Just For The Record, This Is The Image That Won The Contest

Datechguyblog posted the winning picture from the Draw Mohammed contest in Garland, Texas. This picture perfectly sums up the battle for free speech. The problem in Texas was not Pam Geller’s contest–it was the Muslims who felt that it was their duty to kill people exercising their right to free speech. P–s Christ is a 1987 photograph by the American artist and photographer Andres Serrano. It depicts a small plastic crucifix submerged in a glass of the artist’s urine. It was part of an art exhibit in New York. As offensive as it was, no one who was offended attempted to kill anyone. In the mid-1970s, Skokie, Illinois, was at the center of a case concerning the First Amendment right to assemble and the National Socialist Party of America, a neo-Nazi group. Skokie ultimately lost that case. Skokie had a sizeable Jewish population which objected to the Nazi-planned march. The march went ahead. Again, no one was killed. The First Amendment allows for freedom of speech. It does not protect anyone from being offended by that speech. The First Amendment should not be curtailed–if Muslims cannot live under the laws of America, they need to leave. If anyone comes to America, they need to be willing to live under the laws of America. The problem is not Pamela Geller–the problem is people living in America who are prone to violence and do not respect the rights of Americans.

 

draw-mohammad

People Co-exist Very Well When Governments Get Out Of The Way

CBN News posted a story today about Ariel University. It is one of the success stories of Israeli-Arab relations, and has been boycotted by European governments and the U.S. State Department. Why?

The article explains:

The university’s home is Ariel, what some call a “West Bank settlement” in territory Palestinians want for a future state. It’s also part of the land promised to the Jewish people in the Bible as an eternal inheritance.

That has led to boycotts of the university by European governments and the U.S. State Department, Friedman said.

Oddly enough, despite the politics, the university represnets a model for co-existence. Some 15,000 Israeli Jewish and Arab students study here together in Hebrew — without a problem.

The article further explains:

Chancellor Yigal Cohen Orgad credits the university’s success to creating an informal atmosphere in which students see each other eye-to-eye.

He thanked God there are no conflicts at the university. 

“We passed in Israel two intifadas, this university,” Orgad said. “There was [not] one evening or one day of tension between Jews and Arabs that study here.”

Despite its cutting-edge research, pastoral setting, and quiet campus life, some in the international community see Ariel University as a controversial place.

“We don’t have problems with other universities and research institutes,” Orgad said. “We have real problems with many governments. First of all in Europe and part of the American government, i.e., the State Department, that tries to boycott us formally or informally.”

Why? “Because they think we don’t have the right as Jews to live here in Samaria,” Orgad told CBN News.

Practically speaking, the boycott makes it difficult to obtain grants and actually hinders things like helping neighboring Arab villages improve their quality of life.

It seems very obvious that the University has managed to make peace between the Israelis and the Arabs who study there. If there is peace there, the governments in Europe and America need to stop complaining.

Common Sense From One Of My Favorite Liberals

Alan Dershowitz is a Professor at Harvard University. He is a brilliant man with unassailable credentials as a political liberal. He has campaigned for President Obama twice. He posted an article in the Wall Street Journal today.

His article on the opinion page deals with the upcoming visit to America by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Professor Dershowitz states:

At bottom, this controversy is not mainly about protocol and politics—it is about the constitutional system of checks and balances and the separation of powers.

Under the Constitution, the executive and legislative branches share responsibility for making and implementing important foreign-policy decisions. Congress has a critical role to play in scrutinizing the decisions of the president when these decisions involve national security, relationships with allies and the threat of nuclear proliferation.

Whether or not Iran gets nuclear weapons should not be a partisan issue–if Iran goes nuclear, all Americans are in danger.

Professor Dershowitz continues:

Whether one agrees or disagrees with Speaker John Boehner ’s decision to invite Mr. Netanyahu or Mr. Netanyahu’s decision to accept, no legal scholar can dispute that Congress has the power to act independently of the president in matters of foreign policy. Whether any deal with Iran would technically constitute a treaty requiring Senate confirmation, it is certainly treaty-like in its impact. Moreover, the president can’t implement the deal without some action or inaction by Congress.

…Another reason members of Congress should not boycott Mr. Netanyahu’s speech is that support for Israel has always been a bipartisan issue. The decision by some members to boycott Israel’s prime minister endangers this bipartisan support. This will not only hurt Israel but will also endanger support for Democrats among pro-Israel voters. I certainly would never vote for or support a member of Congress who walked out on Israel’s prime minister.

