APPROACHING THE THREE WEEKS

NOT EXACTLY HOT FUN IN THE SUMMERTIME

SYRIA and IRAN and EGYPT stand out as the greatest concerns of the moment, with Iraq, Turkey, Pakistan, and Afghanistan not far behind.  ISRAEL is certainly caught between Iraq and hard places....

On the one hand getting Syria right may be the key that finally unlocks the gates to the potential nuclear hell that is Iran.  The results of the Iranian "elections" may mean that Iran has reached a tipping point and is ready to engage with the UN and the West in a way that suggests a less megalomaniacal attitude.  On the other hand regardless of the Syria outcome the present "election" results may be intended simply to enable Iran to present the appearance of a more moderate face to the world, even as Iran shifts it's alliances eastwards.

To date we see the Russia-Syria-Iran connections quite clearly.  There is every reason to see and be vigilant regarding these connections, and to be alert as well to the Stalinesque Putin-Assad-Ahmadinijad-Erdogan-Morsi patterns of totalitarianism in various stages of their development (even though Turkey is a NATO country and Egypt is presently, though precariously, in the American sphere, we had best not take these relations for granted).

We must not be so narrowly focused on Syria that we lose sight of the growing Iran-Pakistan-China connection.  There is an oil pipeline in progress to supply Iranian oil to Pakistan -- and whatever else may conceivably be transported via such a pipeline, eastwards or westwards (which possibility ought not be taken lightly, whatever weight the crude, as the new government of Pakistan has publicly announced a deepening of Chinese assistance in the further advancement of the nuclear capabilities of Pakistan).  It is not then a far stretch to realize that there may also be a deepening Chinese involvement in the assistance of Iranian nuclear development, whether as a complement to present Russian guidance or as a replacement of the Russians, should the Western nations coax the Russians out of their Iranian beach front.

What can Israel do, caught as it is in the center of all this superpower international intrigue that is laced with the aspirations of the would-be-superpowers of the Muslim world, and all of whom seem to regard Israel as at least the goalie to the soccer ball that is presently Syria and and could overnight become Israel as well?

One thing Israel can do is to remember that needless hatred and the destructiveness thereof is not restricted to the history of Israel.  One-hundred-thousand Syrians have already paid dearly for the needless hatred of Syrian v. Syrian, and most of those, who have paid the price, have been innocents.  Can Israel find ways to aid suffering Syrian refugees without also exposing Israel's underbelly?  Can Israel suggest ways to cool things down between the contesting parties  of Syria?  Can Israel manage to stay sufficiently out of the fray so that Hezbollah will not attack Israel?  If Hezbollah chooses anyway to attack Israel, is Israel ready -- and ready as well, should Hamas join in and attack Israel from Gaza?  Could Iran conceivably attack Israel?  Is Morsi studying ways to convert a public stance against Assad into a war footing that may further consolidate Muslim Brotherhood power in Egypt?  Is an Israeli-Egyptian alliance against Iran conceivable?  Oy, Vey!  Such questions!

POSITIVE ELECTION RESULTS? WHY NOT? WE SHALL SEE...

LOOKS GOOD SO FAR!

Israel has chosen a broad spectrum of solid leaders.  May HaShem prove them all to be equal to the tasks before them, tasks which are not simple; yet, neither are they hopeless tasks:  peace and security in a place surrounded by war and hatred, prosperity and stability in a time of economic strife, and faith and freedom caught up in a timeless struggle with each other.

HAREDIM INTO THE MILITARY?

It is a good idea, that everyone serve the country, including service in the military.  There already exist successful examples of devoted military service by religious Jews (note: saying so here in such an understated way is not intended to belittle anyone).  Haredim may conceivably be a special case; and so it is incumbent on the Nation of Israel that there be a national dialogue on the subject that is not based merely on resentments, be those resentments by persons religious, non-religious, anti-religious, or Haredi.

Those, who insist that Haredim serve in the military, ought to ask themselves two questions: (1) Are there service protocols that may be tailored to enable Haredim to serve in ways consistent with Halachah; and, (2) Are there societal protocols that non-religious and anti-religious Jews ought to commit themselves to in order to make their own contribution to the integrity of Israel (e.g. - keeping some of the vital Shabbas Halachoth, dressing Modestly, keeping Kosher, etc.)?

IRAN DEADLINE?

June 6 would be a good deadline date for Iran to come clean with respect to it's nuclear ambitions, to cease it's imperial provocations around the world, and to cease it's campaigns of Holocaust Denial and Jew Hatred.

Such a deadline should be established jointly by the UNGA and the UNSC under combined Israeli, American, Russian, and Chinese sponsorship;  and, the suggested joint sponsorship process should have, as it's foundation, repudiation of the Iranian policy of Holocaust Denial, a subject cogently brought to world attention by PM Netanyahu earlier this week on International Holocaust Remembrance Day (January 27).

GESHEM-GESHEM!! MAYIM-MAYIM!! MIN HA'SHEMAYIM!!

YEARS AND YEARS OF DROUGHT -- AND NOW -- FINALLY -- HEAVENLY -- RAIN, RAIN, RAIN!!!

HASHEM PROVIDES THE BEST CONTRIBUTION FOR PEACE, LOVE, AND PROSPERITY -- MUCH NEEDED WATER!!!

Two wonderful opportunities exist now for Israel: (1) Make optimal use of the replenishment of it's water resources, and (2) redesign and rebuild for flood weather, so that damage will be minimal -- even close to zero -- next time around (which may be sooner than we may think).

Perhaps in it's redesign efforts Israel may set an example for other nations, even the USA, by building on stilts and by incorporating other elevation engineerings into construction in low-lying areas, especially along the sea; and by constructing multi-use barriers inclusive of wind and tidal power.

The best place for the ocean is "Under the Boardwalk"!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyzCccndc2w

"STATE OF PALESTINE" ??????????? OY, GEVALT!!!!!!!!!!!!

FROM THOUGHT TO SPEECH TO ACTION...

Mahmoud Abbas has led the PAL on a path that calls to mind a fundamental teaching of Hasidus, "From Thought To Speech To Action".  Abbas has thought "State of Palestine".  Abbas has spoken "State of Palestine".  Abbas may imminently win an existential "State of Palestine".

Today it was reported by the Associated Press that Abbas has ordered the Palestinian Authority (PA) to officially change it's name to "State of Palestine" on the presumption that it is consistent with the recent decision of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to recognize the "State of Palestine" (SOP) as a full Non-Member Observer "State".  The keywords are "State" and "Palestine".

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has not so recognized a "State of Palestine".  Can the UNSC override and negate the UNGA recognition of the SOP?  If so, then the effrontery of the PAL and the UNGA may be checked by firmer UNSC action than it's presently passive non-ratification of the UNGA move; and Israel must so urge the UNSC.

Perhaps in one united decision the UNSC may officially recognize the non-observer status of The Holy See and simultaneously officially nullify the UNGA recognition of the "State of Palestine".  (Whether or not the UNSC can be brought to an unanimous vote to override the UNGA in this matter should be regarded as possible on structural grounds regarding matters of proper balance of power at the UN, if a case for the Right of Override by the UNSC may be made de jure, defacto, or de implicatione by the UN Charter.)

Or must such a precedent be established via the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in Brussells?  Does it not make sense, that if any type of Observer Status, Non-Observer Status, or actual Statehood is recognized by the UNGA, that such recognition must be ratified by the UNSC in order to become valid, binding, and active at the UN?  This logic should apply as well to recognition in such UN bodies as UNESCO or the Antiquities Authority.

There is a speedy "train" in motion upon which the world appears ready to board; that "train" is official recognition of the "State of Palestine".  If the UNGA may say that there is a "State of Palestine", then what is to stop the majority of individual Member States of the UN from officially doing the same?  (Are the Member States of the UN bound to honor the both the UNGA and the UNSC prior to acknowledging a State?  No, in fact neither, but, a tidal wave of "permissions" flowing outwards from the UNGA epicenter of the "Arab Spring" may drown Israel and the World.)

Precedent already exists at the UN, that Member States may not be required to acknowledge each other.  That precedent exists in that there are at least twenty member States, who have chosen not to recognize the existence of Israel.  This is a "thumbing the nose" at both the UNGA and the UNSC, as much as it is an affront to Israel's Right to Exist .  This first precedent of non-recognition is also precedent to it's inverse, that an individual State may be UN Member State and yet independently recognize any entity claiming to be a state, e.g. the "State of Palestine" or, hypothetically, the "State of Al-Quaeda in Yemen", "Al-Quaeda in Syria", "Hezbollah in Syria-Lebanon", etc.

It must be remembered that the guiltiest parties to this nefarious recognition of a "State of Palestine" may be the more than fifty Member States, which either did not show up to vote or deliberately abstained from voting; a UNGA two-thirds majority in favor of Statehood for the PA could not have manifested, had those fifty-plus Member States voted against PA Statehood.

The propaganda war waged in the name of "Palestine" by the Arabs, having achieved a worldwide victory at the UNGA, may now press further into official recognition by the majority of individual States throughout the world, leaving only the UNSC and a handful of States to yet recognize "The State Of Palestine".  The weight of time and pressure on these remaining official bodies to recognize "The State Of Palestine" does not favor Israel.  Such "olives" these Arabs press into "oil...." 

Israel urgently faces "crunch time" decisions to defend itself from deleterious final status in the face of probable international recognition of the "State Of Palestine" along unsustainable borders for Israel.  In the jargon of basketball, the "game is into overtime" and Israel must exercise a "full court press" in order to survive and advance to the next level.

What can Israel do?

In the Media and at the UNGA, UNSC, ICJ, and to individual States throughout the world, Israel must itself move from thought to speech to action or, failing to do so, concede to the Arabs a ghettoized Israel.

Israel must:

1.  Make the case, as there is no UNSC-recognized "State of Palestine", that it is premature for the PAL to change it's name;

2.  Make the case, as there is no UNSC-recognized "State of Palestine", that the UNGA must freeze it's present recognition, until and unless the UNSC recognizes a "State of Palestine".

3.  Make the case -- for by definition "Jews" and "Israel" are "Palestinian" and "Palestine" (by the ignominious nomenclature of the Ancient Romans) -- that recognition of any entity of Palestinian Arabs must only be by some appropriate name, e.g. "Fatah", as the heritage of foreign occupations of Israel/Palestine  requires prominent recognition and receives none.  (In fact it would be quite elegant to press the UN Antiquities Authority to verify this history and nomenclature of Israel from Roman times to the Present....)

4.  Make the case that Israel will not recognize the presently alleged "State of Palestine" nor will speak "of" or "to" the PAL except by an actual appropriate name, e.g. "Fatah" in proper recognition of identity and in order to no longer give verbal credibility to the identification of the Arabs as Palestinian and the Jews as Not-Palestinian.

5.  Take strong, calculated, restrained, strategic, tactical, and expeditious actions on the ground to secure Israel; these should be inclusive of settlement activities, construction activities, defense preparation activities, police activities, judicial activities, and political activities. 

6.  Make the case strongly that none of the four explicit tests of the Montevideo Criteria for Statehood are met by the PA ("Fatah"), as these four tests (stable population, borders, government, and capacity for international relations) are each of them and collectively questionable, controversial, and disputable.

**************************** LEGAL ARTICLE REFERENCE
REGARDING THE U.N., THE HOLY SEE (VATICAN), AND THE P.A./STATE OF PALESTINE:

American Society of International Law 09/07/2012
http://www.asil.org/insights121208.cfm.

