Iran Carries Out Secret Missile Tests for Nuclear Payload; Putin Enforced Silence from Obama, Netanyahu--British Foreign Secretary William Hague Alleges

Area of Iranian Nuclear Reach

B"H

This is an exclusive report from debka.com, a blog closely tied to intelligence sources.  

What is alleged here is extremely serious.  According to Debka, British Foreign Secretary, William Hague, has disclosed that Iran has been testing missiles capable of carrying nuclear payload a maximum range of 2,510 kilometers (1,560 miles).  

Calculating Approximately 1500 miles from the Iranian boarder (see my illustration above), it would appear that Iran would be able to control all of the gulf of the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, Yemen, Djibouti, Eritrea, most of the Mediterranean Sea, Cypress, Greece, Serbia, Albania, Macedonia, Turkey, Moldova, Romania, Ukraine, Armenia, Iraq, Armenia, Georgia, Khzakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkministan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Oman, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and most of India.  

It will also reach parts of Italy, Egypt (including Cairo), Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Russia (including Moscow), Nepal (including Mt. Everest), and China (including Tibet).

So, to recap, Iran would be able to eliminate Israel, control most of the oil in the world (and all of the major oil ports) along with major economic centers in India, Russia, and the UAE.

Wow, that's not much to worry about, is it?  

I'm sure that Iran is beholding to Russia for its cooperation in developing its nuclear missile program.  I wonder if Putin has enough time to count his bribe money before Iran points that missile at him!

Now the cat's out of the bag, I am hoping Obama and Bibi might find their BZm and eliminate the problem.

I don't count on it, though.  Nuclear conflagration is so out of vogue. 

M

The New IDF Warrior: Cyber-Comander Sasha Dratwa

B"H

It is about time Israel caught up with the rest of the world and realized that public relations is a war-front.  Hopefully we don't have to catch up too much (especially with the short memory of today's youth!)

We need to tweet, facebook, and blog for Israel, and show our perspective to the world so that they can understand that they are being manipulated by the haters of Israel.

I hope his plan is sound, and that he includes the rest of us out here when he makes a release of information.

M

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IDF’s Cyber-Commander Prepares Internet Assault  

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/145247
by Gil Ronen

"Computers and keyboards are the weapons, Facebook and Twitter are the  battlefields. It is there that we fight, each and every day." The fighting words come from First Lieutenant Sasha Dratwa, 25, who heads IDF’s elite “new media” unit. Dratwa, who replaced Lt. Aliza Landes, was interviewed by Jonatan Urich in the IDF’s website.

University Hillels Often Do Not Support Israel

B"H

Sigh.

Hillel said, "If I am not for myself, who am I for?"  Unfortunately, not every University Hillel has remembered that admonition.

Almost universally, Hillel directors also serve as the Jewish clergy for university.  The Hillels say that they promote and respect ALL types of Judaism . . . but would I, as a religious Jew, feel comfortable being lead by a reform rabbi (many of them women), who would read Torah or include women in the minyan?  Would such leadership be inclusive and respectful of ALL streams of Judaism???

Then, of course, is the problem with politics. 

A lot of the Hillels, led by their local Board of Directors, have been taking the left track for  while now.  I don't know why the national office has been unable to see what is obvious to anyone perusing their job announcements.

Here's an example of a Hillel gone obviously awry at the Hillel of San Diego in the North County announcement for executive director, under "responsibilities: student engagement and programming":

• Develop creative and innovative ways to engage new students, including one-on-one interactions and group activities, particularly in the dorms.
• Develop a well rounded Israel agenda that is faithful to Hillel of San Diego’s Israel Programming Guidelines, including education from a variety of political perspectives, advocacy, and the development and implementation of Birthright Israel recruitment and follow-up.
• Implement transformative programs such as Project Change.
• Oversee the maintenance, staffing and use of the Hillel of San Diego, North County facility.

A "well rounded Israel agenda"???  What the heck is that?? It seems there is an awful lot of play there.

Contrast this with the job announcement for the executive director of Syracuse University's Hillel:

• Facilitate pluralistic Jewish programming on campus, engaging with and encouraging students to develop meaningful Jewish journeys and experiences
• Work cross-denominationally to encourage and promote an inclusive approach to religious expression through holiday and Shabbat observances, Jewish learning. Israel and alternative break opportunities and other related experiences. 
• Act as an authentic Jewish role model for students. 
• Advance and support the efforts of student led-Jewish and Zionist groups.