Professor Dershowitz concludes:

Inviting a prime minister of an ally to educate Congress about a pressing foreign-policy decision is in the highest tradition of our democratic system of separation of powers and checks and balances.

This is a security issue for all Americans. Anyone in Congress who boycotts this speech should be defeated as soon as they are up for re-election.

Where Is Winston Churchill?

On Tuesday, High Frontier posted an article about recent comments by U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice.

The article quotes Ambassador Rice:

“[W]hat’s missing here in Washington is a sense of perspective. Yes, there’s a lot going on. Still, while the dangers we face may be more numerous and varied, they are not of the existential nature we confronted during World War II or the Cold War.” ~ Ambassador Susan Rice, National Security Advisor

 I think someone needs to tell Ms. Rice that Iran is not only building nuclear weapons, but the missiles to transport them with.

The article reports:

In my opinion, Iran, its surrogate terrorists, Shia allies and even Sunni adversaries are in fact—and contrary to Ambassador Rice’s assertion—an existential threat to America, indeed to all of Western Civilization . . . just as were our enemies during World War II and the Cold War. (By the way, some believe that our policies in dealing with Russia’s creeping invasion of Ukraine could indeed lead to another Cold War – potentially a Hot War.)

Consider that just last week, Iran launched successfully its fourth satellite, reportedly weighing 110 pounds, in an orbit tilted at 55.5-degrees with the equator and at an altitude varying between 139 and 285 miles above the earth. Last week’s launch occurred during national ceremonies marking the 36th anniversary of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, and employed a 72-foot-tall Safir rocket based on the Shahab 3 booster—Iran’s most advanced ballistic missile.

 As I have previously written, Iranian satellites, successfully launched in 2009, 2011 and 2012, demonstrated Iran’s capability to launch satellites carrying up to 4400 pounds into orbits that approach the United States from the South at altitudes just right for bathing the entire nation in an electromagnetic pulse (EMP).  Consequently, our electric power grid could collapse indefinitely, and within a year without electricity up to 90-percent of all Americans could perish from the consequent starvation, chaos, and societal collapse.

Isn’t this an existential threat????  You bet!

Today, we have little or no defense against this threat—and no apparent program to provide one.

Meanwhile, our diplomats are seeking an agreement with Iran that does little or nothing to prevent it from gaining a nuclear weapon as a satellite payload to send the “Great Satan” America back to the 18th century without the agrarian society that then enabled a much smaller population to prosper. Most would perish today.

Meanwhile, the debate in Washington is focused on whether sanctions should or should not be used to strengthen the leverage of our negotiators—who as best as I can tell are only seeking to delay (by a few months) Iran in obtaining nuclear weapons.   

It will be interesting, and no doubt sobering, to hear Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s views when he addresses a Joint Session of Congress in March. He is very concerned about Iran’s existential threat to the “Little Satan” Israel – we seem oblivious to Iran’s existential threat to the “Great Satan” America.

Clearly, a negotiated outcome that permits Iran to obtain so quickly nuclear weapons that can be deployed on existing and tested ballistic missile launchers is not in Israel’s interest—or ours.

This is the true picture of where we are. President Obama is no friend of Israel and does not want Prime Minister Netanyahu to explain the danger that we face. The White House is trying to undermine what he says before he says it. If there were a way to block the visit, they would.

Expect to see an agreement with Iran in the near future (President Obama needs it for his legacy). The agreement will give Iran everything it wants. Sanctions coming from Congress will be blocked, and somehow the treaty signed will not need Congressional approval (unconstitutional move, but what’s new?). Until Congress develops a spine and begins to limit President Obama, this sort of executive overreach will continue. Unfortunately, in this case, it represents a danger to America.

 

 

 

If You Hear A Lie Often Enough, You Think It Is The Truth

There is an organization called CAMERA (Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America). Generally speaking, they write letters to American newspapers when the newspapers misreport something about Israel or the Middle East.

The following is from one of their recent internet posts:

January 23, 2015

There Were No Palestine Borders, And No Palestine, in 1967

A story in today’s New York Times print edition, “Obama Not Planning to Meet With Israeli Premier,” written primarily by the newspaper’s Washington bureau, included erroneous and anachronistic language about Israel’s “1967 borders with Palestine.”

