Posts
Earlier this week rallies occurred worldwide calling for the release of Israel's soldiers, who have been tortured and held in captivity for no less than a year and for more than twenty years, not even allowed visits by the Red Cross!
Hillel was a key organizer and participant in these rallies, and is to be commended. (May these rallies this past Tuesday be only the first of many, and as the word gets out, may the size and media coverage expand exponentially.) There should be a permanent rally spot outside the UN building in NYC, calling attention to this issue every day!
Sunday, November 11, is simultaneously Rosh Chodesh KISLEV, Veteran's Day (USA), and Remembrance Day (Canada). This next coming Sunday, November 11, would be a fitting day for more rallies! We could call for the return of all MIA's and all captive soldiers throughout the world! Much good can come as a consequence of mutual worldwide recognition!
Friday, November 2, 2007
Thursday, October 18, 2007
CONSPICUOUS BY HIS ABSENCE: MID-EAST ENVOY TONY BLAIR....
There is so much activity this week in the news that making sense of it is not just a challenge, it's a necessity. Sometimes a name not in the news can be more telling than a name actually in the news. But, before speaking to the conspicuous absense of Mideast Envoy Tony Blair....
KARACHI, PAKISTAN was the site on Thursday, October 18, of an horrific deadly double-bombing that took the lives of well over a hundred Pakistanis greeting former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on her return from eight years of exile. Our hearts go out to the freedom loving people of Pakistan, who are threatened by the same mentality and terror groups that hate Israel. One can only hope that this horrible act of terror will strengthen the developing bonds between President Pervez Musharraf, Benazir Bhutto, and all the forces in opposition to Al-Quaeda, the Taliban, and other extremist groups in Pakistan.
WASHINGTON, D.C. was the site of ceremony and respect given by President Bush to the Dalai Lama of Tibet. Our best wishes to the Dalai Lama and to the invaded of Tibet, may the "Mandalla" be beautifully and speedily rebuilt in our times!
In the meantime two names have been in the news of late as regards Israel, those names being our Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, and presidential hopeful Senator Sam Brownbeck. Secretary Rice is engaged in urgent flurries of shuttle diplomacy seeking to bring about the "end game" in terms of realizing a two-state solution to the Israel v. "Palestinian" problem. Senator Brownbeck meanwhile has endorsed Israel MK Benny Elon's "peace plan" calling for involvement of the Jordanians and calling an end to the "land for peace" doctrine and practice.
Using the game of chess as an analogy to the current flurry of moves, then Israel can be viewed as being "forked" by two choices: "Land for Peace" a la Secretary Rice or "Land for Peace" a la Tony Blair. Admittedly this latter view is a reasoned speculation; but, consider: it was the British, who renegged on Balfour, leading to the Jordanian annexation of Judea and Samaria in 1947. In the past few months Tony Blair has graduated from Prime Minister of Britain to Mideast Envoy of the Quartet. Simultaneously various Israeli leaders have commenced to talk about involving Jordan in a solution to peace. Therefore the following caution must be issued to Israelis: any solution involving Jordan may inevitably lead to the loss of Judea and Samaria and an inevitable bloodbath of "Palestinians".
The plan of MK Benny Alon and even Sam Brownbeck may well intend to keep Judea and Samaria in Israeli hands and may even intend the annexation of these Biblical Lands to the modern State of Israel. Israelis may find this idea logical and attractive, as it is indeed logical and attractive. However, the world at large seeks to sever these lands from Israel, and the world at large cannot conceive of a peace plan that does not place Judea and Samaria in non-Jewish hegemony. It does not matter that, as in 1970 during the reign of the preceding King Hussein, the Jordanians necessarily massacred tens of thousands of rebellious "Palestinians" and would likely have to do it again on perhaps an even larger scale; the world at large would wash it's hands of the matter, look the other way, and say, "It's Arab business...." Israel should not give the world the pretext for such a massacre by - even with the best of intentions - suggesting Jordanian hegemony over those "Palestinians" still in Israel's charge today. Indeed, a Jordanian return to the Kotel might not bode well for the present King Abdullah II, whose great-grandfather and namesake King Abdullah I was murdered by "Palestinians" on the very steps of the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, while on his way to Friday prayers.
Now is not the time to involve Jordan in an Israeli peace solution, although it is the time to involve Jordan in heightened security actions. Jordan already has a million refugees from Iraq, and therefore needs help to deal with that reality. Clearly, it is not the time to ask them to accept responsibility for an additional million "Palestinians" (even if these "Palestinians" are well reimbursed). Nor is it time to place the Temple Mount or any Israeli Biblical Land this side of the Jordan River into Jordanian [nor "Palestinian"] rule. Did Israeli soldiers fight their bloody way into the Holy City in 1967, so that forty years later, the Kotel should be gifted back from whence it was won, thence to be trampled on? Has Israel lost it's mind and it's honor? It is utterly amazing and disgusting to hear talk of turning hegemony of Judea, Samaria, East Jerusalem, and the Temple Mount over to the Jordanians!
Conspicuously absent in the news even more than Tony Blair are the names of the eight Israeli captive soldiers, be they living or be they dead. Their absences should speak to all of us louder than all the other news, and should cause us to resolve ourselves not to fall prey to Trojan Horses, nor to be distracted by the compelling scent of Scrambled Eggs. The underbelly of Jordanian involvement would mask great bloodshed and destruction; the recent Israeli bombing in Syria made possible by the evasion of Syria's Russian radar may sizzle; but, it isn't steak....
KARACHI, PAKISTAN was the site on Thursday, October 18, of an horrific deadly double-bombing that took the lives of well over a hundred Pakistanis greeting former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on her return from eight years of exile. Our hearts go out to the freedom loving people of Pakistan, who are threatened by the same mentality and terror groups that hate Israel. One can only hope that this horrible act of terror will strengthen the developing bonds between President Pervez Musharraf, Benazir Bhutto, and all the forces in opposition to Al-Quaeda, the Taliban, and other extremist groups in Pakistan.
WASHINGTON, D.C. was the site of ceremony and respect given by President Bush to the Dalai Lama of Tibet. Our best wishes to the Dalai Lama and to the invaded of Tibet, may the "Mandalla" be beautifully and speedily rebuilt in our times!
In the meantime two names have been in the news of late as regards Israel, those names being our Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, and presidential hopeful Senator Sam Brownbeck. Secretary Rice is engaged in urgent flurries of shuttle diplomacy seeking to bring about the "end game" in terms of realizing a two-state solution to the Israel v. "Palestinian" problem. Senator Brownbeck meanwhile has endorsed Israel MK Benny Elon's "peace plan" calling for involvement of the Jordanians and calling an end to the "land for peace" doctrine and practice.
Using the game of chess as an analogy to the current flurry of moves, then Israel can be viewed as being "forked" by two choices: "Land for Peace" a la Secretary Rice or "Land for Peace" a la Tony Blair. Admittedly this latter view is a reasoned speculation; but, consider: it was the British, who renegged on Balfour, leading to the Jordanian annexation of Judea and Samaria in 1947. In the past few months Tony Blair has graduated from Prime Minister of Britain to Mideast Envoy of the Quartet. Simultaneously various Israeli leaders have commenced to talk about involving Jordan in a solution to peace. Therefore the following caution must be issued to Israelis: any solution involving Jordan may inevitably lead to the loss of Judea and Samaria and an inevitable bloodbath of "Palestinians".
The plan of MK Benny Alon and even Sam Brownbeck may well intend to keep Judea and Samaria in Israeli hands and may even intend the annexation of these Biblical Lands to the modern State of Israel. Israelis may find this idea logical and attractive, as it is indeed logical and attractive. However, the world at large seeks to sever these lands from Israel, and the world at large cannot conceive of a peace plan that does not place Judea and Samaria in non-Jewish hegemony. It does not matter that, as in 1970 during the reign of the preceding King Hussein, the Jordanians necessarily massacred tens of thousands of rebellious "Palestinians" and would likely have to do it again on perhaps an even larger scale; the world at large would wash it's hands of the matter, look the other way, and say, "It's Arab business...." Israel should not give the world the pretext for such a massacre by - even with the best of intentions - suggesting Jordanian hegemony over those "Palestinians" still in Israel's charge today. Indeed, a Jordanian return to the Kotel might not bode well for the present King Abdullah II, whose great-grandfather and namesake King Abdullah I was murdered by "Palestinians" on the very steps of the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, while on his way to Friday prayers.
