Thursday, February 21, 2008
Those Amazingly Powerful Jewish Gays Causing Earthquakes in Israel
B”H
Jewish gay people are REALLY powerful! The world tells us that everything is the fault of Jews (that is extreme power, is it not?), and then then our own people are saying that everything is the fault of gays! Amazing. I definitely don’t want to upset any Jewish gay people. (Imagine Isaac Mizrahi as an avenging angel. SCARY! . . .”Those boots just don’t go with that skirt! You are outta here, baby!”)
A little sharpening of the interpretive facilities is needed here. The fact that the MK is a Shas Weanie, and hasn’t left the government even though Olmert is planning to give up the Golan, Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria should let us know the guy is no interpretive genius, prophet, or even in touch with the real world, let alone the world beyond.
Hello?
Who says the earthquakes are bad??? Has this guy considered that Hashm is trying to make a statement here, and the earthquakes are the explanation point? After all, the quakes weren’t directed at us—they damaged the temple mount and a town in Lebanon--just as the arabs are trying to take over Jewish land and split Jerusalem. The last earthquake to damage something of ours was just before Gush Katif—and, strangely enough (is there any such thing as a coincidence?)--the earthquake harmed only two things—the cabinet chamber in the Knesset, and Sharon’s office. HMMMMMMM.
Maybe the guy should be worried that the offices of Shas might be damaged by the next earthquake--after all, they won't act to save Israel because they keep getting treats from Olmert to keep quiet.
I don't think this is about gays. Perhaps the larger sin of the destruction of Israel may be Hashm's point and not the parading of men down some street dressed in women's dresses--but then again, I'm no rabbi.
(By the way, has Mizrahi had his say about the bad fashion sense of the parading transvestites? Perhaps if they practiced better fashion sense they wouldn't make Hashm so angry?)
M
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Israeli earthquakes are gays' fault, says MP
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/02/21/wgays121.xml
By Tom Chivers and agencies
Last Updated: 2:49pm GMT 21/02/2008
An Israeli MP has blamed a spate of recent earthquakes in the Middle East on gays.
Six earthquakes have struck Israel and neighbouring Lebanon and Jordan in recent months, with two coming last week alone. Shlomo Benizri, of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish Shas party, suggested that the tremors could be stopped through the simple expedient of repealing various liberalising laws on homosexuality that have been passed by the Israeli parliament, or Knesset, in recent years.
Since decriminalising homosexuality in 1988, Israel has passed several laws on the subject , including decisions to recognise same-sex marriages carried out abroad, and granting inheritance rights and other benefits held by married couples to gay partnerships. Last Sunday, to the outrage of the religious Right, the country's attorney general, Meni Mazuz, ruled that same-sex couples should be allowed to adopt children.
In what Mr Benizri clearly believes is no coincidence, the first of last week's quakes hit the country just two days later.
"Why do earthquakes happen? One of the reasons is the things to which the Knesset gives legitimacy, to sodomy," Benizri said during a parliamentary debate on earthquake preparedness.
Stopping "passing legislation on how to encourage homosexual activity in the state of Israel, which anyway brings about earthquakes," would represent a cost-effective method of preventing future earthquakes, he continued.
"We are looking for earthly solutions, how to prevent them," he said. "I have another way to prevent earthquakes. The Gemara says that one of the reasons earthquakes happen - which the Knesset (parliament) legitimises - is homosexuality.
"God says you shake your genitals where you are not supposed to and I will shake my world in order to wake you up," he added.
How About That?
The Shas party has caused outrage in Israeli society before. In 1985, a collision between a train and a bus that killed 22 people, most of them children, was blamed by Shas on slipping standards of Jewish observance in the country.
Mr Benizri also has previous experience in this area. In 1999 he caused controversy by saying homosexuals are mentally ill.
Quoted in the Israeli newspaper Maariv, he said he was "ready to fund the creation of special closed sections for them in psychiatric hospitals."
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
BiBi calls for Disproportionate Force, then Chides Shas Weanies Without Admitting His Own Stupidity
B”H
While I totally agree with BiBi’s idea to use disproportionate force, I am dumbfounded by his incredible Chutzpah in speaking to Shas.
Was it not BiBi who waited until Gush Katif was a “fait accompli”--dodging in at the last minute to vote against it—when it had already been decided? Didn’t all of us tell him to act sooner, didn’t all of us push for him to leave the government? Didn’t we all sit on our hands hoping that he would at least assist in stopping the budget from passing so that Sharon would have to call for elections?
He stayed in until the last moment and Gush Katif became reality.
If he had said to Shas, “Look, I made a huge mistake and waited until the last minute and Gush Katif happened. I still feel incredible guilt for my actions,” at least I would look at him and see a man with some humility, a man who can admit he did something terribly wrong. But, to see him stand up there and act like a champion for the cause of the settlements is just too much to take.
Does he think we are all in a coma with Sharon? Does he think we have all forgotten what happened?
He is stained forever. He should, at least, admit it.
M
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Published: 02/20/08, 2:22 PM
Netanyahu Calls for 'Disproportionate Force'
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/125325
by Gil Ronen
(IsraelNN.com) Opposition leader and former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu advocated the use of "disproportionate force" against the terror from Gaza in his speech before the 5th annual Jerusalem Conference Wednesday. Netanyahu called the 2005 Disengagement from Gaza and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's statement that it had been a success, "a kind of total disengagement from reality."
'Deterrence comes from inside. You project it.'
"Deterrence comes before action," he explained. "Deterrence comes from inside. You project it. And it's always projected from the leadership to the other side." Netanyahu explained that the enemy learns what Israel will "stomach, what Israel will tolerate, and what Israel will find intolerable." Former Prime Minister Netanyahu stated that the continued rockets on Israeli towns is something that Israel simply cannot tolerate. He added, "I acted accordingly when there was such a challenge about two weeks before I left office… we responded with disproportional force."
Deterrence and disproportional response
"What is being done now is a war of attrition," Netanyahu explained. "They attack us – we attack them. They rocket us, we send a helicopter that (…) kills two, three, five of their operatives. What we are doing is gradually habituating the other side to the ability that they will engage in the daily bloodletting and terrorizing of our cities, and they will suffer a certain price. That cannot continue.
"The very nature of deterrence is the disproportional response," he said. "You up the ante. Israel has an enormous amount of ability and force that it can use to up the ante in various ways. But the main thing is to understand that you have to get out from a pattern of attrition to a policy of deterrence. That's what I would change in Sderot overnight."
Shas giving Olmert 'iron bridge'
Netanyahu posed a question to the leaders of the Shas hareidi-Sephardic party: "You are part of
this government, but you are not part of its policies. You say that you want Jerusalem united, that you do not want to give up our patrimony, that you don't want to put every part of our city at risk… Why are you sitting in this government? Why are you still in it? Why are you providing Mr. Olmert with an iron bridge from which he can carve up Jerusalem?"
"I have as yet received no answer," Netanyahu said, and elaborated: "The argument that 'we shall wait until there is a signed document' means that there will be a fait accompli, that there will be facts created that will be presented to us, and then we'll have to work our way back from an international commitment undertaken by a serving Israeli government."
Netanyahu took credit for predicting the twin tower attacks in a book he wrote in 1995, six years before the 9/11 disaster. There was no reaction at the time, Netanyahu said.
Binyamin Netanyahu: deterrence, not attrition.
A Mecca for terrorism
Netanyahu noted that the Jerusalem Conference was the proper place to explain that a pullout from Jerusalem will not promote peace – but the opposite. "If we walk out, then they come in," he said. "Militant Islam comes into Jerusalem, Jerusalem becomes, forgive the expression, a Mecca for all the world's terrorists." He warned that if Israel leaves Jerusalem, the Islamists will attack a symbol "of the West's symbolic religious power, the nexus of Judeo–Christianity... unleashing a global religious war." He did not spell out just what target he thought the Islamists would strike in Jerusalem, if they could.
He noted that Israeli pullouts from Lebanon and Gaza led to the creation of terror bases in both of those places. He said the present government appears to be determined to make the same mistake a third time, in Jerusalem.
Netanyahu listed the steps that Israel should take. These included:
He did not spell out just what target he thought the Islamists would strike in Jerusalem, if they could.
1. neutralize the Iranian nuclear threat
2. we should not build Iranian bases on our doorstep, referring to the Islamic strongholds in Lebanon and Gaza
3. we have to ensure that Jerusalem remains united in our hands
4. keep security in our hands
Economic progress with PA
The fifth point in the agenda Netanyahu listed was making "economic progress" with the PA. Economic progress, he said, is not a substitute for political negotiations and does not jettison it, he explained, in an attempt to allay the concerns of those who favor negotiation with the PA. Citing conflicts in other places, such as Northern Ireland and Cyprus, Netanyahu said that economic advancement could provide the background for eventual progress on political questions as well.
Jerusalem Conference chairman Robert Rechnitz with Netanyahu.
We will not sever our ties with PA," Netanyahu said, "we will simply put them to the test." Netanyahu said that while Israel would continue to fight terror until the PA could begin doing so, it would pursue joint economic projects with the PA.
'They're carving up Jerusalem'
The former prime minister added: "There's a profound statement in American English. It says, 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it.' It's not broke… don't fix it! Because what you could unleash is something that we do not even imagine. Not peace. If you want the peace of Jerusalem – keep Jerusalem united under Israel. But if you want to break that peace, not only locally but internationally, amid the three great faiths, then proceed with what apparently is being done right now, which is to break our sovereignty in Jerusalem. That this is happening I have no doubt."
Netanyahu said he did not believe Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's denials regarding the negotiations over Jerusalem. "If it looks like a duck, it walks like a duck – they are carving up Jerusalem," he said.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
A-G: Youths Can Testify Against Police Without Fear
B”H
The last line of this story-- “In accepting the request, Mazuz's office made clear that those suspected of crimes other than merely ‘standing in a closed military zone’ will not be granted the requested immunity”--shows that this show of immunity is probably fake.
My guess is that, as soon as the youth show their faces, they will be arrested on suspected crimes—after all, there were already six girls arrested and held for more than a month because they wouldn’t give their names.
I think any trust in this government, it’s ministers, or it’s policies is a fool’s enterprise.
M
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http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/125310
by Hillel Fendel
(IsraelNN.com) Youths who say they were victimized by police during the forcible evacuation of the Shvut Ami outpost will be able to testify without fear of being indicted - thanks to a decision by Attorney General Menachem Mazuz.
Shvut Ami is one of five tiny satellite communities "founded" in Yesha (Judea and Samaria) this past October by the grassroots Land of Israel Loyalists organization. Most of the five did not last for more than a day, as IDF forces and Border Guard policemen evicted the "residents" by the next morning. But Shvut Ami, near Kedumim in central Samaria, lasted for several days before many activists, including minors, were violently evacuated, and ten were arrested. At least two of the latter, boys aged 14 and 15, said they were brutally beaten at the police station by Policeman Abu Salman Aslah.
The two, however, as well as others who were hurt in police violence there, were afraid to come forward to complain - for fear that they would be arrested merely for having been at Shvut Ami. This, in keeping with a recent and unusually harsh directive by Defense Minister Ehud Barak ordering indictments to be handed down against citizens simply for being present at the site of an unauthorized outpost.
Mazuz Says Yes to Yesha
The Yesha Civil Rights Organization, headed by Orit Strook of Hevron, then requested that the Shvut Ami protestors be granted legal protection from the danger of self-incrimination - and this week, Attorney General Mazuz accepted the request.
With Barak's directive thus neutralized, some of the Shvut Ami protestors hurried to nearby police stations to file complaints against policemen who beat them.
Jews Say Yes to Arabs
Barak's order had been issued several weeks earlier, at the behest of the far-left "Yesh Din" organization. Members of this Jewish group have gone so far as to attempt to populate Shvut Ami themselves, in the hope of handing it over to local Arab residents.
The Yesha civil rights group's request to Mazuz was written up by Attorney Chaim Cohen. Cohen wrote that Barak's directive "could strike a grave blow at the chance of investigating and meting out justice to the policemen who committed grave violations of the law in Shvut Ami . . . The policemen were guilty of beating handcuffed arrestees, interfering in investigations by confiscating cameras, and even sexual harassment of young female protestors."
This is the third time Mazuz has made a decision of this type. Immunity was also granted to protestors from Amona two years ago, as well as to those who made their way to the Disengagement-destroyed community of Homesh in the Shomron several months ago.
"When grave crimes by policemen are suspected," Cohen wrote, "such as destroying evidence, severe violence and sexual harassment, compared with relatively light violations by the protestors such as standing in a closed military zone [and the like], it is incumbent upon the law enforcement agencies to give preference to wiping out any vestige of law-breaking by those who represent the law... Therefore, in extreme cases such as this one, in our humble opinion, the witnesses and complainants must be granted immunity, in order that the truth be revealed."
In accepting the request, Mazuz's office made clear that those suspected of crimes other than merely "standing in a closed military zone" will not be granted the requested immunity.
The Shidduch Crisis
B"H
Today's news is full of stuff about the Shidduch Crisis. First, on the side of not marrying young, is "Yael," who writes in YNET that "Marriage can wait" and discusses the problems she has encountered as a young married woman in a traditional relationship. On the other side, wanting his daughter to marry right now, is Shmuley Boteach, who writes in JPost about how every man should be a matchmaker.
They are both right and they are both wrong.
First, there is a HUGE shidduch crisis, and its reasons for being are very complex. First, I would argue, is the problem of separation of the sexes, even during times when it is not required (like meals at weddings), and from early childhood in school.
How will our children grow up with healthy ideas about the opposite gender if they are never around them? My son, who goes to a mixed Modern Orthodox high school, discussed this problem with me recently. He said he attended a Shabbat luncheon at a local family's home. At the luncheon were girls from the segregated girls high school, and girls from his high school. He told me the girls from the segregated high school just stared at him and never talked to him. It was, according to him, very uncomfortable.
How will these girls ever talk to a boy--even one they are married to?
On the other side are the boys who attend the boys high school who won't even look in the direction of a girl, let alone sit at the table with one. I wonder what they will do when it comes to meeting a girl or talking to one--even one they are married to?
My younger sons attend a school where they are subjected to punishment if they even say hello to a girl in school (save your breath, we don't have a choice here!). Even if the girl is their sister, they cannot address her in school--and this is the policy from the time the children are in first grade. My sons are friends with girls outside of school, and I have received phone calls, and was called to meetings by the administration of the school because they are friends with girls outside of school. The community has also passed completely false stories about my sons (for example, saying that they call another boys house and "patch in" girls on a communal line so that they can talk to girls too--when we don't even have that feature on our phone and they don't have a cell phone.)
There is a strange, unhealthy fear of boys and girls friendships going on--and I can clearly see how the shidduch crisis starts. The boys and girls are taught to fear each other until the moment of a shidduch, and when they meet, they have nothing to say--they just stare. They have never been permitted to talk to a member of the opposite gender before, why should we expect anything now?