"QUASIMODO" OR ""WINNIE THE POOH?

OGRE OR PUSHOVER (TO BE OR NOT TO BE)?


The world wants to believe that we are ogres. And so we contort ourselves until we become ogres.  Or we distort ourselves into such niceness, we cannot even believe it ourselves.

The West keeps us on a tight leash, such that we choke, then the West asks, "Why didn't you tell us the leash was too tight?"

The West murders us in ghettoes for centuries; now we morf ourselves into builders of "security fences".  Sanity would have us resettle our historical homeland!

Meanwhile -- what goes on beneath Jerusalem?

What goes on below the Temple Mount?

The Waqf digs, deeper and deeper, destroying evidence of Jewish
Heritage.  The Waqf every day today pulverizes the antiquities of our heritage, even as the Nazis cremated millions of our precious living heritage.

For this the United Nations elevates the "Palestinian Authority"; having already appointed the PA to the UN Antiquities Authority, now the UN has granted the PA into virtual Statehood!

Bibi N., Tzipi L., Ehud B., Moshe F., Shelly Y., Arye D. -- 

EFSHAR B'YACHAD BEYN HAMETZAR AL HA'ETHID!

CHINA ACTIVATES "BEIDOU" G.P.S. SYSTEM,

ANNOUNCING THAT THE SATELLITE G.P.S. SYSTEM IS DESIGNED FOR COMMERCIAL, SCIENTIFIC, AND MILITARY PURPOSES.

In 2000 China launched it's first satellite (coincidentally one year prior to Nine-Eleven) and now orbits sixteen satellites.

Today China announced it has activated it's "Beidou" GPS system;   by 2020 China will have launched at least thirty-five satellites.

Perhaps it's time to take the unfailing advice found in Chinese restaurant fortune cookies:  "Learn to read and speak Chinese...."

OBVIOUS IMPLICATIONS OF NUCLEAR IRAN, PAKISTAN, AND NORTH KOREA:

"TIC-TAC-TO (OR IS IT 'TICK-TOCK-TOW') -- THREE IN A ROW!"

Not quite there yet in drawing that connecting line from Northeast Asia (North Korea) through Central Asia (Pakistan) into Southwest Asia (Iran), China is already expanding a new game into the Pacific, claiming sovereignty over hosts of islands in all the various seas off China's coast and challenging South Korea, Japan, the Philippines, and the other South Seas nations.

China itself is already stockpiled with diverse nuclear armaments;  so add to that the coming completion of China's expanded ring of nuclear military capability via it's client/proxy States.

Once China's limit was the Great Wall of China.  In 1949 China invaded and occupied Tibet, thereby expanding a second great 'wall' of China to the Himalyas de facto.  In China's eyes and more significantly in Chinese Law, Tibet is Chinese territory de juree.

It is not beyond reason to perceive that in the worldwide territorial game of "Go", there are now three great 'walls' of China: the Great Wall; the circle of mountains surrounding Siankiang in the north and Tibet in the west and south; and now the 'nuclear wall' comprising North Korea, Pakistan, and [imminently] Iran.

Let us not forget China's eyes in the sky, be they officially Chinese, nor those of contracted nations and their surrogates;  need the appropriate biblical metaphor [and therefore solution] be spelled out?

CAN WE PREDICT WHAT THE NEW EGYPT WILL LOOK LIKE, IF MORSI AND HIS NEW CONSTITUTION SURVIVE?

HOW DOES MORSI'S NEW CONSTITUTION FOR EGYPT COMPARE TO THAT OF TURKEY?

A cogent understanding of the significance of the new Egyptian Constitution and Government may be learned out by making a comparison to the Turkish Constitution and Government.  The Turkish Government is by an Islamist party elected under a pre-existing secular Constitution.  Despite Islamist leanings, Turkey is still a member nation of NATO, and still has relations with Israel (strained of course by the Turkish role in the Mavi Marmara Incident).  A study of the new Egyptian Constitution in comparison and contrast to that of the Turkish Constitution may reveal the true meaning of the new Egyptian Constitution and, may make it possible to predict, whether or not the Muslim Brotherhood has become a kinder, gentler, more democratic influence in Egypt and in the region, or, whether on not the Muslim Brotherhood is without doubt merely the Hamas of Egypt.

REVIEWING THE PROPOSITION THAT THE U.N. SHOULD GRANT NON-MEMBER OBSERVER STATUS TO TIBET...

SUCH A PROPOSITION MAY BE SUPERFICIALLY APPEALING BUT SUBSTANTIALLY WEAK.

The idea of non-member observer status at the UN for Tibet may or may not be uniquely mine, and I do not know, if it has ever been a goal of the Dalai Lama;  I do know that the Dalai Lama has publicly expressed his wish that China allow Tibet to function as an autonomous region of China.

It may be that non-member observer status at the UN, rather than furthering the cause of Tibet against Chinese Occupation, would instead put the lid on both Tibetan autonomy and independence.  Any such internationally legal voice gained by the Dalai Lama under the aegis of a theoretically independent Tibet having non-member observer status could be a voice less substantial than the wind, having no territorial hegemony.

The Dalai Lama may have chosen the harder, longer, more painful, more difficult, ultimately necessary road -- the road of the Tibetan Buddhist, may it lead to the reconstitution of Tibet.

IN RECONSIDERATION OF THE MEANING AND IMPLICATIONS OF NON-MEMBER OBSERVER STATUS AT THE U.N. FOR THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY...

A STATE OF PALESTINE, OR, A THEOCRATIC STATE OF EAST JERUSALEM?

Given the unlikelihood that the budding Third Intifada will lead to lasting unification of the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, and given that the inevitable result must be either a temporary or permanent  "Pax Yisrael" in both Gaza and Judea-Samaria, a State of Palestine under the Palestinian Authority is unlikely.  And Hamas is not [yet] recognized by the UNGA with respect to the non-member observer status of the Palestinian Authority.

There is increasing momentum for the PA and Hamas to come together in a Third Intifada, and talk that the military cooperation between the PA and Israel will soon be ended unilaterally by the PA, so the future therefore is quite tenuous.  It is not impossible to imagine that a Third Intifada will mean that both Hamas and the PA will be brought down once again by Israel, and that Israel will exert even stronger and more justifiable hegemony over Gaza and Judea-Samaria.  Nor is it impossible to imagine that Jordan and Egypt will either step in or be called upon to incorporate the "West Bank" (Judea-Samaria) and Gaza into their respective contiguous nations ("Back to the Future", so to speak).

So what then of East Jerusalem and the Haram-es-Sharif?  In the context of the present dubious equivalence between the status of the PA and that of The Holy See (The Vatican), as both the PA and The Holy See are legally of the same UN non-member observer status, the precedence of The Vatican as a theocratic State implies the possibility that there could be a transformation [from the presently  intended move to create a fully-fledged UN Member State of Palestine] to instead create a theocratic State of East Jerusalem under the political and religious authority of the Waqf and the Mufti of Jerusalem.  This is a logical implication for the future of East Jerusalem that cannot be ignored.

ANTICIPATING THE ARMED, DEADLY ANTHILL AND CRYPT OF A "HOLY CITY OF EAST JERUSALEM" (12/23/2012)

The Jihadist habit of tunneling is well known throughout the world.  Whether this tunneling be by Al-Quaeda in Afghanistan and in Pakistan or, by Hamas, the PLO, and Hezbollah in Gaza, Israel, and Lebanon, the hazard is relentless.  Just imagine the Jihadist catacombs that already lace the Temple Mount and that may snake throughout East Jerusalem and throughout the entire City of Jerusalem.

"Do you know?  Don't you wonder?  What's going on... down under you???" (Crosby, Stills & Nash)

(1) ANSWERING FAYYAD'S CALL FOR A BOYCOTT OF ALL THINGS ISRAEL, AND (2) CHALLENGING U.N.G.A. RECOGNITION OF A PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY LED "OBSERVER STATE OF PALESTINE."

MAKING THE BEST OF THESE TWO WRONGS AGAINST ISRAEL AND THE FREE WORLD.


Israel has done much to support Abbu Mazzan (Mahmoud Abbas), Salam Fayyad, Hanan Asrawi, and the Palestinian Authority they lead.  Support has included political support, military support, and financial support.  Yet in less than thirty days the Palestinian Authority has twice spit on the Jewish hands lifting them up.

 (1) THE BOYCOTT INVOCATION

Israeli Premier Netanyahu should hold an international press conference and respond to Salam Fayyad's call for a boycott of all things Israel.

PM Netanyahu's response should be firm, yet compassionate, and should be designed to transform the invocative and provocative negative of the Arab-proposed boycott of Israel into a positive result.  PM Netanyahu should put forth a joyful, compelling, constructive call for the world to go out of it's way to visit the Holy Land this holiday season.  Customarily, at  this time of year, Jews and Arabs host throngs of tourists on pilgrimage tours to the Holy Land.  There is no better way to transcend the disturbed political airs than to remember that every day on the ground, ordinary Arabs and Israelis are remarkably hospitable and needing of the economic blessings of ordinary tourism and commerce.

Now, the Arab call for a boycott of all things Israel may or may not have been planned by the Arabs prior to and independently of Israel's response to UNGA recognition of an "Observer State of Palestine" [Israel froze $400-million NIS of PA taxes (collateral for money owed by the PA to Israel for utility services already provided) and commenced the  building of houses for Israelis on land the Arabs claim is theirs].

The Israeli actions are justified and overdue and are even relatively mute in the face of Arab behavior;  yet, Israel must be wary of the obsequious nature of Arab provocation, such as this call for a boycott of all things Israel.  Just as the Arabs establish their missile sites in their own olive groves in order to publicly decry olive grove destruction by Israel, when in self-defense Israel attacks these missile sites;  just as the Arabs establish their terror cells among their own civilians in order to decry the harm to civilians at the hand of Israel, when Israel attacks these terror cells in self-defense;  so too the Arabs find all manner of public propaganda ploys to distort reality and focus negative attention on Israel;  this call for a boycott of all things Israel may be such a ploy.

Therefore, while remaining firm where necessary, Israel may yet be warm, openhearted, and positive by inviting the world to come to the Holy Land.  PM Netanyahu may remind the world that the best way for the world to practice peacemaking in the Holy Land is to support the economy of the Holy Land by coming to the Holy Land and by enjoying all that the Holy Land offers in this season of the message of peace.

Much of the hospitality hosted in the Holy Land is hosted by Arabs, not only Jews.  Such an invitation to the world by PM Netanyahu, such an invitation to kindness inclusive of the average Arab struggling to make a living from day to day, may do much to diffuse animosity towards both Israel and PM Netanyahu, be that animosity local or out in the larger world.

(2) AN OBSERVER STATE OF PALESTINE

For the third time in recent years the UNGA has ramped up the prestige and legitimacy of Arab terrorism.  Twice it has empowered the PA with respect to the UN History and Antiquites Authority;  and now the UN has elevated the PA into the status of a recognized Observer State.

Setting aside Arab theft of the name "Palestine" from our Jewish Nation -- (though it is a name of humiliation, "Palestine" is a second name for the State of Israel, a name of occupation, forced by Ancient Rome upon Ancient Israel) -- by what insanity and by what precedent has the UNGA granted Observer State status to the PA?