Now is not the time to involve Jordan in an Israeli peace solution, although it is the time to involve Jordan in heightened security actions. Jordan already has a million refugees from Iraq, and therefore needs help to deal with that reality. Clearly, it is not the time to ask them to accept responsibility for an additional million "Palestinians" (even if these "Palestinians" are well reimbursed). Nor is it time to place the Temple Mount or any Israeli Biblical Land this side of the Jordan River into Jordanian [nor "Palestinian"] rule. Did Israeli soldiers fight their bloody way into the Holy City in 1967, so that forty years later, the Kotel should be gifted back from whence it was won, thence to be trampled on? Has Israel lost it's mind and it's honor? It is utterly amazing and disgusting to hear talk of turning hegemony of Judea, Samaria, East Jerusalem, and the Temple Mount over to the Jordanians!
Conspicuously absent in the news even more than Tony Blair are the names of the eight Israeli captive soldiers, be they living or be they dead. Their absences should speak to all of us louder than all the other news, and should cause us to resolve ourselves not to fall prey to Trojan Horses, nor to be distracted by the compelling scent of Scrambled Eggs. The underbelly of Jordanian involvement would mask great bloodshed and destruction; the recent Israeli bombing in Syria made possible by the evasion of Syria's Russian radar may sizzle; but, it isn't steak....
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
AHMADINIJAD WOULD BE FUNNY (IF HE WEREN'T SO SERIOUS....)
Tonight begins the first night of SUKKOTH. Our eight Israeli MIA's are neither at home, nor making kiddush in a SUKKA. Such respect and courtesy will not come from their captors. Here in the USA, America has been treated to the visit of IRAN's Ahmadinijad. According to Ahmadinijad all the problems in the MIDDLE EAST including America's warring are caused by the influence of "The Zionist Entity" and the "American Jewish Zionist Lobby". This would be funny, if it weren't so serious. The PROTOCOLS OF THE ELDERS OF ZION is the most popular book in the Muslim world (next to it's predecessor, the KORAN, of course). Jimmy Carter's version of the Protocols (his recent PALESTINE: PEACE, NOT APARTHEID) puts him square in the company of Ahmadinijad. Being a peanut farmer, perhaps Mr. Carter will consider manufacturing his own brand name peanut butter, naming it "AHMADINIJAD - The Peanut Butter of Jihadi's Everywhere, Even on the Sunni Side of the Street", and featuring a photo of Ahmajinidad embracing Hezbollah's NASRALLAH and Hamas's HANIYEH in a Three Stooges theme of some sort, tinkering with a nuclear warhead, perhaps. It would all be so funny, if it weren't so serious....
Saturday, September 22, 2007
MOTZEH YOM KIPPUR - "I HAVE POURED OUT MY HEART...."
Yom Kippur services conclude with the repeated plaintive cry, "I have poured out my heart...." Although any one individual may or may not feel that they themselves have in fact poured out their heart, as all are one, and as there are those, who without a doubt have poured out their hearts almost to the point of expiration, it is not dishonest to say that in participating in a Yom Kippur service, one has poured out one's heart. And one may in fact have poured out one's heart in a non-traditional way. One may or may not have fasted, one may or may not have attended a formal service.
In June of 2006 Gilad Shalit, Ehud Goldwasser, and Eldad Regev were kidnapped into captivity by HAMAS and HEZBOLLAH. These Israeli soldiers are still in captivity, and their captivity is still fresh in our minds. Not quite so fresh are the memories of Zvi Feldman, Zachary Baumel, and Yehuda Katz, missing since the Battle of Sultan Yacoub in Lebanon in 1982. Missing as well is Ron Arad, since 1986, captured in Lebanon by AMAL, a Shiite Militia answering to IRAN. Missing too is Guy Hever, who mysteriously disappeared in 1987, last seen in the Golan at Katzabiya Junction near the Syrian-Israeli border.
This Yom Kippur we remembered all eight Israeli soldiers during our services. This BLOG will correct a sin of omission and will remember all eight from now on. It is more than a year since the most recent kidnappings occurred. These most recent kidnappings are no longer "fresh"; they are "rancid". The previous five captivities have lost their "scent" and yet they still stink, as the enemies of Israel do stink, who keep the nation of Israel in a state of alarm, making war on Israel every day, and personalizing this war of annihilation against Israel by artfully managing the power and secrecy of these captivities.
In a few days the seven day festival of SUKKOTH will commence, capped off by SHEMINI ATZERET and SIMCHATH TORAH. It is the custom of Israel to remember the USHPIZIN on SUKKOTH in fact entering the SUKKAH each day and performing the special BRUCHA "SEDER USHPIZIN", as each day we name all the USHPIZIN and each day, according to MINHAG, is specifically associated with one of the seven USHPIZIN. This year this writer will remember the eight captive Israeli soldiers, incorporating their remembrance into the SEDER USHPIZIN. [May these eight men be immediately released and therefore make such a remembrance unnecessary.]
In June of 2006 Gilad Shalit, Ehud Goldwasser, and Eldad Regev were kidnapped into captivity by HAMAS and HEZBOLLAH. These Israeli soldiers are still in captivity, and their captivity is still fresh in our minds. Not quite so fresh are the memories of Zvi Feldman, Zachary Baumel, and Yehuda Katz, missing since the Battle of Sultan Yacoub in Lebanon in 1982. Missing as well is Ron Arad, since 1986, captured in Lebanon by AMAL, a Shiite Militia answering to IRAN. Missing too is Guy Hever, who mysteriously disappeared in 1987, last seen in the Golan at Katzabiya Junction near the Syrian-Israeli border.
This Yom Kippur we remembered all eight Israeli soldiers during our services. This BLOG will correct a sin of omission and will remember all eight from now on. It is more than a year since the most recent kidnappings occurred. These most recent kidnappings are no longer "fresh"; they are "rancid". The previous five captivities have lost their "scent" and yet they still stink, as the enemies of Israel do stink, who keep the nation of Israel in a state of alarm, making war on Israel every day, and personalizing this war of annihilation against Israel by artfully managing the power and secrecy of these captivities.
In a few days the seven day festival of SUKKOTH will commence, capped off by SHEMINI ATZERET and SIMCHATH TORAH. It is the custom of Israel to remember the USHPIZIN on SUKKOTH in fact entering the SUKKAH each day and performing the special BRUCHA "SEDER USHPIZIN", as each day we name all the USHPIZIN and each day, according to MINHAG, is specifically associated with one of the seven USHPIZIN. This year this writer will remember the eight captive Israeli soldiers, incorporating their remembrance into the SEDER USHPIZIN. [May these eight men be immediately released and therefore make such a remembrance unnecessary.]
Thursday, September 20, 2007
SPLITTING THE "BABY" - MINISTER RAMON TO GIVE AWAY YERUSHALYIM
So finally it is public - a Minister of the Government of the State of Israel is publicly floating the idea of splitting Jerusalem, relinquishing hegemony of East Jerusalem into the hands of the Palestinian Authority. Presumably Minister Ramon is the mouthpiece of a hidden "genius", who doesn't realize, that it is only the careless harlot, who agrees to split the "baby"....
If the USA is forcing this dilemma, presuming to be Shlomo HaMelech... THEN HOW STUPID IS ISRAEL TO EVEN MOMENTARILY THINK TO AGREE TO SPLIT THE "BABY" !!!!!!!!!! If Israel agrees to split the "baby", then the Arabs take Yerusalayim either way - by insisting on having the whole, or by refusing the split and then receiving the Eir HaKadosh by their demonstration of moral superiority over Israel (their moral superiority is a fundamental belief of Islam). [Of course some of Christian theology requires that Yerushalyim be split and fall into bloody warfare at the bloody expense of the Jews in order for the Christian Messiah to come [again]....]
Or is the Israeli Government attempting to somehow be both the careless harlot and yet be Shlomo HaMelech simultaneously? By broaching the idea itself, as if Israel itself were agreeable, is Israel anticipating that the Arabs will agree to this split, proving themselves in fact to be the careless harlot? Fantastic! Then the world has two bonifide careless harlots, and control of Yerushalayim can be relinquished to the International Community to operate as an International City! Why, then the United Nations could be moved to Yerushayim! Wonderful!