Then there is the problem of the men wanting to wait before they marry. They want to wait for school, then for a career, then because it is easier to be unmarried and "play the field." Finally, at about 30, they start looking--and they want a 20-year-old! They don't find one, so, at 40, they want to "settle" for a 25-year-old. At 45, they want a 30-year-old. Oh, and by the way, she must look like Barbie and have a rich father.
The girls want to marry a "Yeshiva Bocher" with the best family, and won't settle for less than top-of-the-class whose family is "prestigious," and whose parents have never divorced, there are no disabilities in the family, and he can provide a six-figure income (at 20!). At 30, they will settle for a learned guy with a great bank account. At 40 they will settle for anything; unfortunately, that guy is out looking for 25 year-olds.
It's a sick situation all around. Perhaps there wouldn't be such unrealistic thoughts if they boys and girls would just meet one another at luncheons and be friends. Perhaps the men and women could sit together at wedding dinners and Shabbat luncheons, and we married-folk could initiate a conversation on their behalf.
Rabbi Boteach is right--the married folk need to start being match-makers, but we need some help from the community. I've seen the pictures of the members of great families meeting and sitting together at parties. I have read all about the dancing and recreational activities our religious elders participated in. We can be religious AND let our youth meet.
Our people depend upon this. When will our Rabbis stop being silly and start insisting upon our children and our young people mixing in appropriate surroundings? We need some leadership here, or a generation of young people will never find their mates.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Former MK, Bishara, Attacks Israeli "apartheid"
B"H I think Israel should establish a "Canadian Apartheid Week" to show the occupation of native lands by the Canadians and the evil that Canadians have inflicted upon their Indian populations in Canada. This "Israel Apartheid Week" in Canada is so stupid. First, they have it backward--Jews are the native inhabitants of Israel and the arabs are the occupiers. They came in and stole the land of the Jews and disenfranchised the Jewish people. Now, the arab occupiers want to take what small bit of land we have left of our ancestral heritage! M
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Feb 18, 2008 11:37 | Updated Feb 18, 2008 15:45
Establishment of Israel 'armed robbery'
By JPOST.COM STAFF
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1203283468179&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Former Balad chairman Azmi Bishara launched a scathing attack on Israel on Sunday night, saying it was the only apartheid regime left in the world.
"There is one other place in the world where apartheid is still [alive], which is in Palestine," Bishara said in a video address to the Israeli Apartheid Week conference in Canada. "It is actually the biggest armed robbery in the history of the twentieth century."
Bishara fled Israel in June 2007 after being grilled twice by investigators and later resigned his Knesset seat as head of the Balad party. Police said he would be arrested immediately if he returns to Israel on charges of espionage for Hizbullah.
The former MK allegedly transferred to Hizbullah information, predictions, assessments and recommendations about the political echelon, the IDF and the Israeli public during the war.
In addition to supplying information to a Hizbullah intelligence agent, Bishara allegedly held contacts with intelligence officials from other countries.
Bishara, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) said, also received detailed missions from Hizbullah, which he carried out. He is suspected of assisting the enemy in a time of war; maintaining contact with a foreign agent; passing information to an enemy; money laundering and terrorist financing.
The first of those charges, assisting the enemy in a time of war, is one of the rare offenses punishable by death in Israel.
During a tour of southern Lebanon in August 2007, Bishara praised Hizbullah for its performance against the IDF during the Second Lebanon War.
"Everybody envies the Lebanese for their resistance [Hizbullah] and its leadership, but I envy the resistance for its people," Bishara said.
Bishara maintains that he is a victim of political persecution.
Jewish Mother Needs Bone Marrow
B"H
They are looking for someone of Ashkenazi or Eastern European Jewish decent to donate. Please, if you haven't been tested for Bone Marrow Donation, please consider getting tested now. You could perform the greatest Mitzvah of all--that of saving a life.
M
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MOTHERS UNITE TO SAVE CANCER MOM
By JENNIFER GOULD KEIL
http://www.nypost.com/seven/02182008/news/regionalnews/mothers_unite_to_save_cancer_mom_98205.htm
February 18, 2008 -- Thousands of New York moms - including actress Kate Winslet - are joining in a desperate bid to find a bone-marrow donor for a mother dying of leukemia.
The moms are networking at playgroups and cultural events, sending out mass e-mails and holding drives for Lisa Gershowitz Flynn, a 41-year-old Manhattan lawyer and mother of two who doctors say may die in the next four to six weeks unless a match is found.
"The community is coming together in an unbelievable way," said Anne Flynn, Lisa's sister-in-law, who is running the Web site, GiftForLisa.com.
"In only four weeks, we've probably added more than 3,000 people to the registry, which is pretty good - but not enough," she said.
Lisa Flynn was diagnosed with fast-moving acute myelogenous leukemia a day after Thanksgiving, on her daughter, Alexandra's, third birthday. Flynn and her husband also have a 5-year-old son, Michael.
The ailing mom has already had two unsuccessful rounds of chemotherapy.
"I just want a chance. Give it to me, and I'll take it from there," said Lisa Flynn, 41.
Winslet, who learned of the situation through some concerned mothers, has offered to lend her star power to the effort, supporters said.
Metropolitan Moms, run by Flynn's pal Molly Snyder, as well as Sensible Sitters, Divalysscious Moms and Big City Moms are just some of the groups participating in the donor-registry drives, along with Morgan Stanley, where Flynn worked seven years ago.
The sick mom needs a donor of Ashkenazi or Eastern European Jewish descent.
Testing involves a painless cheek swab. The potential donor's results then go into national bone-marrow registry. If there's a match, the donor undergoes a minor surgical procedure, usually outpatient, to extract healthy stem cells for the transplanted.
Ironically, Lisa Flynn herself is in the donor bank - she volunteered about nine years ago to help the friend of a friend.
"I think more people would donate if they knew how easy it was," Flynn said. "It's kind of a stupid way to die [waiting for a donor]."
They are looking for someone of Ashkenazi or Eastern European Jewish decent to donate. Please, if you haven't been tested for Bone Marrow Donation, please consider getting tested now. You could perform the greatest Mitzvah of all--that of saving a life.
M
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MOTHERS UNITE TO SAVE CANCER MOM
By JENNIFER GOULD KEIL
http://www.nypost.com/seven/02182008/news/regionalnews/mothers_unite_to_save_cancer_mom_98205.htm
February 18, 2008 -- Thousands of New York moms - including actress Kate Winslet - are joining in a desperate bid to find a bone-marrow donor for a mother dying of leukemia.
The moms are networking at playgroups and cultural events, sending out mass e-mails and holding drives for Lisa Gershowitz Flynn, a 41-year-old Manhattan lawyer and mother of two who doctors say may die in the next four to six weeks unless a match is found.
"The community is coming together in an unbelievable way," said Anne Flynn, Lisa's sister-in-law, who is running the Web site, GiftForLisa.com.
"In only four weeks, we've probably added more than 3,000 people to the registry, which is pretty good - but not enough," she said.
Lisa Flynn was diagnosed with fast-moving acute myelogenous leukemia a day after Thanksgiving, on her daughter, Alexandra's, third birthday. Flynn and her husband also have a 5-year-old son, Michael.
The ailing mom has already had two unsuccessful rounds of chemotherapy.
"I just want a chance. Give it to me, and I'll take it from there," said Lisa Flynn, 41.
Winslet, who learned of the situation through some concerned mothers, has offered to lend her star power to the effort, supporters said.
Metropolitan Moms, run by Flynn's pal Molly Snyder, as well as Sensible Sitters, Divalysscious Moms and Big City Moms are just some of the groups participating in the donor-registry drives, along with Morgan Stanley, where Flynn worked seven years ago.
The sick mom needs a donor of Ashkenazi or Eastern European Jewish descent.
Testing involves a painless cheek swab. The potential donor's results then go into national bone-marrow registry. If there's a match, the donor undergoes a minor surgical procedure, usually outpatient, to extract healthy stem cells for the transplanted.
Ironically, Lisa Flynn herself is in the donor bank - she volunteered about nine years ago to help the friend of a friend.
"I think more people would donate if they knew how easy it was," Flynn said. "It's kind of a stupid way to die [waiting for a donor]."
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Hashm speaks, but no one listens: Earthquake Damages Temple Mount, Blocks road to Kever Yosef
B”H
Please understand that, no matter what happens to the Temple Mount, it will be blamed on us. Sure, it is THE MOST IMPORTANT JEWISH HOLY SITE--but we can't go up there, we aren't allowed to pray there, we can't observe what they are doing to it--but everything is our fault.
Now, I shall tell you a bit about what I think about this earthquake. First, it happened right after Friday prayers--at 12:37 p.m. Usually, after Friday prayers, there are speeches--and, as we know, the speeches delivered on the Temple Mount are often extremely negative towards Israel. Also, Friday is the day they pray for the dead, and I'm sure many prayers, and quite possibly the speech, was centered upon the dead terrorist, Mughniyeh and the call by many terrorist organizations to "liberate" Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. I wonder, at what moment, the quake shook the mosque? Do you think we will know was being said at that moment?
OK, now, the earthquake was based in Tyre--a place in Lebanon famous to three things--King Hiram, who provided the cedars of Lebanon to build the first temple, and where the snails who made the purple dye for the Tzitzit were from. Also, it was written about that the snails also provided a way to cut the stones for the temple.
In addition, the road to Kever Yosef was blocked--the arabs burned Kever Yosef AGAIN last week.
M
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Earthquake Damages Temple Mount and Shechem
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/125277
by Ezra HaLevi
(IsraelNN.com) An earthquake shook Israel at 12:37 PM Friday. The only damage reported in Israel was on the Temple Mount and near Shechem (Nablus).
The earthquake measured 5.3 on the Richter scale; its epicenter was located in northeastern Lebanon. Earlier last week an earthquake measuring 4.1 was felt in northern Israel, also originating from Lebanon, near its northern city of Tyre.
A large hole opened up on the Temple Mount during Friday's earthquake (click here for pictures), which was soon covered by officials from the Wakf Islamic Authority that administers the mosques built atop Judaism’s holiest site.
The only other reported damage in the Holy Land was incurred between Palestinian Authority-controlled Shechem (Nablus) and Jenin, where an old home collapsed, blocking the main road to the village of Khufin. The village is not far from the site of the Biblical Joseph’s Tomb, which was set ablaze by Muslim vandals last week.
At least five people were injured and two homes were destroyed in southern Lebanon as a result of Friday’s quake.
Wakf Officials Blame Israel
Wakf officials tried to blame Israel for the 6-foot by 5-foot hole, which is about three feet deep, claiming it was caused by Israel, which it accuses of tunneling beneath the Temple Mount. They demanded an end to all Israeli excavations in the area.
Though several excavation projects are taking place around the Western Wall Plaza, none of them entail tunneling past the wall itself and beneath the mount. The Wakf’s official position is that there was never a Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount and has gone to great efforts to erase archaeological evidence of Judaism’s historical ties to the site.
Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz issued a statement rejecting the Muslim claims. "These are mendacious reports without a grain of truth," he said, adding that work in the Temple Mount compound would be contrary to Jewish law. “Such claims are a desecration and cause hatred and incitement for no reason whatsoever,” Rabbi Rabinowitz said. He stressed that work on the Rambam (Mughrabi) Gate ramp to the Temple Mount is vital for the safety of those who visit the Western Wall and called on the authorities to finish the work speedily.
Please understand that, no matter what happens to the Temple Mount, it will be blamed on us. Sure, it is THE MOST IMPORTANT JEWISH HOLY SITE--but we can't go up there, we aren't allowed to pray there, we can't observe what they are doing to it--but everything is our fault.
Now, I shall tell you a bit about what I think about this earthquake. First, it happened right after Friday prayers--at 12:37 p.m. Usually, after Friday prayers, there are speeches--and, as we know, the speeches delivered on the Temple Mount are often extremely negative towards Israel. Also, Friday is the day they pray for the dead, and I'm sure many prayers, and quite possibly the speech, was centered upon the dead terrorist, Mughniyeh and the call by many terrorist organizations to "liberate" Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. I wonder, at what moment, the quake shook the mosque? Do you think we will know was being said at that moment?
OK, now, the earthquake was based in Tyre--a place in Lebanon famous to three things--King Hiram, who provided the cedars of Lebanon to build the first temple, and where the snails who made the purple dye for the Tzitzit were from. Also, it was written about that the snails also provided a way to cut the stones for the temple.
In addition, the road to Kever Yosef was blocked--the arabs burned Kever Yosef AGAIN last week.
M
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Earthquake Damages Temple Mount and Shechem
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/125277
by Ezra HaLevi
(IsraelNN.com) An earthquake shook Israel at 12:37 PM Friday. The only damage reported in Israel was on the Temple Mount and near Shechem (Nablus).
The earthquake measured 5.3 on the Richter scale; its epicenter was located in northeastern Lebanon. Earlier last week an earthquake measuring 4.1 was felt in northern Israel, also originating from Lebanon, near its northern city of Tyre.
A large hole opened up on the Temple Mount during Friday's earthquake (click here for pictures), which was soon covered by officials from the Wakf Islamic Authority that administers the mosques built atop Judaism’s holiest site.
The only other reported damage in the Holy Land was incurred between Palestinian Authority-controlled Shechem (Nablus) and Jenin, where an old home collapsed, blocking the main road to the village of Khufin. The village is not far from the site of the Biblical Joseph’s Tomb, which was set ablaze by Muslim vandals last week.
At least five people were injured and two homes were destroyed in southern Lebanon as a result of Friday’s quake.
Wakf Officials Blame Israel
Wakf officials tried to blame Israel for the 6-foot by 5-foot hole, which is about three feet deep, claiming it was caused by Israel, which it accuses of tunneling beneath the Temple Mount. They demanded an end to all Israeli excavations in the area.
Though several excavation projects are taking place around the Western Wall Plaza, none of them entail tunneling past the wall itself and beneath the mount. The Wakf’s official position is that there was never a Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount and has gone to great efforts to erase archaeological evidence of Judaism’s historical ties to the site.
Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz issued a statement rejecting the Muslim claims. "These are mendacious reports without a grain of truth," he said, adding that work in the Temple Mount compound would be contrary to Jewish law. “Such claims are a desecration and cause hatred and incitement for no reason whatsoever,” Rabbi Rabinowitz said. He stressed that work on the Rambam (Mughrabi) Gate ramp to the Temple Mount is vital for the safety of those who visit the Western Wall and called on the authorities to finish the work speedily.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Are You a Zionist? You Could Earn $100G
B”H
This prize begs the question: What is a Zionist today?
My vote goes to Ruth and Nadia Matar, but I’m looking at the panel, and it appears very milk-toast. I would suggest that hard-line right-wingers don’t have a chance.
It looks like you have to be non-political, religious, and working within the system for this prize. I’m not sure that qualifies as a Zionist in my book, but they don’t really define what they think a Zionist is here—so, if you think you qualify, apply. Who knows?
M
-----
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/125266
by Hillel Fendel
(IsraelNN.com) Dr. Irving and Cherna Moskowitz have announced the annual Moskowitz Prize for Zionism - a sum of $100,000 that will first be awarded this Independence Day.
