmed the death.
No cause of death was immediately known.
An autopsy will be conducted on Thursday, according to a county spokeswoman.
[i]©Indiana Printing & Publishing Co. 2004[/i]
D'var Torah for Terumah (Exodus 25:1-27:19)
02.26.04 (6:42 pm) [edit]
The Aron (Tabernacle) contained the most precious gift the Jews got: the Tablets handed from God to Moshe (Moses). The receptacle had to be worthy of the insert, and therefore the Aron had to be intricately constructed with symbolism as meticulously configured as its beautiful design.
The Aron consisted of three contiguous boxes of gold, wood, and gold each inserted into the other, and gold plated wooden staves with which to carry the Aron.
The Torah goes on to state that "The staves shall remain in the ark; they shall not be removed" (Exodus 25:14).
Rabbi Kamenetzky asked that if this is meant as a prohibition for anyone to remove the staves, why didn't the Torah just command us not to remove them, instead of telling us that they won't be removed?
Rabbi Kamenetzky answers that perhaps the Torah is making a powerful prophecy in addition to a powerful regulation. The wooden staves represent the customs and the small nuances of the Torah. They may not be as holy as the ark, but they will never leave its side.
When the cherished handles of those staves are invoked into use, the entire Torah is raised with them. As the Torah is clearly demonstrating, the Torah is moved by the little actions that we do, the inconspicuous little actions that impress no one, but mean the world to God!
Have an uplifting Shabbos! :D
The Human Rights of Israelis: What the ICJ has not been asked.
02.26.04 (5:39 pm) [edit]
[b]February 26, 2004, 9:07 a.m.
[i]By Anne Bayefsky[/b][/i]
The International Court of Justice in the Hague is being asked by the U.N. General Assembly to provide advice on the "legal consequences" of Israel's security fence. Predating the request for such advice, was a November report from U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan detailing the harm done to Palestinians said to result from the fence and a December 2003 General Assembly resolution already deciding that the fence violates international law. The question before the court has therefore been carefully crafted to elicit a list of negative human-rights consequences for Palestinians.
One element, however, is missing: [b]the human rights of Israelis[/b]. Secretary General Annan's report does not describe a single terrorist act against Israelis. The same 2003 General Assembly which decried the fence was also marked by its refusal to adopt a resolution on the rights of Israeli children — after passing one on Palestinian children.
The U.N. message is clear — the human rights of Israelis are not part of the equation. If they were, the legal balancing act would be this: On the one hand, suicide-bombing violates the following rights and freedoms of Israelis — all derived from international human rights treaties ratified by Israel:
[b][i]the right to life, the right not to be subjected to torture, inhuman or degrading treatment, the right to equality and freedom from persecution, security of the person, the right to health and well-being, the right to safe working conditions, the right to work, freedom from incitement to violence or war, freedom of religion, the right to the protection of the family, the right to the protection of the child, the right to education, freedom of movement, the right to vote, freedom of association, the right to an adequate standard of living and the right of self-determination.[/b][/i]
Suicide bombings (along with other terrorist acts) target Israelis at work, at play, at worship, and in transit, anywhere, anytime. They have been hit in synagogues, at bar mitzvahs, at Passover seders, moving from home to work or to school, while voting, gathering with friends in public places, in restaurants, cafes, and discotheques, in their homes and in their bedrooms. They kill and maim children and adults, women and men. They destroy health and any chance for happiness or well-being.
The violation of human rights by suicide bombing, starting with the right to life, falls within the category of the gravest human-rights violations in international law: [b]It is a crime against humanity[/b] — according to the definitions in the Charter of the Nuremberg Tribunal and the Statute of the International Criminal Court, as well as reports of organizations such as Amnesty International. [b]The major human-rights instruments also render it an attempt at genocide or "the commission of acts with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group."[/b]
The violation of the right to life by suicide bombing fits one other label of modern times — ethnic cleansing, or the systematic removal of a group of people identified by ethnicity from a certain area through killing or forced migration. [b]Suicide-bombing kills some Israelis, encourages others to leave the country, and discourages Jews from visiting or immigrating. The specific intent is to ethnically cleanse the area of Jews, a fact which has already been accomplished in all other neighboring Arab states, and most other Arab and Muslim countries.[/b]
So on the one hand, Israelis are subject to crimes against humanity, attempted genocide, and an effort to accomplish ethnic cleansing. International treaties demand that Israel protect the human rights of its citizens, just as the government of any country would be expected to protect its citizens from the most grievous offences known to humankind.
What about the other hand — the rights of Palestinians? [b]Suicide-bombing also violates the rights of Palestinians.[/b] It violates the right of Palestinian children not to take part in hostilities. Palestinian children having been used as suicide bombers and armed combatants, their right to enjoy the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, and their entitlement to the protection and care necessary for their well-being, have also been violated. The Convention on the Rights of the Child says [i]"the education of the child shall be directed to ...the development of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms...[and] for civilizations different from his or her own.., [and] for responsible life in a free society, in the spirit of understanding, peace, tolerance... among all peoples, ethnic, national and religious groups".[/i]
The right of the Palestinian child to an education which promotes tolerance and respect is violated by Palestinian media, schools, textbooks, posters, and summer camps — all of which routinely encourage Palestinian children to hate, and to harm their neighbors.
Palestinians have other rights which have been limited or infringed, like the right to work and freedom of movement. These rights are limited or infringed, however, not by Israel's fence, but by the terrorists who live and operate among them. If an armed robber takes a hostage and in the course of the crime the hostage is killed by police, the law states that the death of the hostage has been caused by the robber, not the police. For if there was no armed robbery, the hostage would not have been harmed.[b] If there were no terrorism, there would be no fence [/b]— and no "consequences of the fence" as the International Court has been asked to state in isolation from the acts that preceded it. The Palestinian civilian population is hostage to the terrorists and suicide-bombers among them. Israel's actions, like those of the police officer, are taken in fulfillment of its legal responsibilities to protect and end violent and illegal behavior.
The language of human rights is one of the most powerful political currencies of our times. That is why terrorists attempt to use it to their own ends, and claim victimhood for violations for which they are responsible.
[b]The International Court of Justice is at a crucial juncture in its history: to become another weapon in the terrorists' arsenal or to reject the gross abuse of the rule of law and the attempt to deny the equal value of the human rights of Israelis.[/b]
[i]*Anne Bayefsky is an adjunct professor of law at Columbia Law School. A version of this appeared in the Jerusalem Post and is reprinted with permission.[/i]
Palestinians' unwavering in determination to kill Jews...
02.26.04 (5:28 pm) [edit][b]Arabs set to take terror over the fence
[i]By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff[/i]
February 25, 2004[/b]
Jerusalem (jnewswire.com) - Whether Israel keeps the security fence in place, or folds before enormous international pressure and takes it down, the Palestinian Arabs remain determined to inflict terror and death on the Jewish people in whatever way they can.
According to Israel's Internal Security Services (Shin Bet) director, Avi Dichter, the "Palestinians" are working hard to develop artillery and other weaponry to fire over the combination wall-fence barrier.
The security fence, being erected as a desperate measure by a nation that has seen hundreds of its people murdered by Muslim "suicide" bombers in the last three-and-a-half years, may actually spur "Palestinians" to improve or develop new methods of terrorism.
Dichter warned that the successful "Palestinian" deployment of artillery that can reach Israeli population centers would probably necessitate a major IDF operation into the Gaza Strip.
Apart from all this he stressed that the security fence had already proven to be truly effective.
Determined to kill Jews
Addressing the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Dichter said the Palestinian Arabs were working to introduce chemical agents into their bombs, something that could dramatically increase the number of casualties in future terror attacks.
The Arabs were also trying to produce an artillery piece that could fire shells over the wall into Israeli cities and towns, similar to the way Qassam rockets and mortars were being launched from the Gaza Strip against Jewish targets in the south.
Dichter said Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to unilaterally withdraw Israel from Gaza would not effect the "Palestinians," who would upgrade their weapons whether Israel left or not.
An increase in attacks after Israel withdraws from the Gaza Strip would likely mean that the IDF would have to mount major anti-terror operations in the area after its withdrawal.
No Hamas state in Gaza
Addressing the recently expressed concern that Israel's vacating of Gaza would leave a defacto Hamas-run terror enclave in place, Dichter said the Islamist group would not be able to depose Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority.
"Hamas is not going to take over after we leave, the PA has more resources, and Hamas knows this, and will not opt for a show down," he said.
The fence works
Dichter lauded Israel's internationally criticized security fence, rolling out statistics to show how, where it has been completed, the barrier has brought "suicide" attacks screeching to a halt.
But while the finished fence up north had almost completely stopped terror from Samaria, further south, specifically around Jerusalem - where a lot of the fence has yet to be put up - efforts to infiltrate bombers have trebled.
It was important to complete the fence around Jerusalem as quickly as possible, Dichter stressed, adding that if he could push a button to make the fence go up immediately he would.
Unending war?
Israelis anticipate the efforts to destroy their state will continue whether or not there is a security fence and whether or not they withdraw from parts of the land claimed by the Palestinian Arabs.
Israeli opposition leader Shimon Peres said earlier this week that by holding onto just 10 percent of "Palestinian territory" Israel would be holding onto 100 percent of the conflict.
But while Peres' position is that Judea, Samaria and Gaza are "Palestinian" territory, the Palestinian Arabs insist that all of sovereign Israel is also their land.
To this end the "Palestinian" terrorist organizations (including Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the PLO and the Palestinian Authority) have all committed themselves to the eradication of all of what they call the Zionist entity.
Although many war-weary Israelis wonder aloud whether the violence will ever cease, Bible believers are convinced that an end is on the way.
Christian supporters of Israel point to numerous verses in the Bible that show how God promised to bring the scattered Jewish nation back to their land, there to offer them safety, security and, eventually, peace.
They believe Israel's ultimate victory over its Arab neighbors is prophesied, and assured.
02.26.04 (1:24 pm) [edit]
[b]Wed Feb 25, 1:52 PM ET
[i]By Marilyn Chase, Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal [/b][/i]
NEW YORK -- Scientists said they have identified a protein that shields rhesus monkeys from the AIDS virus, a finding that opens new avenues for drug and vaccine research.
The protein, called TRIM5-alpha, is believed to be part of the innate immune system that patrols the body looking for invaders and blocks their ability to infect.
People make a version of TRIM5-alpha that is 87% identical to the monkey protein, but isn't able to thwart AIDS. Scientists said they hope to find ways to beef up that human protein, or to use the monkey protein in treatment or prevention.
Joseph Sodroski, an AIDS researcher at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, and Matthew Stremlau, a candidate for a doctorate at Harvard Medical School, reported the discovery with coworkers in the journal Nature.
Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the finding sheds new light on the HIV life cycle and "opens new avenues for intervening in early stage of HIV infection before the virus can gain a toehold." HIV is the virus that causes AIDS.
The discovery caps almost a decade of work into why the human immunodeficiency virus infects some animals and not others. Scientists long had wondered why Old World monkeys -- a group including rhesus monkeys (or macaques), baboons and mangabeys -- didn't get AIDS.
"It became clear that monkeys were making a potent and specific factor blocking HIV," said Dr. Sodroski.
But isolating it took "heroic efforts" by Mr. Stremlau to pluck a gene for this protective factor out of the 40,000 genes in a monkey's genome, Dr. Sodroski said.
"It was like looking for a needle in a haystack," said the 27-year-old Mr. Stremlau. First he made a library of all 40,000 genes. Next, each gene was put into human cells normally vulnerable to infection by HIV. Then they unleashed HIV to observe the effect of the genes on infection.
To screen cells that got infected from those that didn't, the team had engineered HIV to emit a green fluorescent light to signal when infection occurred. Infected cell cultures shone bright green; a dark culture signaled infection failed. One stood out as especially well-protected.
"Cells carrying the gene for TRIM5-alpha didn't get infected, no matter how much HIV you put on them. They remained dark," said Dr. Sodroski. "It is really potent in blocking HIV."
Making the discovery was "like winning the lottery," said Mr. Stremlau, who was drawn to AIDS research after family travels in Africa.
Dr. Sodroski said questions still remain as to how the protein works, and whether variants exist in humans that may protect some people from getting AIDS. Among future possibilities, he said, the protein could lead to gene therapy, to vaccines, to improved animal models, or eventually to drugs that mimic the most active part of the protein.
The work was funded by grants from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, the Bristol- Myers Squibb Foundation, and the Center for AIDS Research of Dana-Farber, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Children's Hospital Boston.
-By Marilyn Chase, The Wall Street Journal, 415-765-5125
[b]Wed Feb 25, 1:52 PM ET
[i]By Marilyn Chase, Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal [/b][/i]
NEW YORK -- Scientists said they have identified a protein that shields rhesus monkeys from the AIDS virus, a finding that opens new avenues for drug and vaccine research.
The protein, called TRIM5-alpha, is believed to be part of the innate immune system that patrols the body looking for invaders and blocks their ability to infect.
People make a version of TRIM5-alpha that is 87% identical to the monkey protein, but isn't able to thwart AIDS. Scientists said they hope to find ways to beef up that human protein, or to use the monkey protein in treatment or prevention.
Joseph Sodroski, an AIDS researcher at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, and Matthew Stremlau, a candidate for a doctorate at Harvard Medical School, reported the discovery with coworkers in the journal Nature.
Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the finding sheds new light on the HIV life cycle and "opens new avenues for intervening in early stage of HIV infection before the virus can gain a toehold." HIV is the virus that causes AIDS.
The discovery caps almost a decade of work into why the human immunodeficiency virus infects some animals and not others. Scientists long had wondered why Old World monkeys -- a group including rhesus monkeys (or macaques), baboons and mangabeys -- didn't get AIDS.
"It became clear that monkeys were making a potent and specific factor blocking HIV," said Dr. Sodroski.
But isolating it took "heroic efforts" by Mr. Stremlau to pluck a gene for this protective factor out of the 40,000 genes in a monkey's genome, Dr. Sodroski said.
"It was like looking for a needle in a haystack," said the 27-year-old Mr. Stremlau. First he made a library of all 40,000 genes. Next, each gene was put into human cells normally vulnerable to infection by HIV. Then they unleashed HIV to observe the effect of the genes on infection.
To screen cells that got infected from those that didn't, the team had engineered HIV to emit a green fluorescent light to signal when infection occurred. Infected cell cultures shone bright green; a dark culture signaled infection failed. One stood out as especially well-protected.
"Cells carrying the gene for TRIM5-alpha didn't get infected, no matter how much HIV you put on them. They remained dark," said Dr. Sodroski. "It is really potent in blocking HIV."
Making the discovery was "like winning the lottery," said Mr. Stremlau, who was drawn to AIDS research after family travels in Africa.
Dr. Sodroski said questions still remain as to how the protein works, and whether variants exist in humans that may protect some people from getting AIDS. Among future possibilities, he said, the protein could lead to gene therapy, to vaccines, to improved animal models, or eventually to drugs that mimic the most active part of the protein.
The work was funded by grants from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, the Bristol- Myers Squibb Foundation, and the Center for AIDS Research of Dana-Farber, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Children's Hospital Boston.
-By Marilyn Chase, The Wall Street Journal, 415-765-5125
02.26.04 (1:18 pm) [edit]
[b]Tue Feb 24, 3:10 PM ET
[i]By MARK LAVIE, Associated Press Writer [/b][/i]
JERUSALEM - Lebanese guerrillas financing Palestinian suicide bombings have paid bonuses of several hundred dollars for each Israeli killed, the chairman of the Israeli parliament's security committee said Tuesday.
Palestinian militants confirmed having received large sums from the Hezbollah group, including single payments of up to $50,000, and said deadly attacks were rewarded, but denied there was a fixed pay scale.
The most recent bombing on Sunday killed eight Israelis and was claimed by the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, which has ties to Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement. Al Aqsa has been one of the main recipients of Hezbollah money.
Palestinian security officials said Tuesday they have evidence that Hezbollah funded Sunday's attack, as well as a bus bombing in Jerusalem on Jan. 29, in which 11 passengers were killed.
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups were also involved in the last two bombings.
In the aftermath of Sunday's attack, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) launched an unprecedented verbal attack on his Palestinian counterpart, saying Ahmed Qureia heads a "government of murder and lies," and that Israel could not negotiate a peace deal with him.
Sharon's angry comments, published Tuesday in the Yediot Ahronot daily, came in response to what the Israeli leader felt was a lukewarm condemnation of the bombing by Qureia.
However, Sharon also appeared to be setting the stage for his plan to impose a boundary on the Palestinians and dismantle some Israeli settlements once he concludes that peace efforts have failed for good.
Qureia said Sharon's remarks were unacceptable, but said he assumed the Israeli leader spoke during a "nervous moment."
Israeli military officials, meanwhile, told Palestinian police in the West Bank town of Bethlehem that they should not be seen in public with weapons to avoid being mistaken for militants in the event of Israeli raids.
The assailant in Sunday's bombing came from the village of Hussan near Bethlehem, and Israeli military action in the town was expected.
Hezbollah, meanwhile, declined comment on the funding allegations.
Al Aqsa militants have said they have received money from the group, through Fatah middlemen in Lebanon, since the outbreak of Israeli-Palestinian fighting in September 2000. In the Balata refugee camp near Nablus, for example, one Al Aqsa group receives about $1,000 a month from Hezbollah just for ammunition and cellular phone cards.
Yuval Steinitz, chairman of parliament's Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee, said Tuesday there is a new twist to the funding. "Following the attacks, a bonus is paid" of several hundred dollars for each Israeli victim, he said.
Steinitz spoke after Shin Bet security chief Avi Dichter testified before his committee, and Israeli media said he disclosed the bonus payments.
Hezbollah and Israel have been bitter enemies for two decades. They fought a guerrilla war in south Lebanon before Israel's sudden withdrawal in May 2000, but the hostility continues.
The Al Aqsa militants have loose ties to Fatah, but many reject Fatah leadership. After Sunday's bombing, one Al Aqsa group claimed responsibility, while another Al Aqsa statement disowned the attack.
Also Tuesday, Brig. Gen. Eran Ofir, the army's logistics chief, said another 125 miles of Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank, including a section around Jerusalem, will be completed this year.
About one-fourth of the 450-mile barrier is in place.
Israel says it needs the partition to keep out bombers. The planned route of the barrier cuts deep into the West Bank, and Palestinians charge its real purpose is to deprive them of much of their land and prevent the creation of a Palestinian state.
The International Court of Justice at The Hague Netherlands, held a second day of hearings Tuesday on the barrier's legality.
In the West Bank, soldiers fired tear gas and rubber bullets, injuring seven Palestinians in clashes near two sections of the barrier under construction, Palestinian officials said.
[b]Tue Feb 24, 3:10 PM ET
[i]By MARK LAVIE, Associated Press Writer [/b][/i]
JERUSALEM - Lebanese guerrillas financing Palestinian suicide bombings have paid bonuses of several hundred dollars for each Israeli killed, the chairman of the Israeli parliament's security committee said Tuesday.
Palestinian militants confirmed having received large sums from the Hezbollah group, including single payments of up to $50,000, and said deadly attacks were rewarded, but denied there was a fixed pay scale.
The most recent bombing on Sunday killed eight Israelis and was claimed by the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, which has ties to Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement. Al Aqsa has been one of the main recipients of Hezbollah money.
Palestinian security officials said Tuesday they have evidence that Hezbollah funded Sunday's attack, as well as a bus bombing in Jerusalem on Jan. 29, in which 11 passengers were killed.
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups were also involved in the last two bombings.
In the aftermath of Sunday's attack, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) launched an unprecedented verbal attack on his Palestinian counterpart, saying Ahmed Qureia heads a "government of murder and lies," and that Israel could not negotiate a peace deal with him.
Sharon's angry comments, published Tuesday in the Yediot Ahronot daily, came in response to what the Israeli leader felt was a lukewarm condemnation of the bombing by Qureia.
However, Sharon also appeared to be setting the stage for his plan to impose a boundary on the Palestinians and dismantle some Israeli settlements once he concludes that peace efforts have failed for good.
Qureia said Sharon's remarks were unacceptable, but said he assumed the Israeli leader spoke during a "nervous moment."
Israeli military officials, meanwhile, told Palestinian police in the West Bank town of Bethlehem that they should not be seen in public with weapons to avoid being mistaken for militants in the event of Israeli raids.
The assailant in Sunday's bombing came from the village of Hussan near Bethlehem, and Israeli military action in the town was expected.
Hezbollah, meanwhile, declined comment on the funding allegations.
Al Aqsa militants have said they have received money from the group, through Fatah middlemen in Lebanon, since the outbreak of Israeli-Palestinian fighting in September 2000. In the Balata refugee camp near Nablus, for example, one Al Aqsa group receives about $1,000 a month from Hezbollah just for ammunition and cellular phone cards.
Yuval Steinitz, chairman of parliament's Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee, said Tuesday there is a new twist to the funding. "Following the attacks, a bonus is paid" of several hundred dollars for each Israeli victim, he said.
Steinitz spoke after Shin Bet security chief Avi Dichter testified before his committee, and Israeli media said he disclosed the bonus payments.
Hezbollah and Israel have been bitter enemies for two decades. They fought a guerrilla war in south Lebanon before Israel's sudden withdrawal in May 2000, but the hostility continues.
The Al Aqsa militants have loose ties to Fatah, but many reject Fatah leadership. After Sunday's bombing, one Al Aqsa group claimed responsibility, while another Al Aqsa statement disowned the attack.
Also Tuesday, Brig. Gen. Eran Ofir, the army's logistics chief, said another 125 miles of Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank, including a section around Jerusalem, will be completed this year.
About one-fourth of the 450-mile barrier is in place.
Israel says it needs the partition to keep out bombers. The planned route of the barrier cuts deep into the West Bank, and Palestinians charge its real purpose is to deprive them of much of their land and prevent the creation of a Palestinian state.
The International Court of Justice at The Hague Netherlands, held a second day of hearings Tuesday on the barrier's legality.
In the West Bank, soldiers fired tear gas and rubber bullets, injuring seven Palestinians in clashes near two sections of the barrier under construction, Palestinian officials said.
02.26.04 (1:11 pm) [edit]
[b]Wed Feb 25, 7:32 AM ET
[i]By RAMIT PLUSHNICK-MASTI, Associated Press Writer [/i][/b]
JERUSALEM - Israel and Jordan are breaking ground next month on a joint science and technology center, the first major educational venture since the two countries signed a peace deal in 1994, officials said Wednesday.
The project is backed by two major U.S. universities, Cornell and Stanford, as well as Israeli and Jordanian business people and former Israeli military officials.
The "Bridging the Rift Center" will be built over the next five years on 150 acres of desert land straddling the Israeli-Jordanian border. A section of the border fence already has been removed ahead of the start of construction.
Groundbreaking is set for March 9. Simultaneously, Jordan's King Abdullah and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will host ceremonies in Amman and Jerusalem.
The center will offer doctoral programs and conduct research, and will be a "hub for technology, research and education for all people in Middle Eastern countries," said a statement by the private Bridging the Rift Foundation overseeing the project. Initially, it will be open to students from Jordan and Israel, and possibly Palestinians.
Assaf Shariv, Sharon's spokesman, said the prime minister's office has been involved in getting the program off the ground. "We see it as a very important thing ... we see this as a very positive step," Shariv said.
Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty a decade ago. Although there has been little violence, relations have been strained as a result of more than three years of Israeli-Palestinian violence.
Jordan has taken a particularly strong position against a separation barrier Israel is building in the West Bank. Jordan fears the barrier — which Israel says it needs to prevent suicide bombers from entering its towns and cities — will lead to mass Palestinian emigration and shake up the country's delicate demographic balance.
The center, described as a science and technology village, will allow students to receive doctorates from Stanford and Cornell, said Eitan Ben-Eliyahu, a board member of the foundation and Israel's former air force chief. Some of the research will focus on the campus' environment, the desert, he said.
"The whole idea is to have distance from political issues and to focus on academic issues," Ben-Eliyahu said.
[b]Wed Feb 25, 7:32 AM ET
[i]By RAMIT PLUSHNICK-MASTI, Associated Press Writer [/i][/b]
JERUSALEM - Israel and Jordan are breaking ground next month on a joint science and technology center, the first major educational venture since the two countries signed a peace deal in 1994, officials said Wednesday.
The project is backed by two major U.S. universities, Cornell and Stanford, as well as Israeli and Jordanian business people and former Israeli military officials.
The "Bridging the Rift Center" will be built over the next five years on 150 acres of desert land straddling the Israeli-Jordanian border. A section of the border fence already has been removed ahead of the start of construction.
Groundbreaking is set for March 9. Simultaneously, Jordan's King Abdullah and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will host ceremonies in Amman and Jerusalem.
The center will offer doctoral programs and conduct research, and will be a "hub for technology, research and education for all people in Middle Eastern countries," said a statement by the private Bridging the Rift Foundation overseeing the project. Initially, it will be open to students from Jordan and Israel, and possibly Palestinians.
Assaf Shariv, Sharon's spokesman, said the prime minister's office has been involved in getting the program off the ground. "We see it as a very important thing ... we see this as a very positive step," Shariv said.
Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty a decade ago. Although there has been little violence, relations have been strained as a result of more than three years of Israeli-Palestinian violence.
Jordan has taken a particularly strong position against a separation barrier Israel is building in the West Bank. Jordan fears the barrier — which Israel says it needs to prevent suicide bombers from entering its towns and cities — will lead to mass Palestinian emigration and shake up the country's delicate demographic balance.
The center, described as a science and technology village, will allow students to receive doctorates from Stanford and Cornell, said Eitan Ben-Eliyahu, a board member of the foundation and Israel's former air force chief. Some of the research will focus on the campus' environment, the desert, he said.
"The whole idea is to have distance from political issues and to focus on academic issues," Ben-Eliyahu said.
'Best Chicken Soup in America' Cook Named
02.26.04 (1:06 pm) [edit]Wednesday February 25, 11:49 am ET
Rosely Himmelstein of New York City wins decisive 'Soup-er Tuesday' victory in Shabbat Across America's Chicken Soup Challenge
NEW YORK, Feb. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Shabbat Across America's Chicken Soup Challenge came to a full boil as life-long New Yorker Rosely Himmelstein's soup was declared "the best chicken soup in America." (Recipe follows at end of news release.)
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bi... )
The national contest was sponsored by the National Jewish Outreach Program (NJOP), and held on Tuesday, Feb. 24th, at Abigael's in New York, one of the city's premiere kosher restaurants. Five finalists, selected from approximately 500 entries, prepared their original recipes, and a panel of nine distinguished judges had the task of tasting the five soups.
Rosely's soup is a traditional, comforting broth made with root vegetables, including parsnip, sweet potato, and rutabaga. The mother of two and the grandmother of two grandsons, she says that her recipe is the result of a long evolution that began with watching her mother make chicken soup and "includes a little family, a little friends, and my own innovations, and is always served with affection and pride."
In addition to bragging rights, Rosely has won the grand prize trip for two to Israel, a gift certificate to Abigael's, and other prizes.
The contest, which was open to amateur cooks age 18 and over of all faiths, was held in conjunction with NJOP's 8th annual Shabbat Across America event, which will be held on Friday evening, March 12, 2004. More than 700 synagogues across the U.S. and Canada from all denominations are expected to participate, opening their doors to tens of thousands of unaffiliated and marginally affiliated Jews to introduce the joys of the Jewish Sabbath.
According to the contest's executive judge, chef Jeffrey Nathan of Abigael's, "Each soup was delicious and had a unique flavor profile. Some of the entrants used a lot of unusual ingredients, but in the end, Rosely's simple soup, made with TLC, was the winner."
The other judges were:
-- U.S. Congressman Anthony Weiner, New York.
-- Marty Markowitz, Brooklyn Borough President.
-- Arthur Schwartz host of "Arthur Schwartz with Food Talk," heard on WOR
radio.
-- Michael Steinhardt, the legendary hedge fund manager and noted
philanthropist.
-- Helen Nash, the author of kosher cookbooks.
-- David G. Marwell, Ph.D., the director of the Museum of Jewish Heritage
-- Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, Chief Rabbi of Efrat, Israel.
-- Sarra Schwartz, NJOP board member.
"The Best Chicken Soup in America"
Winning recipe from Shabbat Across America's Chicken Soup Challenge
(serves about 6)
-- 2 quarts of chicken broth (see below)
-- 1 chicken, quartered; rinsed
-- 1 large carrot, peeled, cut up
-- 1 large onion, peeled, cut up
-- 1 stalk celery
-- 1 leek, white and light green parts only; washed
-- 1 parsnip, peeled, cut up
-- 1 parsley root, with greens attached
-- 1 sweet potato, peeled
-- a handful of dill
-- 1 small rutabaga, peeled, cut up
-- a few sprigs of cilantro (optional)
-- Salt and pepper to taste
- Put chicken broth in pot; bring to boil.
- Add chicken. Return to boil; lower heat.
- Gently simmer uncovered for 1 hour.
- Add the rest of the ingredients. Simmer for one-half hour more; stir
occasionally.
- Skim fat from top.
- Pour into bowls; into each add a slice of carrot and a sprig of
cilantro.
- If storing, let soup cool before refrigerating. When cold, remove the
fat that rises to the surface.
CHICKEN BROTH (makes about 2 quarts)
-- 2 pounds of chicken
-- 1 onion, studded with 4 whole cloves
-- 3 garlic cloves
-- 1 carrot, peeled
-- 1 bay leaf
-- 1 celery stalk
-- 1 leek
- Combine all ingredients with 10 cups of water.
- Bring to boil.
- Simmer over medium heat for 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.
- Cool, then strain.
CONTACT: Richard Dukas
201-833-1466
richard@richarddukas.com
[line]
Source: National Jewish Outreach Program
The Winner of the 'Your Experience' Contest!
02.26.04 (12:36 pm) [edit]
Way back when, you may remember I sent out a contest challenge to my readers ( http://www.tblog.com/template...%20experience ). Well, the results are in and we have a winner!
Congrats to hbettenhausen for your excellent entry! Please check out her weblog at: http://hbettenhausen.tblog.co...
As promised, she will recieve the first place prize of 400 tbucks, a mention on this blog to go visit her, and her entry shall be published!!! :D
The following is her award winning entry!!! ....
[line]
Actually, I've been sitting here thinking about my interactions with people for quite a while. I suppose the outlook does depend on my gender and my race even though the unified star trek the new generation world that exists in my head tells me we need to act as a global community...and not as our stereotypes.
On a daily basis, I listen to NPR, read papers, read political nonsense, journals, (sensationalized and otherwise). I read all I can...I try to keep up...convinced that what our US news says is the equivalent of reading the tabloids...
I work with my mother (who started a non-profit visual rehabilitation center for people with eye diseases/low vision) and many of her clients are elderly...I was at work one morning and the older lady says to me, "Your mother tells us you're going into the Peace Corps..." I say "yes..." followed by an excited little chat...the lady turns to my mother and says, "you need to talk her out of that...it's dangerous over there (East/Central Asia)"
Fear...is what drives many people...these are my interactions. People ask me why I do not eat meat..."you need meat"...no, i don't...I was an Ag major in college...People think I'm crazy for running marathons...people's fear of unknown sensations...fear of travelling to really SEE what is there...my interactions with people involve explanations of why I am not a practicing catholic anymore...my interactions with people involve trying to evoke emotion and a sense of why they feel the way they do or why the elderly folks that come to us for help feel so much fear...fear of something they have not ever met, and cannot describe, but it has plagued them...they make jokes about "nigger...kike...jap..." and each time I have to calmly tell them that there will be no use of that language or of those jokes in my presence...My grandparents were from Italy...am I a dago? A wap? Do you need to make a gangster joke to make yourself feel comfortable?
We used to incorporate elders into every generation...now they are left behind. Is this why they are scared?
My interactions with man-boys or boy-men...men run this country...based on constitutions and secrets that are over 200 years old...where did it all begin in the middle east? we will never know...
Boys are like the rest of society...you can't judge the whole when you know only so few...my husband is a great man...there are many great men and women...peaceful men and women...unfortunately, i worked in a brewery and saw the evil, drunken side of quite a few men...debauchery and distrust...how else is there to be when you are a girl in a boy's environment and every morning you wake up and know you have to work four times, ten times harder than the rest because you have to pick up slack and prove your worth because you work in a factory and the work is physically and mentally taxing...but you do it...because your will is determined and you are stronger than they ever could be and you can lift those full kegs of beer now...because your interactions are proving yourself...every day...you take the responsiblity for your actions and for who you are and what you do...and I work out in the mornings at the gym and wonder why the news tries to constantly confuse people with scandal after scandal...and why people portray "ethnic" people so as to scare the whitelitists....and why atkins is an option...i mean, the founder is dead!!!
i don't believe what doctors say...I don't go to male doctors because truthfully, I don't trust male doctors...I'm a girl...I discriminate and i don't find any merit in much western quick-fix medicine...
Why is Cuba bad?
Why was Clinton bad?
I would give anything to have him back in office.
I wonder if he looks at the state of the nation and cries like the rest of us do. He was a happy, educated man...men of power use their power--he cheated on his wife...he did not intentionally start wars...he did not kill his own citizens...he did not try to take the rights of his citizens and pull this country back into a state of McCarthyism...Clinton pushed for the doors to be open globally...Bush closed us in...why? what is he compensating for?
I look forward to getting out of this country for a while and experiencing the rest of the world...I don't believe that people are bad just because they see through different eyes...
I read an article that schools are as segregated now as they were when MLK was alive...segregation??? should we still even be using that word? racism? anti-semitism? I can't believe we still deal with it and that we have to segregate into groups to fight against these acts of fear and violence...if we cannot see it, it will hurt us...if your prayer is different than my prayer, you are not acceptable...my interactions intend to be aimed towards finding out why people fear so much and why their actions reflect ignorance.
by: hbettenhausen
[line]
Second prize of 200 tbucks and a honerable mention goes SSWarrior at http://SSWarrior.tblog.com Check him out! :) Here is his entry:
In regards to your recent post: Your Experience.
I have got friends of all kind and been to several places i think people are basicly the same there are good and bad in every thing even in the animal world
[line]
Congradulations to the winners! Enjoy your tbucks!!! :)
More Scandanavian 'creativity'
02.26.04 (11:58 am) [edit]First, there was the Swedish 'Art' Outrage ( http://www.mediabackspin.com/... ). Now, from Norway ( http://www.mediabackspin.com/... ):
The owner of an art gallery in Oslo has removed a painting from an exhibit aimed at fighting anti-Semitism, after the Israeli ambassador in Norway complained about the swastika in the words "Israel" and "USA":
The artist, Chris Reddy, is "furious":
[i]He defends his painting...Reddy countered that it's "alarming" the ambassador "is using the fascists' own tool: censorship." He claims his art challenged the most important source of conflict in the world, nationalism, adding that "totalitarian and exteme regimes can't tolerate criticism."... He has called himself a "political artist," whose work was once described in newspaper Dagsavisen as a cross between "cartooning, graffiti and Picasso."[/i]
Picasso? To our eyes, it just looks disturbingly close to this, from a rally in San Francisco last year:
Some responses from the blogosphere: http://www.mediabackspin.com/...
[line]
Source: http://www.mediabackspin.com/...
[line]
[b]Comments?[/b]
Photo Essay: Scenes from The Hague
02.26.04 (11:47 am) [edit][b]As the International Court of Justice opened its deliberations on the Israeli security fence, supporters of both sides descended on The Hague to press their case. An HonestReporting exclusive.[/b]
[line]
Carrie Devorah, a photojournalist in Washington DC, and the sister of Chezi Goldberg who was murdered in the Jan. 29th Jerusalem bus bombing, went to The Hague to document the events.
Zaka, the emergency team who gathers bits of bodies after a terror attack, shipped a bombed Egged bus to be displayed outside The Hague.
The bombed Egged bus arrives at an Amsterdam airport.
Israeli Knesset Members, Wasil Taha (left) and Ahmad Tibi, flew to The Hague to join in the protest against Israeli policy.
Pro-Palestinian protesters call for Western leaders to be put behind bars.
The mother of an Israeli terror victim pleads for protection against mass murderers.
927 dead. 927 reasons for the anti-terror fence
Arabs decry the need for a fence.
With The Hague looming in the background, an advocate of the anti-terror fence stands against the demonstrators.
U.S. Congressman Robert Wexler (D-Florida, pictured here with faces of Israeli victims in the background) and Cong. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio) flew to The Hague in support of Israel. Says Wexler: "[The] International Court of Justice is being hijacked by nations and groups for political purposes, rather than for the good of both Israelis and Palestinians."
Arab boy crouches under massive Palestinian flag.
Arab protester against the fence.
The father of an Israeli terror victim silently articulates the need for a fence.
[i]HonestReporting.com[/i]
02.26.04 (11:32 am) [edit]
[b]DEBKAfile Special Report http://www.debka.com
26 February[/b]
Israel’s first dip into Palestinian terrorist bank accounts Wednesday, February 25, raised a storm in international banking circles greater than if Israeli troops had pushed into Bethlehem to avenge two recent Jerusalem bus blasts in which 18 Israelis and a foreign worker died.
Washington slapped the Sharon government’s wrist, claiming its action in downtown Ramallah could destabilize the Palestinian banking system and should have been coordinated with Palestinian financial authorities, namely the pro-US finance minister Salim Fayad.
Israel responded that six months of painstaking intelligence-gathering had gone into pinpointing more that 400 accounts held by Palestinian terrorist groups and funded mostly by Syria, Iran and the Hizballah. Advance notice would have jeopardized the operation.
Some of the accounts belonged to the Fatah’s al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which claimed responsibility for the Jerusalem bus blasts as well as for the shooting ambush Thursday, February 26, at the Erez checkpoint from the Gaza Strip to Israel, killing an Israeli military reservist, wounding two, and halting the passage of Palestinian workers to their jobs in Israel.
Israeli officials cited the US presidential directive calling for a worldwide clampdown on terrorist financing which has so far netted no more than $130 million. Palestinian banks, they said, had been hijacked to finance Palestinian terrorist groups.
DEBKAfile’s Washington sources reveal the US was under heavy pressure to have Israel’s “armed robbers” pulled out of the banks - not only from Fayed, but from international banking heavyweight Palestinian-born Abdul Majid Shuman, head of the Arab Bank of Amman, one of the biggest in the Middle East, whose two Ramallah branches were stormed Wednesday together with the Cairo Amman Bank. Shuman called every head of government and international bank he could find, including the World Bank and Jordan’s King Abdullah II who is on a visit in Malaysia, to insist that they intercede with the Bush administration to stop the Israeli operation. He warned the king that the Jordan-based institution’s business reputation would suffer if Israeli troops could march in at will and examine confidential accounts.
Nonetheless, for 13 hours, no one interrupted Israeli police computer experts as they logged onto banking networks and examined accounts, or the officers stuffing up to $8 million into large holdalls in amounts corresponding to the targeted accounts.
Armed troops secured the operation outside. More than 40 Palestinians were injured when tear gas was used to break up stone-throwing mobs.
Ramallah, seat of Yasser Arafat’s headquarters, was already tense, under assault from internal strife in the ruling Fatah. DEBKAfile’s Palestinian sources report Mohammed Dahlan, interior minister in Mahmoud Abbas’s short-lived government, has mounted a telling revolt against Arafat’s leadership. Monday,February 23, 11 leaders of Fatah-North Gaza Strip resigned in a body. Threats to quit are coming from branch leaders in Gaza City, central and southern Gaza Strip as well as the West Bank centers of Nablus and its surrounding villages, Ramallah’s environs and Arab Jerusalem.
The uprising forced Arafat to call the first Fatah Central Council meeting in 13 years. The session took place Wednesday night in Ramallah while Israeli police were going through the city’s banks. It broke down after all-night debates failed to settle the crisis. Council members demanded immediate elections for a clean sweep of corrupt veterans. Arafat agreed but refused to set a date. He understands that electing young activists to Fatah’s ruling institutions will wipe out his majority. Dahlan’s “parliamentary revolt,” if pulled off, would therefore be tantamount to a putsch.
After the bank operation was over, defense minister Shaul Mofaz announced the impounded funds would be spent on benefits for ordinary Palestinians. The hated roadblocks could not be removed as long terrorists stalked the borders, but facilities would be improved, as would also health services, school transport and food.
This will hardly mollify the Jordanian-Palestinian tycoon Shuman who is smarting after the second Israeli assault on his property. Exactly one year ago, Israel troops impounded $10,000 of Hamas funds from a financial institution he owns in the Jerusalem village of al Azariya.
Israel’s bank raids will not halt the transfer of funds to terrorist groups. They will only divert a larger flow outside the banking system that will be harder to stem. Still, a large chunk of cash is now missing from their warchest .
[b]DEBKAfile Special Report http://www.debka.com
26 February[/b]
Israel’s first dip into Palestinian terrorist bank accounts Wednesday, February 25, raised a storm in international banking circles greater than if Israeli troops had pushed into Bethlehem to avenge two recent Jerusalem bus blasts in which 18 Israelis and a foreign worker died.
Washington slapped the Sharon government’s wrist, claiming its action in downtown Ramallah could destabilize the Palestinian banking system and should have been coordinated with Palestinian financial authorities, namely the pro-US finance minister Salim Fayad.
Israel responded that six months of painstaking intelligence-gathering had gone into pinpointing more that 400 accounts held by Palestinian terrorist groups and funded mostly by Syria, Iran and the Hizballah. Advance notice would have jeopardized the operation.
Some of the accounts belonged to the Fatah’s al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which claimed responsibility for the Jerusalem bus blasts as well as for the shooting ambush Thursday, February 26, at the Erez checkpoint from the Gaza Strip to Israel, killing an Israeli military reservist, wounding two, and halting the passage of Palestinian workers to their jobs in Israel.
Israeli officials cited the US presidential directive calling for a worldwide clampdown on terrorist financing which has so far netted no more than $130 million. Palestinian banks, they said, had been hijacked to finance Palestinian terrorist groups.
DEBKAfile’s Washington sources reveal the US was under heavy pressure to have Israel’s “armed robbers” pulled out of the banks - not only from Fayed, but from international banking heavyweight Palestinian-born Abdul Majid Shuman, head of the Arab Bank of Amman, one of the biggest in the Middle East, whose two Ramallah branches were stormed Wednesday together with the Cairo Amman Bank. Shuman called every head of government and international bank he could find, including the World Bank and Jordan’s King Abdullah II who is on a visit in Malaysia, to insist that they intercede with the Bush administration to stop the Israeli operation. He warned the king that the Jordan-based institution’s business reputation would suffer if Israeli troops could march in at will and examine confidential accounts.
Nonetheless, for 13 hours, no one interrupted Israeli police computer experts as they logged onto banking networks and examined accounts, or the officers stuffing up to $8 million into large holdalls in amounts corresponding to the targeted accounts.
Armed troops secured the operation outside. More than 40 Palestinians were injured when tear gas was used to break up stone-throwing mobs.
Ramallah, seat of Yasser Arafat’s headquarters, was already tense, under assault from internal strife in the ruling Fatah. DEBKAfile’s Palestinian sources report Mohammed Dahlan, interior minister in Mahmoud Abbas’s short-lived government, has mounted a telling revolt against Arafat’s leadership. Monday,February 23, 11 leaders of Fatah-North Gaza Strip resigned in a body. Threats to quit are coming from branch leaders in Gaza City, central and southern Gaza Strip as well as the West Bank centers of Nablus and its surrounding villages, Ramallah’s environs and Arab Jerusalem.
The uprising forced Arafat to call the first Fatah Central Council meeting in 13 years. The session took place Wednesday night in Ramallah while Israeli police were going through the city’s banks. It broke down after all-night debates failed to settle the crisis. Council members demanded immediate elections for a clean sweep of corrupt veterans. Arafat agreed but refused to set a date. He understands that electing young activists to Fatah’s ruling institutions will wipe out his majority. Dahlan’s “parliamentary revolt,” if pulled off, would therefore be tantamount to a putsch.
After the bank operation was over, defense minister Shaul Mofaz announced the impounded funds would be spent on benefits for ordinary Palestinians. The hated roadblocks could not be removed as long terrorists stalked the borders, but facilities would be improved, as would also health services, school transport and food.
This will hardly mollify the Jordanian-Palestinian tycoon Shuman who is smarting after the second Israeli assault on his property. Exactly one year ago, Israel troops impounded $10,000 of Hamas funds from a financial institution he owns in the Jerusalem village of al Azariya.
Israel’s bank raids will not halt the transfer of funds to terrorist groups. They will only divert a larger flow outside the banking system that will be harder to stem. Still, a large chunk of cash is now missing from their warchest .
Improved civil status for foreign partners of Israelis
02.26.04 (11:28 am) [edit][b]Last Update: 26/02/2004 16:59
[i]By Relly Sa'ar, Haaretz Correspondent [/b][/i]
Interior Minister Avraham Poraz (Shinui) decided Thursday that the foreign partners of Israelis will be eligible for temporary residency status after one year of cohabitation with their Israeli partners and permanent residency status after seven years.
Prior to the decision, partners of Israeli nationals were eligible only for tourist visas, with work permits.
Temporary residents are eligible for national health insurance and permanent residents are eligible for all civil rights, short of voting.
The decision will take effect Sunday, and will also apply to unmarried and gay couples.
The Interior Ministry said the status would be granted after an inspection of the 'integrity of the relationship and the cohabitation of the couple.'
02.26.04 (11:17 am) [edit]
[b]The Associated Press
Updated: 7:57 a.m. ET Feb. 26, 2004[/b]
JERUSALEM - Two Palestinian gunmen opened fire on the Erez crossing between Israel and Gaza early Thursday, killing at least one Israeli before being shot dead, military officials and Israeli radio reported.
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a militant group linked to Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, claimed responsibility for the attack. In a phone call to The Associated Press in Gaza, Al-Aqsa identified the gunmen as Ashraf Zakout and Aymen Sahiel.
Palestinian sources reported an intensive exchange of fire lasted for about an hour between the gunmen and soldiers at the crossing point, which thousands of Palestinians use everyday to get to work in Israel.
Israeli radios and a settler spokesman reported that one Israeli had been killed. Initially, they said two other Israelis had been wounded in the attack but later retracted the statement. A rescue service spokesman confirmed no Israelis had been wounded in the attack.
The army has closed down the Erez terminal.
In January, a female suicide bomber killed four Israelis when she blew up in the terminal used by workers to get to Israel.
Since the attack, the army has clamped tight security regulations on the crossing, forcing workers to pass with their hands up and their shirts lifted to make sure they are not armed with explosives.
The security measures cause Palestinians to wait in long lines, and many workers arrive at 2 a.m. to begin their commute to Israel.
[i]© 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed[/i]
[b]The Associated Press
Updated: 7:57 a.m. ET Feb. 26, 2004[/b]
JERUSALEM - Two Palestinian gunmen opened fire on the Erez crossing between Israel and Gaza early Thursday, killing at least one Israeli before being shot dead, military officials and Israeli radio reported.
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a militant group linked to Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, claimed responsibility for the attack. In a phone call to The Associated Press in Gaza, Al-Aqsa identified the gunmen as Ashraf Zakout and Aymen Sahiel.
Palestinian sources reported an intensive exchange of fire lasted for about an hour between the gunmen and soldiers at the crossing point, which thousands of Palestinians use everyday to get to work in Israel.
Israeli radios and a settler spokesman reported that one Israeli had been killed. Initially, they said two other Israelis had been wounded in the attack but later retracted the statement. A rescue service spokesman confirmed no Israelis had been wounded in the attack.
The army has closed down the Erez terminal.
In January, a female suicide bomber killed four Israelis when she blew up in the terminal used by workers to get to Israel.
Since the attack, the army has clamped tight security regulations on the crossing, forcing workers to pass with their hands up and their shirts lifted to make sure they are not armed with explosives.
The security measures cause Palestinians to wait in long lines, and many workers arrive at 2 a.m. to begin their commute to Israel.
[i]© 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed[/i]
Israel’s Sharon Denounces World Court Proceedings
02.25.04 (10:04 pm) [edit][b]by Sonja Pace, Voice of America, February 25, 2004
As seen at http://truthnews.net[/b]
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says his country will not give in to what he calls the hypocrisy being perpetrated against Israel at the World Court in The Hague. The prime minister lashed out at the proceedings currently underway at the court over the legality of the barrier Israel is building in and around the West Bank.
Prime Minister Sharon said the proceedings before the International Court of Justice seek to deny Israel the fundamental right to defend itself. He vowed Israel would not surrender and would continue to build the security barrier in and around the West Bank.
On Monday, the Palestinian representative made an impassioned plea against Israel's barrier, saying it violates international law, is meant to perpetuate Israel's occupation of Palestinian land and makes a future Palestinian state impossible.
Israel says the barrier is needed for security to keep out suicide bombers and stop terror attacks.
Just a day before the court proceedings began, a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up on a crowded bus in Jerusalem, killing eight people and injuring dozens more.
Israeli officials said the attack demonstrated the need to complete the barrier. Palestinians argue the barrier will only breed more hatred and will not stop militant attacks against Israel.
Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia did condemn the attack, especially the timing of it.
Senior aides to Mr. Sharon and Mr. Qureia were scheduled to meet to try to arrange a long overdue summit between the two prime ministers. But, Israel called off the preparatory meeting in protest over Sunday's bomb attack.
British and French Funding Palestinian Fence Propaganda Effort
02.25.04 (9:59 pm) [edit]From Truth News: http://www.truthnews.net
International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, February 24, 2004
Two western-trained lawyers leading the Palestinian propaganda offensive against Israel in The Hague are being paid by British and Swedish taxpayers, from funds set aside for furthering a peace deal, a European watchdog has revealed.
According to the European Institute for Research on the Middle East, media-savvy legal advisers Michael Tarazi and Diana Butto are directly employed by the PLO via the British and Swedish funded Palestinian Negotiations Support Unit.
The NSU, a body under the direct control of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, was set up in 1998 to help the Palestinians prepare for final status talks under the Oslo Accords. But despite the fact that since the collapse of the peace process in 2000 the unit has become a propaganda arm of PLO, the European funding has continued unchecked.
Hillary Clinton: I never used Jewish slur!