As the Qassam rockets harass Sderot, as 67 Israeli recruits contemplate their injuries from Qassam's, as GILAD SHALIT and EHUD GOLDWASSER and ELDAD REGEV contemplate their own individual captive terrors -- has it even entered their thoughts that at this very moment, Israel is apparently ready and willing to give away Yerushalayim? And if their freedom would be bought by such a deal, would they say to Israel, "Give away Yerushalayim! It means nothing!" This writer doubts it....
If the USA is forcing this dilemma, presuming to be Shlomo HaMelech... THEN HOW STUPID IS ISRAEL TO EVEN MOMENTARILY THINK TO AGREE TO SPLIT THE "BABY" !!!!!!!!!! If Israel agrees to split the "baby", then the Arabs take Yerusalayim either way - by insisting on having the whole, or by refusing the split and then receiving the Eir HaKadosh by their demonstration of moral superiority over Israel (their moral superiority is a fundamental belief of Islam). [Of course some of Christian theology requires that Yerushalyim be split and fall into bloody warfare at the bloody expense of the Jews in order for the Christian Messiah to come [again]....]
Or is the Israeli Government attempting to somehow be both the careless harlot and yet be Shlomo HaMelech simultaneously? By broaching the idea itself, as if Israel itself were agreeable, is Israel anticipating that the Arabs will agree to this split, proving themselves in fact to be the careless harlot? Fantastic! Then the world has two bonifide careless harlots, and control of Yerushalayim can be relinquished to the International Community to operate as an International City! Why, then the United Nations could be moved to Yerushayim! Wonderful!
As the Qassam rockets harass Sderot, as 67 Israeli recruits contemplate their injuries from Qassam's, as GILAD SHALIT and EHUD GOLDWASSER and ELDAD REGEV contemplate their own individual captive terrors -- has it even entered their thoughts that at this very moment, Israel is apparently ready and willing to give away Yerushalayim? And if their freedom would be bought by such a deal, would they say to Israel, "Give away Yerushalayim! It means nothing!" This writer doubts it....
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
ISRAEL'S HIGH COURT SUBVERTS THE I.D.F.
Last week Israel's high court ordered the military to move a one-mile section of the SECURITY FENCE, which separates and protects Israeli settlements from the Arab village (and surrounding land) of BIL'IN. As an American, raised in a governmental culture premised on a separation of powers into three governmental branches - executive, legislative, and judicial - it is difficult to stomach that the Israeli military will respect and accomodate this ruling. Just as in America it is repugnant, when Congress presumes to legislate strategy and tactics to the military; so it ought to be repugnant in Israel, when a court gives a ruling that usurps strategy and tactics from the military. On what basis does the Israeli high court presume to know more about realizing Israeli security requirements than the military? The time for the luxury of a civilian ruling, about the SECURITY FENCE in terms of the rights of Israel's enemies, should be after the achievement of the cessation of terror against Israel, not before. The Israeli military is insane to accomodate such a self-destructive ruling! The people of Israel should find a way to overturn or stay or otherwise mitigate this destructive court ruling!
Will subverting the IDF (Israel Defense Force) by such a court ruling hasten the day that fewer terrorist actions will occur against Israel? Will subverting the IDF by such a court ruling bring home Gilad Shalit, Ehud Goldwasser, and Eldad Regev even one day sooner? Will subverting the IDF by such a court ruling end the Qassam rocket attacks against SDEROT? Will subverting the IDF by such a ruling inspire HAMAS, FATAH, and HEZBOLLAH to make peace with Israel? Will subverting the IDF by such a ruling inspire IRAN, SYRIA, and LEBANON to make peace with Israel?
Will subverting the IDF (Israel Defense Force) by such a court ruling hasten the day that fewer terrorist actions will occur against Israel? Will subverting the IDF by such a court ruling bring home Gilad Shalit, Ehud Goldwasser, and Eldad Regev even one day sooner? Will subverting the IDF by such a court ruling end the Qassam rocket attacks against SDEROT? Will subverting the IDF by such a ruling inspire HAMAS, FATAH, and HEZBOLLAH to make peace with Israel? Will subverting the IDF by such a ruling inspire IRAN, SYRIA, and LEBANON to make peace with Israel?
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
SELICHOT
This week of SELICHOT the news is all a-buzz about the daring Israeli Airforce, which bombed nuclear facilities in Syria on September 6, one week before 9/11. This was smart timing: hit the terrorists before the 9/11 anniversary date, and making clear that all versions of Islamic Terror ultimately mean the same thing to ISRAEL and to the civilized world. This is the kind of action that necessarily puts the world on alert.
The obviously justifiable action, both in terms of preventive action against SYRIA and in terms of sending a "message" to IRAN [and to KOREA, the nuclear supplier], is the kind of action that puts SYRIA in a position of needing to make some kind of face-saving response. As well, the entire MUSLIM world, SUNNI and SHIITE, can be expected to be grumbling, cursing, and planning against ISRAEL.
To those, who live in a media dreamworld, ISRAEL was on the brink of peace with the PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY. How will this excursion of the Israeli Airforce impact this dreamworld? What will CONDOLEEZA RICE be saying at the SUMMIT? To those, who pay attention to the facts on the ground, ISRAEL is always on the brink of war in every direction, outwardly and inwardly, the "canary in the coal mine" in the defensive war against Islamic Terror.
In this never ending war there are at least three Israelis still captive for more than a year: Gilad Shalit, captive and alone in GAZA; Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, captive in Lebanon. In SELICHA 81, line LAMED, the author says, "HASHEM - kidnap me from the captivity of my oppressors...." May HASHEM hear these words and save alive and bring home these three young Israeli men, speedily, soon, even in time to break the hearts of ISRAEL with tears of joy before YOM KIPPUR.
The obviously justifiable action, both in terms of preventive action against SYRIA and in terms of sending a "message" to IRAN [and to KOREA, the nuclear supplier], is the kind of action that puts SYRIA in a position of needing to make some kind of face-saving response. As well, the entire MUSLIM world, SUNNI and SHIITE, can be expected to be grumbling, cursing, and planning against ISRAEL.
To those, who live in a media dreamworld, ISRAEL was on the brink of peace with the PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY. How will this excursion of the Israeli Airforce impact this dreamworld? What will CONDOLEEZA RICE be saying at the SUMMIT? To those, who pay attention to the facts on the ground, ISRAEL is always on the brink of war in every direction, outwardly and inwardly, the "canary in the coal mine" in the defensive war against Islamic Terror.
In this never ending war there are at least three Israelis still captive for more than a year: Gilad Shalit, captive and alone in GAZA; Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, captive in Lebanon. In SELICHA 81, line LAMED, the author says, "HASHEM - kidnap me from the captivity of my oppressors...." May HASHEM hear these words and save alive and bring home these three young Israeli men, speedily, soon, even in time to break the hearts of ISRAEL with tears of joy before YOM KIPPUR.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
THE WEEK BEFORE YOM KIPPUR 5768
In this week before YOM KIPPUR we remember that in the previous week leading into ROSH HASHANNAH the big news stories in ISRAEL did not include the release of Gilad Shalit, Eldad Regev, and Ehud Goldwasser; nor was there a cessation to the QASSAM rockets hitting SDEROT and other locations in the NEGEV. In fact there were 67 new Israeli army recruits wounded by such a QASSAM attack hitting an Israeli military base (first reports were that 40 were injured). But also in that week an important senior HAMAS official was captured by ISRAEL; a gang of Israeli NEO-NAZI's was exposed and captured (if awards were given for oxymoronic realities, surely "Israeli neo-nazi's" would win that award); and SYRIA was hit by the Israeli Airforce, as ISRAEL took out a Syrian nuclear installation. It is good to see that ISRAEL is not doing nothing. As we prepare to Fast this coming YOM KIPPUR SHABBATH, let us hope that this is the week that the three kidnapped Israeli soldiers will miraculously be returned safely home to ISRAEL.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
EREV ROSH HASHANNAH AND 9/11 IN THE U.S.A. AND IN ISRAEL
It is EREV ROSH HASHANNAH. The day leading into EREV ROSH HASHANNAH was 9/11. We commemorated the terrible destruction in 2001 of lives on this infamous day due to terrorism. In ISRAEL on 9/11/2007, as we commemorated 9/11/2001, forty new recruits to the IDF were wounded by QASSAM rockets launched jointly by ISLAMIC JIHAD and at least one other terrorist group. It is reported that there is a buildup of weaponry in GAZA supplied to the terrorists by IRAN through EGYPT, a weapons buildup the likes of which has not been seen before. It looks as though the new year will bring war to ISRAEL. This buildup of weapons amongst the terrorists should ring bells throughout the world, that the daily "relatively harmless" terror of QASSAM rockets launched at SDEROT from GAZA has not been "merely an irritant" nor an indicator of pathetic weakness of both mind and technology in GAZA. The QASSAM rockets are a strategy, saying to ISRAEL, "Sooner or later, we are going to get you...." HAMAS is quoted to have said about this 9/11/2007 wounding of forty young ISRAELI's, "This is a wonderful thing that ALLAH has done this day." [This "quote" is a paraphrase of a news report heard 9/11 on the CBN News.]