The new prize's website states that the award "was established in recognition of the people who put Zionism into action in today's Israeli society – at times risking their own personal security, placing the collective before personal needs, and doing what it takes to ensure a strong, secure Jewish homeland."
The intention is to grant an annual award to "persons who best personify the essence of modern Zionism in Israel, providing innovative or exceptional activity that reflects the values and challenges that face Zionism today - in education, culture, settlement, social action and other spheres."
The "Strength of Zion Prize" is named for the verse in Isaiah 52, which reads, "Awaken, awaken, wear your strength, Zion."
The prize is likely to be divided among up to three winners, who will be chosen by a public committee made up of public and private figures, including the following: Ex-Foreign and Defense Minister Moshe Arens, former Amb. Amb. Yoram Ettinger, former Public Security Minister Uzi Landau, Rabbi Pesach Lerner, Rabbi Daniel Moskowitz, Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis, Brig.-Gen. (ret.) Avigdor Kahalani, and Lt.-Col.(ret.) Rabbi Yedidya Atlas.
The committee will be chaired by Cherna Moskowitz, and Nobel Prize laureate Prof. Yisrael Aumann will be its Special Academic Advisor.
Prize recipients must be citizens of Israel - not organizations - 18 years or older, residing in Israel. Nominations may be submitted by March 10, 2008. Information and forms may be downloaded at: www.moskowitzprize.com.
This prize begs the question: What is a Zionist today?
My vote goes to Ruth and Nadia Matar, but I’m looking at the panel, and it appears very milk-toast. I would suggest that hard-line right-wingers don’t have a chance.
It looks like you have to be non-political, religious, and working within the system for this prize. I’m not sure that qualifies as a Zionist in my book, but they don’t really define what they think a Zionist is here—so, if you think you qualify, apply. Who knows?
M
-----
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/125266
by Hillel Fendel
(IsraelNN.com) Dr. Irving and Cherna Moskowitz have announced the annual Moskowitz Prize for Zionism - a sum of $100,000 that will first be awarded this Independence Day.
The new prize's website states that the award "was established in recognition of the people who put Zionism into action in today's Israeli society – at times risking their own personal security, placing the collective before personal needs, and doing what it takes to ensure a strong, secure Jewish homeland."
The intention is to grant an annual award to "persons who best personify the essence of modern Zionism in Israel, providing innovative or exceptional activity that reflects the values and challenges that face Zionism today - in education, culture, settlement, social action and other spheres."
The "Strength of Zion Prize" is named for the verse in Isaiah 52, which reads, "Awaken, awaken, wear your strength, Zion."
The prize is likely to be divided among up to three winners, who will be chosen by a public committee made up of public and private figures, including the following: Ex-Foreign and Defense Minister Moshe Arens, former Amb. Amb. Yoram Ettinger, former Public Security Minister Uzi Landau, Rabbi Pesach Lerner, Rabbi Daniel Moskowitz, Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis, Brig.-Gen. (ret.) Avigdor Kahalani, and Lt.-Col.(ret.) Rabbi Yedidya Atlas.
The committee will be chaired by Cherna Moskowitz, and Nobel Prize laureate Prof. Yisrael Aumann will be its Special Academic Advisor.
Prize recipients must be citizens of Israel - not organizations - 18 years or older, residing in Israel. Nominations may be submitted by March 10, 2008. Information and forms may be downloaded at: www.moskowitzprize.com.
Palestinians setting up government in Jerusalem?
B”H
Every little thing means so much. We all have to be on high alert to protect Jerusalem. For example, the US is pushing for the Orient House to be re-established and allowed to remain. It is clear that the Orient House would be used as a platform for terror (as it was in previous years), or as a platform to establish an arab government within the nation of Israel in order to split the capital.
US Secretary of State Rice is a snake. She will be back in Israel in March, attempting to slither into every nook and cranny in Israel’s autonomy. Anything she says should be held in great suspicion, and anything she does with Olmert should be immediately dismissed as dangerous to our state.
Bush is not our friend. Rice is not our friend. Olmert is a either a bumbling fool or a dangerous traitor.
M
-----
Officials accused of quietly forming institutions in Israel's capital
Posted: February 14, 2008
6:34 pm Eastern
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=56382
By Aaron Klein
© 2008 WorldNetDaily
JERUSALEM – The Palestinian Authority has been quietly attempting to establish elements of a functioning government in Jerusalem, WND has learned.
According to security officials, earlier this week Israeli police arrested Hatem Abdel Khader, a member of Palestinian Authority President Mahmad Abbas' Fatah party and a former member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, accusing him of setting up a Palestinian council in Jerusalem to attend to the needs of the city's Israeli Arab population.
Khader, who was released from custody after a few hours, also was accused of trying to set up a community police unit in Jerusalem that would answer to the PA.
In line with previous Israeli-Palestinian accords, the PA has been barred from conducting political activity in Jerusalem, although it maintained an office, called Orient House, in an eastern Jerusalem neighborhood that previously functioned as a de facto PA headquarters.
Orient House was closed down by Israel in 2001 following a series of suicide bombings in Jerusalem and information Israel said indicated the House was used to plan and fund terrorism.
Thousands of documents and copies of bank certificates and checks captured by Israel from Orient House – including many documents obtained by WND – showed the offices were used to finance terrorism, including direct payments to the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group.
Palestinian officials speaking to WND said they recently urged the U.S. to support what they said is a key demand allowing the PA to open official institutions and to reopen Orient House to serve as their Jerusalem headquarters. The U.S. brought the request to Olmert, who is said to be studying it.
Opening of any PA offices or services in Jerusalem could serve as a major statement the city is slated to become the capital of a future Palestinian state.
Olmert is facing major opposition from the Israeli Shas party, a member of his governing coalition whose leadership has stated it would bolt Olmert's government if he negotiated over Jerusalem.
Olmert previously hinted he would be willing to divide Jerusalem, asking during a December speech whether it was "really necessary" to retain certain Arab neighborhoods in Judaism's capital. His vice premier, Haim Ramon, a member of Olmert's ruling Kadima party, last month reportedly mapped out a future partition of Jerusalem under a deal with the Palestinians.
But following Shas threats to bolt his coalition, Olmert has denied he is negotiating over Jerusalem, a claim strongly contested by Palestinian negotiators speaking to WND.
Every little thing means so much. We all have to be on high alert to protect Jerusalem. For example, the US is pushing for the Orient House to be re-established and allowed to remain. It is clear that the Orient House would be used as a platform for terror (as it was in previous years), or as a platform to establish an arab government within the nation of Israel in order to split the capital.
US Secretary of State Rice is a snake. She will be back in Israel in March, attempting to slither into every nook and cranny in Israel’s autonomy. Anything she says should be held in great suspicion, and anything she does with Olmert should be immediately dismissed as dangerous to our state.
Bush is not our friend. Rice is not our friend. Olmert is a either a bumbling fool or a dangerous traitor.
M
-----
Officials accused of quietly forming institutions in Israel's capital
Posted: February 14, 2008
6:34 pm Eastern
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=56382
By Aaron Klein
© 2008 WorldNetDaily
JERUSALEM – The Palestinian Authority has been quietly attempting to establish elements of a functioning government in Jerusalem, WND has learned.
According to security officials, earlier this week Israeli police arrested Hatem Abdel Khader, a member of Palestinian Authority President Mahmad Abbas' Fatah party and a former member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, accusing him of setting up a Palestinian council in Jerusalem to attend to the needs of the city's Israeli Arab population.
Khader, who was released from custody after a few hours, also was accused of trying to set up a community police unit in Jerusalem that would answer to the PA.
In line with previous Israeli-Palestinian accords, the PA has been barred from conducting political activity in Jerusalem, although it maintained an office, called Orient House, in an eastern Jerusalem neighborhood that previously functioned as a de facto PA headquarters.
Orient House was closed down by Israel in 2001 following a series of suicide bombings in Jerusalem and information Israel said indicated the House was used to plan and fund terrorism.
Thousands of documents and copies of bank certificates and checks captured by Israel from Orient House – including many documents obtained by WND – showed the offices were used to finance terrorism, including direct payments to the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group.
Palestinian officials speaking to WND said they recently urged the U.S. to support what they said is a key demand allowing the PA to open official institutions and to reopen Orient House to serve as their Jerusalem headquarters. The U.S. brought the request to Olmert, who is said to be studying it.
Opening of any PA offices or services in Jerusalem could serve as a major statement the city is slated to become the capital of a future Palestinian state.
Olmert is facing major opposition from the Israeli Shas party, a member of his governing coalition whose leadership has stated it would bolt Olmert's government if he negotiated over Jerusalem.
Olmert previously hinted he would be willing to divide Jerusalem, asking during a December speech whether it was "really necessary" to retain certain Arab neighborhoods in Judaism's capital. His vice premier, Haim Ramon, a member of Olmert's ruling Kadima party, last month reportedly mapped out a future partition of Jerusalem under a deal with the Palestinians.
But following Shas threats to bolt his coalition, Olmert has denied he is negotiating over Jerusalem, a claim strongly contested by Palestinian negotiators speaking to WND.
US Synagogues on Alert, FBI Terror Squads, Police Stand Ready
B"H
I know it is late to ask, but does your synagogue have an emergency plan? Do you know it? Is there someone assigned to get Torahs to safety, another to get the children out of harm's way? What about the elderly and infirm?
Do you know where all the exits are? Do you know where the fire extinguisher is? Is there someone in your synagogue who packs concealed heat?
Is your Gabbay ready to affirm someone is new or out of place?
When you go into synagogue, look around and make sure you have a plan to get out of there fast. Know you can use siddurs, books, and other objects as missiles to make a gunman protect his face for a second. Know a fire extinguisher, directed carefully at someone's face can stop them, then be used to knock them unconscious.
Make sure someone knows how to turn off the gas and electric in case of emergency.
Be safe. If your synagogue doesn't have a plan, or if you don't know what it is--educate yourselves. The time is now.
M
-----
HEZ SEEKS 'OPEN WAR' THREAT SPURS US SYNAGOGUE ALERT
By ANDY SOLTIS
http://www.nypost.com/seven/02152008/news/worldnews/hez_seeks_open_war_threat_spurs_us_synag_97749.htm
February 15, 2008 -- The FBI and NYPD put their terror squads on alert after Hezbollah's leader declared "open war" against Israeli targets around the world yesterday in response to a car bombing in Syria that killed the group's master terrorist.
Israel put its military and embassies on high alert and warned Jewish institutions worldwide to prepare for retaliation from the Shiite terrorist group.
The FBI has ordered its nationwide terror task forces to be on the alert for any threats against synagogues and other Jewish buildings that could be targets in the United States. There have been no specific threats.
One law-enforcement official said such a high-priority order is not often issued to joint terrorism task forces.
NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said patrols were increased at the Israeli mission and consulate because of the threat.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah emerged from hiding to say Israel had provoked a new war because of the death of his top commander, Imad Mughniyeh.
"Mughniyeh's blood will lead to the elimination of Israel," Nasrallah vowed in a funeral eulogy in Beirut heard by tens of thousands of mourners.
Israelis take his threats seriously.
In 2006, shortly after Nasrallah threatened to free Lebanese prisoners in Israel, Hezbollah fighters raided northern Israel, triggering a border war that lasted 34 days.
Yesterday, Nasrallah said Israel had escalated matters by blowing up Mughniyeh in Syria, beyond the "natural battlefield" of Israel and Lebanon.
"With this murder, its timing, location and method - Zionists, if you want this kind of open war, let the whole world listen: Let this war be open," Nasrallah declared.
"At your service, Nasrallah!" the crowd shouted back.
Meanwhile, at a Damascus memorial service, Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal called for the Arab world to unite against Israel.
Officials in Jerusalem denied responsibility for the slaying - but Israeli analysts said it showed that no terrorist is safe.
Mughniyeh had not been seen in 15 years and was believed to be disguised by plastic surgery.
An authoritative Arab-language newspaper, al-Hayat, said Mughniyeh slipped into Syria Tuesday under an assumed name so that even Syrian officials didn't know he was there.
Yet within a few hours, he was dead.
Mughniyeh had a $5 million US bounty on his head dating back to the 1980s attacks he orchestrated, when he was the world's most-wanted terrorist.
Former CIA official Bruce Riedel said Israel's Mossad spy agency appeared to have carried out the Mughniyeh hit.
"This is a significant operation, whether or not the Israelis want to publicly admit to it," he told the Yediot Ahronoth newspaper.
Nasrallah, who has been in hiding for years, must be worried, he added.
HEZ SEEKS 'OPEN WAR' THREAT SPURS US SYNAGOGUE ALERT
By ANDY SOLTIS
http://www.nypost.com/seven/02152008/news/worldnews/hez_seeks_open_war_threat_spurs_us_synag_97749.htm
February 15, 2008 -- The FBI and NYPD put their terror squads on alert after Hezbollah's leader declared "open war" against Israeli targets around the world yesterday in response to a car bombing in Syria that killed the group's master terrorist.
Israel put its military and embassies on high alert and warned Jewish institutions worldwide to prepare for retaliation from the Shiite terrorist group.
The FBI has ordered its nationwide terror task forces to be on the alert for any threats against synagogues and other Jewish buildings that could be targets in the United States. There have been no specific threats.
One law-enforcement official said such a high-priority order is not often issued to joint terrorism task forces.
NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said patrols were increased at the Israeli mission and consulate because of the threat.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah emerged from hiding to say Israel had provoked a new war because of the death of his top commander, Imad Mughniyeh.
"Mughniyeh's blood will lead to the elimination of Israel," Nasrallah vowed in a funeral eulogy in Beirut heard by tens of thousands of mourners.
Israelis take his threats seriously.
In 2006, shortly after Nasrallah threatened to free Lebanese prisoners in Israel, Hezbollah fighters raided northern Israel, triggering a border war that lasted 34 days.
Yesterday, Nasrallah said Israel had escalated matters by blowing up Mughniyeh in Syria, beyond the "natural battlefield" of Israel and Lebanon.
"With this murder, its timing, location and method - Zionists, if you want this kind of open war, let the whole world listen: Let this war be open," Nasrallah declared.
"At your service, Nasrallah!" the crowd shouted back.
Meanwhile, at a Damascus memorial service, Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal called for the Arab world to unite against Israel.
Officials in Jerusalem denied responsibility for the slaying - but Israeli analysts said it showed that no terrorist is safe.
Mughniyeh had not been seen in 15 years and was believed to be disguised by plastic surgery.
An authoritative Arab-language newspaper, al-Hayat, said Mughniyeh slipped into Syria Tuesday under an assumed name so that even Syrian officials didn't know he was there.
Yet within a few hours, he was dead.
Mughniyeh had a $5 million US bounty on his head dating back to the 1980s attacks he orchestrated, when he was the world's most-wanted terrorist.
Former CIA official Bruce Riedel said Israel's Mossad spy agency appeared to have carried out the Mughniyeh hit.
"This is a significant operation, whether or not the Israelis want to publicly admit to it," he told the Yediot Ahronoth newspaper.
Nasrallah, who has been in hiding for years, must be worried, he added.
