PRESIDENT BARAK HUSSEIN OBAMA CAN STAND UP AND SET HISTORICAL PRECEDENT WITH THE NAME HIS FATHER GAVE HIM.

FIRST, CORRECT THE LEXICON IN THE CONTEXT OF WHICH THE ARAB-ISRAELI CONFLICT IS DISCUSSED; THEN, REALITY MAY HAVE SOME CORRESPONDENCE TO THE TERMS OF DISCUSSION. BOTH JEWS AND ARABS ARE PALESTINIAN. IT IS JUST PLAIN WRONG TO EXCLUDE JEWS FROM THE PALESTINIAN IDENTITY. SIMILARLY IT IS JUST PLAIN WRONG TO DEFINE THE CONFLICT AS AN “ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN” CONFLICT, WHEN IN FACT IT IS AN “ARAB-ISRAELI” CONFLICT.

Once the terms are properly defined, once the distortion of incorrect ‘prescription glasses’ is removed, the reality of the conflict may come into focus. That reality has far greater implications than the world conversation has embraced in the past several decades. Ever since the decisive wars of 1967 and 1973, the world has believed that the scale of the Arab-Israli Conflict no longer ranged outside Israeli controlled borders and that therefore a final peace with the local Arab population could only be a few moments away. The world chose to call the Arabs within Israeli controlled borders “Palestinian”.

“Palestinian” is a term given by the Ancient Roman occupation of the middle east to all the inhabitants of that geography — Israeli, Arab, and everyone else. The British and French and Germans (Modern Romans) applied this Roman lexicon to the middle east, when in modern times they themselves occupied these lands and subjugated these middle eastern Peoples. There never existed a People or a State called “Palestine” except as a subjugated territorial entity of the Romans and the Modern Romans. [Today's Arabs from that geographical area are not identifiable with the "Philistines", although it has been a convenient myth with which the Arabs and Jew-haters propagandize in order to falsely claim an historical claim to Gaza.]

Jews have lived in Israel/Palestine dating back to the times of ancient Egypt. There has been continuous Jewish life in Israel/Palestine throughout history, even during the most decimating occupations by Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Crusaders, Turks, Modern Romans….

The vast majority of Arabs are Muslims, not Christians, and if at street level most people are not motivated by militancy, there are two powerful minorities that are married to militancy. These are the Jihadists, who wage their terrorist utopian Holy Wars; and then there are the Governments of the many Islamic nation-states, who rule by terror and by diversion of attention away from their own repressions by scapegoating Jews and the West; too often they find common cause with the Jihadists.

Israel has no peace with the Arab population within Israeli controlled borders because the Arab Governments don’t want peace with Israel and to this day refuse to make peace with Israel, the well-paid semi-exceptions being Egypt and Jordan. When the world at large understands that the Arab-Israeli Conflict is like a giant iceberg, and that the localized violence that is visible in Israel is visible in the same way that the tip of an iceberg is visible, perhaps then the world can become constructive in the seeking of real solutions. Denial just means ’shipwreck after shipwreck’ and a steady rise in ‘maintenance and insurance costs’.
If President Obama has the courage to stand up to reality, and not just be team leader in a never ending Washington game of “Capture The Flag”, he may make the most of the name his father gave him, declare himself to be the first American Muslim to be President of the USA, and establish a worldwide Muslim precedent demanding worldwide recognition of the State of Israel inclusive of Judea-Samaria (commonly referred to as the “West Bank”); he should suggest the creation of a world fund to support the voluntary emigration and resettlement from Israel of all willing Arab residents living within Israeli controlled borders, who cannot stomach the idea of living in a Jewish State, to the nations of their choice.

More than 1500 years of Muslim expansion in the world has created no shortage of possible destination homes for the Arabs today living within Israeli controlled borders; by nation of origin they may be identified in fact as mostly Egyptian, Saudi, Jordanian, Syrian, Lebanese, Iraqi, Iranian, and Turkish.

All should remember not only the decimations of Hitler; Hitler had many allies including the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and a Muslim world that raped, murdered, and exiled Jews all the way from Afghanistan to Africa and from Russia to Iran. Israel remembers, and yet despite this history 20% of Israel’s voting citizens today are Arabs…. At what point must Israel’s idealism gove way to Israel’s survival needs as a tiny ‘island’ Jewish State in a vast ’sea’ of Muslim States?

President Barak Hussein Obama can make a profound difference and set positive democratic precedents in the solution of the Arab-Israeli Conflict. Israel is already a democracy with two-million Arab citizens. This reality can be preserved and can be a precedent towards liberalization of Arab States to become inclusive and tolerant of non-Muslims. Anything less is a profoundly anti-Israeli, anti-democratic double standard that the world must reject on principle.

PURIM, PESACH, PEACE -- AND 1347 CAPTIVE DAYS FOR GILAD SHALIT, STILL COUNTING ....

SO TODAY THE UNITED NATIONS IS ABUZZ, that the United Arab Emirates Summit is encouraging resumed "Peace Talks" between Israel and the Palestinian Authority -- at the behest of George Michel, former American Senator (of Arab-American extraction) and international negotiator, famous for the present relative peace in Ireland [that he worked out during the Clinton presidential administration]. So the Arabs have tossed President Barak Hussein Obama either a fig leaf or a Trojan Horse.

A four-month window has been set for these talks to take place and yield results. Meanwhile Hamas and Fatah have still not come together even on terms for a "reasonable and speedy" release of Gilad Shalit. In four months will we see real movement toward peace or more preparation for another hot summer Intifada?

It is said that Purim, which was celebrated this past weekend, is a Jewish holiday pregnant with hidden miracles. Purim celebrates survival in the face of imminent annihilation dating to the captivity of Israel in Persia. In that sense it is related to Pesach, which is only a few weeks away now, when Israel "re-enacts" it's creation as a nation, remembering the many miracles composing the larger miracle of escape from Egypt more than three-thousand odd years ago.

Gilad Shalit's captivity is symbolic of Israel's history of captivity and struggles for freedom.

As of today Gilad Shalit has been held captive for 1347 days! For one man, such captivity for one day is like a year....

May Gilad Shalit's release be granted unilaterally and unconditionally by his captors before Pesach!

SHABBATH, TU B'SHEVAT, AND THE NO. 1314

Q: WHAT DO SHABBATH, TU B'SHEVAT, AND THE NUMBER 1314 HAVE IN COMMON?
A: GILAD SHALIT HAS BEEN HELD CAPTIVE APPROXIMATELY THREE AND ONE-HALF YEARS,
OR, MORE PRECISELY, THIRTEEN HUNDRED AND FOURTEEN DAYS THIS SHABBAT, WHICH
THIS YEAR IS ALSO TU B'SHEVAT (TU B'SHEVAT IS THE "NEW YEAR FOR TREES IN ISRAEL",
WHEN THE SAP IS SAID TO BEGIN TO FLOW ONCE AGAIN THROUGH THE TREES OF ISRAEL).

LET US HOPE AND PRAY, THAT THE RECENT NEWS STORY FROM EGYPT, THAT TALKS ARE
RESUMING AIMED AT FREEING GILAD SHALIT, IS WORTH MORE THAN THE PAPER IT IS
PRINTED ON. LET US HOPE THAT, AS THAT NEWS STATES, THAT GILAD SHALIT IS BEING
TREATED ACCORDING TO THE GENEVA CONVENTION [OR EVEN BETTER]. LET US HOPE
THAT BETWEEN NOW AND PURIM, GILAD SHALIT IS RETURNED SAFELY TO ISRAEL!

WILL IT BE A MERRY CHRISTMAS OR EVEN A HAPPY 'NEW YEAR' FOR GILAD SHALIT?

CHANUKAH HAS COME AND GONE AND GILAD SHALIT IS STILL A PRISONER.

Yet, if the time of year is any indication of forces at work to free Gilad Shalit, then it could very well be a 'Merry Christmas' for this Israeli Soldier, who has been in Hamas captivity for three years. If he is freed by this weekend, then it will be a 'Merry Christmas'; if he is freed the next weekend, then it will be a 'Happy New Year'.

Remember, Gilad Shalit has both Israeli and French citizenship. It is the French and the Germans, who have been the go-betweens, negotiating for a deal with Hamas. It is a symbolic time of year for Europe, which is still essentially of Christian culture. While the deal is yet to be made (Hamas blames Israel and Israel blames Hamas), there is a strong appearance that a deal is essentially made. Let us hope so.

Although the idea of surrendering a thousand terrorist prisoners to Hamas is indeed repugnant, there are many factors that go into such a calculation. Perhaps one of these factors is the number of dead terrorists resulting from Israel's recent incursion into Gaza. This may serve as a rationale to justify such a thousand-to-one exchange rate for Gilad Shalit's freedom.

Let us hope and pray that the Israeli Government is not moving forward stupidly to make this deal. Let us hope and pray that Gilad Shalit comes home safe and sound and in one piece to his home, his family, his nation Israel. Amen.

THANKSGIVING/SHEHECHYANU (?)

Thanksgiving weekend in the USA is very quietly buzzing about speculations that a thousand Palestinian Arabs prisoners, approximately half of which are of Hamas derivation (and possibly including murderer and terror campaign planner Marwahn Barghouti) will be freed as part of a deal to free Gilad Shalit. Shalit is supposed to be imminently moved -- if not already relocated there -- to Egypt. The deal is supposed to take place in Deutschland. Today we hear that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is suddenly seriously virally ill and has cancelled his trip to that un-promised land. The hypothetical deal to release Gilad Shalit comes on the heels of Netanyahu's pledge to freeze further Jewish settlement in Judea-Samaria and to dismantle alleged "illegal" Jewish settlements. As well, Netanyahu has publicly addressed the world on this matter and on his administration's support for a Two-State Solution.

Setting aside the politics or the wisdom of such things as the thousand-to-one prisoner exchange rate, the possible release of Marwahn Barghouti, the imminence of Israeli internecine violence against Jewish Settlers, and the relinquishing of Judea-Samaria, Israel must ask, "Is it appropriate to say the blessing "Shehechyanu" or other appropriate prayers, most especially "Go-mel", on the release of Gilad Shalit? To the naked eye the obvious answer should unquestionably be, "Amen! Yes! Of Course!" So what question is raised here and why? To which the cautious response is, "Israel must make sure beyond the shadow of a doubt that the person returned is in fact Gilad Shalit and not a plant, and that Gilad Shalit -- if it in fact be Gilad Shalit -- is not terribly compromised in the sense of possible threat to Israel (after all, the terrorists have had three years to play with his head and his heart). To say "Shehechyanu" and "Go-mel" may be a bit premature. And the threat of a nuclear Iran mushrooms weekly.

Thanksgiving in America is yet an occasion well worth celebrating; though one must wonder, if Israel can in fact thank Washington this year.

BELATED "HAPPY NEW YEAR" -- MAY IT BE BETTER THAN THE PAST YEAR....

Gilad Shalit is still not free....