02.25.04 (5:06 pm) [edit]
[i][b]By Beth J. Harpaz, Associated Press[/i]
Originally published July 16, 2000[/b]
CHAPPAQUA, N.Y. (AP) -- Angry and emotional, Hillary Rodham Clinton on Sunday firmly denied allegations from a forthcoming book that she used an anti-Semitic slur 26 years ago.
"I wanted to unequivocally state it never happened," the first lady said during a hastily scheduled news conference to discuss the controversy.
The allegation comes from a book due out this week, "State of a Union: Inside the Complex Marriage of Bill and Hillary Clinton," by former National Enquirer reporter Jerry Oppenheimer.
Oppenheimer quotes Paul Fray, who worked for Bill Clinton's unsuccessful Congressional campaign in Arkansas in 1974, as claiming that Hillary Clinton called him a "Jew b-----" after Bill Clinton lost the election. Fray's wife said she witnessed the incident, and a third person, Neil McDonald, claimed to have heard the obscenity as he stood outside the room.
Previous biographies have mentioned the argument but none mentioned any slur.
On Sunday, the Clinton Senate campaign released copies of a handwritten letter from Fray to Hillary Clinton, dated July 1, 1997, in which he states: "I have wronged you. I ask for your forgiveness because I did say things against you, and called you names, not only to your face -- but behind your back ... names that are unmentionable."
Fray adds: "At one time in my life, I would say things without thinking, without factual foundation ... I beg your forgiveness."
Clinton said she was releasing the letter to show that "there's a history of these kinds of charges coming from the people in question. They've been false in the past. They're false now."
She wouldn't comment what sort of statements Fray was apologizing for in the letter.
The Clinton campaign also released a statement from President Clinton in which he said: "I was there on election night in 1974 and this charge is simply not true. It did not happen. My wife has stood for social justice and tolerance and against racial and religious hatred and bigotry for as long as I have known her. It's unfortunate that people would try to exploit false charges like this in an election rather than look at what she has done for her entire life."
Oppenheimer on Sunday defended his claim. He told CNN that his research also found that "Mrs. Clinton, who says she's never used such language, heard that kind of language while growing up."
Clinton indicated that her advisers had debated the best way to respond to the allegations, saying: "We had a lot of difficult conversations about it, because my policy for the last eight years has largely been just to absorb whatever insult, whatever charge, whatever accusation anybody says, and not respond because they are so outrageous and so unfair."
She said she decided to issue a full-force denial to ensure that "anyone who tries to get someone else to believe this will at least have to say, 'Well, she says it's not true."'
"You're darn right it's not true. It's absolutely false," she said.
Rep. Nita Lowey, who is Jewish, stood next to Clinton during the press conference and told reporters she came to offer support because "there's no way Hillary could make a statement like that."
Clinton's Republican opponent in the New York Senate race, Rep. Rick Lazio, declined to comment on the issue.
Quizoramah!
02.25.04 (5:00 pm) [edit]
Why do you cry?
brought to you by Quizilla
You are the one who holds back your feelings from
others and yourself. You dont want to show
people your weak u dont want sympathy. Your
strong but maybe... you should show ur
feelings, just alittle*
The type of pain ur eyes behold
brought to you by Quizilla
What fashionable underground band/style are you?
this quiz was made by the sunni bunni bear
Woodelf---
Your a woodelf... You care about people but your
more a loner... which is okay... You try to
close of the world by escaping...Your just like
me
What kind of Elf are you?
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Al Qaeda Builds a Euro Army
02.25.04 (4:24 pm) [edit][b]From DEBKA-Net-Weekly
Feb. 20 Updated by DEBKAfile http://www.debka.com
February 25, 2004, 3:10 PM (GMT+02:00)[/b]
Warnings of al Qaeda’s continuing threat came Tuesday, February 24, from Washington and London as well as one of its top leaders. Addressing the Senate intelligence committee, CIA director George Tenet spoke of the spread of al Qaeda’s radical agenda to local groups who now threaten the United States and are capable of 9/11 scale attacks.
British interior secretary David Blunkett, announcing new stringent measures to combat terror, said a terrorist attack on Britain was “inevitable.”
Pointing up these statements, Osama bin Laden’s deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri gave not one but two signs that his group was still after “Crusader” blood. Two recorded audiotapes reached the rival Arab TV stations, al Jazeera and al Arabiya. In one he threatened the United States with fresh attacks; the other condemned the French for banning the headscarf for Muslim schoolgirls. The Egyptian terrorist chief declared that the claim by US president George W. Bush that two-thirds of al Qaeda’s leadership has been crushed was untrue.
His assertion had been confirmed previously by the preliminary findings of a joint defense department-CIA inquiry ordered by the US President.
According to DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s counter-terrorism sources in Washington, al Qaeda’s backbone and that of its partner, al-Zawahiri’s Egyptian Islamic Jihad are intact and fully operational. The Egyptian half of al Qaeda in particular has led a charmed existence. Since America's 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, only two senior Jihad operatives have been killed and not a single active member captured. The team found this discovery alarming enough to rush to Bush and warn him: “We have a gap in our intelligence the size of a big black hole.”
Even more disquietingly, al Qaeda is discovered to be recruiting manpower in Europe at a brisk pace in a push into the continent personally advocated by Osama bin Laden. The Saudi-born terrorist has thus gained the upper hand in a debate within his organization’s top leadership over its next focal arena. Bin Laden urged fostering the war on the “far enemy” (Europe) as against concentrating the movement’s fury on the “near enemy” (Saudi Arabia, Iraq, South Asia).
The European arena, often neglected by American counter-terrorism agencies, is showing a dangerous dynamism. Data assembled for a preliminary assessment show al Qaeda in the process of evolving from terrorist networks and cells into a professional fighting force with military features.
According to French counter-intelligence, al Qaeda has recruited in France alone between 35,000 and 45,000 men and is organizing them into military-style units. They meet regularly for training in the use of weapons and explosives, combat tactics and indoctrination and are controlled from local and district command centers under the organization’s national French command.
In Germany, Al Qaeda has recruited 25,000 to 30,000 men. The British domestic intelligence agency MI5 estimates 10,000 faithful have joined up in Britain, providing Blunkett with more than ample cause for concern.
Al Qaeda is a lot less active in Italy where counter-terrorist agencies hunt its cells to earth relentlessly. Moreover, al Qaeda does not need an important foothold in Italy because it already maintains a thriving presence next door in the Balkan countries of Albania, Kosovo and Macedonia, from which weapons, money and false documents are easily secreted to its European bases.
But unknown numbers are enlisting in Belgium, Switzerland, Holland, Sweden and Norway.
Recruitment across Europe continues apace and in greater secrecy than ever as a result of a switch to new recruiting techniques and appeal to fresh target-populations for building the Euro army. According to DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s counter-terrorism sources, the authors of the interim report found that al Qaeda, intent on beating surveillance and penetration by intelligence services, no longer selects combatants at its usual hunting grounds in mosques, Islamic culture centers and Muslim immigrant neighborhoods. Instead, native Europeans freshly converted to Islam are targeted.
The new campaign is styled “the white recruitment drive” or “coffee shop conscription”. Operational cells and recruiting agents patronize ordinary cafes on the high streets of Europe’s major cities where they blend into the crowds. The new conscripts defy identification by European intelligence services because their Islamic lives are lived completely underground. There is therefore no way of finding their addresses telephone numbers. Unit-level meetings or training sessions, attended by 30 or 40 men, may take place under cover of social activity such as a holiday camp in a remote part of Europe. Tracking them down is getting harder as bin Laden’s new Euro army expands at the rate of tens of thousands and when “white” recruits may already form some 25 percent of the total.
02.25.04 (4:21 pm) [edit]
[b]Feb. 25, 2004
[i]By YAAKOV KATZ, the Jerusalem Post[/b][/i]
A resident of Yavneh was kidnapped by Palestinians on Wednesday after they hijacked his cement truck and drove off in the direction of the Gaza Strip.
The man, in his thirties, was found injured by military policewomen Wednesday at the Hodaya Junction north of Ashkelon.
The driver told police that his employer sent him to a construction site in Ramle. When he arrived at the site, four Palestinians jumped him and tied him up at gunpoint. The Palestinians began driving the cement truck in the direction of the Gaza Strip with other members of the kidnapping ring following the truck in a private car.
Lachish Police Spokeswoman Michal Haim told the Jerusalem Post that the man's version of the story is genuine, but that it was still unclear what the purpose of the kidnapping was.
"The story is genuine but we cannot yet tell whether the motive was criminal or terror," Haim said.
The truck driver told police that at one point during the drive he was able to stop the truck's engine by stepping on an engine cut-off button with his foot. At that point, he said, his kidnappers feared that they would be stranded and caught by police. They decided to jump out of the truck and escaped by car.
The man jumped out of the truck to the side of the road and was spotted by military policewomen. The officers alerted police and Magen David Adom medics who transferred him to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon for further medical treatment.
[b]Feb. 25, 2004
[i]By YAAKOV KATZ, the Jerusalem Post[/b][/i]
A resident of Yavneh was kidnapped by Palestinians on Wednesday after they hijacked his cement truck and drove off in the direction of the Gaza Strip.
The man, in his thirties, was found injured by military policewomen Wednesday at the Hodaya Junction north of Ashkelon.
The driver told police that his employer sent him to a construction site in Ramle. When he arrived at the site, four Palestinians jumped him and tied him up at gunpoint. The Palestinians began driving the cement truck in the direction of the Gaza Strip with other members of the kidnapping ring following the truck in a private car.
Lachish Police Spokeswoman Michal Haim told the Jerusalem Post that the man's version of the story is genuine, but that it was still unclear what the purpose of the kidnapping was.
"The story is genuine but we cannot yet tell whether the motive was criminal or terror," Haim said.
The truck driver told police that at one point during the drive he was able to stop the truck's engine by stepping on an engine cut-off button with his foot. At that point, he said, his kidnappers feared that they would be stranded and caught by police. They decided to jump out of the truck and escaped by car.
The man jumped out of the truck to the side of the road and was spotted by military policewomen. The officers alerted police and Magen David Adom medics who transferred him to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon for further medical treatment.
02.25.04 (4:18 pm) [edit]
[i][b]By MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH[/i]
The Associated Press
2/25/04 2:32 PM[/b]
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) -- Top officials from Yasser Arafat's ruling Fatah party began a three-day meeting Wednesday aimed at addressing younger members' demands for reform and more power in the movement.
The 126-member Revolutionary Council, Fatah's second-highest body, gathered in the West Bank city of Ramallah for the first time since the current round of Israeli-Palestinian violence broke out more than three years ago. The council was supposed to meet every three months.
The body is hoping to diffuse increasing friction between younger members and the old guard who accompanied Arafat back to the West Bank and Gaza Strip from exile in the early 1990's and hold many of the party's senior positions.
The new generation of Fatah leaders have been clamoring for more power and are protesting the party's failure to hold elections for the Central Committee since 1989. More than 400 low-level Fatah members resigned two weeks ago to protest the election issue.
The 16-member committee, Fatah's top body, is widely believed to wield the real power in the Palestinian Authority.
"There is a new generation that has to get its opportunity in Fatah leadership. We have a generational conflict," said Sakher Psaiso, deputy chairman of the council.
For elections to be held, voting delegates must first be chosen at a large party general conference. The Revolutionary Council was expected to authorize such an assembly, which could take up to a year to organize.
"We hope that this will be one of the main decisions that will come out of this meeting," said council member Ahmed Ghneim.
Arafat has not taken a public stance on the issue. Fatah's current leaders have repeatedly put off holding elections. Younger activists say veteran leaders are afraid of losing their privileged positions.
The young guard also feel the movement has degenerated into chaos, lacking a clear political vision and strategy for dealing with the conflict with Israel.
Militant groups loosely affiliated with Fatah have continued to carry out attacks against Israelis despite condemnation from party leaders. Arafat's security adviser, Jibril Rajoub, said the conference would discuss ways to bring them under control.
"All the branches of the organization should adhere to the strategy and the political line of the movement," Rajoub said.
The younger generation has also complained about financial irregularities, which are on the conference agenda.
"Fatah has been through a crisis in the last 15 years," former Palestinian security chief Mohammed Dahlan said. "The file is so big, and the crisis is so large, but starting now is better than never."
Earlier this month Dahlan supporters in the Gaza Strip clashed with Arafat's forces killing one police officer and wounding 10 others.
[i][b]By MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH[/i]
The Associated Press
2/25/04 2:32 PM[/b]
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) -- Top officials from Yasser Arafat's ruling Fatah party began a three-day meeting Wednesday aimed at addressing younger members' demands for reform and more power in the movement.
The 126-member Revolutionary Council, Fatah's second-highest body, gathered in the West Bank city of Ramallah for the first time since the current round of Israeli-Palestinian violence broke out more than three years ago. The council was supposed to meet every three months.
The body is hoping to diffuse increasing friction between younger members and the old guard who accompanied Arafat back to the West Bank and Gaza Strip from exile in the early 1990's and hold many of the party's senior positions.
The new generation of Fatah leaders have been clamoring for more power and are protesting the party's failure to hold elections for the Central Committee since 1989. More than 400 low-level Fatah members resigned two weeks ago to protest the election issue.
The 16-member committee, Fatah's top body, is widely believed to wield the real power in the Palestinian Authority.
"There is a new generation that has to get its opportunity in Fatah leadership. We have a generational conflict," said Sakher Psaiso, deputy chairman of the council.
For elections to be held, voting delegates must first be chosen at a large party general conference. The Revolutionary Council was expected to authorize such an assembly, which could take up to a year to organize.
"We hope that this will be one of the main decisions that will come out of this meeting," said council member Ahmed Ghneim.
Arafat has not taken a public stance on the issue. Fatah's current leaders have repeatedly put off holding elections. Younger activists say veteran leaders are afraid of losing their privileged positions.
The young guard also feel the movement has degenerated into chaos, lacking a clear political vision and strategy for dealing with the conflict with Israel.
Militant groups loosely affiliated with Fatah have continued to carry out attacks against Israelis despite condemnation from party leaders. Arafat's security adviser, Jibril Rajoub, said the conference would discuss ways to bring them under control.
"All the branches of the organization should adhere to the strategy and the political line of the movement," Rajoub said.
The younger generation has also complained about financial irregularities, which are on the conference agenda.
"Fatah has been through a crisis in the last 15 years," former Palestinian security chief Mohammed Dahlan said. "The file is so big, and the crisis is so large, but starting now is better than never."
Earlier this month Dahlan supporters in the Gaza Strip clashed with Arafat's forces killing one police officer and wounding 10 others.
Passion is no more anti-Semitic than the Gospels
02.25.04 (4:08 pm) [edit][i][b]By EZRA LEVANT -- Calgary Sun[/b][/i]
It's gratifying that the Jews suddenly have so many friends fighting against anti-Semitism.
Trouble is, these newly-minted defenders think that anti-Semitism is to be found in Mel Gibson's new movie, The Passion -- where it isn't -- instead of the Arab world, the UN and the world's leftist political movements -- where it is.
The Passion debuts this Wednesday, and Gibson has kept a tight lid on the film. Which means most of its critics did not see the movie before denouncing it as anti-Semitic.
Why condemn it before seeing it?
I saw a 90-second trailer of the movie last July, and "reviewed" that in the Sun. If the whole movie was like that, I wrote, it would be a spectacular piece of film-making -- and an inspiring depiction of the Gospels.
I finally saw the whole movie last month at a private screening at Calgary's First Alliance Church -- I was the only Jew in the house. Because I had publicly defended the movie trailers, I had hoped that I would not have to recant upon seeing the entire film.
Not only was the movie not anti-Semitic, it tinctured the violence of the crucifixion with respites of kindness. During the movie's most wrenching moments -- where Jesus is scourged and crucified -- Gibson cuts away to a scene where Jesus teaches forgiveness and love. It is a powerful reminder of the meaning of the crucifixion -- not a call for vengeance, but a lesson in forgiveness and a reminder of the sinfulness of all Mankind. That is certainly what the Christians sitting around me at the church took from the movie -- that Jesus' suffering was for them, because of their sins, that he suffered willingly and lovingly embracing the opportunity to sacrifice himself for them.
Its detractors cannot seriously criticize the film. It adheres closely to the Bible and the rest is merely artistic licence.
As the only graduate of Hebrew school in the room, I probably found the movie more familiar than most, at least in its sound -- everyone but the Romans spoke Aramaic, a close linguistic relative of Hebrew. Even the Passover Seder was accurate, including the customary Jewish recitals. I wish a Jewish film-maker would do such a beautiful rendering of Passover -- in Hebrew! -- that I can watch in a commercial theatre.
The Passion is no more "anti-Semitic" than the Gospels upon which they are based. It is a historical fact that Jesus of Nazareth was tried and condemned by a Jewish court and executed by the Roman army.
For some, that might be an uncomfortable fact, but it is a historical fact, confirmed by secular and Jewish sources.
So what should Jews do about this fact? Not condemn a movie-maker for simply animating what the Bible has always written. Not look with a magnifying glass for reasons to be offended. When the movie opens on Wednesday -- at a blockbuster 3,000 theatres -- all that will happen is that millions of people will realize that the critics were hypersensitive complainers -- or worse, condemning the Bible itself, not just the movie.
That is the real risk posed by the alarmists -- their splenetic criticism, and not the movie itself, will drive a wedge between Christians and Jews.
After the movie ended, there were no shouts of anti-Semitic rage. The mood of the audience was quiet gratitude and deep obligation to live up to Christian standards.
How different from a Saudi mosque after a Wahhabi sermon.
Oh, we Jews could use some help against anti-Semitic rants. Where are these philosemites when we need them?
The Difference
02.24.04 (6:40 pm) [edit]
Lately I've been talking with a couple of people who are, well, pro-Palestinian, to say the least. I was not exactly nor completely sure if they have sympathies for Israel or not. They certainly did not express any sympathy for Israel at all to me. But I was trying to give people the benefit of the doubt here (even if they won't award it to me).
That is, I was trying to give them the benefit of the doubt, until I got to thinking...
Among the many things these two separate individuals told me (including that I was anti-Palestinian, a racist, a bigot, an Israeli terror war lord, yada yada yada -- you know, the usual stuff I'm wrongfully accused of...man I wish people would listen to what I have to say instead of assume only what they want to yell about! They might as well go yell at the wall. It'd be more productive!), they said a very interesting thing. And these were two different individuals who, as far as I know, don't have any relationship with one another, whatsoever. What they said, amongst the arguing, was:
[i]At this point, I hope the reader is now shocked.[/i]
Now, after a remark like that, I usually step back and go, "What?!" Then I reconcile that I am not talking to a person who is fair nor balanced. I'm talking to an individual that is pro-selective genocide.
Pro-selective genocide? What's that?
Well, if you claim to be one of those who fights against genocidal entities, then you'd not be making excuses for anyone to be mass murdered because of who/what they are. Isn't that a fair assumption?
But, if you are OK with one group alone being able to perform genocide against one other group, aren't you being selective now, and thus, inconsistent?
IF the Jews are attempting to wipe out all the Palestinian Arabs (which they're not), why would it be OK for the Palestinian Arabs to wipe out all the Jews?
Furthermore, what's the difference between the above mentioned statement and, "No wonder they want to kill you, you're a Jew!"
If you claim to stick up for the rights of all individuals, don't the civilians sitting in those bus seats on their way to work or school have rights too?
NO ONE should make excuses for suicide/homocide bombings, just like NO ONE should make excuses for purposefully killing any innocent person.
If "all Jews are like me," then they should be blown up by some lunatic? What's that about? Who's ass is your head up?
What if all Jews [i]are[/i] like me? What if we all stressed our right to exist? What if we all affirmed that which makes us who we are, namely God, Torah, Choseness, and Nationhood? What if [i]all[/i] of us did THAT?
Well, I got news for you; God, Torah, Chosenness, Nationhood, and the RIGHT TO EXIST AS WE WISH TO BE -- JEWISH [i]is[/i] what we all affirm.
We are Jews! We are what we are and we always will be what we are! So, I guess, then, all Jews (to one extent or the other) ARE like me!
And according to those who make excuses for dastardly (to say the least) behavior, we all should die because of it.
That's what I like to call anti-Semitism, my friends. [b]BIG FAT UGLY, LYING, ANTI-SEMITISM.[/b] Lying because that bit about being against genocide and against the killing of all innocents is GARBAGE. And that garbage reeks of Anti-Semitism. If you're going to say that you are against genocide, except when it comes to the genocide of Jews, no matter how you say it, guess what! You're full of crap!
And to me, between those who say stupid things like that, and those who blow up babies on busses, [b]there is no difference.[/b]
The Bones of Our Dead
02.24.04 (5:38 pm) [edit]Why are Israelis so willing to trade so much for a single life when the Palestinians are willing to expend their own so needlessly?
[line]
[b]by Jonathan S. Tobin
February 16, 2004[/b]
When it comes to mass murder, it seems that everyone is a pop psychologist. Everyone wants to know why some people strive to become killers, even at the cost of their own lives, as is the case with Palestinians.
For years, the talking heads on television and those who wrote about the situation for mainstream publications parroted the same line: The Palestinians are motivated by a sense of poverty and hopelessness that has made their lives untenable. What else would you expect desperate people to do but explode themselves on Israelis?
But after 3 1/2 years of a Palestinian war of attrition against Israel, that argument doesn't hold up anymore. The majority of those who have committed such crimes were not dispossessed or poor. They are just as likely to come from educated classes - and to have a great deal to live for. The Palestinian woman who last month faked an injury, then blew up solicitous Israeli soldiers at the Erez checkpoint who tried to help her, came from a wealthy family and had two children under the age of 3. And last week's atrocity on a Jerusalem bus was perpetrated by, of all things, a member of the Palestinian Authority police.
It's no good pretending we can understand such people via the rhetoric of compassion or the sort of inductive reasoning used by detectives on American television shows such as "Law & Order." Instead, we need to try to begin understanding the society that bred them.
But to even suggest such a thing opens us up to criticism for generalizing about a people rather than discussing individuals. We are told that only racists would even suggest such a thing.
Yet when it comes to Palestinian terrorists, focusing on the individual over the group gets us nowhere. These terrorists are acting in accordance with values that are lauded in their culture, and as part of a war that a particular society is conducting against Israel. The suicide bombers and other terrorists who kill Israeli men, women and children in cold blood are doing what their state schools and religious institutions have been telling them is an honorable, even saintly, deed.
So we must, albeit reluctantly, ask ourselves what sort of a society would think it is a good thing to commit gruesome murders? Are Jews not considered human? Are Palestinians truly barbarians, who, as historian Benny Morris recently suggested, need to be penned up?
Dehumanizing the foe
In the past, even those who lived in enlightened liberal democracies have not been troubled by generalizations about their enemies. Look at any movie made in Hollywood during World War II and search in vain for a humanized portrait of a German or Japanese soldier.
We can snicker at the crude chauvinism of that time, but what else were Americans to think about people who had committed untold atrocities in Poland, China and elsewhere? And the truth is, the screenwriters and the audiences of those films actually didn't know a fraction of the horror that was committed by the Nazis and their collaborators in the Holocaust, or in the Far East by the servants of the Japanese empire.
Americans then assumed that the Japanese and the Nazis, didn't place the same value on human life as we did. But by the time of the Vietnam war, Americans were too sophisticated to buy into such reasoning.
So, too, when it came to depictions of their Arab foes, have been most Israelis. Almost from the start of the modern Zionist movement, Hebrew popular culture has done its best to depict Arabs respectfully. Most films and plays produced in Israel have gone out of their way to humanize Palestinians, and to anguish over the conflict and the loss to both sides.
The notion of sacrifice for the nation is part of Zionist lore. But even a work such as Nathan Alterman's classic poem "The Silver Platter," in which the slain heroes of Israel's War of Independence remind the nation that the Jewish state was bought with their lives, does not glorify death or dehumanize the enemy; it reminds us of the terrible price of even a just war.
Even today, at a time when Jewish blood has been spilled so readily, mindless hatred against Arabs is still a marginal factor in Israeli society.
Not so among the Arabs. You need only read the translations from the Arab press and television that are published by the Middle East Media Research Institute to understand that the delegitimization of Israel and the Jews is an integral part of mainstream Arab culture.
Some will blame Israel for this, and claim its refusal to give in to Palestinian demands and its insistence on fighting back against terror is creating Arab hatred. But that assertion flies in the face of the fact that the current war is one the Palestinians chose when they could have had a state. The goal of the Palestinian national movement - Israel's destruction - remains unchanged.
More than a philosophical question
Yet even in the middle of this desperate war, we saw last week the willingness of Israel to trade hundreds of terrorist prisoners for one Israeli captive, along with the bodies of three slain soldiers. Israel was reportedly willing to release even more terrorists if only Hizbullah or any other Arab group would hand over the long-sought Israeli prisoner Ron Arad, or at least his lifeless bones. Recent reports in the Israeli press revealed that DNA tests proved that a bone fragment that was received recently from Hizbullah (a down payment on future trades?) was not that of Arad.
Why are Israelis so willing to trade so much for a single life when the Palestinians are willing to expend their own so needlessly? I suspect that it may be not so much a matter of devaluing life as it is the greater value they place on the ultimate victory they seek.
This is more than a philosophical question, because if we think that Israel's foes share our horror at the conflict, then we will always try to appease them with concessions. If their goals are different from those of the Jews, then a change in long-term strategy may be in order.
We may not understand why Arabs honor murder and Jews don't, but at this point in history, we're forced to at least pose the question. If, rather than a dispute about territory, something darker within Palestinian society is driving this terrible war, then every debate about the peace process is ultimately moot. And that is a possibility very few of us wish to acknowledge
[line]
Source: http://www.jewsweek.com
Jesus Scholars Find Fault in Gibson's 'Passion'
02.24.04 (2:23 pm) [edit]Mon Feb 23, 9:07 PM ET
By Megan Goldin
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Mel Gibson's portrayal of the final 12 hours of Jesus in his film "The Passion of the Christ" has been hailed as the gospel truth by some believers, but many scholars complain that it is riddled with historical errors.
Their complaints range from inaccuracies about hairstyles and clothes to a lack of gospel context in the film which has raised a furor among Jewish groups who fear its graphic depiction of the crucifixion will fan anti-Jewish violence.
Gibson, who has denied the film is anti-Semitic, has said he consulted scholars, theologians, priests and spiritual writers before scripting the film with the aim of making Jesus's agony during the crucifixion appear as realistic as possible.
Many Christians see the film as bringing them closer to their religion. Evangelical preacher Billy Graham called the film "a lifetime of sermons in one movie."
Gibson, a traditionalist Catholic, was so determined to make the $25 million film which he funded himself that he had his characters speak in Latin and Aramaic.
Experts say this was his first mistake as Greek was the language spoken in Jerusalem during Jesus's time, along with Aramaic and some Hebrew spoken by Jews.
"Jesus talking to (Pontius) Pilate and Pilate to Jesus in Latin!" exclaimed John Dominic Crossan, a professor of religious studies at the Chicago-based Roman Catholic De Paul University. "I mean in your dreams. It would have been Greek."
Latin was reserved for official decrees or used by the elite. Most Roman centurions in the Holy Land spoke Greek rather than Latin, historians and archaeologists told Reuters.
The mistakes, experts say, didn't stop with the wrong language, which Crossan -- who speaks Latin -- said was so badly pronounced in the film that it was almost incomprehensible.
"He has a long-haired Jesus...Jesus didn't have long hair," said physical anthropologist Joe Zias, who has studied hundreds of skeletons found in archaeological digs in Jerusalem. "Jewish men back in antiquity did not have long hair."
"The Jewish texts ridiculed long hair as something Roman or Greek," said New York University's Lawrence Schiffman.
Along with extensive writings from the period, experts also point to a frieze on Rome's Arch of Titus, erected after Jerusalem was captured in AD 70 to celebrate the victory, which shows Jewish men with short hair taken into captivity.
Erroneous depictions of Jesus in Western art have often misled film makers in their portrayal of Jesus, experts said.
[b]JEWISH GROUPS VS GIBSON[/b]
For some scholars the errors go beyond language or hairstyles.
They say the heart of the problem is the film's script which interweaves the literal interpretation of four sometimes contradictory gospel accounts of Jesus' last 12 hours with the visions of a controversial 19th century nun.
"This is my version of what happened, according to the gospels and what I wanted to show," Gibson told the U.S. television network ABC this month.
But Crossan complained that the lack of historical context was the movie's "basic flaw."
The film begins not when Jesus enters Jerusalem to the exuberant welcome of thousands of Jews but rather at night in a garden on the eve of the crucifixion when he is arrested by the Romans after being betrayed by Judas.
"Why did they need a traitor? Why did they need the night? Why didn't they grab him in the daytime?" Crossan asked.
"Because they did not want a riot," he said, explaining that Jesus was immensely popular among his fellow Jews, which is why the high priests and Romans felt threatened by him.
Those details, Crossan said, were absent in the film.
"The lack of context is the most devastating thing for anyone who says it (the film) is faithful to the gospels because the gospels have the context," he told Reuters.
One of the most controversial aspects of the film is its portrayal of Pilate reluctantly sentencing Jesus to crucifixion under pressure from a bullying mob and conniving Jewish priests.
Scholars acknowledge the scene is faithful to the gospels, but some experts say a historical perspective is imperative.
"It is important to see the historical context. Not only for the sake of being true to history but for the sake of being true to the gospel passages themselves," said Father Michael McGarry, rector of the Tantur Ecumenical Institute in Jerusalem.
The gospels, he said, were written many years after the crucifixion at a time when the early Christians felt it would be politically wise to "soften Pontius Pilate as a way of placating" the Romans who ruled over them.
"Pontius Pilate was a very cruel and brutal man. And he wouldn't care two winks about executing another Jew. He had killed so many before him," said McGarry, who said he had not seen the film and was commenting only on the history of the time.
[b]CRUCIFIXION WAS "STATE TERROR"[/b]
Crucifixion was a common punishment meted out by the Romans to rebellious Jews during Jesus's time. The Romans crucified so many Jews, said Zias, that "eventually they ran out of crosses and they ran out of space."
The depiction of the crucifixion was the part of the film most riddled with errors for Zias, who studied the skeleton of a crucified Jewish man from Jesus's time -- the only remains ever found of a crucified victim from antiquity.
Zias said Jesus would not have carried the entire cross to the crucifixion as vertical beams were kept permanently in place by the ever efficient Romans.
"Nobody was physically able to carry the thing (the entire cross).It weighed about 350 pounds," Zias said. "He (Jesus) carried the cross-beam, maximum."
Nor would Jesus have worn a loin-cloth in the crucifixion as did actor James Caviezel who portrayed him in the film.
"Crucifixion was a form of state terror. They humiliated the crucified victim. Everybody was naked. Men, women and children," Zias said.
Jesus, he added, would have been tied or nailed to the cross through the wrists, not the hands as shown in the film.
"You cannot crucify a person through the hands because there is nothing there but skin and muscle. It will tear."
Brushing off criticism of inaccuracies, Gibson has said he found contradictory opinions among the experts he consulted.
"Since the experts canceled each other out, I was thrown back on my own resources to weigh the different arguments and decide for myself," Gibson said in one interview.
02.24.04 (2:18 pm) [edit]
[b]Tuesday February 24, 10:01 am ET [/b]
SKOKIE, Ill., Feb. 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Sheerit Hapleitah of Metropolitan Chicago, the umbrella organization for Chicago-area Holocaust survivor groups, today announced that the 59th annual collective memorial observance will be held on Sunday, April 18. The service, which begins at 1:30 p.m. at the Skokie Valley Agudath Jacob Traditional Synagogue, 8825 East Prairie Avenue, in Skokie, is traditionally the largest gathering of Holocaust survivors in the Midwest and one of the largest in the United States.
"Unfortunately, anti-Semitism continues to increase around the world, to the point where it is acceptable in some countries to equate Israel with Nazi Germany," said Charles Lipshitz, president of Sheerit Hapleitah of Metropolitan Chicago, the umbrella organization for the area's Holocaust survivor groups and sponsor of the memorial service. "Those of us who experienced the horror of Auschwitz and the other camps know better, which is why we hold this service every year. For those who think this is less relevant, I remind them that marchers chanting 'Death to the Jews' are tolerated in countries that are supposed to be our allies, and a poll of Europeans found the majority believed that Israel is the greatest threat to world peace."
"The number of Holocaust Survivors is dwindling to a precious few, as we approach the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II," said Larry Schwartz, president of the Association of Children of Holocaust Survivors. "We, as children of Survivors, are taking an active role in reminding the world that the crimes of Nazi Germany can happen again if we do not maintain vigilance. The legacy of the Holocaust Survivors will be sustained and enhanced through our education and outreach efforts, for we shall never forget the sacrifices of the six million Jews who did not live to see the Nazi war machine defeated."
Speakers at the 2004 service will include Moshe Ram, Israeli Consul General, Mayor George Van Dusen of Skokie, Rabbi Jack Engel, spiritual leader of the synagogue, Charles Lipshitz and Larry Schwartz. Officials of the Jewish War Veterans, Skokie Post 328, will also participate. As part of the ceremony, a grandchild of survivors will pay tribute to the enormous contribution of the Holocaust Survivors to the Chicago community in passing their legacy of courage to future generations.
A high point of the service is the candle lighting ceremony honoring the six million victims, including 1.2 million innocent children, who perished in the Holocaust. The ceremony will be conducted by Sherry Rubinstein Warso of Dor Ledor, the Young Leadership Division of Sheerit Hapleitah, and past vice president Barbara Pryor, with the participation by children and grandchildren of local-area Holocaust survivors. Proclamations by Governor Rod Blagojevich and Mayor Richard M. Daley of Chicago will be read by committee members.
Sheerit Hapleitah includes the following groups: Association of Children of Holocaust Survivors, Hofesh Chapter -- NAAMAT, Holocaust Memorial Foundation of Illinois, Jewish Lithuanian Club of Chicago, Laor Organization, Maccabi Sports Organization, Midwest Chestochover Society, New Citizens Club, Workman's Circle, The United Chicago Jews of Hungarian Descent, Inc., Association of Child Survivors, Dr. Janush Korchak B'nai Brith Lodge and Dor Ledor, a group is made up of children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors that will play an important role of carrying on our legacy.
[line]
Source: Sheerit Hapleitah of Metropolitan Chicago
[b]Tuesday February 24, 10:01 am ET [/b]
SKOKIE, Ill., Feb. 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Sheerit Hapleitah of Metropolitan Chicago, the umbrella organization for Chicago-area Holocaust survivor groups, today announced that the 59th annual collective memorial observance will be held on Sunday, April 18. The service, which begins at 1:30 p.m. at the Skokie Valley Agudath Jacob Traditional Synagogue, 8825 East Prairie Avenue, in Skokie, is traditionally the largest gathering of Holocaust survivors in the Midwest and one of the largest in the United States.
"Unfortunately, anti-Semitism continues to increase around the world, to the point where it is acceptable in some countries to equate Israel with Nazi Germany," said Charles Lipshitz, president of Sheerit Hapleitah of Metropolitan Chicago, the umbrella organization for the area's Holocaust survivor groups and sponsor of the memorial service. "Those of us who experienced the horror of Auschwitz and the other camps know better, which is why we hold this service every year. For those who think this is less relevant, I remind them that marchers chanting 'Death to the Jews' are tolerated in countries that are supposed to be our allies, and a poll of Europeans found the majority believed that Israel is the greatest threat to world peace."
"The number of Holocaust Survivors is dwindling to a precious few, as we approach the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II," said Larry Schwartz, president of the Association of Children of Holocaust Survivors. "We, as children of Survivors, are taking an active role in reminding the world that the crimes of Nazi Germany can happen again if we do not maintain vigilance. The legacy of the Holocaust Survivors will be sustained and enhanced through our education and outreach efforts, for we shall never forget the sacrifices of the six million Jews who did not live to see the Nazi war machine defeated."
Speakers at the 2004 service will include Moshe Ram, Israeli Consul General, Mayor George Van Dusen of Skokie, Rabbi Jack Engel, spiritual leader of the synagogue, Charles Lipshitz and Larry Schwartz. Officials of the Jewish War Veterans, Skokie Post 328, will also participate. As part of the ceremony, a grandchild of survivors will pay tribute to the enormous contribution of the Holocaust Survivors to the Chicago community in passing their legacy of courage to future generations.
A high point of the service is the candle lighting ceremony honoring the six million victims, including 1.2 million innocent children, who perished in the Holocaust. The ceremony will be conducted by Sherry Rubinstein Warso of Dor Ledor, the Young Leadership Division of Sheerit Hapleitah, and past vice president Barbara Pryor, with the participation by children and grandchildren of local-area Holocaust survivors. Proclamations by Governor Rod Blagojevich and Mayor Richard M. Daley of Chicago will be read by committee members.
Sheerit Hapleitah includes the following groups: Association of Children of Holocaust Survivors, Hofesh Chapter -- NAAMAT, Holocaust Memorial Foundation of Illinois, Jewish Lithuanian Club of Chicago, Laor Organization, Maccabi Sports Organization, Midwest Chestochover Society, New Citizens Club, Workman's Circle, The United Chicago Jews of Hungarian Descent, Inc., Association of Child Survivors, Dr. Janush Korchak B'nai Brith Lodge and Dor Ledor, a group is made up of children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors that will play an important role of carrying on our legacy.
[line]
Source: Sheerit Hapleitah of Metropolitan Chicago
Pulse Poll Stats Dropped
02.24.04 (2:12 pm) [edit]If you've voted on the pulsepoll, your vote may have gotten dropped accidently when I revamped the wording of the poll today.
My sincerest apologies!
I did not take your vote off on perpose or for any malicious reason.
Please vote again if you can!
And, again, I am truly sorry for the glitch!
One More Picture -- This one of Hope!
02.24.04 (12:18 pm) [edit][b]Their bodies heal. So does their spirits! Hazak, hazak, vetischazek![b]
[i][b]Brother and sister recovering from bombing
Photo: Channel 1[/b][/i]
02.24.04 (12:14 pm) [edit]
[b]Feb. 24, 2004
[i]By HILARY LEILA KRIEGER[/b][/i]
The suicide bomber who blew up a No. 14 bus Sunday tore apart two Jerusalem high-school communities when he killed two students, teachers and friends of the victims said Monday.
Lior Azulai, 18, a 12th-grader at the Rehavia Gymnasia, and Benayahu Yehonatan Zuckerman, 18, a 12th-grader at the Experimental School, were both on their way to school when the bomber detonated himself.
Eight Gymnasia students were wounded in the attack. Seven, some in serious condition, remain hospitalized.
Both schools suspended formal classes for older students to allow the victims' friends time to grieve, to visit classmates in the hospital, and to call on the families of the killed and wounded.
Many students, however, showed up at both schools – not to study, but to console each other. Silence and tears took the place of laughter and horsing around in the halls.
Students made memorials, lit candles, and hung up pictures and newspaper stories about their murdered friends.
Gazing at Azulai's yearbook picture in the center of the main hall display in his honor, his English teacher, Judy Raviv, paid particular attention to his smile.
"That grin on his face, it was just always there. I never saw him without it," she said, recalling how the "optimistic" student had excelled at soccer and looked forward to being a paratrooper.
"He was very much a part of the social fabric of this school," she said, then corrected herself:
"He was the social fabric of this school.
"I don't think that reading, writing, and arithmetic were where Lior's heart was, but friends and sports were, especially friends. I have a very talkative 12th-grade class, and today they just sat there motionless. I couldn't get a word out of them."
What his friends didn't say in class, they expressed in a poem hanging behind his picture.
"All of us are sitting on the floor in a state of collapse... we are all so shattered," part of it reads. "We will remember you. We pay our last respects. We won't disturb you in your sleep."
Classmate Tal Sidis described Azulai as ever-laughing and lively. "He was very funny and all the kids loved him," he said.
Shay Mandelbaum, another classmate, said Azulai enjoyed his communications class, in which he and a fellow student were setting up a radio program, and Bible studies. Mandelbaum said that Azulai had been reading the Bible when the bus exploded.
It was when he didn't show up for his morning Bible class that friends of Azulai, who took the bus every day from his home in Talpiot, began to worry. Soon after, their worst fears were confirmed.
Friends of Zuckerman weren't concerned for his safety at first, since the athlete and cinema-studies enthusiast lived in Ein Kerem.
"He wasn't supposed to be on that bus," said Daniel, a friend of Zuckerman's since kindergarten, explaining that his classmate was en route from Talpiot that morning only because he visited the Licensing Bureau about his driver's license.
"He was really a wonderful, wonderful person," he said. "Everybody loved him."
He said that he had many close friends whose homes he would regularly visit. "He had 10 different parents," Daniel joked. "He had so many people who saw him as a family member."
In fact, that could be said of the whole school, whose small student body and 14-year study program makes for an intensely close-knit environment.
"Everybody knows each other," noted Dr. Giora Segal, a Bible and literature teacher and the 12th-grade homeroom adviser, who added that all the 12th graders came to school Monday to be together.
He said that teachers have a special role to make sure that students "don't lose hope," that "they don't descend into desperation – and neither do we."
The staff already had some experience making that effort when school caretaker Eli Tzfira was killed in the January 29 bombing of the No. 19 bus on Rehov Aza (Gaza Road).
"This is something that repeats itself," Segal said.
The same could be said at the Gymnasia, where an eighth-grader wounded in the January 29 attack is still in the hospital. At the beginning of the recent violence, two students were killed and a third seriously wounded while shopping for books on Rehov Ben-Yehuda. Even for Azulai, it was hardly his first brush with terror. His aunt was killed by a terrorist 12 years ago.
"This is a school that's paid quite a heavy price because of the intifada," Raviv said – a price felt by all the many students that take the bus to school each day. She said parents have been trying to arrange alternative transportation for their children. Egged is working with the school, which is providing a subsidy for the project, to enable all students to avoid taking public buses to school.
"They go through this charade every day to come to school," Raviv said of the psychological defenses students use to feel safe taking buses. "One of the things they were talking about was how scary it was to get on a bus and how vulnerable they feel. I think over the years the situation has taken a very heavy toll on this generation of kids.
"The idea of burying your friends one after another when you're 15, 16 years of age is something I just can't digest."
[b]Feb. 24, 2004
[i]By HILARY LEILA KRIEGER[/b][/i]
The suicide bomber who blew up a No. 14 bus Sunday tore apart two Jerusalem high-school communities when he killed two students, teachers and friends of the victims said Monday.
Lior Azulai, 18, a 12th-grader at the Rehavia Gymnasia, and Benayahu Yehonatan Zuckerman, 18, a 12th-grader at the Experimental School, were both on their way to school when the bomber detonated himself.
Eight Gymnasia students were wounded in the attack. Seven, some in serious condition, remain hospitalized.
Both schools suspended formal classes for older students to allow the victims' friends time to grieve, to visit classmates in the hospital, and to call on the families of the killed and wounded.
Many students, however, showed up at both schools – not to study, but to console each other. Silence and tears took the place of laughter and horsing around in the halls.
Students made memorials, lit candles, and hung up pictures and newspaper stories about their murdered friends.
Gazing at Azulai's yearbook picture in the center of the main hall display in his honor, his English teacher, Judy Raviv, paid particular attention to his smile.
"That grin on his face, it was just always there. I never saw him without it," she said, recalling how the "optimistic" student had excelled at soccer and looked forward to being a paratrooper.
"He was very much a part of the social fabric of this school," she said, then corrected herself:
"He was the social fabric of this school.
"I don't think that reading, writing, and arithmetic were where Lior's heart was, but friends and sports were, especially friends. I have a very talkative 12th-grade class, and today they just sat there motionless. I couldn't get a word out of them."
What his friends didn't say in class, they expressed in a poem hanging behind his picture.
"All of us are sitting on the floor in a state of collapse... we are all so shattered," part of it reads. "We will remember you. We pay our last respects. We won't disturb you in your sleep."
Classmate Tal Sidis described Azulai as ever-laughing and lively. "He was very funny and all the kids loved him," he said.
Shay Mandelbaum, another classmate, said Azulai enjoyed his communications class, in which he and a fellow student were setting up a radio program, and Bible studies. Mandelbaum said that Azulai had been reading the Bible when the bus exploded.
It was when he didn't show up for his morning Bible class that friends of Azulai, who took the bus every day from his home in Talpiot, began to worry. Soon after, their worst fears were confirmed.
Friends of Zuckerman weren't concerned for his safety at first, since the athlete and cinema-studies enthusiast lived in Ein Kerem.
"He wasn't supposed to be on that bus," said Daniel, a friend of Zuckerman's since kindergarten, explaining that his classmate was en route from Talpiot that morning only because he visited the Licensing Bureau about his driver's license.
"He was really a wonderful, wonderful person," he said. "Everybody loved him."
He said that he had many close friends whose homes he would regularly visit. "He had 10 different parents," Daniel joked. "He had so many people who saw him as a family member."
In fact, that could be said of the whole school, whose small student body and 14-year study program makes for an intensely close-knit environment.
"Everybody knows each other," noted Dr. Giora Segal, a Bible and literature teacher and the 12th-grade homeroom adviser, who added that all the 12th graders came to school Monday to be together.
He said that teachers have a special role to make sure that students "don't lose hope," that "they don't descend into desperation – and neither do we."
The staff already had some experience making that effort when school caretaker Eli Tzfira was killed in the January 29 bombing of the No. 19 bus on Rehov Aza (Gaza Road).
"This is something that repeats itself," Segal said.
The same could be said at the Gymnasia, where an eighth-grader wounded in the January 29 attack is still in the hospital. At the beginning of the recent violence, two students were killed and a third seriously wounded while shopping for books on Rehov Ben-Yehuda. Even for Azulai, it was hardly his first brush with terror. His aunt was killed by a terrorist 12 years ago.
"This is a school that's paid quite a heavy price because of the intifada," Raviv said – a price felt by all the many students that take the bus to school each day. She said parents have been trying to arrange alternative transportation for their children. Egged is working with the school, which is providing a subsidy for the project, to enable all students to avoid taking public buses to school.
"They go through this charade every day to come to school," Raviv said of the psychological defenses students use to feel safe taking buses. "One of the things they were talking about was how scary it was to get on a bus and how vulnerable they feel. I think over the years the situation has taken a very heavy toll on this generation of kids.
"The idea of burying your friends one after another when you're 15, 16 years of age is something I just can't digest."
Photos of Truth
02.24.04 (11:55 am) [edit][b]There is a lot of media coverage in favour of the Palestinian cause standing outside the Hague, but what of Israel? Here are some photos you might have missed![/b]
Relatives of Israelis killed in various suicide bombing attacks, hold pictures of loved ones as they stand inside a bus destroyed in Sunday's suicide bombing and placed by Israel's Defense Ministry next to a section of the separation barrier in the West Bank village of Abu Dis, near Jerusalem, Monday Feb. 23, 2004. Ahead of a world court hearing over Israel's West Bank barrier, a Palestinian suicide bomber killed eight passengers on a Jerusalem bus, and Israeli officials said it was proof of why the controversial fence is needed. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
AP - Feb 23 1:41 PM
A girl holds up a poster with the pictures of victims of Palestinian suicide bombings outside the International Court of Justice during public hearings in The Hague , February 24, 2004. Israel faced a second day of condemnation at the World Court from countries backing the Palestinians in their case against a vast barrier the Jewish state is building in the West Bank. (Jerry Lampen/Reuters)
Allyson Taylor, a Jewish woman from Los Angeles, holds a poster as she stands in front of the skeleton of a bombed Israeli bus parked outside the World Court in The Hague , Netherlands, Tuesday Feb. 24, 2004, where the second day of hearings was held on the legality of Israel's West Bank separation barrier. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
Protesters stand behind a poster with pictures of the 926 Israeli victims of Palestinian terror attacks, in front of the International Court of Justice in The Hague , February 23, 2004. Palestinians told the opening session of World Court hearings into the legality of Israel's West Bank barrier Monday that the vast network of walls and fences would deny them a viable independent state. Israel stayed away from the U.N. forum's landmark foray into its conflict with the Palestinians, arguing that the court in The Hague had no right to rule on the case. (Jerry Lampen/Reuters)
Members of Montreal's Jewish community demonstrate in support of Israel's right to defend the security of her citizens during a protest in Montreal, February 23, 2004. The World Court began three days of hearings into the legality of Israel's controversial West Bank barrier. REUTERS/Shaun Best
Reuters - Feb 23 4:13 PM
[b]Now I feel there is more of a balance.[/b]
02.24.04 (11:37 am) [edit]
[b]DEBKAfile Exclusive Report http://www.debka.com
February 24, 2004, 3:09 PM (GMT+02:00)[/b]
What was behind the sudden White House acceptance Monday, February 23, of Israel’s Europhile former prime minister and opposition Labor leader Shimon Peres for talks with secretary of state Colin Powell and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice? Why was Peres there and not senior prime ministerial adviser Dov Weisglass, on one of his regular White House jaunts for powwows with the US president’s top advisers?
And what brought the dovish Labor leader to the royal court in Amman two weeks ago to find out what message Abdullah II had for prime minister Ariel Sharon from his meeting with Syrian president Bashar Assad? Foreign minister Silvan Shalom should have undertaken that errand. He should also have been Sharon’s natural emissary to Ankara at around the same time for talks with Turkish foreign minister Abdullah Gul.
DEBKAfile’s political sources in Jerusalem reveal that Peres undertook all three missions at Sharon’s behest.
The message he carried from the Jordanian king to the Israeli prime minister was this: Tell him there’s no need to rush into negotiations with Assad, or even initial talks. Assad’s intentions are serious but he is confused. Most of all he is desperate to throw off the weight of unrelenting US pressure on him. Let peace talks wait until the situation clears up.
Peres carried the message to Sharon’s office in Jerusalem and was promptly sent off to Ankara just after the visitor before him, Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, had departed. According to DEBKAfile’s sources, his task was to probe the prospects of Turkey joining a possible Egyptian-Jordan initiative for an Islamic or Arab summit in late March to accept a role in support of the diplomatic process taking shape between the United States, Europe and the Sharon government. The Israeli Labor leader left the Turkish capital with the impression that, aside from the Egyptian and Jordanian rulers, no other Arab leader – certainly not the Saudi Crown Prince or Assad – had any intention of embracing a role in this project.