I know it is late to ask, but does your synagogue have an emergency plan? Do you know it? Is there someone assigned to get Torahs to safety, another to get the children out of harm's way? What about the elderly and infirm?
Do you know where all the exits are? Do you know where the fire extinguisher is? Is there someone in your synagogue who packs concealed heat?
Is your Gabbay ready to affirm someone is new or out of place?
When you go into synagogue, look around and make sure you have a plan to get out of there fast. Know you can use siddurs, books, and other objects as missiles to make a gunman protect his face for a second. Know a fire extinguisher, directed carefully at someone's face can stop them, then be used to knock them unconscious.
Make sure someone knows how to turn off the gas and electric in case of emergency.
Be safe. If your synagogue doesn't have a plan, or if you don't know what it is--educate yourselves. The time is now.
M
-----
HEZ SEEKS 'OPEN WAR' THREAT SPURS US SYNAGOGUE ALERT
By ANDY SOLTIS
http://www.nypost.com/seven/02152008/news/worldnews/hez_seeks_open_war_threat_spurs_us_synag_97749.htm
February 15, 2008 -- The FBI and NYPD put their terror squads on alert after Hezbollah's leader declared "open war" against Israeli targets around the world yesterday in response to a car bombing in Syria that killed the group's master terrorist.
Israel put its military and embassies on high alert and warned Jewish institutions worldwide to prepare for retaliation from the Shiite terrorist group.
The FBI has ordered its nationwide terror task forces to be on the alert for any threats against synagogues and other Jewish buildings that could be targets in the United States. There have been no specific threats.
One law-enforcement official said such a high-priority order is not often issued to joint terrorism task forces.
NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said patrols were increased at the Israeli mission and consulate because of the threat.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah emerged from hiding to say Israel had provoked a new war because of the death of his top commander, Imad Mughniyeh.
"Mughniyeh's blood will lead to the elimination of Israel," Nasrallah vowed in a funeral eulogy in Beirut heard by tens of thousands of mourners.
Israelis take his threats seriously.
In 2006, shortly after Nasrallah threatened to free Lebanese prisoners in Israel, Hezbollah fighters raided northern Israel, triggering a border war that lasted 34 days.
Yesterday, Nasrallah said Israel had escalated matters by blowing up Mughniyeh in Syria, beyond the "natural battlefield" of Israel and Lebanon.
"With this murder, its timing, location and method - Zionists, if you want this kind of open war, let the whole world listen: Let this war be open," Nasrallah declared.
"At your service, Nasrallah!" the crowd shouted back.
Meanwhile, at a Damascus memorial service, Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal called for the Arab world to unite against Israel.
Officials in Jerusalem denied responsibility for the slaying - but Israeli analysts said it showed that no terrorist is safe.
Mughniyeh had not been seen in 15 years and was believed to be disguised by plastic surgery.
An authoritative Arab-language newspaper, al-Hayat, said Mughniyeh slipped into Syria Tuesday under an assumed name so that even Syrian officials didn't know he was there.
Yet within a few hours, he was dead.
Mughniyeh had a $5 million US bounty on his head dating back to the 1980s attacks he orchestrated, when he was the world's most-wanted terrorist.
Former CIA official Bruce Riedel said Israel's Mossad spy agency appeared to have carried out the Mughniyeh hit.
"This is a significant operation, whether or not the Israelis want to publicly admit to it," he told the Yediot Ahronoth newspaper.
Nasrallah, who has been in hiding for years, must be worried, he added.
HEZ SEEKS 'OPEN WAR' THREAT SPURS US SYNAGOGUE ALERT
By ANDY SOLTIS
http://www.nypost.com/seven/02152008/news/worldnews/hez_seeks_open_war_threat_spurs_us_synag_97749.htm
February 15, 2008 -- The FBI and NYPD put their terror squads on alert after Hezbollah's leader declared "open war" against Israeli targets around the world yesterday in response to a car bombing in Syria that killed the group's master terrorist.
Israel put its military and embassies on high alert and warned Jewish institutions worldwide to prepare for retaliation from the Shiite terrorist group.
The FBI has ordered its nationwide terror task forces to be on the alert for any threats against synagogues and other Jewish buildings that could be targets in the United States. There have been no specific threats.
One law-enforcement official said such a high-priority order is not often issued to joint terrorism task forces.
NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said patrols were increased at the Israeli mission and consulate because of the threat.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah emerged from hiding to say Israel had provoked a new war because of the death of his top commander, Imad Mughniyeh.
"Mughniyeh's blood will lead to the elimination of Israel," Nasrallah vowed in a funeral eulogy in Beirut heard by tens of thousands of mourners.
Israelis take his threats seriously.
In 2006, shortly after Nasrallah threatened to free Lebanese prisoners in Israel, Hezbollah fighters raided northern Israel, triggering a border war that lasted 34 days.
Yesterday, Nasrallah said Israel had escalated matters by blowing up Mughniyeh in Syria, beyond the "natural battlefield" of Israel and Lebanon.
"With this murder, its timing, location and method - Zionists, if you want this kind of open war, let the whole world listen: Let this war be open," Nasrallah declared.
"At your service, Nasrallah!" the crowd shouted back.
Meanwhile, at a Damascus memorial service, Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal called for the Arab world to unite against Israel.
Officials in Jerusalem denied responsibility for the slaying - but Israeli analysts said it showed that no terrorist is safe.
Mughniyeh had not been seen in 15 years and was believed to be disguised by plastic surgery.
An authoritative Arab-language newspaper, al-Hayat, said Mughniyeh slipped into Syria Tuesday under an assumed name so that even Syrian officials didn't know he was there.
Yet within a few hours, he was dead.
Mughniyeh had a $5 million US bounty on his head dating back to the 1980s attacks he orchestrated, when he was the world's most-wanted terrorist.
Former CIA official Bruce Riedel said Israel's Mossad spy agency appeared to have carried out the Mughniyeh hit.
"This is a significant operation, whether or not the Israelis want to publicly admit to it," he told the Yediot Ahronoth newspaper.
Nasrallah, who has been in hiding for years, must be worried, he added.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Terror in Gaza: Eight months since the Hamas takeover (with statistics)
Terror in Gaza: Eight months since the Hamas takeover
June 15, 2007 - February 14, 2008
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
14 February 2008
www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-+Obstacle+to+Peace/Palestinian+terror+since+200
0/Terror+in+Gaza-+Two+months+since+the+Hamas+takeover+16-Aug-2007.htm
On 20 January 2008, Hamas exploited Israel's precautionary closing of the border crossings for two days (due to Hamas rocket fire) to create an impression of a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. Timing a power blackout (they threw the switch themselves) to coincide with the evening news, they distributed thousands of candles to Gaza citizens to create an impressive photo-op with children sitting in the dark, huddled around candles. The ploy was successful, and the global media sent the pictures around the world - with headlines blaming Israel, of course.
Background:
Following a massive Hamas rocket attack on Israel, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak announced, on 17 January, that the crossings between Israel and the Gaza Strip would be temporarily closed and that no merchandise or fuel would enter. On January 20 most of the crossings were closed: the Karni Crossing (used for the passage of merchandise), the Nahal Oz Crossing (used for the transfer of fuel) and the Sufa and Kerem Shalom Crossings. The Erez Crossing remained open for cases of humanitarian aid.
The border closing was the direct result of the rockets launched by the Hamas itself - more than 150 rockets landed in four days in Sderot and other western Negev towns and villages. The crossings were closed on January 20; already on January 22, they were partially opened, with limited amounts of supplies (such as diesel and cooking fuel, milk, flour and drugs) being allowed through.
Israel delivered enough diesel fuel - 2.2 million liters - to run the Gaza power plant at the usual 60 megawatts for a week. Israel and Egypt provide Gaza with another 140 megawatts from their own grids.
"Even without the new fuel supply they have enough electricity for more than half of Gaza, since Israel regularly supplies [the region] with 70 percent of its electricity needs," said a senior defense official. Israel is not providing gasoline for cars, however, since gasoline stores were diverted by Hamas for use in its rocket launching apparatus.
"We will not allow a humanitarian crisis," Prime Minister Ehud Olmert stated Monday night (January 21), "but we have no intention of making their lives easier. As far as I'm concerned, the residents of Gaza can walk, and they will not get gasoline because they have a murderous, terrorist regime that does not allow the residents of southern Israel to live in peace."
Another event orchestrated by Hamas with impeccable timing was the collapse of the fence on the Egypt-Gaza border. The breaching of the fence seemed to be a spontaneous reaction to the pressure created inside Gaza by Israel's closing the border crossings. In fact, as border guard Lt. Abu Usama of the Palestinian National Security told the Times of London (24 January), work on demolishing the wall that runs along the Philadelphi Corridor between Gaza and Egypt has been going on for months - long before Israel placed a blockade on Gaza. He said that Popular Resistance Committee men have been using oxy-acetylene torches for months to slice through the heavy metal wall, enabling it to be completely toppled by the dozens of bomb blasts set off overnight (22-23 January) by Hamas explosives experts.
As soon as the fence was breached, hundreds of thousands of Gazans streamed into Egypt. "Rafah became a huge Middle Eastern bazaar," as James Hider of The TimesOnline (Jan.24, 2008) described it. "Thousands of people were herding back cows, sheep and even camels from Egypt into the Gaza strip. Some staggered back into Gaza carrying televisions, and others sported brand-new mobile phones."
One of Hamas's goals in breaching the fence is to force the Rafah crossing (which is controlled by Egypt) to be opened and to create a new arrangement for control of the border, effectively canceling the Agreed Principles for Rafah Crossing November 15, 2005 achieved by Israeli and Palestinian negotiators after Israel withdrew from Gaza in August 2005. A breached border fence and the possibility of a reopened Rafah Crossing under Hamas control would enable the terrorist organizations to keep up a steady stream of advanced weapons and Iranian-trained operatives into the Gaza Strip, including global jihad terrorists, who have easy access to weapons and supporters in the Sinai Peninsula (Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, IICC, 29 January 2008).
Israeli Public Security Minister Avi Dichter ordered police to step up operations in the vicinity of the Israel-Egypt border. In the wake of the massive southward migration of PA residents into the Sinai, he expressed concern that terrorists could try to infiltrate into Israel from the Sinai to carry out attacks against Israeli civilians and cities. While Gaza is bounded on the Israeli side by a relatively secure perimeter barrier, the border between Egypt and Israel is much more open. Security officials estimate that hundreds of people, most of them African refugees, smugglers and migrant workers, manage to cross the border illegally every month.
Summary of events emanating from the Gaza Strip since June 2007
I. Rocket and mortar fire at targets in Israel
June 15, 2007-January 31, 2008: 716 rockets and 767 mortar bombs see:
www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-+Obstacle+to+Peace/Palestinian+terror+since+200
0/Terror+in+Gaza-+Two+months+since+the+Hamas+takeover+16-Aug-2007.htm
II. Terrorist Attacks and Israeli Counter-Terrorist Operations see:
www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-+Obstacle+to+Peace/Palestinian+terror+since+200
0/Terror+in+Gaza-+Two+months+since+the+Hamas+takeover+16-Aug-2007.htm
III. Hamas' offensive strategy and its military buildup
The former Hamas foreign minister, Mahmoud a-Zahar, explaining why Hamas in the past two years has favored rocket attacks over suicide bombings, told the Sunday Telegraph's correspondent (21 August 2007), "Which do you think is more effective, martyrdom operations or rockets against Sderot? Rockets against Sderot will cause mass migration, greatly disrupt daily lives and government administration and can make a much huger impact on the government. We are using the methods that convince the Israelis that their occupation is costing them too much. We are succeeding with the rockets. We have no losses and the impact on the Israeli side is so much."
Moshe Kaplinsky, Deputy Chief of Staff, told the New York Times (28 August 2007) that Hamas was building a force similar to that of Hezbollah in south Lebanon. He said that several hundred Hamas terrorist operatives had been sent abroad for military training, most of them to Iran.
Israel Security Agency chief Yuval Diskin told the government (February 3, 2008) that, during the past few days, large quantities of weapons had been smuggled into the Gaza Strip through the open fence along the Philadelphi route. He said that "no exact quantities can be indicated. Apparently standard weapons were smuggled in, including long-range rockets, anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles." Also, according to Diskin, many terrorist operatives have returned from training in Iran, Syria and Egypt and are now in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas taxes the estimated 150 smuggling tunnels leading from Egypt into the Gaza Strip, charging the owners $3000 each a day. The tunnels bring in a total of $150 million annually, while the value of men, weapons and other merchandise smuggled in each year total close to a half-billion dollars. Five tunnels were blown up when their owners refused to pay the fee; the others quickly paid up, giving Hamas a monopoly on the tunnels.
The tunnels are run in a systematic manner and categorized according to the goods that pass through them - weapons, cash, Hamas military commanders who seek to return to Gaza, food, medicine, computer equipment, and dangerous drugs.
In a report for the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (vol. 7 no. 25, 19 December 2007), former IDF Southern Command chief Maj.Gen. (res.)Yom Tov Samia stated, "The Palestinians have brought into Gaza more than 30,000 rifles during the past two years, more than six million rounds of ammunition, more than 230 tons of explosives, and scores of anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles."
IV. Statistical Data: Monthly distribution of identified rocket hits over the past year Monthly distribution of identified mortar bomb hits see:
www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-+Obstacle+to+Peace/Palestinian+terror+since+200
0/Terror+in+Gaza-+Two+months+since+the+Hamas+takeover+16-Aug-2007.htm
V. Hamas behavior towards their brethren in Gaza On November 12, at a rally commemorating the third anniversary of Yasser Arafat's death attended by at least 250,000 people, Hamas security forces opened fire on the crowd. Seven Palestinians were killed and 150 wounded, some critically. Afterwards, Hamas police carried out a wave of arrests of Fatah activists throughout the Gaza Strip. The well-organized rally, attended by hundreds of thousands of people, was interpreted as an expression of public protest against the Hamas regime.
VI. Statements by Hamas Leaders
Hamas's continued opposition to negotiations
Hamas spokesmen expressed their views at a mass rally celebrating the 20th anniversary of the movement (December 15, 2007). A recurring theme in the day's speeches was that there are two tracks in the struggle to destroy the Jewish State; but that Hamas's armed attacks are more effective than Fatah's negotiations - as was proven by Israel's retreat from the Gaza Strip. Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniyya stressed, "The option of the resistance and jihad is the shortest way to liberate Palestine, and to restore Jerusalem and Palestinian rights. Not the path of negotiations, not the path of bargaining." Haniyya said that realizing "the right of resistance" would prevent the implementation of the first stage of the Road Map.
Musheir al-Masri , member of the Palestinian Legislative Council: "the Jews have to return to where they came from, we are digging graves for them.We will remain firm until the liberation of Palestine, all Palestine, from the [Mediterranean] sea to the [Jordan] river." (Al-Aqsa TV, December 14).