ROSH CHODESH TAMMUZ: TWO DAYS AND TWO 'TWO'S AND THEN A LITTLE NETANYAHU AND OBAMA TO SEASON TWO ISSUES

IT IS UNCANNY THAT THIS MONTH OF TAMMUZ COMMENCES WITH THE SAME THEMES OF HISTORY REPEATING NOW AS GAVE US THE HISTORY OF THE BAIS HAMIKDASH IN ANCIENT TIMES. BABYLON, PERSIA, AND ANCIENT ROME MAY NOW BE THOUGHT OF AS IRAQ, IRAN, AND THE U.S.A. ISRAEL IS CAUGHT BETWEEN THEM ALL. AS TIME COMPELS US TOWARDS THE "THREE WEEKS", TOWARDS FASTING, TOWARDS WEEPING, TOWARDS REMEMBERING, TOWARDS THE READING OF KINOT, LET US NOT FORGET GILAD SHALIT AND ASK OURSELVES, AMIDST ALL THE INTERNATIONAL POSTURING AND POSITIONING, AMIDST ALL THE PROPAGANDA AND THE DEAL MAKING, AMIDST ALL THE RESTRUCTURING AND THE REAL ESTATE TRANSFERENCES: "WHY IS GILAD SHALIT STILL CAPTIVE IN GAZA? WHY HASN'T THE WORLD BECOME OUTRAGED IN HIS BEHALF? WHY HASN'T THE EXISTING OUTRAGE TRANSLATED INTO HIS FREEDOM?"

PERHAPS THERE IS A SOLUTION OF A BIBLICAL NATURE, A LESSON FROM SHLOMO HAMELECH: MAY THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY PROPOSE THAT GILAD SHALIT BE SPLIT IN HALF; THEN, HALF GIVEN TO ISRAEL, AND HALF TO HAMAS....

BIBI HAS SECURED HIMSELF A SEAT AT THE INTERNATIONAL TABLE BY CONCEDING PUBLICLY TO THE "TWO-STATE SOLUTION", THERE ARE THOSE, WHO IN MAJORITY, MAY HAVE CONCEDED PRIVATELY, IF NOT PUBLICLY, THAT A TWO-STATE SOLUTION IS INEVITABLE, AND THAT ISRAEL IS TOO WEAK TO SUCCESSFULLY INCORPORATE ONE STATE [INCLUSIVE OF JUDEA-SAMARIA AND THE GOLAN AND SHEVA FARMS AND EVEN YERUSHALAYIM]; AT THIS NO ONE CAN BE SURPRISED. SHARON GIVING AWAY GAZA -- NOW, THAT WAS A SURPRISE! SHARON STILL IN A COMA -- NOW, THAT IS A METAPHOR FOR MUCH OF ISRAEL AND FOR AMERICAN JEWS! BUT, MAKE NO MISTAKE, "CONDITIONS" SUCH AS A DEMILITARIZED "PALESTINIAN" [ARAB PALESTINIAN ONLY] STATE THAT MUST RECOGNIZE ISRAEL" ARE MERELY USELESS ADJECTIVES TO THE SUBJECT AND PREDICATE OF THE STIPULATION, "ISRAEL ACCEPTS TWO-STATE SOLUTION." THERE IS NO "HASHEM ECHAD" TO BE FOUND IN THIS.

OBAMA HAS SECURED HIMSELF AT THE INTERNATIONAL TABLE BY CALLING FOR INCREASING PRESSURE ON IRAN BASED ON ALLEGED IMPROPRIETIES OF THE RECENT ELECTIONS AND ON THE SOMEWHAT VIOLENT CRACKDOWN BY IRAN'S REVOLUTIONARY GUARD ON DISSIDENTS. SOME CRITICIZE HIS "RESTRAINT" WHILE OTHERS CRITICIZE HIS "BOWING TO PRESSURE" BY SHARPENING HIS RHETORIC. AT PRESENT THE FORCE OF INTERNATIONAL "WIND" SERVES THE PURPOSE OF A PROPAGANDA VICTORY FOR THE WEST IN THAT THE MEDIA IS NOW FOCUSED ON REAL AND ALLEGED HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES IN IRAN, AND NOT AT ABU GHRAIB OR GUANTANAMO [PRAISE THE LORD FOR THIS APPARENT FAVOR]. BUT, IF THIS IRAN STREET DEBACLE BECOMES MORE THAN A MEANS TO THE EQUALIZATION OF "EAST V. WEST" WITH REGARDS TO ACCUSATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS, THEN THE WORLD COULD BE LOOKING AT WW3, CREATED BY REAL ELEMENTS, BUT. FANNED BY THE MEDIA BILLOWS, THEN SPARKED OF BY AN AS YET UNDISCLOSED "EVENT" AS CATALYST. THERE WOULD BE NO "HASHEM ECHAD" IN AN IRANIAN CIVIL WAR, EITHER.

DEAR LORD, MAY THESE CURRENT EVENTS IN IRAN BY THE MEANS BY WHICH UNDERSTANDING BE REACHED BETWEEN "EAST AND WEST", MAY THERE BE NO CIVIL WAR IN IRAN, MAY GILAD SHALIT BE SENT HOME "NEFESH ECHAD, GOOF ECHAD", AND MAY ISRAEL BE RECOGNIZED AS IT SHOULD BE, "AHM ECHAD, ARETZ ECHAD".

OBAMA SQUANDERS OPPORTUNITY IN EGYPT, DRIVING WEDGE BETWEEN USA AND ISRAEL

It is no longer possible to anticipate positive Presidential foreign policy towards Israel and Middle East -- nor towards the world at large -- from our newly sitting President. This President has squandered the opportunity afforded by his name and privilege and driven a huge wedge between America and Israel, while kowtowing to Muslim propaganda equating the suffering of Arab Palestinians to the suffering of Holocaust Jews. And his timing for doing this is extraordinary in it's contempt for Israel and for Jewry. Less than a week after Shavuos (the "book-end" holiday to Passover), when Israel celebrates the Feast of First Fruits and the ancient historical issuance by The Almighty of the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai -- and, incidentally, the day preceding Israel's famous contemporary pre-emptive start to the Six Day War -- Barak Hussein Obama spoke of "Palestine" -- a new state of "Christian Palestinians and Muslim Palestinians" -- as an existing entity, and pressed Israel to cease all settlement activity in "Palestine". President Sarkozy of France wasted no time in chiming in his support for Obama's call for Israel to cease settling in "Palestine". True, this has been the undesirable direction of American Policy, strengthened by former President Bush in his call for a two-state solution. Yet, each time one hears strong policy statements that would deny Jews the right to settle in their historical homeland, it is more salt poured and rubbed into the ancient wound.

When will the world open it's eyes and see that there is no equivalence of any kind between the circumstances of the Christian and Muslim Arabs in Israel (Palestine) and in the world versus the circumstances of Jews in the world?

Can anyone name one Muslim nation in which there are surviving Jews living in safety and security and equal status before the law?

Can anyone name one Muslim nation that did not rape, rob, murder, and exile it's Jews in the mid-20th Century?

Can anyone deny that before and during World War Two the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem publicly allied himself with the Nazis, dined with and was guest to Adolph Hitler, was armed and fueled by the Nazis and Nazi sympathizers, and excoriated the Arab Palestinian population to hatred of and violence against the Jews of Palestine, some of whom were refugees from Hitler's Europe?

None of this, nor American attitude, informed President Obama in his speeches in Saudi Arabia and Cairo. Did he look out eyeball-to-eyeball into the audiences and say to them directly, "On September 11 of 2001 ninteen of your citizens murderously hijacked American commercial jets and flew them into the World Trade Center's Twin Towers, annihilating them both, and into the Pentagon; three-thousand souls of all races, creeds, nationalities, and religions were lost that day in this act of war against the USA; and the world was plunged into an economic recession it still feels today. Are you in Saudi Arabia and Egypt doing enough to fight for freedom? Or is this Terrorism the face of Islam, which you desire to project into the world?" Instead of using his Muslim name to reach out and educate and motivate the Muslim audience in the fight for democracy and freedom, he used his Muslim name to reach out and placate that audience. And his visit to Buchenwald afterwards can only be said to have made a mockery of his grandfather's witness to the Holocaust.

A similar wedge into weakening America is his call to close Guantanamo's detention center, which together with his overtures to Castro, can only be seen as precursors to total closure of the American Guantanamo Naval Base. This would be consistent with the retreat from Latin America that commenced with Jimmy Carter's presidency and was completed during the Clinton Administration with the handing over the Panama Canal. The Panama Canal, which America originally built after French failure, is now operated by the Chinese (kinda sounds vaguely similar to Viet Nam, doesn't it?). It is true that Venezuela began nationalizing it's oil industry during the Nixon Administration, which Administration was wrought with scandals and burdened with the Viet Nam War and covert activities throughout Central and South America; it is in our time now, contemporary to the Hugo Chavez leadership in Venezuela, that we see supersonic Russian bombers and fighters based in Venezuela, and joint military operations of the Russian and Venezuelan navies in the Carribean.

This so-called "New Beginning" of American-Muslim relations harkens a reactionary future, as it is based on taking anti-Israel propaganda and incorporating it into American Policy, dividing Israel from America. And it is a wedge in tandem to the Carribean wedge, that would further shrink America's ability to defend and project American values and power. The apparent goal is an attempt to befriend everybody and to fund American corporate and domestic needs at the expense of the American military. One might label the Obama Foreign Policy as the "Ostrich Strategy of Foreign Relations".

One must wonder how the various political blocks in Sudan view the Obama Presidency at this moment. There is no nation that Obama has more in common with than Sudan. Sudan is a nation ruled by Arab Muslims, which for decades has alternately been engaged in de-facto or de-juree warfare with it's southern Christian population, and which is famous now in the 21st Century as well for it's rape, murder, and persecution of the Negro Muslims of Darfur. From Khartoum's point of view (Khartoum beint the capital of Sudan), the southern Arabs are Christian or Black and therefore neither Muslim nor Arab enough, and the Darfurians may be Muslims, but, they are Black and not Arab enough. Obama is born of a White, American mother and a Muslim, African father; as an adult, Obama proclaims himself to be a Christian. It is curious that President Obama's first priorities, instead of vigorously demanding a speedy and forceful resolution of the horrors in Darfur and throughout Sudan, is instead destroying what little civility remains between American/Israeli relations, while simultaneously reaching out to weaken America in the Carribean.

A word about the alleged "horrors" at the GITMO detention center (by analogy):

Once there was a man, who was married to the most beautiful woman in the world. This woman had a facial birthmark, however, which existence over time began to command more and more of his attention to the point that he could no longer tolerate this "blemish" to the perfection of his beautiful wife. He went from surgeon to surgeon, who advised him that they would not perform the surgery to remove the birthmark, as to do so would likely cause the death of his wife. Finally, he came across an unscrupulous surgeon, who told the man what he wanted to hear. Hence came the surgery on his wife, who of course died as a result thereof.

Just as this man became obsessed with the birthmark on his wife, we and the world have become obsessed with inflated tales of wrongdoing at the Guantanamo detention center, and, to save the "face" of America, may close it down without appreciating the cost.

Has the world shown similar obsession to see towards the release of Gilad Shalit from his imprisonment by Hamas in Gaza? Whatever alleged tortures may have occurred in GITMO to the Al-Quaeda terrorists incarcerated there, those "tortures" will never compare to what has been done to Gilad Shalit, may he somehow miraculously be yet alive and in good health, and may he be released whole to return home to his family, as if this was the One Commandment given with the strength of Ten this Shavuos, "Thou Shalt Not Covet...."

AMERICAN PRESIDENT BARAK HUSSEIN OBAMA IN EGYPT...

... AND OTHER PLACES ARABIAN AND MUSLIM. In just a few hours President Obama will speak in Egpt. If my words should find ears -- perhaps even the President's ears -- then perhaps an entirely new way of looking at the Middle East will emerge and transform that desolate landscape into the Garden of Eden it once was.

I am as sick and tired of hearing Arabs and Muslims referred to as "towel heads" and "desert niggers" as I am of hearing Jews and Israelis and Americans and Christians referred to as "Little Satans", "Big Satans", and "pigs, dogs, and monkeys".