Those are VERY different agendas.

If I were the national office of Hillel, I think I would be investigating the type of Hillel that Hillel of San Diego, North County is promoting, and what type of leadership is going on at UCSD Hillel, the office that oversees that position.

Meanwhile, don't be shy--check out the Hillel at your own local college and/or university.  See whether it is pulling its weight in the fight to protect Israel, or if it is pretending to be "unbiased" and, therefore, creating a vacuum where our students are sucked into the anti-Israel leftist environment of current campus life.

M

Medieval Jews Victims of Persecution in Norwich, England

B"H

Even after centuries, this story makes me cry.  It doesn't matter how long ago it was, when the people look like you, share your genes, share your traditions and your ways.  

I can hear the screams of the mothers as they are parted from their children.  I can hear the crying of the children, especially the two-year-old, who was probably picked up by one of the teens as a last act of comfort before death.

There is a good reason people were thrown into wells.  It was to poison the well, so that no one could ever use it again.  The story says that the community lived around this well, so it was probably the main source of water.

I wonder why those who attacked the family didn't kidnap the children and force them into a convent, which was common at the time.  My only answer comes from the well.

I imagine that the family is that of the rabbi or other important leader of the community.  I imagine that the whole community was gathered to watch the horror in order to force them to leave.  I imagine the adults were probably tortured by hanging them upside-down, putting them in the water, pulling them up, then, finally, when they lost consciousness, dropped.  

I imagine that the community was forced to leave them in the well, and that it was guarded to make sure no one removed the bodies for a proper burial.

I wonder, after centuries and centuries, why the BBC has to talk about money-lending, trying to find a "reason" for the persecution, attempting to excuse the persecutors--even after all these years.  

Disgusting.

Finally, and most importantly, I wonder when this poor family will be buried in a proper Jewish grave, when we can lay them to rest.  

I think the bones have been "studied" enough, don't you?  Must the pain and anguish of their last moments be on display forever?  

These are not "archeological relics," they are the bones of Jewish people who now, after so many centuries, deserve the respect of a grave.

M

Orthodox Converts Finally Get Citizenship, Despite Rabbinate

B"H

This is such an absurd situation!  Reform and Conservative converts were granted Israeli citizenship, but not orthodox converts because the Rabbinate has decided to recognize only a certain number of Beit Dinim.  

Finally, the Interior Ministry has decided to approve those converts . . . but now what will happen to these Olim?  Will they be accepted for marriage?  Burial?  Will their children be considered Jewish by the Rabbinate--or will they languish in some sort of sub-Jewish hell?

I will pray for them.  We are most vicious to our own.  They will need love and support.

M

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 In shift, 'refusenik' Orthodox converts granted ID cards

Interior Ministry changes policy after Rabbinate's  rulings on overseas conversions prompt lawsuit

By Raphael Ahren
http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/anglo-file/in-shift-refusenik-orthodox-converts-granted-id-cards-1.369328


 At least four of the 19 Orthodox converts whom the Interior Ministry had previously denied citizenship this week received their Israeli identity cards, mere days after the ministry announced a change in its policy regarding whom to consult about the validity of Orthodox conversions.    
                                                                                                                                          
Thomas Dohlan, 24, an Orthodox convert from Canada whose battles with the Interior Ministry over the past few months had been highly publicized, was one of the four to receive an identity card this week.   

One BAD Apple! Arab Language App. Called "The Third Intifada" Cleared for Release in iPhone App Store

B"H

SHAME ON YOU, APPLE!!!

I am so disgusted by this! I have been a loyal Apple user since my Apple IIE days, but something like this can make me think to myself, "You know, maybe it is time you looked into PCs . . . "

Time to drop that Apple stock too. After they are sued big-time for the injury or (G-d forbid!) death of Jews, Apple will be reeling. (They have heard of liability, right?)

It isn't like these sweet followers of the "Religion of Peace" would be using some neutral technology like Twitter or Facebook to kill Jews--this is an app DEDICATED to the injury and/or death of Jews--so you can bet that the Apple Corporation will be sued and sued and sued and sued. They may never recover.

And, of course, there is also the "material support of terrorism" issue to consider. After all, such an app would not only encourage terrorism, but FACILITATE IT! I can't WAIT for Apple to face the Congressional Committees investigating that issue. WOW.

Tell me, do you think Apple will clear an app for violent uprising against blacks next? How about Latinos?

