Sunday 28 November 2010

LEBANESE JOKE.

LEBANESE JOKE.


A man goes to President Hariri and complains,
"The Israelis blew up my house and left me only this", he said showing Hariri a picture of Jesus on the Cross.

Hariri gives him $100,000 to build a new house.

Another Lebanese man hears of this and also goes to Hariri.

"The Israelis blew up my house and left me this", he said, showing a picture of Nasrallah.

Hariri gives him $1000.

"Why only $1000? You gave the other man $100,000!"

Hariri answers him,

"Bring me a picture of a dead Nasrallah on a cross and I will give you the $100,000!"

PALESTINE - THE FINAL SOLUTION OF THE JEWISH PROBLEM.

How do we make sense of a Palestinian Authority refusing to recognise Israel as a Jewish state, not agreeing to any land swop as part of a pragmatic solution, and holding to the principle of the right of return (a Jewish Zionist expression of ever there was one) for refugees?


The answer is the core of the Middle East problem.

It is the defining essence of what is preventing any progress to a permanent peace.

It is the reason why Israel must stand firm even we appear to the world as an obstacle to peace.

The Palestinians are setting the stage for the final act. For Israel, the peace process is a set up, a trap.

Israel is being encouraged to drop its demands for recognition as a Jewish state. We are told that this should not be a pre condition, that it is viewed as somewhat racist, undemocratic, and that it gets in the way of a peaceful resolution to the conflict. It is made to appear as we are putting up obstacles to peace.

If we are not a Jewish state what are we, especially to them?

Answer – we are Palestine.

They refuse to drop the principle of the right of return. the world says let them keep it as a principle in their statute books, it will only apply to a very limited number of returning refugees into Israel, the rest will go to the new Palestinian state.

This is a most dangerous principle that must not pass.

Why?

Because if Israel agrees to accept any refugees it will concede the point that this Israel is really Palestine.

Why would anyone who considers themselves as Palestinian Arabs want to enter this land if they did not see it as Palestine?

Would any of them have suffered the statelessness of decades to move to Israel? No. In their eyes they are returning to Palestine. From within Israel, they together with those who consider themselves here as Palestinians would demand that their leadership work to resolve the divided people, to work towards a reunification of Palestine.

Anyone who demands that Israel surrenders the principle that it is not a Jewish state and accepts Palestinian refugees has set up Israel, and weakened us, for the next round in the battle of our survival.

Our concessions will be turned against us. Whatever has applied to the creation of a new Palestinian state will equally apply here, in Israel.

If you accept that the territories are, in reality, a Palestinian state, if you accept that East Jerusalem is theirs, if you accept the return of Palestinian refugees into Israel, then you admit that all the land is Palestine, including Israel. You may argue to the contrary but you would have lost your case by surrendering your legitimacy.

Once you accept that Palestinian refugees have the legitimate right to settle in our land under a right of return you have granted that this is their land.

Once you have handed them East Jerusalem as their capital nothing can prevent them from claiming the rest of Jerusalem is equally located in Palestine.

This is not a nightmare scenario. This is political reality.

No amount of appeasement to the Palestinians in the name of peace, no amount of concessions to separate the two peoples, will avoid the inevitable next round.

There are those that argue that we must separate ourselves to maintain a stronger, more demographic and democratic base. This will not prevent the ongoing delegitimization of Israel. On the contrary, the very fact that we have surrendered, whatever we will give them will legitimize their narrative in future demands.

We are witnessing the intransigence of the Palestinian leadership on land, East Jerusalem in particular, refugees, non-recognition of a Jewish state, of the denial of Jewish historical or religious claims.

We are at war for our survival and we are too willingly prepared to surrender our position on the altar of peace.

For the Palestinians, the acceptance and establishment of a new Palestinian state will be an important bridgehead from which to launch the next stage in their campaign for the reunification of Palestine.

Knowing this is coming, why should we surrender the bridgehead?

The argument is given that we must retreat to a stronger position where we will have greater collective strength only applies if we have withdrawn, and not left our ammunition behind to be used by our enemy.

If we try to retrench but have given our enemy the weapons in which to attack us we are doomed.

By agreeing to their terms with nothing in return we have surrendered the high ground.

We may plead that we did so to be nice to them, that we withdrew so that they will leave us in peace. .These arguments won’t hold in the coming battle.

We will have surrendered land, they will continue to claim, because it belonged to them. Now they want the rest, the land on which we continue to sit because, that too, belongs to them.

At that time what weapons could we possibly use then in our continuing fight for our survival?

We will have given up on our legitimate claim of being a Jewish state, just as easily as we failed to make the legitimate argument of our rights to the land.

We would have accepted Palestinian refugees into our land, thereby opening ourselves up to the claim that we admitted this to be Palestine by that deed.

Get ready for the final attack. We will be hit by the same forces that are attacking us now, but they will be stronger because, to them, we would have been making their case for them.

They will be armed by the weapons we will have given them.

We will have shown them our weakness by not holding firm to our values. They will see that we were not ready to defend our rights and our heritage.

The reuniting of Palestine will be their battle cry. It will be the final battle of our survival.

They will be joined in the battle by Israeli Arabs some of whom already call themselves Palestinians; they include those who sit in the Knesset, our legislative chamber.

They will celebrate the establishment of a new Palestinian entity but not for the reasons it will be celebrated in Israel.

Israelis may dream that this, at last, will give them peace and tranquility. The Arabs who are today demanding justice for the Palestinians, will they cease their campaigns and turn themselves to improving the condition of their fellow Arabs in Israel? Or will they look at this as just one victory on the road to total victory – the reunification of Palestine.

Certainly we have heard from representatives, such as Haneen Zoabi, an Arab member of Israel’s Knesset, that they will never recognise Israel as their country that only Palestine in this land will be their redemption. This call will only become louder as the next stage of the delegitimization of Israel takes center stage.

It will be a battle when all our gestures and concessions will work against us for the very fact that we surrendered our land, our history, our heritage, our identity, on the altar of peace will be meaningless and will have weakened us to the point that we will have no further legitimate argument left in our arsenal when the final battle comes.

In truth, the peace process is nothing more than a modern day Auschwitz process.

The Jewish state of Israel, under demonization, delegitimization, threats, and attacks has been persuaded that there is no other choice but to join the peace process, that this is the only way to peace.

The Jews of Europe under demonization, delegitimization, threats, and attacks were persuaded that they had no other choice but to join the train that will take them to a camp away from the oppression.

Israel is told to refrain from claiming to be a Jewish state. it is having its heritage and history stolen from it.

The Jews of Europe had to wear a yellow Star of David to identify them as Jews. They also had their homes and their valuable possessions stolen from them.

Just as the Jews of Europe were reviled and isolated in ghettoes so is Israel becoming reviled and isolated – the Jew among nations. Israel is becoming the new ghetto. We even build a separation wall to protect ourselves. This is the first time in Jewish history that Jews have voluntarily put themselves inside our own ghetto. We do so out of a need to survive.

Just as the Jews of Europe were driven into the cattle cars on their way to the camp so is Israel driven to the peace process that is leading them into the camp.

At the camp, the Jews of Europe were stripped of their final possessions, their identity replaced by a number stamped on their arms.

Today Israel is being stripped of its identity to become an unidentifiable people.

The train is pulling into the camp, the camp being the establishment of a new Palestinian entity.

We are told that the camp belongs to them and we can have the showers.