The "Peace of Jerusalem" will not be found, if the dialogue towards peace is ruled by extremists, whose common ground is limiting communications to the businesses of sales of wine, women, and weapons towards the mutual goals of destruction of the "other". The "Peace of Jerusalem" ought not be a crater, left after warfare, that survivors commence to fight over ad nauseum. That level of "holiness of worship" is not holiness at all and is in fact idolatry.

It has often been said, "From he, who has been given the most by the Lord, the Lord shall ask the most of." In the case of Israel that legacy is the 'Torah'. In the case of Christianity that legacy is 'self-sacrifice'. In the case of Islam that legacy has been 'Jihad'. Of late there has been much effort to distinguish between military expressions of Jihad and spiritual expressions of Jihad. Sometimes those expressions intersect; other times they contradict each other -- at least to the extent that some even deny that there even exists a military exercise of Jihad, claiming that only peaceful exercise is true Jihad.

It is not my place to presume to be a a Muslim scholar. But, having studied a bit and having had the personal acquaintance of more than a few Muslims, Arab and non-Arab, I can say from experience that there are two aspects of Islam that not only have a positive basis in reality, but, are also signatures of Arab culture: compassion and hospitality. One sees the opposite in the treatment of such as Gilad Shalit; it is true that it is hard to reconcile these signatures with kidnappings, suicide/homicide bombings, etc. Still, this is the "much given" in the spiritual sense of Jihad that much more can be made of in our times.

The world of Islam already encompasses a fifth or more of the populated and geographical world. Compassion, hospitality. and obedience to religious authority all can combine to produce joyful, unimaginable peace. This writer has no doubt that if all Arabia were called upon -- in the name of Islam -- to withdraw from Israel (inclusive of Sheba Farms, Golan, and Judea-Samaria) into the surrounding nations, then true peace would come to Israel (with the possible exception of Israel's own age-old dilemma: Torah v. Idolatry).

Why would an Arab Sheikh do such a thing? Perhaps even for his own "pleasure".... [see the film "Lawrence of Arabia"]. And a token of such pleasure, compassion, hospitality, and faith -- of Jihad in it's purely compassionate, hospitable, spiritual sense -- would be the unconditional release of Gilad Shalit, alive and well!

ROXANA SABERI SET FREE FROM IRAN PRISON, RECEIVES TWO-YEAR SUSPENDED SENTENCE FOR ESPIONAGE... GILAD SHALIT STILL CAPTIVE IN GAZA....

Delara Darabi was put to death mercilessly just a few short days before the freeing of Roxana Saberi. Both in their mid-twenties, Darabi was a local Iranian, whereas Saberi shared dual citizenship with the USA; if there is a message to glean from the harsh treatment of Darabi and the "mercy" shown Saberi, it is that locals can continue to expect harsh "justice" even as a kinder, gentler face is shown to the world at large. The world at large should find this to be a chilling picture of Iran's regime, not unlike all other totalitarian regimes, which offer simplistic analyses of nationhood, history, economics, etc. and which exercise paranoid and repressive behavior within and without national borders. Iran is clearly such a nation. The example of this is the sustained imprisonment of Gilad Shalit in Gaza, the Arab terrorists there receiving fundamental support from Iran.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: DID YOU HEAR DELARA DARABI 'SCREAM' AND AHMADINIJAD 'LAUGH' AS SHE WAS HUNG? CAN YOU HEAR ROXANA SABERI PRAY?

PRESIDENT OBAMA -- HAS AHMADINIJAD'S MESSAGE GOTTEN THROUGH TO YOU?

Delara Darabi managed to produce compelling artworks during her six-year captivity, until just two days ago, when at the young age of 23, she was 'set free' by the hangman's noose. Only GOD knows, what secrets she took to the grave with her, what tortures, what rapes....

Is Roxana Saberi next in line for the hangman's noose? She is a journalist, having the young, solid feet of her joint citizenship split between Iran and the USA; what must she be thinking, feeling, dreading -- and experiencing -- as she 'paints' her own prison cell in Iran with the doings of her mind?

President Obama -- what message do you think Ahmadinijad is sending to you? You offered him opportunity for dialogue; so, Mr. President: "How is the conversation going?"

Are you unsure of Ahmadinijad's meaning? Consider asking Gilad Shalit....

PRESIDENT OBAMA: AS HE SPEAKS TO IRAN, IS HE ALSO LISTENING, AND IF SO, WHAT DOES HE HEAR?

President Obama has set a new tone in Washington and around the World. What has been the effect of this new tone, based on the premise that Washington should "talk softly and then talk softly some more"? A corollary question is, "What do Captain Richard Phillips, Gilad Shalit, and Roxana Saberi have in common?"

The answer to the latter question should lead us to the answer to the former. Captain Phillips, Gilad Shalit, and Roxana Saberi (a name you are only just getting to know, just as Captain Richard Phillips name was new only a week ago) are or have been kidnapped and captive to terrorists. The media has made a distinction between pirates and terrorists that does not really exist based on the presumed lack of devotion to political motivation among pirates and the greater respect for life thus far shown by pirates. These both will change as time emboldens acts of piracy. Even despite the recent French and American successes, three new ocean piracies have occurred this week.

Gilad Shalit has been captive to Hamas since June of 2006. Captain Phillips and his crew were captive at sea briefly, and though the crew managed to retake the ship, Captain remained captive at sea by the pirates, sharing a tiny boat. The boat was finally taken in tow by a navy vessel, and sharpshooters shot the pirates, killing them and freeing Captain Phillips alive and well. As I write, Roxana Saberi, a young American-Iranian journalist with dual citizenship, is imprisoned in Iran; given her Iranian citizenship, ostensibly, the USA can do nothing about her situation. Essentially kidnapped off the street by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in January, she is in the infamous Evin Prison and is being tried by Iran's Revolutionary Court as a spy. May God help her....

In the mundane world if President Obama is "listening" to Ahmajinidad, he should perceive Ahmajinidad's response, which in children's terminology is, "I double-dare you...."

President Obama rightly praised our successful effort at sea in rescuing alive Captain Richard Phillips. The only question remaining is, if the answer at sea is so clear and obvious, why not also in Iran and in Gaza?

It is time to "make it rain" in Iran and in Gaza. It is long overdue that Gilad Shalit's freedom be forced. And Roxana Saberi should not have to suffer, as others have, in imprisonment in Iran.

SHABBATH SHIRAH, TU B'SHEVAT, ROSH CHODESH ADAR, SHABBATH ZACHOR, TANITH ESTHER, PURIM, SHUSHAN PURIM

SHABBATH SHIRAH and TU B'SHEVAT came in the early half of last month. We put out crusts of bread for the birds, who sing with us on Shabbath Shirah, remembering the Miracle of the Splitting of the Yam Suf. Was Gilad Shalit gifted with even crusts of bread in his Gaza prison? Was there a splitting of some sea that has yet to reveal itself to us, that Gilad Shalit is free or imminently shall be? We tasted new fruits on Tu B'Shevath.... What did Gilad Shalit taste???

ROSH CHODESH ADAR came already in the early part of last week, SHABBATH ZACHOR comes this Shabbath, and TANITH ESTHER and PURIM and SHUSHAN PURIM shall come the early part of next week. We remember, in this month of Adar especially, the character of AMALEK; and we remember the BIBLICAL MITZVAH to blot out the remembrance of Amalek. It is the character of Amalek -- and his descendants -- to wage war on the weak, the helpless, the stragglers, the isolated....

This Shabbath Zachor, let us remember Gilad Shalit, who suffers at the hands of the descendants of Amalek. And may The Holy One -- Blessed Be He -- See to it that among the Hidden Miracles of Purim, the Seeds of Freedom for Gilad Shalit are already as sweet and available to taste as the MUN HAMANTASHEN that we anticipate joyfully and associate with the gifts of life, freedom, and the existential right to exist!!

"PROPORTIONALITY" IN WAR AND PEACE

Time and time again Israel is accused of the use of disproportionate violence. Reality and perception are not always the same thing. The BBC and SKY Communications have been accused recently of what might be called the "disproportionate use of objectivity" in reporting. Here too there is a non-trivial distinction to be made between reality and perception.

As a consequence of the recent warfare between Israel and Gaza, approximately one Arab of Gaza is dead for every ten Qassam rockets that these same Gazan Arabs launched into Israel provoking Israel's response. A third of the dead Gazan Arabs may be civillian dead, undesired yet inevitable collateral damage of war. Many of these dead civilillians voted for Hamas, and therefore cannot be said to be innocents, as the overt platform of Hamas calls for the annihilation of Israel.

One must ask: "When your next door neighbor is hell bent on waging war against you to the point of your annihilation, and terrorizes you daily towards that end, is there such an applicable concept as 'proportionate' force?"

One must ask as well: "At what point is the world itself culpable, when it lends it's hand, it's heart, it's mind, and it's resources to the reconstruction and 'humanitarian' aid, re-vitalization and re-arming that evil neighbor, therefore DE FACTO and even DE JURE showing favor to your terrorist neighbor, that same neighbor who denies your humanity and your existential right to a peaceful co-existence?"

If anything is to be said about the BBC and world media coverage of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, it is that the plaints of the Arabs have been disproportionately elevated and extolled to the level of a worldwide propaganda campaign against Israel. Only recently has the media even begun to publish occasional stories both recent and historical that pierce the ballooning of worldwide anti-Israel propaganda. We only begin to hear in the media about the mass expulsions of Jews from Muslim nations post-WW2. We only begin to hear about the Arab-Hitler alliances of WW2 that included the Arabs of Palestine, who continued Hitler's war against the Jews by seeking to destroy Israel both before and after it's legal existence. Holocaust denial is now a weekly scandal in the news, most recently given attention by the Pope's decision this past week to revoke the excommunications of certain priests, one of whom is a blatant Holocaust denier. And where Holocaust deniers have been screaming that six-million Jews were not murdered by the Nazis, in the past year mass graves of Jews in areas such as the Ukraine have been uncovered; it is estimated that perhaps an additional 1.5-million Jewish souls must be added to the six-million already accounted for.

Are the BBC and SKY being disproportionately objective in choosing not to air the Appeal for humanitarian aid for the Arabs of Gaza, when both BBC and SKY have determined that that Appeal is biased against Israel? Probably not...

KUDOS, BBC AND SKY! GREATER QUESTIONS LIE WITH MANY BRITISH MP'S AND MANY CHARITABLE GROUPS PARTNERED IN THE APPEAL FOR HUMANITARIAN AID TO GAZA.

In Britain on January 22 the DEC (Disaster Emergency Committee) launched an humanitarian appeal to raise funds to aid the distressed Arabs of Gaza. Although certain of the British media decided to air the appeal film, the BBC and SKY communications did not. The BBC stated that it's reasons for not broadcasting the appeal pertained to avoiding bias in broadcasting and uncertainty as to whether or not the DEC could insure that the funds raised would indeed reach the target purpose of immediate humanitarian aid and not be diverted for other purposes.

Last Week British MP Hilary Benn called for Israeli Ambassador Ron Prosor to be expelled, said that Israeli airlines should be banned from British airports, and accused Israel of committing war crimes. One hundred British MP's supported a declaration calling for the BBC and SKY to broadcast the Gaza humanitarian appeal. Thus far the BBC and SKY can be said to have been quite courageous in not doing so.