The Labor leader undertook the February 23 Washington trip when he met Sharon Thursday night, February 19. Three US officials, Stephen Hadley, William Burns and Elliot Abrams, had just been briefed by Sharon in Jerusalem on his evacuation proposals and were to report to President George W. Bush Saturday, February 21.
This was unquestionably his most important assignment. Sharon thereby placed on the shoulders of the opposition leader and long-time antagonist the task of setting up the prime minister’s next visit to the White House. Peres later admitted to reporters in Washington that he had lobbied on behalf of the Sharon initiative to withdraw from Gaza and part of the West Bank without reciprocal steps by Palestinian leaders.
According to DEBKAfile’s sources, Peres’s high-powered diplomatic round has laid bare the quiet shakeup going forward in Sharon’s top team, the possible precursor of a government reshuffle. One of the first heads to roll is expected to be that of Weisglass who, since late December, DEBKAfile is reliably informed, has been gradually removed from the short circulation list of confidential data recipients, including the outcome of top-level missions which he formerly monopolized. He is to pay the price for failing to obtain a date for his master’s Washington visit and for the general cooling in US-Israel relations.
His departure would produce a major upheaval in the prime minister’s work and personal life given their long association and Weisglass’s key position as his single closest confidant.
However, our sources report that Sharon has begun interviewing replacements, including one candidate known to have recently carried out sensitive missions on his behalf.
Sharon finds his informal partnership with the opposition leader, without having to go through the hassle of co-opting the entire factionalized, squabbling Labor party to his cabinet, a great convenience. Despite their long rivalry, the two veterans managed to work together harmoniously in the dying days of the national unity government two years ago. Their renewed collaboration opens up options for the prime minister to pump new blood into his cabinet lineup if his back is pinned to the wall by right wing pro-settlement parties and the centrist Change which is determined to block Labor’s path into a national unity government.
Peres, however, to placate articulate peaceniks in his Labor, declared in Washington after he left the White House that in his view, Israel’s pullback will have to go further than Sharon’s proposals and be followed by deeper withdrawals. He thus laid the groundwork for a claim that he has Sharon’s ear and is acting to consummate Labor peace policies. The party therefore had no cause to object to joining a Sharon government.
DEBKAfile’s sources in Jerusalem have heard that Sharon has his eye on a second former Labor prime minister, Ehud Barak, whom he defeated at the polls. His presence alongside Peres would further strengthen Sharon’s inner government team.
The prime minister, whose popular credibility is in free fall, cannot afford to put off a leadership facelift. Monday, February 23, his government faced three no confidence Knesset motions. One, criticizing his unilateral evacuation plans, was voted down by a scant 46:45, bringing the government uncomfortably close to defeat, as a result of a revolt by members of government parties committed to fighting Israel’s withdrawal, who either defected or absented themselves from the House. The prime minister’s own Likud faction is half-turned against him over the issue, while opposition activists on the left are busy collecting blocks to build a corruption case against him and his sons.
The general public is asking whether the government acted wisely when it decided to refrain from appearing before the Hague international court hearing the case against Israel’s defense barrier this week. In the battle for public opinion outside the court, the Palestinians and their supporters are triumphantly advancing their cause for statehood, while Israeli families bereaved by Palestinian terrorists rally with photos of close to 1,000 victims. They make a strong moral case but are also grim, tragic and despairing. That is not the spectacle the Israeli voter looked for from Sharon who was elected on the high hopes of confounding Palestinian terror.
[b]DEBKAfile Exclusive Report http://www.debka.com
February 24, 2004, 3:09 PM (GMT+02:00)[/b]
What was behind the sudden White House acceptance Monday, February 23, of Israel’s Europhile former prime minister and opposition Labor leader Shimon Peres for talks with secretary of state Colin Powell and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice? Why was Peres there and not senior prime ministerial adviser Dov Weisglass, on one of his regular White House jaunts for powwows with the US president’s top advisers?
And what brought the dovish Labor leader to the royal court in Amman two weeks ago to find out what message Abdullah II had for prime minister Ariel Sharon from his meeting with Syrian president Bashar Assad? Foreign minister Silvan Shalom should have undertaken that errand. He should also have been Sharon’s natural emissary to Ankara at around the same time for talks with Turkish foreign minister Abdullah Gul.
DEBKAfile’s political sources in Jerusalem reveal that Peres undertook all three missions at Sharon’s behest.
The message he carried from the Jordanian king to the Israeli prime minister was this: Tell him there’s no need to rush into negotiations with Assad, or even initial talks. Assad’s intentions are serious but he is confused. Most of all he is desperate to throw off the weight of unrelenting US pressure on him. Let peace talks wait until the situation clears up.
Peres carried the message to Sharon’s office in Jerusalem and was promptly sent off to Ankara just after the visitor before him, Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, had departed. According to DEBKAfile’s sources, his task was to probe the prospects of Turkey joining a possible Egyptian-Jordan initiative for an Islamic or Arab summit in late March to accept a role in support of the diplomatic process taking shape between the United States, Europe and the Sharon government. The Israeli Labor leader left the Turkish capital with the impression that, aside from the Egyptian and Jordanian rulers, no other Arab leader – certainly not the Saudi Crown Prince or Assad – had any intention of embracing a role in this project.
The Labor leader undertook the February 23 Washington trip when he met Sharon Thursday night, February 19. Three US officials, Stephen Hadley, William Burns and Elliot Abrams, had just been briefed by Sharon in Jerusalem on his evacuation proposals and were to report to President George W. Bush Saturday, February 21.
This was unquestionably his most important assignment. Sharon thereby placed on the shoulders of the opposition leader and long-time antagonist the task of setting up the prime minister’s next visit to the White House. Peres later admitted to reporters in Washington that he had lobbied on behalf of the Sharon initiative to withdraw from Gaza and part of the West Bank without reciprocal steps by Palestinian leaders.
According to DEBKAfile’s sources, Peres’s high-powered diplomatic round has laid bare the quiet shakeup going forward in Sharon’s top team, the possible precursor of a government reshuffle. One of the first heads to roll is expected to be that of Weisglass who, since late December, DEBKAfile is reliably informed, has been gradually removed from the short circulation list of confidential data recipients, including the outcome of top-level missions which he formerly monopolized. He is to pay the price for failing to obtain a date for his master’s Washington visit and for the general cooling in US-Israel relations.
His departure would produce a major upheaval in the prime minister’s work and personal life given their long association and Weisglass’s key position as his single closest confidant.
However, our sources report that Sharon has begun interviewing replacements, including one candidate known to have recently carried out sensitive missions on his behalf.
Sharon finds his informal partnership with the opposition leader, without having to go through the hassle of co-opting the entire factionalized, squabbling Labor party to his cabinet, a great convenience. Despite their long rivalry, the two veterans managed to work together harmoniously in the dying days of the national unity government two years ago. Their renewed collaboration opens up options for the prime minister to pump new blood into his cabinet lineup if his back is pinned to the wall by right wing pro-settlement parties and the centrist Change which is determined to block Labor’s path into a national unity government.
Peres, however, to placate articulate peaceniks in his Labor, declared in Washington after he left the White House that in his view, Israel’s pullback will have to go further than Sharon’s proposals and be followed by deeper withdrawals. He thus laid the groundwork for a claim that he has Sharon’s ear and is acting to consummate Labor peace policies. The party therefore had no cause to object to joining a Sharon government.
DEBKAfile’s sources in Jerusalem have heard that Sharon has his eye on a second former Labor prime minister, Ehud Barak, whom he defeated at the polls. His presence alongside Peres would further strengthen Sharon’s inner government team.
The prime minister, whose popular credibility is in free fall, cannot afford to put off a leadership facelift. Monday, February 23, his government faced three no confidence Knesset motions. One, criticizing his unilateral evacuation plans, was voted down by a scant 46:45, bringing the government uncomfortably close to defeat, as a result of a revolt by members of government parties committed to fighting Israel’s withdrawal, who either defected or absented themselves from the House. The prime minister’s own Likud faction is half-turned against him over the issue, while opposition activists on the left are busy collecting blocks to build a corruption case against him and his sons.
The general public is asking whether the government acted wisely when it decided to refrain from appearing before the Hague international court hearing the case against Israel’s defense barrier this week. In the battle for public opinion outside the court, the Palestinians and their supporters are triumphantly advancing their cause for statehood, while Israeli families bereaved by Palestinian terrorists rally with photos of close to 1,000 victims. They make a strong moral case but are also grim, tragic and despairing. That is not the spectacle the Israeli voter looked for from Sharon who was elected on the high hopes of confounding Palestinian terror.
'Ohayon held up the bullet casing he found under a pile of toys after a gunman killed his two sons'
02.24.04 (11:27 am) [edit][b]Israelis shun World Court hearing, stage another
24 Feb 2004 16:56:12 GMT
[i]By Emma Thomasson[/b][/i]
THE HAGUE, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Choking back tears, Avi Ohayon held up the bullet casing he found under a pile of toys after a gunman killed his two small sons on an Israeli kibbutz.
Ohayon was one of about 20 Israelis who took the stand on Tuesday at a mock hearing into Palestinian violence in The Hague to try to counter proceedings at the World Court into the legality of the barrier Israel says stops such attacks.
Israel is snubbing the three days of World Court hearings that began in The Hague on Monday into the fences, walls and trenches it is building in the West Bank. But it has joined the battle raging for public opinion.
Ohayon said he was on the phone to his former wife when a Palestinian gunman burst into her home on the Kibbutz Metzer collective settlement in November 2002. His ex-wife also was killed.
"The last thing I heard was the voice of my children screaming and shouting for help," he said.
"If the fence had only stood there two years ago, my two children would still be alive today and I would be the happiest man on earth."
Israel says the barrier will keep out bombers, but Palestinians say it is stealing land it needs for a state.
"We all need a security fence so there will be no more wives and no more mothers who have to tell stories like mine," Rechel Koren, whose husband and two sons died in a blast in May 2002, told a packed room of spectators as she wiped her eyes.
Richard Heideman, a U.S. lawyer, took the testimonies from a glass podium. Three European politicians supportive of Israel were due to cross-examine the Israelis as if they were witnesses in a court case.
"We are not welcome in the International Court of Justice," Heideman said. "What is on trial here in this room is the terror that the people of Israel from all walks of life have suffered."
Daniela Knapp sobbed as she clutched a photo of her son Claude, who was killed aged 29 in a bomb attack in March 2001.
"Enough of terrorism. It is death, disability, pain and suffering," she said. "We want peace."
Palestinian farmers cut off from their land by the barrier have marched in The Hague in support of their cause. Israelis displayed a bus ripped open in a suicide attack.
The Palestinians, who addressed the World Court on Monday, hope a ruling against the barrier could pave the way for sanctions against Israel. Israel says the court has no jurisdiction.
Yummy! Today's Dish!
02.23.04 (8:34 pm) [edit]Alright, so in case you havn't noticed or you're new here, every so often, I post a new recepe for a dish or dessert that I'm going to attempt to master.
Well, I've decided to make this a weekly occurance, kinda like the D'var Torah that I post every thurs/early fri.
Mondays are now "Today's Dish" days! Every monday, because I love food and cooking so much :wink:, I'm going to post a new recepe that I'm going to try to master. You can try it too and leave me your comments on how yours came out! I'll give updates in correspondance to the previous week's dish as well so that you can see how I fared with each recepe too!
So let's have fun and make happiness on a plate! Here's this week's (and the very first) Today's Dish! :
[b][u]Tangerine Angel Food Cake with Tangerine Glaze[/b][/u]
1 1/2 cups egg whites, at room temperature
1 1/4 teaspoons cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/8 cups sifted cake flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tangerine, grated zest
Tangerine glaze, recipe follows
Tangerine Glaze:
1/4 cup freshly squeezed tangerine juice
1 tablespoon egg whites
8 ounces confectioners' sugar
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a large mixing bowl, whip the egg whites until white and foamy. Add the cream of tartar and salt and continue whipping until soft, droopy peaks form. Still whipping, add 1 cup of the sugar in a thin stream and whip until stiff and glossy. Sift the remaining 1/2 cup sugar and the flour together 3 times to aerate and lighten the mixture. Work quickly so the egg white does not deflate (or sift through a strainer onto a sheet of waxed paper). Fold into egg whites 1/3 at a time. Fold in the vanilla and tangerine zest. Gently spoon the mixture into an ungreased tube pan. Smooth the top and bake 30 to 35 minutes, until golden brown.
Glaze: Whisk together the tangerine juice and egg whites, then add the confectioners' sugar and stir until smooth.
Remove cake from oven and turn the pan upside down and hang it around the neck of a wine bottle to cool to room temperature. Slide a butter knife around the sides of the pan and put a serving plate on top. Turn over and knock the cake out onto the plate. (The browned crust of the cake will stick to the pan.) When the cake has cooled thoroughly, make the glaze and drizzle the glaze evenly over the cake. Let set in a cool place.
PM narrowly survives no-confidence vote on disengagement plan
02.23.04 (2:40 pm) [edit][b]Last Update: 23/02/2004 19:33
By Gidon Alon and Zvi Zrahiya, Haaretz Correspondents, Haaretz Service and Agencies [/b]
The Sharon government survived a no-confidence motion on the disengagement plan Monday by only one vote. The motion, which was submitted by Shas in response to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's announced plans to unilaterally withdraw from the Gaza settlements, was supported by 45 Knesset members and opposed by 46.
The Knesset plenum also rejected two other no-confidence motions brought against the government Monday, in reaction to a government transfer of NIS 96 million to settlements.
Knesset members voted 55-41 on the money transfer issue. Most of the money, which came from the Housing and Construction budget, had previously been set aside for people in need of housing, leading opposition lawmakers to slam the government's thinking as "twisted."
Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not participate in the no-confidence vote on the transfer of money to settlements. Other right-wing ministers, including Housing and Construction Minister Effi Eitam (NRP) and Tourism Minister Benny Elon (National Union), voted in favor of the government.
The no-confidence motion on the disengagement plan was rejected without the participation of any Knesset members from the National Religious Party. Two Likud MKs - David Levy and Gila Gamliel - also did not participate in the vote, and only one National Union MK (Aryeh Eldar) voted against the government, while the rest did not participate.
Also Monday, Sharon told the Likud faction he had the power to assure that most of the settlers would remain where they are - but that if the faction tied his hands in the diplomatic arena, Israel would lose even the settlements that can be retained, Israel Radio reported.
The faction members want everything, Sharon was quoted as saying, but could end up with nothing. He did not provide further details of his plan.
Sharon vows not to quit Ariel settlement
Speaking to the Knesset Foreign Affairs Committee earlier Monday, Sharon vowed that although Israel would dismantle settlements, it would never give up the massive West Bank settlement-city of Ariel, which is home to thousands of Israelis.
The prime minister also told the panel that he would seek cabinet approval for his disengagement plan once it had been completed.
Sharon infuriated hawks Monday by announcing that he would go to Washington at the end of March to present the plan, Israel Radio said Wednesday.
He told the committee, however, that he would not present the entire plan, but only outline its principles.
But meeting later in the day with Likud lawmakers, Sharon said that the extent of the withdrawals under the plan would depend partly on the American view.
Israel Radio also quoted Sharon as saying Monday that he may hold talks with Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia after the conclusion of the International Court of Justice's current hearings in The Hague on the legality of the West Bank barrier.
Some right-wing lawmakers have said that they will bolt the government the moment that Sharon presents his disengagement plan to American officials, unless he first brings it to the cabinet for approval.
Sharon's chief of staff, Dov Weissglass, tentatively plans to visit Washington in the first week of March to review with his American counterparts some of the "practical steps" needed to carry out Israel's unilateral disengagement plan, one source said.
The talks will lay the groundwork for a White House meeting between U.S. President George W. Bush and Sharon, most likely in late March, U.S. and Israeli sources said. The Bush-Sharon meeting could clear the way for Israel to begin uprooting some Gaza settlements.
Israeli officials assert that any unilateral moves would not preclude future implementation of the road map. Embraced by Bush, the road map has been derailed by violence, including Sunday's suicide bombing on a crowded Jerusalem bus that killed eight people and wounded dozens more.
The Bush administration was initially wary of Sharon's initiative, but has since warmed to the idea of removing settlements as a way to "reduce friction" between Israel and the Palestinians.
"I will recommend voting against the cabinet and against the prime minister, MK Aryeh Eldad of the far-right National Union, a partner of Sharon's ruling coalition, said Monday.
Eldad's party colleague Uri Ariel called for Sharon's resignation, Israel Radio said.
According to Eldad, Sharon is "going to the Americans, in an effort to face the cabinet with an established fact, saying 'There's no alternative, we have committed ourselves.' This cannot go on."
Sharon's plan for unilateral disengagement "represents a clear violation of a previous decision of the Israeli government, which spoke of the road map along with 14 [Israeli] reservations," Eldad continued, adding that the new plan was disclosed without notifying the cabinet.
"The prime minister's come out with a different plan, without first coming to the cabinet and saying 'The road map is dead, let's cancel the previous decision.'"
In no-confidence votes over the past two weeks, National Union legislators abstained or absented themselves from the hall.
Senior National Religious Party MK Shaul Yahalom also voiced strong opposition to the disengagement plan, saying Sharon was making an "anti-democratic act," but refrained from specifying the setller-led party's "red line" for continued membership in the government.
"The NRP still expects that the sense of democracy will cause the prime minister to bring the matter to the cabinet, and we will be there to solidify the majority against the plan."
Sharon, Yahalom said, is "scared to bring the plan to the cabinet. Why's he scared? Because he has no majority. So we're not going to leave now, so that he can have a majority, and then put in [Labor Chairman Shimon Peres].
"We will be there until the very last minute, in order to torpedo his plan."
02.23.04 (2:19 pm) [edit]
Tell your loved ones how much you love them!
[line]
[b]Feb. 23, 2004
[i]By TOVAH LAZAROFF[/i]
THE HAGUE[/b]
Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Monday delivered a sharp message to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, currently debating Israel's security fence.
"It is not the killers and their dispatchers who are put on trial, it is the victims. We shouldn't be in The Hague on trial. It's the Palestinian terror regime and terrorist organizations that should be there. That's the right order of things," Netanyahu said.
Speaking at a tourism conference in Jerusalem, Netanyahu said he had a message for those sitting on the court. "You have no right to serve as the moral conscience of the Jewish people. We have our own conscience. Now our conscience tells us that saving our own lives is more important than preserving somebody else's quality of life. Quality of life is always amenable to improvement. Death is permanent," he said.
Netanyahu said Israel was working to save the lives of Jewish people. "However, respected judges in Europe are claiming that the Jewish state has no right to defend itself from murderers."
Justice Minister Yosef Lapid told Channel 2 news Monday night that he sees no parallel between the security fence hearings in The Hague and those in Israel's High Court, last week. The latter is an objective court of law, he said; the former is a political entity.
He discounted the consequence of the court's ruling, saying, "The United Nations does not need an anti-Israeli recommendation to act in an anti-Israeli manner; it has been doing so since the state's inception in 1948."
Nevertheless, he is still sorry that Israel did not send a judge, such as Supreme Court Chief Justice Aharon Barak to sit on the tribunal and perhaps sway the panel.
"PR is a wide-scoped effort," he said. "All venues must be utilized, and this platform was missed."
Opening the hearing at the International Court of Justice at The Hague on the legality of the West Bank security fence on Monday, the head of the Palestinian delegation said that the security fence prevents the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
Several minutes before the start of the hearings, the bombed No. 19 bus, which killed 11 Israelis only three weeks ago, pulled up in front of the Peace Palace where the ICJ resides.
Dozens of protesters were holding up a large poster with photographs of many of the over 900 Israeli victims of terror of over three years of violence.
Meanwhile, in East Jerusalem, Israel's Foreign Ministry placed in Abu Dis on display the bombed out no.14 bus in which eight were killed and over 60 wounded Sunday. Victims of terror were standing next to the bus in silent protest.
In the Hague, the Palestinian delegation opened its arguments with remarks by the head of the Palestinian delegation and the Palestinian Authority's envoy to the United Nations Nasser al-Kidwa.
Kidwa said that the fence was not a security issue and will "render the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict practically impossible."
"The wall is not about security," Kidwa said. "It is about entrenching the occupation and the de facto annexation of large areas of Palestinian land."
Kidwa said that the fence will leave the "Palestinian people with only half of the West Bank within isolated, non-contiguous, walled enclaves."
"(The Palestinians') real aim has been to try to get Israel in the dock of the International Court of Justice, to stand there and point at Israel and say you are an outlaw state," said Alan Baker, legal adviser to the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
"And this is something that no Israeli government was prepared to suffer," he told Reuters in Jerusalem.
In its written arguments, Israel claimed the court has no authority over the matter. It says the dispute should be resolved through negotiations, and that taking the matter to court will undermine the internationally backed road map peace plan. Israel also says the barrier is a response to Palestinian violence, pointing to Sunday's suicide bombing in Jerusalem, which killed eight people, as proof of the need for the structure.
Palestinians: Ultimately, Israel is responsible
Kidwa condemned suicide bombings and attacks against civilians on both sides of the conflict, but said Israel ultimately is responsible. "This phenomenon is the result of Israeli policies and measures, including the relentless colonization of our land."
Stephanie Huri, an American-Palestinian lawyer representing the Palestinian argument, showed a power-point presentation of the security fence, claiming that its eventual route will be 700-800 kilometers long.
Huri's arguments were followed by a presentation of the legal arguments behind the legality of the fence by Professor James Crawford, the head of the Cambridge law school.
Crawford said,"The people of Palestine have an unfulfilled right to self-determination. Israel cannot veto or negate the interests of the General Assembly."
He called on the court to not dismiss the case due to a lack of jurisdiction. He brought as support to his claim a recent case argued in the court regarding nuclear weapons.
"The wall is not in the road map" but stands in contradiction to it and if the construction continues it will not allow for the implementation of the US-backed peace plan, Crawford told the court.
Later in the day the court will hear arguments from South Africa, Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh.
The 15-member court includes judges from Egypt and Jordan, has a Chinese president, and also includes members from the United States and Japan.
The ICJ is the judicial body of the United Nations. In December, the UN's General Assembly asked the court to rule on the legality of Israel's construction of a security fence in the territories.
Meanwhile Monday, the Washington-based Human Right's Watch organization ruled that the security fence violates Palestinian human rights and international law.
Human Rights Watch said Israel has the right to defend itself against Palestinian suicide bombers and other attackers, but must do so in line with international treaties and conventions.
Human Rights Watch said the fence causes "disproportionate harm to the lives of tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians" and confines more than 100,000 people to enclaves.
Shalom: Most of the judges represent non-democratic regimes
Israel, along with the United States and EU countries, among others, are not participating in this week's hearings. They have submitted written statements arguing that the court is not the proper forum for the dispute.
British Foreign Minister Jack Straw told reporters that Britain "regards the wall as unlawful. Whereas in many places. it moves away from the international border, the green line and is built on Palestinian land.
"On the discreet issue of a hearing before the International court of justice, it is the United Kingdom's position that it is quite inappropriate since one of the parties – the Israelis – have refused consent to the (court's) jurisdiction."
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom questioned the fairness of the court, the United Nations's highest judicial body.
"We are aware that most of the judges there represent regimes that don't have any connection to democracy. They will get instructions from their leaders," Shalom said in Israel.
"That's why we don't have to participate in these procedures there. We will do everything we can after they issue their verdict... to oppose this verdict," Shalom said in a speech to American Jewish leaders.
Many of the Palestinians' Arab allies, such as Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria, are also staying away, putting a damper on what the Palestinians had hoped would be a high-profile condemnation of the barrier.
[i]Herb Keinon and AP contributed to this report. [/i]
Source: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/...
Tell your loved ones how much you love them!
[line]
[b]Feb. 23, 2004
[i]By TOVAH LAZAROFF[/i]
THE HAGUE[/b]
Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Monday delivered a sharp message to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, currently debating Israel's security fence.
"It is not the killers and their dispatchers who are put on trial, it is the victims. We shouldn't be in The Hague on trial. It's the Palestinian terror regime and terrorist organizations that should be there. That's the right order of things," Netanyahu said.
Speaking at a tourism conference in Jerusalem, Netanyahu said he had a message for those sitting on the court. "You have no right to serve as the moral conscience of the Jewish people. We have our own conscience. Now our conscience tells us that saving our own lives is more important than preserving somebody else's quality of life. Quality of life is always amenable to improvement. Death is permanent," he said.
Netanyahu said Israel was working to save the lives of Jewish people. "However, respected judges in Europe are claiming that the Jewish state has no right to defend itself from murderers."
Justice Minister Yosef Lapid told Channel 2 news Monday night that he sees no parallel between the security fence hearings in The Hague and those in Israel's High Court, last week. The latter is an objective court of law, he said; the former is a political entity.
He discounted the consequence of the court's ruling, saying, "The United Nations does not need an anti-Israeli recommendation to act in an anti-Israeli manner; it has been doing so since the state's inception in 1948."
Nevertheless, he is still sorry that Israel did not send a judge, such as Supreme Court Chief Justice Aharon Barak to sit on the tribunal and perhaps sway the panel.
"PR is a wide-scoped effort," he said. "All venues must be utilized, and this platform was missed."
Opening the hearing at the International Court of Justice at The Hague on the legality of the West Bank security fence on Monday, the head of the Palestinian delegation said that the security fence prevents the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
Several minutes before the start of the hearings, the bombed No. 19 bus, which killed 11 Israelis only three weeks ago, pulled up in front of the Peace Palace where the ICJ resides.
Dozens of protesters were holding up a large poster with photographs of many of the over 900 Israeli victims of terror of over three years of violence.
Meanwhile, in East Jerusalem, Israel's Foreign Ministry placed in Abu Dis on display the bombed out no.14 bus in which eight were killed and over 60 wounded Sunday. Victims of terror were standing next to the bus in silent protest.
In the Hague, the Palestinian delegation opened its arguments with remarks by the head of the Palestinian delegation and the Palestinian Authority's envoy to the United Nations Nasser al-Kidwa.
Kidwa said that the fence was not a security issue and will "render the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict practically impossible."
"The wall is not about security," Kidwa said. "It is about entrenching the occupation and the de facto annexation of large areas of Palestinian land."
Kidwa said that the fence will leave the "Palestinian people with only half of the West Bank within isolated, non-contiguous, walled enclaves."
"(The Palestinians') real aim has been to try to get Israel in the dock of the International Court of Justice, to stand there and point at Israel and say you are an outlaw state," said Alan Baker, legal adviser to the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
"And this is something that no Israeli government was prepared to suffer," he told Reuters in Jerusalem.
In its written arguments, Israel claimed the court has no authority over the matter. It says the dispute should be resolved through negotiations, and that taking the matter to court will undermine the internationally backed road map peace plan. Israel also says the barrier is a response to Palestinian violence, pointing to Sunday's suicide bombing in Jerusalem, which killed eight people, as proof of the need for the structure.
Palestinians: Ultimately, Israel is responsible
Kidwa condemned suicide bombings and attacks against civilians on both sides of the conflict, but said Israel ultimately is responsible. "This phenomenon is the result of Israeli policies and measures, including the relentless colonization of our land."
Stephanie Huri, an American-Palestinian lawyer representing the Palestinian argument, showed a power-point presentation of the security fence, claiming that its eventual route will be 700-800 kilometers long.
Huri's arguments were followed by a presentation of the legal arguments behind the legality of the fence by Professor James Crawford, the head of the Cambridge law school.
Crawford said,"The people of Palestine have an unfulfilled right to self-determination. Israel cannot veto or negate the interests of the General Assembly."
He called on the court to not dismiss the case due to a lack of jurisdiction. He brought as support to his claim a recent case argued in the court regarding nuclear weapons.
"The wall is not in the road map" but stands in contradiction to it and if the construction continues it will not allow for the implementation of the US-backed peace plan, Crawford told the court.
Later in the day the court will hear arguments from South Africa, Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh.
The 15-member court includes judges from Egypt and Jordan, has a Chinese president, and also includes members from the United States and Japan.
The ICJ is the judicial body of the United Nations. In December, the UN's General Assembly asked the court to rule on the legality of Israel's construction of a security fence in the territories.
Meanwhile Monday, the Washington-based Human Right's Watch organization ruled that the security fence violates Palestinian human rights and international law.
Human Rights Watch said Israel has the right to defend itself against Palestinian suicide bombers and other attackers, but must do so in line with international treaties and conventions.
Human Rights Watch said the fence causes "disproportionate harm to the lives of tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians" and confines more than 100,000 people to enclaves.
Shalom: Most of the judges represent non-democratic regimes
Israel, along with the United States and EU countries, among others, are not participating in this week's hearings. They have submitted written statements arguing that the court is not the proper forum for the dispute.
British Foreign Minister Jack Straw told reporters that Britain "regards the wall as unlawful. Whereas in many places. it moves away from the international border, the green line and is built on Palestinian land.
"On the discreet issue of a hearing before the International court of justice, it is the United Kingdom's position that it is quite inappropriate since one of the parties – the Israelis – have refused consent to the (court's) jurisdiction."
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom questioned the fairness of the court, the United Nations's highest judicial body.
"We are aware that most of the judges there represent regimes that don't have any connection to democracy. They will get instructions from their leaders," Shalom said in Israel.
"That's why we don't have to participate in these procedures there. We will do everything we can after they issue their verdict... to oppose this verdict," Shalom said in a speech to American Jewish leaders.
Many of the Palestinians' Arab allies, such as Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria, are also staying away, putting a damper on what the Palestinians had hoped would be a high-profile condemnation of the barrier.
[i]Herb Keinon and AP contributed to this report. [/i]
Source: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/...
You Are Listening To Greatness!
02.23.04 (1:55 pm) [edit]YAY! Ok, so in case you havn't noticed, the music has been changed again!
This is the song I've been wanting to put up all along!!
This is Dave Matthews Band's 'Two Step' from their awesome album [i]Crash[/i]!
This is not only my favourite song by the DMB, it's also my favourite song of all time!
I owe all of this to the wonderful and magnificent oneswtladee206, whom I shall always love from now on! She really is one sweet lady! Please check out her weblog: http://oneswtladee206.tblog.c... and leave her comments and read her blog! She's so wonderful!
Best part of all this is, this new music file also means no more popups on my weblog! YAAAAY!
Great New Website!
02.23.04 (12:24 pm) [edit]This is a must read! I urge you to Check It Out! :)
http://www.conceptwizard.com/info.html" title="http://www.conceptwizard.com/info.html" target="_blank"http://www.conceptwizard.com/...
They have excellent resources for information and truth!
They truly are helpful to educate you and answer any holes you may have in your middle east knowledge base!
Check It Out! :)
REPRINT: "ANTI-ZIONISM = ANTI-SEMITISM" -- DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.
02.23.04 (12:07 pm) [edit]". . . You declare, my friend, that you do not hate the Jews, you are merely 'anti-Zionist.' And I say, let the truth ring forth from the high mountain tops, let it echo through the valleys of God's green earth: When people criticize Zionism, they mean Jews--this is God's own truth.
"Antisemitism, the hatred of the Jewish people, has been and remains a blot on the soul of mankind. In this we are in full agreement. So know also this: anti-Zionist is inherently antisemitic, and ever will be so.
"Why is this? You know that Zionism is nothing less than the dream and ideal of the Jewish people returning to live in their own land. The Jewish people, the Scriptures tell us, once enjoyed a flourishing Commonwealth in the Holy Land. From this they were expelled by the Roman tyrant, the same Romans who cruelly murdered Our Lord. Driven from their homeland, their nation in ashes, forced to wander the globe, the Jewish people time and again suffered the lash of whichever tyrant happened to rule over them.
"The Negro people, my friend, know what it is to suffer the torment of tyranny under rulers not of our choosing. Our brothers in Africa have begged, pleaded, requested--DEMANDED the recognition and realization of our inborn right to live in peace under our own sovereignty in our own country.
"How easy it should be, for anyone who holds dear this inalienable right of all mankind, to understand and support the right of the Jewish People to live in their ancient Land of Israel. All men of good will exult in the fulfilment of God's promise, that his People should return in joy to rebuild their plundered land.
This is Zionism, nothing more, nothing less.
"And what is anti-Zionist? It is the denial to the Jewish people of a fundamental right that we justly claim for the people of Africa and freely accord all other nations of the Globe. It is discrimination against Jews, my friend, because they are Jews. In short, it is antisemitism.
"The antisemite rejoices at any opportunity to vent his malice. The times have made it unpopular, in the West, to proclaim openly a hatred of the Jews. This being the case, the antisemite must constantly seek new forms and forums for his poison. How he must revel in the new masquerade! He does not hate the Jews, he is just 'anti-Zionist'!
"My friend, I do not accuse you of deliberate antisemitism. I know you feel, as I do, a deep love of truth and justice and a revulsion for racism, prejudice, and discrimination. But I know you have been misled--as others have been--into thinking you can be 'anti-Zionist' and yet remain true to these heartfelt principles that you and I share.
Let my words echo in the depths of your soul: When people criticize Zionism, they mean Jews--make no mistake about it."
From M.L. King Jr., "Letter to an Anti-Zionist Friend," Saturday Review_XLVII (Aug. 1967), p. 76.
Reprinted in M.L. King Jr., "This I Believe: Selections from the Writings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr."
GET THE FACTS ABOUT ISRAEL! DON'T LISTEN TO ANTISEMITIC LIES!
02.23.04 (11:58 am) [edit]Since the Oslo War began in September, 2000 there have been numerous letters to the editors harshly critical of Israel. In order to add balance and perspective we feel compelled to clarify basic historical and current facts regarding this latest war.
Historical Facts
· Israel and a (Palestinian) Arab state were proposed by the UN by a resolution of partition in 1947. Israel accepted this partition and declared statehood in 5/48; the Arabs rejected the partition, resulting in the first of many wars against the Jews. Armies of 5 Arab countries attacked the nascent Jewish state, not to defeat it but to destroy it.
· The 450,000 Arabs who left became refugees. The Arabs who stayed are full citizens in Israel and enjoy the rights of every citizen to vote, attend school, own property, etc.
· 750,000 Jews were forced to leave Arab countries. They fled to Israel, which welcomed them. Their former lands were taken by the Arab countries without offered compensation.
Right of Return Perspective
· In the late 1940’s, 12 million people of German ancestry were made to leave their European homes where they lived for centuries. Simultaneously, 6,000,000 Jews were exterminated
· In 1949 the People’s Republic of China was established. More than 2 million Chinese fled to Taiwan and Hong Kong
· 18 million Hindus and Muslims were forced to relocate in 1947 when India and Pakistan gained independence from Britain.
· “Any presumption by formerly displaced Muslims, Hindus, and Chinese or their descendents to claim former residences would mean war”, according to current German Foreign Minister Joschka Fisher.
· The Palestinian Arabs are the only people whose brethren refused to accept or absorb them. This, in spite of the fact that Arabs control 99.9% of the land in the Middle East, with their enormous wealth of oil reserves.
The Myth of Occupation and Jewish Settlements
· In 1967, Israel was forced by Egypt and Syria into the “6-Day War”. The so-called West Bank was liberated by Israel. Jordan’s 1948 seizure of the West Bank was illegal under international law. The Jordanian occupation was recognized by Pakistan and England and no one else. During the time of Jordanian occupation, only Arabs were allowed into the Old City of Jerusalem. Almost all Jewish synagogues and religious sites were destroyed.
· In 1993, the Oslo peace accords, signed by Prime Minister Rabin and Chairman Arafat, provided that the future of disputed territories was to be determined by negotiations between Israelis and Palestinian Arabs.
· 96% of the West Bank (Judea and Samaria to Jews), along with the Gaza strip, was offered at Camp David to the Palestinian Arabs.
· Jewish Settlements in the West Bank and Gaza, which are not barred by Oslo, are illegitimately used by Palestinian Arabs to justify their continued terrorism on innocent Jews.
The Current Situation
· Israelis have repeatedly made clear their desire for peace, in spite of the many wars waged against them by the Arabs. This includes the countries of Iraq and Iran, which fund terrorism waged against innocent Israeli and American citizens.
· Saddam Hussein and Saudi Arabia currently pays parents of suicide bombers $25,000 for each of their “martyred” children
· Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak made the most generous offer ever proposed to the Palestinian Arabs. The democratic countries of the free world were appalled this was soundly rejected by Chairman Arafat. Many Israelis were non-supportive of this proposal, and shocked that their Prime Minister was negotiating during terror attacks. Consequently, current Prime Minister Sharon was elected by the largest plurality in Israel’s history.
· Israel’s continued ability to take risks for peace depends on the security of its citizens. This is threatened by uninterrupted violent attacks by Palestinian Arab forces and allied terrorists since September 2000.
· Acts of terror against Israeli citizens have taken place in all major Israeli cities including Jerusalem, Hadera, and Tel Aviv, where 24 teens and young people were slaughtered and Netanya where almost 30 people were massacred as they began their Passover seder
· It has been confirmed by Army Radio that the latest suicide bombers have been injected with highly contagious Hepatitis B, and that some wounded victims, emergency medical personnel, and by-standers have now contracted this disease when they were hit by flesh and body parts of the Palestinian suicide bombers. Yet the Syrian, Egyptian, and Palestinian media continue to accuse Jews of blood libel.
Failure of the Palestinian Authority
· At the beginning of this latest war, Arafat released countless known terrorists from jail, in violation of his promises, enabling their horrific acts of violence to resume unabated.
· During the few times of Arafat’s call for cease-fire, violence diminished markedly. This indicates he has more control than his supporters claim. He pretends not to have control when it is convenient. (see below for updates as of 5/02)
· The virulent anti-Jewish, anti-Israel, and anti-American rhetoric has been fueled by vicious diatribes in Arabic, which is different than what the PA leaders say in English.
· Since the most recent unilateral cease-fire declared by Prime Minister Sharon in late May, Israel has buried 41 murdered civilians and endured over 150 terrorist attacks. (See update)
· Official Palestinian Authority incitement against Israel has continued to poison the airwaves. According to Palestinian Media Watch, a non-partisan Jerusalem-based organization, the official Palestinian Authority television station continues to broadcast anti-Israel incitement, even on the morning after Arafat's declaration of a cease-fire. The incitement included a video clip containing the song, "Do Not be Saddened, My Dear," in which a young Palestinian boy leaves home, reassuring his family and friends that "We have embarked on jihad... How sweet is martyrdom when I embrace you, O my country! In the intifada we achieved sovereignty through the blood of the people. Victory is my challenge!"
· Editor-in-chief of the Palestinian authority official daily newspaper, Al Hayyat Al Jedida, writes in an editorial of the fifth column in Palestinian society: those who would deter their youth from throwing stones at Israeli soldiers, even parents who forbid their children from
doing so. He classifies these acts of restraint as one of the most severe transgressions, and encourages Palestinians parents to have their children continue with them.
· Even as CIA Director George Tenet met with Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat on June 12, 2001 to secure his acceptance of a cease-fire, Palestinian gunmen killed a Greek monk in the West Bank who was driving a car with Israeli license plates. And just hours after agreeing to the truce, Palestinian gunmen shot and wounded an Israeli woman in a West Bank drive-by attack. These murders have continued till today. Not a day passes without Arab terrorism.
Media and Education
· Since the Oslo accords, Israel has included Palestinian Arab poems, music and education in its public school curriculum.
· The Palestinian Arab school curriculum includes anti-Israel, anti-Jewish and anti-Western propaganda. The Palestinian media, including Arabic Sesame Street and youth oriented-type programs have ceaselessly dehumanized Israelis
· In early September the Palestinian Autonomous Authority [PA] issued 15 new textbooks, comprising the full curricula for grades 1 and 6. The Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace [CMIP] has reviewed these books and the preliminary findings that have been published in the world press show that these new books do not educate for peace. They do not reconcile with the existence of Israel as a neighbor state. Israel is still classified in these texts as a colonialist country that conquered "Palestine" in 1948. The maps of the Middle East in these books omit mention of Israel. All the land between Lebanon and Egypt is labeled "Palestine".
· The Palestinian Arabs still contend in their textbooks and media that the Holocaust never existed.
· On June 8, 2001, a week after the Tel-Aviv suicide bombing and a few days following
Arafat's declaration of a cease-fire, a sermon by Sheik Ibrahim Madhi was broadcast from the Sheik 'Ijlin Mosque in Gaza. In his sermon, Sheik Madhi preached for Martyrdom Operations and for the destruction of Israel, the United States, and Britain.
Hopes for the Future
· A return to the negotiating table depends upon the international community demanding that Palestinian Arab acts of terrorism cease
· Arafat must re-arrest terrorists, confiscate all illegal weapons, and the PA leadership must end all acts of violence and anti-Israel propaganda
· Palestinian Arab textbooks and their state controlled media must end the dehumanizing of Israelis, must call for an end to the “martyrdom” of its youth, and must recognize the state of Israel and its right to exist.
Update as of May 2002
· September 11, 2001-What needs to be said? Islamic terrorism rears its murderous head as 4 American planes were hijacked, and nearly 3,000 Americans killed
· Continued Palestinian murder of innocent Israelis, and people of other ethnic and religious background numbers close to 500. This is the proportional equivalent of close to 25,000 Americans massacred
· After the Passover Seder catastrophe where mostly elder Jews began their meal, the military operation to root out Palestinian terrorism began. But Israel did not bomb from the air like America did in Afghanistan and Bosnia, and risk hitting hospitals and schools and embassies. No, Israel sent their kids through the alleyways and byways to face booby traps and snipers and mines.
· During the time Arafat was holed up in his Ramallah compound, there was no homicide bombings. Barely one week after his release, there was the Rishon LeTzion massacre, when a Palestinian Moslem suicide terrorist blew himself up on May 7, 2002 and killed 29 people. Among them wereYitzchak and Esther Bavlar, the husband and wife from Bat Yam who were the 13th husband-and-wife couple to be murdered by Palestinian terrorists since the Oslo War began
· In Bethlehem, the 39 day standoff at the Church of the Nativity finally ended when the13 wanted terrorists were deported to Cyprus and then sent to various other countries. According to the hostages (150 civilians and 30 religious leaders) the Palestinians behaved like animals - consuming food which should have lasted 6 months in 2 weeks, (civilians barely ate one meal a day), drinking every drop of alcohol, stealing religious icons, using Bibles as toilet paper, ransacking the complex without regard to its significance.
· The terrible truth about the Palestinians’ control of Bethlehem is first beginning to see the light of day. How the Arabs pillaged, raped and destroyed much of the city
·
The Blood on Arafat’s Hands
· According to information released by the IDF, and based on the questioning of senior Fatah figures now in Israeli custody - Marwan Barghouti (Fatah/Tanzim), Nasser Aweis (Fatah), Nasser Abu Hamid (Al Aqsa Brigade) and Ahmed Barghouti (Fatah/Tanzim) - PA Chairman Yasser Arafat personally approved funding for Fatah operatives, with the knowledge that it would be used to finance terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians. In addition, the information shows that explosive charges used by the terrorists were supplied from the PA's own weapons depots. Every operative requiring financing was made to fill out a detailed requisition request. Barghouti then added his recommendation and signature, and relayed the requests to PA Chairman Yasser Arafat. Barghouti stressed that every expense, even the smallest sum, required the approval of Arafat himself.
· Nasser Aweis was responsible for the recruiting, arming and handling of terrorist cells. He stated in questioning that he personally, together with other Tanzim terrorist operatives under his command, received funding directly approved by Yasser Arafat
· Monday January 14, 2002 The Israelis commandos intercepted the Karine A, the arms ship, in the Red Sea, heading for Gaza from Iran. The weapons on board the Karine A included 62 rockets with a range of 20km, hundreds of mortars and anti-tank weapons, mines, explosives, rifles and ammunition. The explosives in the 50-ton consignment were enough for3,000 suicide bombs.
Truisms about Israel
· It is a democracy with a free press, unheard of in the Middle East. It has reinvigorated the Jewish faith, after European Judaism was all but exterminated in the Holocaust. It has gone from a place where an immigrant's first dwelling was likely to be a tent, to a place where immigrants are upset when they discover that they cannot import a car more than two years old; from a place where Jewish pioneers died while clearing malaria-infested swampland, to a place where modern-day Jewish pioneers are working on a cure for heart disease; it has changed from a place struggling to survive, to a place criticized for doing so too successfully.
· The real secret of the Jewish state, however, is its people. Since the start of 2002 alone, 5,169 Jews have immigrated to Israel from all over the world- approximately 1,500 Argentinean Jews who have come over the past year. In the past weeks, more than 600 new immigrants arrived in Israel from the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, from Ethiopia, Argentina, France, South Africa, Germany, Mexico, Uruguay, Chile, the U.S., Canada and India. Israel is an amalgam of Jews from all over the world, drawn to it by faith and nationhood, taking part in the great ingathering of the exiles.
· The population of Israel in 1948 was about 600,000 (similar to the number of Israelites that left Egypt in the Biblical Exodus). Within three years, the population had more than doubled, as another 687,000 Jews flooded Israel's shores. Altogether, since 1948, the Jewish State has absorbed close to 3 million immigrants, all the while facing determined enemies intent on its destruction.
·
The UN and Israel
· Of all 188 member countries eligible to sit on the UN Security Council (including Iraq, Iran, Libya), the only country not eligible is Israel. The Security Council is the world body’s key deliberative group.
· The annual session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, last week, condemned Israel for "mass killings" of Palestinians, "gross violations" of humanitarian law" and affirmed the "legitimate right of Palestinian people to resist."
· Of the 175 Security Council resolutions passed before 1990, 97 were directed against Israel.
· Of the 690 U.N. General Assembly resolutions voted on before 1990, 429 were directed against Israel.
· The U.N. was silent while 58 Jerusalem Synagogues were destroyed by the Jordanians.
· The U.N. was silent while the Jordanians systematically desecrated the ancient Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives.
· The U.N. was silent while the Jordanians enforced an apartheid-like policy of preventing Jews from visiting their holy sites at the Temple Mount and the Western Wall
Anti-Semitism in the World Today
· In Belgium, thugs beat up the chief rabbi, kicking him in the face,calling him ''a dirty Jew.'' Two synagogues in Brussels were firebombed; a third, in Charleroi, was sprayed with automatic weapons fire.
· In Britain, the cover of the New Statesman, a left-wing magazine, depicted a large Star of David stabbing the Union Jack. Oxford professor Tom Paulin, a noted poet, told an Egyptian interviewer that American Jews who move to the West Bank and Gaza ''should be shot dead.'' A Jewish yeshiva student reading the Psalms was stabbed 27 times on a London bus. “Anti-Semitism”, wrote a columnist in The Spectator, ''has become respectable ... at London dinner tables.'' She quoted one member of the House of Lords: ''The Jews have been asking for it and now, thank God, we can say what we think at last.''
· In Italy, the daily paper La Stampa published a Page 1 cartoon: A tank emblazoned with a Jewish star points its gun at the baby Jesus, who pleads, ''Surely they don't want to kill me again?'' In Corriere Della Sera, another cartoon showed Jesus trapped in his tomb, unable to rise, because Ariel Sharon, with rifle in hand, is sitting on the sepulchre.
· In Germany, a rabbinical student was beaten up in downtown Berlin and a grenade was thrown into a Jewish cemetery. Thousands of neo-Nazis held a rally, marching near a synagogue on the Jewish sabbath. Graffiti appeared on a synagogue in the western town of Herford: ''Six million were not enough.''
· In Ukraine, skinheads attacked Jewish worshippers and smashed the windows of Kiev's main synagogue. Ukrainian police denied that the attack was anti-Jewish.
· In Greece, Jewish graves were desecrated in Ioannina and vandals hurled paint at the Holocaust memorial in Salonica. In Holland, an anti-Israel demonstration featured swastikas, photos of Hitler, and chants of “Sieg Heil” and “Jews into the sea.”
· In Slovakia, the Jewish cemetery of Kosice was invaded and 135 tombstones destroyed.
· But nowhere have the flames of anti-Semitism burned more furiously than in France. In Lyon, a car was rammed into a synagogue and set on fire. In Montpellier, the Jewish religious center was firebombed; so were synagogues in Strasbourg and Marseille; so was a Jewish school in Creteil. A Jewish sports club in Toulouse was attacked with Molotov cocktails, and on the statue of Alfred Dreyfus in Paris, the words ''Dirty Jew'' were painted. In Bondy, 15 men beat up members of a Jewish football team with sticks and metal bars. The bus that takes Jewish children to school in Aubervilliers has been attacked three times in the last 14 months. According to the police, metropolitan Paris has seen 10 to 12 anti-Jewish incidents per day since Easter. Walls in Jewish neighborhoods have been defaced with slogans proclaiming “Jews to the gas chambers” and ''Death to the Jews.'' The weekly journal Le Nouvel observateur published an appalling libel: It said Israeli soldiers rape Palestinian women, so that their relatives will kill them to preserve ''family honor.'' The French ambassador to Great Britain was not sacked - and did not apologize - when it was learned that he had told guests at a London dinner that the world's troubles were the fault of ''that shitty little country, Israel.''
Anti-Semitism on Campuses in the USA
· At UC Davis, arsonists attacked the Hillel House.
· At SUNY Binghamton, swatiskas and anti-Israel graffiti were a regular occurance. A campus magazine printed articles that Jewish Student Union supported Israeli death squads
· At Concordia University in Montreal, the Students’ Union passed anti-Israeli resolutions and created hostile environments for Jewish students
· At the University of Florida, the Muslim Students’ Association took out an ad in the school paper, sponsored by the Islamic Assoc. for Palestine, a Hamas front, comparing Israel to the Nazis, having a thirst for blood.