We are already in the camp and trapped. Trapped by our own failures and admissions. We were driven there by the United Nations, guarded by the international community, delegitimisers, and public opinion. We were confined inside the cattle cars of international resolutions.

We had surrendered our passports and our valuables too easily. We had echoed their mantras as they marched us to the train.

Now we are in the camp, trapped by our gullibility and our acceptance of their demands.

At that time, when we have surrendered the camp to them, it will be easy for them to herd us into the showers for we will be defenseless.

During the Holocaust, Jews gave their money, their valuables, to the enemy to try and stay alive. They begged. They bribed. They pleaded. When you are persecuted there is no place for pride.

Some Jews hid their identity, choosing to blend in with the enemy, as they watched their people struggling to survive.

The Palestinian Nazis are following the principles of the Third Reich. Here are some of the latest decrees, instituted by the’ moderate’ leadership:

‘Anyone selling land to a Jew will be shot!’

‘Conquered land must be Judenrein!’

‘There is no such thing as Jewish history!’

‘Any reference to Jewish possession must be struck from the records!’

‘The Jews must not be allowed to survive as a race. We will accept nothing less than their final surrender!’

Is this not preparation for the final solution of the Jewish problem – Palestinian style?

We will know that you have been suckered into the Auschwitz process. It will be when we begin to hear about the reunification of Palestine. Then it will be too late.

It is what they are discussing in their Wansee meetings.

We did not listen then. We are not listening now.

Saturday 27 November 2010

The Next Round.

They say that all problems will be solved with the creation of a new Palestinian state.



They say this will be the salvation for Palestinian Arabs and for Israelis.


They say that peace will reign when the central crisis of the world will be gone.


Do you believe it? I don’t.


Am I a pessimist? Or a realist?


I say the problem will not go away. It will remain to haunt us. Let me explain.


The solution is there for everyone to see, they say.


It’s right in front of us, the answers to this two state solution.


Give the Palestinian Arabs their land. Define the borders. Settle the refugee problem. Give them East Jerusalem as their capital. Move the Jewish settlers out of the way. Give Israel its security..


Everybody has been so close to this solution, say American presidents and negotiation observers.
Barak gave the most far reaching concessions. Arafat refused them.

Olmert went even further. Abbas said it was not enough.

Let Israel go that extra step. Let the Palestinian leadership agree.


Peace at last! Universal celebration!


Peace agreement signed. Sigh of relief. Rumbles of dissatisfaction in sections of the Israeli and Palestinian societies. No matter. Deed done. White House ceremony. International praise.


Then what?


Time moves on. Exhilaration fades. Voices begin to be heard.


‘What about us?” It’s the collective voice of Palestinian Arabs living in Iisrael.


“If that state is Palestine so is this!” say the assertive voice of Israeli Arabs.


“We did not return to this land to be called Israelis. We are Palestinians.” say the protesting voice of returning refugees permitted into Israel as part of the agreement.


“We do not recognise this as our state!”, say their elected representatives sitting in Israel’s Knesset. “This is also Palestine. Our roots are here. Are we not brothers and sisters? Are we not one people?”


“We agree!”, say the loud collective voice from the newly created Palestinian state.


“We are family! We are brothers! We must reunite our people! The struggle must continue!”, say the new Palestinian leaders.


“We are with you in your struggle!”, say the Arab and Muslim world.


“We support you in your struggle!”, say the Hate Israel campaigners and activists.


“They have a point", say the media.


And so we move to the next round……





Friday 26 November 2010

NEIGHBORHOOD BULLY - BOB DYLAN

I love BOB DYLAN.
The words of his songs cut right through to the truth.
Read the lyrics to NEIGHBORHOOD BULLY.


Neighborhood Bully



Well, the neighborhood bully, he’s just one man


His enemies say he’s on their land


They got him outnumbered about a million to one


He got no place to escape to, no place to run


He’s the neighborhood bully





The neighborhood bully just lives to survive


He’s criticized and condemned for being alive


He’s not supposed to fight back, he’s supposed to have thick skin


He’s supposed to lay down and die when his door is kicked in


He’s the neighborhood bully



The neighborhood bully been driven out of every land


He’s wandered the earth an exiled man


Seen his family scattered, his people hounded and torn


He’s always on trial for just being born


He’s the neighborhood bully



Well, he knocked out a lynch mob, he was criticized


Old women condemned him, said he should apologize.


Then he destroyed a bomb factory, nobody was glad


The bombs were meant for him. He was supposed to feel bad


He’s the neighborhood bully



Well, the chances are against it and the odds are slim


That he’ll live by the rules that the world makes for him


’Cause there’s a noose at his neck and a gun at his back


And a license to kill him is given out to every maniac


He’s the neighborhood bully



He got no allies to really speak of


What he gets he must pay for, he don’t get it out of love


He buys obsolete weapons and he won’t be denied


But no one sends flesh and blood to fight by his side


He’s the neighborhood bully



Well, he’s surrounded by pacifists who all want peace


They pray for it nightly that the bloodshed must cease


Now, they wouldn’t hurt a fly. To hurt one they would weep


They lay and they wait for this bully to fall asleep


He’s the neighborhood bully



Every empire that’s enslaved him is gone


Egypt and Rome, even the great Babylon


He’s made a garden of paradise in the desert sand


In bed with nobody, under no one’s command


He’s the neighborhood bully



Now his holiest books have been trampled upon


No contract he signed was worth what it was written on


He took the crumbs of the world and he turned it into wealth


Took sickness and disease and he turned it into health


He’s the neighborhood bully




What’s anybody indebted to him for?


Nothin’, they say. He just likes to cause war


Pride and prejudice and superstition indeed


They wait for this bully like a dog waits to feed


He’s the neighborhood bully




What has he done to wear so many scars?


Does he change the course of rivers? Does he pollute the moon and stars?


Neighborhood bully, standing on the hill


Running out the clock, time standing still



Neighborhood bully


Copyright © 1983 by Special Rider Music





Wednesday 24 November 2010

When you prick us, do we not bleed?

I BROOD A LOT ABOUT OUR SITUATION HERE, OUR FATE.


WE ARE A MALIGNED PEOPLE. ALWAYS HAVE BEEN.

LOOK AT US DOWN THE AGES. WE ARE INTELLIGENT, SUCCESSFUL, WEALTHY, ALWAYS CONTRIBUTING TO SOCIETY, ALWAYS, REJECTED, DEMONISED, PERSECUTED. ALWAYS WEAK. OUR WEAKNESS HAS BEEN OUR UNDOING.

NOTHING HAS CHANGED TODAY, EXCEPT WE ARE STRONG AND THEY HATE US FOR THAT TOO. THIS STRENGTH HAS HELPED US SURVIVE WHEN OTHERS WOULD HAVE FALLEN.

OUR STRENGTH IS DERIVED TO, FINALLY, BEING HOME. OUR DISPERSION ADDED TO OUR WEAKNESS. OUR STRENGTH IS KNOWING THAT WE ARE, AT LAST, HOME.

YET THIS IS INSUFFICIENT.

SINCE OUR DELIVERANCE AT THE UN IN 1947 AND OUR DECLARATION OF SELF DETERMINATION IN 1948, WE HAVE BEEN ATTACKED AND PILLORIED EVER SINCE.

THE VERY ORGANIZATION THAT GRANTED US OUR FREEDOM CANNOT FIND A PLACE FOR US IN ITS NUMEROUS CHAMBERS.