It is not entirely a glorious thing. There is no doubt that the Arabs of Gaza suffer now terribly as a consequence of Israel's recent incursion into Gaza. From the standpoint of humantitarian need alone, and ignoring the fact that the Arabs of Gaza brought the sky down upon their own heads by their own incessant terrorism of Israel, there is a basis for a call for humanitarian aid for Gaza. But, the Appeal has neither limited itself to an humanitarian appeal for Gaza, has not provided guarantees as to where the funds will actually go, has not sought objectively to include a call for humanitarian aid to Israel, and in fact has an Israel-bashing element to it that puts the Appeal into the category of biased political action.

It is a sad fact of the Arab-Israeli Conflict that the concept of humanitarian aid somehow applies only to the Arabs and not to the Israelis. Around the world, people and media and even governments scream and shout about war crimes that Israel has allegedly committed against Arabs, and in so doing they not only are not fair with respect to their evaluations of Israeli actions undertaken in self-defense, but, they also ignore the real war crimes perpetrated today by the Arabs. Some even go so far as to accuse Israel of committing crimes such as were committed by the Nazis, which accusation they make out of one side of their mouth, while out of the other side of their mouth they deny that the Holocaust ever happened. All the while the real Nazi alliance with the predecessors of such as Hamas and Hezbollah are never a part public discussion, least of all amongst so-called human rights groups such as "Solidarity" (perhaps Rachel Corey of the USA would still be alive today, and not thrown herself in front of an Israeli bulldozer, if she had even a clue as to the true nature of those for whom she threw her life away, may she rest in peace and her family find solace).

For the record, in any normal nation, what happened in Gaza the past few weeks would have happened years ago and with far greater collateral damage, had any other nation had to put up with the terror that Israel put up with. Perhaps this is why the world is so upset with Israel. Only Israel is expected to live up to the standards of Israel, no one else; and even then, Israel is still decried as guilty.

For the record, in the past four years, twelve thousand Qassam rockets have been launched from Gaza into Israel, mostly into the town of Sderot. This -- and the kidnapping and continued captivity of Gilad Shalit -- is how the Arabs have said "thank you" to Israel's "disengagement" from Gaza.

For the record, the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit led to the June 2006 Lebanon War, when Hezbollah picked up on Hamas' kidnapping strategy and did the same thing up in the north of Israel, kidnapping Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev - whose tortured remains were eventually returned to Israel in exchange for live Arab prisoners.

Only a few days ago Muamar Qadafi of Libya suggested that for humanitarian reasons all of Israel should be relocated away from the "sea of Arabs" in which Israel would never be welcome. (What a guy.... Don't you just love him?)

For humanitarian reasons the world ought to reconsider it's deliberate blindness as to the source of suffering of both Arabs and Israelis. Perhaps, if any relocation is called for, it is not Israelis, who ought to be relocated - as the failure of the Gaza "disengagement" clearly shows. Perhaps, if land for peace is called for, it is not Israeli land that should be given for peace - as the gift of Gaza clearly shows. Perhaps, when it comes to humanitarian suffering, the world should show the same compassion for Israeli suffering as for Arab suffering - as the Arab abuse of the gift of Gaza shows.

I call on the DEC to issue an appeal to raise funds on the behalf of Israeli suffering for the past hundred years. The Appeal participants are Action Aid, British Red Cross, Cafod, Care International, Christian Aid, Concern Worldwide, Help the Aged, Islamic Relief, Merlin, Oxfam, Save the Children, Tearfund, and World Vision. The DEC website is triple-w dot dec dot org dot uk. Send an e-mail to each of these organizations or at least to the DEC and ask, "Why no humanitarian aid for Israel?"

CHOICE OF LANGUAGE, PART TWO: OF WAR CRIMES, COLLATERAL DAMAGE, HOLOCAUST, AND MARTIN LUTHER KING

Today is Martin Luther King Day in the USA, as well as it is the eve of the inauguration of Barak Obama as President of the USA. On the eve of the terrible day of his assassination in 1968, Martin Luther King called out to the world, saying, "I may not get there with you; but, I have been to The Mountain Top and I have seen The Promised Land...." May we all hope and pray that President Barak Obama does not suffer the same fate of assassination that met Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy, John Kennedy, and many other leaders of our nation in historic times.

Repeatedly in his life Martin Luther King spoke of equality for all people, be they "Christian, Atheist, Jewish, Muslim, or Gentile...." One expects, or at least hopes, that President Obama shares Martin Luther King's view. President Obama can take office tomorrow, knowing that the current Gaza crisis is not likely to demand his immediate or priority attention amidst the panorama of world affairs crises that he will face. President Obama will have a unique opportunity to give new ear to the Arab-Israeli Conflict, one hopes from a genuine, objective, egalitarian view.

It can be no coincidence that Israel has chosen today as the day to commence cessation of it's recent incursion into Gaza, to commence withdrawal from Gaza, and to commence it's unilateral ceasefire - unilateral in that Hamas has declared it's own unilateral one-week ceasefire "to give Israel a week to get out of Gaza". It is good politics and good timing of that politics in that the IDF has devastated Hamas and has set their terror clock back at least a year or two, if not more. Israel has defended itself and Sderot in particular. The suffering in Sderot has no longer been in vain.

It is now up to the Palestinian Arabs to again decide their future: Hamas and Hamas ideology, or an alternative of Palestinian Arabs accepting of Israel's right to a peaceful coexistence?

Where one would hope that the United Nations would keep a neutral stance, reality shows the same face of the UN on the ground that it shows in the General Assembly and to a large degree as well in the Security Council: an anti-Israel bias that is pervasive, obvious, unhidden, public, and disgusting to anyone with conscience, clarity of mind, and knowledge of history.

The likes of Christopher Gunness -- by no means restricted to Christopher Gunness -- waste no time, neither from the commencement of Israel's defensive incursion till now, and no doubt as well in the days ahead, to accuse Israel of having committed war crimes. This is a profound UN failure on two counts. Firstly, the UN and it's representatives and agents on the ground in Gaza ought not to be choosing sides or acting as an outlet of propaganda and demagoguery for terrorist groups such as Hamas. Secondly, even in appropriate venues, to assign language such as "war crimes" to the actions of the Israeli army is incendiary and biased and reflects no conscience in choice of language.

There is a difference between "collateral damage" and "war crimes". Although, for those living in a fantasy world in which they presume to speak for the "underdog" (e.g. in their view, Hamas is the underdog) there is no difference between war crimes and collateral damage, and the latter in their view is merely a euphemism for the former.

These types will never see suicide/homicide bombings, the imprisonment of Gilad Shalit, nor the incessant rocket terror of Sderot as the War Crimes that they are; like a mule wearing blinders, they will see narrowly, viewing such violence as the righteous outrage of "revolutionary" groups such as Hamas.

They make no distinction at all between the willful intent of Hamas to murder Israelis and to annihilate the State of Israel versus the inevitable accidental death of Gazan civilians, where the combat circumstance is such that Israel's tormentors mix in among the civililian crowds and use hospitals, mosques, schools, and homes as military bases and as arms storage and arms deployment depots. Nor does it seem to bother these self-proclaimed persons of worldwide conscience that where Israel clearly distinguishes between military and civilian targets, Hamas defines all Israelis, be they old man, woman, or child, as a combatant.

Where Israel shows grief at the suffering of it's enemy, which it defines as a human enemy, Hamas rejoices in the suffering of Israelis, whom it refers to in it's political and religious liturgy as monkeys, pigs, and dogs, seeing no common humanity with Israelis, and defining as well an ethos of cruelty to animals (Why isn't PETA crying out in defense of Israel? Oh, right, PETA is too busy expressing it's "humanistic" bigotry against Jews by decrying painless Kosher animal slaughter for food).

Hamas does not acknowledge Israel's existential right nor Jewish identity in the family of humanity. By Hamas definition, all of it's combatants are civilians; by Hamas definition, all of Israel's civilians are combatants. As the world looks on at the rubble of architecture that Israel has just destroyed in Gaza -- destruction made necessary by Hamas's misuse of civilian property for military purpose -- it is not trivial that the world understand that the hospitals, school, homes and mosques that the world funded for civilian use and humanitarian purpose was co-opted by Hamas' insane and Hitleresque agenda.

Neither is it trivial to associate the actions and ideology of Hamas with Hitlerism, so let's take a look....

World War One was not the Holocaust. Nor was World War Two the Holocaust. The Holocaust was one huge and indistinguishable aspect of WW2. WW1 and WW2 involved many of the same nations in world war, especially in Europe and Africa and the MIddle East. Yet with respect to all the horrors similar to both of those wars, the Holocaust is singled out as historically unique and historically unrivaled. Why? Tens of millions of people died horribly on a scale unrivaled in world history in both events. Why are they not also Holocausts?

The answer is that an Holocaust is defined by more than just the propagandistic demagoguery of war in which enemies are demonized and dehumanized in cartoons and in rhetoric. An Holocaust is defined by the systematic and concerted efforts of public education, national law, and boots on the ground to define a specific sub-group of humanity, be it on the basis of race, religion, or creed, to in fact not be human, to be non-redeemable as human, to be endemically evil, and to necessarily require extermination from all existence. This was the distinguishing aspect of Hitler's Third Reich, and it is the distinguishing aspect of groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah. It is not accidental that during WW2 they were allies with Hitler (the predecessors of these groups existed then, most notably the Grand Mufti Amin Al-Husseini of Jerusalem). To see a photographic history of this relationship, see website WWW.TELLTHECHILDRENTHETRUTH.COM.

For current proof of Hitler's Legacy in the Muslim World, just look at the current reality in Muslim nations: (1) with few exceptions there are no Jews, as a million or more Jewish residents of Muslim countries were murdered, raped, robbed, and exiled contemporary to WW2, (2) in Gaza today, where Israel made a gift of Gaza to the Palestinian Arabs, there is neither Jewish Life nor sign of previous Jewish existence, as even functioning farms, greenhouses, industry, and empty Synagogues were annihilated by such as Hamas; the only sign of Jewish Life in Gaza today is the current departure of Israeli Defense Forces, they having just dismantled and stunned Hamas' capability to wage war on Israel; (3) there are more than twenty Muslim nations today that continue to refuse to recognize Israel's right to exist and in fact they are still in a 'de juree' state of war with Israel, (4) in many of these nations Christians and other minority religious groups such as Buddhist or Bahai or Druse are persecuted relentlessly. It is not at all inappropriate to suggest that The Holocaust in fact did not end with the official end of WW2, but, that it continues on today throughout the world, and the primary perpetrator of Holocaust is the world of Islam.

Israel has committed neither war crimes nor holocaust in Gaza. The UN ought to sanction these glib UN agents and representatives, who do suggest that Israel has committed war crimes. Given the level of embedding of UN agents and representatives in Gaza, these agents and representatives ought to be sanctioned as well for the many years they have provided safe cover to terrorist operatives in facilities constructed by both the UN and by other world NGO's for the provision of humanitarian relief to Gaza. Or does the UN officially or even unofficially have the same policy as Hamas -- that all Hamas persons and activities are civilian in nature, even if they are involve illegal engagement in the smuggling and storing of weapons, and in the commission of terror, murder, and destruction.

The incessant missile attacks on Sderot, the kidnapping and captivity of Gilad Shalit, the constant threat of suicide/homicide bombings, and the never-recanted Hamas policy calling for the annihilation of Israel, of Jews, of Christians, and of all non-Muslims they call Pigs, Dogs, and Monkeys -- if this is not behavior characteristic of Holocaust, then what is???

One need look no further than Hamas to find real origin of War Crimes. Yet, it is necessary to look further to Hezbollah, to Syria, to Iran, to Russia, and to China to see the most prominent superstructure of War Crimes and Holocaust today. One must not rule out the twenty-some Arab nations, who have yet to officially cease their state of war with Israel and to acknowledge Israel's right to exist. And Holocaust does not end their. Look to Sudan and the Janjaweed, engaged in Holocaust against the Muslims of Darfur, who are Negro and who therefore are "not Muslim enough", and against the Christians in the south, who are not Muslims....