In 1967, of course, there was no country, territory, or entity called Palestine.

And the boundary between Israel and the territory in question, what had been the Jordanian-occupied West Bank, was explicitly not regarded as a border. As the 1949 armistice agreement between Israel and Jordan made clear, “The Armistice Demarcation Lines defined in articles V and VI of this Agreement are agreed upon by the Parties without prejudice to future territorial settlements or boundary lines or to claims of either Party relating thereto.”

This phrasing helps underscore why CAMERA has long called for newspapers to correct inaccurate references to “1967 borders” (even without explicit references to a pre-1967 entity called “Palestine”) and why we’ve often gotten corrections on the topic. The implication — not often spelled out, though it is in this particular piece — is that there was between 1948 and 1967 a sovereign country between the Green Line and the Jordan River, one that had internationally recognized borders, and one that is therefor the legal sovereign of all land east of the Green Line, whether that be the Jewish Quarter, the consensus settlements of the Etzion block, or beyond.

Readers of this blog might immediately recognize that this isn’t at all true; but the average New York Times reader may not, so the newspaper’s references to 1967 “borders” is likely to lead to substantive geopolitical misunderstanding on the part of its audience.

The New York Times has thanked CAMERA for making it aware of the erroneous language, but has not yet published a correction. We’ll hope to update this space soon with information about a correction.

Walid Shoebat, a former PLO terrorist who became a Christian who supports Israel once stated, “In June 1967, I went to be a Jordanian and woke up a ‘Palestinian.'” As we sit idly by and watch ISIS surround Israel, we need to remember that Israel is the ‘little satan’ and we are the ‘big satan.’ We are next on the list. Knowing the correct history of the region is helpful to understanding what is happening.

 

We Need More Muslims Like This Man

Yesterday The Jewish Press posted that story of Lassana Bathily, a French Muslim employee at the HyperChacher supermarket in Paris, who saved the lives of 15 Jewish people in the store by hiding them in the freezer. He also had the presence of mind to shut the freezer off.

United for Israel also posted the story, but had a few more details.The article describes the scene, but I felt that it was too graphic to post here. Please follow the link to read the entire story.

 

Repeating The Mistakes Of The Past

Yesterday the Israel National News reported that anti-racism activists in Norway refused to take part in a ceremony remembering Kristallnacht  if members of the Jewish community were invited to it. The ceremony took place earlier this week.

According to the article:

According to blog “Norway, Israel and the Jews,” Norwegian organization New SOS Racisme – which claims to act against racism – demanded that the “Zionist Jews of Bergen” be banned from attending the Kristallnacht memorial event held earlier this week.

It gets worse:

IBT (International Business Times) noted that the incident occurred “a few days after Denmark’s ceremony in Norrebro district, marking the Holocaust, was used to raise money for Gaza, following the 2014 Israel-Gaza war.”

Gaza suffered damaged during the 2014 Israel-Gaza war. However, leading up to that war, Gaza had been attacking Israel daily with rockets and building tunnels to go into Israel and kill civilians. Money given to Gaza to build infrastructure was instead used to build those tunnels and buy weapons. I have no doubt that money currently given to Gaza will also be used to buy arms and plan military attacks on Israel.

My questions here is simple, “Who is the racist?”

This Is Just Unbelievable

Last month a website called qpolitical posted a story about Somali Muslims in America demanding a food bank that meets their religious standards.

The article reports:

I think I am even more confused. Not only do they want an American program to change due to their islamic standards, they also expect $150,000 for it. Oh and keep in mind that’s only to start the food shelf up. There isn’t a plan yet, get this, on how much will sustain it.

Keep in mind that this is a government program being asked to bend to religious requirements. Would the government do this for Christians, Jews, or any other religion? If the Islamic community wants free food that meets their religious requirements, they need to be responsible for setting up their own food banks. If they want Islamic food, they also have the option of finding a job and earning the money to buy it.

The article includes a video:

Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Speech At The United Nations

Here is the link to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s speech at the United Nations.

Here are a few highlights:

I come here from Jerusalem to speak on behalf of my people, the people of Israel. I’ve come here to speak about the dangers we face and about the opportunities we see. I’ve come here to expose the brazen lies spoken from this very podium against my country and against the brave soldiers who defend it. Ladies and Gentlemen, The people of Israel pray for peace. But our hopes and the world’s hope for peace are in danger. Because everywhere we look, militant Islam is on the march. It’s not militants. It’s not Islam. It’s militant Islam.