Khaled Mashal, head of Hamas' "political" bureau in Damascus: Since the movement was founded in 1987, "it restored the honor of the option of resistance" in contrast to those who believed in "the option of an arrangement and negotiations." Hamas created "new models" of heroism, sacrifice and suicide bombings. The lesson Hamas taught Israel and the world was that "the land [of "Palestine"] will only be liberated by the rifle."
Hamas statements about a "hudna" (hiatus)
In the wake of the intensive activity carried out by the Israeli security forces in the Gaza Strip and the media reports of a possible extensive IDF incursion into the Strip to stop the rocket fire on Israel, Hamas talked about implementing a potential hiatus (hudna) in the fighting. However, the statements are not uniform, which may indicate differences of opinion.
Prime Minister Ismail Haniyya told a reporter for Israel TV's Channel 2, "we have no problem in negotiating with Israel at least about two topics, Kassam rocket fire and targeted killing, to achieve a mutual hudna" (Dec. 18).
However, Ahmed Yussuf, a political advisor in the foreign ministry of Haniyya's government, said it was a question of a short-term lull and not a cease fire (hudna). "Resistance [i.e., terrorism] will remain an option. As long as the Occupation exists, the resistance will exist" (al-Jazeera TV website, Dec. 24). An important figure in the PIJ (the organization responsible for most of the rocket attacks), Khaled al-Batash, said, "no one can impose a lull on the PIJ because it is a resistance movement"
(Nidaa al-Quds website, Dec. 23). Other statements by Hamas and related
organizations:
After the Hamas-perpetrated suicide bombing in Dimona (4 February), in which an Israeli woman was killed and ten civilians were wounded, senior Hamas official in the Gaza Strip Osama al-Muzeina said that if it seemed as though there were fewer suicide bombing attacks, Dimona proved that it was an illusion. Asked whether there would be more suicide attacks, he answered "all possibilities are open" (Filastin al-An website, 6 February). Another senior Hamas official, Yahya Musa, said that more attacks would follow the one in Dimona and that a new terrorist campaign (intifada) would break out (Al-Aqsa TV, 6 February).
Following the breaching and resealing of the border fence between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, Hamas threatened that, if the border with Egypt were hermetically sealed, this time its operatives would "blow up the entire border fence and not just parts of it" (Agence France Presse, February 1, 2008). Abu Ubeida, a spokesman for Hamas and the Iz a-Din al-Qassam Brigades, stated, "No international conference will be able to tie our hands or prevent us from fulfilling our obligations in resisting and attacking the oppressive occupying enemy" (Hamas/ Iz a-Din al-Qassam website, 14 October). An editorial in the Hamas newspaper Felesteen on 29 September stated: " If the American-Israeli plan is adopted at the Annapolis conference, "the Palestinian people will have no other option but a third intifada. which will be stronger and more violent than the previous one."
Khalid al-Batish, a high-ranking member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), declared that his organization will not be bound by anything that may come out of the Annapolis conference and that the PIJ would continue to carry out attacks('resistance'), even if an agreement is reached to establish a Palestinian state in the 1967 borders. In his view, "all of Palestine is occupied and not only the territories captured in 1967" (Al-Quds al-Araby, 3 October).
VII. ISA Summary of terror 2007
In contrast to the impressive decrease in successful terrorist suicide and shooting attacks in Israel, which the IDF attributes to the security fence, quality intelligence and operational freedom of action throughout Judea and Samaria, rocket and mortar attacks continue from the Gaza Strip. In 2007, 1,263 rockets and 1,511 mortar bombs struck Israel, compared to 1,722 rockets and 55 mortar bombs in 2006. Two residents of Sderot were killed in 2007. The ISA estimates that since the Hamas takeover in the middle of June 2007, 80 tons of explosives have been smuggled into the Gaza Strip from the Sinai.
VIII. The crossings between Israel and the Gaza Strip
On 30 January, in its response to an appeal against restricting supplies of electricity and fuel to the Gaza Strip, the Israeli Supreme Court determined that since Israel had disengaged from the Gaza Strip it had no effective control over what occurred there. The judges also determined that Israel had no commitment "to deal with the welfare of the residents of the Gaza Strip or to allow unlimited amounts of goods and merchandise" to pass through, but only vital and humanitarian goods (Israel Supreme Court website, January 30). At present, fuel, gas and humanitarian goods continue to pass through the Sufa and Nahal Oz Crossings, and pedestrians with serious humanitarian needs are permitted to use the Erez crossing.
--------------------------------------------
IMRA - Independent Media Review
and Analysis Website: www.imra.org.il
June 15, 2007 - February 14, 2008
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
14 February 2008
www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-+Obstacle+to+Peace/Palestinian+terror+since+200
0/Terror+in+Gaza-+Two+months+since+the+Hamas+takeover+16-Aug-2007.htm
On 20 January 2008, Hamas exploited Israel's precautionary closing of the border crossings for two days (due to Hamas rocket fire) to create an impression of a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. Timing a power blackout (they threw the switch themselves) to coincide with the evening news, they distributed thousands of candles to Gaza citizens to create an impressive photo-op with children sitting in the dark, huddled around candles. The ploy was successful, and the global media sent the pictures around the world - with headlines blaming Israel, of course.
Background:
Following a massive Hamas rocket attack on Israel, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak announced, on 17 January, that the crossings between Israel and the Gaza Strip would be temporarily closed and that no merchandise or fuel would enter. On January 20 most of the crossings were closed: the Karni Crossing (used for the passage of merchandise), the Nahal Oz Crossing (used for the transfer of fuel) and the Sufa and Kerem Shalom Crossings. The Erez Crossing remained open for cases of humanitarian aid.
The border closing was the direct result of the rockets launched by the Hamas itself - more than 150 rockets landed in four days in Sderot and other western Negev towns and villages. The crossings were closed on January 20; already on January 22, they were partially opened, with limited amounts of supplies (such as diesel and cooking fuel, milk, flour and drugs) being allowed through.
Israel delivered enough diesel fuel - 2.2 million liters - to run the Gaza power plant at the usual 60 megawatts for a week. Israel and Egypt provide Gaza with another 140 megawatts from their own grids.
"Even without the new fuel supply they have enough electricity for more than half of Gaza, since Israel regularly supplies [the region] with 70 percent of its electricity needs," said a senior defense official. Israel is not providing gasoline for cars, however, since gasoline stores were diverted by Hamas for use in its rocket launching apparatus.
"We will not allow a humanitarian crisis," Prime Minister Ehud Olmert stated Monday night (January 21), "but we have no intention of making their lives easier. As far as I'm concerned, the residents of Gaza can walk, and they will not get gasoline because they have a murderous, terrorist regime that does not allow the residents of southern Israel to live in peace."
Another event orchestrated by Hamas with impeccable timing was the collapse of the fence on the Egypt-Gaza border. The breaching of the fence seemed to be a spontaneous reaction to the pressure created inside Gaza by Israel's closing the border crossings. In fact, as border guard Lt. Abu Usama of the Palestinian National Security told the Times of London (24 January), work on demolishing the wall that runs along the Philadelphi Corridor between Gaza and Egypt has been going on for months - long before Israel placed a blockade on Gaza. He said that Popular Resistance Committee men have been using oxy-acetylene torches for months to slice through the heavy metal wall, enabling it to be completely toppled by the dozens of bomb blasts set off overnight (22-23 January) by Hamas explosives experts.
As soon as the fence was breached, hundreds of thousands of Gazans streamed into Egypt. "Rafah became a huge Middle Eastern bazaar," as James Hider of The TimesOnline (Jan.24, 2008) described it. "Thousands of people were herding back cows, sheep and even camels from Egypt into the Gaza strip. Some staggered back into Gaza carrying televisions, and others sported brand-new mobile phones."
One of Hamas's goals in breaching the fence is to force the Rafah crossing (which is controlled by Egypt) to be opened and to create a new arrangement for control of the border, effectively canceling the Agreed Principles for Rafah Crossing November 15, 2005 achieved by Israeli and Palestinian negotiators after Israel withdrew from Gaza in August 2005. A breached border fence and the possibility of a reopened Rafah Crossing under Hamas control would enable the terrorist organizations to keep up a steady stream of advanced weapons and Iranian-trained operatives into the Gaza Strip, including global jihad terrorists, who have easy access to weapons and supporters in the Sinai Peninsula (Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, IICC, 29 January 2008).
Israeli Public Security Minister Avi Dichter ordered police to step up operations in the vicinity of the Israel-Egypt border. In the wake of the massive southward migration of PA residents into the Sinai, he expressed concern that terrorists could try to infiltrate into Israel from the Sinai to carry out attacks against Israeli civilians and cities. While Gaza is bounded on the Israeli side by a relatively secure perimeter barrier, the border between Egypt and Israel is much more open. Security officials estimate that hundreds of people, most of them African refugees, smugglers and migrant workers, manage to cross the border illegally every month.
Summary of events emanating from the Gaza Strip since June 2007
I. Rocket and mortar fire at targets in Israel
June 15, 2007-January 31, 2008: 716 rockets and 767 mortar bombs see:
www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-+Obstacle+to+Peace/Palestinian+terror+since+200
0/Terror+in+Gaza-+Two+months+since+the+Hamas+takeover+16-Aug-2007.htm
II. Terrorist Attacks and Israeli Counter-Terrorist Operations see:
www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-+Obstacle+to+Peace/Palestinian+terror+since+200
0/Terror+in+Gaza-+Two+months+since+the+Hamas+takeover+16-Aug-2007.htm
III. Hamas' offensive strategy and its military buildup
The former Hamas foreign minister, Mahmoud a-Zahar, explaining why Hamas in the past two years has favored rocket attacks over suicide bombings, told the Sunday Telegraph's correspondent (21 August 2007), "Which do you think is more effective, martyrdom operations or rockets against Sderot? Rockets against Sderot will cause mass migration, greatly disrupt daily lives and government administration and can make a much huger impact on the government. We are using the methods that convince the Israelis that their occupation is costing them too much. We are succeeding with the rockets. We have no losses and the impact on the Israeli side is so much."
Moshe Kaplinsky, Deputy Chief of Staff, told the New York Times (28 August 2007) that Hamas was building a force similar to that of Hezbollah in south Lebanon. He said that several hundred Hamas terrorist operatives had been sent abroad for military training, most of them to Iran.
Israel Security Agency chief Yuval Diskin told the government (February 3, 2008) that, during the past few days, large quantities of weapons had been smuggled into the Gaza Strip through the open fence along the Philadelphi route. He said that "no exact quantities can be indicated. Apparently standard weapons were smuggled in, including long-range rockets, anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles." Also, according to Diskin, many terrorist operatives have returned from training in Iran, Syria and Egypt and are now in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas taxes the estimated 150 smuggling tunnels leading from Egypt into the Gaza Strip, charging the owners $3000 each a day. The tunnels bring in a total of $150 million annually, while the value of men, weapons and other merchandise smuggled in each year total close to a half-billion dollars. Five tunnels were blown up when their owners refused to pay the fee; the others quickly paid up, giving Hamas a monopoly on the tunnels.
The tunnels are run in a systematic manner and categorized according to the goods that pass through them - weapons, cash, Hamas military commanders who seek to return to Gaza, food, medicine, computer equipment, and dangerous drugs.
In a report for the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (vol. 7 no. 25, 19 December 2007), former IDF Southern Command chief Maj.Gen. (res.)Yom Tov Samia stated, "The Palestinians have brought into Gaza more than 30,000 rifles during the past two years, more than six million rounds of ammunition, more than 230 tons of explosives, and scores of anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles."
IV. Statistical Data: Monthly distribution of identified rocket hits over the past year Monthly distribution of identified mortar bomb hits see:
www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-+Obstacle+to+Peace/Palestinian+terror+since+200
0/Terror+in+Gaza-+Two+months+since+the+Hamas+takeover+16-Aug-2007.htm
V. Hamas behavior towards their brethren in Gaza On November 12, at a rally commemorating the third anniversary of Yasser Arafat's death attended by at least 250,000 people, Hamas security forces opened fire on the crowd. Seven Palestinians were killed and 150 wounded, some critically. Afterwards, Hamas police carried out a wave of arrests of Fatah activists throughout the Gaza Strip. The well-organized rally, attended by hundreds of thousands of people, was interpreted as an expression of public protest against the Hamas regime.
VI. Statements by Hamas Leaders
Hamas's continued opposition to negotiations
Hamas spokesmen expressed their views at a mass rally celebrating the 20th anniversary of the movement (December 15, 2007). A recurring theme in the day's speeches was that there are two tracks in the struggle to destroy the Jewish State; but that Hamas's armed attacks are more effective than Fatah's negotiations - as was proven by Israel's retreat from the Gaza Strip. Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniyya stressed, "The option of the resistance and jihad is the shortest way to liberate Palestine, and to restore Jerusalem and Palestinian rights. Not the path of negotiations, not the path of bargaining." Haniyya said that realizing "the right of resistance" would prevent the implementation of the first stage of the Road Map.
Musheir al-Masri , member of the Palestinian Legislative Council: "the Jews have to return to where they came from, we are digging graves for them.We will remain firm until the liberation of Palestine, all Palestine, from the [Mediterranean] sea to the [Jordan] river." (Al-Aqsa TV, December 14).
Khaled Mashal, head of Hamas' "political" bureau in Damascus: Since the movement was founded in 1987, "it restored the honor of the option of resistance" in contrast to those who believed in "the option of an arrangement and negotiations." Hamas created "new models" of heroism, sacrifice and suicide bombings. The lesson Hamas taught Israel and the world was that "the land [of "Palestine"] will only be liberated by the rifle."
Hamas statements about a "hudna" (hiatus)
In the wake of the intensive activity carried out by the Israeli security forces in the Gaza Strip and the media reports of a possible extensive IDF incursion into the Strip to stop the rocket fire on Israel, Hamas talked about implementing a potential hiatus (hudna) in the fighting. However, the statements are not uniform, which may indicate differences of opinion.
Prime Minister Ismail Haniyya told a reporter for Israel TV's Channel 2, "we have no problem in negotiating with Israel at least about two topics, Kassam rocket fire and targeted killing, to achieve a mutual hudna" (Dec. 18).
However, Ahmed Yussuf, a political advisor in the foreign ministry of Haniyya's government, said it was a question of a short-term lull and not a cease fire (hudna). "Resistance [i.e., terrorism] will remain an option. As long as the Occupation exists, the resistance will exist" (al-Jazeera TV website, Dec. 24). An important figure in the PIJ (the organization responsible for most of the rocket attacks), Khaled al-Batash, said, "no one can impose a lull on the PIJ because it is a resistance movement"
(Nidaa al-Quds website, Dec. 23). Other statements by Hamas and related
organizations:
After the Hamas-perpetrated suicide bombing in Dimona (4 February), in which an Israeli woman was killed and ten civilians were wounded, senior Hamas official in the Gaza Strip Osama al-Muzeina said that if it seemed as though there were fewer suicide bombing attacks, Dimona proved that it was an illusion. Asked whether there would be more suicide attacks, he answered "all possibilities are open" (Filastin al-An website, 6 February). Another senior Hamas official, Yahya Musa, said that more attacks would follow the one in Dimona and that a new terrorist campaign (intifada) would break out (Al-Aqsa TV, 6 February).