Let us hope that on this eve of a new Presidential era in the USA, that no assassination plunge this USA into civil war, that the ceasefire in Gaza will grow like a beautiful flower, and that Hamas will free Gilad Shalit and signal that hope and peace may be realized. Amen.

LANGUAGE ACCOUNTABILITY: HOLOCAUST, COUNTER-TERRORISM, AND MASSACRE

Israel is long overdue to remind the world [via TV and Internet video media and in graphic verbal description in all media] in graphic terms about The Holocaust.

This means that, gruesome as it may be, the way to facilitating comprehension of The Holocaust must be lit [figuratively speaking] by the dim light of candles made from the tallow of murdered Jews and by the brighter electric lamplight diffused by the fine lampshades made of the stretched belly skin of pregnant Jewish women - pregnant by rape of Nazi soldiers and officials, murdered by having their legs and hips tied together as they went into labor.

This means that every Nazi horror must be addressed, be it the use of Jews as subjects of "science" experiments, be it by the mass murder and burial of Jews by machine guns and rifles or by poison gas and cremation, etc. It must be made clear that none of these practices characterize Israel's counter-terrorism in Gaza, nor any other Israeli actions.

That the Israel counter-terrorism cannot be accomplished free of undesired collateral death and destruction does not make the Israeli counter-terrorism a holocaust. Is it a massacre? Perhaps. Is there the appearance of one-sidedness or even disproportionate force by Israel? Perhaps -- just as for the past decade there has been disproportionate rocketing and suicide bombings of Israel by Arab terrorists.

Israel must press home it's point, verbally as well as militarily. Contrary to what one hears from the media barrage of conciliators, military action can indeed solve some problems. Israel should use military force to a necessary and sufficient degree to bring the entire world of Islam to recognize Israel's right to exist. That world has already had sixty years of Arab initiated warfare against Israel and thirty years of peace talks in which to give credence to Arab calls for peace. Existential acknowledgment of Israel ought not be contingent on final status negotiations -- quite the opposite. And if it requires Israel to wage war, so be it. Israeli concessions have brought neither peace not acknowledgment. Israeli concessions have brought massacres to Jews and to Arabs and a virtual reality constructed of propaganda and Jew hatred in which Israel is regarded as perpetrating an holocaust on Palestinian Arabs.

Hamas must be made fully accountable on the ground and the remainder of the world must be made accountable in cyberspace.

FIVE COMMENTARIES TO MEDIA (12/28/08 - 01/06/09).

CURRENT COMMENTARIES I HAVE MADE [ABOUT THE ARAB-ISRAELI CONFLICT AND THE PRESENT ANTI-HAMAS ACTION IN GAZA] TO VARIOUS MEDIA IN RESPONSE TO NEWS REPORTING, NEWS ANALYSES, AND TALK SHOWS. IT WAS A BUSY, SOBERING WEEK....
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to the charlie rose show in response to Martin Indyk,
David Ignatius, and others (01/05/09):

DAVID AND GOLIATH
01/06/09

Dear Mr. Rose,

If indeed it is your birthday, as commented on earlier, then "Happy Birthday" and many more to come.  Your program is a national treasure and would never be the same without you.

I'd like to support the comments of Shalom Freedman with one observation that Shalom seems to have missed.  Repeatedly, spokesmen for the Israeli government, when pressed for Israel's reason for the current incursion into Gaza, have addressed the need to stem the illegal flow of weaponry into Hamas hands and into Gaza altogether.  The Rockets Glaring Red into Gaza are spoken of as a matter of rhetoric and useful proximal cause, not from a sincere view of internal compassion for Sderot.  The Israeli Government could care less about Sderot and believes that the people of Sderot should shut up and go away or at least accept their status as being in a place inevitably to be a welcome target for an acceptable level of terror.  The current government is of the ilk that, as Haifa, Jerusalem, and Tel Aviv are okay, then the rest of the country should just shut up, accept it's buffer status, remain off the radar.  As for Gaza, Judea-Samaria, Golan, and Sheva Farms -- well, as long as the party can go on in Tel Aviv, who needs these territories?

May I make a request, Mr. Rose?  Can you do something that no one else in our drunken media has done?  Can you have a two-week long series, even if if is only one or two short conversations per larger show of other matters, in which you converse with "Jewish Settlers"?  I know a few personally and I would be happy to be a liason - even to go to Israel and interview them for you - so that a conversation may begin, where there has been none, to show that Jewish Settlers are not the raving, fanatical, right wing lunatics that they are made out to be in the press!

No doubt by now you have been struck by the incongruity of the "truth" as it appears in the bas relief of reality.  The "truth" is the irrational ideology - neh, dogma - that Israeli surrender of land will bring peace, and that if it does not, somehow there must be something else that Israel is either doing or failing to do, that makes Israel's enemies unwilling to cease terrorizing both Israel and the world at large.  The reality is that the more Israel gives away, the more emboldened the Muslim Jihad becomes around the world.  As for Israel itself, the reality can best be described as a Zeno Paradox: If Israel concedes half the land, Israel will be half-way to peace; if Israel then concedes half of the half, then Israel will again be half-way to peace; and so on indefinitely - with the qualification of course that Israel cannot survive on continually diminishing fractions of land.  Even now the world expects Israel to give up territories that for so many reason are indispensable to Israel's existential rights.

A look at Gaza today gives the lie to the ideology of land for peace.  A look yesterday at Lebanon gives the lie to that ideology as well.  The world makes the incessant demand of Israel: "Give this piece of flesh today and we will give you peace until we demand the next piece of flesh tomorrow."  Is it any wonder that the Israeli Government has become so corrupt, valuing nothing more than hotel hedonism in Tel Aviv and gambling in Jericho?  Is the world at large ignorant of the Biblical prohibition to consume living flesh, to drink blood?  Is the world so drunk, it does not know what it is doing?

Violent attacks today against Jews in Holland, France, England, and Spain and violent protests in those countries, Greece, and all around the world should be tolling the bell for the West as to just how emboldened the Muslim Jihad has become.  They know no borders and respect no borders!

John Donne famously wrote, "No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;  if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less... any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.  "  This view is clearly a Judeo-Christian and not a Muslim Jihadist view.  Those in the West, who may even perceive Israel to be nothing but a "clod" , still fail their own moral and ethical tradition by their condescension towards Israel and by failing to appreciate their own endangerment before today's Muslim Jihad.

Why such a dramatic loss in perspective after so few generations since the lessons of the Jihad-supported Holocaust?  It is as if the battle of David and Goliath were being observed in an arena through dual distorted lenses, one magnifying the image of David enormously and the other shrinking the image of Goliath to such a degree that David is misperceived to be Goliath and vice versa!

"David" - if he is even still alive - is alone and miserable, a tortured human being, cut off from world and sun in a prison compound in Gaza.  His name is Gilad Shalit.  If there is mercy due Hamas, then all Hamas need do is free Gilad Shalit and place him safe and sound into the arms of his beloved mother and father in Israel.  "David's" name is also Sderot.  If there is mercy due Hamas, then all Hamas need do is to accept the right of Israel to exist, to respect the border with Israel, and to cease terrorizing the townspeople of Sderot, whom they bombard daily with Qassam rockets.

May there be miracles of peace in this New Year and again, Happy Birthday Mr. Rose!

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to the Washington Post in disagreement with John Bolton,
whose article suggests a three-state solution in which
Jordan occupies Judea-Samaria and East Jerusalem and
Egypt occupies Gaza:

THE THREE-STATE OPTION IS NOT A VIABLE OPTION

With great respect to John Bolton, whom I admire greatly, to ratify Jordan's invasion of Judea-Samaria in 1947 and to also ratify Egypt's simultaneous invasion of Gaza is not a step forward, not for the Arab Palestinian, not for the Jewish Palestinian, and not for peace in the region.  A rational democratic solution demands a one-state solution in which Israel annexes the Golan, the Sheva Farms, and Judea-Samaria.  Corollary to Israel's consolidation of it's rightful State is the expulsion of the anti-democratic Fifth Column of Muslim extremists, who have no respect for democracy, as democracy means the equality of all persons and not the subjugation of other peopoles of other faiths, such as Jews, Christians, Bahai, etc. -- all of whom live freely and equally in Israel -- who are regarded as pigs, dogs, and monkeys by the world of Islam, at best entitled to second class status as a Dhimmi.  It is suicide for any democratic host country to permit occupancy by Muslims, except as an humantiarian gesture and with humanitarian conditions and humanitarian expectations.  Would this were not so; but, the imperial history of Muslim Jihad - Holy War at the point of sword - should awaken and exercise all of us to the real risk represented by extreme Islam in our time.  Israel as a nation is most directly threatened, even as regards it's existential survival.  When we remember that in 1947 virtually all Jews in Muslim countries were assaulted, robbed, raped, murdered and expelled to the tune of at least one-million in number - insult and injury on the heels of The Hoocaust - and when we remember the alliances of such as the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, the Fedayeen, Iraq, Syria with HItler, then one is tested to have a conscience even with respect to humanitarian concerns, except that given the existential luxury, one hopes to set an humanitarian example for those, who show no humanitarian concerns themselves.  There is a world of difference between those, who show humanitarian concern for others out of a sense of moral obligation, and those, who might do so "because it pleases them" [one hopes the reference to one particular tribal sheikh from 'Lawerence of Arabia' is not lost].  The world should get over it's dishonest sanctimoniousness, making false analogy between the suffering of Jews and the suffering of Muslims.  All suffering does have a common human element; yet, the suffering of one, who denies the other's humanity and right to exist such as the majority of Arab Palestinians deny the right of Israel to exist, demands a different consideration.  If anything, Israel is the proverbial "canary in the coal mine" of Muslim Jihad.  The world can do right only if it ceases it's efforts to force unrealistic solutions into the dark, deep historical sandpits of Arabia.  The world is so oblivious to time and history that it would barely notice the disappearance of Israel into the silicon seas of Arabia; but, then in a world in which the Jew is regarded as an anachronism, what else is to be expected?  There is one difference today, however; the "canary" has armor and weaponry and is willing to fight in a world that has lost the sense of what freedom truly is as well as the willingness to fight for it.  It is no polyanna gift to the Arab Palestinian, by the way, to offer him subjugation to Egypt or Jordan any more than to Israel and in fact less so, as the Jordanians and Egyptians have killed Arab Palestinians into the tens of thousands in order to maintain order in their own regimes, while the world ignored this "genocide", as it largely ignores similar Arab against Arab violence today, giving tacit approval to a cruel double standard of horrors.

At first the 'law and order' appeal of the Three-State Solution does have an appeal.  However, on deeper reflection, it satisfies none of the four major conditions in order for real peace to emerge: humanitarian, political, strategic, and security concerns.  Again, my deep respect to John Bolton;  how I wish I could work with him to bring about a one-state solution according to the democratic terms I described above!

A.B.E. 01/05/09

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to Neal Conan and NPR "Talk of the Nation" [note - the content of the broadcast
can be inferred from my letter; the broadcast itself can be heard via the internet
at the NPR website (broadcast article entitled "The U.S. Government's Influence
Over Israel"]:

THERE IS AN UNFORTUNATE, COMMON, AND UNIQUITOUS (ubiquitous + iniquity = uniquitous) VIEW IN THE MEDIA AND TRANSITIVELY TO MUCH OF THE POPULATION THAT (1) ISRAEL DOES NOT NEGOTIATE FOR PEACE AND PREFERS MILITARY MIGHT, (2) IF ONLY JEWISH SETTLERS DID NOT OCCUPY LAND IN THE WEST BANK, THERE WOULD BE PEACE, AND (3) ISRAELI MILITARY ACTION REPRESENTS DISPROPORTIONATE RESPONSE TO ACTS OF TERROR.