· Most recently, at San Francisco State University the indignities for Jews include: maps of the Middle East that do not include Israel, posters of cans of soup, with labels on them of drops of blood and dead babies, labeled “canned Palestinian children meat, slaughtered according to Jewish ritesunder American license”, poster after poster calling out Zionism==Racism, and Jews==Nazis. This week, 5/2002, the hatred coalesced in a hate mob. A “Peace in the Middle East” rally, completely organized by 18 and 19 year old Hillel students, wearing the new Hillel t-shirt which says"peace" in English, Hebrew and Arabic, became dangerous. As soon as the community supporters left, the 50 students, some of whom were praying, and some of whom were cleaning up, were surrounded by a large, angry crowd of Palestinians and their supporters. But they were not calling for peace. They screamed to "go back to Russia", they screamed that they would kill us all, and other terrible things. They surrounded the praying students, and the elderly women who are elder college participants, (who survived the Shoah, and who helped shape the Bay Area peace movement). Then the Hillel Students were pushed against the wall of the plaza by the threatening crowd, screaming at the Jews to "get out or we will kill you" and "Hitler did not finish the job”. According to Laurie Zoloth, Director, Jewish Studies Program, she turned to the police and to every administrator she could find and asked them to remove the counter demonstrators from the Plaza, to maintain the separation of 100 feet that had been promised. The police said they had been told not to arrest anyone, and that if they did, "it would start a riot." Zoloth told them that it already was a riot. But the police could do nothing more than surround the Hillel student and the community members who were now trapped into a corner of the plaza, grouped under the flags of Israel, while an angry, out of control mob, literally chanting for their deaths, surrounded them. The police could not even assure that a peace rally could happen in peace, for a mere two hours, if the Israeli flag and the United States flag were flown. Not one administrator came to stand with the Jews. If a crowd of Palestinian or Black student had been there, and were surrounded by a crowd of white racists calling out racist threats, protected by police, would the faculty and staff have trouble deciding what side to stand on?
· The Wall St. Journal recently featured an article discussing a course offered at University of California-Berkeley. The course description for English R1A, “The Politics and Poetics of Palestinian Resistance" (4 credits), reads as follows: "The brutal Israeli military occupation of Palestine, [ongoing] since 1948, has systematically displaced, killed, and maimed millions of Palestinian people. And yet, from under the brutal weight of the occupation, Palestinians have produced their own culture and poetry of resistance. This class will examine the history of the [resistance] and the way that it is narrated by Palestinians in order to produce an understanding of the Intifada... This class takes as its starting point the right of Palestinians to fight for their own self-determination. Conservative thinkers are encouraged to seek other [classes]."
The American Jewish Community, including the Jewish Federation of Ulster County, strongly supports the desire for peace and a willingness to compromise. We do not accept the cost of innocent Israeli and American lives. There must be an honest and trusting partnership in order to secure a true peace.
SOURCE: http://nycat.org/
Film Review: 'The Passion of the Christ'
02.23.04 (11:07 am) [edit][b]Sun Feb 22, 4:14 PM ET
[i]By Kirk Honeycutt [/b][/i]
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - "The Passion of the Christ" is the work of a Christian traditionalist.
In depicting the last dozen hours in the earthly life of Jesus of Nazareth, Mel Gibson, who directs a script he wrote with Benedict Fitzgerald, takes the gospels according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John as literal truth. There is no allowance for metaphor or myth, no hint of contemporary interpretation. This is not "The Last Temptation of Christ," Martin Scorsese's adaptation of Nikos Kazantzakis' novel that speculates on the torments and self-doubts of Jesus. This movie is an act of faith.
And that is a two-edged sword. People will see what they want to see in a movie shorn of any point of view not in literal accord with the gospels. True believers will bear witness to holy writ. Others -- nonbelievers or even less literal-minded Christians -- will be troubled by the film's staunch adherence to a story line and characters that have been used by bigots to fuel hatred for centuries.
As the film arrives swathed in controversy over its near-pornographic violence and concerns about its potential to incite anti-Semitism, the opening weekend's box office should surpass its reported $25 million cost. That combination of controversy, curiosity and conviction could continue the movie's good fortune for weeks to come.
The problem with focusing narrowly on the "passion" of Christ -- meaning the suffering and ultimate redemption in the final moments of Jesus' life -- instead of his ministry, in which he preached love of God and mankind, is that the context for these events is lost. The Crucifixion was not only the culmination of several years of religious teachings but the fulfillment of Jesus' promise to die for the sins of mankind.
True, many viewers know this "back story." Pity anyone though who comes to this movie without a knowledge of the New Testament. For them, a handful of brief flashbacks to earlier days will fail to do the trick. Yet even a Bible student might wonder why Gibson would choose to downplay the self-sacrifice and love that went into Jesus' submission to torture and death. The spiritual significance of the Crucifixion gets swamped in an orgy of violence visited upon Jesus' body. Indeed, it's doubtful any human being could remain conscious for his own execution were he to endure the level of physical abuse graphically depicted here.
This, then, is a medieval Passion Play with much better effects. Flesh is flayed in grotesque detail. Body fluids spurt in exquisite patterns. Slow motion captures any action or glance Gibson deems significant.
All the characters are portrayed in the extreme. Pontius Pilate (Hristo Naumov Shopov) is a weak and frightened political operative in a lonely outpost of the Roman Empire. His soldiers are half-witted sadists and buffoons. King Herod (Luca De Dominicis) is a foppish decadent. The Jews are a bloodthirsty rabble easily manipulated by the high priest Caiphas (Mattia Sbragia) and other Pharisees, jealous of their political power and social control. (Gibson has removed a line, reportedly in an earlier version, in which one Jew shouts, "May his blood be on us.")
The two Marys, the mother of Jesus (Maia Morgenstern) and Mary Magdalene (Monica Bellucci), are reduced to tearful onlookers. And, hard to imagine, the key figure here, Jesus himself (a game, blood-crusted James Caviezel), is such a punching bag for most of the movie that the filmmakers lose sight of his message. In early scenes and the flashback, Caviezel has the look and gravity to portray the warm and compassionate rabbi that Jesus was. But we get only these snippets of his humanity. (One bizarre flashback focuses solely on his former occupation, that of a carpenter.) More troubling is Gibson's decision to make Jesus into a victim of political intrigue, thus denying him his martyrdom.
Why do so many disciples follow this man? What does his promise of eternal life mean in the context of these events? Gibson's intense concentration on the scourging and whipping of the physical body virtually denies any metaphysical significance to the most famous half-day in history.
Technically, the film is a beauty. After a false start with music more befitting a horror film, John Debney's score acquires a chorus and builds brilliantly to the climax. Inspired by Caravaggio, cinematographer Caleb Deschanel and costume designer Maurizio Millenotti hew to a strict earthen palette of grays, browns, white, beige and burgundy. The play of shadow and light, especially the use of torches in interior scenes, presents stunning tableaus. Francesco Frigeri's sets on the Cinecitta Studios lot and the use of the 2,000-year-old city of Matera beautifully capture the Middle Eastern world of that epoch without calling attention to the design itself.
Gibson's insistence that his actors learn the language of the period works very well. Using Aramaic for Jewish characters and street Latin for Romans, the movie puts us at a necessary remove to witness the biblical story. If only Gibson had chosen to highlight spiritual truth rather than physical realism.
Newmarket Films. Icon Prods.
Cast: Jesus: James Caviezel; Mary: Maia Morgenstern; Mary Magdalene: Monica Bellucci; Satan: Rosalinda Celantano; Caiphas, the High Priest: Mattia Sbragia; Pontius Pilate: Hristo Naumov Shopov; Claudia Procles: Claudia Gerini; Judas Iscariot: Luca Lionello.
Director: Mel Gibson; Screenwriters: Mel Gibson, Benedict Fitzgerald; Producers: Mel Gibson, Bruce Davey, Steve McEveety; Executive producer: Enzo Sisti; Director of photography: Caleb Deschanel; Production designer: Francesco Frigeri; Music: John Debney; Special effects makeup: Keith Vanderlaan; Costume designer: Maurizio Millenotti; Editor: John Wright.
[i]
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter [/i]
Holocaust Rememberence Day: April 19, 2004
02.23.04 (10:57 am) [edit]This year, Holocaust Rememberence Day falls on my Birthday, coincidently.
I found this link and I thought it should be passed around. The message is beautiful...
http://anat.iwebland.com/HolocaustRemembrance.htm" title="http://anat.iwebland.com/HolocaustRemembrance.htm" target="_blank"http://anat.iwebland.com/Holo...
Please check it out and send it around to as many people as you can!
Thanks!
The Fatah-Al Aqsa Brigade
02.23.04 (10:43 am) [edit]
[b]Media outlets continue to downplay the close ties between Arafat's Fatah party and a major terrorist group.[/b]
[line]
COMMUNIQUE: 23 February 2004
This morning (Feb.22) a suicide bomber on a Jerusalem bus killed 8 Israelis ― including two teenagers on their way to school ― and injured over 60.
The attack was perpetrated by a member of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades. While it is generally accepted that this terrorist group is connected to Yassir Arafat's Fatah party, most major news agencies continued to downplay that relationship in today's reports:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?node=admin /registration/register&de stination=register&nextst ep=gather&application=reg 30-world&applicationURL=h ttp" title="http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?node=admin /registration/register&de stination=register&nextst ep=gather&application=reg 30-world&applicationURL=h ttp" target="_blank"http://www.washingtonpost.com...://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6236 0-2004Feb22.html― Associated Press: "The Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a militant group loosely affiliated with Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, claimed responsibility for the attack and identified the bomber as Mohammed Zool, 23, from the village of Hussan near Bethlehem."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?node=admin /registration/register&de stination=register&nextst ep=gather&application=reg 30-world&applicationURL=h ttp" title="http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?node=admin /registration/register&de stination=register&nextst ep=gather&application=reg 30-world&applicationURL=h ttp" target="_blank"http://www.washingtonpost.com...://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6160 7-2004Feb22.html― Washington Post: "Hezbollah television station Al-Manar reported that the bombing was carried out by the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the militant group that associates itself with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement..."
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/02/2 2/jerusalem.blast/index.html―" title="http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/02/2 2/jerusalem.blast/index.html―" target="_blank"http://edition.cnn.com/2004/W...; CNN: "The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades ― the military offshoot of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement ― claimed responsibility for the blast in a statement."
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/af p/20040222/ts_afp/mideast _040222174828―" title="http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/af p/20040222/ts_afp/mideast _040222174828―" target="_blank"http://story.news.yahoo.com/n...; Agence France Presse: "The bombing, claimed by the radical Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed offshoot of Arafat's Fatah movement..."
[b]DIRECT CONNECTION[/b]
The evidence, however, clearly indicates that the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade is not some "loose offshoot," but rather has a [i]direct and ongoing bond [/i]to the Fatah party, which holds a majority of seats in the Palestinian Parliament ( http://www.pna.gov.ps/Governm... ). The Palestinian government, therefore, bears direct responsibility for the group's heinous terrorist acts:
▪ In November, 2003 a BBC ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wo... ) investigation found that up to $50,000 a month was funneled by Fatah directly to the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades. When BBC reported on today's attack ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wo... ), their terminology was consistent with these findings ― unlike the outlets above, BBC described the relationship between Fatah and the terrorists in an entirely accurate manner:
[i]The militant al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, [b]part of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction[/b], has claimed responsibility for the suicide attack.[/i]
▪ Documents captured by the IDF ( http://www.intelligence.org.i... ) in 2002 indicated Fatah's "systematic, institutionalized and ongoing financing" of the Al Aqsa Brigades, including a special allocation to the Bethlehem branch of the organization (the very group that dispatched today's bomber). After inspecting these documents, President Bush ( http://www.whitehouse.gov/new... ) called for Arafat's removal in June, 2002.
▪ The leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in Tulkarm told USA Today on March 14, 2002: "The truth is, we are Fatah, but we didn't operate under the name of Fatah...We are the armed wing of the organization. We receive our instructions from Fatah. Our commander is Yasser Arafat himself."
▪ Last week, British MP Jenny Tonge went to visit Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades' Bethlehem branch. BBC's Radio 4 ( http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/t... ) carried a report in which the terrorists themselves admit they are "part of Fatah...the militant part." (Click here-- to hear the report ― the statement regarding Fatah is about 2:50 in.)
HonestReporting calls on other media outlets to follow the BBC's lead and specify the integral connection between Fatah and the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.
[b]FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEM[/b]
[i][b]High school students mourning a classmate[/b][/i]
This is not merely a semantic matter. The close ties that bond the Fatah-led PA to terrorist groups are the fundamental problem that prevents progress toward peaceful reconciliation. The dominant political party in the PA remains a direct sponsor of ongoing terrorism ― the ruling politicians and the terrorists are one and the same.
If media outlets fail to convey this, their readers and viewers certainly can't understand Israel's position in the raging debate over the security fence, which tomorrow reaches the world court at The Hague.
One paper that clearly doesn't "get it" is The Chicago Tribune, which published today three op-eds (1-- http://www.chicagotribune.com... , 2-- http://www.chicagotribune.com... , 3-- http://www.chicagotribune.com... ) railing against the security fence, all under the theme "Build Bridges, Not Walls."
Israel has been attempting to build bridges with her Palestinian neighbors for over fifty years. But as a terror-free Palestinian leadership has [i]never[/i] emerged, and Israeli families continue to be torn apart by senseless terrorist murder, no other option currently exists. Until there's a Palestinian partner who forsakes terrorism, Israeli citizens deserve the protection of an imperfect wall.
In reporting on today's attack, did your local paper indicate the direct connections between the perpetrators of the horrific attack and Yassir Arafat's ruling Fatah party? If not, write a letter to the editor, using the talking points above, and stressing the significance of accuracy on this particular issue ― which cuts to the heart of the entire conflict.
[i]Thank you for your ongoing involvement in the battle against media bias.
HonestReporting.com[/i]
02.23.04 (10:12 am) [edit]
[b]From:The Irish Independent
Monday, 23rd February, 2004 [/b]
A PALESTINIAN suicide bomber killed eight Israelis and wounded 60 when he blew himself up on a bus in Jerusalem during the rush hour yesterday morning.
The dead included two 18-year-old pupils on their way to school in the city centre. Nine of the wounded were children.
It was the 29th bombing in Jerusalem since the Palestinians launched the intifada nearly four years ago, and happened in the affluent German Colony suburb.
The attack came 24-hours before the International Court in The Hague was due to begin hearings into the legality of Israel's West Bank security fence.
Jad Ishaq, a leading West Bank campaigner against the fence, denounced the bombing as an own-goal for the Palestinians. "The timing is wrong and it damages the Palestinian interest," he said. "It's time we examined ourselves and stopped these attacks."
He added that only 300 protesters turned out for a demonstration yesterday instead of the expected 5,000. "They couldn't get to the wall because of the bombing. Most of us thought it was a big mistake."
The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, affiliated to Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction, claimed responsibility for the attack and identified the bomber as Mohammed Zeoul (23) from the village of Hussan near Bethlehem. He left a son aged 18 months and a pregnant wife.
Al-Aqsa released a farewell video showing the bomber seated in front of the group's flag. In a statement it called the barrier "a Nazi wall which will not stop us attacking". But the group later denied involvement in the bombing, which it said only served Israeli propaganda interests.
Israelis see the Fatah involvement as evidence either that the Palestinian leadership is behind the bombings, or has lost control of the al-Aqsa militants. (©Independent News).
[i]Eric Silver in Jerusalem[/i]
[b]From:The Irish Independent
Monday, 23rd February, 2004 [/b]
A PALESTINIAN suicide bomber killed eight Israelis and wounded 60 when he blew himself up on a bus in Jerusalem during the rush hour yesterday morning.
The dead included two 18-year-old pupils on their way to school in the city centre. Nine of the wounded were children.
It was the 29th bombing in Jerusalem since the Palestinians launched the intifada nearly four years ago, and happened in the affluent German Colony suburb.
The attack came 24-hours before the International Court in The Hague was due to begin hearings into the legality of Israel's West Bank security fence.
Jad Ishaq, a leading West Bank campaigner against the fence, denounced the bombing as an own-goal for the Palestinians. "The timing is wrong and it damages the Palestinian interest," he said. "It's time we examined ourselves and stopped these attacks."
He added that only 300 protesters turned out for a demonstration yesterday instead of the expected 5,000. "They couldn't get to the wall because of the bombing. Most of us thought it was a big mistake."
The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, affiliated to Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction, claimed responsibility for the attack and identified the bomber as Mohammed Zeoul (23) from the village of Hussan near Bethlehem. He left a son aged 18 months and a pregnant wife.
Al-Aqsa released a farewell video showing the bomber seated in front of the group's flag. In a statement it called the barrier "a Nazi wall which will not stop us attacking". But the group later denied involvement in the bombing, which it said only served Israeli propaganda interests.
Israelis see the Fatah involvement as evidence either that the Palestinian leadership is behind the bombings, or has lost control of the al-Aqsa militants. (©Independent News).
[i]Eric Silver in Jerusalem[/i]
02.23.04 (10:08 am) [edit]
[b]www.chinaview.cn 2004-02-23 18:40:04 [/b]
BEIJING, Feb. 23 (Xinhuanet) -- China strongly condemns the suicide bombing attack on a bus in downtown Jerusalem on Sunday, which targeted civilians, said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue here Monday.
The spokeswoman made the remark when asked to comment on the tragedy.
The attack occurred at around 8:30 a.m. (0630 GMT) Sunday when two Palestinian bombers blew themselves up on a crowded bus, killing nine people (including the two bombers themselves) and wounding more than 60. Enditem
[b]www.chinaview.cn 2004-02-23 18:40:04 [/b]
BEIJING, Feb. 23 (Xinhuanet) -- China strongly condemns the suicide bombing attack on a bus in downtown Jerusalem on Sunday, which targeted civilians, said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue here Monday.
The spokeswoman made the remark when asked to comment on the tragedy.
The attack occurred at around 8:30 a.m. (0630 GMT) Sunday when two Palestinian bombers blew themselves up on a crowded bus, killing nine people (including the two bombers themselves) and wounding more than 60. Enditem
02.23.04 (10:02 am) [edit]
[b]Last Update: 23/02/2004 15:34
[i]By Haaretz Staff and Agencies [/b][/i]
Four of the eight victims of Sunday's suicide bombing in Jerusalem were laid to rest Monday afternoon. The eighth victim of the attack was identified Monday as Rahamiam Rami Duga, 37, from Mevasseret Zion. He was to be buried Monday at 3 P.M.
Ilan Avisedris, 41, was to be buried in Be'er Sheva at 3 P.M. and Yehuda Haim, 48, was to be laid to rest at the Givat Shaul cemetery.
Yaffa Ben-Shimol, 57, was laid to rest at midday Monday in Jerusalem. Lior Azulai, 18, Benaya Jonathan Zuckerman, 18, Nathaniel Havshsush 20, and Yuval Ozana, 31, were buried Sunday.
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade claimed responsibility for the attack on Egged bus No. 14, which blew up during Sunday's morning rush hour, killing eight and wounding over 70 others.
IDF soldiers Sunday night demolished the house of the suicide bomber who carried out the attack, in the village of Hussan near the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Israel Radio said Monday.
Security forces were on high alert thoughout Israel Monday, for fear of terror attacks timed to coincide with the opening of an International Court of Justice hearing in the Hague over the legality of the West Bank fence.
As the morning dawned, there were 52 active alerts of attacks, Israel Radio reported. Security forces were on the second-highest of five stages, just one stage down from a state of emergency, Army Radio said.
Government sources in Jerusalem said Sunday that Israel would not launch a harsh military response to the suicide bombing on a bus in the capital during the morning rush hour, which killed eight people and wounded 72 others.
The remarks followed a meeting between Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz held after the weekly cabinet meeting.
Security forces also went on heightened alert Sunday, due to terror warnings and the debate on the separation fence at The Hague, which is due to begin Monday.
Army Radio said that large numbers of troops were to be deployed along Green Line and around the Jerusalem Envelope, and that roadblocks were to be erected at the approaches to the major cities.
Military sources said Sunday that there will be no choice but to operate in Bethlehem in the near future, as there has been a significant rise in terrorist activities in the city over the past few months.
The suicide bomber who blew himself up on a Jerusalem bus at the end of January and killed 11 people was also dispatched from Bethlehem.
Sharon and Mofaz met for two hours, during which they were updated on the details of the suicide attack and discussed possible Israeli responses. Mofaz was also to convene a meeting of security officials later in the day, for a further assessment of how to respond to the bombing.
Sharon, addressing a tourism conference Sunday evening, said, "Today in Jerusalem, we received a painful reminder of the cruelty of Palestinian terrorism." He did not indicate what Israel's response would be.
The IDF on Sunday reinstated its siege on Bethlehem and arrested several members of the suicide bomber's family in Hussan.
A statement released by the militant group, associated with Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, named the bomber as Mohammed Za'ul, 23, and made a reference to the separation fence being built by Israel.
Za'ul was married and a father to a child. His wife is reportedly pregnant.
The communique called the barrier "a Nazi wall which will not stop us attacking." The statement also claimed the attack was in retaliation for the killing of 15 Palestinians during an IDF operation in the Gaza Strip on February 11.
The blast took place at around 8:30 A.M. in the neighborhood of Rehavia, close to Liberty Bell Park. The bus, travelling to the Beit Hakerem neighborhood, is usually very crowded at that time of day.
According to Israel Radio, a Ministry of Transportation security guard scoured the bus and disembarked three stops before the place of the explosion.
All the wounded were evacuated from the scene of the blast to Hadassah University Hospital, Ein Karem, Hadassah University Hospital, Mt Scopus, Bikur Holim and Shaare Zedek Medical Center in the capital.
One of the wounded was in critical condition at Hadassah University Hospital, Ein Karem, while six others were seriously wounded.
[b]Last Update: 23/02/2004 15:34
[i]By Haaretz Staff and Agencies [/b][/i]
Four of the eight victims of Sunday's suicide bombing in Jerusalem were laid to rest Monday afternoon. The eighth victim of the attack was identified Monday as Rahamiam Rami Duga, 37, from Mevasseret Zion. He was to be buried Monday at 3 P.M.
Ilan Avisedris, 41, was to be buried in Be'er Sheva at 3 P.M. and Yehuda Haim, 48, was to be laid to rest at the Givat Shaul cemetery.
Yaffa Ben-Shimol, 57, was laid to rest at midday Monday in Jerusalem. Lior Azulai, 18, Benaya Jonathan Zuckerman, 18, Nathaniel Havshsush 20, and Yuval Ozana, 31, were buried Sunday.
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade claimed responsibility for the attack on Egged bus No. 14, which blew up during Sunday's morning rush hour, killing eight and wounding over 70 others.
IDF soldiers Sunday night demolished the house of the suicide bomber who carried out the attack, in the village of Hussan near the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Israel Radio said Monday.
Security forces were on high alert thoughout Israel Monday, for fear of terror attacks timed to coincide with the opening of an International Court of Justice hearing in the Hague over the legality of the West Bank fence.
As the morning dawned, there were 52 active alerts of attacks, Israel Radio reported. Security forces were on the second-highest of five stages, just one stage down from a state of emergency, Army Radio said.
Government sources in Jerusalem said Sunday that Israel would not launch a harsh military response to the suicide bombing on a bus in the capital during the morning rush hour, which killed eight people and wounded 72 others.
The remarks followed a meeting between Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz held after the weekly cabinet meeting.
Security forces also went on heightened alert Sunday, due to terror warnings and the debate on the separation fence at The Hague, which is due to begin Monday.
Army Radio said that large numbers of troops were to be deployed along Green Line and around the Jerusalem Envelope, and that roadblocks were to be erected at the approaches to the major cities.
Military sources said Sunday that there will be no choice but to operate in Bethlehem in the near future, as there has been a significant rise in terrorist activities in the city over the past few months.
The suicide bomber who blew himself up on a Jerusalem bus at the end of January and killed 11 people was also dispatched from Bethlehem.
Sharon and Mofaz met for two hours, during which they were updated on the details of the suicide attack and discussed possible Israeli responses. Mofaz was also to convene a meeting of security officials later in the day, for a further assessment of how to respond to the bombing.
Sharon, addressing a tourism conference Sunday evening, said, "Today in Jerusalem, we received a painful reminder of the cruelty of Palestinian terrorism." He did not indicate what Israel's response would be.
The IDF on Sunday reinstated its siege on Bethlehem and arrested several members of the suicide bomber's family in Hussan.
A statement released by the militant group, associated with Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, named the bomber as Mohammed Za'ul, 23, and made a reference to the separation fence being built by Israel.
Za'ul was married and a father to a child. His wife is reportedly pregnant.
The communique called the barrier "a Nazi wall which will not stop us attacking." The statement also claimed the attack was in retaliation for the killing of 15 Palestinians during an IDF operation in the Gaza Strip on February 11.
The blast took place at around 8:30 A.M. in the neighborhood of Rehavia, close to Liberty Bell Park. The bus, travelling to the Beit Hakerem neighborhood, is usually very crowded at that time of day.
According to Israel Radio, a Ministry of Transportation security guard scoured the bus and disembarked three stops before the place of the explosion.
All the wounded were evacuated from the scene of the blast to Hadassah University Hospital, Ein Karem, Hadassah University Hospital, Mt Scopus, Bikur Holim and Shaare Zedek Medical Center in the capital.
One of the wounded was in critical condition at Hadassah University Hospital, Ein Karem, while six others were seriously wounded.
New Music!
02.22.04 (7:21 pm) [edit]
So I have new music, finally. SO Uplifting!
This is [i]Everyday[/i] by Dave Matthews Band; the title song for their album 'Everyday.'
This is an awesome song with a great message so I thought it fitting to put it here until I can find another one of their songs that I want to put up in which is ideal.
I hope you like it! Tell me what you think!
Homicide; a Poem
02.22.04 (4:07 pm) [edit]
I wrote this poem last night after I watched the live footage from Jerusalem. As I watched the bloodied and mangled bodies, the people in the streets screaming and crying, I started to cry. This poem is my reaction. It's also included in an earlier post. I reposted it again because I think that it should definatly be read by all.
[b][u][i]Homicide[/i][/u] by RedTigress[/b]
Can you look someone in the eye,
And tell them they must die,
Because they were born not like you?
How many more must cry?
How many more must sigh?
How many more mustn't be able to even tell their loved ones, "I love you!"
Babies who ache for their mothers.
Mommies whose arms are empty.
Fathers whose tears run down like rain from the shudders.
How many more must there be?
02.22.04 (3:50 pm) [edit]
[b]Last Update: 22/02/2004 23:16
[i]By Gideon Alon, Haaretz Correspondent, Haaretz Service and News Agencies [/b]
[/i]
The United Nations envoy to the Middle East, Terje Rode-Larsen, on Sunday condemned the suicide bombing in Jerusalem that claimed eight lives as a war crime, Army Radio reported.
But Larsen also cautioned that Palestinian terrorism should not be allowed to hijack Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to evacuate the settlements in the Gaza Strip, the radio said.
The suicide bomber, sent by Fatah-aligned Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, struck on Egged bus No. 14 at little after 8:30 A.M., killing the eight and wounding another 66 people.
Washington also strongly condemned the bombing.
"We do note the Palestinian authority's comments... However, it is time to move beyond words and take action to dismantle these terrorist networks," a White House spokesman said.
Speaking earlier in the day from a Jerusalem hospital, where he was visiting some of those wounded in the attack, Health Minister Dan Naveh said that, "On the day that the International Court opens its deliberations on the security fence, we will be burying our dead."
On Monday, the International Court of Justice is scheduled to begin deliberations on the legality of the separation fence Israel is building in the West Bank.
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz told government ministers that the terrorists behind the suicide bombing were likely motivated by the start of the court deliberations in The Hague.
During Mofaz's briefing to ministers at the weekly cabinet meeting - just a few hours after the bus bombing - Mofaz said that the barrier was instrumental in preventing attacks on Israelis.
The defense minister added that the terrorists likely wanted to show that the separation fence is ineffective, but stressed that "we know the fence is effective and contributed to the dramatic decrease in the possibility of executing attacks launched from areas where it has been erected."
Justice Minister Yosef Lapid told Channel 10 on Sunday that the Jerusalem attack was an answer to allegations against Israel at the ICJ deliberations in The Hague over the legality of the West Bank fence. He said that the suicide bombing would not have happened had there been a fence in the capital.
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said Sunday that the suicide bombing once again proves the importance of the separation fence.
"In places where the fence has not been built suicide terrorists can enter Israel to hurt innocent civilians," Shalom told cabinet ministers Sunday. "The fence was built due to the need to save lives."
Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia (Abu Ala) issued a statement condemning the attack, calling for "an immediate halt to these actions," which he said give Israel an excuse to continue building the barrier and carrying out raids against militants.
Palestinian Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat condemned the attack and urged "the United States to step up its efforts to revive the peace process."
Palestinian Cabinet Minister Jamal Shobaki said the Jerusalem bombing was contrary to the interests of the Palestinian people and that it was an attempt to hurt Palestinian Authority efforts to battle Israel's plans for unilateral separation.
[b]Last Update: 22/02/2004 23:16
[i]By Gideon Alon, Haaretz Correspondent, Haaretz Service and News Agencies [/b]
[/i]
The United Nations envoy to the Middle East, Terje Rode-Larsen, on Sunday condemned the suicide bombing in Jerusalem that claimed eight lives as a war crime, Army Radio reported.
But Larsen also cautioned that Palestinian terrorism should not be allowed to hijack Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to evacuate the settlements in the Gaza Strip, the radio said.
The suicide bomber, sent by Fatah-aligned Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, struck on Egged bus No. 14 at little after 8:30 A.M., killing the eight and wounding another 66 people.
Washington also strongly condemned the bombing.
"We do note the Palestinian authority's comments... However, it is time to move beyond words and take action to dismantle these terrorist networks," a White House spokesman said.
Speaking earlier in the day from a Jerusalem hospital, where he was visiting some of those wounded in the attack, Health Minister Dan Naveh said that, "On the day that the International Court opens its deliberations on the security fence, we will be burying our dead."
On Monday, the International Court of Justice is scheduled to begin deliberations on the legality of the separation fence Israel is building in the West Bank.
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz told government ministers that the terrorists behind the suicide bombing were likely motivated by the start of the court deliberations in The Hague.
During Mofaz's briefing to ministers at the weekly cabinet meeting - just a few hours after the bus bombing - Mofaz said that the barrier was instrumental in preventing attacks on Israelis.
The defense minister added that the terrorists likely wanted to show that the separation fence is ineffective, but stressed that "we know the fence is effective and contributed to the dramatic decrease in the possibility of executing attacks launched from areas where it has been erected."
Justice Minister Yosef Lapid told Channel 10 on Sunday that the Jerusalem attack was an answer to allegations against Israel at the ICJ deliberations in The Hague over the legality of the West Bank fence. He said that the suicide bombing would not have happened had there been a fence in the capital.
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said Sunday that the suicide bombing once again proves the importance of the separation fence.
"In places where the fence has not been built suicide terrorists can enter Israel to hurt innocent civilians," Shalom told cabinet ministers Sunday. "The fence was built due to the need to save lives."
Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia (Abu Ala) issued a statement condemning the attack, calling for "an immediate halt to these actions," which he said give Israel an excuse to continue building the barrier and carrying out raids against militants.
Palestinian Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat condemned the attack and urged "the United States to step up its efforts to revive the peace process."
Palestinian Cabinet Minister Jamal Shobaki said the Jerusalem bombing was contrary to the interests of the Palestinian people and that it was an attempt to hurt Palestinian Authority efforts to battle Israel's plans for unilateral separation.
Are Jews Normal?
02.22.04 (3:46 pm) [edit][i][b]by Rabbi Manis Friedman[/b][/i]
If you ask someone coming out of a church “Do you believe in G-d?” the worshiper is shocked. “What type of question is that? Of course I do, that’s why I’m here.”
But when you walk into a synagogue on Yom Kippur and ask a Jew, “Do you believe in G-d?” the Jew is quiet. “I don’t know, I’m not a rabbi.” “Do you consider yourself religious?” They break into laughter and assure you that they’re the furthest thing from religious. “Are you kidding? Do you know what I eat for breakfast?”
So you ask the logical question. “What are you doing in a synagogue?” But the Jew is shocked. “What type of question is that? It's Yom Kippur!"
To be sure, the worshiper and the Jew are shocked for very different reasons. The worshiper is shocked that you question his belief. The Jew is shocked that you question his Jewishness. Judaism is not a religion that we practice, nor a belief that we prescribe to - it's who we are and what we are.
While the Jew may insist “I don't want to be religious, I don't want to believe in G-d,” on Yom Kippur he’s in a synagogue. Why? G-d wants me here, so here I am.
But isn’t this hypocrisy? On the contrary, Torah views this very irrationality as the essence of the Jew. It is this insanity that makes us Jewish.
Subjective opinions to an objective truth; I am a Jew even if I’m not religious, and G-d is G-d even when I don’t believe.
History of Palestinians
02.22.04 (3:20 pm) [edit]Now that I have your attention with the controversial title, you can go to this link that demonstrates the reality above mentioned...
This is a must read:
http://www.geocities.com/palestiniansarelies/" title="http://www.geocities.com/palestiniansarelies/" target="_blank"http://www.geocities.com/pale...
[b]The [i]TRUTH[/i] shall be known![/b]
France is Almost Finished
02.22.04 (3:15 pm) [edit]Sentiments in this article may or may not reflect those of RedTigress.
[line]
[i][b]By Guy Milliere[/i]
FrontPageMagazine.com [/b]
Little by little, the French government tries to change its behavior. The smell of Allied victory wafting out of Bhagdad maybe? You can expect Chirac and Villepin to say: we have always loved the United States. We are your friends, no hard feelings... I just hope nobody will believe it in the United States. If within a few days, Chirac and Villepin say this, think about it: it’s ALL about the money. They want to try to keep some of their Iraqi contracts intact. They want the United States to go back to the United Nations where they can again paralyze you with their vetoes and their
counter-proposals.
I'm sorry to say it, but nothing good for the U.S. can come from France now.
Some day in the future this may change, but the French will have to learn their lessons the hard way. They have to feel the pain, unlike the citizens of Poland. The Polish see what they owe to the United States. A little more than ten years ago, they were under the rule of a communist dictatorship and they remember it is thanks to the United States that they were freed from that nightmare. The French people will have to see what a nightmare looks like before you can take their apologies seriously.
Be patient, the nightmare is almost upon us.
Economically speaking, France is decaying, full speed. Unemployment is officially around ten per cent. If you add the people who have never worked and so are not counted for the statistics, and also add the students who study nothing useful, the right number would be way above fifteen per cent. Growth rate is now officially around one per cent, and it includes government activities: if the government component was not included, it would be easy to see that France is in depression. Her population is growing old, and no money is available to take care of the large number of senior citizens in the years to come. The greater part of young people are Muslim, not integrated with French society, and almost illiterate.
In fact, the only things that are growing in France right now are crime and Islamism. Some readers have been amazed by the fact that teenaged girls and young women in many city districts have to wear the Islamic veil if they do not want to be harassed, but it gets worse. A few weeks ago, a young Arab burnt a teenaged girl alive in the suburbs of Paris. He was convicted of murder, but he became a hero and an example for other young Arabs living in the same kind of areas. Two month ago, ten Arab men who raped another teenaged girl in another district were convicted and condemned to spend five years in jail. Yes, just five years. Their families left the court of justice shouting to the journalists it was unfair and they would look out for revenge. Eight days later, the court was burnt down during the night. The teenaged girl and her family have had to leave Paris, and hide in another part of the country.
I have written columns in the French press concerning what’s happening. The response has been death threats, with color pictures of slit throats, anti-Semitic insults. There were Muslims in France thirty years ago, but they were not like the Muslims of today. They were moderate, they did not feel they could wield decisive political power in France, they did not think they were at war against western civilization. Now it’s clear that they think they are at war. Very few people are in jail in France (France does not have enough jails), but more than sixty per cent of the convicts are Muslims, and Islamist imams visit them on a weekly basis. My wife was born in a Muslim family. She’s not a Muslim anymore, and because she left Islam, she risks being killed if she says it openly. My wife’s mother is still Muslim, but she is a moderate, and she’s afraid to be considered a traitor by the much more radical Muslims that are spreading throughout France.
Within twenty years, Muslims will be a majority in France. And if nothing changes, they will be radical Muslims.
The French government takes care of the present: it knows it cannot take care of the future because there is no future. The French government acts like a traitor to its old allies for many reasons: because it has no principles, because it needs money, but especially because it is afraid of bloody riots. France is not a sovereign nation anymore: it’s partly ruled by the mob, partly ruled from the outside by corrupting Muslim tyrants. But don’t worry, France also has no importance anymore: it can still bark, but it’s bite is more like a nip.
France is almost finished. The nightmare is almost here. France has to know the horrors of the nightmare if you want her to have a chance to wake up. Sure, you may find some exceptions to the rule. France has some decent intellectuals: but they have about the same access to the mainstream media that dissenters had in the Soviet Union twenty years ago. France has bold politicians: one, maybe two if I want to be extremely generous. France still has genuine journalists: you could count them on the fingers of one hand. For the next years, come to France if you want, visit old monuments, but do not expect to be understood or appreciated by the locals. Behave as you would in a third world country; soon France will be a third world country. Perhaps it will wake up with a start, but who knows? Right now, if you read the polls, only 53% of the French hope the U.S. army will defeat Saddam: the rest hope the United States will be defeated and Saddam will win...
Do you really want France to have a word to say in the re-building of Iraq after Saddam is defeated?
Stunning 6min Video of PA Call for Death!
02.22.04 (3:08 pm) [edit]This is one of the most disturbing and shockingly horrid things I have seen.
They encourage their children to kill and be killed!
http://www.isratv.com/video/filmpmwadsl.asx" title="http://www.isratv.com/video/filmpmwadsl.asx" target="_blank"http://www.isratv.com/video/f...
The faint of heart may not want to view this. Viewer discretion is advised.
5th Avenue, NY. May 23, 2004! BE THERE! RAIN OR SHINE!
02.22.04 (12:06 pm) [edit]Come march with us!
The single largest gathering the world in support of Israel!
http://www.salutetoisrael.com/" title="http://www.salutetoisrael.com/" target="_blank"http://www.salutetoisrael.com...
[b]The Salute to Israel parade!!!![/b]
Check it out and be a part of it! You can change the world!
-- REUTERS: ADL IS A 'PRESSURE GROUP' --
02.22.04 (11:51 am) [edit]
From a Reuters ( http://story.news.yahoo.com/n... ) article on Mel Gibson's controversial new movie, "The Passion of the Christ":
[i]In an interview with Reuters Television after he met Vatican officials, Abraham Foxman, U.S. director of the Anti-Defamation League, an independent Jewish pressure group, said the film portrayed Jews as bloodthirsty and vengeful.[/i]
In Reuters-land, the ADL is a "pressure group," yet the ADL's Muslim counterpart, The Council on American Islamic Relations is "an Islamic civil rights and advocacy group. ( http://in.news.yahoo.com/0306... )"
(Hat tip: James Taranto -- http://www.opinionjournal.com... )
As HonestReporting continues to fight against Reuters' bias, we acknowledge the fine work ( http://www.nationalreview.com... ) of CAMERA to help bring about positive change at Reuters.
[i]Thank you for your ongoing involvement in the battle against media bias.
HonestReporting.com[/i]
NY Times Rebalances Al Jazeera
02.22.04 (11:47 am) [edit][b][i]The Times misleads its readers on the Qatari media outlet's ideological agenda.[/i][/b]
[i]Al Jazeera's Studio [/i]
On Feb. 16, the New York Times ( http://www.nytimes.com/auth/l...://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/16/business/m edia/16arabtv.html ) ran a highly sympathetic profile of Al Jazeera, the Qatar-based media outlet that became well-known in the West by broadcasting taped statements by Osama bin Laden. (This article was also published in the Times-owned International Herald Tribune. -- http://www.iht.com/articles/1... )
Under a headline declaring that Al Jazeera produces "Balanced Coverage," the Times article is filled with flattering quotes on Al Jazeera's effort to supply "comprehensive and accurate" news coverage, its lack of "ideological aim," and noble goal to "bridge the gap" between East and West. An Al Jazeera spokesman argues that since the station is criticized by both the Pentagon and Arab regimes, this "is a sign that what we are doing is right." The Times article supports that view ― failing to cite any of the myriad examples of anti-Israel, anti-Semitic, and anti-Western material that characterize Al Jazeera coverage.
Consider:
▪ The Al Jazeera website has a special section ( http://english.aljazeera.net/... ) on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, which amounts to a slick ideological assault against Israel and the facts. Among the countless examples: President Bush ( http://english.aljazeera.net/... ) has given Ariel Sharon a "licence to kill" to eradicate "Palestinian nationalism," suicide terrorists ( http://english.aljazeera.net/... ) are euphemized as "self-sacrificing fighters," and a review of "massacres ( http://english.aljazeera.net/... )" in the Arab-Israeli conflict contains only examples of Israeli acts, with no Arab acts mentioned. This is what the Times calls "balanced coverage"?
▪ Far from "neutral," Al Jazeera journalists actively supported anti-American forces in Iraq: In November, US Defense Secretary Rumsfeld ( http://www.kansas.com/mld/kan... ) announced evidence that Al-Jazeera and another Arab media outlet cooperated with Iraqi forces to witness and videotape attacks on American troops. Al Jazeera's ( http://www.washingtonpost.com...¬Found=true ) presentation of Americans as barbaric, and Saddam Hussein's regime as heroic, were so outlandish that when Hussein was captured in a hole, an Egyptian government official ( http://www.foxnews.com/story/...,2933,83704,00.html ) said, "We discovered that all what the [Iraqi] information minister was saying was all lies... Now no one believes Al-Jazeera anymore."
No one except the New York Times, that is.
As journalist and commentator Tom Gross ( http://www.nationalreview.com... ) says, "This New York Times story is an example of how the paper, through the myth of 'objectivity,' subtly misleads its readers on Mideast issues on an almost daily basis." Al Jazeera, with 35 million daily viewers and plans to enter North American cable, is a growing force in propagating anti-Israel and anti-American lies under the guise of objective "news." New York Times readers, unfortunately, are left in the dark regarding this aspect of the "balanced" Arab media outlet.
Comments to New York Times: letters@nytimes.com
Cartoonists Cox and Forkum ( http://www.coxandforkum.com/a... ) provide an appropriate satire of Al Jazeera's "news coverage":
[i]Thank you for your ongoing involvement in the battle against media bias.
HonestReporting.com[/i]
02.22.04 (11:30 am) [edit]
[b]Sun Feb 22, 1:37 AM ET[/b]
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - An explosion rocked Jerusalem on Sunday near a hotel where U.S. Jewish leaders were holding a conference, witnesses said.
Ambulances raced to the scene, near the Inbal Hotel. Israel Radio said a bus may have exploded and there were apparently casualties.
[b]Sun Feb 22, 1:37 AM ET[/b]
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - An explosion rocked Jerusalem on Sunday near a hotel where U.S. Jewish leaders were holding a conference, witnesses said.
Ambulances raced to the scene, near the Inbal Hotel. Israel Radio said a bus may have exploded and there were apparently casualties.
02.22.04 (11:28 am) [edit]
[b]Sun Feb 22, 4:58 AM ET
[i]By The Associated Press[/b] [/i]
During more than three years of fighting, 461 people have been killed in 110 Palestinian suicide bombings. Here's a look at some of the deadliest suicide attacks:
_ Feb. 22: A bus in downtown Jerusalem, killing seven.
_Jan. 29: A bus on Jerusalem's Gaza Street, killing 10 people.
_Oct. 4, 2003: A seaside restaurant in Haifa, killing at least 19.
_Sept. 9, 2003: Cafe Hillel in Jerusalem, killing seven.
_Sept. 9, 2003: A bus stop near an army base outside Tel Aviv, killing eight Israeli soldiers.
_Aug. 19, 2003: A bus in Jerusalem, killing 23.
_June 11, 2003: A bus on Jerusalem's central Jaffa Street, killing 17.
_May 18, 2003: A bus at Jerusalem's French Hill neighborhood, killing seven.
_March 5, 2003: A bus in Haifa, killing 17.
_Jan. 5, 2003: Two bombers strike the Neve Shaanan pedestrian mall in Tel Aviv, killing 23.
_Nov. 21, 2002: A bus in Jerusalem, killing 11.
_Oct. 21, 2002: A bus at the Karkur Junction in northern Israel, killing 14.
_Aug. 4, 2002: A bus at the Meron Junction in northern Israel, killing eight.
_June 19, 2002: French Hill intersection in Jerusalem, killing seven.
_June 18, 2002: Patt Junction in southern Jerusalem, killing 19.
_June 5, 2002: Bus near Megiddo Junction in northern Israel, killing 17.
_May 7, 2002: A pool hall in the Tel Aviv suburb of Rishon Letzion, killing 15.
_April 10, 2002: A bus in Haifa, killing eight.
_March 31, 2002: A restaurant in Haifa, killing 15.
_March 27, 2002: A hotel dining room during a ritual Seder meal at the start of Passover in the city of Netanya, killing 29.
_March 20, 2002: A bus near village of Kfar Musmus, killing seven.
_March 9, 2002: Jerusalem's Moment Cafe, killing 11.
_March 2, 2002: Jerusalem's Ultra-Orthodox Mea Shearim neighborhood, killing 11.
_Dec. 2, 2001: A bus in the coastal city of Haifa, killing 15.
_Dec. 1, 2001: Two bombers strike Jerusalem's Ben Yehuda pedestrian mall, killing 11.
_Aug. 9, 2001: Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem, killing 15.
_June 1, 2001: The entrance of the Dolphinarium seaside disco in Tel Aviv — killing 21, mostly teenagers.
[b]Sun Feb 22, 4:58 AM ET
[i]By The Associated Press[/b] [/i]
During more than three years of fighting, 461 people have been killed in 110 Palestinian suicide bombings. Here's a look at some of the deadliest suicide attacks:
_ Feb. 22: A bus in downtown Jerusalem, killing seven.
_Jan. 29: A bus on Jerusalem's Gaza Street, killing 10 people.
_Oct. 4, 2003: A seaside restaurant in Haifa, killing at least 19.
_Sept. 9, 2003: Cafe Hillel in Jerusalem, killing seven.
_Sept. 9, 2003: A bus stop near an army base outside Tel Aviv, killing eight Israeli soldiers.
_Aug. 19, 2003: A bus in Jerusalem, killing 23.
_June 11, 2003: A bus on Jerusalem's central Jaffa Street, killing 17.
_May 18, 2003: A bus at Jerusalem's French Hill neighborhood, killing seven.
_March 5, 2003: A bus in Haifa, killing 17.
_Jan. 5, 2003: Two bombers strike the Neve Shaanan pedestrian mall in Tel Aviv, killing 23.
_Nov. 21, 2002: A bus in Jerusalem, killing 11.
_Oct. 21, 2002: A bus at the Karkur Junction in northern Israel, killing 14.
_Aug. 4, 2002: A bus at the Meron Junction in northern Israel, killing eight.
_June 19, 2002: French Hill intersection in Jerusalem, killing seven.
_June 18, 2002: Patt Junction in southern Jerusalem, killing 19.
_June 5, 2002: Bus near Megiddo Junction in northern Israel, killing 17.
_May 7, 2002: A pool hall in the Tel Aviv suburb of Rishon Letzion, killing 15.
_April 10, 2002: A bus in Haifa, killing eight.
_March 31, 2002: A restaurant in Haifa, killing 15.
_March 27, 2002: A hotel dining room during a ritual Seder meal at the start of Passover in the city of Netanya, killing 29.
_March 20, 2002: A bus near village of Kfar Musmus, killing seven.
_March 9, 2002: Jerusalem's Moment Cafe, killing 11.
_March 2, 2002: Jerusalem's Ultra-Orthodox Mea Shearim neighborhood, killing 11.
_Dec. 2, 2001: A bus in the coastal city of Haifa, killing 15.
_Dec. 1, 2001: Two bombers strike Jerusalem's Ben Yehuda pedestrian mall, killing 11.
_Aug. 9, 2001: Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem, killing 15.
_June 1, 2001: The entrance of the Dolphinarium seaside disco in Tel Aviv — killing 21, mostly teenagers.
02.22.04 (11:23 am) [edit]
[b]DEBKAfile Special Analysis http://www.debka.com
February 22, 2004, 1:57 PM (GMT+02:00)[/b]
[i]Ordered from Ramallah, executed from Bethlehem[/i]
Sunday’s suicide bombing by Arafat’s al Aqsa Brigades of Jerusalem bus No. 14, in which at least 7 Israelis died and 62 were hurt, was not unexpected. It occurred just three weeks after a similar blast aboard a No. 19 bus outside the prime minister’s residence in the capital killed 12 Israelis. The wreckage was hauled to Hague and parked outside the international court in time for the Monday, February 23, opening of its hearings on the legality of Israel’s unfinished defense barrier. Two security guards swept the bus interior shortly before the blast but did not suspect the bomber, Mohammed Za'ul from the Bethlehem village of Hussan.
Like posting guards, the barrier is no better than a half-measure against the suicide bombers, designed to slow the passage of Palestinian terrorists from the West Bank into Israel. Work on the Jerusalem section has in any case been held up for months. The attack should not have been unexpected because on Wednesday, February 11, Yasser Arafat – as DEBKAfile reported (Enraged Arafat Orders All-out Terror) – issued an explicit order to all Palestinian groups, including his own, to hit Israeli targets with all their strength everywhere in order to sabotage Sharon’s unilateral proposals come what may. Hamas ordered “huge martyrs’ operations” in revenge for the 14 armed Palestinians killed battling an Israeli counter-terror operation into Gaza. Israeli security authorities were surely experienced enough after three and a half years of contending with Palestinian terror to predict that Arafat would launch his next terror offensive to coincide with one or more of three events: last week’s visit to Jerusalem of three high US officials to study Sharon’s proposals, Monday’s opening of the Hague court hearing, or the presence in Israel of American Jewish leaders received by the Moroccan king before arriving for a conference at the Jerusalem Inbal Hotel.
The Sunday attack, timed also for the rush hour on Sunday, February 22, the week’s first working and school day in Israel, coincided with the latter two events and was therefore predictable.
In fact the blast shook the Inbal Hotel during a lecture by chief of staff Lt.-Gen. Moshe Yaalon to members of the Conference of President of US Jewish Organizations.
Anyone familiar with Arafat’s modus operandi knows that once he sets his mind on a terrorist campaign, nothing will deter him from its implementation, whether lures or penalties. Israel’s defensive measures such as physical barriers are irrelevant to his resolve.