ISRAEL DOES NOT HAVE A PERMANENT REPRESENTATION IN ANY OF THE GLOBAL GROUPINGS. NEITHER DOES IT BELONG TO THE NON-ALIGNED NATIONS. POLITICALLY IT IS TRULY ALONE, SUPPORTED THROUGH THE YEARS ONLY BY THE UNITED STATES.

EVEN THIS DOES NOT SPARE ISRAEL, THE JEW AMONG NATIONS, THE SLIGHTS AND INSULTS AS WE ARE CHARGED WITH HAVING UNDUE, AND THEREFORE UNSEEMLY, INFLUENCE OVER AMERICA’S FOREIGN POLICY. THE POWERFUL ARAB LOBBY WITH THE WEAPON OF OIL IS RELEGATED TO THE SIDELINES. IT IS THE JEWISH STATE THAT IS THE BUTT OF VILIFICATION.

THIS IS ENHANCED, IN THE TELLING, WITH THE ACCUSATION THAT ISRAEL AND THE JEWS CONTROL THE MEDIA AND THE BANKS.

UNDENIABLY, THERE IS BAD INTENT AT PLAY AGAINST US.

WHEN WE FIGHT TO DEFEND OURSELVES WE ARE CALLED WAR CRIMINALS. WHEN WE CLAIM OUR RIGHTS TO OUR LAND WE ARE CALLED THIEVES.

WE HAVE, INDEED, BECOME THE MODERN DAY SHYLOCK LOCKED IN OUR OWN GHETTO, REVILED BY THE SPITEFUL WORLD.

AS A SHYLOCK DARE I ASK “WHEN YOU PRICK US, DO WE NOT BLEED?”

IF YOU GIVE US NO OTHER OPTION, IF YOU HATE US SO MUCH THAT WE ONLY HAVE OUR SURVIVAL TO FALL BACK ON, THEN WE ARE JUSTIFIED TO SHOUT, AS SHYLOCK ONCE DID

“THE VILLAINY YOU TEACH ME, I WILL EXECUTE, AND IT SHALL GO HARD BUT I WILL BETTER THE INSTRUCTION!”

Friday 19 November 2010

ISRAEL'S THREE MOST PRESSING FOREIGN POLICY CHALLENGES

ASHLEY PERRY, media adviser to Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister, Danny Ayalon, addressed an audience in Netanya's Young Israel Synagogue about Israel's three most pressing foreign policy challenges.

Top of the list is clearly IRAN.
IRAN, Ashley said, is not only Israel's problem. It is a problem for the whole international community. The Arab states are more fearful of a nuclear Iran than Israel, even though Ahmadinajad is threatening the Jewish state with annihilation.
If Iran acquires nuclear weapons watch Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and even Jordan race to acquire them. This is not confined to the Middle East. Asian nations will also feel the need to go nuclear.
Closer to America, Venezuela has been hinting at attaining nuclear capability. Imagine a nuclear Latin America, close to the United States.
It's a domino effect.
If Iran acquires nuclear weapons the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty will be ripped into shred.
Iran is trying to undermine other regimes. Iran's subversive elements were even caught in Morocco.
Iran, under Ahmadinajad, looks at itself not as a small nation but as a super power toe to toe with America.

In 1993, we witnessed the White House handshake between Rabin and Arafat. This was the start of the Oslo process.

Ashley Perry examined how far Israel has moved in the PEACE PROCESS since then, and what has happened with the Palestinians.
He highlighted just a few of the steps that Israel has taken.
We allowed Yasser Arafat together with 100,000 henchmen, many with blood on their hands, to transfer from far off Tunis into the heartland of Judea and Shomron.
We allowed them to create the Palestinian Authority based in Ramallah.
We assisted them in their economic development.
We withdrew forces and population from the Gaza Strip.
We reduced forces, road blocks, check points, from what is known as the West Bank.
We permitted Palestinians to train and be armed to assist in law and order in the territories.
We accepted the premise of a two state solution.
We have taken serious and risky steps for peace. We have been killed in the process.

What flexibility or steps towards us have the Palestinians taken in that time?
According to Ashley Perry you need a magnifying glass to find a difference between the Palestinian position in 1993 and today.

The Palestinian today have made the settlements a pre-condition without which they refuse to talk peace. Not many people are aware that settlements constitute just 1.7% of the disputed territories!
The Palestinians have not progressed in the peace process since 1993. They have regressed.
The fact that Salim Fayyad refused to sign a document with the Americans that stated 'two states for two people' should concern us greatly.
Mahmoud Abbas refuses to recognise Israel as the Jewish state.
His attitude has always been "if I have to make one concession I'm out of the door!"

Ehud Olmert offered him 100% of the land, to divide Jeruslaem, to internationalise the Holy Basin, accepted a limited right of return for Palestinian refugees into Israel. This was rejected by Abbas as not enough.

When discussing the conflict with foreign diplomats the argument often goes something like this.
They say, "Jerusalem must be the capital of the Palestinian people".
We say, "That surely is prejudging the results of any negotiations?"
They reply, " That's our position!"

If, on the other hand, we say there is no right of return for Palestinian refugees they tell us we should not prejudge this issue.
They can't have it both ways.

According to international law, refugees must be settled where they are after a limited time period. Greek Cypriots, for example, have no right of return to northern Cyprus, occupied by Turkey. They have been told that too much time has past. 
The same law applies to Palestinian refugees.

Ashley admitted that past governments had given insufficient diplomatic emphasis on Israel's legitimacy to the land.
"We have our rights, including legal rights, to build in Judea and Samaria".

In 1948, The State of Israel was miraculously re-established.
"It was not 'established' as is commonly held. It is important to stress that our nation was re-established after an absence of two thousand years".

Since that date we have suffered wars starting from the first day of our existence. Miraculously, we survived the wars of 1948, 1955, 1967, and 1973.
We then faced the Arab boycott followed by the secondary boycoot, and then the tersiary boycott when companies like Pepsi Cola and major car manufacturers were threatened into not doing business with Israel.
At that time a lot of major international companies weighed the risk of doing business with an Israel of barely three million people against the Arab world of 150 million.
Today, they do business with us because, despite our small size, we are an economic powerhouse.

Modern terrorism was created by the Palestinians and applied against Israeli targets. Plane hi-jacking, the slaughter of Olympic athletes, suicide bombings were just some of the methods devised by Palestinians.
With Israeli security steps, including the separation fence, even this proved ineffective in breaking or destroying Israel.

Today, we face the next stage in their war against us - delegimitization. This and lawfare, as encapsulated in Goldstone, are aimed to make us a pariah state, like South Africa was.
The aim is not to achieve a two state solution. They want a one state solution - Palestine.

They are encouraged in this aim by the United Nations through committees such as their 'Human Rights' Council that includes human rights luminaries such as Cuba, Saudi Arabia, North Korea, and Libya.

The delegitimization campaign in strongly based on the campus in Europe and in America. The champions of the anti-Israel movement are prepared to disrupt meetings, destroy property, and even physically attack anyone presenting the Israeli position, as they did to Israel's Deputy Ambassador at Manchester University.
She is a petite lady who was physically beaten by rioting students who prevented her from speaking.

When Danny Ayalon was prevented from speaking at Oxford University among the abuse hurled at him was "Isha al-Yahud!' - Kill the Kew!
Not kill the Israeli, but kill the Jew.

They do not want Israel to be heard, but things are changing.
When Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman visited Brazil this year to present Israel's case and open cooperation between Brazil and Israel he was asked "where have you been for seventeen years?" Seventeen years ago was the start of the Oslo process.