Therefore, there is a continued mass delusion, always blaming Israel, that Israel does not negotiate honestly for peace, that Israel is acting as an imperial power in the Middle East, that Israel as a nation is nothing more than a common bully, and that peace would occur in a joyful moment, if only Israel would remove settlements from the West Bank and would stop bullying the Palestinian Arabs.

Honestly, it is difficult to listen to such ignorant hogwash and think that this presentation is anything other than an exercise in Israel-bashing and in the promotion of Muslim Brotherhood propaganda.

It is as if the Arab-Israeli Conflict, which has yet to come to a conclusion, is being viewed in the world arena in the following way: imagine that David and Goliath are in battle and that one is looking at David through a magnifying lens and and Goliath thru a microfying lens.  The result is the misidentification of the scope of the conflict.

If Israel were to annex the West Bank and the Golan and the Sheva Farms and even Gaza, it would not be a "Greater Israel".  It would be a restoration of Israel as an historic State to it's historic boundaries.

World obsession with ignoring the larger Arab-Israeli conflict and misperceiving the conflict to be a much smaller and theoretically easier matter to deal with, e.g. a 'Palestinian' - Israeli Conflict, can only perpetuate the suffering of the Jewish Palestinians (Jewish Israelis) and all of the non-Jewish Palestinians be they of Muslim Jihadists or the PLO or the Druse, Bahai, Christians, all of whom comprise the Palestinians of the region.

If there is a prize given for biased, dishonest, blatantly anti-democratic programming, this episode of Talk of the Nation stands head and shoulders above all other such biased programming and deserves such a prize.

01/06/09
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to AOL "Yedda" responsa blog re: current Gaza incursion:

IT IS STRIKING TO SEE THE SAFETY IN WHICH THE ARABS PROTEST THE ALLEGED "HOLOCAUST" AGAINST THEM.  Despite an official Israeli limitation on the freedom of news media in Gaza during the current action, there is no shortage of images and reporting.  AOL itself has posted hundreds of images.  Amazingly, while the Israel Defense Forces are skillfully focused on military targets and limiting civilian casualties, the Arabs are out on the streets freely protesting what they call "Israeli Occupation of Palestine" and demanding the World to "Stop the Holocaust in Gaza".  These Palestinian Arabs, who were wedded to Adolf Hitler during WW2, deny The Holocaust and yet speak of an imaginary holocaust against Palestinian Arabs, all the while referring to Palestine as if it were an historical State occupied by a foreign power [Israel], when in fact "Palestine" is the name given to Israel by Ancient Rome during the Roman Occupation, and then again by Britain during the British Occupation (1917 - 1947).  Photo upon photo taken in the past 24 hours portrays Palestinian Arabs engaged in burning the Israeli Flag - metaphor for their own twin goals to destroy and occupy Israel.  "Free Palestine"?  "Palestine" is already free, finally free, after thousands of years of exile and holocaust, free enough to go by it's own name "Israel".  "Occupation?"  Subsequent to 15 centuries of "Jihad" (Holy War) marked by a credo of "convert or die" fully one fifth of the entire world (population and land) is now Muslim.  If there has been a holocaust, it has certainly not been perpetrated by Israel, nor against Arabia.  It has been perpetrated by Arabia against the rest of the world....
12/28/08

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feedback to CBS-TV:

RE: TERMINOLOGY AND CONTENT REGARDING ISRAEL'S CURRENT ACTION IN GAZA AGAINST HAMAS

In general your reporting on the current military engagement is commendable, following events as they occur and clearly stating the Israeli point of view and the Hamas point of view.

Respectfully, I would like to draw attention to questionable phrases I heard between 3-5am this morning (12/31/08) as introductory to the Mark Phillips report and as content in same.

LEAD IN:  The "lead in" to the Mark Phillips story (as read by your anchor, I believe) referred to the Israeli "attack on Gaza".

Respectfully, Israel is engaged in an attack in Gaza against Hamas; Israel is not engaged in an attack on Gaza.  THIS IS NOT A TRIVIAL DISTINCTION.  ONE EXPECTS GREATER EDITORIAL CARE FROM C.B.S.

STORY CONTENT:  An incorrect and inappropriate editorial reference was made by Mark Phillips in his story, when he characterized Israel's last presence in Gaza as a "fruitless occupation" that "lasted 38 years".  HERE AGAIN ONE EXPECTS GREATER EDITORIAL JUDGEMENT FROM C.B.S.

Respectfully, here again the facts do not match the editorial content of the story, and one doubts that CBS intended that there be any editorial content in the reporting of the facts as they happen.

In 1967 Israel won back in war Gaza land that Jewish Pioneers had legally purchased in 1930 outside of Gaza CIty after the horror of riots in Gaza City in 1929 that led to the expulsion of an historic Jewish Community in Gaza City. By 1946 Jews were living on part of this purchased land in Gaza (Gush Katif)  only to see the land occupied and stolen by Egypt in 1947, when Israel's Independence War took place.  In the period from 1967 to 2005 Israel's RECLAMATION OF STOLEN TERRITORY (not at all an illegal occupation) MEANT A VERY FRUITFUL LIFE FOR 38 YEARS FOR ISRAELI'S LIVING IN THE VARIOUS SETTLEMENTS OF GUSH KATIF.  Jewish history in Gaza goes all the way back to the biblical times of King David.

If there is anything fruitless with respect to Israel and Gaza, it is that IN 2005 ISRAEL STUPIDLY  DISREGARDED AND TOSSED  AWAY ALL THE VALUE OF IT'S FRUITFUL RECLAMATION OF GUSH KATIF AND THE SECURITY BENEFITS OF ISRAELI MARTIAL LAW IN GAZA. One can argue  technicalities of "occupation" or "reclamation" once final status issues resolve in a sustainable peace agreement.  BUT NO ONE MAY ARGUE THAT FOR 38 YEARS THE JEWISH LIFE IN GUSH KATIF ANYTHING BUT FRUITFUL - LITERALLY.  NOR MAY ANY PERSON ARGUE THAT GIVING GAZA TO HAMAS HAS BEEN ANYTHING BUT FRUITLESS AS REGARDS ARAB-ISRAELI PEACE.

Thank you,

AARON BENEZRA
12/31/08

FROM THE SABRA/SHATILLA MASSACRES TO FORCED WITHDRAWAL FROM GAZA - HOW DISPROPORTIONATE GUILT LED TO TODAY'S DEBACLES....

How is it that Arik Sharon -- "Father" of the "Settler Movement" -- who still lays in a coma dating back to the forced Gaza Withdrawal that he ordered in 2005, became the agent of that forced withdrawal? Many have asked this question and I would like to propose plausible reasons and circumstances. Above all I would like to propose an underlying primary cause. That primary underlying cause is a disproportionate sense of guilt (perhaps felt by Sharon himself) for the Sabra/Shatilla Massacres.

Politics and Witch Hunts often go together, as does political back-biting and infighting. By 2005 we find Sharon to be a widower of two years, he and his son are facing possible charges for corruption; Sharon still bears a blackened legacy going back decades to the Sabra/Shatilla massacres. World opinion and Israeli delusions of land concessions bringing peace (and "necessary" to cope with unfavorable demographic projections) pressure Sharon to cave in to snakes close to him, who prove out to be major appeasement artists.

Of all of these there is only one underlying deep fault dividing the soul of Israel, a bloody fault that proper salting could have healed; that fault is guilt over the Sabra and Shatilla Massacres. In 1982 Menachem Begin and Arik Sharon had finally succeeded in Lebanon in supporting the Phalangists, only to see Bashir Gemayel, the charismatic leader of the Lebanese Phalangists (qua newly elected Lebanese President), assassinated in mid-September only two weeks after meeting with Menachem Begin to discuss his intention to commence normalization of relations with Israel. [With Israeli help Bashir Gemayel had taken on Syria and Syrian supporters in Lebanon and had won militarily and politically. The state of war between Israel and Lebanon (dating back to Israel's War of Indepence in 1947) was about to end. Then Bashir Gemayel was assassinated.] Arik Sharon permitted Phalangists to enter the Sabra and Shatilla Camps (which were under Israeli protection), where in the process of seeking to root out Gemayel's assassin(s), they murdered more than three hundred Palestinian Arab men, women, and children.

Overnight the possibility of normalized relations with Lebanon was buried with those Palestinian Arab souls -- and in the grave of Bashir Gemayel. Ultimately a Syrian operative, responsible for the assassination of Bashir Gemayel, was imprisoned, only to be freed in 1990 by Syria. Meanwhile Amin Gemayel, elected to take over as President in place of his brother, was not the spark of leadership that his deceased brother Bashir was. Peace with Israel fell by the wayside. One is reminded of the natural and unnatural deaths of Faisal 1, his son Ghazi, and Faisal 2, and the imminent possibilities in their times of peace with Arabia and later Iraq, respectively, but for the terrible pressures from the pro-Axis, pro-Hitler elements that ultimately ruled Iraq.

Psychologically and emotionally, Israel as a People felt that something had happened on it's watch, which in light of the Holocaust, was unconscionable, namely, the massacres at Sabra and Shatilla. Even if Israeli's were not pulling the triggers, even if the Palestinian Arabs may possibly have harbored Gemayel's assassin(s), it was still the responsibility of Israel to guard the camps and Israel failed. Sharon failed. It was his responsibility, directly or indirectly.

What happened at Sabra and Shatilla stood in stark contrast to the Israel of the Six Day War or Entebbe, the miraculous standards by which Israel judged (and still judges) itself, except that having failed this once at Sabra and Shatilla, Israel now took on an inverse judgement of itself, seeking out failure after failure, internalizing guilt for the Sabra and Shatilla massacres to a degree of undeserved self-punishment, to a degree that made it impossible to defend itself to the World.

Suppose the following speculation: that Israel had built up such a tremendously high view and expectation of itself that it had no "plan B" -- that is, Israel had neither concept nor plan as to how to cope with an inevitable random failure of such a nature. One could say that Israel's expectations of itself and the World's expectations of Israel had achieved a level of idolatry. A mythology existed that Israel must be perfect and miraculous at all times and in all ways in order to be worthy of it's name. Once Israel, even for a moment, lost the moral high ground, then Israel had become not merely disgraced, it had become to some degree delegitimized. If Israel failed in guarding Sabra and Shatilla, then what other failures existed, which had perhaps been overlooked? The propaganda movement that has with some success portrayed Israel as fascist and nazi-like owes itself to the Sabra/Shatilla massacres, as does a great deal of world sympathy for the situation of Palestinian Arab refugees, however disproportionate to any real Israeli fault. The random failure of the Sabra and Shatilla massacres were never an exercise of Israeli policy. Yet anti-Israeli propagandists exaggerated these isolated instances in order to fabricate charges of genocide.