So much for "net neutrality" right?

Everyone should be screaming in the streets against Apple right now, but hey--attacking Jews is OK in this "enlightened" age, right? (And people say they can't understand how the Holocaust happened?)

I SINCERELY hope that Apple will rethink this incredibly dangerous course of action.

M

P.S. I just wrote this on my iMac. Sigh.

Shavuot Begins Tuesday Night

Holiday of the Torah Begins Tuesday Night  
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/144788
by Hillel Fendel

The Jewish holiday of Shavuot is set to begin Tuesday night – lasting for its one Biblical day (from sunset to the next sunset) in Israel, and  two days in the rest of the world.

Shavuot (Pentecost, Feast of Weeks), as well as Pesach (Passover) and Sukkot (Tabernacles), are the three pilgrimage festivals on which Jews are bidden to visit Jerusalem. Tens of thousands of people are in fact expected to arrive at the Western Wall throughout Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, though the Biblical commandment to visit Jerusalem on  these days applies fully only when the Holy Temple is built.

Brit Milah vs. the Ballot Box in San Francisco

B"H

In Europe, Kosher Slaughter is being attacked because animals have more rights than Jews.  In Scottland, a township has banned all Jewish books.  In Ireland, 2/3 people surveyed said they would deny citizenship to Israelis.  Now San Francisco has a ballot measure that Brit Milah will be outlawed.

These are all legal fights against Jewish tradition in the Western World.  I don't even need to start with all the illegal assaults, graffiti, discrimination, and down-right rude behavior Jews are facing all over the Western World.  (I won't bring up the stuff in the Middle East--it's just too much for this space!)

I remember reading about World War II, and the huge number of things that were happening to European Jews, and thinking:  "Wow, didn't they know what was coming?  Why didn't they fight back?"

Now I read what is happening today, and I think:  why are we so complacent?

Someone might say, "Hey, this is just a result of a bunch of well-meaning crazies, we don't need to take this seriously!"

Intent is not important.  Result is.  

If these crazies succeed in banning Brit Milah, they will succeed in destroying the Jewish community in San Francisco, and they will spur similar "well meaning" legislation elsewhere.  

Besides, if they were so "well meaning," it seems they would back off once they understood what such a ban would mean for us.  It seems to me that, if they are aware of the ramifications, and they still pursue this--it was NEVER done with any other implication that to eliminate Jews from San Francisco.

Time to stop thinking so well of others and start thinking well of ourselves.  We are under attack, people.  We need to push back now, before it leads to some kid reading about it in a history book 50 years from now and saying, "Wow, didn't they know what was coming? Why didn't they fight back?"

M

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Battle over circumcision is shaping up in California
http://www.jta.org/news/article/2011/05/30/3087910/anti-circumcision-movement-gathers-steam-in-california
By Sue Fishkoff

SAN FRANCISCO (JTA) -- In November, San Franciscans will vote on a ballot measure that would outlaw circumcision on boys under the age of 18.

Although experts say it is highly unlikely the measure will pass -- very few state propositions pass, much less one this controversial -- the mere fact that it reached the ballot, and in such a major city, has caused much concern for Jews and their allies.

Opponents of the bill see it as a violation of the Constitution’s protection of religious rights and an infringement on physicians’ ability to practice medicine. More than that, however, the measure is being seen as a frontal attack on a central tenet of Judaism.

“The stakes are very high,” said Nathan Diament, director of the Orthodox Union’s Institute for Public Affairs. “Circumcision is a fundamental aspect of Jewish ritual practice and Jewish identity. While we certainly hope the prospect of its being enacted is remote, the precedent it would set and the message it would send would be terrible, not just in the United States but around the world.

“We don’t just want it defeated," he said, "we want it defeated resoundly.”

Anti-circumcision activists have been around for decades, particularly on the West Coast.

They range from the Bay Area Intactivists, a loosely organized group that protests outside medical conferences in and around San Francisco, to MGM Bill (MGM stands for male genital mutilation), a San Diego-based advocacy group that has prepared anti-circumcision legislation for 46 states. MGM has managed to find a legislative sponsor in only one state:  Massachusetts, last year. The bill didn’t even make it out of committee.

Matthew Hess, who founded MGM Bill in 2003 and spearheads its legislative efforts, says he is trying to protect boys from what he considers a barbaric mutilation of their bodies. He became an activist in his mid-20s, he says, when he decided that his own circumcision as an  infant resulted in diminished sexual sensitivity as an adult.