Diplomats and the public are hearing, often for the first time, about Israel's legitimate rights.

Wednesday 17 November 2010

A DIFFERENT FORM OF LOGIC.

Let me give you a different form of logic for discussing war, terror, land and peace. This logic is derived from the prism of the Levontine world we live in.

Please follow the thread...

Israel is giving up land to achieve peace. This is happening because Israel has known wars and terror for decades, since its creation, in fact.
The motto was "Land for Peace". In other words, Israeli land for Palestinian and Arab peace.
The demand from the confident Palestinians is now "give us even more land or you don't get peace!"
In other words, "give us more land or we'll continue to kill you!"
This is bloody blackmail!

Now let me apply a different form of logic to a second example.

Israel is downtrodden and oppressed. It is attacked, reviled, and isolated. Therefore, downtrodden and oppressed.
Palestinians are the proxy fighter set up by the Arabs and Iran to fight their fight and attack us.
The Palestinians are, therefore, their weapons as they sit back and cheer or jeer from the sidelines.
If the Palestinians get bashed by us it's part of the fight promoted by those who are holding the tab for the Palestinians.
So, who is to blame?

Tuesday 16 November 2010

JERUSALEM QUESTIONS.

WHEN OUR PRIME MINISTERS DECLARE JERUSALEM TO BE THE UNDIVIDED CAPITAL OF ISRAEL WE AND OUR SUPPORTERS CHEER ECSTATICALLY.


DO WE DO SO BECAUSE ISRAEL IS THE CAPITAL OF ISRAEL, WHICH IS UNQUESTIONABLE?

OR DO WE DO SO BECAUSE ISRAEL IS UNDIVIDED, WHICH IS QUESTIONABLE?

IF IT IS UNDIVIDED, WHY ISN’T THE ISRAELI GOVERNMENT DOING MORE TO UPGRADE AND DEVELOP THE CITY FOR ALL OF ITS RESIDENTS, INCLUDING THE EASTERN PART?

IF IT IS UNDIVIDED, WHY IS THE ISRAELI GOVERNMENT PERMITTING THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY TO INVEST IN ROADS, SCHOOLS, AND OTHER FACILITIES IN EAST JERUSALEM?

IS IT BECAUSE OF SENSITIVITIES IN THE CURRENT NEGOTIATIONS?

IS IT DUE TO DOUBTS ABOUT THE FUTURE STATUS QUO OF PARTS OF JERUSALEM?

OR HAS THE GOVERNMENT ALREADY TAKEN A DECISION THAT A PART OF THE UNDIVIDED CITY OF JERUSALEM WILL, INDEED, BE CEDED TO BE THE CAPITAL OF A FUTURE PALESTINIAN STATE?

ALL THESE QUESTIONS LINGER IN THE AIR AND EXPOSE A DIVIDE NOT ONLY IN JERUSALEM BUT BETWEEN FINE WORDS AND DEEDS ON THE GROUND.

Sunday 14 November 2010

WHO ARE THE RACISTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST?

Palestinian Arabs and their supporters constantly call us racists.

It's a part of their demonisation campaign against Israelis.

Let's see who are the Middle East racists.

You attacked us on all fronts on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.

You send your suicide bomber to massacre worshipers at Netanya’s Park Hotel on Passover, the festival that celebrates freedom from slavery in a foreign land and redemption in the Jewish Land of Israel.

You destroy Jewish holy sites in Jerusalem and Joseph’s Tomb.

You steal the Jewish heritage of the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron and Rachel’s Tomb near Bethlehem in the name of Islam.

You desecrate the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. You drive out the Christians from that holy town.

When we call our nation the Jewish State of Israel you have the chutzpah to tell us that this is racist and discriminatory.

You, the people who are led by a man whose university thesis was Holocaust denial and by a terror group that quotes anti-Semitic slogans in its Charter.

Who are the racist discriminators when the Palestinian Authority imposes the death penalty on any Arab who sells his land to a Jew?

Who are the Nazi racists when The Palestinian Authority insist that any territory we give the Palestinian Arabs for a future state must be Judenrein – free of Jews?

So tell me, who are the racists in the Middle East?

Friday 12 November 2010

NATIONALISM IS A GOOD THING.

NATIONALISM IS NOT A BAD THING. YOU CAN BE PATRIOTIC FOR YOUR COUNTRY AND STILL RESPECT OTHER COUNTRIES ETHNICITY, CULTURE, AND TRADITIONS.



YOU CAN BE PATRIOTICALLY NATIONALISTIC ABOUT YOUR NATION AND STILL BE TOLERANT TO MINORITIES WITHIN YOUR SOCIETY, SUBJECT , THAT IS, TO THEM BEING TOLERANT, RESPECTFUL YOUR NATIONAL VALUES AND HERITAGE (IF YOU STILL HAVE ANY), AND INTEGRATING THEMSELVES INTO SOCIETY .


I LIVE IN ISRAEL, SUPPORT THE ENGLAND FOOTBALL TEAM, YET ALSO ADMIRE THE SKILLS OF BRAZIL AND ARGENTINA.


DON’T YOU CHEER WILDLY FOR ATHLETES FROM YOUR OWN COUNTRY AT THE OLYMPIC GAMES? DON’T YOU PROUDLY CHANT YOUR NATIONAL ANTHEM AND GO WEEPY WITH THE SUCCESS OF SEEING YOUR NATIONAL FLAG BEING RAISED IN VICTORY?

IN MORE SOMBRE TIMES, WHEN ISLAM STRUCK AMERICA ON 9/11THE INITIAL RESPONSE, ONCE THE SHOCK OF THE EVENTS BEGAN TO SUBSIDE AND THOUGHT AND PASSION AROSE, IT WAS PATRIOTISM, A RALLYING AROUND THE FLAG, THAT SAVED THE AMERICAN SOUL. NATIONAL PRIDE AND SOLIDARITY WAS A STRONG PART OF THE HEALING PROCESS.


YES, NATIONALISM IS FINE. IT'S HEALTHY.

IN BRITAIN, ON THE OTHER HAND, SO STEEPED IN MULTICULTURALISM THAT THEY NO LONGER KNOW THEMSELVES, THE REACTION WAS DIFFERENT ON 7/7. A SERIES OF DEADLY BOMBINGS ON THE LONDON TRANSPORT SYSTEM LEFT MANY DEAD, MORE WOUNDED, AND THE COUNTRY REELING.
THERE WAS NO RALLYING AROUND THE FLAG IN BRITAIN, NO UNIFYING STRENGTH IN PATRIOTISM. INSTEAD, BRITAIN WENT TO VISIT THE SHRINK.
'WHAT DID WE DO TO DESERVE THIS?" THEY CRIED, PAINFULLY.
INSTEAD OF STANDING BOLDLY AGAINST AN ENEMY THAT WAS BOTH EXTERNAL AND NOW DOMESTIC, INSTEAD OF DIAGNOSING WHAT THEY HAD DISCARDED THAT ALLOWED THIS HATRED AND VIOLENCE TO EXPRESS ITSELF, THE DEBATE WAS ABOUT HOW MUCH MORE APPEASEMENT AND APOLOGY THEY SHOULD GIVE, AND HOW DANGEROUS IT IS TO MAINTAIN INDEPENDANT NATIONAL VALUES IN A GLOBAL WORLD..