There is no unified political authority for all of the Palestinian Arabs (e.g. it is Hamas that has the popular, financial, and authoritative rule in Gaza);  so, on what basis may the UNGA represent, even to it's own body, that the PA is the legitimate authority for any proposed Arab State of Palestine? 

No less important is this precedent:  the only preceding  Observer State at the UN is the theocratic State known as The Holy See (i.e. The Vatican).   Based on such a theocratic precedent, logic implies that the UNGA would more likely grant Observer Status to Hamas, not to the PA, as theocratic leadership is an Hamas hallmark (not that terrorist Hamas is any more worthy of a State than the PA).  Is it the intent of the UNGA to elevate Abbas, Fayyad, and Asrawi to the stature of the Pope?

And then there is the glaring omission at the UNGA -- that Tibet does not have recognition as an Observer State, nor does the Dali Lama have the appropriate international theocratic respect he deserves.

Legally, it should be clear and obvious that, by precedent of The Vatican, Tibet should be granted status as an Observer State.  The Dalai Lama, though in exile, deserves equivalent theocratic status at the UN to that of the Pope (despite the existence of a figurehead placed in that role by Tibet's occuppier, China).  Tibet has suffered forced occupation by China for more than half a century; yet, the Tibetan response to Chinese occupation has honorably and enduringly been non-violent in keeping with the non-violent philosophy of Tibetan Buddhism.

Were the UNGA behaving honestly, it would not give the PA a moment of credibility, and would shift it's focus towards the needs of the People of Tibet.


IN SUMMARY:

Israel's response to Fayyad's boycott provocation should be a compassionate, positive, inviting call for the world to support the economy of Holy Land by visiting both Jewish and Arab hosted sites in the Holy Land.

Israel's response to UNGA recognition of the OSP (Observer State of Palestine) should be to represent to the ICJ (International Court of Justice) in Brussels that there is neither basis nor precedent for the UNGA to recognize an OSP  and that the UNGA vote therefore must needs be struck down by the ICJ.

STEAM AND THE PRESSURE COOKER

ARAB AUTUMN IN RELATION TO ISRAEL

Events in Syria, which country is a pressure cooker boiled over into violence, have presently stirred the media into a daily frenzy of speculation that Israel will attack Iran.  Iran is the force behind Hezbollah and Syria, and Iran is a pending nuclear threat to the entire Middle East.  The Shia threat of the Syrian regime and the Iranian regime does not negate the also serious Sunni threat of other nations surrounding Israel, such threat being ever sustained on the ground actively from such terrorist groups as Hamas,  Al Quaeda, etc.

Israel is at the geographic center of much Muslim on Muslim violence, having the appearance of being the eye of the storm, even though Israel has little or nothing to do with that violence -- though to hear the nations of the world speak, one would think Israel was at fault for the slightest appearance of violence anywhere anytime, either explicitly or implicitly.

There has been much talk of "Arab Spring" and more recently talk of "Arab Winter".  It is premature yet to speak of Arab Winter, but, it may be appropriate to speak of "Arab Autumn".  A new relative stability may replace the prior relative stability.  Or a temporary stability may sooner or later yield to even deeper instability.  The present "Hot Arab Summer" could have been profoundly hotter, though Syria is still a wide open caldron.

Will Israel attack Iran?  The world at large may be projecting it's  own fears and desires onto Israel, such that the world in all it's ambivalence may be understood to fear the outbreak of war with Iran and yet to simultaneously be goading Israel into initiating that war.   

CONDOLENCES TO P.M. NETANYAHU.

AND LESSONS TO BE LEARNED FROM ARIK SHARON

On Yom Shayni this week a great leader of Israel -- the father of PM Netanyahu -- transcended into the Olam HaBah.  Benzion Netanyahu left us at age 102 to bring to us future blessings directly MinHaShemayim.  Today is Yom Gevurah Sh'b'Netzach 5772.

Sincerest of condolences to the Netanyahu family and to Bibi in particular, who as PM shoulders the safety of Israel, and who must do so now without his living father at his side.  Baruch HaShem, the legacy of Benzion Netanyahu is strong, present, and sustainable into the future.

Two quotes from Barry Goldwater (of blessed memory) come to mind from 1964 a propos of this day:  "Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice... moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue..." and, "There are no old, bold pilots."  Extreme, bold love unmoderated is what is called for right now in Israel.

We must remind ourselves that it is only as a widower that Arik Sharon caved before the chicanery of Ehud Olmert leading to the giveaway of Gaza.  The consequences of this surrender led to the infested control of Gaza by Hamas and of Lebanon by Hezbullah; to the displacement of thousands of families Jewish and Arab; to the incessant rain of Qassam rockets into southern Israel from Gaza; to the kidnappings of Gilad Shalit, Ehud Goldwasser, and Eldad Regev; to the 2006 Israel-Lebanon War; to the so-called "Freedom Flotillas" including the incident of the Mavi Mamara; to the necessary Israeli incursions into Gaza in 2008 and 2009; and to more than one "partridge in a pear tree...."

Now,  Israel is surrounded by massive generational tumult in every Arab nation.  It is called the "Arab Spring" and is a spring that has sprung for more than a year now with questionable historical direction.  May it yet bring the world Good and not Evil.

Also now, without respect even to Shiva Week for his father, PM Netanyahu is being blasted from Israel's Left with vulgar attacks upon his quality, credibility, and capability as PM.

This Blog calls for Israel's beloved PM Netanyahu not to cave before those, who would cease upon this moment, the death of his father, to politic and to undermine the Government of Israel.

This Blog further calls on PM Netanyahu to fully observe the Shiva Week, Shloshim, and first Year of the passing of his father and to not be distracted away from full observance by his detractors and the enemies of Israel.  That observance should include a firm, stealthy, quieter strategy towards Iran.  It should also include a firm and quiet strategy to detain, contain, and restrain Israel's Left from any gains it may seek via the technical process of elections.  Such Observance may be made manifest, if it is motivated, engaged, and brought forth in a spirit of intelligent love, be it Ahavas Yisrael or Ahavas Goyim.  And Ahavas practiced with Gevurah (if and only when appropriate and in appropriate measure) will and shall succeed.

The Nation of Israel should view the passing of Benzion Netanyahu in a proper and holy way:  not as an open window of opportunity for the destruction of PM Netanyahu and of the Government of Israel; but, as a closed casket of national heartbreak requiring a year of subdued national grief and unity.

Israel should also continue to pray for the recovery of Arik Sharon from his coma, even and especially now after all this time since his stroke in 2006.

Shalom v'Ahavas l'Mishpachah Netanyahu!

PURIM AND PESACH 5772: POLLARD, SHALIT, AND IRAN...

...AND SYRIA, IRAQ, AFGHANISTAN, KASHMIR, SIANKIANG, NORTH KOREA, CHINA, AND TIBET.

PESACH is now here and Purim is come and gone a month ago. We look now for revelations (or at least hints) of the hidden miracles that HaShem has set in motion for imminent realization.

And so, listening to the news from Israel today, there is talk in the air once again that JONATHAN POLLARD may be freed; it is said that both Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Peres are communicating with President Obama on this subject. If and only if Pollard's treason was unforgivable should Pollard remain locked away; otherwise, Pollard should have been on a plane for Israel long ago. Anything less is cruel. President Obama will be accused of political dealing, regardless of any decision to free or not free Pollard. So, President Obama should take a deep breath, hold his nose, and just do the right thing: he should free Pollard immediately, and he should do so without thought to political gain.

GILAD SHALIT has been free now for approximately six months. He has put on some healthy weight and there is now a soft, humble, welcome smile to his face. May he go from strength to strength, and may Jonathan Pollard and wife be in Israel together and be imminently blessed to join Gilad Shalit at a Pesach table before Pesach concludes this Shabbos.

IRAN and SYRIA are on everyone's mind. May the Assad regime disappear quickly from Syria. May the increasing pressure that the USA applies to Iran cause Iran's present political tyranny to implode. Without any nuclear accidents nor incidents nor war, may there be a yield in Iran of a new, democratic, rights- respecting regime. May such a new regime be bold and immediately set a precedent for other Islamic nations by recognizing Israel.

May IRAQ and AFGHANISTAN follow suit.

May KASHMIR become free of terror.

May CHINA be wise and end it's occupations of SIANKIANG and TIBET.

May China never come to occupy AFGHANISTAN and therefore the waters of Central Asia.

May China end it's occupation of Siankiang and thus ease the tensions to violence in Afghanistan.

May China end it's occupation of Tibet and thus ease the tensions to violence along the Himalyas into Pakistan, Kashmir, India, and Southeast Asia.

May China end it's occupation of Tibet and return the physical, political, and spiritual security of the headwaters of the nations of Pakistan, India, Southeast Asia, and China into the safe, respectful, loving robes of Buddhist Tibet.

China has nothing to prove to the world militarily and should free it's mind of dull, deadly, provocative military devotion to it's own military expansion and that of it's proxies (e.g. North Korea, Iran). In the great traditions of Lao Tzu and Confucious, China honor it's Ancestors and inspire the world in unexpected, non-violent, spiritual ways.

CHINA BUILDS UP MILITARY, NAVAL, AIR, AND EXTRATERRESTRIAL CAPABILITIES, WHILE FEEDING WARS ALONG THE HIMALYAS AND SOUTHEAST ASIA.

TIBET, SIANKIANG, AFGHANISTAN, PAKISTAN, KASHMIR: DANGEROUS TIMES AHEAD.

What does this have to do with Israel? Only that Israel must raise a voice of warning and not remain solely focused on it's own neighborhood.

This is not to trivialize the significance of what is happening in the Middle East. There is so much happening in the Middle East, what with the Arab "Awakening" [as it is now being called] and the threats from Iran and Turkey.

Perhaps it is time to pluck out China's "eye(s) in the sky" and to punch a few holes under North Korean and Chinese naval vessels (especially China's new atomic aircraft carrier) -- just enough "accidental" damage to encourage China to scale down it's imperialism and persecutions.

Tibet and Siankiang especially have suffered too much already. I pray (and Israel should) pray for increased spiritual strength to the Dalai Lama, who every day seeks to prevent full-scale violence from erupting in Tibet. Tibetan monks are immolating themselves, an alarm projected similarly decades ago by Buddhist monks in Vietnam as Vietnam was being torn apart. Caught between a relentless China and the prospect of full-scale war, Tibet deserves the spiritual and political attention of the world to prevent worst-case scenarios from occurring to Tibet -- and to China.

At the close of World War Two, the USA, Britain, and France should have protected Vietnam from China and Russia. Instead these Allies forced Vietnam into civil war and fully into the arms of Russia and China, simultaneously leaving China free to invade Tibet. Today the great "Wall" of China is the Himalayas, which are aflame in a circle of war from Korea to Siankiang to Afghanistan to Pakistan to Kashmir to Nepal to Southeast Asia. These are largely proxy wars between China and the West. These wars may come to a swift conclusion -- even the AF-PAK crisis, if China realizes that it has already overcooked it's own rice.

China has much to learn and much to gain -- spiritually and materially -- from Tibet. If China takes it's cue from the Dalai Lama and lays down it's war mongering, then full-scale war may yet avoid both Tibet and China.

WILL LIBYA BE THE FIRST ARAB NATION IN HISTORY TO INCLUDE EQUAL JEWISH PARTICIPATION IN GOVERNMENT?

JONATHAN POLLARD HAS BEEN IMPRISONED IN THE U.S.A. FOR MORE THAN 27-YEARS AND SHOULD BE FREED.