“Freedom of religion stops at another person’s body,” he told JTA.

Last fall, MGM Bill changed its tactics, deciding to bypass the U.S. Congress and go straight to voters. The group gathered more than 12,000 signatures in San Francisco, enough to have the measure placed on the Nov. 8 ballot. If it passes, anyone who circumcises a boy under the age of 18 within city limits faces a $1,000 fine and up to one year in jail.  The only exception would be for “compelling and immediate medical need."

A similar effort is under way in Santa Monica, Calif., for that city’s November 2012 election. Hess says no other cities are being targeted -- for now.

The Jewish community responded immediately and loudly to the San Francisco ballot initiative, with denunciations from across the nation. The American Jewish Committee called it a “direct assault on Jewish religious practice” that was “unprecedented in American Jewish life.” The Orthodox Union said the measure is “likely illegal” and is “patently  discriminatory against Jews and Muslims.”

Locally, the San Francisco Jewish Community Relations Council organized a wide-ranging coalition of religious, medical, legal and political leaders to oppose the ballot measure. It was the first time that the Jewish community organized a formal counter effort because it was the first time that such a measure has made it to the ballot, according to Abby Porth, the JCRC’s associate director and the force behind the Committee for Parental Choice and Religious Freedom.

The newly formed committee, which also includes Muslim and Christian leaders, is still organizing its legal strategy; Porth declined to provide details.

Muslims also practice ritual circumcision on boys, although it can take place at any time before puberty.

The fight against the San Francisco ballot measure has brought a number of Muslim organizations into the JCRC-led coalition, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Bay Area director Zahra Billoo notes that CAIR rarely finds itself on the same political side as  groups such as the Orthodox Union.

It’s the assault on religious freedoms that brings the two together, Billoo said.

“The civil rights of Jewish and Muslims are being impacted,” she told  JTA. “We don’t agree on all things all the time, but we do find common cause in many areas. An attack on one religion is an attack on all religions.”

A popular local mohel, Rabbi Gil Leeds, director of the Chabad Center  of the University of California, Berkeley, says he’s been fielding calls and e-mails from all over the area expressing concern.

“Jews from across the spectrum of Jewish observance, as well as many non-Jews, have responded in shock at this attempt to undermine our basic  human rights as parents and as Jews,” Leeds said.

Proponents and opponents of a ban on circumcision argue over the health benefits and legal aspects of the practice.

“To say it has no medical benefit and so should be outlawed is completely untrue,” said Dr. Mark Glasser, a retired Bay Area ob-gyn who  estimates that he has performed hundreds of circumcisions during his 35  years in practice.

Glasser notes that the World Health Organization supports circumcision as a preventative measure against HIV transmission, and several Centers for Disease Control studies show the same result. The American Academy of Pediatrics is neutral, as is the American College of  Obstetrics and Gynecology. But Glasser says those positions have not be  revisited since the most recent AIDS studies.

“The unfortunate part is that people laugh -- they say the San Francisco crazies are at it again. But this is no laughing matter,” he said. “Circumcision is very low-risk and has tremendous benefits, including life-saving benefits.”

Joel Paul, professor of constitutional law and associate dean of the University of California Hastings School of Law, says the law likely would not survive a court challenge -- which could come even before the Nov. 8 ballot.

The proposed measure appears to violate the First Amendment protection of the free exercise of religion, and entangles the state in religious matters by putting the state in the position of judging whether a certain religious practice is permissible. Moreover, putting such a matter to a popular vote contravenes the Constitution’s many protections of the rights of individuals and minorities.

“This proposition would let the majority decide religious practice for a religious group,” Paul told JTA. “It’s not part of our politics. No one should have to go into an election and be asked to defend their religion.”

Hess argues, on the other hand, that the law is on his side. Noting that female genital mutilation is illegal in this country, he says boys should get equal protection under the law, no matter the religious beliefs of their parents.

That is a false and dangerous analogy, Porth says.

“Female genital mutilation is illegal because it is a cruel practice,  medically harmful and performed for the explicit purpose of preventing female sexual satisfaction,” she said. “In contrast, there’s no credible  medical evidence that male circumcision is harmful or that it prevents sexual satisfaction. Its purpose is for health reasons and religious belief.”

Sue Fishkoff writes about Jewish life for the JTA and is the author of the 2010 book "Kosher Nation."