Following the breaching and resealing of the border fence between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, Hamas threatened that, if the border with Egypt were hermetically sealed, this time its operatives would "blow up the entire border fence and not just parts of it" (Agence France Presse, February 1, 2008). Abu Ubeida, a spokesman for Hamas and the Iz a-Din al-Qassam Brigades, stated, "No international conference will be able to tie our hands or prevent us from fulfilling our obligations in resisting and attacking the oppressive occupying enemy" (Hamas/ Iz a-Din al-Qassam website, 14 October). An editorial in the Hamas newspaper Felesteen on 29 September stated: " If the American-Israeli plan is adopted at the Annapolis conference, "the Palestinian people will have no other option but a third intifada. which will be stronger and more violent than the previous one."
Khalid al-Batish, a high-ranking member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), declared that his organization will not be bound by anything that may come out of the Annapolis conference and that the PIJ would continue to carry out attacks('resistance'), even if an agreement is reached to establish a Palestinian state in the 1967 borders. In his view, "all of Palestine is occupied and not only the territories captured in 1967" (Al-Quds al-Araby, 3 October).
VII. ISA Summary of terror 2007
In contrast to the impressive decrease in successful terrorist suicide and shooting attacks in Israel, which the IDF attributes to the security fence, quality intelligence and operational freedom of action throughout Judea and Samaria, rocket and mortar attacks continue from the Gaza Strip. In 2007, 1,263 rockets and 1,511 mortar bombs struck Israel, compared to 1,722 rockets and 55 mortar bombs in 2006. Two residents of Sderot were killed in 2007. The ISA estimates that since the Hamas takeover in the middle of June 2007, 80 tons of explosives have been smuggled into the Gaza Strip from the Sinai.
VIII. The crossings between Israel and the Gaza Strip
On 30 January, in its response to an appeal against restricting supplies of electricity and fuel to the Gaza Strip, the Israeli Supreme Court determined that since Israel had disengaged from the Gaza Strip it had no effective control over what occurred there. The judges also determined that Israel had no commitment "to deal with the welfare of the residents of the Gaza Strip or to allow unlimited amounts of goods and merchandise" to pass through, but only vital and humanitarian goods (Israel Supreme Court website, January 30). At present, fuel, gas and humanitarian goods continue to pass through the Sufa and Nahal Oz Crossings, and pedestrians with serious humanitarian needs are permitted to use the Erez crossing.
--------------------------------------------
IMRA - Independent Media Review
and Analysis Website: www.imra.org.il
Hezbollah Threatens Israel Anywhere in the World in Response to Mughniyeh Killing
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued an alert today as the chief of Hezbollah vowed to retaliate against Israeli targets anywhere in the world. He accused Israel of killing the militant Imad Mughniyeh in Syria.Today, Israel ordered its military, embassies and Jewish institutions overseas to go on alert, fearing revenge attacks for a car bomb that killed Mughniyeh - accused of masterminding dramatic and murderous terrorist attacks that killed hundreds of Americans, Israelis and Jews.
There is no known specific threat against New York, the United States or the Jewish community. The threat specifically targets Israeli entities. However, Hezbollah affiliates or homegrown terrorists might choose to strike a Jewish target. This is an appropriate time for all institutions to review their security procedures and to increase their vigilance.
For tips on situational awareness check out Indications of Suspicious Activity by our partners at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, the ADL Security webpage or download Emergency Planning: Disaster and Crisis Response Systems for Jewish Organizations by United Jewish Communities/JCRC/John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
Religion or Pseudo Religion: Orthodoxy and Torah Values
B"H
When you are wearing the uniform of G-d's Own Team, you had better be careful how you act.
If you put religious stickers all over your car, please drive carefully and politely.
If you go around in a big black beard, tzitzit, and a black hat, please don't litter, spit on the street, or cuss.
If you are running a business that everyone knows is run by a Jew, please be especially careful in how you treat your customers and how you keep your books.
We expect those who look religious to be more ethical, moral, kind, polite, and helpful than those who do not look religious. It is an obligation to uphold Torah Values when you go into public, when you walk down the street, when you are alone with your family.
You don't get a pass.
If you are rude about being religious, you have completely missed the point.
Rabbi Angel is absolutely correct.
M
-----
http://www.jewishideas.org/node/59
by Rabbi Marc D. Angel
I recently was in an airport waiting to board a flight. A young Orthodox Jewish couple was sitting a few rows in front of me. He was wearing a black kippah, and had tsitsith hanging down the side of his black pants. She was wearing a blond wig, long sleeved blouse, and a long skirt. At some point, she arose and took out a pocket prayer-book. She shuckled quite conspicuously as she mouthed the words of prayer.
As she sat down after completing her prayers, she inadvertently knocked over her bottle of spring water so that it fell down behind her at the feet of a fellow passenger. He kindly picked up the bottle and handed it to the woman. She reached back and took it from him, without looking at him and without a word of thanks or acknowledgement. She kept right on talking with her husband as though nothing had happened, as though the man behind her didn't even exist.
This incident, seemingly so trivial, reflects a serious problem. Sometimes, people look "religious" and seem punctilious about religious rituals--but they lack essential moral values. This young lady was no doubt a practicing Orthodox Jewess; but she lacked simple courtesy and proper manners. She treated another human being--one who had done her a kindness--as though he were not entitled to a word of thanks. She did not realize that proper service to God also entails proper relationships with fellow human beings.
Religious piety without moral values is not religion at all. It is pseudo-religion. It looks like religion on the surface, but is deficient at its inner core.
There are "religious" Jews who self-righteously condemn materialism, but whose very lifestyle is mired in materialism. They support a system that encourages men to study Torah day and night, so that the wives can have the babies, run the household, and provide the income for their families. Such a system encourages yeshiva men to seek wives with rich fathers willing to support their lifestyle. Aside from being grossly unfair to women, this system fosters materialistic values. Brides are evaluated by how much money they can provide. Those from less prosperous families are at a disadvantage. This seemingly "religious" and non-materialistic society is wracked with materialistic values.
We recently learned of a case (hopefully very rare, but still indicative of the problem) where parents of a yeshiva man asked a match-maker to find their son a bride with a wealthy father. They wanted the prospective father-in-law to guarantee enough support to their son, so that he would never have to work a day in his life. After a bit of searching, the match-maker came back with a good candidate. Her father was very rich and willing to establish a generous trust fund to support the family indefinitely. The parents of the yeshiva man, though, asked the match-maker a question: how many siblings does the bride have? The answer: she is one of nine children. The parents rejected the match, saying that the bride had too many siblings and wouldn't receive enough of an inheritance. She would only get one-ninth of her father's estate. These people consider themselves to be religious Jews; not just plain religious, but highly religious, the elite of the Torah world. Yet, their values are warped.
Should a lifestyle that fosters such a repellent materialism be viewed as being "religious"? It adheres to superficial forms of religion, but is defective at its core. It is, in many ways, pseudo-religion; it is untrue to the ideals and values of Torah at its best.
The Israeli media have been reporting recently about "religious" schools in Israel that promote ethnic and racial discrimination. A number of the elite Ashkenazic hareidi schools apparently have quotas limiting the number of non-Ashkenazic students who can be admitted. A recent story in the Jerusalem Post noted that a girls' school in the town of Immanuel actually has a physical barrier separating Ashkenazic students from their Sephardic classmates. The Sephardim are segregated as much as possible. Another story reported on a "religious" school that isolated its Ethiopian Jewish students, making them use a different entrance to the school building and having them sit in separate classrooms. Is this religious behavior? Can schools that promote such vile discrimination be considered as religious? On the contrary, these schools are repulsive examples of religion gone wrong. No parents--of whatever background--should want their children to attend such schools. Schools that teach and enforce discriminatory policies are morally deficient and cannot be considered as bastions of Torah. Rather, they disgrace the Torah. While passing themselves off as being religious, these schools (and all their administrators, teachers and parents who support the system) are mockeries of Torah religion.
We constantly need to remind ourselves that Torah Judaism is a lofty moral framework for life, that it represents the loftiest ideals and noblest visions. It is based on compassion, empathy, commitment to the dignity of each individual. It teaches service to God and service to our fellow human beings. Without full commitment to these Torah values, "religion" becomes pseudo-religion. Pseudo-religion is false and corrupt at its core, and ultimately undermines and shames true religion.
Each of us can find a way to strengthen the moral fiber of our people. We can be sure that we ourselves conduct ourselves with proper manners, with proper values, with genuine concern for others. We can raise our voices in protest of institutions, schools and "religious" leaders who do not live up to Torah values. We can join with other like-minded people to work for an intellectually vibrant, compassionate, inclusive and moral community, truly representative of Torah and its teachings.
When you are wearing the uniform of G-d's Own Team, you had better be careful how you act.
If you put religious stickers all over your car, please drive carefully and politely.
If you go around in a big black beard, tzitzit, and a black hat, please don't litter, spit on the street, or cuss.
If you are running a business that everyone knows is run by a Jew, please be especially careful in how you treat your customers and how you keep your books.
We expect those who look religious to be more ethical, moral, kind, polite, and helpful than those who do not look religious. It is an obligation to uphold Torah Values when you go into public, when you walk down the street, when you are alone with your family.
You don't get a pass.
If you are rude about being religious, you have completely missed the point.
Rabbi Angel is absolutely correct.
M
-----
http://www.jewishideas.org/node/59
by Rabbi Marc D. Angel
I recently was in an airport waiting to board a flight. A young Orthodox Jewish couple was sitting a few rows in front of me. He was wearing a black kippah, and had tsitsith hanging down the side of his black pants. She was wearing a blond wig, long sleeved blouse, and a long skirt. At some point, she arose and took out a pocket prayer-book. She shuckled quite conspicuously as she mouthed the words of prayer.
As she sat down after completing her prayers, she inadvertently knocked over her bottle of spring water so that it fell down behind her at the feet of a fellow passenger. He kindly picked up the bottle and handed it to the woman. She reached back and took it from him, without looking at him and without a word of thanks or acknowledgement. She kept right on talking with her husband as though nothing had happened, as though the man behind her didn't even exist.
This incident, seemingly so trivial, reflects a serious problem. Sometimes, people look "religious" and seem punctilious about religious rituals--but they lack essential moral values. This young lady was no doubt a practicing Orthodox Jewess; but she lacked simple courtesy and proper manners. She treated another human being--one who had done her a kindness--as though he were not entitled to a word of thanks. She did not realize that proper service to God also entails proper relationships with fellow human beings.
Religious piety without moral values is not religion at all. It is pseudo-religion. It looks like religion on the surface, but is deficient at its inner core.
There are "religious" Jews who self-righteously condemn materialism, but whose very lifestyle is mired in materialism. They support a system that encourages men to study Torah day and night, so that the wives can have the babies, run the household, and provide the income for their families. Such a system encourages yeshiva men to seek wives with rich fathers willing to support their lifestyle. Aside from being grossly unfair to women, this system fosters materialistic values. Brides are evaluated by how much money they can provide. Those from less prosperous families are at a disadvantage. This seemingly "religious" and non-materialistic society is wracked with materialistic values.
We recently learned of a case (hopefully very rare, but still indicative of the problem) where parents of a yeshiva man asked a match-maker to find their son a bride with a wealthy father. They wanted the prospective father-in-law to guarantee enough support to their son, so that he would never have to work a day in his life. After a bit of searching, the match-maker came back with a good candidate. Her father was very rich and willing to establish a generous trust fund to support the family indefinitely. The parents of the yeshiva man, though, asked the match-maker a question: how many siblings does the bride have? The answer: she is one of nine children. The parents rejected the match, saying that the bride had too many siblings and wouldn't receive enough of an inheritance. She would only get one-ninth of her father's estate. These people consider themselves to be religious Jews; not just plain religious, but highly religious, the elite of the Torah world. Yet, their values are warped.
Should a lifestyle that fosters such a repellent materialism be viewed as being "religious"? It adheres to superficial forms of religion, but is defective at its core. It is, in many ways, pseudo-religion; it is untrue to the ideals and values of Torah at its best.
The Israeli media have been reporting recently about "religious" schools in Israel that promote ethnic and racial discrimination. A number of the elite Ashkenazic hareidi schools apparently have quotas limiting the number of non-Ashkenazic students who can be admitted. A recent story in the Jerusalem Post noted that a girls' school in the town of Immanuel actually has a physical barrier separating Ashkenazic students from their Sephardic classmates. The Sephardim are segregated as much as possible. Another story reported on a "religious" school that isolated its Ethiopian Jewish students, making them use a different entrance to the school building and having them sit in separate classrooms. Is this religious behavior? Can schools that promote such vile discrimination be considered as religious? On the contrary, these schools are repulsive examples of religion gone wrong. No parents--of whatever background--should want their children to attend such schools. Schools that teach and enforce discriminatory policies are morally deficient and cannot be considered as bastions of Torah. Rather, they disgrace the Torah. While passing themselves off as being religious, these schools (and all their administrators, teachers and parents who support the system) are mockeries of Torah religion.
We constantly need to remind ourselves that Torah Judaism is a lofty moral framework for life, that it represents the loftiest ideals and noblest visions. It is based on compassion, empathy, commitment to the dignity of each individual. It teaches service to God and service to our fellow human beings. Without full commitment to these Torah values, "religion" becomes pseudo-religion. Pseudo-religion is false and corrupt at its core, and ultimately undermines and shames true religion.
Each of us can find a way to strengthen the moral fiber of our people. We can be sure that we ourselves conduct ourselves with proper manners, with proper values, with genuine concern for others. We can raise our voices in protest of institutions, schools and "religious" leaders who do not live up to Torah values. We can join with other like-minded people to work for an intellectually vibrant, compassionate, inclusive and moral community, truly representative of Torah and its teachings.
Biblical hero Joseph 'was really a Muslim'
B”H
We all know what these means—they will claim Yosef’s tomb for themselves and make it off-limits for Jews to visit. They will make it a mosque.
M
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FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU
Palestinians make astonishing claim, deny they'll help restore burned tomb
Posted: February 14, 2008
1:00 am Eastern
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=56304
By Aaron Klein
© 2008 WorldNetDaily
In the wake of an attempt by Palestinians to burn down Joseph's Tomb – Judaism's third holiest site – Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction issued a statement denying it will help restore the shrine, referring to both the shrine and the biblical patriarch as "Muslim."
"Pay no attention to the rumors that we will work with Israel to restore the burial site of the holy Muslim Joseph," said the statement, issued from Nablus, the biblical city of Shechem. "We are going to guard this holy Muslim site."
Joseph's Tomb is the believed burial place of the son of Jacob who was sold by his brothers into slavery and later became viceroy of Egypt.
Palestinian security officials in Nablus said Monday they were called to the tomb to find 16 burning tires inside the sacred structure. A Palestinian police official who inspected the site told WND there was some fire damage to the tomb.
He said the Palestinian Authority, fearing embarrassment, immediately formed a joint committee from the PA's Force 17, Preventative Security Services and Palestinian intelligence, to find out who was behind the fire.