IT'S GLOBALISM THAT IS SUCH A DEFEATIST MESS. THIS UTOPIA OF NOTHINGNESS LEAD HEADS OF RELIGION TO ABANDON THEIR NATIONALISM, THE ORIGINAL CORE VALUES OF THEIR FAITH.
INSTEAD THEY CONVERT THEM INTO A GLOBAL SOCIALISM.
UNIVERSAL DREAMERS CUT THE TIES THAT BIND TO DRIFT FREE IN A WORLD OF HARMONY THAT LEAVES THEM ANCHORLESS AND ROOTLESS.


JOHN LENNON IS TO BLAME.
HE REFLECTED THE MOOD, HE EXPRESSED THE POLITICAL MOVE TO NOWHERE, WHEN HE WROTE “IMAGINE”.
HIS WORDS LED A NAÏVE WORLD DOWN THE PATH TO SELF DESTRUCTION.


Imagine there's no heaven


It's easy if you try


No hell below us


Above us only sky


Imagine all the people


Living for today...


Imagine there's no countries


It isn't hard to do


Nothing to kill or die for


And no religion too


Imagine all the people


Living life in peace...


You may say I'm a dreamer


But I'm not the only one


I hope someday you'll join us


And the world will be as one


Imagine no possessions


I wonder if you can


No need for greed or hunger


A brotherhood of man


Imagine all the people


Sharing all the world...


You may say I'm a dreamer


But I'm not the only one


I hope someday you'll join us


And the world will live as one


“IMAGINE THERE’S NO HEAVEN, AND NO RELIGION TO”. SO, PEOPLE ABANDONED THEIR FAITH.


“IMAGINE ALL THE PEOPLE LIVING FOR TODAY”. SO, PEOPLE TOOK CREDIT, SPENT LIKE THERE IS NO TOMORROW, AND ACCUMULATED THE DEBT THAT IS CAUSING TODAY’S CHAOS.


DO THEY REALLY BELIEVE BY RELINQUISHING THEIR NATIONAL PRIDE FOR A UNIVERSAL PARADISE THAT THIS WILL PREVENT GREED AND HUNGER BETTER THAN BY INDIVIDUAL NATIONS WORKING TOGETHER?


“IMAGINE THERE’S NO COUNTRIES. IT ISN’T HARD TO DO”. YES, IT IS.


DROP YOUR PRIDE IN YOUR NATIONAL HISTORY, OPEN YOUR GATES TO THE WORLD, LET THEM ALL IN, TAKE CARE OF THEM, LOOSE YOUR IDENTITY FOR THE GLOBAL GOOD AND, AT THE SAME TIME, SAVE THE WORLD. WHO IS GOING TO PAY FOR ALL THIS? GEORGE SOROS, OR YOU?


I REFUSE.

I DON’T WANT TO TAKE IN THE WORLD’S REJECTS WHO DO NOT WANT TO CONFORM TO MY NATIONAL HERITAGE AND VALUES.
DOES THAT MAKE ME A RACIST, AN OPPRESSOR? AM I, THEREFORE, GUILTY OF HUMAN RIGHTS CRIMES?
DOES IT MEAN I HAVE NO VALUES OF LOVE AND PEACE?
I DON’T THINK SO.


I AM READY TO DEFEND MY COUNTRY.
I AM READY TO FIGHT AND DIE FOR MY HOMELAND, FAMILY, MY SOCIETY, MY VALUES, BECAUSE THEY ARE MINE AND NOBODY IS GOING TO TAKE THEM AWAY.
DOES THAT MAKE ME A FASCIST? DOES THAT MEAN I ABHOR PEACE?

LENNON DREAMED OF 'A BROTHERHOOD OF MAN', A WORLD THAT 'WILL LIVE AS ONE'.
THIS MAY BE THE ANTHEM OF THE GLOBAL MULTI-CULTURALIST.
IT IS ALSO THE ANTHEM OF JIHAD.

THE TWO MAY BE UNITED TODAY TO ACHIEVE A GLOBAL VILLAGE, BUT CONFLICT WILL BE THE INEVITABLE END WHEN ONE SIDE ASSERTS ITS AGENDA ON THE OTHER. AND WE KNOW WHICH SIDE THAT WILL BE, DON'T WE?


PARTS OF EUROPE AND AMERICA HAVE WOKEN UP TO THIS IMPENDING DISASTER.
THEY SEE THE POLITICAL CAMPAIGN FOR A NEW WORLD ORDER, BACKED BY SOCIALISTS, LIBERAL DREAMERS, CHURCH LEADERS, FINANCED BY MISGUIDED GOVERNMENTS AND MALEVOLENT CHARACTERS SUCH AS GEORGE SOROS, HAVE BEEN A GIFT FROM HEAVEN FOR A MASSIVELY POWERFUL ISLAMIC TROJAN HORSE.


THESE USEFUL IDIOTS, AS SOVIET SYMPATHIZERS WERE ONCE DESCRIBED BY LENIN, ARE PAVING THE WAY FOR THE COMING GLOBAL CALIPHATE. THEY KNOCK DOWN ALL RESISTANCE TO GLOBALISATION, ACTING AS EAGER ANTS AND FRONTMEN FOR THE ARMY OF ISLAM TO TAKE OVER AT A LATER STAGE.


MEANTIME, THE ISLAMIC INVADERS INFILTRATE EVERY VACANT NOOK AND CRANNY THAT OPENS UP TO THEM.
THEIR PROGRESS IS CONSTANT AND TIMELESS. THEY HAVE PATIENCE THOUGH SOME, IMPATIENT TO ACHIEVE GLORY, RESORT TO VIOLENCE.


THE SHREWD ONES PREFER THE STEALTH APPROACH.
THEY REMAIN INVISIBLE AS RULES AND LAWS ARE INTRODUCED TO PROTECT THEIR INTERESTS.
THEY IMPOSE THEMSELVES BY FIRST ELECTING PROXIES TO PUSH THEIR AGENDA BEFORE GRADUALLY TAKING OVER POSITIONS OF POWER AND INFLUENCE. THEY MAKE PUBLICISED STATEMENTS ABOUT PERCEIVED ILLS OF PUBLIC, FOREIGN, AND SOCIAL POLICIES OF THE ESTABLISHMENT, MAKING IT SOUND AS IF THEY SPEAK FOR THE COMMON GOOD WHEN, IN EFFECT, THEY WISH TO IMPOSE THEIR PROGRAMS AND LAWS ONTO SOCIETY.


THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT IS BEING DESTROYED, DELIBERATELY, BY THESE PEOPLE.THEY ARE ABLY SUPPORTED BY NATIONS WHO HAVE ABANDONED THEIR HISTORY, JETTISONED THEIR RELIGION, AND ARE DRFITING AIMLESSLY IN A MULTICULTURALIST SEA.


SOME ARE COMING OUT OF THEIR SELF INDUCED STUPOR OF GLOBAL STUPIDITY AND ARE SHOCKED TO SEE THE WAY THE WORLD, AND THEIR COUNTRY, IS TURNING. THEY SCREAM THEIR HORROR AT WHAT IS TRANSPIRING BEFORE THEIR EYES AND ARE TOLD TO PIPE DOWN AND NOT DISTURB THE REVERIE. BUT THEY DON’T. THEY CONTINUE TO SPEAK OUT AND TO BECOME ACTIVE TO REJECT THE INVASION OF FOREIGN INFLUENCE INTO THEIR SOCIETY AND ATTEMPT TO CHANGE THE NATIONAL COURSE AND DISCOURSE BACK TO ORIGINAL WORTH.