The last to discover this determination was Mohammed Dahlan, whose name has come up as security administrator or coordinator for the Gaza Strip during the Israeli evacuation. Dahlan visited Arafat in Ramallah Thursday, February 19, on the pretext of reconciliation – they have been at daggers drawn since the former Gaza strongman joined the Abu Mazen government which Arafat toppled last year. He was really after Arafat’s consent to a pause in suicide attacks during the transition period.
Arafat no longer bothers to pretend that he and the terrorist chiefs he shelters from Israeli capture at his Ramallah headquarters have nothing to do with the suicide attacks. He makes no bones to Palestinian visitors that it is he and his top team who chart operations and choose their targets, even when carried out by other groups. Dahlan therefore went to the boss. He was sharply rebuffed. Arafat refused to cooperate.
In the latest two terrorist attacks in Jerusalem, Arafat signaled unmistakably that come hell or high water his dedication to all-out terror is unshakeable.
Scarcely one hour after the Jerusalem bombing Sunday, al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, the suicide arm of his own Fatah, assumed responsibility and proudly named the suicide killer as Muhammad Za’ul from the village of Husan in the Palestinian-controlled Bethlehem district, the newest Palestinian terror hub, which was promptly placed under curfew. The announcement belied claims by various pundits that Fatah would hardly have acted in a way counterproductive to the Palestinian case at the Hague court. They therefore wrongly attributed it to the Islamic radical Hamas or Jihad Islami.
However, three weeks ago, Arafat just as recklessly jeopardized the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails under a deal with the Hizballah. As they waited at checkpoints for permission to cross over into the West Bank, the previous bus blast was staged outside Sharon’s home. Israel went through with the trade but it was touch and go.
Malcolm Hoenlein, a leader of the Conference of Presidents of major American Jewish Organizations, said tersely after viewing the carnage Sunday: Arafat should be on trial in the Hague, not Israel. Ariel Sharon opened the weekly cabinet session with nary a word on the latest terrorist atrocity which took place only a few minutes’ drive away from the cabinet room.
Early reports after the Sunday assault spoke of a chemical poison, organic phosphorus, discovered on the wrecked bus near the exploded bomb which was also laced with sharp metal shards. Police sent samples of the chemical to the hospitals treating the injured, but later backtracked on the finding, saying it might have been in the pocket of an injured passenger and needed further investigation. Police commissioner Moshe Aronishki told reporters that Palestinian groups have been trying for some time to introduce unconventional weapons to raise the number of victims of their suicide attacks.
[b]DEBKAfile Special Analysis http://www.debka.com
February 22, 2004, 1:57 PM (GMT+02:00)[/b]
[i]Ordered from Ramallah, executed from Bethlehem[/i]
Sunday’s suicide bombing by Arafat’s al Aqsa Brigades of Jerusalem bus No. 14, in which at least 7 Israelis died and 62 were hurt, was not unexpected. It occurred just three weeks after a similar blast aboard a No. 19 bus outside the prime minister’s residence in the capital killed 12 Israelis. The wreckage was hauled to Hague and parked outside the international court in time for the Monday, February 23, opening of its hearings on the legality of Israel’s unfinished defense barrier. Two security guards swept the bus interior shortly before the blast but did not suspect the bomber, Mohammed Za'ul from the Bethlehem village of Hussan.
Like posting guards, the barrier is no better than a half-measure against the suicide bombers, designed to slow the passage of Palestinian terrorists from the West Bank into Israel. Work on the Jerusalem section has in any case been held up for months. The attack should not have been unexpected because on Wednesday, February 11, Yasser Arafat – as DEBKAfile reported (Enraged Arafat Orders All-out Terror) – issued an explicit order to all Palestinian groups, including his own, to hit Israeli targets with all their strength everywhere in order to sabotage Sharon’s unilateral proposals come what may. Hamas ordered “huge martyrs’ operations” in revenge for the 14 armed Palestinians killed battling an Israeli counter-terror operation into Gaza. Israeli security authorities were surely experienced enough after three and a half years of contending with Palestinian terror to predict that Arafat would launch his next terror offensive to coincide with one or more of three events: last week’s visit to Jerusalem of three high US officials to study Sharon’s proposals, Monday’s opening of the Hague court hearing, or the presence in Israel of American Jewish leaders received by the Moroccan king before arriving for a conference at the Jerusalem Inbal Hotel.
The Sunday attack, timed also for the rush hour on Sunday, February 22, the week’s first working and school day in Israel, coincided with the latter two events and was therefore predictable.
In fact the blast shook the Inbal Hotel during a lecture by chief of staff Lt.-Gen. Moshe Yaalon to members of the Conference of President of US Jewish Organizations.
Anyone familiar with Arafat’s modus operandi knows that once he sets his mind on a terrorist campaign, nothing will deter him from its implementation, whether lures or penalties. Israel’s defensive measures such as physical barriers are irrelevant to his resolve.
The last to discover this determination was Mohammed Dahlan, whose name has come up as security administrator or coordinator for the Gaza Strip during the Israeli evacuation. Dahlan visited Arafat in Ramallah Thursday, February 19, on the pretext of reconciliation – they have been at daggers drawn since the former Gaza strongman joined the Abu Mazen government which Arafat toppled last year. He was really after Arafat’s consent to a pause in suicide attacks during the transition period.
Arafat no longer bothers to pretend that he and the terrorist chiefs he shelters from Israeli capture at his Ramallah headquarters have nothing to do with the suicide attacks. He makes no bones to Palestinian visitors that it is he and his top team who chart operations and choose their targets, even when carried out by other groups. Dahlan therefore went to the boss. He was sharply rebuffed. Arafat refused to cooperate.
In the latest two terrorist attacks in Jerusalem, Arafat signaled unmistakably that come hell or high water his dedication to all-out terror is unshakeable.
Scarcely one hour after the Jerusalem bombing Sunday, al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, the suicide arm of his own Fatah, assumed responsibility and proudly named the suicide killer as Muhammad Za’ul from the village of Husan in the Palestinian-controlled Bethlehem district, the newest Palestinian terror hub, which was promptly placed under curfew. The announcement belied claims by various pundits that Fatah would hardly have acted in a way counterproductive to the Palestinian case at the Hague court. They therefore wrongly attributed it to the Islamic radical Hamas or Jihad Islami.
However, three weeks ago, Arafat just as recklessly jeopardized the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails under a deal with the Hizballah. As they waited at checkpoints for permission to cross over into the West Bank, the previous bus blast was staged outside Sharon’s home. Israel went through with the trade but it was touch and go.
Malcolm Hoenlein, a leader of the Conference of Presidents of major American Jewish Organizations, said tersely after viewing the carnage Sunday: Arafat should be on trial in the Hague, not Israel. Ariel Sharon opened the weekly cabinet session with nary a word on the latest terrorist atrocity which took place only a few minutes’ drive away from the cabinet room.
Early reports after the Sunday assault spoke of a chemical poison, organic phosphorus, discovered on the wrecked bus near the exploded bomb which was also laced with sharp metal shards. Police sent samples of the chemical to the hospitals treating the injured, but later backtracked on the finding, saying it might have been in the pocket of an injured passenger and needed further investigation. Police commissioner Moshe Aronishki told reporters that Palestinian groups have been trying for some time to introduce unconventional weapons to raise the number of victims of their suicide attacks.
"People were screaming 'mommy, daddy'. There were body parts everywhere..."
02.22.04 (12:48 am) [edit][b]At Least Seven Dead in Jerusalem Bus Bombing
23 minutes ago
[i]By Dan Williams [/b][/i]
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A suicide bomber blew up on a crowded Israeli commuter bus in Jerusalem on Sunday, killing at least seven people and wounding dozens, police said.
The blast came a day before the World Court starts hearings on the legality of a barrier in the West Bank that Israel says keeps suicide bombers out, but which Palestinians call a land grab.
The explosion turned the green Egged number 14 bus into a charred skeleton at a busy intersection near the Inbal Hotel, where leaders of major U.S. Jewish organizations were meeting.
Jerusalem police chief Mickey Levy said a suicide bomber blew up in the middle of the bus during the morning rush hour at the start of the Israeli work week, killing at least seven people and wounding some 60.
"People were screaming 'mommy, daddy'. There were body parts everywhere including some hands and feet scattered outside the bus," medic Reuven Pohl said.
Weeping pedestrians streamed from the scene.
A Palestinian suicide bomber last struck in Jerusalem on January 29, killing 11 people on a bus.
The International Court of Justice in the Hague is due to start hearings on Monday on the legality of a barrier of wire and concrete that Israel is building inside the West Bank and which it says helps to stop bombings.
Palestinians call it an attempt to seal a hold on land that Israel has occupied since the 1967 Middle East war and where they want a state.
"This attack in Jerusalem is a grim reminder of Israel's need for a security fence to stop such terror in its tracks," said an official from Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office.
The Palestinian Authority condemned the bombing and said the world should step up efforts to end more than three years of conflict.
"We condemn this attack and we urge...especially the United States, to step up its efforts and revive the peace process because this is the only way to break this vicious cycle," Saeb Erekat, a Palestinian cabinet minister, told Reuters.
Minutes before the blast, Israeli work crews began tearing down an eight km-long section of the West Bank barrier that separated a Palestinian village from the rest of the territory.
The International Court of Justice in The Hague opens three days of hearings on the project on Monday and is to issue a non-binding opinion at the request of the United Nations.
02.21.04 (11:57 pm) [edit]
[b]As Palestinians are playing political games in Hague, the people of Israel must deal with the rising deathtoll and the safety of those wounded and every citizen of Israel. How many more men, women, and children must lose their lives at the expense of those who wish to kill us all!
[i]Homicide[/i] by RedTigress
Can you look someone in the eye,
And tell them they must die,
Because they were born not like you?
How many more must cry?
How many more must sigh?
How many more mustn't be able to even tell their loved ones, "I love you!"
Babies who ache for their mothers.
Mommies whose arms are empty.
Fathers whose tears run down like rain from the shudders.
How many more must there be?[/b]
[line]
[b]7 minutes ago
[i]By GAVIN RABINOWITZ, Associated Press Writer [/b][/i]
JERUSALEM - A suicide bombing on a crowded Jerusalem bus Sunday morning killed at least seven people and wounded 44 others, police and rescue workers said.
About 20 of the wounded were in serious and critical condition, rescue workers said.
The huge blast went off around 8:30 a.m. in the middle of the morning rush hour as the bus drove past a gas station. The explosion ripped apart the back of bus and scattered body parts and shattered glass across a two block radius.
Rescue workers at the scene were placing body parts into body bags.
"I heard a huge explosion and saw people running around and I just started crying," said Anne Reichart, a German tourist who was on a nearby bus.
Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said he condemned the attack and urged " the United States to step up its efforts to revive the peace process."
Israeli officials said the blast proved the need for the security barrier it was building in the West Bank.
"Palestinian terror continues to pose a clear and present threat to Israeli civilians," said David Baker, an official in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office.
[b]As Palestinians are playing political games in Hague, the people of Israel must deal with the rising deathtoll and the safety of those wounded and every citizen of Israel. How many more men, women, and children must lose their lives at the expense of those who wish to kill us all!
[i]Homicide[/i] by RedTigress
Can you look someone in the eye,
And tell them they must die,
Because they were born not like you?
How many more must cry?
How many more must sigh?
How many more mustn't be able to even tell their loved ones, "I love you!"
Babies who ache for their mothers.
Mommies whose arms are empty.
Fathers whose tears run down like rain from the shudders.
How many more must there be?[/b]
[line]
[b]7 minutes ago
[i]By GAVIN RABINOWITZ, Associated Press Writer [/b][/i]
JERUSALEM - A suicide bombing on a crowded Jerusalem bus Sunday morning killed at least seven people and wounded 44 others, police and rescue workers said.
About 20 of the wounded were in serious and critical condition, rescue workers said.
The huge blast went off around 8:30 a.m. in the middle of the morning rush hour as the bus drove past a gas station. The explosion ripped apart the back of bus and scattered body parts and shattered glass across a two block radius.
Rescue workers at the scene were placing body parts into body bags.
"I heard a huge explosion and saw people running around and I just started crying," said Anne Reichart, a German tourist who was on a nearby bus.
Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said he condemned the attack and urged " the United States to step up its efforts to revive the peace process."
Israeli officials said the blast proved the need for the security barrier it was building in the West Bank.
"Palestinian terror continues to pose a clear and present threat to Israeli civilians," said David Baker, an official in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office.
'The Fall of One Jew, Whether Soldier or Civilian, Is a Great Accomplishment'
02.21.04 (10:14 pm) [edit]Yea, tell me again how it's just a fight for freedom?
They don't fuckin' care about their Palestinian "brethren" or their fight for "emancipation." They just want to kill Jews. Anyone who thinks that suicide bombings are justifyable because it doesn't stem out of hateful ideology has had a fuckin' labotomy.
[line]
Lebanese Member of Parliament: [i]'The Fall of One Jew, Whether Soldier or Civilian, Is a Great Accomplishment'[/i]
Walid Jumblatt, chairman of the (Druze) Socialist Progressive Party and member of the Lebanese parliament, praised the January 14, 2004 suicide bombing by a Palestinian woman in Gaza. The following are excerpts from his statements: [1]
"Yesterday, the Palestinian mother Reem Al-Riyashi sacrificed herself, and by so doing joined the columns of the brave Jihad warriors and broke the atrocious and troublesome Arab silence, the helplessness, and the retreat that precede failure and disintegration. She offered hope in a sea of complacency, indecisiveness, and fear. It is a new Intifada. It is the Intifada of the revolutionary Palestinian woman and of the land, opposing the 'Jewification' [of Palestine], the Jewish reality, and the Arab regimes. Did it come out of despair?
"No, and again no. It is an act of belief and it is the correct path, because the fall of one Jew, whether soldier or civilian, is a great accomplishment in times of decline, subservience, and submissiveness, as a way to undermine the plan to 'Jewify' all of Palestine.
"I say 'Jew' and I apologize to the Lebanese intellectuals, or at least some of them, who welcomed the Geneva initiative, applauded it, and considered it an historical solution to the Middle East conflict. They play word games [and differentiate] between Jew and Israeli, between Right and Left, and between doves and hawks. Some of them may have forgotten, or pretend that they have forgotten, that basically Israel was the product of the Zionist Left starting with Weizmann, Ben-Gurion, and Peres through Yossi Beilin. Have they forgotten that the Labor Party went to war in 1967 and since then began to settle Jews in the West Bank? Even the separation wall today is the brainchild of the Labor Party during Barak's time… And there are those who made Rabin into a hero because of an obscure promise that we are still bragging about [concerning Israel's willingness to withdraw from the Golan Heights]. Wasn't he the one who instated [the practice of] breaking the bones of Palestinian detainees…? "Reem Al-Riyashi is the last roadblock. What is it that she and other [women] are seeking or demanding? A few weapons, explosives, or anti-tank missiles, [and to be able to pass] through Jordan, Rafiah, Lebanon, Syria, or any other possible doorway in order to prevent the 'Jewification' plan, or at least to delay it, while the [weapon] depots of the Arab armies are full to the brim…"
[line]
[1] Al-Nahar (Lebanon), January 19, 2004.
Jihad Unspun and Google News
02.21.04 (7:56 pm) [edit][i]A pure propaganda site is indexed by the innovative, popular Google News.[/i]
The Google ( http://www.google.com ) search engine is the most popular method in the world for finding information online, handling more than 200 million search requests a day. Building on their success, Google has now developed Google News ( www.news.google.com), a portal that is quickly becoming one of the most influential sources of world news.
Here's how it works: Google News has accepted thousands of news sources for inclusion in a pool, which Google's computer continually scans by algorithm to group articles by topic. When the user types in a search word, such as 'Israel', Google News presents links to hundreds of relevant news stories on that topic. (Greater prominence is given to articles more recently released, and more popular online.)
But with the proliferation of vitriolic anti-Israel and anti-Semitic material on the web (the number of neo-Nazi websites in Germany, for example, has tripled ( http://www.qlinks.net/items/q... ) in the past four years) and much of it deliberately disguised in 'news format', the question is: What does Google News consider a legitimate news source ― as opposed to fiction or propaganda? The Google News website ( http://news.google.com/intl/e... )states only:
[i]While the sources of the news vary in perspective and editorial approach, their selection for inclusion is done without regard to political viewpoint or ideology.[/i]
This goal to present a broad spectrum of viewpoints is praiseworthy, but HonestReporting is concerned with Google News' acceptance of one particular site ― Jihad Unspun http://www.jihadunspun.com/ho... ― as Mideast 'news', despite the site's record of blatantly distorting established facts, glorifying terror, and publishing highly defamatory anti-Semitic material. Jihad Unspun's articles appear prominently on searches ( http://news.google.com/news?h... ) for Israel-related topics on Google News. But click through, and this is what Jihad Unspun serves up:
― Outrageous 'Zionist conspiracy' theories, such as the canard that 9/11 was a sinister Zionist plot ( http://www.jihadunspun.net/ar... ), as were the recent Istanbul bombings: 'Zionist Intelligence Engineered Istanbul Blasts' --
― The authors generally refuse to call Israel by name, employing instead the terms 'Zionist forces' and 'Hebrew state'. Some examples:
http://www.jihadunspun.com/index-side_internal.php?article=90275&list=/h ome.php&" title="http://www.jihadunspun.com/index-side_internal.php?article=90275&list=/h ome.php&" target="_blank"http://www.jihadunspun.com/in... <--'Resistance Fighters Attack Zionist Vehicles' (i.e., deadly terror attacks on Israeli civilian cars) >http://www.jihadunspun.com/index-side_internal.php?article=91816&list=/h ome.php&" title="http://www.jihadunspun.com/index-side_internal.php?article=91816&list=/h ome.php&" target="_blank"http://www.jihadunspun.com/in... <--'Zionist Chief of Staff Promises More Suffering for Palestinians' >http://www.jihadunspun.com/index-side_internal.php?article=91739&list=/h ome.php&" title="http://www.jihadunspun.com/index-side_internal.php?article=91739&list=/h ome.php&" target="_blank"http://www.jihadunspun.com/in... <--'Hebrew State Refuses British Involvement'>http://www.jihadunspun.com/index-side_internal.php?article=91735&list=/h ome.php&" title="http://www.jihadunspun.com/index-side_internal.php?article=91735&list=/h ome.php&" target="_blank"http://www.jihadunspun.com/in... <--'Zionist Terrorist Forces Demolish More Palestinians Homes, Mosque'>
― [i]All of Israel[/i] is referred to as 'occupied territory' and all Israelis are 'settlers'. For example, a report ( http://www.jihadunspun.com/in... ) on the closing of the Sbarro's pizzeria, site of the horrific 2001 bombing, reads:
[i]Owners of a Zionist restaurant in central occupied Jerusalem have failed to convince customers to frequent it anew. Clients deserted the 'Subaru' restaurant after a Palestinian commando blew himself up in it about three years ago, killing 17 settlers and wounding tens others.[/i]
― The site publishes the writings of the rabidly anti-Semitic Edgar J. Steele, including an article ( http://www.jihadunspun.com/in... ) with these passages:
[i]It isn't Arabs rigging the US stock market and commodities futures markets - it is jews.
It wasn't Arabs who sent our military into Afghanistan and Iraq - it was jews
It wasn't Arabs who forged the Anne Frank "diary" - it was jews.
It wasn't Arabs who lied about gas chambers at Dachau and Auschwitz - it was jews.
It wasn't Arabs who demolished the World Trade Center - it was jews.
It wasn't Arabs who had Jesus Christ crucified - it was jews.[/i]
The owner and publisher ( http://www.jihadunspun.com/ar... ) of Jihad Unspun is Khadija Abdul Qahaar (a.k.a. Bev Kennedy), who converted to Islam after 9/11, became an advocate for its most radical fringe, then launched the website without any journalistic credentials.
While the site is duly protected by the First Amendment (we found no overt calls to murder), the material Jihad Unspun publishes does not meet a reasonable definition of 'news', but is rather anti-Israel and anti-American propaganda that [i]masquerades[/i] as news. Google News recognizes this loophole in its system ― in March of last year Google News responded to an email campaign protesting the inclusion of the radical Indymedia site (where the term 'Zionazis' was prevalent), and removed Indymedia from their service.
With the highly influential Google News still a work-in-progress (it remains in experimental 'beta' mode), HonestReporting encourages subscribers to write to Google News at news-feedback@google.com, encouraging the removal of Jihad Unspun from their list of legitimate news sites. Though the goal of providing a spectrum of news sources is laudable, hateful propaganda has no place on Google News.
[i]Thank you for your ongoing involvement in the battle against media bias.
HonestReporting.com[/i]
02.21.04 (7:06 pm) [edit]
[b]Thu Feb 19, 5:19 AM ET
[i]By PAUL AMES, Associated Press Writer [/b][/i]
BRUSSELS, Belgium - Jewish leaders appealed to the European Union on Thursday to take a lead in combatting a perceived revival of anti-Semitism, warning that official indifference was leading to a return of the continent's historic "monster."
Cobi Benatoff, president of the European Jewish Congress, called on the EU to join with Jewish organizations to monitor anti-Semitic incidents and to impose tougher penalties for anti-Jewish crimes.
"We bring a message today and that message is a warning to Europe," Benatoff he told a seminar attended by government, religious and community leaders.
"We European Jews are not able to live our daily lives like other European citizens," he said. "Anti-Semitism and prejudice have returned. The monster is here with us once again."
Benatoff also asked governments to ensure that young Europeans were better educated about the legacy of centuries of persecution on their continent.
"We have to educate a new generation of European citizens ... we have to tell them why, what happened, what the Shoah was," he said. "Only if we can teach a new generation ... about these things will we ever be able to suggest we can get rid of anti-Semitism."
Benatoff and other Jewish leaders also urged European governments to support a draft U.N. resolution condemning anti-Semitism.
The unprecedented seminar organized by the EU in response to concerns about a returning of anti-Semitism was attended by German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer; European Commission (news - web sites) President Romano Prodi; Elie Wiesel, the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize laureate; and Nathan Sharansky, Israel's minister for Diaspora affairs.
Recent attacks against Jews and their properties in Europe have been linked to the intensification of violence in the Middle East, with youths from the large Arab immigrant communities in France, Belgium and other European countries blamed for many of the incidents.
Jewish organizations have reproached European authorities for failing to take a tough enough stance, or for inflaming anti-Semitism through "unbalanced" criticism of Israeli government policies.
Benatoff and Edgar Bronfman, president of the New York-based World Jewish Congress recently accused the EU of "intellectual dishonesty and moral treachery" in handling anti-Semitism.
They took the EU's head office to task for suppressing a study highlighting the involvement of Europe's Arab minorities in anti-Semitic attacks, and for a "flawed and dangerously inflammatory" EU opinion poll that put Israel at the top of a list of nations seen to threaten world peace.
The accusations left a mark on Prodi, whose first foreign visit after taking office in 1999 was to the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz in Poland to pay homage to the victims of anti-Semitism.
Addressing the seminar, Prodi pledged to fight for a "Europe of peace, of tolerance of respect for human rights."
In his comments, Benatoff praised Prodi for his "courage and vision," but he said the EU needed to do more. "We see today that words simply are not enough ... We expect robust positions to be taken by European authorities."
Last year, the EU's European Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia in Vienna, Austria, found the increase of anti-Semitic attacks was "committed above all either by right-wing extremists or radical Islamists or young Muslims mostly of Arab descent."
The EJC has published that finding on its Web site after the EU monitoring center refused to release it. It said the EU had suppressed the report for fear of inflaming anti-immigrant passions by making a link between anti-Jewish violence in Europe and Arab immigrants.
[b]Thu Feb 19, 5:19 AM ET
[i]By PAUL AMES, Associated Press Writer [/b][/i]
BRUSSELS, Belgium - Jewish leaders appealed to the European Union on Thursday to take a lead in combatting a perceived revival of anti-Semitism, warning that official indifference was leading to a return of the continent's historic "monster."
Cobi Benatoff, president of the European Jewish Congress, called on the EU to join with Jewish organizations to monitor anti-Semitic incidents and to impose tougher penalties for anti-Jewish crimes.
"We bring a message today and that message is a warning to Europe," Benatoff he told a seminar attended by government, religious and community leaders.
"We European Jews are not able to live our daily lives like other European citizens," he said. "Anti-Semitism and prejudice have returned. The monster is here with us once again."
Benatoff also asked governments to ensure that young Europeans were better educated about the legacy of centuries of persecution on their continent.
"We have to educate a new generation of European citizens ... we have to tell them why, what happened, what the Shoah was," he said. "Only if we can teach a new generation ... about these things will we ever be able to suggest we can get rid of anti-Semitism."
Benatoff and other Jewish leaders also urged European governments to support a draft U.N. resolution condemning anti-Semitism.
The unprecedented seminar organized by the EU in response to concerns about a returning of anti-Semitism was attended by German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer; European Commission (news - web sites) President Romano Prodi; Elie Wiesel, the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize laureate; and Nathan Sharansky, Israel's minister for Diaspora affairs.
Recent attacks against Jews and their properties in Europe have been linked to the intensification of violence in the Middle East, with youths from the large Arab immigrant communities in France, Belgium and other European countries blamed for many of the incidents.
Jewish organizations have reproached European authorities for failing to take a tough enough stance, or for inflaming anti-Semitism through "unbalanced" criticism of Israeli government policies.
Benatoff and Edgar Bronfman, president of the New York-based World Jewish Congress recently accused the EU of "intellectual dishonesty and moral treachery" in handling anti-Semitism.
They took the EU's head office to task for suppressing a study highlighting the involvement of Europe's Arab minorities in anti-Semitic attacks, and for a "flawed and dangerously inflammatory" EU opinion poll that put Israel at the top of a list of nations seen to threaten world peace.
The accusations left a mark on Prodi, whose first foreign visit after taking office in 1999 was to the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz in Poland to pay homage to the victims of anti-Semitism.
Addressing the seminar, Prodi pledged to fight for a "Europe of peace, of tolerance of respect for human rights."
In his comments, Benatoff praised Prodi for his "courage and vision," but he said the EU needed to do more. "We see today that words simply are not enough ... We expect robust positions to be taken by European authorities."
Last year, the EU's European Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia in Vienna, Austria, found the increase of anti-Semitic attacks was "committed above all either by right-wing extremists or radical Islamists or young Muslims mostly of Arab descent."
The EJC has published that finding on its Web site after the EU monitoring center refused to release it. It said the EU had suppressed the report for fear of inflaming anti-immigrant passions by making a link between anti-Jewish violence in Europe and Arab immigrants.
02.21.04 (6:59 pm) [edit]
[b]Thursday February 19, 9:03 am ET [/b]
FULLERTON, Calif., Feb. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Raytheon Company's landmark Electronic Toll and Traffic Management System (ETTM) is now fully operational in Israel serving the Trans-Israel Highway. This state of the art system became operational early last month with the opening of the final leg of Highway 6.
"The Trans-Israel Highway is now the most technologically advanced toll road in the world, with many Raytheon innovations, such as real-time enforcement of violators," said Mike Prout, president of Raytheon's Highway Transportation Management Systems. "The success of Israel's Highway 6 builds our reputation as an on-time provider of proven, state-of the art electronic toll collection systems using the customer's choice of DSRC Protocol with video tolling. Raytheon congratulates Derech Eretz Consortium on this momentous occasion."
The 87-kilometre highway, called the backbone of Israel's highway network, employs a fully functioning toll system developed, installed and maintained by Raytheon. The toll is taken automatically, from using transponders or images of the vehicle license plate taken at various points along the highway. The toll is collected from either the vehicle owner's credit card or by an invoice sent directly to the owner. The ETTM system, which runs the entire length of the highway, is the third generation of the system developed by Raytheon, following the 407 ETR in Toronto, Canada. The Canadian system combines first and second generation technologies. The 407 ETR was the world's first all- electronic open road toll road allowing access to any vehicle, with or without transponders, on a multi lane toll road.
During the highway's official opening ceremony, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon emphasized the project's importance to Israel's transportation network The Trans-Israel highway is Israel's first toll road and the first to be built with private entrepreneurs.
Raytheon Company, with 2003 sales of $18.1 billion, is an industry leader in defense and government electronics, space, information technology, technical services, and business and special mission aircraft. With headquarters in Waltham, Mass., Raytheon employs 78,000 people worldwide.
Contact:
Janet Kopec
972 952 2547
[line]
Source: Raytheon Company
[b]Thursday February 19, 9:03 am ET [/b]
FULLERTON, Calif., Feb. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Raytheon Company's landmark Electronic Toll and Traffic Management System (ETTM) is now fully operational in Israel serving the Trans-Israel Highway. This state of the art system became operational early last month with the opening of the final leg of Highway 6.
"The Trans-Israel Highway is now the most technologically advanced toll road in the world, with many Raytheon innovations, such as real-time enforcement of violators," said Mike Prout, president of Raytheon's Highway Transportation Management Systems. "The success of Israel's Highway 6 builds our reputation as an on-time provider of proven, state-of the art electronic toll collection systems using the customer's choice of DSRC Protocol with video tolling. Raytheon congratulates Derech Eretz Consortium on this momentous occasion."
The 87-kilometre highway, called the backbone of Israel's highway network, employs a fully functioning toll system developed, installed and maintained by Raytheon. The toll is taken automatically, from using transponders or images of the vehicle license plate taken at various points along the highway. The toll is collected from either the vehicle owner's credit card or by an invoice sent directly to the owner. The ETTM system, which runs the entire length of the highway, is the third generation of the system developed by Raytheon, following the 407 ETR in Toronto, Canada. The Canadian system combines first and second generation technologies. The 407 ETR was the world's first all- electronic open road toll road allowing access to any vehicle, with or without transponders, on a multi lane toll road.
During the highway's official opening ceremony, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon emphasized the project's importance to Israel's transportation network The Trans-Israel highway is Israel's first toll road and the first to be built with private entrepreneurs.
Raytheon Company, with 2003 sales of $18.1 billion, is an industry leader in defense and government electronics, space, information technology, technical services, and business and special mission aircraft. With headquarters in Waltham, Mass., Raytheon employs 78,000 people worldwide.
Contact:
Janet Kopec
972 952 2547
[line]
Source: Raytheon Company
02.21.04 (6:54 pm) [edit]
[i][b]Fri Feb 20, 3:58 PM ET
By GAVIN RABINOWITZ, Associated Press Writer [/b][/i]
JERUSALEM - Israeli archaeologists excavating caves near the Dead Sea discovered jewelry, a makeup kit and a small mirror — 2,500-year-old fashion accessories for women.
[i]AP Photo [/i]
The trove apparently belonged to Jews who returned from exile in Babylon in the 6th century B.C., said Tsvika Tsuk, chief archaeologist for the Israel Nature and Parks Authority.
"This find is very rare. Both for the richness of the find and for that period, it is almost unheard of," Tsuk said on Friday.
Using metal detectors, archeologists found the treasures under a stone-like accumulation of sediment thrown up by a nearby spring. They included a necklace made of 130 beads of semiprecious stones and gold; a scarab; an agate medallion of Babylonian origin; and a silver pendant with an engraved crescent moon and pomegranates.
What appears to be a makeup kit contained an alabaster bowl for powders, a stick to apply the cosmetics and a bronze mirror. They also found a pagan stamp showing a Babylonian priest bowing to the moon.
"These finds confirm the (biblical) accounts of Jews returning from exile in Babylon," Tsuk said.
When the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar conquered the Kingdom of Judah in 597 B.C., he sent many Jews into exile in Babylon. These Jews and their descendants were later allowed to return by the Persian monarch Cyrus in 538 B.C.
Tsuk said the find shows that there was a wealthy and flourishing community of returnees living in the area. "These are not the belongings of a simple person," he said.
The archaeologists were part of a joint team from Hebrew University in Jerusalem and Bar Ilan University in Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv. They have been excavating caves near the Dead Sea for the last three years.
[i][b]Fri Feb 20, 3:58 PM ET
By GAVIN RABINOWITZ, Associated Press Writer [/b][/i]
JERUSALEM - Israeli archaeologists excavating caves near the Dead Sea discovered jewelry, a makeup kit and a small mirror — 2,500-year-old fashion accessories for women.
[i]AP Photo [/i]
The trove apparently belonged to Jews who returned from exile in Babylon in the 6th century B.C., said Tsvika Tsuk, chief archaeologist for the Israel Nature and Parks Authority.
"This find is very rare. Both for the richness of the find and for that period, it is almost unheard of," Tsuk said on Friday.
Using metal detectors, archeologists found the treasures under a stone-like accumulation of sediment thrown up by a nearby spring. They included a necklace made of 130 beads of semiprecious stones and gold; a scarab; an agate medallion of Babylonian origin; and a silver pendant with an engraved crescent moon and pomegranates.
What appears to be a makeup kit contained an alabaster bowl for powders, a stick to apply the cosmetics and a bronze mirror. They also found a pagan stamp showing a Babylonian priest bowing to the moon.
"These finds confirm the (biblical) accounts of Jews returning from exile in Babylon," Tsuk said.
When the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar conquered the Kingdom of Judah in 597 B.C., he sent many Jews into exile in Babylon. These Jews and their descendants were later allowed to return by the Persian monarch Cyrus in 538 B.C.
Tsuk said the find shows that there was a wealthy and flourishing community of returnees living in the area. "These are not the belongings of a simple person," he said.
The archaeologists were part of a joint team from Hebrew University in Jerusalem and Bar Ilan University in Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv. They have been excavating caves near the Dead Sea for the last three years.
HonestReporting for Campus
02.20.04 (4:42 pm) [edit][b][i]As the problem of anti-Israel bias in campus newspapers grows, HonestReporting launches an affiliate, HonestReporting for Campus.[/i][/b]
College campuses have become known as havens for some of the most virulent anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic material anywhere. At a recent "pro-Palestinian" rally ( http://backspin.typepad.com/b... ) held near Rutgers University in New Jersey, speakers led a crowd in hateful chants against Israel, and protestors physically attacked a cameraman who attempted to interview them. Israeli Minister Natan Sharansky, who received a pie in the face during a U.S. campus visit last month, had the following view expressed to him by a current Harvard University student:
[[i]She] admitted to me that she was afraid ― afraid to express support for Israel, afraid to take part in pro-Israel organizations, afraid to be identified. The mood on campus had turned so anti-Israel that she was afraid that her open identification could cost her, damaging her grades and her academic future...my conversations with other students at various universities made it clear that her feelings are widespread, that the situation on campuses in the United States and Canada is more serious than we think. And this is truly frightening.[/i]
The growing problem extends to ostensibly "neutral" forums: student newspapers. On October 24, the student paper ( http://www.alligator.org/ ) of the University of Florida (Gainesville) published this editorial cartoon for 48,000 students to view:
The cartoonist both resuscitates the canard that the Jewish people killed Jesus, and unfairly characterizes pro-Israel activism as "hateful" ― while outrageously paralleling it with Nazism.
Comments to: letters@alligator.org
[See the new HonestReporting weblog ― BackSpin ( http://backspin.typepad.com/b... ) ― for a follow-up on the U of F cartoonist.]
In response to the problem of biased coverage of the Mideast conflict in campus newspapers, HonestReporting has now launched a new affiliate: HonestReporting for Campus -- Student subscribers from campuses across the US and Canada receive weekly updates, which include texts of biased campus articles and the key information necessary to intelligently refute the articles' claims.
If you know a student on a North American college campus, encourage them to get involved! They can sign up for HonestReporting for Campus mailings or ― better yet ― become a local campus representative by emailing : campus@honestreporting.com.
By uniting, Jewish students will be able to lessen their fears, and find a common voice to counter the anti-Israel and anti-Semitic material rampant on college campuses today!
Photo Op
02.20.04 (3:55 pm) [edit][i]A unique angle on a photojournalist's shot raises questions about the integrity of Mideast media coverage.[/i]
On Feb. 7, while photojournalists were recording a seemingly candid expression of Palestinian suffering, Enric Marti of the Associated Press shot the scene from another angle, including the pack of photographers in his frame:
This is a very telling image, both regarding the news item in question and the larger issue of media coverage of this conflict.
While it's possible that this woman began weeping before she encountered the photographers, her position ― alone, alongside English graffiti ― suggests the scene was staged for maximum emotional impact to a Western audience. It seems these photographers are not merely 'capturing the scene', but rather creating it ― either actively (by asking her to pose) or passively (allowing themselves to be manipulated by her, posing for their cameras).
Either scenario misleads the news consumer and is therefore a violation of photojournalistic ethics. The New York Times, for example, sets this standard for the integrity of news photos:
Images in our pages that purport to depict reality must be genuine in every way... Pictures of news situations must not be posed.
Moreover, these journalists are eagerly pursuing this shot because the image available here ― Palestinian suffering at the hands of Israelis ― has become the central storyline of this conflict for most media outlets. Real or manufactured, that image appears all too often with utter lack of context, as we see here.
Palestinian suffering is then said to create 'desperation', which many media outlets use to explain (or even justify) horrific Palestinian terrorism. Arnold Roth, whose teenage daughter was killed by a Palestinian terrorist at the Sbarro's pizzeria in Jerusalem, warns against passive acceptance of this media message:
Everything I have learned about Palestinian terrorists since my daughter Malki was murdered tells me that desperation is the last word you should apply to them. These people are jubilant, triumphal, ecstatic at the moment of performing their satanic act of mass murder. The next time you hear about their 'desperation', think about this image of an Arab woman crying on demand for the gathered paparazzi. We and all our neighbors are being manipulated by photo editors, journalists and reporters in the field.
Did the picture from one of the photojournalists shown here (or a similar photo capturing 'spontaneous' Palestinian suffering) appear recently in your local paper? If so, forward this photo to the editor, with a note expressing concern that some of the techniques used to cover this conflict don't meet standards of journalistic integrity.
[i][b]Thank you for your ongoing involvement in the battle against media bias.
HonestReporting.com [/b][/i]
What is Bias?
02.20.04 (3:30 pm) [edit]With the media playing such an important role in Mideast events, here are some tools to ensure that you're more than just a passive player in the process.
courtesy of aish.com
Since the outbreak of violence in the Middle East on September 29, 2000, much concern has been raised about media bias. And as is becoming painfully clear, a key aspect to the Mideast struggle today is the manipulation of media to influence public opinion.
We expect journalists to maintain independence and objectivity -- and certainly not pledge "cooperation" with one side of an armed struggle. But when a representative of Italian state television issued an apology in Arabic over the filming of a brutal lynching of two Israelis in Ramallah, and promised to cooperate more fully with the Palestinian Authority in the future, Western sensibilities were shaken.
Why is the media biased? It could be they are intimidated by Palestinian strongmen into covering only the "positive" side, while Israeli democracy permits more open coverage of the Israeli position. Or it could be that it's more exciting to root for the underdog. Or it could be that the world applies a double-standard of morality to Israel.
Whatever the reason, if truth is to prevail, we can't just "read" the newspaper. Be discerning and become part of the process. Otherwise, you're just a passive object of someone else's agenda. As Mark Twain once said, "If you don't read the newspaper, you are uninformed; if you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed."
Conrad Black is CEO of Hollinger International, and publisher of The Spectator (London), The Jerusalem Post, and other publications. He writes:
"The British media habitually apply a double standard when judging the Israelis and Palestinians. Behind the spurious defence of merely seeking justice for the Palestinians, most of the relevant sections of the BBC, Independent, Guardian, Evening Standard and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office are rabidly anti-Israel."
How can readers discern the truth between the lines? Listed here are common methods employed by the media -- intentionally or not -- to influence public opinion. By being aware of these methods, we can avoid becoming a pawn in the media war.
[b]Here are the "7 Violations of Media Objectivity":
1. Misleading definitions and terminology.
2. Imbalanced reporting.
3. Opinions disguised as news.
4. Lack of context.
5. Selective omission.
6. Using true facts to draw false conclusions.
7. Distortion of facts.[/b]
See the Code of Ethics of the Society of Professional Journalists, and additional resource material on media ethics,- courtesy of Virginia Commonwealth University.
[b]Violation #1
Misleading Definitions and Terminology[/b]
By using terminology and definitions in a way that implies accepted fact, the media injects bias under the guise of objectivity.
EXAMPLE: In March 2001, two separate acts of terrorism occurred a few days apart, providing the opportunity to compare the media's selective use of terminology. The BBC's article on an IRA car bomb in London carries the headline "BBC bomb prompts terror warning," and the word "terror" (or its derivatives) is used 5 other times in the article. The IRA alerted police ahead of time, and one man was slightly injured in the blast.
But after a Palestinian suicide bomber killed three Israeli civilians (without prior warning) in Netanya, the BBC purposely avoided the label "terrorist," and instead used the far milder term "militants."
EXAMPLE: The New York Times subtly altered its reference to the Temple Mount, which unbiased historians have always acknowledged was the site of two Holy Jewish Temples. In apparent deference to Palestinian leaders who claim that no Jewish Temple ever stood on the Jerusalem hill toward which Jews have prayed for millennia, The Times began appending the phrase to include "which the Arabs call the Haram al Sharif."
Then, a few weeks later, The Times referred to "the Temple Mount, which Israel claims to have been the site of the First and Second Temple." It was no longer established historical fact -- but a mere "claim." Then, in a subsequent article, The Times described Israeli troops as having "stormed the Haram, holiest Muslim site in Jerusalem, where hundreds of people were at worship." No mention whatsoever of its status as the "Temple Mount" or the single holiest Jewish site.
EXAMPLE: Ariel Sharon, the democratically-elected leader of the State of Israel, is consistently referred to by derogatory monikers like "hard-liner" and even "war criminal." Curiously, no such appellations are attached to Yasser Arafat.
[b]Violation #2
Imbalanced Reporting[/b]
Media reports frequently skew the picture by presenting only one side of the story.
EXAMPLE: In February 2001, Deborah Sontag of the New York Times and Suzanne Goldenberg of the Guardian (UK) both reported on the opening of a new exhibit in the West Bank town of Ramallah dedicated to the memories of 100 Palestinian "martyrs."
Curiously, both reporters use nearly identical language in their reports:
SONTAG: "Israeli critics would say that the exhibit, '100 Martyrs - 100 Lives,' glorifies death and encourages the cult of the shaheed, or martyr."
GOLDENBERG: "Israeli critics would argue that the exhibit glorifies violent death, and promotes a cult of martyrdom."
Issues of plagiarism aside, what is most disturbing is the way both Sontag and Goldenberg assume what Israelis critics "would say" -- had the reporter bothered to ask. Media watchdog smartertimes.com, wrote about the Sontag piece: "Israeli critics 'would say' that, if they had actually been called or quoted by the Times, rather than having their criticisms assumed. Funny how the Arabs in the article are interviewed and allowed to speak for themselves, rather than having their views summarized by a reporter estimating what they 'would say' had the reporter bothered go to the effort to ask."
EXAMPLE: A related violation, yet particularly insidious, is where the media presents a speaker from one side of the conflict who merely ratifies the opposing viewpoint. For example, under the guise of "balanced reporting," the media is fond of quoting Michael Lerner, a California rabbi who called Prime Minister Barak's policies "racist" and "oppressive," refered to the IDF as "barbarous" and "brutal," and accused Israeli citizens of perpetrating "classic Russian pogroms on Palestinian civilians."
EXAMPLE: CNN.com offers a list of web sites relating to the Middle East. Under the heading of "General Information Sites," all 12 sites are Arab-related, including one specific Palestinian site. There are no Jewish or Israel-related sites listed in this category.
The same CNN page recommends web sites within each Middle Eastern country. For example, five sites are listed for the tiny under-developed country Yemen, and five sites are listed for Palestine. The Israel category lists four sites.
[b]Violation #3
Opinions Disguised as News[/b]
An objective reporter should not use adjectives or adverbs, unless they are part of a quotation. Also, the source for any facts and opinions should be clear from the report, or alternatively it should be stated that source is intentionally undisclosed.
Even so-called "opinion pieces" must bear a modicum of objectivity. James Hill, the managing editor of the Washington Post Writers Group, writes:
"You have to hold columnists to the same standard as anyone at the newspaper. If a column writer is making egregious errors in the process of stating his or her opinion, eventually it's not the columnist who's doing that, it's the paper that's doing that."
EXAMPLE: On February 7, 2001, "The Early Show" co-host Bryant Gumbel interviewed former Middle East envoy Dennis Ross about what Ariel Sharon's election victory meant for the peace process. Gumbel abdicated his role of objective journalist by repeatedly asking Ross leading questions, loaded with venomous descriptions of Sharon. Gumbel said:
"But does he [Arafat] even have a chance with -- with Sharon, when many objective observers view him as -- as not only a racist, a terrorist, a murderous war criminal?"
EXAMPLE: Even photos are subject to editorializing. A "news" photo from Reuters depicts Palestinians youths throwing stones. Poetically surreal, the Palestinian attackers are heroically silhouetted on a mountaintop, their stones floating triumphantly through the majestic clouds.
EXAMPLE: A Los Angeles Times editorial cartoon depicted an Orthodox Jew praying at the Western Wall, with the stones of the wall forming the word "hate." The caption read: "Worshipping their God."
In defense, L.A. Times artist Michael Ramirez pointed out that that a second man in the cartoon (who was sprawled on the ground and much less noticeable) was actually a Moslem praying. Unfortunately, the keffiah which would identify him as a Moslem is practically invisible. Furthermore, Ramirez was unable to explain why the chosen venue of "hate" was the Western Wall, a site sacred only to Jews, which has never been a place of Moslem prayer. (Following reader protest, the Los Angeles Times altered its cartoon, deleting the unique Herodian frame around the Western Wall stones, to make it look more like a generic wall.)
[b]Violation #4
Lack of Context[/b]
By failing to provide proper context and full background information, journalists can dramatically distort the true picture.
EXAMPLE: A BBC photo depicts two Palestinians, hands tied behind their backs, and kneeling on the ground. Standing over them is an Israeli soldier with a rifle pointed at their heads.
There is no context identifying this photo, just the benign caption "Tension has been high around the Jewish settlements." But who are the Arabs in this photo? Did they just murder Jews in cold blood? Or were they innocently buying bread at the local market? BBC does not say. And why is the soldier pointing the gun? Is he guarding dangerous prisoners until reinforcements can arrive? Or is he about to blow off their heads at point-blank range? BBC lets the implication stand for itself.
Following reader complaints, BBC has since changed the caption to: "Israeli soldiers arrest Palestinian drivers in the West Bank."
EXAMPLE: In February 2001, when a Palestinian killed eight Israelis by ramming his bus into a crowd, the front page of the Los Angeles Times carried an Associated Press photo which shows the damaged bus, and the Palestinian driver still behind the wheel, laid back with a sad face. The caption reads:
"Palestinian bus driver Khalil abu Olbeh, 35, sits wounded after leading police on a 19-mile chase. Family members said that he was distraught over financial problem and upset by current unrest."
The caption and photo sympathetically suggest that this mass murderer is somehow a victim of "Israeli aggression."
Meanwhile, the Guardian (UK) defended the bus driver as "a sort of Palestinian everyman who finally snapped because of the combined pressure of the four-month uprising and Israel's economic blockade." Despite his having admitted to carefully planning the attack, the Guardian said the attack was "far from being the calculated aim of a dedicated terrorist," and claimed that the killer was merely drowsy from medication.
EXAMPLE: The October 23 edition of Teen Newsweek, a magazine distributed to middle school students across America, features is a prominent photo of three Palestinians, with the man in the middle holding up his blood-covered hands. The caption reads: "In the West Bank city of Ramallah, bloodied Palestinian protestors express their rage."
The implication is that the Palestinians are bloody because they are victims of Israeli aggression. There is no mention whatsoever that these Palestinians are bloody because they just got finished beating, stabbing, burning and disemboweling two innocent Israelis. And how does Teen Newsweek's photo caption refer to these heinous murderers? As benign "protestors."
[b]Violation #5
Selective Omission[/b]
By choosing to report certain events over others, the media controls access to information and manipulates public sentiment.
EXAMPLE: Ever since the violence began, media outlets routinely refer to the Intifada as being "sparked by Ariel Sharon's provocative visit to the Temple Mount." This is despite the admission by Palestinian Minister of Communications Imad el-Falouji that the Palestinian Authority pre-planned the outbreak of violence. As reported in the semi-governmental Beirut "Daily Star" (March 3, 2001):
"A Palestinian Cabinet minister said on Friday that the five-month-old uprising against Israel had been planned since the Camp David peace talks failed in July, contradicting past contentions of a spontaneous outburst from Palestinians on the street. Imad Faluji, the Palestinian National Authority's Communications Minister, said during a PLO rally in Ain al-Hilweh refutifada, in which more than 400 people have been killed, was planned."
However, a search of the entire CNN website for the name of the PA minister, Imad Falouji, reveals one lone reference, buried in three short paragraphs near the end of an article. Was the PA minister's assertion that the Intifada was planned not newsy enough for CNN? And shouldn't CNN stop referring to Sharon's visit as "sparking the Intifada"?
EXAMPLE: On October 24, 2000, The New York Times referred to a case of Palestinian incitement:
"Israelis cite as one egregious example a televised sermon that defended the killing of the two [lynched] soldiers. 'Whether Likud or Labor, Jews are Jews,' proclaimed Sheik Ahmad Abu Halabaya in a live broadcast from a Gaza city mosque the day after the killings."
But The Times utterly failed to convey the main message of the inflammatory sermon. In fact, The Times appears to go out of his way to choose a one-sentence quotation that could be seen as innocuous when taken out of context. The salient point of the Gaza mosque sermon, broadcast live on Palestinian Authority TV, is as follows:
"Even if an agreement for Gaza is signed, we shall not forget Haifa, and Acre, and the Galilee, and Jaffa, and the Triangle and the Negev, and the rest of our cities and villages. It is only a matter of time... Have no mercy on the Jews, no matter where they are, in any country. Fight them, wherever you are. Wherever you meet them, kill them."
EXAMPLE: MSNBC nominated a series of photos for "Pictures of the Year 2000," ( including one entitled "A Death in Gaza," which depicts 12-year-old Mohammed Aldura huddled behind his father moments before being shot to death. Of the 49 photos up for consideration, most are of nature scenes. The only two politically-related photos both carry an anti-Israel message: the Gaza photo, and a photo of a young (presumably Arab) boy in a damaged West Bank home. A more obvious choice, the photo of the Palestinian's bloody hands at the Ramallah lynching, was not nominated by MSNBC.