The move comes after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced last week he would ask Israel's Defense Ministry to work with the PA to reconstruct and restore the tomb, parts of which were destroyed in 2000 by Palestinians, including known PA security officers.
Under the 1993 Oslo Accords, which granted nearby strategic territory to the Palestinians, Joseph's Tomb was supposed to be accessible to Jews and Christians. But following repeated attacks against Jewish worshippers at the holy site by gunmen associated with then-Palestinian Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat's militias, then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak in October 2000 ordered an Israeli unilateral retreat from the area.
Within less than an hour of the Israeli retreat, Palestinian rioters overtook Joseph's Tomb and reportedly began to ransack the site. Palestinian mobs reportedly tore apart books, destroying prayer stands and grinding out stone carvings in the Tomb's interior. A Muslim flag was hoisted over the tomb.
Israel first gained control of Nablus and the neighboring site of Joseph's Tomb in the 1967 Six-Day War. The Oslo Accords signed by Arafat and Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin called for the area surrounding the tomb site to be placed under Palestinian jurisdiction but allowed for continued Jewish visits to the site and the construction of an Israeli military outpost at the tomb to ensure secure Jewish access.
Following the transfer of control of Nablus and the general area encompassing the tomb to the Palestinians in the early 1990s, there were a series of outbreaks of violence in which Arab rioters and gunmen from Arafat's Fatah militias shot at Jewish worshipers and the tomb's military outpost.
Six Israeli soldiers were killed, and many others, including yeshiva students, were wounded in September 1996 when Palestinian rioters and Fatah gunmen attempted to over take the tomb. Eventually, Israeli soldiers regained control of the site.
Gravestone at traditional burial site for biblical patriarch Joseph after it was ransacked by Palestinian mobs
The Palestinians continued to attack Joseph's Tomb with regular shootings and the lobbing of firebombs and Molotov cocktails. Security for Jews at the site increasingly became more difficult to maintain. Rumors circulated in 2000 that Barak would evacuate the Israeli military outpost and give the tomb to Arafat as a "peacemaking gesture."
In early 2000, the Israeli army began denying Jewish visits to the tomb on certain days due to prospects of Arab violence. Following U.S.-mediated peace talks at Camp David in September 2000, Arafat returned to the West Bank and initiated his intifada. During one bloody week in October 2000, Fatah gunmen attacked the tomb repeatedly, killing two and injuring dozens, prompting Barak to order a complete evacuation of Judaism's third holiest site Oct. 6.
We all know what these means—they will claim Yosef’s tomb for themselves and make it off-limits for Jews to visit. They will make it a mosque.
M
-----
FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU
Palestinians make astonishing claim, deny they'll help restore burned tomb
Posted: February 14, 2008
1:00 am Eastern
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=56304
By Aaron Klein
© 2008 WorldNetDaily
In the wake of an attempt by Palestinians to burn down Joseph's Tomb – Judaism's third holiest site – Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction issued a statement denying it will help restore the shrine, referring to both the shrine and the biblical patriarch as "Muslim."
"Pay no attention to the rumors that we will work with Israel to restore the burial site of the holy Muslim Joseph," said the statement, issued from Nablus, the biblical city of Shechem. "We are going to guard this holy Muslim site."
Joseph's Tomb is the believed burial place of the son of Jacob who was sold by his brothers into slavery and later became viceroy of Egypt.
Palestinian security officials in Nablus said Monday they were called to the tomb to find 16 burning tires inside the sacred structure. A Palestinian police official who inspected the site told WND there was some fire damage to the tomb.
He said the Palestinian Authority, fearing embarrassment, immediately formed a joint committee from the PA's Force 17, Preventative Security Services and Palestinian intelligence, to find out who was behind the fire.
The move comes after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced last week he would ask Israel's Defense Ministry to work with the PA to reconstruct and restore the tomb, parts of which were destroyed in 2000 by Palestinians, including known PA security officers.
Under the 1993 Oslo Accords, which granted nearby strategic territory to the Palestinians, Joseph's Tomb was supposed to be accessible to Jews and Christians. But following repeated attacks against Jewish worshippers at the holy site by gunmen associated with then-Palestinian Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat's militias, then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak in October 2000 ordered an Israeli unilateral retreat from the area.
Within less than an hour of the Israeli retreat, Palestinian rioters overtook Joseph's Tomb and reportedly began to ransack the site. Palestinian mobs reportedly tore apart books, destroying prayer stands and grinding out stone carvings in the Tomb's interior. A Muslim flag was hoisted over the tomb.
Israel first gained control of Nablus and the neighboring site of Joseph's Tomb in the 1967 Six-Day War. The Oslo Accords signed by Arafat and Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin called for the area surrounding the tomb site to be placed under Palestinian jurisdiction but allowed for continued Jewish visits to the site and the construction of an Israeli military outpost at the tomb to ensure secure Jewish access.
Following the transfer of control of Nablus and the general area encompassing the tomb to the Palestinians in the early 1990s, there were a series of outbreaks of violence in which Arab rioters and gunmen from Arafat's Fatah militias shot at Jewish worshipers and the tomb's military outpost.
Six Israeli soldiers were killed, and many others, including yeshiva students, were wounded in September 1996 when Palestinian rioters and Fatah gunmen attempted to over take the tomb. Eventually, Israeli soldiers regained control of the site.
Gravestone at traditional burial site for biblical patriarch Joseph after it was ransacked by Palestinian mobs
The Palestinians continued to attack Joseph's Tomb with regular shootings and the lobbing of firebombs and Molotov cocktails. Security for Jews at the site increasingly became more difficult to maintain. Rumors circulated in 2000 that Barak would evacuate the Israeli military outpost and give the tomb to Arafat as a "peacemaking gesture."
In early 2000, the Israeli army began denying Jewish visits to the tomb on certain days due to prospects of Arab violence. Following U.S.-mediated peace talks at Camp David in September 2000, Arafat returned to the West Bank and initiated his intifada. During one bloody week in October 2000, Fatah gunmen attacked the tomb repeatedly, killing two and injuring dozens, prompting Barak to order a complete evacuation of Judaism's third holiest site Oct. 6.
Yizchak Yosef Coming Into His Own--Discovers Sephardim Don't Come from Lithuania!
B"H
OK, it appears that Yizchak Yosef has finally come into his own and has started to realize that the Ashkenazim are, with the best of intentions, completely destroying Sephardic customs.
Of course, his own family has a lot to do with this wholesale destruction of Sephardic Culture--I'm looking at a picture of Yizchak Yosef right now, and he is wearing a black hat, not the traditional dress of Sephardim. In addition, I just posted a story last week about Ovadia Yosef's family sending all their kids to Litvak institutions rather than Sephardic schools (not that the Sephardic schools remember who they are either!).
Just so you know how this happens, it isn't just weddings--it's everything. Let's take a wedding for example, though. Lots of Sephardic boys want to marry Ashkenazi girls because they have been taught that Ashkenazi girls are "more religious" by their "Rebbes" in Yeshiva. The Ashkenazi girls' parents pay for the wedding and, of course, insist upon Ashkenazi customs at the wedding. They also might insist upon "their" rabbi--Ashkenazi.
The girl goes to Ashkenazi Kallah classes and learns the Ashkenazi marriage customs, she dips Ashkenazi, and she probably also continues to light her candles like the Ashkenazim (just so you know, Sephardim say the blessing BEFORE we light the candles). All the while, she doesn't do this on purpose or in order to undermine her husband--she doesn't know the difference. Sephardim learn both customs, Ashkenazim only learn theirs--so they assume theirs are the only one! It is not intentional.
If a Sephardic Rabbi dares to follow his minhag and rule that way, the Ashkenazi rabbis say his followers are "not religious enough," and their kids don't come to eat at our houses or play with our children. We are "not religious enough" to attend their schools, and our ways are spoken of as if we are "traditional" or "conservative" not "Orthodox." Of course, none of those distinctions are part of Sephardic culture, but that doesn't matter to them.
It isn't just the Yeshivas where our children are educated to be Ashkenazi--it is also the day schools. Our children are subjected to lectures on how their "level of kashrut" is not acceptable, and how our ways are not "Kosher."
We are supposed to follow their every chumrah, and they teach those chomrot as law--they make no distinction when teaching between Torah, Rabbinical, Minhagim, and Chumrot.
So, I appreciate very much the effort this esteemed rabbi is making on behalf of Sephardim, but it is a day late and a dollar short.
We need our own schools DESPERATELY. Our people must start to give to Sephardic causes, to develop Sephardic Schools, to support Sephardic Rabbis and stand by them--even when they are pressured.
Rabbi Angel is our champion as well. We must support these rabbis and others like them. We also need a Rabbinical Association of Sephardic Rabbis to support them and give them strength in their communities.
M
-----
Yitzchak Yosef: Rabbis encouraging Sephardic Jews to 'turn Ashkenazi'
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef's son furious at Sephardic Yeshiva students who take up 'vulgar custom' of retiring to seclusion room (yichud) immediately after wedding ceremony
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3506765,00.html
Neta Sela
Published: 02.14.08, 12:52 / Israel Jewish Scene
Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef is fighting back. After taking fire from Ashkenazi rabbis on his rulings regarding the shmita year, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef’s son is waging a war of his own.
In a newsletter distributed by the Rabbinical Centre of Europe, Rabbi Yosef condemned Ashkenazi heads of yeshivas who are encouraging their Sephardic pupils to follow their customs and are ‘turning them Ashkenazi’ in their practices.
The rabbi focused in particular on the customary ‘seclusion’ of a bride and groom on their wedding day, which typically occurs in a private room following the couple’s union. Sephardic Jews typically enact this symbolic seclusion, called yichud, right after the traditional wedding meal. Ashkenazi Jews, on the other hand, send the bride and groom off for seclusion right after the chupah; that is the wedding ceremony itself.
'Deviating from the ways of our Sephardic rabbis'
Rabbi Yosef deemed this Ashkenazi custom as ‘ugly’ and ‘vulgar’ based upon prior religious edicts issued by top Sephardic rabbis, such as the head of the Ben Porat Yeshiva Rabbi Shaul Tzadakha, as well as Rabbi Ezra Attia and Rabbi Abba Shaul.
Chastising Sephardic yeshiva students who have taken on Ashkenazi customs, Rabbi Yosef noted that “they are acting in an inappropriate manner”. He also criticized Ashkenazi heads of yeshivas stating that “these Ashkenazi rabbis should not encourage Sephardic students to deviate from customs and traditions enacted by top rabbis and halachic rulers.”
Further backing his assertions, Rabbi Yosef also quoted his father, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, who wrote in his response entitled ‘Yabia Omer’ that “whoever transgresses from Sephardic custom in this respect ought to be hushed and chastised out of respect for the torah greats of the generation”.
Yet another Ashkenazi custom, namely allowing the groom to hold the bride’s hand on their way to the seclusion room, and also allowing the couple to be accompanied by friends as they head off to consummate their marriage, was also criticized by Rabbi Yosef. He noted that the bride and groom ought to head off to seclusion right after the traditional wedding feast, and that they ought to be accompanied by relatives alone.
Rabbi Yosef spared no words for the Sephardic yeshiva students who take on such practices. “Only in recent years have Sephardic students attending Ashkenazi yeshivas begun to deviate from the ways of our Sephardic rabbis. It is clear, however, that we must not forsake the traditions of our forefathers.”
The rabbi also praised Sephardic rabbis who insist upon Sephardic custom throughout the wedding ceremonies that they oversee.
OK, it appears that Yizchak Yosef has finally come into his own and has started to realize that the Ashkenazim are, with the best of intentions, completely destroying Sephardic customs.
Of course, his own family has a lot to do with this wholesale destruction of Sephardic Culture--I'm looking at a picture of Yizchak Yosef right now, and he is wearing a black hat, not the traditional dress of Sephardim. In addition, I just posted a story last week about Ovadia Yosef's family sending all their kids to Litvak institutions rather than Sephardic schools (not that the Sephardic schools remember who they are either!).
Just so you know how this happens, it isn't just weddings--it's everything. Let's take a wedding for example, though. Lots of Sephardic boys want to marry Ashkenazi girls because they have been taught that Ashkenazi girls are "more religious" by their "Rebbes" in Yeshiva. The Ashkenazi girls' parents pay for the wedding and, of course, insist upon Ashkenazi customs at the wedding. They also might insist upon "their" rabbi--Ashkenazi.
The girl goes to Ashkenazi Kallah classes and learns the Ashkenazi marriage customs, she dips Ashkenazi, and she probably also continues to light her candles like the Ashkenazim (just so you know, Sephardim say the blessing BEFORE we light the candles). All the while, she doesn't do this on purpose or in order to undermine her husband--she doesn't know the difference. Sephardim learn both customs, Ashkenazim only learn theirs--so they assume theirs are the only one! It is not intentional.
If a Sephardic Rabbi dares to follow his minhag and rule that way, the Ashkenazi rabbis say his followers are "not religious enough," and their kids don't come to eat at our houses or play with our children. We are "not religious enough" to attend their schools, and our ways are spoken of as if we are "traditional" or "conservative" not "Orthodox." Of course, none of those distinctions are part of Sephardic culture, but that doesn't matter to them.
It isn't just the Yeshivas where our children are educated to be Ashkenazi--it is also the day schools. Our children are subjected to lectures on how their "level of kashrut" is not acceptable, and how our ways are not "Kosher."
We are supposed to follow their every chumrah, and they teach those chomrot as law--they make no distinction when teaching between Torah, Rabbinical, Minhagim, and Chumrot.
So, I appreciate very much the effort this esteemed rabbi is making on behalf of Sephardim, but it is a day late and a dollar short.
We need our own schools DESPERATELY. Our people must start to give to Sephardic causes, to develop Sephardic Schools, to support Sephardic Rabbis and stand by them--even when they are pressured.
Rabbi Angel is our champion as well. We must support these rabbis and others like them. We also need a Rabbinical Association of Sephardic Rabbis to support them and give them strength in their communities.
M
-----
Yitzchak Yosef: Rabbis encouraging Sephardic Jews to 'turn Ashkenazi'
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef's son furious at Sephardic Yeshiva students who take up 'vulgar custom' of retiring to seclusion room (yichud) immediately after wedding ceremony
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3506765,00.html
Neta Sela
Published: 02.14.08, 12:52 / Israel Jewish Scene
Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef is fighting back. After taking fire from Ashkenazi rabbis on his rulings regarding the shmita year, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef’s son is waging a war of his own.
In a newsletter distributed by the Rabbinical Centre of Europe, Rabbi Yosef condemned Ashkenazi heads of yeshivas who are encouraging their Sephardic pupils to follow their customs and are ‘turning them Ashkenazi’ in their practices.
The rabbi focused in particular on the customary ‘seclusion’ of a bride and groom on their wedding day, which typically occurs in a private room following the couple’s union. Sephardic Jews typically enact this symbolic seclusion, called yichud, right after the traditional wedding meal. Ashkenazi Jews, on the other hand, send the bride and groom off for seclusion right after the chupah; that is the wedding ceremony itself.