THE TEA PARTY IN AMERICA, GEERT WILDER’S FREEDOM PARTY IN HOLLAND, THE ENGLISH DEFENSE LEAGUE IN BRITAIN, AND ISRAEL ARE SAYING “NO!” THEY ARE SAYING “I WANT MY COUNTRY!” THEY ARE BEING TOLD TO QUIET DOWN. TAKE ANOTHER PUFF OF THE PEACE AND LOVE PIPE AND EVERYTHING WILL BE FINE.
NO, IT WON’T!


THESE PEOPLE ARE BEING CALLED RACISTS, FASCISTS, NAZIS.
NO, THEY ARE NOT.
THEY ARE PATRIOTS, TRUE TO THEIR CORE VALUES THAT HAVE BEEN TAKEN FROM THEM, THEY ARE TRYING TO WAKE UP THEIR COUNTRYMEN, TRYING TO DRAG THEIR COUNTRIES BACK TO THEIR ORIGINAL SOURCE.


THE EDL, GEERT WILDERS, EVEN THE TEA PARTY HAVE BEEN CALLED NAZIS. NO, THEY ARE NOT.
THEY SUPPORT ISRAEL. THEY SEE ISRAEL AS AN EXAMPLE OF A NATION THAT IS BEING ATTACKED AND HUMILIATED FOR HOLDING FIRM TO ORIGINAL VALUES AND FAITH. THEY SEE A NATION UNDER SIEGE, RESISTING THE PLUNDER OF IT’S HERITAGE AND IT’S LAND. THEY ADMIRE US FOR OUR FIGHT FOR OUR SELF DETERMINATION AND OUR PRINCIPLES.
BECAUSE OF THIS THEY, AND US, HAVE BEEN CALLED NAZIS.
THEY, AND WE, ARE NOT NAZIS.


NAZIS AND FASCISTS, MAY I REMIND YOU, WERE THOSE WHO HATED AND PERSECUTED THE JEWS. THEY CHOSE THE JEWS AS THEIR FIRST VICTIMS FOR ANNIHILATION BEFORE MOVING ON TO CONQUER THE WORLD.


I ASK YOU. WHO ARE THE ONES WHO ARE ATTACKING THE JEWS TODAY? WHO ARE THE NAZIS WHO ARE MURDERING JEWS TODAY?
WHO ARE THE NAZIS WHO ARE INCITING HATRED AGAINST THE JEWS TODAY?
WHO ARE THE RACISTS WHO ARE SPEWING ANTI-SEMITIC SLOGANS, AND PRODUCE GOEBELS-TYPE PROPAGANDA AGAINST THE JEWS AND ISRAEL TODAY?
WHO ARE THE NAZIS THAT VOW TO DESTROY THE ONE JEW AMONG NATIONS?
THEY, SURELY, ARE THE TRUE NAZIS AND RACISTS OF OUR TIME, AND NOT THE PATRIOTS WHO RISE UP TO DEFEND THEIR COUNTRIES.


THE BATTLE IS OVER NATIONHOOD. ISRAEL HAS RECOGNISED THE RIGHT OF THE PALESTINIAN ARABS TO SELF DETERMINATION.
SOME SAY THEY ALREADY HAVE SUCH A STATE IN JORDAN. AFTER ALL, JORDAN WAS CARVED OUT OF PALESTINE THAT SHOULD HAVE GONE TO THE JEWS ACCORDING TO THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS RESOLUTION OF 1922. IN ADDITION, THE MAJORITY OF JORDANIANS ARE PALESTINIAN ARABS.


SO I ASK THE QUESTION. HOW COME THE PALESTINIAN ARABS ARE NOT SCREAMING ‘OCCUPATION!’ AGAINST THE JORDANIANS?
THEY ARE OCCUPYING A TRACT OF LAND SIX TIME BIGGER THAN ISRAEL THAT WAS, AS I SAID, PALESTINE.
THIS MAKES SENSE TO ME. SO, WHY THE SILENCE?
WHY DO THEY TURN THEIR ATTENTION ONLY TO THE JEWISH STATE?
AS IF WE DON’T KNOW THE ANSWER.


IT’S CLEAR THEY WANT A SECOND PALESTINIAN STATE.
THIS LEADS ME TO MY FINAL QUESTION. IS THIS NEW STATE GOING TO BE THE END OF THE STORY? OR IS THERE GOING TO A VIOLENT DEMAND FOR A THIRD PALESTINIAN STATE?
AFTER ALL, MILLIONS OF ARABS AND OTHERS SEE ISRAEL AS OCCUPYING HOLY MUSLIM LAND.


WHICH BRINGS ME BACK TO GLOBALISATION AS SEEN THROUGH ISLAMIC EYES.
THEY ARE NEVER HAPPY WITH WHAT THEY HAVE GOT. THEY WANT MORE. THEY WANT YOUR NATION, AND THEY WANT MINE.


NATIONALISM IS BETTER THAN GLOBALISM IF YOUR NATION IS IMPORTANT TO YOU. IF IT’S NOT, THROW IT AWAY TO WHOEVER WANTS TO CONTROL IT.


AS FOR ME, NATIONALISM IS A GOOD THING. I LOVE MY COUNTRY AND INTEND TO KEEP IT.



Tuesday 9 November 2010

The time for coordinated and professional Israeli public diplomacy action is now.

They say that public diplomacy is too important to be left to politicans.
In Israel's case we have seen politicians, with poor English skills but with big egos, damage Israel's cause by placing themselves in front of Western TV cameras, or in front of hostile audiences.

Sending these people to fight Israel's case is like sending soldiers on to the deck of the Mavi Maramara flotilla ship armed with paintball guns.
It's a disaster waiting to happen.

The time has come for the formation of a major non-governmental public diplomacy institute in Israel.

It should be apolitical. It should have government backing but with no political interference.
It will be a lobbying force not only to the Israeli Government but to governments worldwide.
It should consult and coordinate with the Israeli Government and other authorities, including the military.

This public diplomacy institute (PDI) should be well funded to become a powerful and united voice for Israel.

It should act as an umbrella organisation for successful pro-Israeli NGOs to individually and collectively promote the best interests of Israel.

It should present Israel's case to the world, challenge media lies and foreign NGO bias. It should face delegitimizers with facts, counter lawfare against Israel by using or changing legal processes to take on delegitimisers, liars, and terror supporters abroad.

It is highly noticeable that leading proponents of public diplomacy based in Israel are native English speakers.
People like Gerald Steinberg (NGO Monitor), Itamar Marcus (Palestinian Media Watch), Chuck Freilich (AXIUS), Simon Plosker (Honest Reporting), Michael Dickson (Stand with Us in Israel), Stuart Palmer (ICANN), Norman Cohen (BIG), and Dore Gold (JCPA).

In their particular fields they head organisations that are doing remarkable service for Israel.
Other organisations include Shurat HaDin (Nitzana Darshan-Leitner) and MALAM-Intelligence & Terrorism Information Center (Col.Reuven Erlich)have excellent success stories and are active in defending Israel.

Individually, they are professional organisations fighting for Israel in their own corner.
Collectively, they can be an impressive and powerful voice for Israel.

Internationally, there is a rising tide against Israel that goes beyond criticism. This force is not being officially, or effectively, challenged by Israel.
The case for Israel's legitimacy is as much a battleground as any military and anti-terror campaign.
Unfortunately, the enemy control the battlefield. They are digging in and strengthening their positions. Our side is involved in the occasional skirmish. We have no coordinated attack plan.