The Gaza photo is used as a demonstration of the cruelty of Israeli soldiers, but does not provide any context, leading to the false conclusion that the boy was directly fired upon in full view of Israeli soldiers. Although Israeli crossfire may have caused the boy's accidental death, there is serious doubt whether Israeli soldiers were positioned to do so.
The media fails to bring crucial background information: Palestinian children are encouraged onto the front lines, used as intentional sacrifices to garner world sympathy. Furthermore, there is considerable evidence that the boy was killed by a Palestinian gunman standing near the Palestinian cameraman -- all staged by Palestinians at the beginning of the intifada to garner world sympathy (which it did).
[b]Violation #6
Using True Facts To Draw False Conclusions[/b]
Media reports frequently use true facts to draw erroneous conclusions.
EXAMPLE: In February 2001, when Ariel Sharon was elected Israeli Prime Minister, the Christian Science Monitor tried to delegitimize the voters' choice by claiming that voter turnout "was an unprecedentedly low 60 percent," and claiming that "at least 62 percent of eligible Israeli voters did not vote for Sharon."
In reality, only despotic countries like North Korea or Syria report 99 percent voter turnout. Truly free elections mean that citizens are also free not to vote. In the United States, only 51 percent of eligible voters participated in the 2000 presidential elections. This means that President George W. Bush received fewer than 25 percent of the eligible votes; additionally he did not even win the popular vote. To paraphrase Cobban's calculation, "At least 75 percent of eligible American voters did not vote for Bush." In years when only congressional elections are held, American voter turnout drops to 36-38 percent. But no one makes such charges undermining the American president's authority or legitimacy.
EXAMPLE: Many articles report that "hundreds of people have been killed, the vast majority Palestinians." This is an indisputable fact, yet without qualifying these figures, the reader is led to the false conclusion that Israeli soldiers are the aggressors and have used excessive force.
However, if Israeli forces were actually doing what they are accused of -- shooting indiscriminately into crowds with automatic weapons. If that were the case, many thousands of Palestinians would be dead. In reality, the ratio of deaths is less than one per riot.
EXAMPLE: Teen Newsweek, a magazine distributed to middle school students across America, published a chart illustrating the number of Palestinian and Israeli children killed since 1987. The Palestinian numbers, represented in bright red, many times exceed Israeli losses, shown in a less visible yellow. There is no explanation of circumstances how these children died. The implication is that there is equivalency -- even though the Palestinian children were killed while attempting martyrdom in the context of violent attacks on Israeli forces, while the Israeli children were killed while sitting on a public bus or in a cafe, blown up by a Palestinian suicide bomber.
[b]Violation #7
Distortion of Facts[/b]
In today's competitive media world, reporters frequently do not have the time, inclination or resources to properly verify information before submitting a story for publication.
EXAMPLE: In reporting on violence of Joseph's Tomb, CNN writes:
Meanwhile, at least 77 people, mostly Palestinians have died during several fierce clashes at Joseph's Tomb during the past week. The lone Israeli soldier to die during the clashes bled to death in the tomb as rescuers tried for hours to reach him.
CNN's claim that 77 people died in one week of clashes at Joseph's Tomb is a gross factual inaccuracy. Since one Israeli was killed, 76 were obviously Palestinian. Yet in truth, six Palestinians and one Israeli soldier had died during that week of clashes at Joseph's Tomb. In other words, CNN cited the total number of Palestinian casualties in all clashes, and juxtaposed that figure with the Israeli casualty of one isolated event.
EXAMPLE: The New York Times, Associated Press and other major media outlets published a photo of a young man -- bloodied and battered -- crouching beneath a club-wielding Israeli policeman. The caption identified him as a Palestinian victim of the recent riots -- with the clear implication that the Israeli soldier is the one who beat him.
In fact, the bloodied "Palestinian" depicted in the photograph was Tuvia Grossman, a 20-year-old Jewish student from Chicago, studying in Jerusalem. And the assailants were not Israelis, but members of a Palestinian mob who beat and stabbed Grossman mercilessly for 10 minutes. And the infuriated Israeli policeman with a baton was deterring the Palestinians from finishing their lynching.
Media bias assumes that if there's a victim, it must be a Palestinian. Yet who are the real victims and who are the aggressors? The truth is often the opposite of how it appears.
By being astute media observers, we can make a difference. In response to public pressure, The New York Times reprinted Tuvia Grossman's picture -- this time with the proper caption -- along with a full article detailing his near-lynching at the hands of Palestinians rioters.
courtesy of aish.com
Artwork removed from Oslo exhibition after outraging Jews
02.20.04 (2:05 pm) [edit][b]Last Update: 20/02/2004 19:52
[i]By The Associated Press [/b][/i]
OSLO - A Norwegian art gallery removed a painting Friday from its exhibition "Anti-Semite in the Name of God," saying it had infuriated Jews, including a Holocaust survivor.
The painting, by Norwegian artist Chris Reddy, includes the text "Israel" and "USA," with each "S" replaced by a Nazi Swastika.
Andreas Engelstad, owner of the Galleri A Minor in Oslo, said the Israeli Embassy demanded that the painting be removed, but that it was the reaction of other Jews that prompted his decision.
"I took it down not because of the Embassy, but out of respect for victims of the Holocaust," he told The Associated Press by telephone. "One of the victims called me and said they were hurt by the painting."
The decision made top news in Norway on Friday, partly because it came just a month after a furious dispute between Israel and Sweden over an exhibition in Stockholm that enraged the Israeli ambassador there.
That exhibit showed the picture of a Palestinian suicide bomber, and so outraged Israeli Ambassador Zvi Mazel that he tried to damage it by throwing a light fixture at it.
In Norway, Israeli Ambassador Liora Herzl sent a letter to the gallery, saying Reddy's painting was unacceptable because it linked Israel and the United States to Nazism.
Norwegian news agency NTB said Reddy was furious at the decision to remove his artwork.
"It is questionable that Ambassador Liora Herzl has taken the fascists' tool, censorship, into use," he was quoted as saying. He could not immediately be reached for comment by the AP.
Engelstad said Reddy's exhibition seeks to use a variety of artworks to illustrate how political and religious forces influence a person's thinking. None of the other works was deemed offensive and will remain on display until March 7, he said.
02.20.04 (2:02 pm) [edit]
[b]DEBKAfile Exclusive Report http://www.debka.com
February 20, 2004, 5:42 PM (GMT+02:00)[/b]
Little credence is given in Tehran to the official claim that the colossal train explosion which killed at least 300 people and razed five villages in the northeast Khorassan province Wednesday, February 18, was caused by colliding wagons carrying industrial chemicals, fertilizers, diesel fuel and cotton. Such flammable freights are usually shipped separately in Iran.
DEBKAfile’s sources note that Iranian officials, two days before a highly controversial parliamentary election, are doing their best to play down the disaster outside Neyshabur which rocked houses 50 miles away in Mashad. The Islamic Republican News Agency tried to blame an earth tremor force 3.5, but the US Geological Institute in Colorado says no seismic activity was reported in the area.
Most of the dead were fire and rescue workers, but also the city’s governor Mojtaba Farahmand-Nekou, its mayor and fire chief.
DEBKAfile’s sources in Tehran have heard unconfirmed reports that the disaster was no accident, but possibly sabotage carried out by anti-government forces in Khorassan province, which borders on Afghanistan. This report ties in without another that claims the train was not carrying innocent industrial cargoes but hundreds of tons of explosive materials Iran was smuggling into Afghanistan via the Shiite city of Herat to be used by Iranian saboteurs and agents for guerrilla attacks on US troops and the forces of President Hamid Karzai, as well for supplying the Taleban in their Kandahar stronghold.
DEBKAfile’s sources report that there were a series of blasts, the first inside the Neyshabur train station was powerful enough to trigger a second explosion in the remote station of Khayyam. There, it set ablaze another train carrying fuel and other flammable material.
Iran has long used Khorassan province as a conduit for smuggling thousands of its agents into Afghanistan. But the province is also home to nearly two million Afghan refugees, some of whom hire out to the Kabul government or the US military. The suggestion is that a group of these agents were ordered to blow up the train when it pulled into Neyshabur. Their mission: to deter the Iranians from further meddling in Afghanistan.
It would not have been hard to persuade Afghan refugees to undertake the mission. As Sunni Muslims, they harbor strong feelings of resentment over their discrimination at the hands of Iran’s Shiite majority. Three years ago, Afghans were responsible for a large explosion in Mashad, an attack launched after Iran ordered the destruction of a makeshift mosque the refugees had built. Several weeks later, a similar blast occurred in Zahedan, capital of Iran’s Baluchestan province, where Iranian authorities had pulled another mosque constructed by the refugees.
In the historic town of Neyshabur, site of Wednesday’s horror, the 11th century poet Omar Khayam was born and buried.
[b]DEBKAfile Exclusive Report http://www.debka.com
February 20, 2004, 5:42 PM (GMT+02:00)[/b]
Little credence is given in Tehran to the official claim that the colossal train explosion which killed at least 300 people and razed five villages in the northeast Khorassan province Wednesday, February 18, was caused by colliding wagons carrying industrial chemicals, fertilizers, diesel fuel and cotton. Such flammable freights are usually shipped separately in Iran.
DEBKAfile’s sources note that Iranian officials, two days before a highly controversial parliamentary election, are doing their best to play down the disaster outside Neyshabur which rocked houses 50 miles away in Mashad. The Islamic Republican News Agency tried to blame an earth tremor force 3.5, but the US Geological Institute in Colorado says no seismic activity was reported in the area.
Most of the dead were fire and rescue workers, but also the city’s governor Mojtaba Farahmand-Nekou, its mayor and fire chief.
DEBKAfile’s sources in Tehran have heard unconfirmed reports that the disaster was no accident, but possibly sabotage carried out by anti-government forces in Khorassan province, which borders on Afghanistan. This report ties in without another that claims the train was not carrying innocent industrial cargoes but hundreds of tons of explosive materials Iran was smuggling into Afghanistan via the Shiite city of Herat to be used by Iranian saboteurs and agents for guerrilla attacks on US troops and the forces of President Hamid Karzai, as well for supplying the Taleban in their Kandahar stronghold.
DEBKAfile’s sources report that there were a series of blasts, the first inside the Neyshabur train station was powerful enough to trigger a second explosion in the remote station of Khayyam. There, it set ablaze another train carrying fuel and other flammable material.
Iran has long used Khorassan province as a conduit for smuggling thousands of its agents into Afghanistan. But the province is also home to nearly two million Afghan refugees, some of whom hire out to the Kabul government or the US military. The suggestion is that a group of these agents were ordered to blow up the train when it pulled into Neyshabur. Their mission: to deter the Iranians from further meddling in Afghanistan.
It would not have been hard to persuade Afghan refugees to undertake the mission. As Sunni Muslims, they harbor strong feelings of resentment over their discrimination at the hands of Iran’s Shiite majority. Three years ago, Afghans were responsible for a large explosion in Mashad, an attack launched after Iran ordered the destruction of a makeshift mosque the refugees had built. Several weeks later, a similar blast occurred in Zahedan, capital of Iran’s Baluchestan province, where Iranian authorities had pulled another mosque constructed by the refugees.
In the historic town of Neyshabur, site of Wednesday’s horror, the 11th century poet Omar Khayam was born and buried.
D'var Torah for Mishpatim (Exodus 21:1-24:18)
02.19.04 (10:42 pm) [edit]Parshat Mishpatim begins the daunting work of laying the law for the Jews. Hidden among the many laws is a law that states: "if" one lends money, it is required to be interest free (22:24).
After detailing broad laws of slavery, injuries and damages, why would the Torah choose to mention a law that would only apply to a few people? Further, what's wrong with charging interest? If someone can't use their money because they lent it, don't they deserve to be reimbursed for that loss?
Our first clue is Rashi (a major commentator) pointing out that this is one of only three times in the Torah that the word "Im" doesn't mean "if", but means "when". This now clearly tells us that it's not just a possibility that money will be lent, but it's a REQUIREMENT to lend money, whenever possible!
That would explain why the Torah mentioned it, but what's wrong with interest?
Rabbi Chaim Shmulevitz explains that when someone does an act of kindness, such as lending, it should be without anticipating reward. Mixing a good deed with personal gain can confuse us into thinking that we're doing something because it's right and proper to do, while in fact we're really motivated by the profits derived by doing it.
The Torah is illustrating that a good deed should be pure and untainted, without even a doubt of its motivation. In our lives, there should be at least ONE such deed, where there can be no doubt that it was done purely for another's benefit. What's yours?
Have a loving and giving Shabbos!
The Photo that Started it All--Prepare to be OUTRAGED!
02.19.04 (2:31 pm) [edit][b]On the day the Intafada broke out, Tuvia Grossman was riding a taxi to visit the Western Wall. He was unwittingly thrust into the international limelight -- and nearly killed in the process. I also wrote an article on this cery subject for my school newspaper when I was on the news staff in highschool. My request to have my story about this published was denyed.[/b]
[line]
[i][b]Updated May 2002, HonestReporting.com[/b][/i]
On September 30, 2000, The New York Times, Associated Press and other major media outlets published a photo of a young man -- bloodied and battered -- crouching beneath a club-wielding Israeli policeman. The caption identified him as a Palestinian victim of the recent riots -- with the clear implication that the Israeli soldier is the one who beat him.
The victim's true identity was revealed when Dr. Aaron Grossman of Chicago sent the following letter to the Times:
[b][i]Regarding your picture on page A5 of the Israeli soldier and the Palestinian on the Temple Mount -- that Palestinian is actually my son, Tuvia Grossman, a Jewish student from Chicago. He, and two of his friends, were pulled from their taxicab while traveling in Jerusalem, by a mob of Palestinian Arabs, and were severely beaten and stabbed.
That picture could not have been taken on the Temple Mount because there are no gas stations on the Temple Mount and certainly none with Hebrew lettering, like the one clearly seen behind the Israeli soldier attempting to protect my son from the mob.[/i][/b]
In response, the New York Times published a half-hearted correction which identified Tuvia Grossman as "an American student in Israel" -- not as a Jew who was beaten by Arabs. The "correction" also noted that "Mr. Grossman was wounded" in "Jerusalem's Old City" -- although the beating actually occurred in the Arab neighborhood of Wadi al Joz, not in the Old City.
In response to public outrage at the original error and the inadequate correction, The New York Times reprinted Tuvia Grossman's picture -- this time with the proper caption -- along with a full article detailing his near-lynching at the hands of Palestinians rioters.
Read Tuvia Grossman's in-depth, first-person account of his ordeal, entitled Victim of the Media War: http://www.aish.com/jewishiss...
The photo of a bloodied Tuvia Grossman became a symbol in the struggle to ensure that Israel receives the fair media coverage that every nation deserves.
In April 2002, a District Court in Paris ordered the French daily newspaper "Liberation" and the Associated Press to pay damages to Grossman in the amount of 4,500 Euro.
The Court condemned the Associated Press for "mispresenting [Grossman] as a member of the Palestinian community," while the court censured "Liberation" for "publishing the litigious picture with a comment edited the same faulty way, giving the picture a meaning and a scope it could not have."
===== ARAB ABUSE =====
Even more remarkable is that Arab groups have adopted Grossman's photo to use in their own propaganda campaigns, cynically using a bloodied Jew as a symbol of the Palestinian struggle.
An official Egyptian government website is using the Grossman photo on its "Photo Gallery": http://www.sis.gov.eg/terrori...
And the Palestinian Information Center, www.islam.net, incorporated Tuvia's photo onto its homepage banner, (The graphic was recently removed from the site, but is reprinted here:)
Additionally, some Arab groups have called for a boycott of Coca-Cola, for doing business with Israel, and have circulated a series of posters to state their case. One poster shows Grossman's bleeding face juxtaposed with the Coca-Cola logo, and the tag line: "By supporting American products, you're supporting Israel."
Snopes.com reports that, ironically, since Ramallah is home to a Coca-Cola bottling facility that employs about 400 local residents (and indirectly creates employment for hundreds more), and Coca-Cola industries throughout the Middle East are operated as local businesses, any boycott of Coca-Cola in Middle Eastern countries is likely to cause more monetary harm to Arabs and Palestinians than it is to Americans or Israelis.
Snopes.com notes another irony: Pepsi is also on the Arab boycott list, with claims that the name "Pepsi" is an acronym for 'Pay Every Penny to Save Israel' or 'Pay Every Penny to the State of Israel.' As the Associated Press once noted, "Calling Pepsi a 'Jewish product' is ironic, given that Pepsi was one of many multinationals that wouldn't do business in Israel during the 40-year Arab commercial boycott of the Jewish state."
And of course the biggest irony of all is that the image chosen in the poster to represent Palestinian suffering was none other than Tuvia Grossman who nearly beaten to death by a Palestinian mob.
The Grossman poster, below...
[line]
[b]Boycott the real liars and spread the word![/b]
NOT An "Aparthied Wall"!!!
02.19.04 (2:14 pm) [edit]Debunking the outrageous comparison between Israel and racist South Africa.
COMMUNIQUE: 15 February 2004, [i][b]HONESTREPORTING.COM[/i][/b]
Anti-Israel ideologues have a well-worn tactic of taking the latest world outrage and foisting it upon Israel, no matter how absurd the comparison or epithet. So in the 1960s Israel was branded a "colonialist power," in the 1970s Israel became an "apartheid state," in the 1990s Israel practiced "ethnic cleansing," and at the Durban conference in 2001 the Jewish state was called "genocidal."
The latest is a throwback to the '70s: Israel is accused of constructing an "apartheid wall" ― a term gaining currency in world media coverage of Israel's security fence. To cite just two recent examples, on Feb. 2 the Hartford Courant granted op-ed space to an academic "calling for an end to U.S. aid to the Israeli apartheid system" as evidenced by Israel's "apartheid walls," and the Feb. 11 edition of The Australian ran the headline: Israel to cut 100km off 'apartheid wall'.
Since the South African apartheid system was dismantled over ten years ago, many today are unaware of what exactly that nation's racist land policies were. The South African government established nine bantustans ― sectors for black segregation ― in the 60s and 70s, in the effort to separate non-white South Africans from whites, and from each other. To demonstrate just how fallacious the comparison to Israel's security fence is, we summarize South African apartheid policy here, alongside the facts of Israel's anti-terror security fence: (go to link: http://www.honestreporting.co...)
The Israeli security fence, therefore, differs from South African measures in its rationale, its goals, its effect, and its historical context. A far more appropriate comparison can be made, therefore, between Israel's fence and other democratic nations' border fences, such as the British "peace line" in Ireland, or the US border fence with Mexico.
As media outlets continue to grant legitimacy to the "apartheid wall" myth, HonestReporting encourages subscribers to respond directly when the distortion appears in news stories or opinion pieces, debunking the latest effort to associate Israel with a racist, immoral political policy.
For additional information on the security fence, see the Israeli Foreign Ministry's website: Saving Lives: Israel's Security Fence.
-- FRIEDMAN ISSUES PARTIAL CORRECTION --
On Feb. 5, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman ignored the facts of Israeli prisoner releases while making his case that Ariel Sharon directs a "conspiracy" to control Washington. That day, HonestReporting issued a communique encouraging subscribers to write to the Times about Friedman's error.
In today's (Feb. 12) Times, Friedman states:
My Feb. 5 column erred in saying Ariel Sharon had released no Palestinian prisoners to Mahmoud Abbas. He did. It was just too limited a release to have any impact.
By "limited release," Friedman clarifies that "none of them [were] big-name fighters" and that some were "just criminals."
This Friedman contrasted to the recent Hezbollah exchange. Yet even in the Hezbollah exchange, the only "big-name fighters" (Mustafa Dirani and Abdel Karim Obeid) were Lebanese. The 400 freed Palestinians included, by Israeli government insistence, no terrorists with "blood on their hands."
Moreover, in June, 2003 Israel did release a "big-name fighter": Ahmad Jabara, known as the "refrigerator bomber" for a terror attack that killed thirteen people, was released to much fanfare, front page headlines in the PA daily paper, and a warm public reunion with Yassir Arafat.
So while Friedman's correction is welcome, he still misrepresents Sharon's record on prisoner releases in the effort to paint the "conspiring" Israeli Prime Minister as "failing to lift a finger" to support Mahmoud Abbas.
Comments to: letters@nytimes.com
-- ANTI-ISRAEL POLL IN GLOBE & MAIL --
The Toronto Globe & Mail had the following poll question on the homepage of its website earlier today (Feb. 12):
Should all financial and political aid to Israel be cut off until a just peace with the Palestinians is in place? □ Yes □ No
After immediate protest from HonestReporting and other media monitors that the question itself contains blatant anti-Israel bias, the Globe & Mail changed the question to include the option of cutting off aid to Palestinians.
That's a far more reasonable proposal ― a halt in PA funding is precisely what the EU's Anti-Fraud Office is presently considering, after evidence emerged that the PA has directly funneled EU 'political aid' funds to terror organizations.
[i]Thank you for your ongoing involvement in the battle against media bias.
HonestReporting.com[/i]
The War On Terror!
02.19.04 (12:07 pm) [edit]Here is another GREAT website:
The New York Coalition Against Terrorism:
Check it out! There are some AWESOME resources there!
Truly Amazing!!!!
Funerals Of Terror Victims
02.19.04 (11:54 am) [edit]This is an excellent website:
http://www.jr.co.il/terror/world/" title="http://www.jr.co.il/terror/world/" target="_blank"http://www.jr.co.il/terror/wo...
It features photos taken at the funerals of Jewish victims of terror.
It is a sad site, but also one that really makes the situation a bit more real to those of us who do not have to deal with the constant fear of yet another attack in which you or your family members might be murdered in next. Please check out this website!
It's an eye-opener!
02.19.04 (11:09 am) [edit]
[b]18 February, 2003 --
DEBKAfile's exclusive sources in Tehran report: [/b]
Little credence is given in Tehran to the official claim that the colossal train explosion which killed at least 300 people and razed five villages in the northeastern Khorassan province Wednesday was caused by colliding wagons carrying industrial chemicals and fertilizers, as well as diesel fuel and cotton. Such flammable freights are usually shipped separately in Iran.
DEBKAfile’s sources note that Iranian officials, two days before a highly controversial parliamentary election, are doing their best to play down the disaster outside Neyshabur which rocked houses 50 miles away in Mashad. The Islamic Republican News Agency tried to blame an earth tremor of 3.6 magnitude, but the US Geological Institute in Colorado said no seismic activity was recorded in the area.
Most of the dead were fire and rescue workers, but also the city’s governor Mojtaba Farahmand-Nekou, its mayor and fire chief.
DEBKA’s sources in Tehran have heard unconfirmed reports that the disaster was no accident, but possibly sabotage carried out by anti-government forces in Khorassan province, which borders on Afghanistan. This report ties in with another that claims the train was not carrying innocent industrial cargoes but hundreds of tons of explosive materials Iran was smuggling into Afghanistan via the Shiite city of Herat to be used by Iranian saboteurs and agents for guerrilla attacks on US troops and the forces of President Hamid Karzai, as well for supplying the Taleban in their Kandahar stronghold.
DEBKAfile’s sources report that there were a series of blasts; the first inside the Neyshabur train station was powerful enough to trigger a second explosion in the remote station of Khayyam. There, it set ablaze another train carrying fuel and other flammable material.
Iran has long used Khorassan province as a conduit for smuggling thousands of its agents into Afghanistan. But the province is also home to nearly two million Afghan refugees, some of whom hire out as agents to the Kabul government or the US military. The suggestion is that a group of these agents were ordered to blow up the train when it pulled into Neyshabur. Their mission: to deter the Iranians from further meddling in Afghanistan.
It would not have been hard to persuade Afghan refugees to undertake the mission. As Sunni Muslims, they harbor strong feelings of resentment against their discrimination at the hands of Iran’s Shiite majority. Three years ago, Afghans were responsible for a large explosion in Mashad, an attack launched after Iran ordered the destruction of a makeshift mosque the refugees had built. Several weeks later, a similar blast occurred in Zahedan, capital of Iran’s Baluchestan province, where Iranian authorities had pulled down another mosque constructed by the refugees.
It just so happens that in the historic town of Neyshabur, site of Wednesday’s horror, the 11th century poet Omar Khayam was born and buried.
[b]18 February, 2003 --
DEBKAfile's exclusive sources in Tehran report: [/b]
Little credence is given in Tehran to the official claim that the colossal train explosion which killed at least 300 people and razed five villages in the northeastern Khorassan province Wednesday was caused by colliding wagons carrying industrial chemicals and fertilizers, as well as diesel fuel and cotton. Such flammable freights are usually shipped separately in Iran.
DEBKAfile’s sources note that Iranian officials, two days before a highly controversial parliamentary election, are doing their best to play down the disaster outside Neyshabur which rocked houses 50 miles away in Mashad. The Islamic Republican News Agency tried to blame an earth tremor of 3.6 magnitude, but the US Geological Institute in Colorado said no seismic activity was recorded in the area.
Most of the dead were fire and rescue workers, but also the city’s governor Mojtaba Farahmand-Nekou, its mayor and fire chief.
DEBKA’s sources in Tehran have heard unconfirmed reports that the disaster was no accident, but possibly sabotage carried out by anti-government forces in Khorassan province, which borders on Afghanistan. This report ties in with another that claims the train was not carrying innocent industrial cargoes but hundreds of tons of explosive materials Iran was smuggling into Afghanistan via the Shiite city of Herat to be used by Iranian saboteurs and agents for guerrilla attacks on US troops and the forces of President Hamid Karzai, as well for supplying the Taleban in their Kandahar stronghold.
DEBKAfile’s sources report that there were a series of blasts; the first inside the Neyshabur train station was powerful enough to trigger a second explosion in the remote station of Khayyam. There, it set ablaze another train carrying fuel and other flammable material.
Iran has long used Khorassan province as a conduit for smuggling thousands of its agents into Afghanistan. But the province is also home to nearly two million Afghan refugees, some of whom hire out as agents to the Kabul government or the US military. The suggestion is that a group of these agents were ordered to blow up the train when it pulled into Neyshabur. Their mission: to deter the Iranians from further meddling in Afghanistan.
It would not have been hard to persuade Afghan refugees to undertake the mission. As Sunni Muslims, they harbor strong feelings of resentment against their discrimination at the hands of Iran’s Shiite majority. Three years ago, Afghans were responsible for a large explosion in Mashad, an attack launched after Iran ordered the destruction of a makeshift mosque the refugees had built. Several weeks later, a similar blast occurred in Zahedan, capital of Iran’s Baluchestan province, where Iranian authorities had pulled down another mosque constructed by the refugees.
It just so happens that in the historic town of Neyshabur, site of Wednesday’s horror, the 11th century poet Omar Khayam was born and buried.
02.19.04 (11:03 am) [edit]
[b]Feb. 19, 2004
[i]By ETGAR LEFKOVITS, The Jerusalem Post[/b][/i]
Five thousand people took part in a prayer vigil at the Western Wall Thursday afternoon seeking divine intervention against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plans to evacuate almost all the Israelis living in the Gaza Strip.
Braving an intermittent and at times heavy dank rainfall, the protesters, led by former chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, read psalms and blew the shofar, in supplication for heavenly assistance to stymie the premier's unilateral withdrawal plans, which was repeatedly referred to by the demonstrators as "the evil decree."
"Sharon should know that he is not the creator of the universe, and whoever cedes territory in the Land of Israel will fall from power because the Holy One Blessed Be He will not allow it," said Ezra Breutman, 52, from Tel Aviv.
Voicing his deep disappointment with Sharon's "about-face," 23-year old protester Avi Pasternack from Yeruham said that the prayer session, which was held under tightened police presence, was one of many activities planned to stop the withdrawal.
"The protest is part of a all-out effort to stop the evacuation and to rescind this evil decree," he said. Indeed many of those attending the prayer vigil Thursday had come to Jerusalem this week from the Gaza Strip to take part in a Wednesday evening demonstration outside the prime minister's residence, while others said that they came especially for the prayer session.
After the special two-hour prayer session concluded, thousands of the religious participants in the peaceful vigil were scheduled to take part in the monthly walk around the gates of the Temple Mount later Thursday evening.
Earlier this month, Sharon announced that he was planning to evacuate 17 of the 21 Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip, and three others isolated Jewish communities in the West Bank as part of a "unilateral disengagement" plan from the Palestinians.
Nearly 8,000 Israelis live amidst 1.3 million Palestinians in the densely-populated Gaza Strip.
Officials have said that failing an unexpected political breakthrough with the Palestinians such a plan was likely to be put into action by the end of
the year.
[b]Feb. 19, 2004
[i]By ETGAR LEFKOVITS, The Jerusalem Post[/b][/i]
Five thousand people took part in a prayer vigil at the Western Wall Thursday afternoon seeking divine intervention against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plans to evacuate almost all the Israelis living in the Gaza Strip.
Braving an intermittent and at times heavy dank rainfall, the protesters, led by former chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, read psalms and blew the shofar, in supplication for heavenly assistance to stymie the premier's unilateral withdrawal plans, which was repeatedly referred to by the demonstrators as "the evil decree."
"Sharon should know that he is not the creator of the universe, and whoever cedes territory in the Land of Israel will fall from power because the Holy One Blessed Be He will not allow it," said Ezra Breutman, 52, from Tel Aviv.
Voicing his deep disappointment with Sharon's "about-face," 23-year old protester Avi Pasternack from Yeruham said that the prayer session, which was held under tightened police presence, was one of many activities planned to stop the withdrawal.
"The protest is part of a all-out effort to stop the evacuation and to rescind this evil decree," he said. Indeed many of those attending the prayer vigil Thursday had come to Jerusalem this week from the Gaza Strip to take part in a Wednesday evening demonstration outside the prime minister's residence, while others said that they came especially for the prayer session.
After the special two-hour prayer session concluded, thousands of the religious participants in the peaceful vigil were scheduled to take part in the monthly walk around the gates of the Temple Mount later Thursday evening.
Earlier this month, Sharon announced that he was planning to evacuate 17 of the 21 Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip, and three others isolated Jewish communities in the West Bank as part of a "unilateral disengagement" plan from the Palestinians.
Nearly 8,000 Israelis live amidst 1.3 million Palestinians in the densely-populated Gaza Strip.
Officials have said that failing an unexpected political breakthrough with the Palestinians such a plan was likely to be put into action by the end of
the year.
02.19.04 (11:01 am) [edit]
[b]19 Feb 2004 17:00:47 GMT[/b]
JERUSALEM, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Israeli emergency services reported an explosion in the port city of Haifa on Thursday but later said the report was a false alarm.
Palestinian militants have carried out scores of suicide bombings that have killed hundreds of Israelis since the start of a Palestinian revolt three years ago.
[b]19 Feb 2004 17:00:47 GMT[/b]
JERUSALEM, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Israeli emergency services reported an explosion in the port city of Haifa on Thursday but later said the report was a false alarm.
Palestinian militants have carried out scores of suicide bombings that have killed hundreds of Israelis since the start of a Palestinian revolt three years ago.
02.19.04 (10:55 am) [edit]
[i][b]Associated Press[/i]
Wed Feb 18, 6:15 PM ET [/b]
DAMASCUS, Syria - Syria has sent messages to Israel via Turkey offering to restart stalled peace talks between the two countries, Syrian Vice President Abdul Halim Khaddam said Wednesday.
The messages carried by Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul expressed "Syria's readiness to resume peace talks from where they broke off" in January 2000, Khaddam said.
They also said that Syria was "still committed to the peace process in accordance with U.N. Security Council resolutions."
Khaddam spoke to reporters in Damascus following a meeting with an Iraqi delegation of peasants.
Syria wants talks to resume from where they broke off in 2000, when the previous Israeli government accepted a withdrawal from almost all the Golan Heights, seized by Israel in 1967. But Israeli Prime Minister Sharon insists the negotiations should begin from scratch.
Raanan Gissin, senior aide to Sharon, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he did not know of any message that had been passed to Israel from Syria.
He said that Israel is prepared to negotiate with Syria without preconditions, "and that does not mean starting where the talks left off." He said that first, Syria must pass "the test of actions," cutting off support for Hezbollah and other terrorist groups.
In the past, Israeli officials have not rebuffed the Syrian overtures, but the Sharon government has never indicated it would return all of the captured Golan Heights to Syria in exchange for peace, as offered by a previous, moderate Israeli government before talks broke down.
Gul, in an interview with the London-based Arabic-language al-Hayat newspaper published Wednesday, said Turkey had received letters and documents from the Syrian side and delivered them to Israel and the United States during his recent visit to Washington. He reiterated Turkey's willingness to help revive Syrian-Israeli peace talks.
Turkey, which enjoys warm relations with Israel, recently said it was also willing to act as an intermediary between Israel and Syria in a bid to revive the countries' peace negotiations.
Turkey has also sought recently to improve relations with its neighbor Syria. In January, Syrian President Bashar Assad made the first visit ever by a Syrian head of state to Turkey.
Assad told The New York Times in November that he wants to renew peace talks with Israel, and he has repeated the offer several times.
[i][b]Associated Press[/i]
Wed Feb 18, 6:15 PM ET [/b]
DAMASCUS, Syria - Syria has sent messages to Israel via Turkey offering to restart stalled peace talks between the two countries, Syrian Vice President Abdul Halim Khaddam said Wednesday.
The messages carried by Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul expressed "Syria's readiness to resume peace talks from where they broke off" in January 2000, Khaddam said.
They also said that Syria was "still committed to the peace process in accordance with U.N. Security Council resolutions."
Khaddam spoke to reporters in Damascus following a meeting with an Iraqi delegation of peasants.
Syria wants talks to resume from where they broke off in 2000, when the previous Israeli government accepted a withdrawal from almost all the Golan Heights, seized by Israel in 1967. But Israeli Prime Minister Sharon insists the negotiations should begin from scratch.
Raanan Gissin, senior aide to Sharon, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he did not know of any message that had been passed to Israel from Syria.
He said that Israel is prepared to negotiate with Syria without preconditions, "and that does not mean starting where the talks left off." He said that first, Syria must pass "the test of actions," cutting off support for Hezbollah and other terrorist groups.
In the past, Israeli officials have not rebuffed the Syrian overtures, but the Sharon government has never indicated it would return all of the captured Golan Heights to Syria in exchange for peace, as offered by a previous, moderate Israeli government before talks broke down.
Gul, in an interview with the London-based Arabic-language al-Hayat newspaper published Wednesday, said Turkey had received letters and documents from the Syrian side and delivered them to Israel and the United States during his recent visit to Washington. He reiterated Turkey's willingness to help revive Syrian-Israeli peace talks.
Turkey, which enjoys warm relations with Israel, recently said it was also willing to act as an intermediary between Israel and Syria in a bid to revive the countries' peace negotiations.
Turkey has also sought recently to improve relations with its neighbor Syria. In January, Syrian President Bashar Assad made the first visit ever by a Syrian head of state to Turkey.
Assad told The New York Times in November that he wants to renew peace talks with Israel, and he has repeated the offer several times.
02.18.04 (8:17 pm) [edit]
source: http://www.haaretzdaily.com/h...
[i]A group of some 1,000 neo-Nazis gathering in Budapest last Saturday, commemorating February 13, 1945 when the surrounded German and Hungarian troops tried to break through the Soviet lines. (AP)[/i]
By Yehuda Lahav
At a protest that took place in Budapest on January 11, demonstrators burned the Israeli flag. The pretext for the flag burning was not, however, a show of support for Palestinians. Rather, it revolved around a domestic national disagreement in Hungary that essentially had nothing to do with Israel.
The pretext for the demonstration was an inconsequential program carried by a local radio station called "Tilos Radio" (Forbidden Radio) on Christmas Eve, during which the host declared: "I would like to exterminate all Christians." The managers of the pirate station immediately fired the host, who was drunk during the broadcast. After sobering up, he expressed remorse for the statement. But the slip of the tongue generated a wave of condemnation throughout Hungary.
Extremist right-wing groups zeroed in on the flap as if they'd made a great find, in the process pumping it up to the dimensions of a national scandal. In dozens of articles and columns the rightists charged, without any factual foundation, that the host and his coworkers are in fact Jews, and before long all Hungarian Jews were being placed in the defendant's seat. The right-wing groups sought to create the impression that the Christian public in Hungary is facing a risk of annihilation, almost like the risk the Jews of Hungary faced in 1944.
To underscore the dangers, several women taking part in the protest in front of the radio station studio wore yellow crosses on their clothes, intended to evoke the yellow star worn by Jews in the Nazi years. One of the speakers at the demonstration, the journalist Istvan Lovas (who despite his anti-Semitic pronouncements once applied for a permit to immigrate to Israel, and is therefore presumably Jewish) declared that an "aggressive minority in Hungary has for the past 50 years persecuted the Christian and Hungarian majority," and called for showing "zero tolerance" for this minority. The burning of the Israeli flag proved that the hint was well taken.
A direct ideological line links last month's demonstration with a rally that took place this past Saturday, on the eve of the anniversary of Budapest's liberation in World War II. The rally was sponsored by the "Blood and Honor" association (a literal translation of the name of the Nazi German movement, "Blut und Ehre") of Budapest. Unlike Paris, Brussels, Prague and other cities in Europe, the anniversary of Budapest's liberation from Nazi occupation was marked by members of Blood and Honor extolling the "heroic defenders of the city" - meaning the Nazi Germans and the Fascist Hungarians, as well as Fascist Hungarian leader Ferenc Szalasi, who was sentenced to death for war crimes. They also yelled obscenities against Jews.
An article in the right-wing weekly "Magyar Demokrata" described the Fascist fighters in Budapest who fought the "Red gangs" (the Soviet Army) as "successors of the laudable tradition of those who fought against the Turkish occupiers" in the 16th century. Other articles claimed that "the brave defense" of besieged Budapest served Western culture well, as it ostensibly prevented the "advance of the Red army to Paris."
This is the root of Hungary's problem. After the collapse of the Communist regime, while other former communist countries looked for and even found their "pre-communist roots" in the anti-fascist heritage of the World War II period, Hungary never had any bona fide anti-fascist movement, and it too was "tainted" with sympathy for communism. Members of the Hungarian right are therefore harking back to the ideological and political foundations of the period between the world wars: fascist and even anti-Semitic foundations. As proof, one need only consider the intention to erect a statue in Budapest in memory of 1940s-era prime minister Paul Teleki, who instigated and defended Hungary's racist anti-Jewish laws. Only a strident protest by Jewish organizations and liberal men of letters stayed the execution of the plan.
The head of the right-wing party Fidesz (the Alliance of Young Democrats), Viktor Orban, who until two years ago was prime minister, reached the conclusion that his return to power could only be possible if he united all of the forces of the right "in one camp under one flag," as he put it. He set up "civil groups" throughout the country many of which were taken over by members of the fanatic right wing.
The demonstration in front of the radio station was initiated by one such "civil group." Even if Orban wanted to repudiate the civil groups that he himself created, he would have a hard time dissociating himself from the extremist factors within them. For i stance, he warmly recommended reading Magyar Demokrata, and did not retract this recommendation even after the newspaper published a series of anti-Semitic and pro-Fascist articles.
But the burning of the Israeli flag presented a stark caution sign. The act induced a sharp condemnation from the Hungarian Foreign Ministry and spokesmen of the member parties of the socialist-liberal coalition, as well as protests from the Israeli embassy in Budapest and the Union of Jewish Communities in Hungary. Even the initiators of the demonstration had to half-heartedly dissociate themselves from it. The uneasiness of the Fidesz party in the aftermath of all these denunciations was most prominently expressed last week, prior to the confrontational Blood and Honor rally, when Fidesz party leaders asked the authorities to prevent the rally from taking place. Until now, they had always justified similar activities, citing freedom of expression.
Given the circumstances, there was particular interest in last week's visit to Israel by Zsolt Nemeth, chairman of the Hungarian parliament's foreign affairs committee and a leader of the Fidesz party. In his conversations with Israeli Justice Minister Yosef Lapid and chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, MK Yuval Steinitz, Nemeth expressed sympathy for Israel and its objectives. He noted that all of the parties represented in the Hungarian parliament, both in the coalition and the opposition, supported Israel's right to live in security and the right of the Palestinians to an independent state. Nemeth said that with Hungary's entry into the European Union, it intended to assume an active role in shaping EU policy in the Middle East, in particular this year, when the U.S. is busy with its presidential election campaign and is not disposed to deal effectively with other problems.
In an interview with Haaretz, Nemeth said that no significant differences of opinion became apparent in the course of his conversations in Israel. When Israeli leaders mentioned the flag burning incident, he argued that police incompetence was partly responsible for the incident, and expressed the hope that this was a one-time act that would not be exploited in the inter-party struggle in Hungary.
Nevertheless, when asked his opinion of the journalist Lovas's statement that the Jewish minority in Hungary is repressing the Hungarian and Christian majority, Nemeth evaded a response. One might assume that he rejects the statement, but when the Hungarian political camp is being mustered under "a single flag," it is not at all easy, it seems, to walk away from political bedfellows.
source: http://www.haaretzdaily.com/h...
[i]A group of some 1,000 neo-Nazis gathering in Budapest last Saturday, commemorating February 13, 1945 when the surrounded German and Hungarian troops tried to break through the Soviet lines. (AP)[/i]
By Yehuda Lahav
At a protest that took place in Budapest on January 11, demonstrators burned the Israeli flag. The pretext for the flag burning was not, however, a show of support for Palestinians. Rather, it revolved around a domestic national disagreement in Hungary that essentially had nothing to do with Israel.
The pretext for the demonstration was an inconsequential program carried by a local radio station called "Tilos Radio" (Forbidden Radio) on Christmas Eve, during which the host declared: "I would like to exterminate all Christians." The managers of the pirate station immediately fired the host, who was drunk during the broadcast. After sobering up, he expressed remorse for the statement. But the slip of the tongue generated a wave of condemnation throughout Hungary.
Extremist right-wing groups zeroed in on the flap as if they'd made a great find, in the process pumping it up to the dimensions of a national scandal. In dozens of articles and columns the rightists charged, without any factual foundation, that the host and his coworkers are in fact Jews, and before long all Hungarian Jews were being placed in the defendant's seat. The right-wing groups sought to create the impression that the Christian public in Hungary is facing a risk of annihilation, almost like the risk the Jews of Hungary faced in 1944.
To underscore the dangers, several women taking part in the protest in front of the radio station studio wore yellow crosses on their clothes, intended to evoke the yellow star worn by Jews in the Nazi years. One of the speakers at the demonstration, the journalist Istvan Lovas (who despite his anti-Semitic pronouncements once applied for a permit to immigrate to Israel, and is therefore presumably Jewish) declared that an "aggressive minority in Hungary has for the past 50 years persecuted the Christian and Hungarian majority," and called for showing "zero tolerance" for this minority. The burning of the Israeli flag proved that the hint was well taken.
A direct ideological line links last month's demonstration with a rally that took place this past Saturday, on the eve of the anniversary of Budapest's liberation in World War II. The rally was sponsored by the "Blood and Honor" association (a literal translation of the name of the Nazi German movement, "Blut und Ehre") of Budapest. Unlike Paris, Brussels, Prague and other cities in Europe, the anniversary of Budapest's liberation from Nazi occupation was marked by members of Blood and Honor extolling the "heroic defenders of the city" - meaning the Nazi Germans and the Fascist Hungarians, as well as Fascist Hungarian leader Ferenc Szalasi, who was sentenced to death for war crimes. They also yelled obscenities against Jews.
An article in the right-wing weekly "Magyar Demokrata" described the Fascist fighters in Budapest who fought the "Red gangs" (the Soviet Army) as "successors of the laudable tradition of those who fought against the Turkish occupiers" in the 16th century. Other articles claimed that "the brave defense" of besieged Budapest served Western culture well, as it ostensibly prevented the "advance of the Red army to Paris."
This is the root of Hungary's problem. After the collapse of the Communist regime, while other former communist countries looked for and even found their "pre-communist roots" in the anti-fascist heritage of the World War II period, Hungary never had any bona fide anti-fascist movement, and it too was "tainted" with sympathy for communism. Members of the Hungarian right are therefore harking back to the ideological and political foundations of the period between the world wars: fascist and even anti-Semitic foundations. As proof, one need only consider the intention to erect a statue in Budapest in memory of 1940s-era prime minister Paul Teleki, who instigated and defended Hungary's racist anti-Jewish laws. Only a strident protest by Jewish organizations and liberal men of letters stayed the execution of the plan.
The head of the right-wing party Fidesz (the Alliance of Young Democrats), Viktor Orban, who until two years ago was prime minister, reached the conclusion that his return to power could only be possible if he united all of the forces of the right "in one camp under one flag," as he put it. He set up "civil groups" throughout the country many of which were taken over by members of the fanatic right wing.
The demonstration in front of the radio station was initiated by one such "civil group." Even if Orban wanted to repudiate the civil groups that he himself created, he would have a hard time dissociating himself from the extremist factors within them. For i stance, he warmly recommended reading Magyar Demokrata, and did not retract this recommendation even after the newspaper published a series of anti-Semitic and pro-Fascist articles.
But the burning of the Israeli flag presented a stark caution sign. The act induced a sharp condemnation from the Hungarian Foreign Ministry and spokesmen of the member parties of the socialist-liberal coalition, as well as protests from the Israeli embassy in Budapest and the Union of Jewish Communities in Hungary. Even the initiators of the demonstration had to half-heartedly dissociate themselves from it. The uneasiness of the Fidesz party in the aftermath of all these denunciations was most prominently expressed last week, prior to the confrontational Blood and Honor rally, when Fidesz party leaders asked the authorities to prevent the rally from taking place. Until now, they had always justified similar activities, citing freedom of expression.
Given the circumstances, there was particular interest in last week's visit to Israel by Zsolt Nemeth, chairman of the Hungarian parliament's foreign affairs committee and a leader of the Fidesz party. In his conversations with Israeli Justice Minister Yosef Lapid and chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, MK Yuval Steinitz, Nemeth expressed sympathy for Israel and its objectives. He noted that all of the parties represented in the Hungarian parliament, both in the coalition and the opposition, supported Israel's right to live in security and the right of the Palestinians to an independent state. Nemeth said that with Hungary's entry into the European Union, it intended to assume an active role in shaping EU policy in the Middle East, in particular this year, when the U.S. is busy with its presidential election campaign and is not disposed to deal effectively with other problems.
In an interview with Haaretz, Nemeth said that no significant differences of opinion became apparent in the course of his conversations in Israel. When Israeli leaders mentioned the flag burning incident, he argued that police incompetence was partly responsible for the incident, and expressed the hope that this was a one-time act that would not be exploited in the inter-party struggle in Hungary.
Nevertheless, when asked his opinion of the journalist Lovas's statement that the Jewish minority in Hungary is repressing the Hungarian and Christian majority, Nemeth evaded a response. One might assume that he rejects the statement, but when the Hungarian political camp is being mustered under "a single flag," it is not at all easy, it seems, to walk away from political bedfellows.
02.18.04 (7:26 pm) [edit]
Source: http://www.haaretzdaily.com/h...
[i]A Muslim woman adjusting a girl's scarf at an Islamic conference in France. The demographic and actuarial deficit in Europe is filling with millions of Muslim immigrants from Asia, the Middle East and Africa. (AP)[/i]
[b]By Eliahu Salpeter[/b]
Although Jew-hatred in Europe has deep Christian roots, today's anti-Semitism is related in large measure to the growth of Europe's Muslim population. When one examines the anti-Semitic incidents and the acts of violence, one sees that the perpetrators usually come from groups of Muslim immigrants.
The declining birth rate in the local population has had two major consequences: a shortage of manpower and of people to channel money into the local market, and an increased burden of funding old-age pensions that falls on young taxpayers, whose numbers are steadily declining. The demographic and actuarial deficit is being filled by the millions of Muslim immigrants from Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
Their work is not only essential, it is also cheaper. These changes have cultural and political implications both in America and in Western Europe, and they do not have a beneficial effect on the local Jewish community or on attitudes toward Israel.
A substantial percentage of the legal and illegal immigrants to the United States, for example, came from Latin America and from the Far East, but many are also from the Middle East. This population movement reduces the percentage of people of European origin, including many of Jewish origin, in the population, as well the importance of the Jewish vote in urban concentrations where Jews have always had a significant political influence. This comes in addition to the large number of mixed marriages, which reduce the number of those involved in Jewish life in the community. At the same time, the Muslim immigrants in the United States, who also want to influence the administration's policy in the Middle East, are increasing their political involvement. In the U.S. there is also increasing suspicion that part of the Muslim public serves as a source for raising money for institutions and associations that are linked to terrorist organizations.
For the Jews, the consequences of the mass Muslim immigration to Western Europe arouse even greater concern, and in most of the countries there are far more Muslims than there are Jews. The two countries where most of European Jewry is concentrated - France and England - also have the greatest concentrations of first- and second-generation Muslim immigrants, mainly Arabs and Pakistanis. The exact number of Muslims in each country is not known. According to estimates, which are based on immigration and birth statistics, the number of Muslims living today in the 15 countries of the present European Union is somewhere between 15 million and 20 million, out of about 350 million people. The countries that are about to join the EU soon, do not have large Muslim populations. The three most important countries of the European Community - Germany, England and France - are home to millions of Muslims: about 5-6 million in France (10 percent of the overall population); about 3.5 million in Germany (4.5 percent); and over 1.5 million in England (3.5 percent).
In France, which has the largest Jewish community in Western Europe, the number of Muslims is five to eight times as great as the number of Jews. Sometimes, the high percentage of first- and second-generation Muslim immigrants in the local population is a better indication for anti-Semitism than is the number of Jews living there. The phenomenon is obvious in countries with tiny Jewish populations. In Sweden, for example, there are about 18,000 Jews and over 300,000 Muslims, in a population of about 9 million. In Greece there are about 5,000 Jews as compared to 400,000 Muslims, and in Austria about 10,000 Jews as compared to 300,000 Muslims.