At this moment, GILAD SHALIT is sitting in a tiny basement cell in an undisclosed location in GAZA, prisoner for more than a year to these same terrorists.... if he is still in fact even alive... and in what condition is he? And EHUD GOLDWASSER and ELDAD REGEV are in the hands of HEZBOLLAH still in LEBANON or SYRIA or even in IRAN perhaps?
May HASHEM have mercy on us all this New Year....
At this moment, GILAD SHALIT is sitting in a tiny basement cell in an undisclosed location in GAZA, prisoner for more than a year to these same terrorists.... if he is still in fact even alive... and in what condition is he? And EHUD GOLDWASSER and ELDAD REGEV are in the hands of HEZBOLLAH still in LEBANON or SYRIA or even in IRAN perhaps?
May HASHEM have mercy on us all this New Year....
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
BLOW THE SHOFAR SOFTLY...?
In eight days it will be ROSH HASHANNAH and our three soldiers are not home, nor has the rocketing of SDEROT come to an end; if anything, as ROSH HASHANNAH approaches, there has been a slow, steady crescendo of more rockets into ISRAEL. Just yesterday a SDEROT schoolyard was directly hit, and today the children will be kept home from school. What does it take for ISRAEL to perceive that it has been subjected to an act of war - again, and again, and again, and again!
Of course it can also be said that there has been a stady crescendo of Israeli action in GAZA....
In the past week HAMAS stated that negotiations to free Gilad Shalit broke down due to ISRAEL's failure to release 350 HAMAS prisoners from ISRAELI jails. ISRAEL responded that many of the 350 on the HAMAS list were guilty of direct, terrible violence against ISRAEL. Let us analyze the salient details:
(1) HAMAS could have freed Gilad Shalit unconditionally and thus made either (a) a profound symbolic statement of good will towards ISRAEL, or, (b) an humanitarian gesture towards ISRAEL [while continuing to ask the world for humanitarian gestures favoring GAZA].
HAMAS failed on both accounts.
(2) Israel could have unilaterally released 350 HAMAS prisoners to GAZA to match the 350 EL FATAH prisoners that ISRAEL released to SAMARIA/JUDEA, and in so doing, could have chosen to release to HAMAS only the least murderous; ISRAEL could have done so, thereby making a profound gesture of good will towards HAMAS [upon the announcement by HAMAS seeking to arrange for Gilad Shalit's release in the same way British journalist Alan Johnston was released].
ISRAEL did not and therefore failed as well on both possible accounts of simple good will and simple humanitarianism.
Now both HAMAS and ISRAEL can go on blaming each other!!
Or, perhaps in the mirroring of each other, HAMAS and ISRAEL can perceive the potential for positive communication!!
On ROSH HASHANNAH all ISRAEL should loudly blow the SHOFAR. There are eight days yet, till then. Much can happen.... Does ISRAEL have a reason to blow SHOFAR this year? There are four reasons ISRAEL should perhaps blow softly or not at all: SDEROT, GILAD SHALIT, EHUD GOLDWASSER, and ELDAD REGEV. On the other hand if ISRAEL resolves to do what is good to justify blowing the SHOFAR, then let ISRAEL blow loudly, and seal it's intentions on YOM KIPPUR!!
Of course it can also be said that there has been a stady crescendo of Israeli action in GAZA....
In the past week HAMAS stated that negotiations to free Gilad Shalit broke down due to ISRAEL's failure to release 350 HAMAS prisoners from ISRAELI jails. ISRAEL responded that many of the 350 on the HAMAS list were guilty of direct, terrible violence against ISRAEL. Let us analyze the salient details:
(1) HAMAS could have freed Gilad Shalit unconditionally and thus made either (a) a profound symbolic statement of good will towards ISRAEL, or, (b) an humanitarian gesture towards ISRAEL [while continuing to ask the world for humanitarian gestures favoring GAZA].
HAMAS failed on both accounts.
(2) Israel could have unilaterally released 350 HAMAS prisoners to GAZA to match the 350 EL FATAH prisoners that ISRAEL released to SAMARIA/JUDEA, and in so doing, could have chosen to release to HAMAS only the least murderous; ISRAEL could have done so, thereby making a profound gesture of good will towards HAMAS [upon the announcement by HAMAS seeking to arrange for Gilad Shalit's release in the same way British journalist Alan Johnston was released].
ISRAEL did not and therefore failed as well on both possible accounts of simple good will and simple humanitarianism.
Now both HAMAS and ISRAEL can go on blaming each other!!
Or, perhaps in the mirroring of each other, HAMAS and ISRAEL can perceive the potential for positive communication!!
On ROSH HASHANNAH all ISRAEL should loudly blow the SHOFAR. There are eight days yet, till then. Much can happen.... Does ISRAEL have a reason to blow SHOFAR this year? There are four reasons ISRAEL should perhaps blow softly or not at all: SDEROT, GILAD SHALIT, EHUD GOLDWASSER, and ELDAD REGEV. On the other hand if ISRAEL resolves to do what is good to justify blowing the SHOFAR, then let ISRAEL blow loudly, and seal it's intentions on YOM KIPPUR!!
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
SHAKEN, BUT, NOT FORSAKEN (one hopes and prays)....
On this ninth day of ELUL the SHOFAR will sound briefly at SHACHARITH, reminding us that ROSH HASHANNAH is only three weeks away, even as it is three weeks since my last posting to this site. This three-week posting-lag has in common that there has been virtually nothing in the news about Gilad Shalit, Ehud Goldwasser, or Eldad Regev. The world races quickly towards the starting gate of ROSH HASHANNAH. Have our three soldiers been forgotten and left behind? Within the past forty-eight hours a school in SDEROT suffered a direct hit from a QASSAM rocket only two weeks before school starts. No one was hurt, fortunately, this time. In the past three weeks these QASSAM gifts from GAZA have steadily "arrived", shall we say "airway, parcel-post delivery"? This, despite IDF activities in GAZA. With each QASSAM do we think of our three missing soldiers? Are not these two matters -- our three missing soldiers, and the rockets hitting especially Sderot -- are not these two matters ONE, as are the leg and the roof/leg creating the letter BETH ??
Friday, August 3, 2007
HAS ANYBODY SEEN OUR THREE MISSING SOLDIERS?
We enter Shabbath once again without Gilad Shalit, Eldad Regev, and Ehud Goldwasser. We have heard nothing this week of Gilad Shalit. Of Eldad and Ehud, we have heard from an anonymous German that one might be alive and one might be dead. Nasrallah of Hebollah has communicated his extortion demands to the French and advised the French to reveal no details. The Israeli government is bargaining to give away much of Israel; meanwhile an apartment complex for housing Holy Jews is bankrupt and Jews are are suing eachother. Israel and Egypt and Saudi Arabia are to be recipients of huge increases in military assistance from the USA, including what amounts to a new air force for Saudi Arabia. Shimon Peres, Tony Blair, Condoleeza Rice, and Tzipi Livni have huge smiles on their faces. All of these billions of dollars for blood! What about our three missing soldiers....
Sunday, July 29, 2007
SET THEM FREE!
As I write this Sunday night, it is already early Monday morning in Israel, Shacharit Tu B'Av. Tu B'Av is defined to be a day of love and joy. Where are Eldad, Gilad, and Ehud? Set them Free! If you love HaShem, if you love HaShem, if you love HaShem...
Set them Free!
Set them Free!
Monday, July 23, 2007
SEEKING AN ACT OF KINDNESS ON TISHA B'AV
In the past two weeks we have heard about everyone and everything except Gilad Shalit, Ehud Goldwasser, and Eldad Regev.
We have heard about the Israeli incursion into Gaza....
We have heard about Qassam rockets again hitting Sderot these past few days....
We have heard that Hezbollah is ready to take on Israel at any time....