'Deviating from the ways of our Sephardic rabbis'
Rabbi Yosef deemed this Ashkenazi custom as ‘ugly’ and ‘vulgar’ based upon prior religious edicts issued by top Sephardic rabbis, such as the head of the Ben Porat Yeshiva Rabbi Shaul Tzadakha, as well as Rabbi Ezra Attia and Rabbi Abba Shaul.
Chastising Sephardic yeshiva students who have taken on Ashkenazi customs, Rabbi Yosef noted that “they are acting in an inappropriate manner”. He also criticized Ashkenazi heads of yeshivas stating that “these Ashkenazi rabbis should not encourage Sephardic students to deviate from customs and traditions enacted by top rabbis and halachic rulers.”
Further backing his assertions, Rabbi Yosef also quoted his father, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, who wrote in his response entitled ‘Yabia Omer’ that “whoever transgresses from Sephardic custom in this respect ought to be hushed and chastised out of respect for the torah greats of the generation”.
Yet another Ashkenazi custom, namely allowing the groom to hold the bride’s hand on their way to the seclusion room, and also allowing the couple to be accompanied by friends as they head off to consummate their marriage, was also criticized by Rabbi Yosef. He noted that the bride and groom ought to head off to seclusion right after the traditional wedding feast, and that they ought to be accompanied by relatives alone.
Rabbi Yosef spared no words for the Sephardic yeshiva students who take on such practices. “Only in recent years have Sephardic students attending Ashkenazi yeshivas begun to deviate from the ways of our Sephardic rabbis. It is clear, however, that we must not forsake the traditions of our forefathers.”
The rabbi also praised Sephardic rabbis who insist upon Sephardic custom throughout the wedding ceremonies that they oversee.
Bush Betrays Jewish Republicans AGAIN--Signs to Allow PLO to Stay in Washington
B”H
If Bush is on a quest to make every Jew a Democrat, he is well on his way to succeeding.
The Jews who are in the Republican Party are the very same Jews who care about Jerusalem and the war on terror. It is these Jews he is undermining.
I can’t believe I ever supported this man. I feel so betrayed and disgusted.
I have a strong feeling that a few years down the line we are going to have a new “Carter” in Bush—another Jew-hating ex-president who pretended to love us when he was in office in order to get our campaign cash.
M
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Bush Signs Waiver Allowing PLO to Remain in Washington
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/125254
by Hana Levi Julian
(IsraelNN.com) United States President George W. Bush again signed a six-month waiver of a law which bans the presence of the Palestine Liberation Organization terrorist group in Washington, D.C.
The law was based on anti-terrorist legislation dating back to the 1980’s, but has been routinely waived since the Oslo process in 1993.
Bush sent the renewed waiver to Congress on Wednesday, the day before the funeral in Beirut of Hizbullah arch-terrorist chieftain Imad Mughniyeh, who spent 25 years on the FBI’s “20 Most Wanted” list.
The American President also signed another routine six-month waiver, this one postponing the relocation of the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
President Bush had promised that his first step on taking office in 2001 would be to move the embassy to Israel’s capital.
In less than a month after Bush entered the White House, then-US Secretary of State Colin Powell reneged on Bush’s campaign promise, citing tension and violence in the area. Powell rejected attempts to pin him down on exactly when the embassy would relocate to Jerusalem.
The new Bush administration’s National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice also stalled, saying the new administration was still committed to the move, but could not say when it would take place.
On June 12, 2001 President Bush issued the second of what would become a series of semi-annual “routine” waivers to delay the embassy’s relocation to Jerusalem. His predecessor, former President Bill Clinton, had carried out the same practice.
The US embassy has remained in Tel Aviv up to the present time. Observers have noted that the delay of moving the US embassy to Jerusalem calls into question US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
Bush’s term in office will end January 15, 2009, leaving him two more opportunities to fulfill his promise to the American Jewish community and the People of Israel.
If Bush is on a quest to make every Jew a Democrat, he is well on his way to succeeding.
The Jews who are in the Republican Party are the very same Jews who care about Jerusalem and the war on terror. It is these Jews he is undermining.
I can’t believe I ever supported this man. I feel so betrayed and disgusted.
I have a strong feeling that a few years down the line we are going to have a new “Carter” in Bush—another Jew-hating ex-president who pretended to love us when he was in office in order to get our campaign cash.
M
-----
Bush Signs Waiver Allowing PLO to Remain in Washington
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/125254
by Hana Levi Julian
(IsraelNN.com) United States President George W. Bush again signed a six-month waiver of a law which bans the presence of the Palestine Liberation Organization terrorist group in Washington, D.C.
The law was based on anti-terrorist legislation dating back to the 1980’s, but has been routinely waived since the Oslo process in 1993.
Bush sent the renewed waiver to Congress on Wednesday, the day before the funeral in Beirut of Hizbullah arch-terrorist chieftain Imad Mughniyeh, who spent 25 years on the FBI’s “20 Most Wanted” list.
The American President also signed another routine six-month waiver, this one postponing the relocation of the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
President Bush had promised that his first step on taking office in 2001 would be to move the embassy to Israel’s capital.
In less than a month after Bush entered the White House, then-US Secretary of State Colin Powell reneged on Bush’s campaign promise, citing tension and violence in the area. Powell rejected attempts to pin him down on exactly when the embassy would relocate to Jerusalem.
The new Bush administration’s National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice also stalled, saying the new administration was still committed to the move, but could not say when it would take place.
On June 12, 2001 President Bush issued the second of what would become a series of semi-annual “routine” waivers to delay the embassy’s relocation to Jerusalem. His predecessor, former President Bill Clinton, had carried out the same practice.
The US embassy has remained in Tel Aviv up to the present time. Observers have noted that the delay of moving the US embassy to Jerusalem calls into question US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
Bush’s term in office will end January 15, 2009, leaving him two more opportunities to fulfill his promise to the American Jewish community and the People of Israel.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
New Documentary Focuses on Forced "Political Correctness" on College Campuses
B"H
I was fine in my college job--I had tenure, I had awards for my teaching, I had a great career ahead of me--until I became religious.
Suddenly, everything I ever taught was brought up for discussion, everyone conveniently forgot about my teaching success and all the hours I spent working on committees, faculty governance, and campus activities (except my dear students, G-d bless them!)
I was harassed and harassed and harassed for being religious. They wrote me up for taking Jewish holidays off, for not participating in campus events on Shabbat, for not being "collegial" when I didn't show up for pot-luck lunches of treif food or travel to lunchens at treif restaurants.
It was a nightmare. Thank G-d I had tenure! (and Thank G-d I had a better offer and moved on!)
M
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Opening a window on closed campus minds
A new documentary shows how repressive university political correctness has become
BARBARA KAY
National Post bkay@videotron.ca
Early 20th-century American novelist Thomas Wolfe, the subject of my grad thesis, is most famously remembered for his book, or rather its title, You Can't Go Home Again. The phrase entered the language as shorthand for the disappointment one feels in later life when revisiting the greatly changed scene of one's youthful bliss.
My youthful bliss was studying the great writers of Western civilization at the University of Toronto. I didn't know then I was witnessing a "melancholy, long, withdrawing roar": the outgoing tide of a classically liberal education.
I don't suffer from the "in-my-day" syndrome, whereby the institutions of one's formative years seem in retrospect superior to those of the next generations. I haven't lost my objectivity; academia has. In my day, the university's mission was to open minds; today it is to close them.
For proof, see Indoctrinate U, a documentary film that explores the reflexive suppression on campus of the ideologically non-compliant in its midst. The Canadian premiere takes place in Ottawa on Feb. 18 at 7 p.m., at the National Archives of the Library of Canada. (Or order Indoctrinate U at https://store.indoctrinate-u.com/)
The film focuses on American campuses, but leftist triumphalism knows no national borders. The pattern of political groupthink captured by filmmaker Evan Coyne Maloney could be replicated at any number of similarly left-leaning Canadian universities.
Building on testimonials by students, faculty, alumni and critical commentators, including attempts to interview campus administrators (not a single one co-operated; several were filmed calling the police to eject Maloney from campus), the young filmmaker mounts a compelling indictment of - in George Orwell's words - the "smelly little orthodoxies" suffocating intellectual diversity on campus.
Indoctrinate U exposes the full gamut of the PC scourge: irritations that grate, like speech codes forbidding words that may lead to "a loss of self-esteem" (Colby College) or a ban on gender-specific partner terms such as "boyfriend" (University of West Virginia); and cuts that sting: on campus after campus, conservative student journalists are reviled, their dailies trashed en masse. "The only good Republican is a dead Republican!" screams one offended student when offered a conservative broadsheet.
Diversity of opinion is squashed, sometimes with savagely hypocritical zeal. At Indian River Community College in Florida, the Christian Fellowship was refused the right to show The Passion of the Christ because it was "Rrated," but a play called F--king for Jesus was permitted, featuring a girl masturbating before a picture of Jesus.
The most sympathetic victims are conservative faculty, because academia is their life, not a way station. At California Polytechnic, "outed" professor Laura Freberg was reproached by her colleagues, "We never would have hired you if we'd known you were Republican." In spite of her impeccable academic credentials and stellar teaching ratings, Freberg was removed as department chair, and a swastika burned on her lawn.
Just when you think he has plumbed its depths, Maloney finds more sickening examples of Western selfloathing. Kuwaiti student Ahmad al-Qloushi dared to write a pro-American essay at Foothill College. He was threatened with the loss of his visa by a professor; and administrators subsequently authorized the distribution of a third-party flyer calling him "as bad as Hitler" and likening him to a suicide bomber.
These examples seem sensational, but the film's tone is calm and objective. Maloney did not appear to have cherrypicked his witnesses. He toured campuses big and small, famous and humble, across the nation. It was the same "velvet-totalitarian" story everywhere. His interview subjects reflect on the problem soberly and articulately, and every case included was vetted for veracity and moral clarity.
The camera does not lie: Former centres of learning and intellectual diversity are now indoctrination sites systemically dedicated to the abbreviation of human curiosity and the alienation of students from Western civilization.
I often wonder where in Canada I could "go home again" in the 21st century. I have one simple, symbolic criterion: a learning centre that would still hold up for critical admiration the greatness in the writings of Thomas Wolfe, a hard-drinking, aggressively heterosexual white male from a racist background, whose creative inspiration was Western civilization's literary treasure trove and whose overriding theme was his passion for America.
That's a tall order nowadays. I only know one threeyear arts program in Canada today I'd be glad to call my intellectual home, and I fear for its survival.
I was fine in my college job--I had tenure, I had awards for my teaching, I had a great career ahead of me--until I became religious.
Suddenly, everything I ever taught was brought up for discussion, everyone conveniently forgot about my teaching success and all the hours I spent working on committees, faculty governance, and campus activities (except my dear students, G-d bless them!)
I was harassed and harassed and harassed for being religious. They wrote me up for taking Jewish holidays off, for not participating in campus events on Shabbat, for not being "collegial" when I didn't show up for pot-luck lunches of treif food or travel to lunchens at treif restaurants.
It was a nightmare. Thank G-d I had tenure! (and Thank G-d I had a better offer and moved on!)
M
-----
Opening a window on closed campus minds
A new documentary shows how repressive university political correctness has become
BARBARA KAY
National Post bkay@videotron.ca
Early 20th-century American novelist Thomas Wolfe, the subject of my grad thesis, is most famously remembered for his book, or rather its title, You Can't Go Home Again. The phrase entered the language as shorthand for the disappointment one feels in later life when revisiting the greatly changed scene of one's youthful bliss.
My youthful bliss was studying the great writers of Western civilization at the University of Toronto. I didn't know then I was witnessing a "melancholy, long, withdrawing roar": the outgoing tide of a classically liberal education.
I don't suffer from the "in-my-day" syndrome, whereby the institutions of one's formative years seem in retrospect superior to those of the next generations. I haven't lost my objectivity; academia has. In my day, the university's mission was to open minds; today it is to close them.
For proof, see Indoctrinate U, a documentary film that explores the reflexive suppression on campus of the ideologically non-compliant in its midst. The Canadian premiere takes place in Ottawa on Feb. 18 at 7 p.m., at the National Archives of the Library of Canada. (Or order Indoctrinate U at https://store.indoctrinate-u.com/)
The film focuses on American campuses, but leftist triumphalism knows no national borders. The pattern of political groupthink captured by filmmaker Evan Coyne Maloney could be replicated at any number of similarly left-leaning Canadian universities.
Building on testimonials by students, faculty, alumni and critical commentators, including attempts to interview campus administrators (not a single one co-operated; several were filmed calling the police to eject Maloney from campus), the young filmmaker mounts a compelling indictment of - in George Orwell's words - the "smelly little orthodoxies" suffocating intellectual diversity on campus.
Indoctrinate U exposes the full gamut of the PC scourge: irritations that grate, like speech codes forbidding words that may lead to "a loss of self-esteem" (Colby College) or a ban on gender-specific partner terms such as "boyfriend" (University of West Virginia); and cuts that sting: on campus after campus, conservative student journalists are reviled, their dailies trashed en masse. "The only good Republican is a dead Republican!" screams one offended student when offered a conservative broadsheet.
Diversity of opinion is squashed, sometimes with savagely hypocritical zeal. At Indian River Community College in Florida, the Christian Fellowship was refused the right to show The Passion of the Christ because it was "Rrated," but a play called F--king for Jesus was permitted, featuring a girl masturbating before a picture of Jesus.
The most sympathetic victims are conservative faculty, because academia is their life, not a way station. At California Polytechnic, "outed" professor Laura Freberg was reproached by her colleagues, "We never would have hired you if we'd known you were Republican." In spite of her impeccable academic credentials and stellar teaching ratings, Freberg was removed as department chair, and a swastika burned on her lawn.
Just when you think he has plumbed its depths, Maloney finds more sickening examples of Western selfloathing. Kuwaiti student Ahmad al-Qloushi dared to write a pro-American essay at Foothill College. He was threatened with the loss of his visa by a professor; and administrators subsequently authorized the distribution of a third-party flyer calling him "as bad as Hitler" and likening him to a suicide bomber.
These examples seem sensational, but the film's tone is calm and objective. Maloney did not appear to have cherrypicked his witnesses. He toured campuses big and small, famous and humble, across the nation. It was the same "velvet-totalitarian" story everywhere. His interview subjects reflect on the problem soberly and articulately, and every case included was vetted for veracity and moral clarity.
The camera does not lie: Former centres of learning and intellectual diversity are now indoctrination sites systemically dedicated to the abbreviation of human curiosity and the alienation of students from Western civilization.
I often wonder where in Canada I could "go home again" in the 21st century. I have one simple, symbolic criterion: a learning centre that would still hold up for critical admiration the greatness in the writings of Thomas Wolfe, a hard-drinking, aggressively heterosexual white male from a racist background, whose creative inspiration was Western civilization's literary treasure trove and whose overriding theme was his passion for America.
That's a tall order nowadays. I only know one threeyear arts program in Canada today I'd be glad to call my intellectual home, and I fear for its survival.
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