In many countries, the influence of fundamentalism on the local Muslim community is reflected both in local politics and in attempts to influence foreign policy on Israel. In Manchester, England, for example, an extremist Muslim immigrant was elected to the city council; he doesn't speak English and uses an interpreter for his municipal activity. In Italy, with about 750,000 Muslims, unofficial sharia [Islamic law] courts operate even in criminal cases. Recently it was reported that a man from the Muslim community known as a sex fiend had been punished by having his hand cut off. Italian doctors report injuries from lashings among Muslim women accused of cheating on their husbands.
Michael Radu, a researcher of Muslim terrorism at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia, recently wrote: "In certain countries, the Muslim communities have reached a critical mass, which pushes otherwise lucid politicians to see where their electoral weight lies." He adds, "In France this is obviously the case. It could be the same elsewhere. In Germany, the number of voters of Turkish origin made the difference that allowed [Chancellor Gerhard] Schroeder to remain in power."
In some countries, France for example, a paradoxical situation has been created, in which the Jewish community cooperates with rightist elements - who are not exactly known for their affection for Jews - in an effort to check immigration and Muslim influence. One of the consequences of this step is a strengthening of the ties between the left and Muslim groups, and an increase in criticism of Israel.
What are the chances of stopping the wave of Muslim immigration to Europe? Unemployment in Muslim countries and the demand for workers in the Western countries ensure that it will continue. The pressure to lower prices in Western markets acts to lower salaries to levels that only foreign and illegal workers are willing to accept. On the other hand, the growing hostility toward foreigners who are taking over jobs guarantees that efforts to reduce immigration will continue.
However, the upcoming entry of Central and Eastern European countries into the EU can change the situation. Free entry of workers from the countries that are joining is likely to reduce the demand for workers, and that in turn may bring about a reduction in the number of immigrants from Muslim countries. The entry of countries such as the Czech Republic, Slovenia or Hungary, which conduct a less pro-Arab policy (in the case of the Czech Republic, almost pro-Israel), is likely to influence policy toward Israel as well. However, it is clear that in order to neutralize the anti-Semitic and anti-Israel influence of the Muslim immigrants in the Western countries, Israel will be required to adopt a different policy on the Palestinian issue.
Source: http://www.haaretzdaily.com/h...
[i]A Muslim woman adjusting a girl's scarf at an Islamic conference in France. The demographic and actuarial deficit in Europe is filling with millions of Muslim immigrants from Asia, the Middle East and Africa. (AP)[/i]
[b]By Eliahu Salpeter[/b]
Although Jew-hatred in Europe has deep Christian roots, today's anti-Semitism is related in large measure to the growth of Europe's Muslim population. When one examines the anti-Semitic incidents and the acts of violence, one sees that the perpetrators usually come from groups of Muslim immigrants.
The declining birth rate in the local population has had two major consequences: a shortage of manpower and of people to channel money into the local market, and an increased burden of funding old-age pensions that falls on young taxpayers, whose numbers are steadily declining. The demographic and actuarial deficit is being filled by the millions of Muslim immigrants from Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
Their work is not only essential, it is also cheaper. These changes have cultural and political implications both in America and in Western Europe, and they do not have a beneficial effect on the local Jewish community or on attitudes toward Israel.
A substantial percentage of the legal and illegal immigrants to the United States, for example, came from Latin America and from the Far East, but many are also from the Middle East. This population movement reduces the percentage of people of European origin, including many of Jewish origin, in the population, as well the importance of the Jewish vote in urban concentrations where Jews have always had a significant political influence. This comes in addition to the large number of mixed marriages, which reduce the number of those involved in Jewish life in the community. At the same time, the Muslim immigrants in the United States, who also want to influence the administration's policy in the Middle East, are increasing their political involvement. In the U.S. there is also increasing suspicion that part of the Muslim public serves as a source for raising money for institutions and associations that are linked to terrorist organizations.
For the Jews, the consequences of the mass Muslim immigration to Western Europe arouse even greater concern, and in most of the countries there are far more Muslims than there are Jews. The two countries where most of European Jewry is concentrated - France and England - also have the greatest concentrations of first- and second-generation Muslim immigrants, mainly Arabs and Pakistanis. The exact number of Muslims in each country is not known. According to estimates, which are based on immigration and birth statistics, the number of Muslims living today in the 15 countries of the present European Union is somewhere between 15 million and 20 million, out of about 350 million people. The countries that are about to join the EU soon, do not have large Muslim populations. The three most important countries of the European Community - Germany, England and France - are home to millions of Muslims: about 5-6 million in France (10 percent of the overall population); about 3.5 million in Germany (4.5 percent); and over 1.5 million in England (3.5 percent).
In France, which has the largest Jewish community in Western Europe, the number of Muslims is five to eight times as great as the number of Jews. Sometimes, the high percentage of first- and second-generation Muslim immigrants in the local population is a better indication for anti-Semitism than is the number of Jews living there. The phenomenon is obvious in countries with tiny Jewish populations. In Sweden, for example, there are about 18,000 Jews and over 300,000 Muslims, in a population of about 9 million. In Greece there are about 5,000 Jews as compared to 400,000 Muslims, and in Austria about 10,000 Jews as compared to 300,000 Muslims.
In many countries, the influence of fundamentalism on the local Muslim community is reflected both in local politics and in attempts to influence foreign policy on Israel. In Manchester, England, for example, an extremist Muslim immigrant was elected to the city council; he doesn't speak English and uses an interpreter for his municipal activity. In Italy, with about 750,000 Muslims, unofficial sharia [Islamic law] courts operate even in criminal cases. Recently it was reported that a man from the Muslim community known as a sex fiend had been punished by having his hand cut off. Italian doctors report injuries from lashings among Muslim women accused of cheating on their husbands.
Michael Radu, a researcher of Muslim terrorism at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia, recently wrote: "In certain countries, the Muslim communities have reached a critical mass, which pushes otherwise lucid politicians to see where their electoral weight lies." He adds, "In France this is obviously the case. It could be the same elsewhere. In Germany, the number of voters of Turkish origin made the difference that allowed [Chancellor Gerhard] Schroeder to remain in power."
In some countries, France for example, a paradoxical situation has been created, in which the Jewish community cooperates with rightist elements - who are not exactly known for their affection for Jews - in an effort to check immigration and Muslim influence. One of the consequences of this step is a strengthening of the ties between the left and Muslim groups, and an increase in criticism of Israel.
What are the chances of stopping the wave of Muslim immigration to Europe? Unemployment in Muslim countries and the demand for workers in the Western countries ensure that it will continue. The pressure to lower prices in Western markets acts to lower salaries to levels that only foreign and illegal workers are willing to accept. On the other hand, the growing hostility toward foreigners who are taking over jobs guarantees that efforts to reduce immigration will continue.
However, the upcoming entry of Central and Eastern European countries into the EU can change the situation. Free entry of workers from the countries that are joining is likely to reduce the demand for workers, and that in turn may bring about a reduction in the number of immigrants from Muslim countries. The entry of countries such as the Czech Republic, Slovenia or Hungary, which conduct a less pro-Arab policy (in the case of the Czech Republic, almost pro-Israel), is likely to influence policy toward Israel as well. However, it is clear that in order to neutralize the anti-Semitic and anti-Israel influence of the Muslim immigrants in the Western countries, Israel will be required to adopt a different policy on the Palestinian issue.
Stereotypical Archetypes
02.18.04 (10:32 am) [edit]
Ever wonder why no one listens to you anymore? I mean, when you say something about a political position you take? Have you ever noticed how once you make a statement, be it conservative, liberal, or middle of the road, just in passing conversation, you're then labeled as your statement. Not just your statement, but whatever people took you statement to mean.
What am I talking about?
It's been happening a lot lately to me. I say something to people that I'm talking to for the first time, and they decide that I am whatever it is that they didn't like about my statement.
Still confused?
I'll give you a scenario. I was talking to someone new the other day and I made a statement. Guess what it was about! Israel. Now, my statement was to a person who is slightly of the more liberal position. (They identify themselves as a liberal, so that's not me stereotyping them in return.) What I said was that those Palestinians whom are guilty of murder or aiding in murdering innocent people should be held accountable. I would like to see the death penalty sought (as I am a supporter of the death penalty, you see).
After I said my peace in defense of the Jewish state, I was labeled an Israeli terrorist in favour of performing genocide on the hopeless Palestinians.
Wha HUH?
First off, anyone who reads my blog regularly knows that's simply not true. How outlandish. Secondly, in the conversation, I never said all Palestinians should be punished. I said "those who murder and aid in murdering." I could turn the table here and say, "Oh! So in other words, you're saying that all Palestinians are murderers? That's what it sounds like to me, because all I said was, 'those who do this and that.' You're saying that I want to kill all of them in response to my comment, so you must be, logically speaking, insinuating that all Palestinians are murderers!"
Why do we have to put each other in these situations folks? Why do we stereotype eachother at all, let alone for the bad?
Also, when did we stop hearing what each other are saying and rather just barely listening to it?
Why is it that as soon as you make a firm statement, and someone disagrees with it, you are stereotyped as being 'more evil' than you really are or stand for?
People don't listen anymore, they'd rather jump to outlandish conclusions to escalate the argument and just have a fight.
That's all I can logically discern from this behavior. And it's happened more than once.
We do this with TV personalities and Gov. Officials. Just about anyone who has something to say, we do this too.
Take Bill O'Rielly, for example. Love his show, by the way.
Oh! What's that? I just made another firm statement! Should I be categorized as some kind of Nazi because I like the Bill O'Rielly show? What kind of an idiot does that!
Bill O'Rielly is NOT a Nazi. He's actually a very smart guy. One may not agree with everything he says (I for sure don't), but I like a lot of what he says and I respect the fact that he takes a stand on issues that he feels to be important. Likewise, he's able to admit when he was wrong (ie the war in Iraq thing).
Thing is, people see maybe a snippet of his show and disagree with him and then *POOF!* he's hated. Or worse, they don't even watch the show or listen to his radio broadcast, and they just hear it from someone else, maybe a friend who did or didn't see or hear his programs, and they just imitate and parrot what their friend says.
Why do we do this, folks?
It seems that we humans have lost our capacity to listen, hear, and think for ourselves. (That is, if we ever had it to begin with)
Why can't we LISTEN!
So, I'm issuing a challenge to my readers. See if you can do this:
When you listen to what someone is saying, make sure you hear them and fully understand what they are saying and/on their position. Do NOT jump to wild conclusions or assumptions. Respect your conversational partner. Don't stereotype the speaker by labeling them as some kind of archetype that you either hate or can't stand. Give everyone a fair chance to have their voice at least heard and their position understood to the best of your ability.
Be kind and respectful.
02.18.04 (9:56 am) [edit]
[b]From DEBKA-Net-Weekly 144 Feb. 6, 2003
February 17, 2004, 10:46 PM (GMT+02:00) --[/b]
Some revealing details are now emerging about the $1 billion Great Bank Heist which Saddam Hussein’s henchmen staged at the Iraqi National Bank in Baghdad on March 19, hours before the US “shock and awe” air raids.
For instance, Saddam handwrote his cash demand on a plain sheet of paper and signed it in pencil. That sheet was among the documents US forces found in the deposed ruler’s spider hole, when they captured him on December 12. The stack shed no light on the whereabouts of the ousted ruler’s weapons of mass destruction but, once the simple codes were cracked, they held clues to some of the cash he had socked away and named power of attorney holders through whom he enjoys access to the loot.
Other documents in the pile, according to DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s intelligence sources, lifted the lid off the clandestine workings of the deep-hush 14th Directorate – Office of Special Operations – of the Dawairat al Mukhabarat al-Amah, or Department of General Intelligence. This dread department, known also as N-14, was responsible for running agents on clandestine and sensitive special operations outside the country – particularly assassinations. Its main training facility was located at Salman Pak, 12 miles (19 km) southeast of Baghdad. N-14 orchestrated the failed assassination of former President George Bush during a visit to Kuwait in April 1993.
The long hours its agents invested in acquiring language and orientation skills for blending into the countries of their missions came in useful after the US invasion of Iraq, when they were reassigned new duties as guardians of the deposed dictator’s fortune, trustees for his worldwide financial and business empire with responsibility for remitting profits as directed.
These professional killers pose “behind enemy lines” in smart suits as non-Iraqi businessmen living under the false identities registered in their Saudi, US, British, Syrian or Egyptian passports.
One such Syrian businessman recently turned up at the national bank of Syria with a power of attorney note for $1.1billion of Iraqi funds on deposit there. The note, passed on to the Americans, proved to have been written with the “Saddam pencil.” But the “Syrian businessman”, presumed until then to divide his time between Frankfurt, Munich, Geneva and Damascus, had disappeared.
When asked by the Americans to hand over the cash looted from Iraq, Syria balked, saying: “Saddam is in your custody. We are transferring to you a copy of the power of attorney he gave to the ‘Syrian businessman’, whom we do not know. If you can show us a more recent power of attorney from Saddam Hussein, we can compare signatures and act on your prisoner’s instructions. Without the right documentation, we cannot help you.”
Before converting the old currency with Saddam’s portrait to new dinar notes, Bremer and US calculated some four trillion dinars ($2.85 billion) would be needed for the conversion.
Their estimate was far too modest. The amount Iraqis rushed to trade in had soared to 6.3 trillion dinars, the equivalent of $4.5 billion, by the January 15 deadline for handing in old notes for new. It then turned out that around 40 percent of the cash in circulation in Iraq was in the hands of pro-Saddam elements, specifically N-14 operatives.
US and Iraqi economic planners had taken it for granted that the excess funds had come from dinars ordinary Iraqis had squirreled away. They were wrong. The money had been hoarded in foreign cash - euros, yens and Australian dollars for preference. It surfaced as post-war Iraqis went on spending sprees and began buying American and Japanese cars. Since early May, the keys of more than a million new vehicles, worth more than $5 billion, have been handed to eager customers in the main cities of Baghdad, Kirkuk, Mosul, Najaf and Karbala. Purchases are mostly made in foreign notes – no bank transactions.
Over the past two months, the dinar has strengthened sharply, gaining more than
30 percent against the dollar as the exchange rate has gone from more than 2,000 to around 1,400.
A senior Iraqi banking official explained the newfound affluence up and down Iraq to DEBKA-Net-Weekly: “The provisional government is committed for the time being to feeding 25 million Iraqis gratis. Saddam’s system of food stamps and virtually free water and fuel goes on uninterrupted by the war. The only thing that has changed is the standard of services and the diversity of consumer products available. This situation clearly cannot go on much longer if the economy is to be rebuilt on a healthy footing.”
According to DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s sources, Bremer’s team has concluded that a stable economy and realistic Iraqi exchange rate will remain elusive as long as Saddam’s agents maintain their iron grip on the cash in circulation and the captured dictator continues to control vast investment capital overseas. At the same time, ordinary Iraqis continued to hoard black market foreign currency.
Even if a sovereign government is installed in Baghdad without hitch and a general election goes smoothly, the new regime will have little control over the economy.
DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s intelligence sources have obtained more information expanding on Saddam Hussein’s private currency printing enterprise.
It now appears that rather than running a private mint, Saddam, his sons and the commander of the 14th Directorate enjoyed free access to a sealed annex of the national mint and creamed off supplies for the slush funds of the presidential bureau and secret service chiefs. These sums were never officially recorded or counted in determining Iraq’s gross domestic product. No one but Saddam knows exactly how much was run off in the sealed annex or its destinations. The result was the creation of two Iraqi economies – one official, the other black. Most is believed to have been invested overseas and an estimated 15 percent to 20 percent of the profits returning to Iraq to defray the costs of running a guerrilla war against the US-led coalition. The fighting groups loyal to the deposed dictator appear to command an almost unlimited war chest.
However, five key people are suspected by US investigators of holding short cuts to this information, according to DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s intelligence sources – three in Syria and two in Lebanon. The members of this tight group handled money transfers on behalf of the fugitive Iraqi regime leaders and are the only people who know the identities of the 14th Directorate operatives overseeing Saddam’s financial empire.
The flurry around Saddam’s deposits in Syria and the discovery of the power of attorney in the hands of a “Syrian businessman” have prompted Saddam’s eldest daughter Raghed Kamal to change her plans. On January 16, DEBKA-Net-Weekly 141 reported her request to relocate from Amman to Paris and re-establish the Iraqi Baath party. Now Saddam’s daughter has applied for permission to move to Damascus instead of the French capital.
[b]From DEBKA-Net-Weekly 144 Feb. 6, 2003
February 17, 2004, 10:46 PM (GMT+02:00) --[/b]
Some revealing details are now emerging about the $1 billion Great Bank Heist which Saddam Hussein’s henchmen staged at the Iraqi National Bank in Baghdad on March 19, hours before the US “shock and awe” air raids.
For instance, Saddam handwrote his cash demand on a plain sheet of paper and signed it in pencil. That sheet was among the documents US forces found in the deposed ruler’s spider hole, when they captured him on December 12. The stack shed no light on the whereabouts of the ousted ruler’s weapons of mass destruction but, once the simple codes were cracked, they held clues to some of the cash he had socked away and named power of attorney holders through whom he enjoys access to the loot.
Other documents in the pile, according to DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s intelligence sources, lifted the lid off the clandestine workings of the deep-hush 14th Directorate – Office of Special Operations – of the Dawairat al Mukhabarat al-Amah, or Department of General Intelligence. This dread department, known also as N-14, was responsible for running agents on clandestine and sensitive special operations outside the country – particularly assassinations. Its main training facility was located at Salman Pak, 12 miles (19 km) southeast of Baghdad. N-14 orchestrated the failed assassination of former President George Bush during a visit to Kuwait in April 1993.
The long hours its agents invested in acquiring language and orientation skills for blending into the countries of their missions came in useful after the US invasion of Iraq, when they were reassigned new duties as guardians of the deposed dictator’s fortune, trustees for his worldwide financial and business empire with responsibility for remitting profits as directed.
These professional killers pose “behind enemy lines” in smart suits as non-Iraqi businessmen living under the false identities registered in their Saudi, US, British, Syrian or Egyptian passports.
One such Syrian businessman recently turned up at the national bank of Syria with a power of attorney note for $1.1billion of Iraqi funds on deposit there. The note, passed on to the Americans, proved to have been written with the “Saddam pencil.” But the “Syrian businessman”, presumed until then to divide his time between Frankfurt, Munich, Geneva and Damascus, had disappeared.
When asked by the Americans to hand over the cash looted from Iraq, Syria balked, saying: “Saddam is in your custody. We are transferring to you a copy of the power of attorney he gave to the ‘Syrian businessman’, whom we do not know. If you can show us a more recent power of attorney from Saddam Hussein, we can compare signatures and act on your prisoner’s instructions. Without the right documentation, we cannot help you.”
Before converting the old currency with Saddam’s portrait to new dinar notes, Bremer and US calculated some four trillion dinars ($2.85 billion) would be needed for the conversion.
Their estimate was far too modest. The amount Iraqis rushed to trade in had soared to 6.3 trillion dinars, the equivalent of $4.5 billion, by the January 15 deadline for handing in old notes for new. It then turned out that around 40 percent of the cash in circulation in Iraq was in the hands of pro-Saddam elements, specifically N-14 operatives.
US and Iraqi economic planners had taken it for granted that the excess funds had come from dinars ordinary Iraqis had squirreled away. They were wrong. The money had been hoarded in foreign cash - euros, yens and Australian dollars for preference. It surfaced as post-war Iraqis went on spending sprees and began buying American and Japanese cars. Since early May, the keys of more than a million new vehicles, worth more than $5 billion, have been handed to eager customers in the main cities of Baghdad, Kirkuk, Mosul, Najaf and Karbala. Purchases are mostly made in foreign notes – no bank transactions.
Over the past two months, the dinar has strengthened sharply, gaining more than
30 percent against the dollar as the exchange rate has gone from more than 2,000 to around 1,400.
A senior Iraqi banking official explained the newfound affluence up and down Iraq to DEBKA-Net-Weekly: “The provisional government is committed for the time being to feeding 25 million Iraqis gratis. Saddam’s system of food stamps and virtually free water and fuel goes on uninterrupted by the war. The only thing that has changed is the standard of services and the diversity of consumer products available. This situation clearly cannot go on much longer if the economy is to be rebuilt on a healthy footing.”
According to DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s sources, Bremer’s team has concluded that a stable economy and realistic Iraqi exchange rate will remain elusive as long as Saddam’s agents maintain their iron grip on the cash in circulation and the captured dictator continues to control vast investment capital overseas. At the same time, ordinary Iraqis continued to hoard black market foreign currency.
Even if a sovereign government is installed in Baghdad without hitch and a general election goes smoothly, the new regime will have little control over the economy.
DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s intelligence sources have obtained more information expanding on Saddam Hussein’s private currency printing enterprise.
It now appears that rather than running a private mint, Saddam, his sons and the commander of the 14th Directorate enjoyed free access to a sealed annex of the national mint and creamed off supplies for the slush funds of the presidential bureau and secret service chiefs. These sums were never officially recorded or counted in determining Iraq’s gross domestic product. No one but Saddam knows exactly how much was run off in the sealed annex or its destinations. The result was the creation of two Iraqi economies – one official, the other black. Most is believed to have been invested overseas and an estimated 15 percent to 20 percent of the profits returning to Iraq to defray the costs of running a guerrilla war against the US-led coalition. The fighting groups loyal to the deposed dictator appear to command an almost unlimited war chest.
However, five key people are suspected by US investigators of holding short cuts to this information, according to DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s intelligence sources – three in Syria and two in Lebanon. The members of this tight group handled money transfers on behalf of the fugitive Iraqi regime leaders and are the only people who know the identities of the 14th Directorate operatives overseeing Saddam’s financial empire.
The flurry around Saddam’s deposits in Syria and the discovery of the power of attorney in the hands of a “Syrian businessman” have prompted Saddam’s eldest daughter Raghed Kamal to change her plans. On January 16, DEBKA-Net-Weekly 141 reported her request to relocate from Amman to Paris and re-establish the Iraqi Baath party. Now Saddam’s daughter has applied for permission to move to Damascus instead of the French capital.
02.18.04 (9:48 am) [edit]
[b]DEBKAfile`s Special Report -- http://www.debka.com
February 18, 2004, 5:09 PM (GMT+02:00)[/b]
Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qureia (Abu Ala) has been engaged in a last ditch attempt to rescue the European aid program to the Palestinians from total cutoff. Palestinian Authority's coffers, which depend on foreign handouts for 60 percent of their revenues, are depleted. American aid is already lost, since Washington vowed (as DEBKAfile reported exclusively last year) not to give the Palestinians a red cent until they hand over the killers of three CIA security men murdered in a roadside explosion in the Gaza Strip on October 15.
Now, the Americans are pushing hard for Europe to follow suit. The European Union is nonetheless continuing to pay the salaries of about 100,000 Palestinian Authority officials and security officers, but it has posed a key proviso: donations will no longer be handed over in cash to the PA – an invitation to the corrupt practices besetting Palestinian government - but transferred directly into the individual payees’ banks accounts. Palestinian officials with no bank accounts will get no paychecks. Thus compete transparency will be assured. However, the Palestinian Authority shorn of its dollar and euro revenues cannot survive. Ironically, Israel continues to make its regular shekel remittances to the PA, a leftover from its undertakings under the defunct Oslo peace accords. This comes nowhere near covering the PA’s budgetary shortfall.
Yasser Arafat and the heads of his Fatah faction and Tanzim militia predictably turned down the European proviso, and no wonder: a) To open an account and draw funds from the bank, Palestinian security men will have to show identification; b) they can no longer be forced by their commanders and Arafat to engage in terrorists activities in order to feed their families. As PA officers, they will receive their paychecks directly from the EU.
This Europeans’ tough act, which puts the lid on many of Arafat’s financial abuses, is intended to meet one of Washington’s key demands and so test the chances of being let in on the Bush administration’s coming moves in Iraq and the Middle East.
The Palestinian prime minister when he toured Europe last week announced the new arrangement was acceptable to his government. But on his return to Ramallah, he found Arafat had put a furious stop to his first and only autonomous action since assuming the premiership last November.
"They're gunning for me and they're after my money," Arafat spat out to his cronies. “And if we let them get away with it, they’ll finish me off along with the entire Palestinian resistance movement!" he said referring to the Americans and Palestinian terrorism and their efforts to extinguish his suicide terror campaign.
According to DEBKAfile's Palestinian sources, since 400 Fatah members handed in their cards in protest against corruption in the Palestinian leadership, Arafat has come to believe that that the Americans are using the bank account stratagem as a tool to be rid of him.
Four developments fuel his suspicions:
1. Fatah and PA intelligence bodies did not pick up the slightest whiff of a protest move in the making. Signed by Fatah rank and file activists in total secrecy, the protest petition caught Arafat’s spies by surprise. He therefore concluded it must have been the work of a foreign intelligence service.
2. The signers were sufficiently in the know about Arafat’s affairs to correctly finger at least one of his close aides as responsible for the worse excesses in the PA. One was his former financial adviser, Mohammed Rashid – whom they describe as "the Kurd who controls the Palestinian national movement". The estranged Rashid has relocated his base from Ramallah to Cairo and London, where he is in business with another of Arafat’s rivals, Mohammed Dahlan.
The fact that Rashid was named did not bother Arafat.
But the second name was a giveaway: Kharabi Sarsur, 64, Arafat’s secret emissary, who holds the key to his personal cashbox. No ranking official in Palestinian-controlled territory dares mentioned this name aloud. The lowly Fatah operatives who mentioned Sarsur in their petition were hardly likely to know who he is. According to our sources, he is an important intelligence target – even more so than Arafat himself. Undercover agencies who want to find out what Arafat is up to keep an eye on Sarsur and, in particular, his disbursements of cash. Arafat is certain that only a major intelligence service had the inside knowledge necessary to "out" Sarsur.
3. French and EU authorities have started investigating his wife Suha's money-laundering activities in Paris, where she lives a life Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza can only dream of. Six months ago, no European in authority would have dared touch Mrs. Arafat. Now, she is a liability making him vulnerable as never before.The money trail is bound to lead from Paris back to the "rais" and the secret Swiss account to which he smuggled PA funds - thence, for the last ten months, in monthly transfers of $1 million each into Suha Arafat's Paris accounts.
Washington knows that Suha is sitting on large sums belonging to her husband and the PA, rated by financiers in West Europe as being in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Arafat believes the Americans persuaded the Europeans to open the investigation, expecting Suha to open up on his hidden wealth rather than go to jail.
4. Arafat has heard that a number of Palestinian bankers, some working within the PA and others in Arab countries, have been intercepted on recent visits to the United States with invitations for "clarification talks" with the FBI. Arafat, his money and secret accounts are the main topics of these clarifications.
Because of these developments, Arafat has come to believe that his final showdown with the United States has begun. He certainly does not propose to let either the Europeans or Ahmed Qureia get in the way of his fight for survival.
[b]DEBKAfile`s Special Report -- http://www.debka.com
February 18, 2004, 5:09 PM (GMT+02:00)[/b]
Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qureia (Abu Ala) has been engaged in a last ditch attempt to rescue the European aid program to the Palestinians from total cutoff. Palestinian Authority's coffers, which depend on foreign handouts for 60 percent of their revenues, are depleted. American aid is already lost, since Washington vowed (as DEBKAfile reported exclusively last year) not to give the Palestinians a red cent until they hand over the killers of three CIA security men murdered in a roadside explosion in the Gaza Strip on October 15.
Now, the Americans are pushing hard for Europe to follow suit. The European Union is nonetheless continuing to pay the salaries of about 100,000 Palestinian Authority officials and security officers, but it has posed a key proviso: donations will no longer be handed over in cash to the PA – an invitation to the corrupt practices besetting Palestinian government - but transferred directly into the individual payees’ banks accounts. Palestinian officials with no bank accounts will get no paychecks. Thus compete transparency will be assured. However, the Palestinian Authority shorn of its dollar and euro revenues cannot survive. Ironically, Israel continues to make its regular shekel remittances to the PA, a leftover from its undertakings under the defunct Oslo peace accords. This comes nowhere near covering the PA’s budgetary shortfall.
Yasser Arafat and the heads of his Fatah faction and Tanzim militia predictably turned down the European proviso, and no wonder: a) To open an account and draw funds from the bank, Palestinian security men will have to show identification; b) they can no longer be forced by their commanders and Arafat to engage in terrorists activities in order to feed their families. As PA officers, they will receive their paychecks directly from the EU.
This Europeans’ tough act, which puts the lid on many of Arafat’s financial abuses, is intended to meet one of Washington’s key demands and so test the chances of being let in on the Bush administration’s coming moves in Iraq and the Middle East.
The Palestinian prime minister when he toured Europe last week announced the new arrangement was acceptable to his government. But on his return to Ramallah, he found Arafat had put a furious stop to his first and only autonomous action since assuming the premiership last November.
"They're gunning for me and they're after my money," Arafat spat out to his cronies. “And if we let them get away with it, they’ll finish me off along with the entire Palestinian resistance movement!" he said referring to the Americans and Palestinian terrorism and their efforts to extinguish his suicide terror campaign.
According to DEBKAfile's Palestinian sources, since 400 Fatah members handed in their cards in protest against corruption in the Palestinian leadership, Arafat has come to believe that that the Americans are using the bank account stratagem as a tool to be rid of him.
Four developments fuel his suspicions:
1. Fatah and PA intelligence bodies did not pick up the slightest whiff of a protest move in the making. Signed by Fatah rank and file activists in total secrecy, the protest petition caught Arafat’s spies by surprise. He therefore concluded it must have been the work of a foreign intelligence service.
2. The signers were sufficiently in the know about Arafat’s affairs to correctly finger at least one of his close aides as responsible for the worse excesses in the PA. One was his former financial adviser, Mohammed Rashid – whom they describe as "the Kurd who controls the Palestinian national movement". The estranged Rashid has relocated his base from Ramallah to Cairo and London, where he is in business with another of Arafat’s rivals, Mohammed Dahlan.
The fact that Rashid was named did not bother Arafat.
But the second name was a giveaway: Kharabi Sarsur, 64, Arafat’s secret emissary, who holds the key to his personal cashbox. No ranking official in Palestinian-controlled territory dares mentioned this name aloud. The lowly Fatah operatives who mentioned Sarsur in their petition were hardly likely to know who he is. According to our sources, he is an important intelligence target – even more so than Arafat himself. Undercover agencies who want to find out what Arafat is up to keep an eye on Sarsur and, in particular, his disbursements of cash. Arafat is certain that only a major intelligence service had the inside knowledge necessary to "out" Sarsur.
3. French and EU authorities have started investigating his wife Suha's money-laundering activities in Paris, where she lives a life Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza can only dream of. Six months ago, no European in authority would have dared touch Mrs. Arafat. Now, she is a liability making him vulnerable as never before.The money trail is bound to lead from Paris back to the "rais" and the secret Swiss account to which he smuggled PA funds - thence, for the last ten months, in monthly transfers of $1 million each into Suha Arafat's Paris accounts.
Washington knows that Suha is sitting on large sums belonging to her husband and the PA, rated by financiers in West Europe as being in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Arafat believes the Americans persuaded the Europeans to open the investigation, expecting Suha to open up on his hidden wealth rather than go to jail.
4. Arafat has heard that a number of Palestinian bankers, some working within the PA and others in Arab countries, have been intercepted on recent visits to the United States with invitations for "clarification talks" with the FBI. Arafat, his money and secret accounts are the main topics of these clarifications.
Because of these developments, Arafat has come to believe that his final showdown with the United States has begun. He certainly does not propose to let either the Europeans or Ahmed Qureia get in the way of his fight for survival.
Mel Gibson is closing Jewish hearts to Jesus
02.17.04 (8:12 pm) [edit][i][b]by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach[/i]
February 20, 2004[/b]
I am an Orthodox Jew who harbors a profound admiration for Christianity, in general, and evangelical Christians, in particular. I would go so far as to say that while I do not, of course, embrace all elements of the evangelical agenda, and indeed harbor some profound and serious disagreements, I believe that evangelical Christians constitute one of the most potent and profound forces for good in all of America today.
When I served as rabbi at Oxford University for 11 years, the student organization I ran had hundreds of Christian members, a great many of whom worked tirelessly and selflessly for the organization, even though it was officially Jewish. Since returning to the United States four years ago, my admiration for evangelical Christians has soared to the stratosphere.
I am inspired by their profound patriotism, exemplary love of God, and fierce determination to back President Bush in fighting evil dictators like Saddam Hussein. I join them in rejecting the increasingly foul and depraved Hollywood culture which is destroying our youth. I salute their marvelous capacity to raise well-adjusted and spiritual children (a great many of whom are homeschooled), and I am grateful for their undying love and support for the state of Israel. Indeed, the similarities between evangelical Christians and orthodox Jews are striking, and when I am in the company of evangelical Christians, I immediately feel at home.
A small case in point is how, at the end of virtually every e-mail and phone call, I sign off with "G-d bless you." When I lived in England, a mostly secular country (Europe, what do you expect?), this salutation made people feel profoundly uncomfortable. They literally stuttered, not knowing how to respond. Even here in the United States, "God bless you" is an expression that is mostly used in special circumstances, like at the end of a State of the Union address. But whenever I tell my evangelical Christian friends, "God bless you," they come right back at me, "God bless you, too."
It is therefore with a heavy heart that I am watching the developments surrounding Mel Gibson's upcoming film, "The Passion of the Christ." I truly fear this film may serve to hinder the increasing and remarkable intimacy that has begun developing between Christians and Jews. To be sure, my evangelical friends tell me they do not blame the Jews for the death of Christ, and that Jesus willingly submitted his life so that humanity might be saved from sin. This evangelical reading is a version of the crucifixion portrayed in the gospel of John, where Jesus is in control of the entire Passion narrative.
But the version that Mel Gibson seems to have highlighted -- based on every serious review of the film that I have heretofore read -- is that contained in the synoptic Gospels, and especially that of Matthew, where the Jews are portrayed as being the principal agitators for the murder of Christ, goading the reluctant Romans into the act of deicide.
Elsewhere, I have written how this narrative requires elucidation and should not be taken at face value, not only because it is deeply offensive to Jews -- Jesus was, after all, one of us -- but because it is historically implausible. Pontius Pilate was the cruelest proconsul the Romans ever sent to Judea, and he regularly slaughtered thousands of Jews -- particularly those who, like Jesus, challenged Roman authority -- on a whim without even the semblance of a trial.
But even if my evangelical colleagues are correct, and Christians will harbor no ill feeling after seeing the film's graphic portrayal of the Jews calling for Jesus' death, I fear that it is the Jews themselves who will begin to pull back from their close relationship with Christians, feeling that the terrible lie that we killed the Christian God is being perpetuated.
Can Christians understand just how painful it is for Jews to be accused, from a Christian perspective, of having murdered the source of all goodness, of having blotted out the source of all light and life? Of having been in such intimate league with the devil that we killed the Divinity? Can my Christian brothers and sisters understand the deep pain we feel -- committed as we have been for more than 3,000 years toward a moral and ethical lifestyle -- when we are portrayed as reveling in sadistic delight as the Romans savagely beat Jesus?
Indeed, can the human mind even conjure up a more offensive accusation than that a nation killed the Creator? Aside from the accusation being deeply offensive and insulting, there is the far more serious issue of how this has indeed led to the slaughter of literally millions of Jews for the past two millennia.
Consider this quotation published in the collection of Catholic essays, "On The Jewish Problem": "The mystery of Israel is a bloody mystery ... Perhaps it is necessary for Israel to kill their god whom they failed to recognize. But since blood mysteriously invoked blood, does it not perhaps belong to the charity of Christians to let the horrors of pogroms compensate, in the hidden balance of the divine intention, for the unbearable horrors of the crucifixion?"
Or the words of the celebrated French orator and Bishop, Jacques-Benigne Bossuet: "I hear the Jews crying out, 'His blood fall on us and our children.' There it shall be, a cursed race! Your prayer will be answered more than amply. His blood will pursue you and your last offspring until the Lord, grown tired of his vengeance, will remember, at the end of time, your miserable remnants."
Or the story of Rabbi Michael Dov-Ber Weissmandel, who approached the papal nuncio for help in stopping the extermination of Slovakian Jews. The Catholic archbishop replied, "There is no innocent blood of Jewish children in the world. All Jewish blood is guilty. You have to die. This is the punishment that has been awaiting you because of that sin [the death of Jesus]."
I fear that since many Christian organizations are now passionately promoting "The Passion" as an evangelical tool, it will increase the feeling on the part of my Jewish brethren that, for all their love and support of Israel, Christians are not our friends. I have spent my entire rabbinical career battling Jewish insularity and the deep distrust toward Christians that 2,000 years of Christian anti-Semitism has understandably engendered among some Jews. Is the support of this film really worth all of us going back to square one? Was there not some other way of portraying the death of the Christian savior, without the Jews clamoring for his crucifixion, and thereby being equated with the anti-Christ?
I fear that Mel Gibson's film does not show the other side, how the Gospels expressly declare that the Pharisees (progenitors of modern-day Judaism) tried to save Jesus' life (Luke 13:31), how Gamliel, the leader of all the Pharisees, saved the lives of Peter and the rest of the apostles from execution by the corrupt high priest, the agent of Rome (Acts 5:33-40), or how Paul was saved by the Pharisees at his trial with their declaration, "We find nothing wrong in this man. What if a spirit or an angel spoke to him?" (Acts 23:6-9).
But there is something more. I fear that the main victim of "The Passion" will be Jesus himself, and here is why. For thousands of years, what has most divided Christians and Jews is the figure of Christ, with the former believing in Jesus as deity, savior and Messiah, and the latter looking upon him as a renegade Jew. There exists today the startling possibility that because of the new social, religious and political ties among Christians and Jews that the Jewish people might look at Jesus anew and that both groups might meet through the personality of Jesus himself, even as we both understand him in totally different ways.
Jews have rarely taken a serious look at the teachings of Jesus. Indeed, in most Jewish households, the New Testament itself is completely taboo. There are two principal reasons for this. Firstly, the idea of a man as god violates the central tenets of the Jewish faith. But even this would not explain why Jews have not been prepared to look upon Jesus -- who was, after all, a Pharisaic rabbi -- as a wise man who promulgated exemplary ethical teachings, even if he wasn't the Messiah.
The Jews will not accept Jesus as savior, but why not as sage? They will not embrace him as god, but why not as guru? After all, many Jews study the teachings of the Buddha, even while remaining faithfully loyal to Jewish observance! And it is this act of total rejection of Jesus that serves to hinder a deeper intellectual or spiritual connection between Christians and Jews from developing.
But the reason for the complete closed-mindedness of Jews toward Jesus is that Jews have simply suffered too much in Jesus' name to give two cents about what he had to say. Christians historically committed an abomination against the memory of Jesus by turning him into the source of all anti-Semitism. Christians delighted in telling Jews how Jesus said, "You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires," (John 8:44) and that, according to Jesus, Jews are condemned to the damnation of hell (Matthew 23). There was never any balance. They never bothered telling Jews that there was another side as well, a side of Jesus where he expressly says that Jews are more dear to him than non-Jews (Matt. 10: 5-7; Matt. 15:22-26) and that he was a great lover of his people.
If you were a Jew and you heard how much Jesus hated you, would you want anything to do with this man? If your ancestors were killed for being Christ-killers, would you run to read Jesus' beautiful teachings on forgiveness in the New Testament? Is this not a Christian crime, not only against Jews, but especially against Jesus himself, to so thoroughly alienate a man from his own people?
And now, here we go again. Rather than a movie coming out showing that, from the Christian perspective, Jesus died to atone for the sins of all mankind, we instead get a depiction of how Jesus died because a bunch of godless Jews wanted him dead!
The uncompromising modern evangelical support for the state of Israel has inspired a new understanding among Jews for the man Jesus as a rabbi who, even after 2,000 years, still inspires his followers to love the Jewish people and defend Jewish life against terrorist murderers. How sad that all this may be neutralized by a Hollywood film. Is this not Hollywood at its absolute worst? A fundamental Jewish reassessment of the historical personality of Jesus is being threatened by a film made by a man who rejects the reforms of the Vatican II that officially absolved the Jews of the charge of deicide. Why would evangelicals get behind such a film?
To be sure, Jews will never accept the divinity or messiah-ship of Christ and I am utterly opposed to all Jewish conversions to Christianity, just as am I opposed to Christian conversions to Judaism. I believe in the authenticity and integrity of both faiths, as they worship God in their own way.
But that does not mean that Jews cannot look at Jesus as I have come to, as a wise and learned rabbi, immensely devoted to the welfare of his people, who despised the Romans for their paganism and especially their cruelty to his Israelite brethren. He worked to rekindle Jewish ritual observance of every aspect of the Torah (Matt. 5:18) and to counter horrible Roman oppression even if that meant physical battle (Luke 22). So greatly did Jesus love the Jews, and so deeply did he believe in his own messianic mission to drive off Roman dominion and renew Jewish sovereign independence, that even when he realized that his activities would incur the wrath of the murderous Pilate, still he did not waver.
But the images of films like "The Passion of the Christ," where the Jews, rather than the Romans, are portrayed as Jesus' implacable enemies, are bad for Jews, bad for Christians and, most of all, bad for Jesus. Bad for Jews because it perpetuates the lie that we killed one of our own, when he simply wished to better the lot of his people. Bad for Christians because it shows that evangelical zeal for Christ can only come at the expense of his Jewish identity, thereby obscuring the authentic, Hebraic identity of Christ. And finally, bad for Jesus because it makes him the de facto ally, not of the poor Jewish victims of Roman oppression, but of the brutal and murderous Pontius Pilate, the Saddam Hussein of his time.
[i]Rabbi Shmuley Boteach is a nationally-syndicated radio host on the Talk America Radio Network, heard 2-5 pm every weekday. An international best-selling author, his most recent book is The Private Adam: Becoming a Hero in a Selfish Age. Boteach is a contributing columnist for Jewsweek Magazine.[/i]
The Daemons of ROCK!
02.17.04 (8:05 pm) [edit]My friend Sean put up a page that is frikkin' hilarious!
We're starting a band, ya kno!
Check out this masterpiece here: http://www.geocities.com/rock...
Rock on!
New Header and a Shout Out to it's Creator!
02.17.04 (5:44 pm) [edit]You may have noticed that I've finally gotten a new header. And OMG! This is THE most beautiful header I've ever seen and I owe it all to ProjektMonkey!!!
Voxdestrukt made the header. ProjektMonkey and Voxdestrukt are friends and ProjektMonkey hooked me up with this awesomely wonderful header that I can't stop staring at!
Please go visit ProjektMonkey's weblog at: http://projektmonkey.tblog.co...
She is VERY talanted and without her, I'd be lost up crap creek without a header! ;)
I especially love the RED TIGER! Awesome, awesom, awesome!!!
Thank you, ProjektMonkey & Voxdestrukt!!! <3 >
THOSE WHO CURSE THE JEWS AND THOSE WHO BLESS THEM
02.17.04 (12:26 pm) [edit][i][b]by Dennis Prager [/b][/i]
In 1973, during the Arab embargo on oil exports that followed the Yom Kippur War between Israel and Egypt, many Americans had to deal with embargo-induced hour-long lines at gas stations, gas rationing, and various setbacks to the economy. As a result, some called for our abandonment of Israel for the sake of oil.
Those voices were not heard among Evangelical Christians.
In fact, in a television broadcast from his church to his many followers, the Rev. Jerry Falwell said that he would sooner give up
his car and ride a bicycle than yield to Arab blackmail. Citing Genesis (12:3), he explained that G-d "Will bless those who bless
the Jews and curse whoever curses the Jews."
I have since heard this over and over from lay Christians calling my radio show and from Christian leaders with whom I have
shared platforms.
I heard this again this past weekend in Colorado Springs, Colo., at the 25th Anniversary Celebration of Focus on the Family,
where I spoke to a few thousand supporters of that influencial Evangelical organization. There are many reasons for the support
of conservative Christians for Israel -- along with social conservatives, the only group giving such support -- but their belief that G-d blesses those who bless the Jews and curses those who curse the Jews plays a center role.
When I first heard this verse cited by the Rev. Falwell, I certainly found it encouraging to hear a major Christian figure say this to fellow Christians. But perhaps because I had just completed graduation work in the social sciences, my rational faculties simply dismissed the idea as more quaint than believable.
Over time, however, that quote stayed with me. Eight years later, when Rabbi Joseph Telushkin and I wrote a book explaining anti-Semitism ("Why the Jews? The Reason for Anti-Semitism, " Simon & Schuster), we noted this verse. But now, after seeing the resurgence of Anti-Semitism in the Arab and Moslem worlds and in Europe, after being asked by the publisher to write a new version of the book, and after hearing Christians repeatedly site this verse, I feel compelled to finally take a position: Is this
verse Biblical poetry or verifiable truth?
I am increasingly convinced that it is verifiably true.
I think of Spain, for example. One of the world's mightiest powers and most developed cultures in the 15th century, in 1492 it reached its zenith when it sent Christopher Columbus on a voyage that changed history. But the same year, it also expelled all
its Jews and intensified the Spainish Inquisition against the many forced Jewish converts to Catholicism (conversos). Spain then descended into a 500-year status as "the sick man of Europe."
I think of Germany (and Austria) as the cultural and intellectual center of Europe, if not the world, before WWII. Then Germany (with Austrians' help) murdered nearly every Jew in Europe. Germany lost over 7,000,000 people, was divided for a generation, and while it now thrives materially, culturally Germany has become irrelevant. Ask anyone, even an intellectual, to name one
living German.
And I think about the world today. Look at who most blesses the Jews and who most curses them, and you decide whether the verse in Genesis has validity.
It is the United States that has, since its inception, most blessed the Jews and that does so almost alone today -- in its support of the Jewish State against those who wish to exterminate it. By almost any reckoning, America has been, and remains, the most blessed of countries.
And it is the Arab world that curses the Jews. It rivals Nazi Germany for the ubiquity and intensity of its Jew-hatred. Look at
its state. According to Arab scholars appointed by the UN to report on the state of Arab society, that part of the world lags behind the rest of humanity, including in most instances sub-Saharan Africa, in virtually every social, moral and intellectual indicator. And there is no question but that its half-century old preoccupation with destroying Israel has only increased Arab world's woes.
No one can prove it is G-d Who actively blesses those who bless the Jews and curses those who curse them. But, at the same time, the evidence historically and this very moment suggests that there is indeed a real connection between the state of a society and its treatment of the Jews.
News & Information
http://www.Israelfacts.org" title="http://www.Israelfacts.org" target="_blank"http://www.Israelfacts.org
Google in Yiddish!
02.17.04 (12:10 pm) [edit]This is great!
The link in the blog entry wouldn't work. It does work in the links section of my blog. It is located at the very bottom.
Check it out! It's very cool!
02.17.04 (11:37 am) [edit]
[b]Feb. 17, 2004
[i]By CALEV BEN-DAVID[/b][/i]
Israel has the right to live in secure and recognized borders, Moroccan Foreign Minister Taib Fassi Firhi told a delegation of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in Rabat on Tuesday.
But he stopped short of saying Morocco is ready to renew the diplomatic ties with Israel it broke off three years ago.
"We remain in contact with Israeli officials," said Firhi, making reference to Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom's meeting with Moroccan King Muhammad VI last autumn. "And we have responded to Israel's request to ease visa conditions and flight arrangements for the Israeli tourists we continue to welcome here."
Firhi linked the reopening of the liaison offices Israel and Morocco maintained with each other from 1994 to 2000 to progress in the peace process.
"We understand that Prime Minister [Ariel] Sharon is making a trip to Washington and will be proposing new ideas, especially regarding Gaza," he said.
"We have to create conditions for Gaza to be independent. It may be that this new approach will move the peace process forward, and lead us to raise the level of our relations with Israel."
Firhi said Morocco has an important role to play as a facilitator in the Israeli-Arab conflict.
"We were a pioneer of peace with Israel," he said. "The fact that we are culturally close to the Arab nations in direct conflict with it, but are geographically far from Israel, perhaps gives us some advantages in dealing with both sides."
Firhi said the king had recently met with some backers of the Geneva Accord, "not to authorize this particular agreement, but to support efforts to solve the Palestinian problem. Of course a solution must be found for the Palestinian refugees, but we recognize that not every Palestinian will be able to return within Israel, and the Arab states must cooperate in dealing with this issue."
Firhi defended Morocco's decision to participate with 55 other Islamic states in filing briefs to the International Court of Justice in The Hague against Israel's building of the West Bank security fence.
"As a member of the Islamic Conference, and with our king's position as head of the Jerusalem Committee, we were obligated to join the debate over the fence," he said. "But we did so in a low-key way, without resorting to demagoguery or making a big deal about it in the media."
Also meeting the conference delegation was Morocco's minister of Islamic and religious affairs, Ahmed Toufiq. He praised the mission as a tribute to his country's tradition of relative tolerance among Arab states to its Jewish population, which today numbers some 5,000.
"We raise the interfaith banner here not just as a slogan or a philosophy, but as a living experience with our own Jewish community," said Toufiq. "And this is an important contribution we can make to the whole Islamic world."
US Rep. Jerrold Nadler (Dem.-NY), who is accompanying the delegation, praised the meeting with Moroccan officials as positive and productive. "It's helpful to meet with Arab officials who repeatedly mention Israel's right to exist in recognized and secure borders, without once lecturing on the 'evils of occupation,' " he said.
Morocco has its own problem with Islamic extremism. After the terrorist bombings last May 16 against five predominately Jewish-related targets, nearly 1,000 Islamic extremists were arrested, and the king publicly spoke out against what he called the importation of fundamentalist precepts "alien" to the more tolerant Moroccan Muslim tradition.
In a meeting with the conference mission, US Ambassador to Morocco Thomas Riley praised Muhammad VI as an important Muslim ally in the war against terrorism. Local Jewish leaders also praised the government for their strong reaction to the bombings.
On Wednesday, members of the delegation are scheduled to meet with the king.
[b]Feb. 17, 2004
[i]By CALEV BEN-DAVID[/b][/i]
Israel has the right to live in secure and recognized borders, Moroccan Foreign Minister Taib Fassi Firhi told a delegation of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in Rabat on Tuesday.
But he stopped short of saying Morocco is ready to renew the diplomatic ties with Israel it broke off three years ago.