We have heard that the UN forces in southern Lebanon would fire on Israel to "stop a war"....
We have heard of the release of 256 FATAH members, gifts to Abu Mazen (a.k.a. Mahmud Abbas)....
We have heard about sexual scandals and financial scandals in Israel's Government....
We have heard emphatically that Olmert will not leave Government....
We have heard that now is the time to negotiate "peace" with FATAH, and with Syria, too (ergo, it is time to surrender Golan, Samaria, Judea, and East Jerusalem)....
We have heard about the attempted theft of Ismail Haniyeh's shoes during prayer in a Mosque....
We have heard Israel spurn overtures from Ismail Haniyeh of HAMAS....
We have heard about Tony Blair's arrival in Israel, intending to operate from the Government House (from which the British ruled 'Palestine' before WW2)....
MAY TONY BLAIR BE ENLIGHTENED to seek more suitable quarters than Government House or the King David Hotel, neither of which recall wonderful memories of British Occupation. If a message of "occupation" is what Tony Blair has in mind (implying that just as Israel hates occupation, so do the 'Palestinians'), then it is at best an oblique message and at worst it is an insinuating, insulting way of pushing a highly loaded, controversial agenda and viewpoint (which agenda and viewpoint lack controversy only to those, who hold to that particular bias, which Mr. Blair is presumably in Israel to represent).
MR. BLAIR, when on July 25 the SUMMIT commences, place one and only one item on the agenda - that Gilad Shalit, Eldad Regev, and Ehud Goldwasser be released from their nightmare of captivity!
MR. ISMAIL HANIYEH, I offer myself in place of Gilad Shalit, that Gilad Shalit be returned home to his mother and father....
MAY THE ONE GOD BLESS AND INSPIRE ISMAIL HANIYEH to a simple and great act of kindness, as we of Israel enter the Fast of Tisha B'Av, and release Gilad Shalit (and even inspire Nasrallah of Hezbollah to release Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser).
MAY GOD HAVE MERCY on Gilad Shalit, Eldad Regev, Ehud Goldwasser, and on all Benei Ismail and Benei Itzak.
*****************************************************
07/24/07 - ADDENDUM TO ABOVE POST
Today is Tisha B'Av. In Israel Tisha B'Av is already almost concluded as I write. In the USA there is much of the day yet to go. Those are fasting, who can, and who in addition to the Beth HaMikdash, have the names Gilad Shalit, Eldad Regev, and Ehud Goldwasser in mind.
May the captors of these men immediately show at least the great mercy of proof beyond doubt that all three men are alive and well and that their imminent freedom is not even a question! May there be peace and not war, even for one day!
May this day conclude with happy miraculous news!
We have heard about the Israeli incursion into Gaza....
We have heard about Qassam rockets again hitting Sderot these past few days....
We have heard that Hezbollah is ready to take on Israel at any time....
We have heard that the UN forces in southern Lebanon would fire on Israel to "stop a war"....
We have heard of the release of 256 FATAH members, gifts to Abu Mazen (a.k.a. Mahmud Abbas)....
We have heard about sexual scandals and financial scandals in Israel's Government....
We have heard emphatically that Olmert will not leave Government....
We have heard that now is the time to negotiate "peace" with FATAH, and with Syria, too (ergo, it is time to surrender Golan, Samaria, Judea, and East Jerusalem)....
We have heard about the attempted theft of Ismail Haniyeh's shoes during prayer in a Mosque....
We have heard Israel spurn overtures from Ismail Haniyeh of HAMAS....
We have heard about Tony Blair's arrival in Israel, intending to operate from the Government House (from which the British ruled 'Palestine' before WW2)....
MAY TONY BLAIR BE ENLIGHTENED to seek more suitable quarters than Government House or the King David Hotel, neither of which recall wonderful memories of British Occupation. If a message of "occupation" is what Tony Blair has in mind (implying that just as Israel hates occupation, so do the 'Palestinians'), then it is at best an oblique message and at worst it is an insinuating, insulting way of pushing a highly loaded, controversial agenda and viewpoint (which agenda and viewpoint lack controversy only to those, who hold to that particular bias, which Mr. Blair is presumably in Israel to represent).
MR. BLAIR, when on July 25 the SUMMIT commences, place one and only one item on the agenda - that Gilad Shalit, Eldad Regev, and Ehud Goldwasser be released from their nightmare of captivity!
MR. ISMAIL HANIYEH, I offer myself in place of Gilad Shalit, that Gilad Shalit be returned home to his mother and father....
MAY THE ONE GOD BLESS AND INSPIRE ISMAIL HANIYEH to a simple and great act of kindness, as we of Israel enter the Fast of Tisha B'Av, and release Gilad Shalit (and even inspire Nasrallah of Hezbollah to release Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser).
MAY GOD HAVE MERCY on Gilad Shalit, Eldad Regev, Ehud Goldwasser, and on all Benei Ismail and Benei Itzak.
*****************************************************
07/24/07 - ADDENDUM TO ABOVE POST
Today is Tisha B'Av. In Israel Tisha B'Av is already almost concluded as I write. In the USA there is much of the day yet to go. Those are fasting, who can, and who in addition to the Beth HaMikdash, have the names Gilad Shalit, Eldad Regev, and Ehud Goldwasser in mind.
May the captors of these men immediately show at least the great mercy of proof beyond doubt that all three men are alive and well and that their imminent freedom is not even a question! May there be peace and not war, even for one day!
May this day conclude with happy miraculous news!
Friday, July 13, 2007
SUMMIT
Moving into this Shabbath there is good and not-so-good to consider with respect to developments in Israel on so many fronts. It is important to remember that Israel is surrounded and has so many elements to consider in all directions. In the north the situation is tense, yet, said to be stable. In the east FATAH is hugely deflated by it's loss of power to HAMAS in Gaza. A landmark Israel/ArabLeague summit in Israel may bolster FATAH. HAMAS is engaged in talks with Israel, and one hopes [per HAMAS initiation] those talks will lead to the release of Gilad Shalit. Yet, due to efforts to root out terrorists in Gaza, especially against those launching Qassam rockets into Israel, the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) is necessarily engaged in Gaza. To quote a popular and appropriate metaphor, "It is some "chullent"...."
(Perhaps during the Three Weeks a special chullent recipe might include chunks of leftover matzah-shmurah, maror, karpas, no salt, no pepper....)
Just as stress tends to create a behavior cycle of overeating, just as trying to serve too much all at once can only lead to an indigestible menu, the agenda at the Summit ought to be narrow, and the narrower the better.
This is the time for small, but, non-trivial victories of good will - the release of Gilad Shalit, Eldad Regev, Ehud Goldwasser, the cessation of Qassam rockets into Israel from Gaza, the release of un-bloodied 'Palestinians' to their families.
Discussions beyond these timely and focused affairs can only serve to create an overly heavy agenda in which nothing but "schinat-chinom" [ill will, needless hatred] is the inevitable result. As hosts to the Summit, Israel sets the "table". Israel can set that table to focus on these few acts of profound kindness, acts which can make the difference between hope and despair for everyone in the region. (May peace come speedily in our times.)
(Perhaps during the Three Weeks a special chullent recipe might include chunks of leftover matzah-shmurah, maror, karpas, no salt, no pepper....)
Just as stress tends to create a behavior cycle of overeating, just as trying to serve too much all at once can only lead to an indigestible menu, the agenda at the Summit ought to be narrow, and the narrower the better.
This is the time for small, but, non-trivial victories of good will - the release of Gilad Shalit, Eldad Regev, Ehud Goldwasser, the cessation of Qassam rockets into Israel from Gaza, the release of un-bloodied 'Palestinians' to their families.
Discussions beyond these timely and focused affairs can only serve to create an overly heavy agenda in which nothing but "schinat-chinom" [ill will, needless hatred] is the inevitable result. As hosts to the Summit, Israel sets the "table". Israel can set that table to focus on these few acts of profound kindness, acts which can make the difference between hope and despair for everyone in the region. (May peace come speedily in our times.)
Sunday, July 8, 2007
MAY HASHEM GUIDE ISRAEL BETWEEN THE 'STRAITS' IN THESE THREE WEEKS....
As the week begins and as the release of 250 prisoners to FATAH is on the Israeli decision table, now is a time to extend good will northwards and southwards, as well as eastwards. The intent to release 250 un-bloodied prisoners eastwards to FATAH was in the air prior to the HAMAS takeover of Gaza and and the speedy release of Alan Johnston.