Only today on the third anniversary of the horrible massacre at the Chabad House in Mumbai, India, did I become aware that Raphael Luzon, the leader of the exiled Libyan Jews of Great Britain, had been contacted by Mustapha Abdul-Jalil, a Libyan rebel leader, to return to Libya and seek office, that Jews may have a political voice in the new Libya.

This offer was made in August (see the article "Rebels ask leader of UK's Libyan Jews to run for office," published in the Jerusalem Post on 08/23/11). Luzon said he would consider this request based on it's historical significance, that it would be the first time in history that an Arab State would permit and invite equal Jewish participation in government.

Qadaffi is now gone, Mustapha Abdul-Jalil is now interim President, and a new government is forming in Libya; we have yet to hear any additional news from Luzon. Nu? After 1600+ years of Muslim domination, we can wait a little longer....

It is worth remarking that Jonathan Pollard is in his 27th year of captivity in the USA. Guilty of treason or not (depending on point of view based on morality v. technicalities of law) punishment of Pollard has far exceeded any crime he may have committed. Pollard should be freed.

HOSTAGE POPULATIONS TO IRAN'S TYRANNICAL, MEGALOMANIACAL REGIME AND SUBJECT TO IRAN'S TICKING NUCLEAR "TIME CLOCK".

WILL AHMADINIJAD'S HOSTAGE POPULATIONS SUFFER, WHEN IRAN'S NUCLEAR "TIME CLOCK" IS STOPPED BY MILITARY INTERVENTION FROM ISRAEL AND/OR THE WEST?

There are many distinct populations at risk in Iran under the present regime of Ahmadinjad and the Mullahs. While 90% of Iran's population are Shia, 8% are Sunni; of the remaining 2%, some 300,000 are of the Bahai faith, some 40,000 are Jews, there are some thousands of Christians, and others. All of these minorities are persecuted, and all of these minority populations have shrunk due to emigration in the face of persecution (the Jewish population numbered more than 100,000 only a few decades ago). As well, within the majority Shia population there are westernized and secularized populations that are not at all secure under the present regime.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps has effectively muzzled up internal efforts at regime change against Ahmadinijad and the Mullahs.

The world probably has no accurate picture of the scale of persecutions in Iran nor of the sufferings endemic there.

What kind of pressures can be employed against the current regime that will create opportunity for internal resistance, minimize persecutions against minorities, protect minority and resistance populations, and terminate Iran's potential nuclear threat?

Under the present regime Iran has steadily built up it's military (especially it's missile and naval capabilities), and it's intelligence services terrify not only Iran itself, but, operate internationally, having a sphere of influence well beyond Iran's borders, notably and obviously in Syria, Lebanon, Gaza, and Iraq.

Therefore the question must be, "Is a well-informed, well-planned, well-coordinated strike against Iranian nuclear facilities both necessary and sufficient in order to bring about change in Iran and in order to de-fang Iran's nuclear threat?"

The world must keep in mind that Israel has none of the luxuries of time, distance, and tolerance that other nations may have. The world must also keep in mind that it's own perceptions of luxuries of time, distance, and tolerance may be dangerously false and even delusional.

Hostage populations make for deterrence against attack on at least two counts: as objects of sympathy and as objects of bait for traps. These populations may also exist on the surface of subterranean enemy facilities, such that attack on those enemy facilities requires attack on sympathetic populations.

There is no simple solution, only a best effort at damage control in the face of inevitable war.

SHOULD ISRAEL CHALLENGE U.N.E.S.C.O. IN THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE (ICJ) AT THE HAGUE? THE IDENTITY THEFT OF ISRAEL BY "PALESTINE" ...

... WESTERN FAILURE TO PERCEIVE THE TRUE NATURE OF THE ARAB-ISRAELI CONFLICT, WESTERN FAILURE TO PERCEIVE THE TRUE NATURE OF THE GREEK FINANCIAL CRISIS, AND WESTERN FAILURE TO PERCEIVE THE GERMANY-TURKEY-IRAN-CHINA AXIS.

THE FUTURE IS NOW AT THE U.N.

UNESCO is the United Nations Educational and Cultural Organization. The World Heritage Committee is one of the bodies of UNESCO and it names international world heritage sites. Can a State be a world heritage site? So, by admitting the "State of Palestine" to be a UNESCO Member, is it UNESCO that has authority above and beyond the UNGA and the UNSC to recognize and grant Statehood at the UN? Therefore, alternatively, for example could UNESCO rant the historical Land of Israel status as both a world heritage site and as a State? Is "Palestine" actually Israel (precedent of history says, "Yes")? Or is "Palestine" a budding Arab State with a Capitol in "Palestinian East Jerusalem (UNESCO says, "Yes")? Is history a reality decided by whim of UESCO? How ironic it is, that UNESCO, which is the UN body established to advance the world through knowledge, is now politicized to the extent that it's mission and legacy are in jeopardy.

NULLIFICATION: THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE is the proper venue by which to put and end to this insidious move by the PAL and the UN General Assembly via UNESCO. The State of Israel has standing to go to the ICJ and seek nullification of the presumably illegal decision of UNESCO to admit the PAL as a full Member. The PAL is not a State having UNGA or UNSC (UN Security Council) recognition. It should be legally undeniable at the ICJ to establish the profound presumption by UNESCO to grant Membership to a body (e.g. PAL or any such body) that is not a Member Nation of the UN.

"Palestine" already exists at UNESCO and has the status of Permanent Observer. Now is the time for Israel not only to seek judicial means for the nullification of the ill-fated decision by UNESCO to unilaterally elevate the PAL to the status of Member State, but, to also strike down the prior UNESCO decision to grant the PAL the status of Permanent Observer.

IDENTITY THEFT BY THE ARABS OF THE NAME "PALESTINE".

It is also long overdue for Israel to petition the UN and/or to seek an ICJ decision to nullify the PAL from all use of the designation "Palestine" or "Palestinian" as the formal designation by which it is recognized in the world and in world governmental bodies. Such usage constitutes

denial of the historical identity of Jews as Palestinian and of the State of Israel as the historical territory of Palestine. Palestine is the specific name imposed on Israel under ancient Roman Occupation. Certainly the PAL and PLO do not seek the liberation Jews, and their usage of the word "liberate" is a euphemism for the word "steal". By allowing the Arabs to usurp Israel's other name -- Palestine -- the world (including Israel) enables the identity theft and ultimately the territorial theft of Israel by the Arabs.

Also, by allowing the Arabs to usurp from Israel the name "Palestine", the world (including Israel) falsifies the Arab-Israeli Conflict into an Israeli-"Palestinian" Conflict. With the exception of the fragile recognitions of Israel by Egypt and Jordan, no other Arab States recognize Israel. In fact many of these Arab States are still in the same formal "state of war" with Israel that they have waged against the State of Israel since 1948. These Arab States have neither recognized Israel since it's inception nor have they ended their warfare against Israel.

If the world has failed to speak about this, if the world therefore is unconscious of the fact that the 1948 War of Independence is not yet ended, if the world fails to hold the Arab States responsible and culpable for their incessant efforts to annihilate Israel, if the world fails to regard the actions of the PAL, Hamas, and Hezbollah, etc. as the tip of the Arab War of Annihilation Against Israel, then the world fails to perceive the enormity of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, and the world fails to perceive the enormous insidiousness of the UNESCO decision to admit the PAL as a Member State.

UNESCO (PROXY FOR THE UNGA) THUMBS IT'S NOSE AT THE USA AND EUROPE.

Failing to perceive or acknowledge the true nature of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, the world also fails to perceive or acknowledge the abuse of Israel [by the anti-democratic, anti-Western forces at the UN, notably China, Africa, Arabia, Muslim Asia, and Latin America] designed to (a) drive a wedge between Israel and the the West, and (b) diminish the influence of the West and most especially of the USA at the UN. By this vote at UNESCO THE UN General Assembly has thumbed it's nose at the West and at the USA.

The UNGA has thumbed it's nose at Western political and financial influence. This is huge. And the conversation in the West fails to perceive and acknowledge this reality, even as the West fails to perceive and acknowledge that the Greek Financial Crisis is the fulcrum for the Neo-Ottoman aspirations of Turkey.

Chinese money, material resources, and political resources have well-funded and well-ordered the anti-Western political alignments that plague Western integrity, stability, and security. Look at any map of Europe and the Middle East, and one may perceive by simple geography and by the exposure and centrality of Germany and Turkey, that Greece is being squeezed by the Germans and the Turks, both backed by Chinese money.

IRAN

It is no accident that Iran is now in the cross-hairs of Western military sights and that Israel will likely deliver the "message". Nor is it accidental that the West is being quite public about this imminent action. Unlike Israel's unilateral and secretive action in 1976 in which Israel destroyed Iraq's nuclear reactor, the current mission against Iran's nuclear facilities will be public and no surprise to anyone, and it will have the tacit and perhaps even the official backing of the West (or at least of the USA).

Iran is the primary transfer point between China and Turkey. Turkey is the primary transfer point between China and Germany. This Axis Alignment must be dealt a permanent blow.

The dual threat of Iran, as an hostile nuclear power and as the linch pin in the Germany-Turkey-Iran-China Axis, may not stand, if the West is to survive and to flourish.

World problems in Africa and in Latin America also stand no chance of reasonable resolution, as long as the growing GTIC Axis is not broken up.

Cogent action now is more likely to be effective and less costly in every way than action in the future, as the goal for the future is to stabilize influences for peace in the world and to enable the world to focus on the larger issues of international economic and environmental security.

OF CHINESE WATER TORTURE, THE "STATE OF PALESTINE", AND "PALESTINIAN FREEDOM FLOTILLAS".

FREEDOM FLOTILLA" INTERCEPTED BY ISRAEL -- NO PHYSICAL VIOLENCE ...

... and yet the incident is one more propaganda exercise that the ignorant world weighs in favor of the Arabs. As long as the world (including Israel) accepts the terminology referring to Arabs exclusively as Palestinians, then analogous to Chinese water torture, each time the name "Palestine" is solely applied to the Arabs -- controverting the historical synonymity of Palestine with Israel -- then the Jewish right to it's homeland is undermined and Israel's rightful existence is called into question. Each time a "Freedom Flotilla" makes it's way towards Gaza and is intercepted by Israel, this propaganda "water torture" against Israel continues. Chinese water torture is the method by which a prisoner is immobilized and drop by drop and then stream by stream, water is applied to the prisoner's forehead, driving the prisoner insane. In this case Israel is the prisoner.

"DEUTSCHE WELLE" SPEAKS OF "PALESTINIAN EAST JERUSALEM".

Today's "Deutsche Welle" Broadcast on NPR (National Public Radio) reported on the subject of the UNESCO vote to recognize and include "Palestine". The reporter concluded her report by saying, "Reporting from Palestinian East Jerusalem...." Here again we see the propaganda effectiveness of the misuse of the designation "Palestine" by which Arab East Jerusalem will more and more be spoken of in the media as "Palestinian East Jerusalem".

This is a most perverse application by the Arabs of the universal wisdom, "From Thought, to Speech, To Action". Failure to intelligently meet this perversion grants ultimate victory to Israel's enemies.

THE MORE THINGS CHANGE, THE MORE THEY STAY THE SAME

Subsequent to the recently gained freedom of Gilad Shalit...