"We remain in contact with Israeli officials," said Firhi, making reference to Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom's meeting with Moroccan King Muhammad VI last autumn. "And we have responded to Israel's request to ease visa conditions and flight arrangements for the Israeli tourists we continue to welcome here."
Firhi linked the reopening of the liaison offices Israel and Morocco maintained with each other from 1994 to 2000 to progress in the peace process.
"We understand that Prime Minister [Ariel] Sharon is making a trip to Washington and will be proposing new ideas, especially regarding Gaza," he said.
"We have to create conditions for Gaza to be independent. It may be that this new approach will move the peace process forward, and lead us to raise the level of our relations with Israel."
Firhi said Morocco has an important role to play as a facilitator in the Israeli-Arab conflict.
"We were a pioneer of peace with Israel," he said. "The fact that we are culturally close to the Arab nations in direct conflict with it, but are geographically far from Israel, perhaps gives us some advantages in dealing with both sides."
Firhi said the king had recently met with some backers of the Geneva Accord, "not to authorize this particular agreement, but to support efforts to solve the Palestinian problem. Of course a solution must be found for the Palestinian refugees, but we recognize that not every Palestinian will be able to return within Israel, and the Arab states must cooperate in dealing with this issue."
Firhi defended Morocco's decision to participate with 55 other Islamic states in filing briefs to the International Court of Justice in The Hague against Israel's building of the West Bank security fence.
"As a member of the Islamic Conference, and with our king's position as head of the Jerusalem Committee, we were obligated to join the debate over the fence," he said. "But we did so in a low-key way, without resorting to demagoguery or making a big deal about it in the media."
Also meeting the conference delegation was Morocco's minister of Islamic and religious affairs, Ahmed Toufiq. He praised the mission as a tribute to his country's tradition of relative tolerance among Arab states to its Jewish population, which today numbers some 5,000.
"We raise the interfaith banner here not just as a slogan or a philosophy, but as a living experience with our own Jewish community," said Toufiq. "And this is an important contribution we can make to the whole Islamic world."
US Rep. Jerrold Nadler (Dem.-NY), who is accompanying the delegation, praised the meeting with Moroccan officials as positive and productive. "It's helpful to meet with Arab officials who repeatedly mention Israel's right to exist in recognized and secure borders, without once lecturing on the 'evils of occupation,' " he said.
Morocco has its own problem with Islamic extremism. After the terrorist bombings last May 16 against five predominately Jewish-related targets, nearly 1,000 Islamic extremists were arrested, and the king publicly spoke out against what he called the importation of fundamentalist precepts "alien" to the more tolerant Moroccan Muslim tradition.
In a meeting with the conference mission, US Ambassador to Morocco Thomas Riley praised Muhammad VI as an important Muslim ally in the war against terrorism. Local Jewish leaders also praised the government for their strong reaction to the bombings.
On Wednesday, members of the delegation are scheduled to meet with the king.
Blame & Belief: Some interesting stats and better news than I thought!
02.17.04 (11:20 am) [edit][b]Six in 10 Take Bible Stories Literally, But Most Don't Blame Jews for Jesus' Death
Analysis
[i]By David Morris[/b][/i]
Feb. 16— Most Americans believe some of the best-known Bible stories are literally true — but at the same time a vast majority rejects the Biblical suggestion that Jews bear collective responsibility for the death of Jesus.
Six in 10 in this ABCNEWS Primetime poll say the Biblical accounts of Moses parting the Red Sea, God creating the world in six days and Noah and the flood happened that way, word for word. Evangelical Protestants are even more apt to hold this view; about nine in 10 of them take these accounts literally.
Jesus’ Death
But fewer than one in 10 Americans say all Jews today are responsible for the death of Jesus, as some literal interpretations of the Bible suggest. Eight in 10 say otherwise, apparently adopting a looser interpretation of the Biblical quote, "His blood be on us, and on our children." (Matthew 27:25.)
The debate over the role of Jews in the death of Jesus has been rekindled by the Mel Gibson film, The Passion of the Christ, which Gibson discusses in an exclusive interview on the ABCNEWS program Primetime, airing Monday, Feb. 16, at 10 p.m. ET. Gibson's film is scheduled for Feb. 25 release.
At the center of the debate is the verse in Matthew, in which Jewish elders surrender Jesus to the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, and demand that he be executed. When Pilate says he doesn't want Christ's blood on his hands, the crowd responds, "His blood be on us, and on our children." A scene based on this exchange was removed from the film after complaints from Jewish groups, but some critics still contend that Gibson unfairly portrays Jews and their role in the death of Jesus.
While religious belief is a strong factor in a literal reading of the Bible, it plays far less of a role in views of collective responsibility for Christ's death. Across the board, three-quarters of Americans or more — evangelical and non-evangelical Protestants, Catholics and others — reject the notion that all Jews today bear responsibility for the death of Jesus.
Are Jews Today Responsible for the Death of Jesus?
.........................................YES................. NO
All......................................8%..................80%
Catholics............................ 6.....................82
Protestants........................11.....................78
Evangelical Protestants.......12.....................77
Non-Evangelical Protestants.12....................83
No Religion..........................3....................83
Bible Stories
Overall, 64 percent believe the story of Moses parting the Red Sea is "literally true, meaning it happened that way word-for-word." About as many say the same about creation (61 percent) and Noah and the flood (60 percent). About three in 10 say, instead, that each of these is "meant as a lesson, but not to be taken literally."
There is wide variation in the numbers of literal readers across groups, but much of it is driven by two factors — religious belief and frequency of practice.
Literal belief peaks among evangelical Protestants, and especially among evangelical Protestants who attend church at least once a week. In that group, 96 percent take the Red Sea story literally. It's a still-high 85 percent among evangelical Protestants who attend church less often.
Bible Stories Are "Literally True"
....................................Red Sea....Creation....Noah
All....................................64%..........61%.......60%
Catholics...........................50.............51..........44
Protestants........................79.............75..........73
Evangelical Protestants.......91.............87..........87
Non-Evangelical Protestants.59............55..........50
No Religion.........................32............24..........29
Nearly every group that's more apt to believe in a literal interpretation — Protestants, southerners, blacks, lower-income and less-educated Americans — are also more likely to be evangelicals.
Three in four Protestants or more take these biblical stories as literally true, compared with half of Catholics or slightly fewer. One reason for the difference is that Protestants are nearly three times more likely than Catholics to consider themselves born-again or evangelical Christians, 58 percent to 21 percent.
But even among Catholics, church attendance helps shape views of the Bible. Those who attend Mass at least once a week are 15 to 21 points more likely to believe in the literal truth of these stories.
About eight in 10 adult Americans are Christians; a quarter are evangelical Protestants, about one in five are non-evangelical Protestants, just over one in five, Catholics; and about one in 10, other Christians. About one in 10 profess no religion.
Methodology
This ABCNEWS/Primetime poll was conducted by telephone Feb. 6-10, 2004, among a random national sample of 1,011 adults. The results have a three-point error margin. Field work was done by ICR-International Communications Research of Media, Pa.
[i]Previous ABCNEWS polls can be found in our Poll Vault: http://abcnews.go.com/section...[/i]
General Motors' procurement in Israel totaled $73m in 2003
02.17.04 (10:56 am) [edit]Procurements were 21% higher than in 2002!
[b]Hadas Manor
17 Feb 04 12:12 [/b]
General Motors (NYSE:GM) bought $73 million of goods and services from Israeli companies in 2003, 21% more than in 2002. This was the largest procurement in Israel by a US vehicle company.
General Motors' Israeli representative reported yesterday that the company had approved 60 Israeli companies as authorized vendors to date. $61 million in goods and services were procured from first tier vendors, $10 million from second tier vendor, and $2 million was invested in R&D.
[i]Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on February 17, 2004 [/i]
02.17.04 (10:43 am) [edit]
[b]Tuesday, February 17, 2004
Last updated 4:25 a.m. PT
[i]THE ASSOCIATED PRESS[/b][/i]
JERUSALEM -- Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is preventing his prime minister from implementing a financial reform that is a key European and American demand, and has become a condition for much-needed financial aid, Cabinet ministers said Tuesday.
However, Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia denied reports he had threatened to resign.
Qureia's Cabinet approved legislation on Saturday allowing the Palestinian Authority to pay security forces directly into their bank accounts. Currently, security officers are given lump sums of cash and then distribute the money to their employees.
International donors have said the cash distributions are an invitation for corruption.
After the Cabinet meeting, Qureia and Arafat had a heated argument over the issue and Arafat refused to implement the Cabinet decision, said the ministers, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Arafat was especially angered by the decision to directly transfer salaries to 30,000 national security personnel who are under his authority, the ministers said.
"There were tough discussions about the issue of security, but neither Abu Ala (Qureia) nor any other minister talked about resignation. Nobody's thinking about resignation," Cabinet minister Jamal Shoubaki said.
Qureia needed the Cabinet decision ahead of a trip to European capitals this week, ministers said. Qureia knew European leaders would ask him about the issue and make any further financial aid conditional on the reform, the ministers added.
The Palestinians rely on international assistance for about 60 percent of their annual budget.
Most of this aid comes from the European Union. Aid has slowed during the past three years of fighting, in part because of concerns of corruption and waste.
[b]Tuesday, February 17, 2004
Last updated 4:25 a.m. PT
[i]THE ASSOCIATED PRESS[/b][/i]
JERUSALEM -- Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is preventing his prime minister from implementing a financial reform that is a key European and American demand, and has become a condition for much-needed financial aid, Cabinet ministers said Tuesday.
However, Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia denied reports he had threatened to resign.
Qureia's Cabinet approved legislation on Saturday allowing the Palestinian Authority to pay security forces directly into their bank accounts. Currently, security officers are given lump sums of cash and then distribute the money to their employees.
International donors have said the cash distributions are an invitation for corruption.
After the Cabinet meeting, Qureia and Arafat had a heated argument over the issue and Arafat refused to implement the Cabinet decision, said the ministers, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Arafat was especially angered by the decision to directly transfer salaries to 30,000 national security personnel who are under his authority, the ministers said.
"There were tough discussions about the issue of security, but neither Abu Ala (Qureia) nor any other minister talked about resignation. Nobody's thinking about resignation," Cabinet minister Jamal Shoubaki said.
Qureia needed the Cabinet decision ahead of a trip to European capitals this week, ministers said. Qureia knew European leaders would ask him about the issue and make any further financial aid conditional on the reform, the ministers added.
The Palestinians rely on international assistance for about 60 percent of their annual budget.
Most of this aid comes from the European Union. Aid has slowed during the past three years of fighting, in part because of concerns of corruption and waste.
Mailbag: Support IDF troops!
02.17.04 (10:33 am) [edit]I got this in an email and I thought it was a great idea to pass it on! Just a few things though for those not in the know; "Mishloach Manot" are Purim baskets that Jews send to one another on the holiday of Purim to extend friendship between Jews. You can get a better and full explanation at http://askmoses.com, if you still want to know more about any of it. :)
[line]
Shalom from Yerushalayim.
We have come the full circle. For a number of years we have had the privilege of sending MISHLOACH MANOT to our wonderful SOLDIERS on your behalf. Following Purim two years ago, many of you asked us how you could also cheer up our soldiers all year around. And so www.PizzaIDF.org was born . . . .
Now it is almost PURIM again and our soldiers are on the front lines defending the people of Israel as well as the Jewish nation around the world; they are on the vanguard of safeguarding all freedom loving people from the global terrorist threat.
Give them an extra treat this Purim. In addition to the Pizza, Hot Soup, Ice-cream and Burgers you always treat them, now send a special MISHLOACH MANOT for Purim -- or some Pizza with your special Purim message
-- by going to www.PizzaIDF.org. These will be delivered on Purim to our soldiers located from Gaza in the south to the Golan in the north.
It is as tremendous an experience for us to bring your gifts to the soldiers as it is for them to receive them. They love to know that people everywhere support and care for them. Especially on the festivals like Purim when, without their hard work, the rest of us would be unable to celebrate as we do.
We wish you all a Happy Purim -- Purim Sameach -- and may G-d grant us all to live in peace and prosperity and hear good news from each other.
Shimon
www.PizzaIDF.org
PS Your gifts of over $250 are eligible for a US IRS tax deduction. Please tell your friends about this way to help our soldiers: www.PizzaIDF.org/SendToFriend.htm
What type of world will my children live in?
02.16.04 (10:50 pm) [edit][b][i]By Jeff Dunetz[/i]
http://www.jewishworldreview.com" title="http://www.jewishworldreview.com" target="_blank"http://www.jewishworldreview....
Nov. 17, 2003 / 22 Mar-Cheshvan, 5764 [/b]
Like a lot of parents I often go into my children's room to watch them sleep. These days when I look at my kids sleeping in their beds, looking so innocent, I worry that across the world innocent Jewish children are being de-humanized. How the radicals who control Islam are teaching their children to kill my children. I think about the European and American press portraying Jews using old horrible stereotypes. I see anti-Semitism growing on US Campuses. And just like 70 years ago I see much of the world refusing to acknowledge the scope of the problem or act to prevent it.
A friend once told me that all Jewish holidays are based on the same premise, "they tried to kill us — we won — lets eat!" It is partially true, some very joyous holidays fit into that category such as Purim and Chanukah…. Then there are the others based on a totally different idea: They tried to kill us THEY won, and few of us survived by the grace of G-d. You know, observances such as Tisha B'Av and the secular Yom HaShoah.
Call me an alarmist but I am scared! Every time I open a newspaper or turn on the TV is becoming increasingly clear to me that we may be facing the early stages of one of those "They tried to kill us" periods.
Just look at what happened in Turkey this past Saturday. Two car bombs outside of two Synagogues, 23 dead over 300 wounded. The carnage was timed for the middle of Sabbath services to kill and maim as many Jews as possible. The terrorist that took credit for the bombing said it was to prevent the oppression of the Muslim people.
Those words should remind you of the comments by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir at Organization of the Islamic Conference. You should also remember that his comments were greeted with cheers by the Minister's attending the conference or the fact that most of the attending nations came out with statements of support for his comments:
[b]Former Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdul-Illah Khatib, whose country has a peace treaty with Israel , wrote in Jordan's Ad-Dustour daily that Mahathir didn't condemn Jews harshly enough. "This is too little for what should have been said," he said. (Newsday 11/2/03 )[/b]
[i]"Nowadays, any criticism against the Jews and the Jewish policy is considered anti-Semitic. This proves how far Israel and its allies have succeeded in sanctifying Israel , preventing any side from criticizing it. Such a common view proves Muhammad's comment on the extent to which the Jewish global influence has reached."[/i] Fahmi Huwaidi, an Egyptian political analyst, on Al Jazeera Arabic language satellite network.
Sometimes when I am enjoying the laughter of my children I wonder if they will be able to experience the same joy when they are my age, or will they face mass murder from the children that are being taught to hate, even in supposedly moderate counties.
Egypt's ministry of culture launched a literacy project, for this effort they published a series of books under the title "A Festival of Reading for All - the Child, the Youngster and the Family," This series was publicly endorsed by Suzanne Mubarak the Presidents wife (and a mother). Her picture is even on the back cover of the book. Here is just one of many examples of the Anti-Semitic themes taught to the young Egyptian children.
[i]"…a number of institutions and committees were established [by the Jews of America ] for the sake of rescuing the Jews [in Europe , during World War II] and raising the funds needed for this purpose. One of these was the "Emergency Committee"… However, these committees were criticized and rejected by the Zionist movement…, since the philosophy of the Zionist movement was that Hitler should be allowed to murder the Jews in order to convince the entire world that the only solution for rescuing the Jews was establishing a homeland for them in Palestine."[/i] (Source: "Hate Industry in Egypt Under Official Patronage" by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center of the Center for Special Studies, Herzlyia, Israel, edited by Reuven Ehrlich, January 2003)
The children are learning well; last year Saudi TV interviewed a 3 year old girl who was asked her feeling about Jews. She said that she didn't like them because the Koran taught her that Allah calls them apes and pigs. (Daniel Pipes, JewishWorldReview.com, 10/26/03) Don't forget what Muslim clerics are saying here is one example:
[i]"Muhammad said in his Hadith: The hour (resurrection will not come until you fight the Jews. And the rock and the tree will say; Oh Muslim, Oh Servant of Allah there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him." [/i]Dr Hassan Khader, founder Al Quds Encyclopedia, PA TV July 13, 2003 Translated by Palestinian Media Watch Not all of Islam is preaching Jew hatred but it is the accepted view. After all when was the last time you read about a group of Muslim Clerics rising up saying that it is wrong to teach hatred? Have you seen broadcasts of Muslim leaders crying out that a once peaceful religion has been corrupted?
Folks, its time to throw away the political correctness and realize the Muslim world doesn't just want Israel out of the west bank ad Gaza — they want us Dead. Let that roll around in your mind for a second, if you have young children at home go hug them because the Muslim world is trying to have our children's generation face what our parent's generation faced.
And don't think for a minute that it is just the Muslim world. They just opened the door! Following the lead of their Oil suppliers, much of Europe has returned to the tradition of Jew hatred. A study last year conducted by the ADL found that 21% of all Europeans harbor strong anti-Semitic feelings. Here is just a tiny sampling of what is going in Europe :
Last year the Dutch Government banned shechitah, the kosher way to slaughter animals as defined by the Talmud, there are movements in may other countries in Europe, to ban Kosher shechitah, most notably in England where there was a rally against Kosher slaughtering on Yom Kippur of course. It is a fact that most anti-Jewish governments start their persecution by banning practices such as keeping kosher (Ancient Rome and Nazi Germany for Example)
In Italy Anti-Semitic graffiti appeared on the office of the RAI, the Italian state-owned radio and television network, after a journalist of Jewish origin was named director. The graffiti read "RAI for Italians, no to Jews" (ADL, March 2003) an Italian newspaper ran a page one cartoon that had a tank with a Jewish Star pointing its gun at the baby Jesus with the caption, "Surely They don't want to kill me again" Maybe it should say surely we still want to kill the Jews.
In its story "The Kosher Conspiracy", the British Magazine, The New Statesman had a cover illustration of a Jewish Star piercing the union Jack. The article went on to discuss the Jewish communities influence in swaying the British press. A British paper the Independent, ran a cartoon that featured Prime Minister Sharon eating babies, kind of a new spin on the old blood libel. And for those of you who think that you are safe living in the Unitized States; the youth of America is becoming extremely anti -Jewish: …..nearly one in four young adults - 23 percent - agreed with the statement that Jews were a "threat" to the country's "moral character," a view shared by 15 percent of Americans between ages 45 and 54. And 20 percent of young adults agreed that Jews "care only about themselves," compared with 12 percent of middle-aged Americans (Washington Post, January 27, 2003 )
Anti-Jewish acts and statements across the world are increasing exponentially. And we haven't seen the worst of it. One day those children who are having daily hatred lessons, will be adults and they will be going after my kids and yours.
One thousand years from now, if there is a Jewish Holiday commemorating the early twenty first century what kind will it be; the kind that ends with "lets eat" or the kind that ends with lets cry.
It is up to us as individuals and as a people to do something about it. We cannot remain complacent. Every offense must be challenged. Every statement must be answered. And when someone tries to tip toe around the problem with a little political correctness like Condoleezza Rice did two weeks ago when she said that Anti-Semitism was not prevalent in the Muslim world, challenge that too.
The most important we need to do is ask for help from out creator. Throughout our history, when every time we have called out to G-d as a people he has responded, think about those holiday's Passover, Chanukah, Purim, the solution always starts with a return to G-d and prayer. Prayer is never the whole answer we must act for our selves but let me suggest that if we the Jewish people were to ask our Maker for guidance, a solution to all this hatred would be found. Maybe if we tried to follow one more commandment or recite one more prayer than we did the day before — just maybe, G-d will deliver us as he has done so many times before. Nothing can happen unless we ask. The solution begins with faith and prayer….No mitzvah is too small , no prayer too short, just make it come from the heart. Before you decide what to do, go look in on your kids , watch them sleep, hear them giggle and give then a big hug, because their future depends on it.
[i]Jeff Dunetz is a 20-year marketing veteran, and a freelance writer. He is married and the father of two kids who ask lots of questions about being Jewish that he can't answer. Jeff has been active in Jewish organizations since his USY days. Presently he is a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Dix Hills (Long Island) Jewish Center.[/i]
Some Thoughts
02.16.04 (10:29 pm) [edit]I used to eat a lot of natural foods until I learned that most people die of natural causes.
Gardening Rule: When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it is a valuable plant.
The easiest way to find something lost around the house is to buy a replacement.
Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.
Life is sexually transmitted, have you ever thought about that?
An unbreakable toy is useful for breaking other toys.
If quitters never win, and winners never quit, then who is the fool who said, "Quit while you're ahead?"
Health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.
The only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth.
Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day; teach that person to use the Internet and they won't bother you for
weeks.
Some people are like Slinkies . . . not really good for anything,
but you still can't help but smile when you see one tumble down the stairs.
Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing.
Have you noticed since everyone has a camcorder these days
no one talks about seeing UFOs like they used to?
Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.
All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism.
Why does a slight tax increase cost you two hundred dollars and a substantial tax cut saves you thirty cents?
In the 60's, people took acid to make the world weird. Now the world is weird and people take Prozac to make it normal.
Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first.
How is it one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box to start a campfire?
[b]AND THE # 1 THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
You read about all these terrorists --- most of them came here legally, but they hung around on these expired visas, some for as long as 10-15 years. Now, compare that to Blockbuster; you are two days late with a video and those people are all over you.
Let's put Blockbuster in charge of immigration![/b]
The Passion of the Kesselman
02.16.04 (5:23 pm) [edit]Editor's note: What you are about to read is a piece of satire. Parental discretion is advised.
[line]
[b]I killed Jesus and I'm sorry.
[i]by Jonathan Kesselman [/i]
February 12, 2004[/b]
Let me start by saying that I am a huge fan of [i]Braveheart, Mad Max[/i], and [i]The Lethal Weapon[/i] movies. But with the controversy that has stemmed from Mel Gibson's upcoming film, [i]The Passion of the Christ[/i], I felt obligated to go on record and say that Mel Gibson has got it all wrong. The Jews did not kill Jesus. I did.
First off, I just want to say that I know there a lot of people out there that are probably all pissed off about the dead Jesus thing, and I totaly get that. And if it's any consolation at all, I feel really, really awful about the whole situation. But the fact is, I couldn't sit back any longer, and allow the Jewish community as a whole to take responsibility for the actions of just one person. And while yes, I am technically Jewish, I think it would be unfair to blame the murder of a major deity on one group just because that group just so happens to have something in common with me. I mean, I love eating sushi and reading on the toilet, but that doesn't mean that the Sushi Eaters or the Toilet Readers killed Christ, right? So, you're probably asking, "Hey Jon, what happened? What went wrong?" Well, in a nutshell, I was young and impulsive, s**t got out of hand, and I killed the son of god. But it was an accident. I swear.
Never mind what that movie tells you, here's really what went down. So, I was chilling out in Jerusalem with some of my boys, when this dude with long hair wearing some sweet Birkenstock-y type sandals and a flowing white robe that he totally copied from 'The Polyphonic Spree', comes cruising down the street. There were a whole lot of, what I can only describe as, fan boys chilling out with him and hanging on to his every word. I mean I'll hand it to the guy; you subtract the Manson Family haircut and the nightgown from his overall look, and this dude was sort of a pimp. Anyway, so the guy walks by, and I overhear him tell his crew stuff like, "I am Jesus. He who believes in me will also do the works that I do," and "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth," and so on and so forth. Which is cool. I mean I didn't have a problem with any of that stuff. But suddenly, he turns to one of his homies and tells him, "I am the king of the Jews." And that's when the problem started.
You see, anyone who knows me, already knows that I'm the original 'King Of The Jews.' I mean, not only is it my nickname, but it's like, my thing. I have it written with a sharpie on the side of my sneakers, I have a K.O.T.J. crown tattoo on the inside of my thigh, and at one point, in junior high, I even had the barber use his #2 clippers to write 'Jew King' on the back of my head. You see what I'm saying!? "The King Of The Jews" is my thing.
So naturally, I was peeved when I heard Jesus fronting. And because it was over two thousand years ago and I wasn't as mature as I am today, I got all hot and heavy about it. So, I got right up into Jesus' grill, and I was like, "Yo dude, why you gotta front?" And he was like, "I'm sorry my son, I do not know of what you speak." And then I was all, "Nigga please! You know you're bitin' my style, dawg! You're going around tellin' all your crew that you're the "King Of The Jews," when everyone here already knows that that s**t belongs to me!" Jesus looked at his posse kind of funny, and for a minute I thought I was going to have to get all freaky deaky on him, but he just played it off all cool-like, and was all, "We only request that you let us pass. I mean you no harm." Damn! Now I was even more upset, because he was trying to use that Mahatawata Ghandi non-violent reverse psychology s**it on me. He was trying to flip the script, and make me look like the a**hole. But I was on to his little plan.
Anyway, my boys were laughing at me, and I was starting to feel like a chump. I told Christ that only one of us could have that title, and that was just how it was gonna have to be. He tried to ignore me and continue walking on by, but I stepped in front of him, blocking his path, looking him right in the eye. And I'm talking steely cold Jet Li eyes. Whaa Paa!!! I told homeboy that the only way to settle this thing was to settle it like men. And, as was the common practice among Jews back in the day in settling beefs like this, I challenged him to a carpentry-off.
Now, I'm not going to bore you to death with all of the bloody little details of the rest of the story. Let's just say that what happened that day happened not because of a lack of carpentry skills on my end, but was purely the fault of that god damned defective nail gun. I think somebody must have tried to modify the thing into some kind of semi-automatic mode, because the minute I turned it on, it was shink, shink, shink -- throwing nails off in every direction like a Roman candle on the 4th of July. And by the time I figured out how to turn that bad boy off, I looked over to find Jesus pinned spread eagle to the crossbeam he was carrying. And he was as dead as a doornail. No. Scratch that. He was dead from doornails.
So, that's it. That's what went down. But as is the case with old stories, when stuff gets told and retold over the years, things get all discombobulated and changed around. From a purely selfish standpoint, I'm kind of cool with Mel Gibson not singling me out in J.C.'s death. But this blame it on "the Jews" thing is just getting kind of tired and out of hand. I mean, come on, the dude was Jewish himself. He was playing on our team from day one. It's not like he died, and then all of a sudden decided to not be Jewish anymore. It's not like his dying last words were, "Hmm. I think I'll just make up my own religion, name it after myself, and transfer my own religional status to my new made up religion so I can blame my own people for killing me in the first place." In fact, I know that's not what his dying last words were because a) I was there when I killed him, and b) I heard the man talk firsthand, and that's not how he sounded. He used words like 'Thou' and 'Shall' and 'Meek' and 'Blessed,' and his sentences were usually a lot shorter than that one.
So, in summation, I'm not telling you to avoid Mel Gibson's new Jesus flick. Spend the ten bucks, sit back, and enjoy the movie. Hey, if it's as bloody and violent as Braveheart, and they cast a chick as hot as Sophie Marceau, it's gonna rock! However, after seeing it, all I ask is that you please don't go out and blame the Jews, or the Sushi Eaters, or even the Toilet Readers for the death of Christ. I'm the one who did it after all. And I'm sorry.
This is a MUST READ! -- Anti-Semitism is not about Jews
02.16.04 (5:05 pm) [edit]This is truly a wonderful article! A MUST READ!
[line]
[b]Anti-Semitism is not about Jews
[i]by Leonard Zeskind[/i]
February 16, 2004[/b]
Source: http://www.jewsweek.com
For Jews, it is hard not to take anti-Semitism personally. It matters little to us whether it is the supposedly "new" variant that infects anti-Israel Arabists, or the older racial-nationalist type of Wilhelm Marr -- who invented the term "anti-Semitism" itself. Or it could be a still older theological form, like that in the Book of John and Martin Luther's "The Jews and their Lies."
It is the rare Jew, indeed, who does not feel like the "wise child" at Passover: it was me who was ghettoized in Poland, or burned at the stake during the Spanish Inquisition. Even the most assimilated Jew knows that he or she, too, would have perished in the industrial-style slaughter of the Holocaust. And this April, if and when an Jewish schoolchild feels the sting for the first time of being called a "Christ-killer" by a classmate, it will be felt as a rebuke of the most individual (and invidious) kind.
We should not take anti-Semitism personally, however, because it matters little what we actually do. We could be rich as a Rothschild in Frankfurt, or poor as a Schneider in Vilna. We could be a Democratic social worker campaigning for an increase in federal aid, or a Republican cost-cutter eager to shred governmental payments to the poor. Our antecedents could have stabbed Jesus with a knife, or just watched the Romans drag him through the streets. It doesn't matter. The charge of deicide remains. Moreover, anti-Semitism, in the final analysis, is not about what Jews do or do not do. It is a worldview. It is not rational. It may not be self-consciously held. It may not explain everything. But it is an "ism," an ideology by which individuals and groups understand the social (and oftentimes religious) universe.
[b]Jews as abstraction[/b]
Consider the case of Christians in medieval Europe. Their Manichean theology divided the world in two, as a great contest between their God and Satan, and required that they find Satan in their own midst. They need not have ever met a Jew to regard unbelievers as the earthly incarnation of Evil itself. The presence of Jews as unassimilated non-Christians explained the Bubonic Plague and other ills. And in feudal society, where citizenship itself was a function of religious affiliation, and Europe was a pan-Christian kingdom, how better to demarcate the unbelievers than to shunt them into ghettoes? More than simple scapegoats, Jews as a diabolical abstraction helped explain the world to these Christians, just as much as their Jesus did. To understand themselves, they needed the Jewish Other. If we did not exist, they would have had to invent us.
When this theologically based anti-Semitism was incorporated into the racial nationalism of 19th century Europe, it was Darwin -- not Moses Mendelssohn -- who precipitated the change. By challenging the orthodoxy of the church, Darwin opened the first doors to what became known (in other hands) as racial science. Jews were thus transformed from a non-believing Other into a racial-national Other. Thus we became traitors in Dreyfuss' France -- because the French needed traitors in order to define their own patriotism. Anti-Semitism was not about us, it was about them.
In the contemporary context, as the economic borders of nation-states fall faster than the Maginot Line, anti-Semitism can be used to explain everything from American foreign policy in Iraq to the ubiquitous presence of Coca-Cola in Africa and Mickey Mouse in Europe. And for those who take umbrage at the intrusion of modernism (and old-fashioned imperialism) in the Arab Middle East, Israel has become the consummate Western Other in their midst.
Compare in this regard to Kashmir. A territory 10 times the size of Israel and the occupied territories combined, with a population of 12 million souls, it also is a troubled creation of post-World War II partition. Pakistan and India have already fought three wars over its sovereignty, and Muslims and Hindus there both regard each other through the lens of religious and ethnic hostility. According to a 1997 article in The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, officials had already counted 20,000 Kashmiris dead from the ethnic-national bloodshed. Today, both India and Pakistan rattle their respective nuclear warheads at the other, and terror bombings and military combat are commonplace. Yet, when asked last November about the most imminent threat to world peace, a majority of Europeans named Israel -- not India or Pakistan. Although it could easily be argued that the threat of nuclear war is strongest along the Line of Control in South Asia, it is Israel that explains world events to these non-Israelis in a way that Kashmir cannot.
Like those farmers who understood the farm crisis in the Midwest during the 1980s by invoking an international Jewish conspiracy, there are those today who explain geo-political and economic events in the same distorted way. As a worldview, anti-Semitism works in ways more powerful than simple scapegoating or raw hatred ever could.
At the same time, it is precisely as an ideology that anti-Semitism is most weak. While it is unlikely that anti-Semitism will disappear before the advent of the Messianic Age, it can be successfully challenged by both Jews and non-Jews. There are alternative explanations of world events. In Europe, those opposed to war and unrestricted globalization can find a way to reject Mickey Mouse without burning synagogues. Arab democrats can overthrow the hereditary aristocrats that strangle progress in their native lands without driving Israel into the sea. And in America, Jewish children need not endure quietly the charge of deicide. Remember, it is the playground bully with the problem.
Anti-Semitism is not, after all, about Jews.
[i]This article originally appeared in the Kansas City Jewish Chronicle and was reprinted here with permission.[/i]
Fox knocks Beeb shock
02.16.04 (12:01 pm) [edit]Still hungry for more Hutton links? This Fox news coverage of the affair is frankly mind boggling.
http://blugg.com/stuff/foxs_view_of_th e_bbc_player.htm" title="http://blugg.com/stuff/foxs_view_of_th e_bbc_player.htm" target="_blank"http://blugg.com/stuff/foxs_v...
Things that make you go "hmmmmm."
02.16.04 (10:20 am) [edit]
"And we also vow revenge for a papercut I recieved two years ago while in Munich!"
Wow, this is so rich!
If you look below at one of the other reports I posted, you'll also see how the collapse was due to an earthquake that hit Jerusalem recently (it origionated somewhere around the Dead Sea, if I'm not mistaken) and was felt all over the region. Not to mention, the snowstorm doesn't help!
Hamas now says that they vow revenge against the Israelis for the collapse!
Are you shitting me??
Now Jews are responsible for accidents caused by natural disasters? Give me a fuckin' break! Are they so starved and hungry for excuses to kill innocent Jews?
I can just see it now, the next bus bombing is going to have responsiblity claimed by these goofballs and then they're going to say, "We allowed our martyrs to become one with Allah for the vicious attack the Jews made with their earthquake!"
Why don't they attack Allah instead? He's the one that really caused the structure to collapse.
"No! Everything is at fault of the Jews! Praise Allah!"
That's right, shitheads. It's a Jewish conspiracy to make techtonic plates colide into one another and for water to precipitate and freeze before hitting the earth. You shit-faces!
This is crap.
[line]
[b]Mon February 16, 2004 10:10 AM ET [/b]
GAZA (Reuters) - The militant Islamic group Hamas vowed Monday to exact revenge against Israel over the collapse of a stone embankment abutting Judaism's Western Wall and leading to Islam's third holiest shrine.
"We warn the leadership of the enemy that the reaction of Palestinian resistance to the continued plans to destroy al-Aqsa mosque will be beyond their imagination and will topple the situation on their heads," Hamas said in a statement.
Israeli engineers have not yet determined the cause of the collapse, during a rare snowstorm Saturday, of part of an 800-year-old stone ramp leading to the mosque in a compound that Muslims revere as al-Haram al-Sharif and Jews as Temple Mount.
One theory being investigated was whether a small earthquake last week destabilized the Mameluke-era embankment which adjoins the Western Wall, or "Wailing Wall," an outer wall of the biblical Second Temple and one of Judaism's holiest sites.
But Hamas, which has carried out a suicide bombing campaign against Israel for over a decade, accused the Jewish state of trying to destabilize the al-Aqsa compound by carrying out construction in the vicinity.
Over the past few years, parts of the ancient walls around the compound have begun to buckle and large cracks have appeared.
Israeli archaeologists have accused the Muslim Waqf which oversees the shrine of carrying out destructive and unsupervised building at the site, a charge it denies.
Israel is renovating the plaza in front of the Western Wall and has in the past carried out archaeological digs outside the mosque compound. But the Waqf and Hamas have accused it of digging under the compound itself, a charge never substantiated.
"And we also vow revenge for a papercut I recieved two years ago while in Munich!"
Wow, this is so rich!
If you look below at one of the other reports I posted, you'll also see how the collapse was due to an earthquake that hit Jerusalem recently (it origionated somewhere around the Dead Sea, if I'm not mistaken) and was felt all over the region. Not to mention, the snowstorm doesn't help!
Hamas now says that they vow revenge against the Israelis for the collapse!
Are you shitting me??
Now Jews are responsible for accidents caused by natural disasters? Give me a fuckin' break! Are they so starved and hungry for excuses to kill innocent Jews?
I can just see it now, the next bus bombing is going to have responsiblity claimed by these goofballs and then they're going to say, "We allowed our martyrs to become one with Allah for the vicious attack the Jews made with their earthquake!"
Why don't they attack Allah instead? He's the one that really caused the structure to collapse.
"No! Everything is at fault of the Jews! Praise Allah!"
That's right, shitheads. It's a Jewish conspiracy to make techtonic plates colide into one another and for water to precipitate and freeze before hitting the earth. You shit-faces!
This is crap.
[line]
[b]Mon February 16, 2004 10:10 AM ET [/b]
GAZA (Reuters) - The militant Islamic group Hamas vowed Monday to exact revenge against Israel over the collapse of a stone embankment abutting Judaism's Western Wall and leading to Islam's third holiest shrine.
"We warn the leadership of the enemy that the reaction of Palestinian resistance to the continued plans to destroy al-Aqsa mosque will be beyond their imagination and will topple the situation on their heads," Hamas said in a statement.
Israeli engineers have not yet determined the cause of the collapse, during a rare snowstorm Saturday, of part of an 800-year-old stone ramp leading to the mosque in a compound that Muslims revere as al-Haram al-Sharif and Jews as Temple Mount.
One theory being investigated was whether a small earthquake last week destabilized the Mameluke-era embankment which adjoins the Western Wall, or "Wailing Wall," an outer wall of the biblical Second Temple and one of Judaism's holiest sites.
But Hamas, which has carried out a suicide bombing campaign against Israel for over a decade, accused the Jewish state of trying to destabilize the al-Aqsa compound by carrying out construction in the vicinity.
Over the past few years, parts of the ancient walls around the compound have begun to buckle and large cracks have appeared.
Israeli archaeologists have accused the Muslim Waqf which oversees the shrine of carrying out destructive and unsupervised building at the site, a charge it denies.
Israel is renovating the plaza in front of the Western Wall and has in the past carried out archaeological digs outside the mosque compound. But the Waqf and Hamas have accused it of digging under the compound itself, a charge never substantiated.
02.16.04 (10:05 am) [edit]
[i][b]Associated Press[/b][/i]
JERUSALEM — God's got mail.
Jews who want to send notes to heaven used to have to travel to Jerusalem and stuff them into the crevices of the Western Wall. Now, they can log onto the Internet and send them by e-mail.
The service, announced Monday by Israel's Bezeq telephone company, expands on the company's existing fax service to the Wall, which receives about 200 notes a week and more on holidays.
Since more people have access to the Internet than fax machines, Bezeq hopes the e-mail service will bring many more notes.
Tradition holds that God will grant the pleas placed between the massive stones of the Wall, a retaining wall that surrounded the Jewish Temple.
Bezeq currently takes the faxed notes, puts them in special envelopes and twice a week brings them to the Wall.
Most of the notes come from New York and Europe, but the company says it has received notes in Japanese and even one that came with a letter saying it had been smuggled out of Iran, which has no diplomatic ties with Israel.
While the company promises it does not read God's mail, workers who put the notes in the wall say they recognize people who use the service on a regular basis, including some who send the same request every month.
[i][b]Associated Press[/b][/i]
JERUSALEM — God's got mail.
Jews who want to send notes to heaven used to have to travel to Jerusalem and stuff them into the crevices of the Western Wall. Now, they can log onto the Internet and send them by e-mail.
The service, announced Monday by Israel's Bezeq telephone company, expands on the company's existing fax service to the Wall, which receives about 200 notes a week and more on holidays.
Since more people have access to the Internet than fax machines, Bezeq hopes the e-mail service will bring many more notes.
Tradition holds that God will grant the pleas placed between the massive stones of the Wall, a retaining wall that surrounded the Jewish Temple.
Bezeq currently takes the faxed notes, puts them in special envelopes and twice a week brings them to the Wall.
Most of the notes come from New York and Europe, but the company says it has received notes in Japanese and even one that came with a letter saying it had been smuggled out of Iran, which has no diplomatic ties with Israel.
While the company promises it does not read God's mail, workers who put the notes in the wall say they recognize people who use the service on a regular basis, including some who send the same request every month.
What does Gush Katif, Gaza, Have in Common with Kirkuk?
02.16.04 (9:58 am) [edit][b]DEBKAfile Special Report http://www.debka.com
February 16, 2004, 10:28 AM (GMT+02:00)[/b]
The Washington-Jerusalem track has generated a sudden spurt of activity after several sluggish months. Three administration officials are heading for Jerusalem to examine the details of the Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon’s unilateral evacuation plans, indicating that cold US disapproval has made way for a spark of interest. Stephen Hadley, deputy head of the National Security Council, Elliot Abrams, NSC member and William Burns, State Department Middle East emissary, will therefore present themselves to Sharon on Thursday, February 19, for some rapid-fire questions and answers. They will also lay down certain conditions.
Last December, Sharon unveiled a go-it-alone proposal - more a concept than a plan - to withdraw some settlers from parts of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and unilaterally mark a temporary boundary between Israel and the West Bank. He said these steps would go into effect if efforts to restart peace talks failed and if Washington agreed. He warned the Palestinians that if this happened, they would end up with less land than if they had entered into negotiations on the basis of the road map.
Two weeks ago, he followed this announcement up with a more specific statement of intent to uproot 17 of the 19 Jewish communities of the Gaza Strip and an unspecified number on West Bank – again without waiting for the Palestinians to have their say.
At first, the Bush administration looked askance at the Israeli leader’s unilateralism. But last week, it looked as though it might come round to some of its aspects. Secretary of state Colin Powell said the pullout from Gaza could help break the impasse blocking peace talks, but Sharon’s plan needed to be better understood. The State Department spokesman said the Israeli pullout from Gaza could reduce frictions and open the way to peace talks.
The Palestinians are aghast. They see a solution dictated instead of negotiated by the usual wheeling and dealing and the state envisioned by the US president George W. Bush shrinking in size. Israel’s pro-settlement movement representing a quarter of a million Jews living across the Green Line is drawing up lines of battle. It is represented in the Sharon government and enjoys a degree of popular support although this has never been reliably measured.
Whether or not the Bush administration goes along with the Sharon approach depends on the report submitted by the American trio.
DEBKAfile’s Washington sources report that the three are determined to keep their fact-finding sessions short and incisive, mainly to avoid being blinded with arcane detail. They will try and stick to essentials, make certain limitations clear to the Israeli prime minister, and fill in the large gaps in their understanding of his intentions – and not only in theirs. For instance, no one in Israel or the United States is clear on the final route of the security fence Israel is building to keep West Bank terrorists out. Construction has slowed down and the Sharon government appears to have straightened out some of the loops into the West Bank. The US officials will want to be assured that all these enclaves are ironed out, including the one protecting the Jordan Rift Valley communities, along a line which all Israeli governments have categorized as its eastern security border, in keeping with UN Security Council resolution 242.
This may be found to be in conflict with the Bush vision of the shape of a Palestinian state.
The American officials will also want to hear about the disposition of the 7,500 Jewish inhabitants of the Gaza Strip after their evacuation and insist they are not relocated on the West Bank. The problem here is that, even if the evacuees agree to leave their Gaza homes and accept compensation – which is far from the case at the moment - there may be no legal way to restrict their next movements.
Another big gap relates to the military posts in the Gaza Strip after the civilians are gone. Sharon spoke of evacuation – not withdrawal. Defense minister Shaul Mofaz has said they must stay as long as a war situation exists with the Palestinians. Total military withdrawal would abandon the territory to Hamas rule and its unfettered use as a jumping off base for continuing suicide attacks against Israel.
According to DEBKAfile’s Jerusalem sources, these questions will be addressed seriously by the prime minister’s office, which appreciates that the makeup of the delegation and Hadley’s presence means it will report directly to the White House. Approval of the Sharon initiative would go far to warming up some of the recent coolness between Washington and Jerusalem.
Over to Kirkuk
From the American point of view, its awakened interest in the removal of Gaza Strip settlements happens to coincide with a much larger challenge to its Iraq master plan, one that is rearing up 1,200 km northeast of Gush Katif at Iraq’s biggest oil city, Kirkuk, whose population of 700,000 is roughly one hundred times that of Gaza’s Jewish community.
Around 270,000, some 40 percent of Kirkuk’s inhabitants are Kurds, 28 percent (200,000) Sunni Muslim Arabs and the remaining 30 percent, Assyrians and Turkomen.
Kirkuk was originally more than half Kurdish. In the aftermath of the 1991 Gulf War, Saddam Hussein transferred more than 120,000 Kurds from the city and dumped them in the northern semi-autonomous Kurdish zone in revenge for the protection extended by the UN and its declaration as a no fly zone closed to Iraqi aircraft. The Iraqi ruler awarded the Kurds’ homes to a similar number of Sunni Arabs who were the mainstay of his regime and made them the new masters of the oil city.
Since the fall of Baghdad in April 2003, some 200,000 Kurds, including those Saddam displaced, have crowded into the towns and villages around Kirkuk. The former dwellers are waiting to repossess their old homes, their number topped up by the two leading Kurdish parties, the PUK and the PDK, who want to make sure of re-establishing a Kurdish majority in the oil city.
At first there were some clashes between returning Kurds and the Sunni occupants of their former homes. Fearing wholesale ethnic bloodshed, the Americans acted to check a Kurdish surge into by setting up roadblocks on its outskirts.
However, as the June 30 date for transferring sovereignty to the Iraqis approaches, the Kirkuk crisis is coming to a head. DEBKAfile’s Iraq sources report that the Kurdish leaders Jalal Talabani and Masoud Barzani are now cautioning American officials that their support for the US presence and Washington’s plans for the country would drop from its current level if they continue to prevent the 200,000 waiting Kurds from moving into Kirkuk. This support is critical. US intelligence work in Iraq and neighboring Turkey and Iran relies heavily on Kurdish undercover resources, especially the Talabani’s PUK agency headed by Kosrat Rasul. This Kurdish spy chief played a key role in the capture of Saddam Hussein and the location of his sons whom the Americans killed.
According to DEBKAfile’s Washington sources, the Kurdish warning has kept the midnight oil burning in the White House for emergency consultations on ways and means of relocating the Sunnis to placate the Kurds without sparking serious ethnic instability.
Some parts of the administration vigorously oppose any population shift lest it trigger civil strife that would ultimately drag in the Shiites and put up backs in the Arab world. Other circles, led by the Pentagon, argue that it is past time to start reshaping Iraqi government and this cannot be done without population transfers in certain places – in a word, without dividing the country up into three sections, the Kurds in the north, the Shiites in the south, loose federal government in Baghdad and the Sunni Muslims in the center. The Turkomen and Assyrian enclaves would separate the main blocks of territory. Advocates of this plan see Kirkuk as a sort of pilot project or laboratory for testing population reorganization on a national scale.
So Sharon’s plan to evacuate Israelis from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank has come to be seen in Washington as relevant to its larger schemes. Some US officials suggest it may provide a convenient reply to potential critics, especially in Arab quarters, of any wholesale displacement of Sunni Arabs out of Kirkuk. The Bush administration, they say, will be able to answer back that it also approved the evacuation of Jewish dwellers from Arab land – especially if the two steps take place at roughly the same time. This hypothesis, which may have smoothed the path for Sharon’s return to the good graces of the Bush White House, presupposes that the two population dislocations are feasible. That is still a very far cry.
A very good quote and some really pretty wallpaper
02.16.04 (9:42 am) [edit]I got this in an email today and I thought it was excellent:
[b] "[i]A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person.[/i]"-Mingon McLaughlin [/b]
I got this wallpaper pic from DRAMA's blog. You can find her in the links section too. It's right purrty!
I don't know about the rest of you, but I know my wallpaper changes all the time. I had the snowy Jerusalem picture and now I have a red Cirque Di Soleil wallpaper. This will be next as soon as I grow tired of Cirque. Y'all can download this image if you want. :)
Quizzez
02.15.04 (6:11 pm) [edit]You are the silver moonlight. You have a deep soul.
Many people call you mysterious but they just
don't know you. You are often alone but shine
hope on every one else. People look up to you
and call to you for advice. You have been
betrayed but you have forgaven them. Your faith
in life has made you an inspiration to us all.
You are intelligent, quiet, beautiful, and
kind. You will become very sucessful. Your
dream career could maybe deal with the joy of
music. Keep up the spirit and let your mind
drift to the shining hope of the silver moon.
What shade of moonlight are you? (Boys or Girls)
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You are Beauty.
You are beautiful, whether it be on the inside, the
outside, or both. People are drawn to you as
strongly as you are drawn to the beauty in the
world around you.
What Emotion Are You?
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Snow Angel
Please rate this quiz I worked really hard on the
pics and everything thanks and I hope that you
have had fun
NEW!! Which Angel are you?(pics for anyone/14 outcomes!!)
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You're Skittles!!! You have a very interesting
personality, you're so unique. You're the kind
of person who always thinks outside of the box.
You're also a very accepting individual, and
believe in inner beauty.
Which kind of candy are you?
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What does Jewish Law have to say about creating a Palestinian State?
02.15.04 (4:58 pm) [edit]Jewish law says (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim, ch. 329) that if an enemy comes to a border city and demands "[only] straw and hay," we are obligated to take up arms (even on the Shabbat) and wage battle against them. For once the border city is conquered; it is easier to overrun the rest of the country.
Today we are dealing with avowed enemies who are demanding nothing less than the border city itself! Unfortunately we are witnessing today the tragic results of those misguided "peace efforts," by politicians who did not heed the word of halacha (Jewish law).
This all is aside for the fact that the Land of Israel was promised by God to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Genesis 13:14-15; 26:3; 28:4; 35:12). This promise is written in the Holy Bible - the very same Bible which is revered by all those "well-intentioned" Christians who are pressuring Israel to give back promised land.
Likewise, Muhammad wrote in the Koran that the Torah is "also the word of God."
The Holy Temple
02.15.04 (4:57 pm) [edit]
[b]A.[/b] The Holy Temple, a.k.a. the Beit Hamikdash (pronounced BAYt hah-MIK-dahsh), was the football-stadium-sized, multi-level, indoor-outdoor structure that was the nucleus of Judaism, its’ most sacred site. It stood atop Jerusalem’s Mt. Moriah. The First Beit Hamikdash was built by King Solomon in the year 825 BCE and destroyed by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar in the year 423 BCE.
The Second Beit Hamikdash was built in the year 355 BCE by Jewish returnees from the Persian Exile, led by Ezra and Nechemiah. In the year 37 CE, King Herod completed dramatic renovations to the dilapidated Temple, but marauding armies of the Roman Empire destroyed it in 70 CE, when the current Exile—the Roman Exile—began.
[b]B.[/b] Ver