If Israel did not have such idolatrous expectations of itself, then perhaps Israel would have been more forgiving of itself with respect to what happened at Sabra and Shatilla. Perhaps then Arik Sharon would have been more forgiving of himself. Perhaps then Sharon could have worked successfully with Amin Gemayel to bring about peace with Lebanon. Perhaps then Syria would not have been able to move into Lebanon in 1990. Perhaps Hezbollah would never have grown so wildly. Perhaps a much compromised Sharon would not have been victim to such distorted thinking as led to his megalomaniacal forced withdrawal from Gaza. Perhaps then Gilad Shalit would never have been kidnapped, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev would still be alive and the 2006 War in Lebanon would not have occurred, nor would Hamas be in charge of Gaza, nor would Sderot have suffered daily rocket attacks for seven years, nor would Israel be dropping bombs in Gaza today....

Wake up, Arik! Wake up from your coma! Forgive yourself for Sabra and Shatilla! It must be that you blame yourself, as otherwise, why would it be the Pioneers -- your Children -- that you made to suffer? Wake up, Arik! Wake up, Great General!
You are forgiven!

THE HOLOCAUST SUFFERED BY GILAD SHALIT - DISAPPEARO....

For communication to take place words must have meanings that are shared and understood universally. One word that has suffered great degradation in the past several decades has been the word "holocaust". In the pantheon of language there are many words that are applied to describe violence. There are many different types of violence, many different scales of violence, many different reasons for violence, and overlapping phenomena of violence. There is murder, group murder, massacre, mass murder, carnage, mass annihilation... and there is holocaust. So what is the difference? What is the difference whether one or several or many or an entire nationality or race of people suffer deliberate extinction by planned, rationalized human violence?

The Arab media would have the world believe that Arabia is experiencing an holocaust at the hands of the "Little Satan" and the "Big Satan". The "Little Satan" is of course Israel and the "Big Satan" is of course the USA. In Gaza Hamas has been receiving a deserved and vehement retribution from Israel. Military targets are being destroyed by Israeli aerial and artillery bombardment. And yet the streets in many areas are safe enough for Gaza residents to gather in protest, bearing placards that read "Stop the Holocaust Against Gaza". Similar protests occur throughout the world.

Approximately 1.5 million Gazans are alive and well. The Israeli targeted bombings have killed maybe 400 Gazans so far, most of them Hamas military and political leaders and policemen. The physical infrastructure of Hamas is being leveled to the ground. Tunnels used for smuggling terrorists and weapons are being destroyed.

Is this an holocaust? No it is not! It is a military action against a military dictatorship sworn to the annihilation of Jews and Israel. It is a military action in which profound caution is paid to the humanitarian crisis of even such a dedicated and hateful enemy, whose sworn public policy is in fact to perpetrate an holocaust against Israel.

Hamas is experiencing a limited and well deserved massacre, brought on to itself by it's deliberate seven-year campaign of Qassam rocket terrorism and by it's intransigent devotion to the annihilation of Israel. If Hitler and his Brownshirts had been massacred early on in the development of The Nazi Movement, perhaps The Holocaust might never have occurred. The World should remember History and expect Israel do everything in it's power to see that It doesn't happen again.

And what of Gilad Shalit? How can the kidnapping, captivity, depravation, torture, loneliness, isolation, mental suffering, and possible death of one man be referred to as an "holocaust", as in the title of this article? Is it not a stretch to do so, when 400 massacred Hamas operatives cannot be defined as having suffered an holocaust?

Gilad Shalit is a Disappearo and a victim of Holocaust, a human being targeted for annihilation because he is of a People, whose enemies would annihilate that People from all existence. The Hamas credo makes the captivity of Gilad Shalit a flesh and blood personification of Israel in Hamas hands.

Think of it for a moment.... Is Gilad Shalit alive or dead, and how can we know? In violation of international law the Arabs refuse to permit even the Red Cross to visit him. (Arab prisoners in Israel can count on visits by the Red Cross and other humanitarian groups as well as their families.)

Think of it for a moment.... For all intents and purposes Gilad Shalit is a "disappeared one" -- and not the only one to suffer so in the hands of Arab terrorists and governments. (Humanitarian circles throughout the world should be ringing major bells of alarm, remembering that the creation of Disappearos is normal only for totalitarian dictators, rogue militias, criminal cartels, and terrorists.)

Disappearance and Holocaust....

Until and unless Israel and the larger World comprehend this, there will continue to be semantic failures in reasoning and in discussion of the Arab-Israeli Conflict and of the Muslim-World Conflict. Israel and the World will continue to appease an unappeasable enemy by virtue of a failure to perceive and root out their respective fifth columns.

Not all Arabs are evil terrorists -- not by a long shot. There is no joy in seeing the suffering of so many human beings, whether or not they are terrorists. That said, it is long overdue for enemies of peace and for those who acquiesce in the dominion of sadists to be reminded that a desire for Peace is not at all the same thing as conciliation and appeasement. Freedom in it's true sense is being fought for by Israel in Gaza today, and the World should herald this fight and decry the terrorism that made it necessary.

IT IS STRIKING TO SEE THE SAFETY IN WHICH THE ARABS PROTEST THE ALLEGED "HOLOCAUST" AGAINST THEM.

Despite an official Israeli limitation on the freedom of news media in Gaza during the current action, there is no shortage of images and reporting. Amazingly, while the Israel Defense Forces are skillfully focused on destroying military targets and limiting civilian casualties, the Arabs are out on the streets freely protesting what they call "Israeli Occupation of Palestine", demanding that the World "Stop the Holocaust in Gaza". These Palestinian Arabs, who were wedded to Adolf Hitler during WW2, deny The Holocaust and yet pretend to an holocaust against Palestinian Arabs, all the while referring to Palestine as if it were an historical State occupied by a foreign power [Israel], when in fact "Palestine" is the name given to Israel by Ancient Rome during the Roman Occupation, and then again by Britain during the British Occupation (1917 - 1947). Photo upon photo taken in the past 24 hours portrays Palestinian Arabs engaged in burning the Israeli Flag - metaphor for their own twin goals to destroy and occupy Israel. "Free Palestine"? "Palestine" is already free, finally free, after thousands of years of exile and holocaust, free enough to go by it's own name "Israel". "Occupation?" Subsequent to 15 centuries of "Jihad" (Holy War) marked by a credo of "convert or die" fully one fifth of the entire world (population and land) is now Muslim. If there has been a holocaust, it has certainly not been perpetrated by Israel, nor against Arabia. It has been perpetrated by Arabia against the rest of the world....

THE DEMOGRAPHIC AND DEMOCRATIC BEST HOPE FOR ISRAEL IS A "ONE-STATE SOLUTION".

This should be clear and obvious to all. By definition a democracy is one in which the participants agree to equality. Equality is not defined merely by "one man, one vote", where the intent of a special class of voters lacks genuine democratic values and uses the system to then tear it apart. This is what is known as "sedition".

The USA enacted the "Alien and Sedition Acts" in 1798 to protect the USA from alien citizens of enemy powers (in 1798 America was engaged in undeclared naval warfare with France), and those Acts are still in force and are utilized today. A Movement such as Hamas and it's political party are by definition anti-democratic (they do not respect, accept, or permit equality of all persons, freedom of religion, freedom of speech or thought, existential rights, etc.).

Instead of looking at the Arabs as an absolute demographic nightmare, manifesting that nightmare itself by identifying all Arabs as being of one terrorist anti-Jewish mind, Israel should look to those Arabs, who genuinely love Israel, or who at least prefer Israel to the existing Arab alternatives. Israeli life has not been entirely an history of negative relations with all Arabs. In fact there are thousands, perhaps even tens of thousands of Arabs, who would stand strongly in one united Israel against Hamas.

It makes sense beyond doubt for Israel to annex the Golan, Sheva Farms, and Judea-Samaria. It makes sense as well to deport the largest possible numbers of Fifth Column elements. Israel knows the Arabs, be they Israeli Arab Citizens or not, who are strongly tied to Fifth Column movements such as Hamas. If Israel does not have it's own Alien and Sedition Acts, then Israel should enact them and use them to deport even hundreds of thousands of such persons to Gaza, where they can live out their own vision of their lives, as seen through the black rose colored spectacles of Hamas.

Let this then satisfy this week's UNSC Resolution calling for a "two-state solution" based on the principles of "Annapolis 2008", where the "Palestinian State" would be "Gaza", where Israel would be one nation, where in that context the "Security Fence" could come down, division of Jerusalem would no longer be an issue, "settlement" would no longer be a political soccer ball, and the "right of return" could be established on a case by case and in a pragmatic way free of the rhetoric of politics.

And on the heel's of this week's UNSC Resolution, let me raise one question, "Must Gilad Shalit waste away in his cell until a peace agreement exists between Israel and Arabia?"

THE MACHPELAH CAVE: ISRAEL SHOULD INCORPORATE A SECOND INITIATION SERVICE FOR IT'S SOLDIERS ...

... TO ADD A DOWN TO EARTH COMPONENT TO THE ALIYAH OF THE VOWS TAKEN AT MASADA, AND THIS SECOND SERVICE SHOULD BE IN THE MACHPELAH CAVE.

As a nation, Israel today can be understood as a tumultuous sea of secular tides riding forcefully over strong undercurrents of orthodoxy. In the context of the larger world Israel's "sea" is a subset of the larger "oceans". Israel is unique, and yet Israel's worldly intercourse is historical and undeniable. Therefore the distinct conflicts of Jewish orthodoxy versus Jewish secularism do not occur in a unique "fishbowl" and are part and parcel of the various secularisms and orthodoxies of the larger world, including those orthodoxies and secularisms that would destroy and bury Israel altogether.

World commerce tends to be a secular phenomenon far more than a religious one, except perhaps that even in the world of business there are cultures of "orthodox" or "conservative" in contradistinction to "liberal" or "idolatrous" or even "criminal" business cultures. [Even the world of "criminal" business practices can be broken down into it's camps of "honor among thieves", etc.].

Human material needs often appear to precede genuine religious or spiritual needs, even though one must wonder, "What is the point of material success in the absence of a spiritual life?" And the inverse of this is of course, "What is the point of a spiritual life without a material life?" All societies struggle in this way and the story of Israel is a world captivating story precisely because the survival of Israel is all about this struggle between the Sacred and the Profane, the Holy versus the Idolatrous, the Spiritual against the bas relief of the Material.

No better example of this conflict in Israel itself is the recent set of incidences in Hebron at the Machpelah Cave (Cave of the Patriarchs) and including the forced evacuation of a home of Jewish Pioneers (Beit HaShalom). These events are preceded by the events of the forced Gaza evacuation and the Pogrom at Amona. But they are of the same ilk, a waging of internecine warfare between Jew and Jew, one driven by the motivations of Faith, History, and Creed, whereas the other is motivated by the so-called Pragmatisms of modern political realities. One regards Faith as the Raison d'Etre (Reason for Being); the other regards Faith as questionable and expendable sentimentalism.

Soldiers of the IDF take their vows of service to defend Israel at a ceremony atop Masada. It is a quasi-religious service in that it calls upon the selflessness of each and every Israeli to serve his country, even at the cost of his or her own life, and against the backdrop of the "no surrender" suicide pact of the Jewish Martyrs, who took on Ancient Rome and perished at Masada. In the desert high on a mountain top cut off from the world in a place where Heaven is perceived but beyond actual grasp, the Israeli soldier has achieved an "aliyah" for a time above his people.

It would do well for Israel to incorporate an additional initiation service of vows for it's soldiers of a more religious nature in the Machpelah Cave. For Israel exists not to be above the World; Israel exists to follow the model of it's Patriarchs. Their bones lie in the Machpelah Cave, which is the heritage and inheritance of Israel since Abraham purchased the Cave from Ephron the HIttite in biblical times.

Perhaps as well in such a context the sacred and the profane of Israel can be elevated for God and for Good rather for the Corrupt and the Insidious. Gilad Shalit is in a cave of his own at this very moment and is far closer to the bones of the Patriarchs than the indifferent of Israel.