* ILAN GRAPEL IS FREE FROM HIS CAPTIVITY IN EGYPT;

* TWENTY-FIVE ARAB CRIMINALS ARE NOW FREE IN EXCHANGE FOR ILAN GRAPEL'S FREEDOM;

* DISGRACING ITSELF AND THE WORLD, U.N.E.S.C.O. HAS VOTED TO RECOGNIZE AND GIVE MEMBERSHIP TO THE P.A.L.;

* THE U.S.A. WILL HONOR IT'S LEGISLATION REQUIRING THAT THE U.S.A. CUT OFF IT'S SHARE OF FUNDING FOR U.N.E.S.C.O. [OR ANY OTHER U.N. BODY THAT MAY GIVE SIMILAR RECOGNITION AND MEMBERSHIP TO THE P.A.L. PRIOR TO A NEGOTIATED PEACE BETWEEN ISRAEL AND THE P.A.L.];

* A BRIEF YET DEADLY PERIOD OF CROSS-BORDER ROCKET-FIRE FROM GAZA INTO ISRAEL AND AIRSTRIKES IN RESPONSE FROM ISRAEL HAS COME AND GONE ;

* WAR AGAINST IRAN IS A CRISP NIP IN THE MEDITERRANEAN AIR, MUCH AS WINTER IS ALREADY A CRISP NIP IN THE NORTH AMERICAN AUTUMN AIR ;

* AND TWO "FREEDOM FLOTILLA" VESSELS ARE NOW MAKING THEIR WAY ACROSS THE MEDITERRANEAN FROM TURKEY TOWARDS ISRAEL IN AN ATTEMPT TO VIOLATE ISRAEL'S RIGHTFUL BLOCKADE OF GAZA, SEEKING PERHAPS TO PROVOKE ISRAEL INTO VIOLENCE.

There must be a joke in all this somewhere, but, I sure don't see it....

GILAD SHALIT IS FREE!

MAY HE TRULY BE GILAD SHALIT. AND MAY THE WORLD NOTE THAT THE 1939 DAYS OF GILAD SHALIT'S CAPTIVITY SHOULD REMIND US THAT WORLD WAR 2 BEGAN IN THE YEAR 1939 A.D. MAY THIS EVENT HARBINGER THAT A FULL SCALE WW3 IS AVERTED.

Joyous morning! At 6am EST it is not yet daybreak. Even so, the news from Israel is that Gilad Shalit is free and on Israeli soil. May his freedom harbinger peace everywhere in the world, give hope to all suffering and hopeless persons in the world, and transform the consciousness of every evil minded person everywhere in the world!

May this event harbinger that it is still possible that the other Israeli MIA's are yet alive and may be returned alive....

Zeev Rotshik MIA 1973

Yehudah Katz MIA 1982

Tzvi Feldman MIA 1982

Zachary Baumel MIA 1982

Ron Arad MIA 1986 Presumed Dead 1988

Guy Hever MIA 1988

Majdi Halabi MIA 2005

Eldad Regev DEAD 2006

Ehud Goldwasser DEAD 2006

and all the unnamed....

Eight days ago I sent a letter by e-mail to PM Netanyahu. There is no way to know, if he or if any of his staff read my letter. And yet, by some miracle, the very next day PM Netanyahu announced that a deal had been reached with Hamas for the freedom of 1,027 Arabs from Israeli jails in exchange for the freedom of Gilad Shalit. It would be a grand delusion for me to think that my letter made any especial or decisive impact with respect to Israel's decision to make the prisoner exchange deal. And while it would be nice to know, the important thing is that Gilad Shalit is now safe and home in Israel and that there is a window of opportunity for peace to be established between Israel and the Arabs. It is true that some of the released Arabs committed unspeakable atrocities (may those evils be transformed through the grace of HaShem into goodness). Let their freedom be a downpayment towards a peace deal.

Below is a copy of the letter I sent to PM Netanyahu.

ATTN: PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU

DATE: 12 TISHREI 5772

THIS IS MY PRAYER AND REQUEST TO HASHEM, TO PRIME MINISTER BENYAMIN NETANYAHU, TO THE ISRAELI GOVERNMENT, TO ISRAEL, AND TO THE WORLD ON THIS YOM SHEYNIE ACHAREI YOM KIPPUR V'LIFANEH SUKKOTH 5772.

EVERY EFFORT SHOULD BE MADE, PUBLICLY AND PRIVATELY, AND IMMEDIATELY, TO SEND LULAV AND ETROG, APPLES AND HONEY, AND A SIDDUR TO GILAD SHALIT!

Sunday this week was not merely Yom Rishon -- it was the first day after Yom Kippur on which we commence to erect our Sukkahs.

On Yom Rishon at Shacharith we say from Tehillim, "L'Dovid Mizmor, l'HaShem Ha'Aretz Oo'm'loo'aoh, Theybel v'Yoshvey Baooh...."

Monday this week is Yom Sheynie -- is the Sukkah progressing?

At Shacharith on Yom Sheynie we say from Tehillim, "Shir Mizmor Libneh- Korach: "Gadol HaShem Oo'm'Hoolal Me'od, B'Eir Elokenu, Har Kadsho...."

Tuesday this week is Yom Shlieshie -- is the Sukkah built and Lulavim and Etrogim en route?

At Shacharith on Yom Shlieshie we say from Tehillim, "Mizmor l'Asaf, Elokenu Nitzav B'Edath-Kel...."

Wednesday this week is not merely Yom Rivi'ie -- it is Erev Sukkoth. Is the Sukkah decorated, and Lulavim and Etrogim ready and delivered?

At Shacharith on Yom Rivi'ie we say from Tehillim, "El-N'kamoth HaShem, El N'kamoth Hofiye: HeeNoSeh Shofeth HaAretz.... "

Thursday this week is not merely Yom Chamishie -- it is Yom Echad, Sukkoth. Are Lulavim and Etrogim in hand for HaKofeh Aleph?

At Shacharith on Yom Chamishie we say from Tehillim, "Lamnatzeach El-HaGithith L'Asaf; Harneenu L'Elokim Euzinu...."

Friday this week is not merely Yom Shieshie -- it is Yom Sheni, Sukkoth. Lulav and Etrog in hand, we engage Hakofeh Beth!

At Shacharith on Yom Shieshie we say from Tehillim, "HaShem Moloch, Ge'Oot Lovesh, Lovesh HaShem Euz HeetAzar...."

HOW DARE WE THEN REST ON SHABBATH, IF WE HAVE NOT MADE EVERY EFFORT TO SEE TO IT THAT GILAD SHALIT IS SENT A SIDDUR, LULAV & ETROG, AND A FEAST OF APPLES AND HONEY, SO THAT IN HIS CAPTIVITY HE MAY ENJOY A TASTE OF THE NEW YEAR, KNOW THAT IT IS SUKKOTH, AND EMBRACE THE SYMBOLS OF HOPE IN HIS HANDS, THAT HE MAY PRAY, TOUCH, HOLD, WAVE, AND SMELL THE SWEET SCENTS OF LOVE AND FREEDOM!

(MAY GILAD SHALIT BE FREED TO DWELL IN THE SUKKAH OF HIS MOTHER AND FATHER AND IN THE CLOSE COMPANY OF THE USHPIZIN!)

MAY HAKOFEH GIMEL BE ENGAGED THIS SHABBATH FOR GOODNESS L'DOR V'DOR!

AHARON BENITZAK

A MIRACLE BEFORE OUR EYES? GILAD SHALIT IMMINENTLY FREE? 1,027 ARABS FREE?

MAY THE U.S. GOV'T PARDON AND FREE JONATHAN POLLARD AND MAY THE ISRAELI GOV'T PARDON AND FREE YIGAL AMIR (AND POSSIBLY EVEN EXONERATE YIGAL AMIR).

May this past Tuesday's announcement that Israel will free 1,027 Arab prisoners in exchange for Gilad Shalit' freedom be only for good and not for evil. May all 1,028 freed prisoners be in good health, sound in mind and body, and may they all be spokespersons for peace in the world, whenever and wherever freedom may set their feet.

AMERICAN AUTUMN AND THE YOMIM NORAYIM

UPWELLINGS OF CIVIL UNREST STIR AMERICAN STREETS

Economic inequality is stirringly real, though the extreme answers, tactics, and arguments from right and left leave much to be desired. There is much media hype, that the "Arab Spring" has found it's way to America's shores. Yet, it is true that the same generational influences are real in both places. Little of this self-absorption is based in real compassion for anything beyond selfish pain in private little goldfish bowls of self-centered life. Be this as it may, this too is a part of the developmental life of a volatile young generation in volatile times, and may not be ignored, and must be addressed warmly, wisely, and with more than whisperings of wishful thinking.

What is now a warning may grow far uglier and may manifest in violence between forces only too hungry to mix it up with each other in the ugliest of ways, which may tear our beloved USA apart, much as so many Arab nations are presently torn apart. No euphemisms, such as "spring", "flowers", etc. may truly substitute for the realities on the ground in so many nations.

Gaddafi's civilian supporters now face the same risks of revenge and annihilation that threatened Libya's upstart revolution only a few months ago. Yemen and Syria are being ripped apart. Egypt is in one moment promising to reform to allow greater democracy and to maintain peace with Israel; yet, persecutions of Egyptian Christians increase daily, the Israeli Embassy has been sacked, legal aid worker Ilan Grapel (an American-Israeli working in Egypt) has been accused of spying for Israel and has been jailed in Egypt; and we still hear nothing from Gilad Shalit: is he imprisoned in Gaza, in Egypt, in Iran???

In the US Vice-president Biden has spoken harsh, cruel, damning words with respect to Jonathan Pollard -- he does this during the Yomim Norayim! Biden must think he is G-d! May HaShem perceive the Chutzpah of this lump of flesh named Biden, damn up his mouth, and humble him! May HaShem do these things, unless by some miracle, He somehow inspires Biden to compassion!

The United Nations now considers the Petition of the PAL, should a "State of Palestine" be recognized by the world. Does the world need any additional Arab Terrorist States? No!!!!

Today we commence to build Sukkahs in which to dwell in exposure and yet to celebrate beneath the unpredictable heavens, having witnessed that HaShem has written and sealed The Book Of Life for the New Year 5772. We have tasted apples and honey on Rosh HaShannah, then fasted on Yom Kippur. What will be will unravel before our eyes, each moment full of promise, and no moment available to us as foreknowledge, as only HaShem knows, what we must discover.

Today is 11 TISHREI 5772 and it is Day 1930 in the Solitary Captivity of Gilad Shalit! May he be immediately granted freedom to dwell in the Sukkah of his mother and his father and in the ominpresence of the Ushpizin!

Lamah, Lamah Mah, Nikrah Moriah! Al Shem HaMor HaTov, Al Shem HaMor HaTov, Sheh Yeshno Sham!

WATERFALL

A POEM FOR NINE-ELEVEN

WATERFALL

Waterfall of bejeweled souls,
Aflame in early morning sunlight,
Tumbling towards the center
Of the spinning molten earth;

Where by the Grace of God --
Engineer of All That Is, Was, and Will Be --
You rise in twin beams of light,
Beacons into the black of night,
Reaching outwards to the sparkling stars
From the twin footprints you have left behind you.

And, when in the dark of night,
Travelers seek out America's Harbor --
By air, by sea, by rail, by road, by foot,
Or even by ship of space,
Guided in by your twin beams
Of risen waterfalls of light --
I wonder, if as I do, they will hear
An old favorite tune,
Brought to earth for a brief moment
By a shooting star named Jimmy Hendrix,
A brilliant bard of my wartime youth,
Singing this song of Love and Solace:

"Waterfall -- Nothing may harm me at all;
My worries seem so very small by my Waterfall.