In my days in real estate, when I wanted to present new projects to overseas buyers, I joined exhibition organisers who put together agents, builders, banks, lawyers, hired the halls, organised the manpower, the advertising, the transportation of people and materials.
This attracted more publicity, a larger audience of potential buyers, and more success than had I simply gone and done my own thing.

When the government declares war it does not take to the battlefield itself. It leaves it to the trained and experienced IDF. The IDF is made up not only of army, navy, and air force but also special units to be deployed according to the countries vital needs in a time of war.

We are in a time of war right now, the war for public opinion and legitimacy. The same general principles should be applied to public diplomacy.

It is time for major NGOs with proven track records to come together and create a significant body that can better project Israel to the world.

It should become a central public diplomacy strategic center. It should be an international think tank for Israeli public diplomacy. It should be a first response, rapid reaction unit in cases of emergency that always arise in our region.

It should be supported with substantial funding by organisations, foundations, and individuals who claim to support Israel in its struggle to get its message across.

The time for coordinated and professional Israeli public diplomacy action is now.

Thursday 4 November 2010

RAANAN GISSIN



RAANAN GISSIN is a charismatic spokesperson for the State of Israel.

He was born in Kibbutz Hasolelim in 1949.


In 1996, Gissin was appointed Spokesperson for the newly formed Ministry of National Infrastructure headed by Minister Ariel Sharon. He also served as Mr. Sharon’s personal Adviser of Public and Media Affairs.

He currently serves as a strategic consultant, commentator and lecturer on a variety of topics related to the Middle East, Israel, the war against terror, and media and government relations. In 1998, he became Senior Public Affairs and Media Adviser to Minister of Foreign Affairs Ariel Sharon.

He participated in the conference and negotiations which led to the signing of the Wye Memorandum in October 1998 in Washington D.C.

In 1999, following the change of government, he continued to serve as a special consultant to Ariel Sharon.

In 2003, he received the prestigious Louis D. Brandeis Award of outstanding contribution to Zionism and for dedication to the cause of attaining peace and security for the State of Israel.

During the period 2001-2006, he has served as Foreign Press & Public Affairs Adviser and reported directly to the Prime Ministers Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert.



Raanan Gissin is an Israeli analyst and consultant specializing in the Arab-Israeli conflict.



He was senior adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and a frequent spokesman for the Israeli government on CNN, MSNBC, and Fox.

Raanan Gissin, PhD., has in recent years become one of Israel’s leading spokesmen to the international press on security and strategic issues, and the peace process. Until recently (2001–2006), he served as Foreign Press & Public Adviser to the Prime Minister of Israel.

He is frequently seen on Israeli TV English News.


Raanan was the guest speaker at the Forgotten People Fund lunch at the King Solomon Hotel in Netanya.

I have met Raanan on several occasions and I always enjoy his pungent points and soundbites on various important issues.  Despite the seriousness of the subject matter he always seems to be able to inject humour.

Here are just a few of the comments I picked up during his recent talk.

Covering his education he said it takes ones and a half years to earn a Masters Degree abroad in Political Science or in Middle East Studies. Then, when you arrive in Israel, it takes you three days to forget everything you have learned.

Raanan loves Bob Dylan. He quoted from one of Dylan's songs"

"If you ever stop trying you'll sink like a stone. The times they are a'changing!"

This, he said, typifies Israel in today's world.

"We are", he said, " a problem-solving nation. We have to be. It is the way we have survived against every changing challenges.  This has made us the leading entrepreneurial nation. Israel is number one nation, pro rats, that invests in R&D.  Winston Churchil once said of Britain, 'Never have so few done so much for so many!' This applies to israel' contribtuion to the world as a result of our R&D and development".

On an official visit to South Africa he was confronted by one official to explain why Israel is perceived as a violent country. He explained,
"You have the Kruger National Park in South Africa. This is to preserve your natural animal life. Israel is not a state. It is the National Park of the Jewish People. We are an endangered species. Sometimes we are forced to make house calls on the hunters and poachers".

Referencing the perception of President Obama in Israel he said that if Obama is a good pesident for America he is, automatically, a good president for Israel. If he is seen as a weak president he will be a weak president for Israel. Israel cannot afford to have a weak American president.

"Israelis are good surfers. We learned to ride the huge waves that threaten to overpower and drown us. We survived even when tsunamis that would wash away lesser countries came to destroy us. Yes, Israelis make good surfers!"

Wednesday 3 November 2010

THE'RE BURYING ISRAEL BY DECREE.

No country has as much legitimacy to exist as the Jewish State of Israel.
It's legal reason for being is well known but deserves repeated expression.

Can you think of any other nation whose roots go back three thousand years?
Pause here and make yourself a list.  You'll probably come up with Egypt, China. Greece came later. Any more?
How about the Jewish nation of Israel?

I am sure I don't have to point to the Bible as a historial document of Jewish nationhood. It is filled with heroic and tragic personalities and events, each recorded for posterity.

So we have a biblical and historically proven record of nationhood going back thousands of years.
Don't doubt that they are but tales and fantasies echoing down the ages.  Come travel the land and see for yourself the physical evidence that proves the authenticity of the words.

Israel was first forged into a unified nation some three thousand years ago when King David united the twelve tribes from the city of Jerusalem.

Since King David established the city as the capital of the Jewish state circa 1000 BCE, it has served as the symbol and most profound expression of the Jewish people's identity as a nation.

For a thousand years Jerusalem was the seat of Jewish sovereignty, the household site of kings, the location of its legislative councils and courts. In exile, the Jewish nation came to be identified with the city that had been the site of its ancient capital. Jews, wherever they were, prayed for its restoration

Conquest, oppression, massacre, rape, slavery, exile, reduced the population to an anonymous minimum but the dream of re-establishment never died. Those few who remained prayed for a renewal of Judaism in the land. From distant Babylon enslaved Jews wept.

"By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion.  (137, 1-2).


"If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither, let my tongue cleave to my palate if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy." (137, 5-7).

"Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion!" (147, 12)

It is important to note that these psalms were written more than five hundred years before Christ.

The Jewish bond to Jerusalem was never broken. For three milennia, Jerusalem has been the center of the Jewish faith, retaining its symbolic value throughout the generations.

The centrality of Jerusalem to Judaism is so strong that even secular Jews express their devotion and attachment to the city and cannot conceive of a modern State of Israel without it.

Although Jerusalem appears in the Hebrew Bible 669 times, it is not mentioned in the Pentateuch. Instead when referring to Jerusalem, the term "the place that God will choose" is used. Maimonides cites various reasons why this is so, the first being that if the nations of the world had learned that this place was destined to become the centre of the highest religious ideals they would have occupied it to prevent the Jews from ever controlling it.

Ancient decrees echo to us down the ages:


"The builder of Jerusalem is God, the outcast of Israel he will gather in...Praise God O Jerusalem, laud your God O Zion." (Psalms 147:2-12)

The Land of Israel sits at the centre of the world and Jerusalem sits at the centre of the Land of Israel .