Simultaneous to the release of Mr. Johnston, HAMAS spokesman Ismael Haniyeh stated his hopes that a deal with Israel leading to the release of Gilad Shalit could become a reality soon (see the BBC news story "Alan Johnston is Released". July 4, 2007).
While keeping in mind the negative remarks about Israel by Syrian HAMAS leader Khaled Mashaal in British Newspaper THE GUARDIAN (as reported in the Jerusalem Post story "Hamas takes credit for Alan Johnston's release", July 8, 2007), one must ask, "Is it Khaled Mashaal, or is it Ismail Haniyeh, who has his hand on the HAMAS pulse in Gaza?"
An opportunity in real time may exist with Ismail Haniyeh, that may not exist with other HAMAS leadership. Ismail Haniyeh was prominent in the release of Alan Johnston, and it is likely that he would be prominent in any release of Gilad Shalit. Israel should waste neither time nor opportunity to speak to Ismail Haniyeh, to arrange for the release of Gilad Shalit, as well as to arrange a conduit (even through HAMAS) to arrange with HEZBOLLAH for the release of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev.
If it means that Israel releases 250 un-bloodied prisoners to FATAH, as was already in the air, as a pure gift to Mahmoud Abbas; if it means that Israel release an additional 250 un-bloodied prisoners to HAMAS (or some type of equivalent) and an additional 500 un-bloodied prisoners to HEZBOLLAH (or the equivalent); now is the time for Israel to carefully consider every open window for opportunities to see to the safe return of the three Israeli soldiers. Neither can the good will that Israel can extend to the 'Palestinians' be underestimated at this time.
Yet, Israel is not and cannot be naive; an open window can easily be slammed shut on a careless, unprotected, outstretched neck! Nor can Israel allow itself to be distracted from it's exercises in the Golan or it's anti-Qassam work in Gaza. May HaShem guide Israel between the 'Straits' in these Three Weeks....
Simultaneous to the release of Mr. Johnston, HAMAS spokesman Ismael Haniyeh stated his hopes that a deal with Israel leading to the release of Gilad Shalit could become a reality soon (see the BBC news story "Alan Johnston is Released". July 4, 2007).
While keeping in mind the negative remarks about Israel by Syrian HAMAS leader Khaled Mashaal in British Newspaper THE GUARDIAN (as reported in the Jerusalem Post story "Hamas takes credit for Alan Johnston's release", July 8, 2007), one must ask, "Is it Khaled Mashaal, or is it Ismail Haniyeh, who has his hand on the HAMAS pulse in Gaza?"
An opportunity in real time may exist with Ismail Haniyeh, that may not exist with other HAMAS leadership. Ismail Haniyeh was prominent in the release of Alan Johnston, and it is likely that he would be prominent in any release of Gilad Shalit. Israel should waste neither time nor opportunity to speak to Ismail Haniyeh, to arrange for the release of Gilad Shalit, as well as to arrange a conduit (even through HAMAS) to arrange with HEZBOLLAH for the release of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev.
If it means that Israel releases 250 un-bloodied prisoners to FATAH, as was already in the air, as a pure gift to Mahmoud Abbas; if it means that Israel release an additional 250 un-bloodied prisoners to HAMAS (or some type of equivalent) and an additional 500 un-bloodied prisoners to HEZBOLLAH (or the equivalent); now is the time for Israel to carefully consider every open window for opportunities to see to the safe return of the three Israeli soldiers. Neither can the good will that Israel can extend to the 'Palestinians' be underestimated at this time.
Yet, Israel is not and cannot be naive; an open window can easily be slammed shut on a careless, unprotected, outstretched neck! Nor can Israel allow itself to be distracted from it's exercises in the Golan or it's anti-Qassam work in Gaza. May HaShem guide Israel between the 'Straits' in these Three Weeks....
Friday, July 6, 2007
GREATEST HOPE FOR PEACE MAY BE WITH HAMAS
The greatest hope for peace in Israel and indeed in the Middle East may in fact depend on the example and precedent that HAMAS now has the opportunity to establish. Indeed HAMAS has already established a precedent and set an example by freeing BBC Reporter Alan Johnston. If this leads as hoped to the freeing of Gilad Shalit, 'Palestinian' prisoners, and perhaps even to the freeing of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev by HEZBOLLAH; if as well the launching of Qassam rockets are stopped from within Gaza by HAMAS; then fertile ground should exist for a real peace deal with Israel.
WHAT CONSTITUTES A REAL PEACE DEAL?
Rather than lauding the lowest common denominator, which would be nothing more than a sustained state of ceasefire, there is an optimal possibility that can have profound influence worldwide in terms of relations between the Jewish, Muslim, and Christian worlds.
As a Jew, this writer is accutely aware of his "second class" status in both the Christian and Muslim worlds. In the Christian world the Jew is ambivalently regarded as having lost the favor of the Lord, as responsible for the Death of the Messiah, and is paradoxically to be scurged in exile and yet to be coddled as His Chosen People; and so there is the ignominious history of Jewish ghetto life, which still exists in loose form in today's world, even where the majority of Jews were annihilated during World War 2 and in Soviet Russia. In the Muslim world the Jew is classified as "Dhimmi" - as indeed also is the Christian - the taxed and oppressed second class in the world of Islam (see the adjacent LINK).
It is highly symbolic, according to social and political interpretation, that the Dome of the Rock mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem is located high above any synagogue or church. By Dhimmi Law no synagogue or church may be larger or higher or more impressive than the nearest mosque or most mosques in the same town. Denied statehood and the right to own land for millenia, only in the last sixty years has Israel re-established itelf in it's own homeland as a Jewish political (and in this era, democratic) State. So Christians and Moslems in today's democratic Israel have equal status, at least in the sense that there is no law defining the Muslim and Christian citizens of Israel as "second class", nor are there any laws of the modern State requiring the destruction or modification of the churches and mosques to be "lesser" than the synagogues.
After millenia of subjugation, Israel has not subjugated Muslim or Christian, although by psychological projection based on the Hammurabi interpretation of the "eye for an eye" biblical injunction, the Muslim may (incorrectly) only think in the literal interpretation, contemplating destruction to be their "inevitable" destiny under Israeli hegemony. Hence again Muslim devotion to the destruction of Israel, even amongst the 1.2-million strong Muslim citizenry of Israel proper, who vote in Israeli elections, yet celebrate "Al Naqba" (The Catastrophe [of the existence of a Jewish State]).
Yet, herein lies the fulcrum of hope for peace in the Middle East, as the conflict is essentially a Jewish v. Muslim conflict: if the religious definition of the Jew as Dhimmi, only and always, can be surmounted, even as the Catholic Church (officialy) no longer holds Jews and Judaism damnable for the "Messiah's Death", that is to say: if as a matter of doctrine, Muslims can accept Jews (and Christians) as equals and not as definitively subservient, then an entirely new mentality can exist in the world between Muslims, Christians, and Jews. Jews and Christians, vastly outnumbered in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, East Asia, and Indonesia, could look upon the Dome of the Rock and not feel oppressed; and Muslims should no longer feel irrationally threatened that at any moment the Dome of the Rock will inevitably be blown up. Indeed Israel has permitted expansion of the Islamic religious facilities on the Temple Mount (a new and larger subterranean mosque is being constructed as we speak under the Al Aqsa mosque, which is the second mosque on the Temple Mount), and at great and unintended cost to Jewish arhaeological heritage (yes, there is a deliberate and conscious and active effort to destroy as much Jewish archaelogical heritage by the Muslims as possible in order to deny Jewish rights and claims to the Temple Mount).
If HAMMAS, which is a Muslim organization, can find a way to establish that Jews need not eternally be regarded as definitively subservient and definitively undeserving, if HAMMAS can find it's way on such a basis to accept the existential right of a Jewish State, if HAMMAS can accept the existing State of Israel today, then a peace precedent can ripple profoundly throughout the Muslim world, and terrorism take a holiday.
WHAT CONSTITUTES A REAL PEACE DEAL?
Rather than lauding the lowest common denominator, which would be nothing more than a sustained state of ceasefire, there is an optimal possibility that can have profound influence worldwide in terms of relations between the Jewish, Muslim, and Christian worlds.