"I can see my rainbow calling me
Through the misty breeze of my Waterfall.

"... Waterfalll! Don't ever change your ways!
Fall with me for a million days! Oh, my Waterfall...."

AARON BEN EZRA
09/11/2011
12 ELUL 5771

Note: Today is Day 1902 for Gilad Shalit in his solitary captivity.

DAY 1890 - HAPPY BIRTHDAY GILAD SHALIT....

SO ON YOM RISHON (SUNDAY) GILAD SHALIT CELEBRATED HIS TWENTY-FIFTH BIRTHDAY IN CAPTIVITY.

I was unaware of this on Motzeh Shabbath, when for several hours I experienced a deep and inexplicable sadness.

Sunday morning I awoke from an awesome dream in which my mother Gilda bas Sarah (may my mother and grandmother both rest peacefully in Shemayim) gave me solace and showed me a vision of the future -- may it be so (with the help and blessings of HaShem) -- and I will only say that both my mother Gilda and Gilad Shalit are both in my heart and in my mind as this Rosh Chodesh Elul is now upon us, may my mother in Shemayim somehow bless Gilad Shalit, that he shall soon be free.

Happy Birthday and CHodesh Tov, Gilad Shalit.

BACK TO THE FUTURE: WILL TURKEY RULE SYRIA AND LEBANON? WILL EGYPT RULE GAZA? WILL JORDAY RULE JUDEA-SAMARIA? AGAIN???

AN ALL TOO LIKELY CONSEQUENCE OF THE SO-CALLED "ARAB SPRING" IS A "BACK TO THE FUTURE" SCENARIO IN TERMS OF MIDDLE EAST POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY.

Until the Brittish occuppied "Palestine" circa World War One, it was the Turks who ruled and called the territory inclusive of Israel, Lebanon, and Syria by the name "Syria".

In 1948 Jordan invaded and occupied Judea-Samaria, preventing a UN sanctioned call for a "State of Palestine" from being realized into existence alongside the newly recognized State of Israel. Also in 1948 Egypt invaded and occupied Gaza, some of which at the time was the legal property of Jews.

Egypt remained in Gaza until Israel kicked out the Egyptians in the 1956 Sinai Campaign, and Jordan remained in Judea-Samaria until Israel defeated the Jordanians in 1967 in the Six Day War.

If Assad and Alawite power (however cruel) should fail in Syria, then it must be considered that Turkey -- even while Turkey itself is in the midst of a Sunni shakedown/reformation of it's famed secular military -- could step in to stabilize the situation in Syria.

If Hamas and the various Gaza terrorist groups continue to terrorize Israel (simultaneously placing Egypt itself at risk, and using Egypt so blatantly and embarrassingly as an uncontrolled terrorist operations base), then it must be considered that Egypt -- even as it seeks to reform it's own Government amidst internal unrest -- could step in to stabilize the situation in Gaza.

If unrest causes the Palestinian Authority to lose it's grip in Judea-Samaria, then Jordan -- even while already struggling with it's own population's unrest, which includes two-million Iraqi refugees -- could step in to stabilize the situation in Judea-Samaria.

Is it "Back to the Future" for Israel -- a Turkish border to the north/northeast, an eastward inwards-denting Jordanian border including East Jerusalem and Judea-Samaria, and an expanded Gaza-inclusive Egyptian border to the south?

Will Israel be faced with Western pressure to surrender the Golan and the Sheva Farms in order to make a peace deal with an expanded Turkey?

Will Israel be faced with Western pressure to see Gaza completely under Egyptian domain?

Will Israel be faced with Western pressure to surrender East Jerusalem and Judea-Samaria to Jordan? There are already Israeli's. who favor such a deal with Jordan.

Today marks Five-Years-and-FIfty-Two-Days in the Captivity of Gilad Shalit.

TU B'AV - A SOLITARY SIX-DAY "WAR" SINCE TISHA 'B'AV WITH NO VICTORY OF RELEASE FOR GILAD SHALIT.

THE GOOD NEWS IN THE PAST FOUR WEEKS IS, THAT ON 17 TAMMUZ, ISRAEL'S NAVY TOOK CONTROL OF THE SOLITARY SEA-GOING VESSEL OF THE SO-CALLED "GAZA FLOTILLA 2". It seems that the world has come to understand and find fault with such provocative propaganda exercises as the "Gaza Flotilla". Even the Turks, Greeks, and Cypriots have cooperated in restraining the "Gaza Flotilla 2", so that only the symbolic passage of one vessel has taken place, and that vessel has been peacefully intercepted. And within the next week it is anticipated that the U.N. report on the "Mavi Mamara" incident (Gaza Flotilla 1) will favor Israel's action in self-defense.

No doubt the "Arab Spring" is making "waves" of a different kind. Uprisings throughout the Arab world, the downfall of Egypt's Mubarak, NATO's effort at Libyan regime change leading to the apparent alliance of Libya's Qadaffi with Al-Quaeda, repression in Assad's Syria and calls for Syrian regime change -- all of this is occurring widely and on such a large scale that the world must realize that there are more causative factors in the world of the Arabs than tiny Israel. Europe has seen horror in Norway (a "Christian" fascist massacre), the end of Holland's liberal attitude towards "multiculturalism", and a similar reconsideration of "multiculturalism" in France. It seems that Europe has had enough of "multiculturalism" (read: "Islam").

May this month of Menachem Av bring harbingers of peace to the world. May this coming month of Elul bring reconciliation between man and man and between man and HaShem. May Rosh HaShana see Gilad Shalit home, healthy, safe, and secure in the arms of his mother, father, sister, and brother. V'omerim, "Amen".

FIVE YEARS AND FORTY DAYS IN CAPTIVITY MARK TISHA B'AV 5771 FOR GILAD SHALIT.

ON THIS TISHA B'AV WE MEMORIALIZE THE DESTRUCTION OF ISRAEL BY THE ROMANS FOR THE 2041'ST TIME IN OUR HISTORY AS JEWS IN EXILE. SUCH ANNIVERSARIES! AND WE REMEMBER OTHER DESTRUCTIONS, SUCH AS THE DESTRUCTION OF ISRAEL BY THE BABYLONIANS, SUCH AS THE INQUISITION, SUCH AS THE SHOA ....

It is said that Moshiach Moshicheh will be conceived on Tisha B'Av. This in turn implies that Moshicach Moshicheh will be born at Pesach time... and then, how many years until Moshiach Moshicheh is an adult capable of fulfilling the role of Moshiach?

Gilad Shalit should not have to wait for the arrival of Moshiach Moshicheh to be set free from his captivity.

And if Moshiach Moshicheh should already be in this world, then may he wait no longer; may he free Gilad Shalit at this very moment, and may he free Kol Yisroel at this very moment, and may he free and heal the entire world this very moment!

GILAD SHALIT -- FIVE YEARS OF SOLITARY CONFINEMENT IN GAZA.

SHABBATH MARKED FIVE YEARS OF CAPTIVITY IN SOLITARY CRUEL CONFINEMENT FOR GILAD SHALIT.

Ban Ki Moon -- UN Secretary-General -- is publicly lobbying Hamas to release Gilad Shalit.

Nicholas Sarkozy (President of France) and Angela Merkel (Chancellor of Germany) have jointly and publicly called on Hamas to release Gilad Shalit.

Throughout Israel marches and demonstrations have called for Hamas to release Gilad Shalit.

There are still efforts to press Israel to swap 1000 living murderous terrorists from Israeli jails in exchange for Gilad, even by those mentioned above.

Why is it that this is an acceptable equivalence in the eyes of the world?

Gilad Shalit's captivity -- utterly alone and forbidden visitation by his father, his mother, by even the Red Cross -- is a metaphor for the State of Israel. The humanitarian needs of Gilad Shalit are the humanitarian needs of Israel. Murderous Arabs would do to Israel, what they have done to Gilad Shalit and to every Israeli and Jewish prisoner they have held (which is reason to believe that Gilad Shalit may well already be dead).

AT THIS VERY MOMENT ANOTHER MUCH LARGER SO CALLED "PEACE FLOTILLA" IS TAKING SHAPE UNDER TURKISH AUSPICES TO PROVOKE ANOTHER INCIDENT OF VIOLENCE WITH ISRAEL AND TO TEST ISRAEL'S NAVAL DEFENSES AND POLITICAL ACUMEN.

AT THIS VERY MOMENT ISRAEL'S EILAT BEACHES ARE IN THE MIDST OF CLEAN-UP EFFORTS FROM A MYSTERIOUS DOUBLE OIL SPILL FROM TWO TURKISH VESSELS.

AT THIS VERY MOMENT DELTA AIRLINES HAS ENTERED INTO AN INTERLINE BOOKING AGREEMENT WITH SAUDI ARABIAN AIRLINES. SAUDI ARABIAN AIRLINES DISCRIMINATES AGAINST JEWS AND ISRAELIS AND AGAINST CHRISTIANS AND OTHERS AS WELL.

MAY THE WORLD WAKE UP FROM IT'S SLUMBER AND SEE THE TRUTH FOR WHAT IT REALLY IS, AND MAY THE WORLD CEASE IT'S EVILS -- WHETHER IT IS TURNING A BLIND EYE TO THE TRUTH, OR WHETHER IT IS GIVING DELIBERATE SUPPORT TO TERRORISM AGAINST ISRAEL.

MAY THE ARABS BE INSPIRED BY THE COMPASSION OF GOD AND COMMENCE A TRUE PEACE PROCESS BY UNCONDITIONALLY FREEING GILAD SHALIT TO A SAFE RETURN HOME TO ISRAEL.

SUNDAY, MAY 22 BY THE JEWISH CALENDAR WAS LAG B'OMER 5771 AND MARKED DAY 1793 IN THE CAPTIVITY OF GILAD SHALIT.

This traditional Jewish Holiday marking relief from suffering -- which did not mark a day of relief from suffering for Gilad Shalit -- did mark a day of relief for myself; indeed on this day of Lag B'Omer I was discharged from hospital care, having healed adequately to return home after two major surgeries, the first, double-bypass heart surgery, and the second, clot-busting surgery due to a "saddle" embolism.

I marvel at my own good fortune, while I despair and pray for Gilad Shalit. On my birthday two days before Pesach I was admitted to hospital; on the first day of Chol Moed Pesach I underwent a double-bypass operation; less than two weeks later I underwent clot-busting surgery; a week before Lag B'Omer I gained strength to walk prodigiously; on Lag B'Omer I returned home. I "should" have been dead twice; HaShem took me "Between the Straits" on dry land!

May Gilad Shalit be free this Shavuoth!

DAY 1800 IN THE CAPTIVITY OF GILAD SHALIT MARKED ON SUNDAY, MAY 29, 2011;

TODAY IS DAY 1803....

Fifty Israeli's on motorcycles joined the now traditional Memorial Day Weekend Rolling Thunder motorcycle rally in Washington, DC - a rally calling attention to the plight of MIA soldiers - in order to remind the world about the captivity of Israeli MIA Gilad Shalit, kidnapped by Arab terrorists in June, 2006. Rally's in Israel and around the world called for Gilad Shalit's release by Hamas.