From the day Jerusalem was destroyed, God has no joy, until He rebuilds Jerusalem and returns Israel to it — Yalkut Shimoni Lamentations 1009




In antiquity, the Jewish religion revolved around the Temple in Jerusalem. The Sanhedrin, which governed the nation, was located in the Temple precincts. The Temple service was at the heart of the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur proceedings. The Temple was central to the Three pilgrim festivals, namely Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot, when all Jews were incumbent to gather in Jerusalem. Every seven years all Jews were required to assemble at the Temple for the Hakhel reading. The forty-nine day Counting of the Omer recalls the Omer offering which was offered at the Temple every day between Passover and Shavuot. The eight-day festival of Hanukkah celebrates the rededication of the Second Temple after its desecration by Antiochus IV. A number of fast days including the Ninth of Av, the Tenth of Tevet and the Seventeenth of Tammuz, all recall the destruction of the Temple.

At the conclusion of the Yom Kippur service and the Passover Seder the words "Next Year in Jerusalem" are recited.

For centuries, when a Jew anywhere in the world prays he prays in the direction of Jerusalem.

For centuries, when  a Jew marries the groom breaks a glass to remind him, in his hour of greatest happiness, of the destruction of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem and he utters the prayer "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning." (Psalms 137:5).

For Jews, 'Next Year in Jerusalem!' is more than an abstract prayer. It is a personal command to return to the ancient Land of Israel.

TEL AVIV - THE BIG ORANGE.


Lonely Planet is the largest travel guide book publisher in the world.
This week Lonely Planet released its list for travelers of the world's 10 best cities to visit.
Tel Aviv placed third. Not a surprise. Tel Aviv is an exciting, beautiful flower of Western culture on the Mediterranean Sea. It is a place of freedom, fun, and civility in which alternate lifestyles flourish alongside traditional.

The story, as reported by Israel21c, said

...Israel's party capital won praise for its tolerant attitudes and thriving gay culture and Lonely Planet also says "Thanks to its university and museums, it is also the greenhouse for Israel's growing art, film and music scenes."

"Scratch underneath the surface and Tel Aviv, or TLV, reveals itself as a truly diverse 21st-century Mediterranean hub. By far the most international city in Israel, Tel Aviv is also home to a large gay community, a kind of San Francisco in the Middle East," Lonely Planet says.

This summer, the prestigious National Geographic Magazine named Tel Aviv as one of the world's top ten beach cities, dubbing it "Miami Beach on the Med." It was also voted the third best city in Africa and the Middle East by the New York-based Travel + Leisure Magazine, and also one of the world's top "Party Cities" by Forbes Magazine and the Lonely Planet Travel Guide, and was included in the Louis Vuitton 2010 European Cities Guide.

TOUGH LUCK! A RESPONSE FROM ISRAEL UNDER ATTACK.

Abuse. Destruction. Exile. Persecution. Massacres. Concentration camps. Genocide. Wars. Terror. Delegitimisation. Anti-Semitism. For thousands of years.

Now you claim that you don't like the way I talk. I'm not polite. Rude. Tough luck!

You want to get abusive again? Let me tell you. You don't push us around any more.
We are no longer the meek, weak, Jew, walking submissively into the gas chamber.
Don't like that? Tough luck!

You say we act like bullies? Then, get out of my face.
You hate it when we hit back hard. Try living in my neighbourhood and let's see how you behave.

You think you can get the world to gang up on us. Try it. We'll circle our wagons and hang on to what we've got. It's Fortress Israel time.

Let me give you a warning. You spit on me. I'll slap your face. You hit me. I'll break your arms.
Just want to let you know. We don't take your crap any more.

I don't buy your bluff. I don't trust a word you say. Don't ask me to play nice in return for your promises. I don't believe you. 
You want me to put my fate in your hands? Who are you kidding?

I do believe my enemies. I have learned one thing down the years. When my enemies tell me that they intend to kill me,  they mean what they say.
So don't tell me to be soft. Soft doesn't sell in my neighbourhood.

To my enemies, let me say one thing. Your wars didn't work. Your terror scarred my soul, but didn't break me. You can't talk me out of existence. Your rockets failed to dent me. You want to try nuclear? Don't even think about it!

Don't like my attitude? Think I'm pushy? Shouldn't be around?

Tough luck! We're here to stay. Live with it!

Monday 1 November 2010

HYPOCRICY! HYPOCRICY! ALL IS HYPOCRICY!

I wrote 'So you want to boycott Israel' in 2004.
The Mona Baker led academic boycott of 2002 subsequently gave rise to an ongoing commercial boycott of Israel. This, like the academic boycott has been largely unsuccessful. By noisily campaigning outside British stores, such as Marks and Spencers and Ahava, this simply encourages Israel supporters, and those who find their noisy victimisation of certain stores offensive, to support the beleagurered stores by going in and spending money when they would normally have walked by.
The commercial boycott attempt gave birth to a counter Buycott campaign.
Basically, this was to support the very stores that are being targeted by the Hate Israel campaigners.

What shocked me into writing this article was the sheer hypocricy of the Boycott Israel campaigners.

Israel was taking steps to accomodate the demands of the Palestinian leadership. At the same time, we were suffering from a terrible terror campaign against us.
It was at such a moment that we witnessed the growth of hatemongers who eagerly joined the Palestinian cause not to assist in the peace making process but to attack Israel.

We have seen the adoption of the Palestinian cause and its narrative as a screen to disguise the contempt for the Jewish state.

Highlighting 'the plight of the Palestinians' is a pretext. Simply put, it's a camouflage. It's a camouflage that hides the deep resentment of an increasingly successful Zionist mission, the Jewish State of Israel.

Resolutions are formulated and adopted that detract and deny the exisiting order.
New legislation is introduced that attempts to rake over established international, legitimacy, laws and rights. These are swept aside, airily dismissed, as if they are no longer relevant.

So you want to boycott Israel exposes the hypocricy of academics that oppose academic freedom, boycotters who choose to target easy victims while luxuriating in items that are useful to them, the humanists who deny humanity to those in need, the multiculturists who object to the addition of a different entity, the 'human rights' activists that close their eyes to human rights abuses when it doesn't suit their true cause, the media that adopts a myth and projects this propaganda as truth, and public opinion that accepts the lies they are fed and use them as amunition to assault Israel.

 When academia closes its mind and its ears it is no longer academia. Academia is a world of open mindedness, of freedom of thought, of open exchange of ideas. When you close your mind you are no longer an academic. You may close you ears and your mind, but the other still exists. You have not denied the other. You have denied yourself.

Universal humanists would prevent Israeli scientists from sharing their research. They would stop the free exchange of ideas and theory to Israeli academics. If you accept that Israeli researchers, scientists, agriculturalists, physicists, mathemeticians, have contributed to the good of mankind way out of proportion to their numbers how can ou consider yourself as a humanist when you deny humanitary the right to benefit from their research and development?

Socialists campaign against a nation created and built by Socialists.

Liberal multiculturalists find no comfort in the added value that a Jewish state brings to the world.

Those opposed to nationalism oppose Israel on principle, yet campaign and find no objection for the national aspirations of Arabs who call themselves Palestinians.

Human rights activists demonstrate, campaign, sail on flotillas for the human rights of a society that abuses the human rights of women, children, and anyone of a religion not of the recipient of their support.
The same human rights activists remain silent when the human rights of Israelis are being attacked by the very society they champion.

None of them choose to preach to the radicals and extremists in Palestinian politics and society in order to moderate their tone in a genuine search for peace.
None of them criticise the Palestinian leaders for their abuse, not only of Israel, but of their own society.
None of them put pressure on Palestinian society to force them to become more pragmatic, to educate their own people, in readiness for peaceful coexistence with Israel.

This book will go a long way in exposing the hypocricy that covers the pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel lobby.