As a Jew, this writer is accutely aware of his "second class" status in both the Christian and Muslim worlds. In the Christian world the Jew is ambivalently regarded as having lost the favor of the Lord, as responsible for the Death of the Messiah, and is paradoxically to be scurged in exile and yet to be coddled as His Chosen People; and so there is the ignominious history of Jewish ghetto life, which still exists in loose form in today's world, even where the majority of Jews were annihilated during World War 2 and in Soviet Russia. In the Muslim world the Jew is classified as "Dhimmi" - as indeed also is the Christian - the taxed and oppressed second class in the world of Islam (see the adjacent LINK).
It is highly symbolic, according to social and political interpretation, that the Dome of the Rock mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem is located high above any synagogue or church. By Dhimmi Law no synagogue or church may be larger or higher or more impressive than the nearest mosque or most mosques in the same town. Denied statehood and the right to own land for millenia, only in the last sixty years has Israel re-established itelf in it's own homeland as a Jewish political (and in this era, democratic) State. So Christians and Moslems in today's democratic Israel have equal status, at least in the sense that there is no law defining the Muslim and Christian citizens of Israel as "second class", nor are there any laws of the modern State requiring the destruction or modification of the churches and mosques to be "lesser" than the synagogues.
After millenia of subjugation, Israel has not subjugated Muslim or Christian, although by psychological projection based on the Hammurabi interpretation of the "eye for an eye" biblical injunction, the Muslim may (incorrectly) only think in the literal interpretation, contemplating destruction to be their "inevitable" destiny under Israeli hegemony. Hence again Muslim devotion to the destruction of Israel, even amongst the 1.2-million strong Muslim citizenry of Israel proper, who vote in Israeli elections, yet celebrate "Al Naqba" (The Catastrophe [of the existence of a Jewish State]).
Yet, herein lies the fulcrum of hope for peace in the Middle East, as the conflict is essentially a Jewish v. Muslim conflict: if the religious definition of the Jew as Dhimmi, only and always, can be surmounted, even as the Catholic Church (officialy) no longer holds Jews and Judaism damnable for the "Messiah's Death", that is to say: if as a matter of doctrine, Muslims can accept Jews (and Christians) as equals and not as definitively subservient, then an entirely new mentality can exist in the world between Muslims, Christians, and Jews. Jews and Christians, vastly outnumbered in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, East Asia, and Indonesia, could look upon the Dome of the Rock and not feel oppressed; and Muslims should no longer feel irrationally threatened that at any moment the Dome of the Rock will inevitably be blown up. Indeed Israel has permitted expansion of the Islamic religious facilities on the Temple Mount (a new and larger subterranean mosque is being constructed as we speak under the Al Aqsa mosque, which is the second mosque on the Temple Mount), and at great and unintended cost to Jewish arhaeological heritage (yes, there is a deliberate and conscious and active effort to destroy as much Jewish archaelogical heritage by the Muslims as possible in order to deny Jewish rights and claims to the Temple Mount).
If HAMMAS, which is a Muslim organization, can find a way to establish that Jews need not eternally be regarded as definitively subservient and definitively undeserving, if HAMMAS can find it's way on such a basis to accept the existential right of a Jewish State, if HAMMAS can accept the existing State of Israel today, then a peace precedent can ripple profoundly throughout the Muslim world, and terrorism take a holiday.
IDF, HAMAS, BUFFER ZONE, PRISONERS, QASSAMS
On the heels of the still fresh release of BBC Reporter Alan Johnston from captivity in Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are busy at the work of establishing a one-kilometre buffer zone in northern Gaza, which (hopefully) means the re-establishment of a small portion of the one-kilometre "Oslo Security Perimeter". This may be much better than the 300-metre buffer zone of military speculation, spoken of earlier in the week, unless it should be merely a tiny strip one-kilometre in length and 300-metres deep; but, is it enough of a buffer zone to put the Qassam rockets out of range of Israel?
One hopes that simultaneous to this necessary Israeli action in northern Gaza, it will still be possible for Israel to secure the release of Gilad Shalit. HAMAS has spoken to the world, that it hopes to succeed the release of Alan Johnston by releasing Gilad Shalit in a deal with Israel. One hopes as well that HAMAS will dramatically reverse it's policy of denial of the right of Israel to exist. The existential right of Gilad Shalit and the existential right of Israel and one and the same. If there is a window of opportunity to have a sincere bargaining partner in HAMAS, Israel should seize that opportunity and run with it.
Precedent and policy go against HAMAS as a possible partner. Yet, we are in the season of potential for the birth of MASHIACH. Let us be sensitive to the spiritual possibility of TESHUVAH, even from HAMAS. (Not blind, not stupid - just, if there is a sea-change in HAMAS's air, may Israel remain open to the possibility.)
One hopes that simultaneous to this necessary Israeli action in northern Gaza, it will still be possible for Israel to secure the release of Gilad Shalit. HAMAS has spoken to the world, that it hopes to succeed the release of Alan Johnston by releasing Gilad Shalit in a deal with Israel. One hopes as well that HAMAS will dramatically reverse it's policy of denial of the right of Israel to exist. The existential right of Gilad Shalit and the existential right of Israel and one and the same. If there is a window of opportunity to have a sincere bargaining partner in HAMAS, Israel should seize that opportunity and run with it.
Precedent and policy go against HAMAS as a possible partner. Yet, we are in the season of potential for the birth of MASHIACH. Let us be sensitive to the spiritual possibility of TESHUVAH, even from HAMAS. (Not blind, not stupid - just, if there is a sea-change in HAMAS's air, may Israel remain open to the possibility.)
Thursday, July 5, 2007
JULY 4, 2007: INDEPENDENCE DAY IN THE U.S.A., RELEASE OF B.B.C. REPORTER ALAN JOHNSTON FROM CAPTIVITY IN GAZA, CONTINUED CAPTIVITY OF ISRAELI SOLDIER
... GILAD SHALIT IN GAZA, CONTINUED CAPTIVITY OF ISRAELI SOLDIERS ELDAD REGEV AND EHUD GOLDWASSER IN LEBANON, TENTATIVE OFFER LAST WEEK BY ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER EHUD OLMERT TO RELEASE 250 'PALESTINIAN' PRISONERS, PUBLIC STATEMENT BY HAMAS THAT THE RELEASE OF ALAN JOHNSTON FROM CAPTIVITY SHOULD LEAD TO PRISONER EXCHANGES WITH ISRAEL....
"Mr. Haniya... said he hoped a deal could now be reached for the release of the Israeli Corporal, Gilad Shalit, who has been held in Gaza since being seized in a border raid by three militant groups a year ago." (quoting: BBC News / Middle East / BBC's Alan Johnston is released / July 4, 2007)
After 114 days in captivity in Gaza by the Dughmush Clan, BBC News Reporter Alan Johnston was released from his ordeal by the intervention of HAMAS, the jihadist terrorist organization, which in just this past weak has taken control of Gaza from the Palestinian Authority after a prolonged skirmish between HAMAS and FATAH, FATAH being the predominant terrorist wing of the Palestinian Authority.
Is it accidental, that Alan Johnston's release was accomplished on July 4, which is Independence Day in the USA? None of the news stories I have yet read or heard has reported of any direct connection with respect to the timing of the release of Alan Johnston and the simultaneous annual celebration of July 4th in the USA. It can be lost on no American that today on July 4, 2007, British BBC News Reporter Alan Johnston was granted his freedom from captivity [ergo, his "... life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness..." (see the American "Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776")].
Is this timing coincidental? If it was deliberate, was it a pure message or a double edged sword? America won it's freedom from Britain, so in the return to safety of Brittisher Alan Johnston, is Hamas seeking to divide the USA from Britain, or to reach out in a positive way to both Britain and the USA?
Without getting carried away with such speculation, let's take at face value this positive gift of life, even by Hamas! And let's also take at face value the positive statement of HAMAS Spokesman Ismael Haniya, quoted above, saying he hoped a deal can now lead to the release of Israeli Gilad Shalit. As well, given the dispute between HAMAS and FATAH, that lead to the current forceful assumption of power in Gaza by HAMAS, and which in February meant the resignation of Ismael Haniya from his elected position as Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, let no disrespect be read into the fact that I refer herein to Mr. Haniya as "HAMAS Spokesman". May Mr. Haniya's word's ascend to Heaven, that the release of Alan Johnston shall also lead to the release of Gilad Shalit! As well, may Alan Johnston's life and liberty also lead to life and liberty for Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, who are currently held captive by HEZBOLLAH in Lebanon. There is still a common Syrian connection between HAMAS and HEZBOLLAH. It is not illogical to suppose that this Syrian connection can bring about the release of the Israeli captives.