We, who are free today in the USA this Memorial Day weekend, owe our freedom to many. While we remember American soldiers, who gave the full measure of their devotion in order that we remain free, we owe it to the world to remember that there are many from other nations, who gave that same full measure for the same reason, and that includes the sacrifices of many Israelis, who have given far more than the world knows or recognized for the sake of peace and freedom.

NOW IS THE TIME FOR ISRAEL TO FORMALLY AND PUBLICLY ANNEX (OR, REAFFIRM ANNEXATION OF) THE GOLAN, SHEVA FARMS, JUDEA-SAMARIA, AND JERUSALEM.

THESE ANNEXATION ANNOUNCEMENTS SHOULD BE GIVEN BEFORE THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY BY PREMIER BENYAMIN NETANYAHU THIS COMING TUESDAY, APRIL 5, WHICH IS ROSH CHODESH NISSAN 5771, AND SHOULD BE ANNOUNCED IN HONOR OF GILAD SHALIT, WHO HAS BEEN IN SOLITARY CAPTIVITY BY HAMAS NOW FOR 1,769 DAYS. THE DECISION TO PROCEED WITH THESE ANNEXATIONS SHOULD BE A PRE-EMPTIVE RESPONSE BY ISRAEL PRECIPITATED BY THE APPARENTLY INEVITABLE DECISION COME THIS SEPTEMBER BY THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY TO RECOGNIZE A "STATE OF PALESTINE" INCLUSIVE OF JUDEA-SAMARIA, EAST JERUSALEM, AND GAZA (AS REPORTED TODAY IN THE THE NEW YORK TIMES).

By ganging up on Israel, resolution after resolution, decade after decade, the UN has already waged war de facto on Israel; any decision by the UN to recognize a State of Palestine would represent an utterly outrageous, provocative, precipitous additional act of de facto war by the UN against Israel.

The United Nations presumes to act as a World Government. This is not it's purpose nor mandate. Similarly, the World Court presumes to world jurisdiction, which is also not it's mandate, nor is it so recognized, certainly not by the USA nor Israel. World Court decisions against Israel declaring the Security Fence illegal and defining specific territories as "Palestinian lands under Israeli occupation" form pretexts that favor Israel's enemies; these World Court decisions have no sustaining legal basis, nor do they serve the purpose of peace.

May Israel have the foresight, integrity, strength, and endurance to withstand the evils of the United Nations. May the USA and all free nations of the world come to full sensibility and means by which to return the United Nations to the mandate of it's chartered purpose: the encouragement between nations of civil discourse and of civil problem resolution.

20 MURDERS (INCLUDING 2 BEHEADINGS) IN AFGHANISTAN UNDERSCORE THE TERRIBLE SEVERITY BY WHICH JIHADISM DRIVES WORLD CONCESSIONS TO ISLAMIC TERROR

AND REGARDLESS OF THE LACK OF WISDOM IN THE DECISION BY A FLORIDA PREACHER TO BURN A KORAN, THE 'POT', HAVING CALLED THE 'KETTLE', "BLACK", HAS YET FINGERED THE INTRACTABILITY OF JIHADISM.

Not so long ago with respect to the proposal to build a Muslim Center merely two blocks away from Ground Zero, President Obama distinguished between the "right" to build the Center and the "wisdom" of actually building it. So, too, the Florida Pastor of the 'Dove Outreach Center' displayed a profound lack of wisdom in burning a Koran. His right to do so provides the bas relief by which to perceive the stupidity and precipitousness of his acting-out of that right.

And so an excuse was given to Afghani Jihadis -- be they Taliban, Al-Quaeda, or some other group or mob -- for the murders of UN staff in Afghanistan. This is the type of "justification" for hatred and murder that plays into Jihadi hands. Not that they would cease such hateful, murderous, extortive behavior; they themselves incite, provoke, and thrive on such activity by which in the realm of propaganda, they obtain the appearance of justification for their murderousness.

That Christianity also has it's "crusaders", who are just as intolerant and murderous as Jihadis, does not excuse nor justify nor mitigate the real and present danger to the world that exists so militantly in the form of Jihadism today. Perhaps it is the stunning daily failure of the media to vociferously report the extremes of terror perpetrated by Jihadism against all non-Muslims that enables Jihadism to spread and that pushes some preachers today to extremes they otherwise would not even entertain.

Whether it is the burning of Bibles, the tortures, rapes, murders, destruction of Churches, and forced homelessness of Christians; whether it is the destruction of statues of the Buddha, Buddhist Holy Places, and Buddhists themselves; whether it is the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit, the firing of rockets into Israel from Gaza, the bus bombings in Israel, etc.: the bottom line is that Jihadism has no room in it's mind nor heart nor soul for the peace of the world. It is long overdue that the world cease to make excuses for the evils of Jihadism; it is long overdue that the world deliver a quick and undeniable destruction to Jihadis and to Jihadism.

ARABIA WILL MAKE PEACE WITH ISRAEL AT IT'S PLEASURE.

MANY WILL SAY THAT THIS IS A ROMANTIC NOTION...

... but, the many should consider that the Arabs are human beings, stereotyped in the West as "towel heads", "camel jockeys", and even more vulgar terms of reference; and this type of attitude towards Arabia serves to foment violence and hatred amongst the Arabs, playing into the hands of the worst elements in Arab society. It is one thing to be intensely critical and quite another to be arrogant, derisive, and disparaging. At bottom humanity can do well to take a step back from the "earthquakes, tsunamis, and nuclear meltdowns" (if I may make a metaphor based on the horrible triple catastrophe current in Japan) of decades of violence, propaganda, posturing, etc. and reconsider the realities.

There have been times in history that Jews have thrived in Muslim realms. This has not been true in recent history. Yet, recent history need not be the only barometer nor predictor of Jewish-Arab relations. As Arabs in Judea-Samaria and Gaza protest and call for unity between Hamas and Fatah in order to fight Israel -- a microcosm perhaps at the heart of much of the protests current throughout the Arab world -- it should be kept in mind that the Arabs and all Muslims need to be reminded of their own best teachings about the Peoples of the Book (Jews and Christians) and the Muslim obligation to be protective.

While it is true that in classic form this has meant second class status and special taxes for Jews and Christians, and that in history this obligation has been practiced both benignly and malevolently, it should be possible in todays world for an application of this practice to be developed by Muslims such that overt subjugation and denial of equality may be set aside. Even the ceding of land to enable Israel to live in peace inclusive of Judea-Samaria ought to be practicable and desirable -- as long as it is granted that this be done at the pleasure and free will of Arabia. Such generosity would necessarily include the paid resettlement and future security of up to two-thirds of the Muslim population currently under Israeli jurisdiction, as for reasons of language, culture, economics, and the upheaval of relocation, it would yet be preferable to this population to live under Arab jurisdiction, and may well be acceptable, if again such generous surrender of claim in Israel were voluntary in the name of Peace.

ANOTHER ASSASSINATION IN PAKISTAN IN THE NAME OF JIHAD, AND UNREST AND REVOLUTION THROUGHOUT THE WORLD OF ISLAM.

TUNISIA, EGYPT, LIBYA, ALGERIA, JORDAN, BAHRAIN, OMAN, YEMEN -- NAME A MUSLIM NATION AND THERE IS PROFOUND UNREST AND INTOLERANCE, AS SYMBOLIZED ONCE AGAIN IN PAKISTAN, WHERE A SECOND MINISTER WAS ASSASSINATED FOR THE SAKE OF HIS COURAGEOUS STANCE AGAINST RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE.

At a most basic level the ubiquitous unrest has demographic. economic, religious, and political roots. all of which factor into uncertain outcomes. In the majority the ordinary people seek human dignity, meaningful lives, political, religious and economic freedoms -- ergo, they seek a future for themselves and for their families; they do this against a backdrop of religious intolerance, political dictatorship, and economic conditions that are as bleak as the endless desert sand dunes surrounding the limited arable land and fresh water that make possible any life at all.

Thousands of lives have already been lost in these upheavals, and more will continue to be lost. At question is: how many, for how long, and with what short term and long term consequences. As Winter commences to end and as Spring commences to break ground, will unrest in this vast desert of nations surrounding Israel lead to stable solutions soon enough and happily enough to avoid major wars and major warfare -- including another war against Israel in the heat of Summer? Conditions are ripe for unified scapegoat warfare against Israel as a means for these nations of unrest to seek blame and vent anger on Israel in order to divert attention from the domestic issues that severely challenge these nations.

May Peace break out in the world speedily and in our time!

ROSH CHODESH ADAR 2 5771 IN THREE MORE DAYS AND GILAD SHALIT IS STILL CAPTIVE AND ALONE IN THE HANDS OF HAMAS..

TODAY IS DAY 1738 IN THE KIDNAPPED, ISOLATED CAPTIVITY OF GILAD SHALIT.

Tu B'Shevat has come and gone, and Israel has lost a precious forest to a fire set by carelessness under environmental conditions of extended severe drought, depletion of fresh water resources, and lack of preparations to cope with such an event in an already arid part of the world, where each and every drop of water, tree, and blade of grass is precious.

Rosh Chodesh Adar 1 has come and gone, as has Purim Katan. Once again the World via the United Nations Security Council has ganged up on Israel such that once again the USA has been the only "protection" of Israel by virtue of the power of the veto vote against the resolution regarding Israeli Settlements. The pressure on Israel is profound to cave in to World demand that Israel curtail it's rights life and freedom. This pressure is not limited to political pressures. Russia has contracted to provide Syria with cruise missiles even as Hamas has renewed rocketing activity against Israel and as Iran, another military client of Russia, has with Egyprian permission sent a pair of heavily armed naval vessels through the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Israel.

May Adar 2 commence and extend the hidden miracles of this season to bring true peace to the World and to bring Gilad Shalit home safely to his family.

ROSH CHODESH SHEVAT 5771 -- DAY 1679 THAT GILAD SHALIT REMAINS CAPTIVE

ONE WEEK AGO ON THE GOYESHE NEW YEAR THE "MAVI MAMARA" RETURNED SAFELY FROM ISRAEL TO TURKEY, FINDING A WARM WELCOME AMONGST THOSE, WHO SEEK ISRAEL'S DESTRUCTION.

ISRAEL STANDS ACCUSED, EVEN AS GILAD SHALIT REMAINS UNSEEN, UNHEARD, UTTERLY ALONE IN HIS CAPTIVITY IN GAZA, BE HE ALIVE OR DEAD.

FOR THOSE OF YOU, WHO MAY HAVE FORGOTTEN, THE "MAVI MAMARA" IS THE TURKISH SHIP (FROM THE FLOTILLA OF SIX SHIPS THAT SOUGHT TO VIOLATE ISRAEL'S NAVAL BLOCKADE OF GAZA) THAT REFUSED SAFE NAVAL ESCORT TO ASHKELON, CHOOSING INSTEAD TO CARRY OUT PRE-MEDITATED VIOLENCE AGAINST THE INEVITABLE BOARDING BY ISRAELI NAVAL COMMANDOES. THE INCIDENT PROVED DEADLY AND OF COURSE ISRAEL WAS BLAMED, NOT THE TURKISH PERPETRATORS. TURKEY USED THE INCIDENT TO BREAK OFF DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS WITH ISRAEL AND TO PUBLICLY SHIFT POLICY TO MORE STRONGLY FAVOR SYRIA AND IRAN.

WHAT A WORLD! THE "OLAM HABAH" LOOKS BETTER AND BETTER ALL THE TIME.... SHABBATH SHALOM.