CONVERSATION AND OUTCOME: AS LONG AS THE "ARAB-ISRAELI CONFLICT" IS MINIMIZED AND DISTORTED AS THE "ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN" CONFLICT, ISRAEL LOSES.

There is a famous rhythm and blues song that speaks to the adolescent tendency to confuse wishful thinking with reality. If you are an American of my generation, then you will likely have no difficulty putting the tune to the words of the unrequited lover, singing, "It was just my imagination... running away with me; yes, it was just my imagination... running away with me...." [by The Temptations, and yes, to listen to this sweet song, just go to You Tube!]

We all have to "grow up", like it or not, and failure to do so leads to the pathological psychological impairment of protracted adolescence. This particular pathology is characterized by the syndrome of "blind love", an imaginary reality in which in the best of circumstances the love object is relatively benign by being either indifferent or even sympathetic, but, a malicious love object can take horrible and even destructive advantage. As long as the blind lover continues manufacturing mental "scripts" and projecting these scripts onto reality in order to cause reality to appear to conform to his (or her) imagination, then the blind lover maintains the pleasing, but, destructive delusions and deceptions which intoxicate their soul.

The difference between adulthood and adolescence is the ability to perceive correctly in the moment, when it is that one's imagination is in fact surplanting reality, and to then act according to reality and not delusion.

Israel must overcome it's adolescent predilection to perceive the world as a geography of nations all of which love Israel.

Most especially Israel must overcome it's unrequited love for the Arabs and to cease to think of the Arabs as benign partners.

For too long Israel has been singing another Temptations song, "Ain't Too Proud To Beg!"

Perhaps if Israel -- secular Jews as well as religious Jews -- were to unfailingly mark Shabbath by the Erev Shabbath lighting of Shabbath Neroth and then by lighting and dousing the lights of Havdallah on the conclusion of Shabbath (perhaps even keeping Shabbath altogether), then the clarity of "l'havdil" [separating] holy from unholy would make sense.

As long as the middle east conversation continues according to the mis-definition of "Israel v. Palestine" and not "Israel v. Arab", then a proper separation cannot be made leading to peace.

CONGRATULATIONS, PRESIDENT ELECT BARAK HUSSEIN OBAMA!

America has selected a President to succeed President Bush. It is Barak Hussein Obama. May HaKadosh BaruchHu have mercy on our President Elect and enlighten his eyes to be the great leader that this country America and that this World needs at this time in the history of The Lord's Creation.

As readers of this Blog will note, Barak Hussein Obama has never been the first choice of this Blogger for the Presidency. Nevertheless, reality is reality, America has chosen it's President Elect, and America may have made the best possible choice. Only the Lord Above truly knows. President Elect Obama surely has many excellent qualities, and one can only hope that he is true to his own words, namely, that he will listen to everyone and be President for everyone.

The orientation of the Obama Presidency that can initially be anticipated is clear: in order to provide for infrastructure repair, jobs, healthcare reform, education reform, and reforms in the justice system, President Obama will retreat from the World and thus weaken and unravel American influence in the World. Russia, China, North Korea, Persia, Arabia, Venezuela all will grow stronger. The United Nations will be looked up to and funded to play a larger role in international "justice" and "enforcement".

That 90% or more of the Black American vote went to Obama speaks cynically to the racism that is behind his election, and not his policies, of which most of that constituency are totally ignorant. Not that Blacks in themselves have the numbers to independently elect a President. A minority of whites and then Americans of other ethnic backgrounds such as Hispanic or Latino or Asian, etc. also supported the non-white candidate. And of the whites -- mostly "liberals" -- their vote, too, has a much larger racial element to it than they would care to admit, as they go out of their way to prove that they are not racist.

To his credit Barak Hussein Obama has characterized his own family experience of racism within his family as one of feeling racism from both white family members and non-white family members, neither side of which he could or would divorce from himself. This appears to be true also with respect to his religious outlook, formed by Islamic father and stepfather and then his Christian grandparents from age ten onward. There is a realism about racial identity that he shares with much of America that does have the potential to look towards transcendence rather than the barricades.

The greatest question is the question that only the actual occupancy of the Office of the Presidency can answer: Once the portfolios of world reality, as seen by the White House, are revealed to the new eyes of the new President, what will the new President see and do? What new knowledge will bring the new President to change what appear to be solid promises about policies and expenditures? What reforms can be made and afforded and in what priority? What effect will promises to financial supporters have on the President in terms of "beholden to this one" and "beholden to that one"? What effect will Democratic Party pressures have on the will of the new Democratic President to exercise his office fairly and objectively?

This Blog will do what it can to encourage President Elect Barak Hussein Obama to strengthen America in the World, to strengthen America at home, and to strengthen Israel at this most critical time in the history of the modern State of Israel.

May President Barak Hussein Obama send a strong message to the World on the first day of his Presidency by calling for the immediate, safe, and unconditional release of Gilad Shalit.

May President Barak Hussein Obama send a strong message to the World by strengthening First and Second Ammendment Rights in the USA [and throughout the world], so that all persons may speak freely and defend their homes and families.

SCHADENFREUDE, 600 BALLOONS, 3000 PROTESTERS, 853 DAYS OF CAPTIVITY

In the USA the media has all but murdered John McCain, a true American hero, exercising it's power of "mass hysterical schadenfreude" (by definition, "shadenfreude" is the human capacity to enjoy the suffering of others). Like a drunken, frenzied, quasi-religious mantra, the name of Barak Hussein Obama has been repeated so many times and so favorably that the Muslim nature of the name -- be he Muslim or not (and "not that there's anything wrong with that..." as Seinfeld would say) - either does not register or is obliterated as meaningless sound from over repetition. Meanwhile, while the Democratic "Messiah" enjoys the love of the media and the Republican's John McCain and Sarah Palin are vilified in the media daily with a zest competitive to the feeding frenzy of sharks, a reality check is long overdue and, one hopes, not too late. One would think from the media schadenfreude that George Bush and John McCain had personally flown the two gasoline laden passenger jets into the World Trade Center on that fateful day of Nine-Eleven in 2001, and that, devils that these Republicans must be, emerged to wage war on innocent, defenseless Holy Muslims not even here that just want to be left alone with their camels in their tents in the desert! And just imagine! How un-Ladylike! How backwoodsy! How unsophisticated! How now young Sarah Palin might be ready to go right over there herself and field dress some Iraquis with her Moose Gun!

Will America get it's mind back before election day just two weeks away in November?

When I think of John McCain, I think of an American Hero, who spent six years in the "Hanoi Hilton" (ergo, as a prisoner in that infamous Hanoi prison) during the Viet Nam War. I can't think of anyone greater than John McCain, whose influence as President of the USA would result in the freeing of Gilad Shalit from his hellish imprisonment (is he even yet truly alive?).

This week in Israel schoolchildren in one town took the day to release 600 helium balloons into the air with messages for Gilad Shalit. If Gilad Shalit is lucky to still be alive, his "Sukka" this past week was his dark prison cell, cut off from the world, not even granted a visit by the Red Cross. Pardon me, if I feel no sympathy for the Hamas prisoners in Israel, who enjoy open air, are surrounded by their brothers, who enjoy three square meals every day and a decent bed to sleep on, who enjoy conjugal visits with their wives and girlfriends, and of course the Red Cross (perhaps even the Red Crescent?). Pardon me, if I don't understand why Israel doesn't just drop these terrorists from helicopters poised hundreds of feet in the air and splatter the terrorists all over Gaza until they return Gilad Shalit, alive and in one piece, uncompromised, unsullied, healthy and whole. Then again, even I recoil at the direction of thought that hurt and anger lead me to. In the moment it is easy to forget the more rational ways to go about things, whether or not military action is included. It is a huge puzzle that Israel has not put across a U.N. Resolution calling for the sanctioning of Hamas for failing to allow the Red Cross to look after the well-being of Gilad Shalit. It is a puzzle that the world at large finds no outrage in this torture and isolation of Gilad Shalit. It is a puzzle that Israel does not take a kilometre daily of Gaza territory to punish Hamas for it's failure to return Gilad Shalit to Israel. And of course all of this begs the underlying question, "Is Gilad Shalit alive or dead or as good as dead?" The 600 balloon event took place a day or two after three thousand Israelis protested for Gilad Shalit's release near the site of his kidnapping.

Meanwhile it is 853 days since Gilad Shalit has not known daylight nor the taste of freedom.

A barely noticed article in the Jerusalem Post announced that Hamas might suspend all talks of freeing Gilad Shalit unless Egypt releases recently captured Hamas terrorist Ayman Nofal. HELLO !! HELLO !! Is anybody out there? Are you listening? Is there any reason Israel cannot arrange with Egypt for the one-to-one release of Gilad Shalit for Ayman Nofal ????

And so it goes on 23 TISHREI 5769. The Arabs continue to thrive on the enjoyment of the pain of others, as does the Israeli Government, the Media, Europe, the U.N. ....

A GUTEN SCHADENFREUDE TO ALL ....

(And may we all come to our senses and be inscribed in His Book for Life, Health, and Happiness in this New Year 5769, may it be the year of the release of Gilad Shalit from his tortured imprisonment at the hands of terrorist animals.)

NINE-ELEVEN/2008 - WHAT IS NEW, WHAT COVENANTS SHALL BE MADE IN THIS EIGHTH YEAR COMMENCING SINCE "NINE-ELEVEN/2001"

If one day may represent an entire year, then this year would be the year of BRIS MILAH, since those two passenger jets slammed into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, since one passenger jet slammed into the Pentagon, and since one passenger jet was gallantly brought down self-sacrificially by it's passengers into a field in Pennsylvania and thus not into the White House.

It is fair to ask, what then shall be, in this coming New Year, the year analagous to a BRIS MILAH. It is also fair to ask, what has been the "SHABBATH" of this seventh year leading into the BRIS MILAH year.

Speaking first of this concluding SHABBATH year, we can say that we have seen a relative decrease in terrorist violence worldwide, we have seen tentative success in Iraq, we have seen changes of leadership in Britain and in Pakistan, we have seen gas prices come down significantly, and we have seen somewhat of a political awakening at a time of great corruption, apathy and despair. But, is there enough of an awakening?

What now in the coming BRIS MILAH year? Will the West retreat into semi-isolationism or will it expand in order to preserve democratic gains in places like Iraq, Georgia, and the Ukraine? Will the West protect Georgia from Russia? Will the West tolerate top of the line Russian TU-160 Strategic Bombers in Venezuela and joint Russia-Venezuela naval maneuvers in the Caribbean? (If you do not appreciate the military implications of the Russian Navy and Air Force operating in the Caribbean, just take a look at a good map (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/Central_america_%28cia%29.png) and remember as well that the Panama Canal is operated by Communist China, courtesy of former Presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and the Democratic Congress.

Will GILAD SHALIT be free before ROSH HASHANNAH or will he remain a prisoner of the Arabs? Will Israel have a new government that is no longer corrupt nor a patsy for Russia and the UN? Will Israel have a government that is capable of saying to Arabia and to the World, "Enough is enough! We give, and we give, and we give, and we give.... It is time for Israel to receive some of the blessings of real peace and to annex the ancient Israeli land we have won in defensive warfare at great cost in blood and with many other forms of sacrifice!" Will the Iran nuclear threat be passified? Will Iraq continue to remake itself into a functioning democracy or will Iraq disintegrate? Will the USA and CANADA and MEXICO form an alliance that will make the MONROE DOCTRINE a proud doctrine once again?