Of course Israel must be wary of this Syrian connection. There is much talk lately of a deal with Syria involving the return of the Golan Heights to Syria. Can Israel afford such as strategic loss of territory to Syria, even if Syria does finally recognize Israel?
In keeping with the original call in my first posting to this blog for " ... Peace and Rest to the Town of Sderot ..." [from the incessant onslaught of Qassam rockets fired into Israel from Gaza], may it also be heard in Heaven, that the release of Alan Johnston from his captivity shall lead to the similar release of Gilad Shalit, Eldad Regev, Ehud Goldwasser, as many 'Palestinian' captives in Israel as are deserving to be released, and the unconditional and absolute cessation of the aerial Qassam rocket bombardment of Israel by Gaza!
AND, HAVING COMMEMORATED THIS JULY 4TH, LET THE WORLD REMEMBER THAT, AT THIS VERY MOMENT, FREEDOM IN THE WORLD STILL HAS IT'S HOME IN THE U.S.A., EVEN AS THE BEST MEN AND WOMEN OF LADY LIBERTY ARE POSTED AROUND THE WORLD, AT RISK TO LIFE AND LIMB IN THE NAME OF FREEDOM, EVERYWHERE! "OH, SAY... [WORLD] CAN YOU SEE ??"
"Mr. Haniya... said he hoped a deal could now be reached for the release of the Israeli Corporal, Gilad Shalit, who has been held in Gaza since being seized in a border raid by three militant groups a year ago." (quoting: BBC News / Middle East / BBC's Alan Johnston is released / July 4, 2007)
After 114 days in captivity in Gaza by the Dughmush Clan, BBC News Reporter Alan Johnston was released from his ordeal by the intervention of HAMAS, the jihadist terrorist organization, which in just this past weak has taken control of Gaza from the Palestinian Authority after a prolonged skirmish between HAMAS and FATAH, FATAH being the predominant terrorist wing of the Palestinian Authority.
Is it accidental, that Alan Johnston's release was accomplished on July 4, which is Independence Day in the USA? None of the news stories I have yet read or heard has reported of any direct connection with respect to the timing of the release of Alan Johnston and the simultaneous annual celebration of July 4th in the USA. It can be lost on no American that today on July 4, 2007, British BBC News Reporter Alan Johnston was granted his freedom from captivity [ergo, his "... life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness..." (see the American "Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776")].
Is this timing coincidental? If it was deliberate, was it a pure message or a double edged sword? America won it's freedom from Britain, so in the return to safety of Brittisher Alan Johnston, is Hamas seeking to divide the USA from Britain, or to reach out in a positive way to both Britain and the USA?
Without getting carried away with such speculation, let's take at face value this positive gift of life, even by Hamas! And let's also take at face value the positive statement of HAMAS Spokesman Ismael Haniya, quoted above, saying he hoped a deal can now lead to the release of Israeli Gilad Shalit. As well, given the dispute between HAMAS and FATAH, that lead to the current forceful assumption of power in Gaza by HAMAS, and which in February meant the resignation of Ismael Haniya from his elected position as Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, let no disrespect be read into the fact that I refer herein to Mr. Haniya as "HAMAS Spokesman". May Mr. Haniya's word's ascend to Heaven, that the release of Alan Johnston shall also lead to the release of Gilad Shalit! As well, may Alan Johnston's life and liberty also lead to life and liberty for Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, who are currently held captive by HEZBOLLAH in Lebanon. There is still a common Syrian connection between HAMAS and HEZBOLLAH. It is not illogical to suppose that this Syrian connection can bring about the release of the Israeli captives.
Of course Israel must be wary of this Syrian connection. There is much talk lately of a deal with Syria involving the return of the Golan Heights to Syria. Can Israel afford such as strategic loss of territory to Syria, even if Syria does finally recognize Israel?
In keeping with the original call in my first posting to this blog for " ... Peace and Rest to the Town of Sderot ..." [from the incessant onslaught of Qassam rockets fired into Israel from Gaza], may it also be heard in Heaven, that the release of Alan Johnston from his captivity shall lead to the similar release of Gilad Shalit, Eldad Regev, Ehud Goldwasser, as many 'Palestinian' captives in Israel as are deserving to be released, and the unconditional and absolute cessation of the aerial Qassam rocket bombardment of Israel by Gaza!
AND, HAVING COMMEMORATED THIS JULY 4TH, LET THE WORLD REMEMBER THAT, AT THIS VERY MOMENT, FREEDOM IN THE WORLD STILL HAS IT'S HOME IN THE U.S.A., EVEN AS THE BEST MEN AND WOMEN OF LADY LIBERTY ARE POSTED AROUND THE WORLD, AT RISK TO LIFE AND LIMB IN THE NAME OF FREEDOM, EVERYWHERE! "OH, SAY... [WORLD] CAN YOU SEE ??"
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
A BUFFER ZONE CAN BRING PEACE TO SDEROT
One kilometre east of the northeastern corner of Gaza is the Israeli town of Sderot. Sderot has always been a risky location. The daily barrage of Qassam rockets that Sderot suffers today began long before the unilateral Israeli "disengagement" from Gaza. Israel's ignominious withdrawl from Gaza, far from bringing peace to Israel, has caused far more suffering for Israelis and for non-Israelis. Certainly the withdrawl has made it much easier for Qassams to be launched over the border into Israel.
Adjacent to this post is a link to a wonderful map of Gaza and neighboring Israel. A look via this link shows the pre-existing and inadequate one-kilometre "Oslo Security Perimeter". One can see the outline of the beautiful farms that Israel created in the desert just beyond Gaza.
There are two photos I may at another time succeed in making available by link or post; for the moment I will do my best to describe them. First, imagine a green-colored Qassam rocket stuck nose first into a cratered Sderot street; with it's finned tail sticking up, it calls to mind a potted plant! Second, imagine a long, low pile of spent Qassam rocket shells, piled up like firewood against someone's wall.... The crater in the street may seem like a flowerpot and the green missle almost like a small tree due to the color and fins. But, it is not any kind of tree, nor flower, nor potted plant of any kind. And the spent shells lined up against a wall are not firewood....
Day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year the residents of Sderot have no peace and no rest. Israel has it within it's power to make peace and rest possible for Sderot. It is quite simple: create a six-kilometre buffer zone in the northeastern corner of Gaza! Any peace gesture from Israel is taken to be an encouragement to wage war even harder with Israel. So Israel is within it's rights to defend itself. The most simple and obvious defense is to require the residents of northeastern Gaza to relocate southward for failing to prevent various terror groups from launching missles and raids into Israel. Israel can then enforce the buffer zone without harming innocent civilians.
I look forward to reading your e-mails regarding this simple idea, and I intend within these three weeks to establish proper protocols to establish this Foundation as a way to fund a lobby in Israel to work towards implementation of a buffer zone as a matter of policy.
Adjacent to this post is a link to a wonderful map of Gaza and neighboring Israel. A look via this link shows the pre-existing and inadequate one-kilometre "Oslo Security Perimeter". One can see the outline of the beautiful farms that Israel created in the desert just beyond Gaza.
There are two photos I may at another time succeed in making available by link or post; for the moment I will do my best to describe them. First, imagine a green-colored Qassam rocket stuck nose first into a cratered Sderot street; with it's finned tail sticking up, it calls to mind a potted plant! Second, imagine a long, low pile of spent Qassam rocket shells, piled up like firewood against someone's wall.... The crater in the street may seem like a flowerpot and the green missle almost like a small tree due to the color and fins. But, it is not any kind of tree, nor flower, nor potted plant of any kind. And the spent shells lined up against a wall are not firewood....
Day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year the residents of Sderot have no peace and no rest. Israel has it within it's power to make peace and rest possible for Sderot. It is quite simple: create a six-kilometre buffer zone in the northeastern corner of Gaza! Any peace gesture from Israel is taken to be an encouragement to wage war even harder with Israel. So Israel is within it's rights to defend itself. The most simple and obvious defense is to require the residents of northeastern Gaza to relocate southward for failing to prevent various terror groups from launching missles and raids into Israel. Israel can then enforce the buffer zone without harming innocent civilians.
I look forward to reading your e-mails regarding this simple idea, and I intend within these three weeks to establish proper protocols to establish this Foundation as a way to fund a lobby in Israel to work towards implementation of a buffer zone as a matter of policy.
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