EREV GOYISHE NEW YEAR -- DAY 1672 -- GILAD SHALIT REMAINS CAPTIVE, ALONE, UNSEEN, UNVISITED, UNHEARD OF, UNHEARD FROM....

AND FOR TWO WEEKS NOW THERE HAS BEEN ESCALATED VIOLENCE ACROSS THE BORDER FROM GAZA, INSTIGATED BY THE FIRING OF ROCKETS AND OTHER MORE ADVANCED WEAPONRY BY HAMAS INTO THE NEGEV. AND MAHMOUD ABBAS IS TODAY FOMENTING MORE ANTI-ISRAEL RESOLUTIONS IN THE U.N.

SHABBATH SHALOM....

WIKILEAKS

DAY 1650 IN THE CAPTIVITY OF GILAD SHALIT

To many Wikileaks is guilty of treason and an enemy of freedom. To others Wikileaks is a hero fighting government power. Probably there is truth from both of these perspectives. Regardless, if Wikileaks has leaked any knowledge of the wellbeing and whereabouts of Gilad Shalit, such knowledge has not made it into the mainstream media.

Today is day 1650 in the captivity of Gilad Shalit.

May Heavenly Mercy inspire his captors to free him.

THE EIGTH DAY OF CHANNUKAH 5771

TODAY IS DAY 1650 IN THE CAPTIVITY OF GILAD SHALIT.

The world says nothing about Gilad Shalit, making not even a whisper.

Yet the world weeps that Israel will not surrender Jerusalem, will not buckle to world pressure to retreat to 1967 borders, will not prohibit Jewish life in East Jerusalem, ignoring that Israel does not, will not, and would not prohibit Arab life outside East Jerusalem.

There is a terrible double standard in the world that says, that Israel must give away and give away and give away and give away, and that Arabia may take and take and take and take by violent means of arms and by violent means of politics and by violent means of media saturation.

There is a movement in the UN to recognize a State of Palestine based on 1967 borders, and both Brazil and Argentina (infamous homes for Nazis fled to South America on losing WW2) push this.

The Catholic Church's Council of Bishops and America's General Petraeus have both seen fit to blame Israel as the source of all political instability in the Middle East.

Iran now has it's own mining sources of nuclear raw materials with which to feed the centrifuges in which it produces weapons grade nuclear fuel.

North Korea has attacked South Korea, bringing North Korea and South Korea to the brink of all out military engagement, and causing both an American aircraft carrier group and the nation of Japan to go on the alert in support of South Korea; and of course it may be presumed that Russia and China may be on alert to support North Korea. North Korea may not be found geographically in the Middle East; but, it is the eastern-most nation of the "Axis of Evil" identified by the Bush Administration. It is the Axis of Evil that gave us a nuclear Pakistan, Nine-Eleven, and Mahmoud Ahmadinijad.

May the "drunken" leadership of the world take a sober moment, away from self-absorbed concerns of Wikileak exposure, to realize that the world at large already perceives they are "naked"; and in this sober moment, world leadership should insist on the safe, immediate, unconditional freedom of Gilad Shalit!

Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur have come and gone. Sukkoth has come and gone. In the secular world of the USA, Halloween and Thanksgiving have come and gone -- all without the presence of Gilad Shalit at his parent's table.

May the Shalit family find solace and light on this Eigth Night of Channukah, and may Gilad Shalit find his own oil to last as miraculously as did the oil in the time of the Macabees, oil that burned for eight days and nights, when it seemed there was only sufficient oil to burn in the Menorah for one night!

EREV ROSH HASHANA 5771

PROMISES AND UNCERTAINTY ON DAY 1559 OF GILAD SHALIT'S CAPTIVITY. WILL ROSH HASHANA MARK DAY 1560?

Gilad Shalit is not yet free, remains unseen and unheard, there is no trustworthy witness to his being alive nor promise of his freedom....

Prime Minister Netanyahu now speaks of "The West Bank" and not of JUDEA-SAMARIA, and he shakes hands with Mahmud Abbas....

Hamas fires rocket after rocket into Israel and dances joyously en masse in the streets of Gaza (literally, not figuratively!) as five Jewish souls (two men and two women, one pregnant) fall victim to a rain of terrorist bullets in "The West Bank"....

Under Israeli protection the PAL prospers and the ghost of Yassir Arafat sits across the table from Prime Minister Netanyahu and is spoken to as a legitimate "partner in peace"....

This "spirit of reconciliation" occurs against the backdrop of the sounding of the morning Shofar throughout the month of ELUL, the month in which we seek to draw closer to HaShem, a month in which we recite Selichot, the month in which we examine ourselves in regards to the year that is nearly gone, the month in which we seek to transcend self-absorption and participate in acknowledging His Creation. We stand poised to ask HaShem that we be inscribed in the Book of Life for a happy, healthy, peaceful, prosperous, enlightened New Year. Will this Rosh HaShana mark captive day 1560 for Gilad Shalit?

May Gilad Shalit be free. May Jerusalem never again be divided. May Judea-Samaria be formally rejoined to Israel. May the ERUV RAV seek new homes elsewhere, and may all those, who truly remember and love Zion, find their way home.

B'SHANA HABA B'YERUSHALAYIM!

DAY 1508 IN THE CAPTIVITY OF GILAD SHALIT. AND UNDER ISRAELI ESCORT, QADAFFI DUCK JUNIOR REACHES EGYPT...

... WITH A CARGO OF "HUMANITARIAN AID" FOR THE TERRORISTS OF GAZA.

From the earlier Mavi Mamara Incident, Israel has already uncovered weapons caches and other military contraband aboard the Mavi Mamara, for which Turkey wants Israel to apologize. Will Egypt be as diligent as Israel in preventing such contraband from being smuggled into Gaza off the newly docked Libyan "aid" ship (flying a Moldavian flag)? Perhaps we should consider holding our collective breath as an additional affliction to fasting this Tisha B'Av.

Facetiousness aside, let us continue to pray for the safe relief of the Capitve, may he yet be alive and in good health.

tz17-9av-foundation.blogspot.com

DAY 1500 - "ANOTHER COUNTRY HEARD FROM...." - LIBYA AND EGYPT COMBINE TO MOCK ISRAEL-EGYPT BLOCKADE OF GAZA.

TODAY IS DAY 1500 IN THE CAPTIVITY OF GILAD SHALIT....

QADAFFI DUCK JR., SON OF LIBYA'S QADAFFI DUCK, HAS EMBARKED FROM GREECE ON A SHIP FLYING A MOLDAVIAN FLAG WITH TWO-THOUSAND TONS OF "HUMANITARIAN AID" BOUND FOR GAZA TO VIOLATE THE ISRAELI BLOCKADE OF GAZA, AND IS LIKELY TO WIND UP UNLOADING IN EGYPT INSTEAD, WHERE THE "HUMANITARIAN CARGO" WILL THEN BE TRANSPORTED TO GAZA. This after both the Iranian flotilla and Lebanese flotilla were called off due to international pressure. If the Libyan ship unloads in Egypt there is a far greater likelihood that contraband will more easily flow into Gaza than if the same cargo were unloaded in Ashdod under Israeli supervision. The Egyptian's have allowed many tunnels to succeed under the Egyptian border into Gaza, and the Egyptians have eased official channels as well. Will Israel allow this Libyan ship to work in coordination with Egyptian authorities to complete the mockery of the combined Israel-Egypt blockade of Gaza? TURKEY HAS ALSO GIVEN ISRAEL AN ULTIMATUM TO "APOLOGIZE" (FOR THE MAVI MAMARA INCIDENT) OR SUFFER A TOTAL SEVERANCE OF TURKISH RELATIONS WITH ISRAEL.

While it was nice to see Netanyahu and Obama smiling and shaking hands in Washington, D.C. this week, it must be said to these world leaders, "WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE!" The porous border between Gaza and Egypt is now a flood, and only Israel can dam that flood. Israel has nothing to apologize for and Turkish threats ought not inhibit Israel from acting. It is clearly necessary for Israel to once again take responsibility for controlling the Gaza southern border, even at risk of engaging with Egypt. Obama is smart enough to see that action now may prevent a war later. Eyes may be on Hezbollah for war against Israel's north from Syria and Lebanon. Ears to the ground must suggest that as always Israel must keep all eyes on all borders and see that they are secure.

DAY 1482: MORE PROVOCATIONS ON THEIR WAY TOWARDS ISRAEL BY LAND, AIR, SEA ...

STILL THERE IS NO WORD ON ANY CHANCE OF FREEDOM FOR GILAD SHALIT.

In the wake of the Mavi Mamara incident Israel is easing restrictions on the landed flow and nature of goods permitted into Gaza. This unfortunately includes construction materials, much of which will inevitably wind up in the hands of Hamas and will accelerate the rate at which Hamas is able to build such things as military bunkers. Ostensibly this increased legal flow of goods into Gaza will cut the bottom out of the black market being run through the illegal tunnels between Gaza and Egypt. If you believe that line, let me tell you, there is a bridge for sale in Brooklyn....

If there is an upside to Israel's conciliation to international pressure to ease the flow of goods into Gaza, it is that Middle East Envoy Tony Blair has stated publicly that "there is no need" for aid to be sent by sea to Gaza, given the extent to which Israel has eased the flow and diversity of aid allowed into Gaza via proper landed channels.

This is an important statement by Tony Blair as antidote to the propaganda venom of Israel's enemies, who have ramped up provocations of Israel by scheduling additional "humanitarian aid" flotillas to violate Israel's naval blockade of Gaza. Ships from Lebanon via Cyprus and from Iran via the Suez Canal are either on their way or scheduled for imminent departure towards Israel. The Lebanese ships are reported to be financed by Arab-Iranian Yasser Kashlak, Lebanese businessman and allegedly the primary financial intermediary supplying Iranian funds to Hamas and Hezbollah. The Iranian vessels represent a team effort between The Red Crescent and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard with full public support of Ahmadinijad. An unsubstantiated report of a possible air attempt at blockade running into Gaza of Iranian aid from Egypt needs confirmation. Lebanon and Iran have both given national sanction to the alleged "humanitarian aid" missions of these ships, and have pre-established their rhetoric as to the alleged peacefulness of these missions, stating that on that basis they will blame Israel, should any incidents occur.

The USA has quietly sent a carrier group through the Suez Canal just coincidentally in advance of the uncertainly scheduled departures of "humanitarian aid" ships from Iran. Will this carrier group intercept or deter the Iranian ships? Will other nations such as France, Britain, Italy, or Germany make similar showings in the Mediterranean? Such intervention with or without UN involvement could prevent a regional war.

Perhaps even the UN will do it's duty and warn these so-called "humanitarian aid" ships that, by attempting to break Israel's blockade of Gaza, they are engaging in acts of war against Israel, and that Israel has the right to defend itself, even militarily.

Realistically, expecting any such fair and rational behavior from the UN is less a winning bet than a purchase-offer on that bridge in Brooklyn. But, still, in theory we may expect the UN to do the right thing, and if we do not express just what the right thing is, there is no way to hold the UN accountable for doing the wrong thing.

Speaking of the wrong thing, the right thing, and the UN: is it too much to ask that the UN pass an unequivocal resolution asking Hamas to safely and unconditionally return Gilad Shalit home to Israel, immediately?

TODAY IS DAY 1482 IN THE KIDNAPPING AND CAPTIVITY OF GILAD SHALIT.