Typically, its first victims are other Muslims, but it spares no one. Christians, Jews, Yazidis, Kurds – no creed, no faith, no ethnic group is beyond its sights. And it’s rapidly spreading in every part of the world. You know the famous American saying: “All politics is local”? For the militant Islamists, “All politics is global.” Because their ultimate goal is to dominate the world. Now, that threat might seem exaggerated to some, since it starts out small, like a cancer that attacks a particular part of the body. But left unchecked, the cancer grows, metastasizing over wider and wider areas.

…In the past, outrageous lies against the Jews were the precursors to the wholesale slaughter of our people. But no more. Today we, the Jewish people, have the power to defend ourselves. We will defend ourselves against our enemies on the battlefield. We will expose their lies against us in the court of public opinion. Israel will continue to stand proud and unbowed. Ladies and Gentlemen, Despite the enormous challenges facing Israel, I believe we have an historic opportunity. After decades of seeing Israel as their enemy, leading states in the Arab world increasingly recognize that together we and they face many of the same dangers: principally this means a nuclear-armed Iran and militant Islamist movements gaining ground in the Sunni world. Our challenge is to transform these common interests to create a productive partnership. One that would build a more secure, peaceful and prosperous Middle East. Together we can strengthen regional security. We can advance projects in water, agriculture, in transportation, in health, in energy, in so many fields. I believe the partnership between us can also help facilitate peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Many have long assumed that an Israeli-Palestinian peace can help facilitate a broader rapprochement between Israel and the Arab World.

But these days I think it may work the other way around: Namely that a broader rapprochement between Israel and the Arab world may help facilitate an Israeli-Palestinian peace. And therefore, to achieve that peace, we must look not only to Jerusalem and Ramallah, but also to Cairo, to Amman, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh and elsewhere. I believe peace can be realized with the active involvement of Arab countries, those that are willing to provide political, material and other indispensable support. I’m ready to make a historic compromise, not because Israel is occupying a foreign land.
The people of Israel are not occupiers in the Land of Israel.
History, archeology and common sense all make clear that we have had a singular attachment to this land for over 3,000 years. I want peace because I want to create a better future for my people. But it must be a genuine peace, one that is anchored in mutual recognition and enduring security arrangements, rock solid security arrangements on the ground.

Because you see, Israel’s withdrawals from Lebanon and Gaza created two militant Islamic enclaves on our borders from which tens of thousands of rockets have been fired at Israel. These sobering experiences heighten Israel’s security concerns regarding potential territorial concessions in the future. Those security concerns are even greater today. Just look around you. The Middle East is in chaos. States are disintegrating. Militant Islamists are filling the void. Israel cannot have territories from which it withdraws taken over by Islamic militants yet again, as happened in Gaza and Lebanon. That would place the likes of ISIS within mortar range – a few miles – of 80% of our population. Think about that. The distance between the 1967 lines and the suburbs of Tel Aviv is like the distance between the UN building here and Times Square. Israel’s a tiny country.

Thank God for a leader who tells the truth.

Missing The Forest For The Trees

Yesterday I posted an article at rightwinggranny.com about the plans Hamas had for the tunnel system it had built into Israel. The plans included explosions under kindergartens and the slaughter of kindergarten school children. After thinking about that for a while, I realized that in spite of all I have written about the war between Israel and Hamas, there are some very basic things that I did not understand.

The article I posted included Hamas’ plans for the tunnel system:

Israeli security sources, citing information acquired in interrogations of captured brigands, described a scenario under which hundreds of heavily armed Hamas fighters would have spilled out into Israel in the dead of night and within 10 minutes been positioned to infiltrate essentially all Israeli communities surrounding the Gaza Strip.  Waiting then in hiding until schools and kindergartens were occupied, the terrorists would then attempt to kill the children first, and then kill and kidnap as many Israelis as possible.  The plot was set to take place during Jewish New Year, on September 24.

Think about that for a minute. This is not a war about territory. Hamas wants the land, but more than that they want to kill all of the people in the land—children included. Their intention is to eliminate the Jewish people in Israel. This is genocide. This is what Hitler intended. After Hitler, the world said, “Never again.” Did we mean it?

This is not an ordinary war. This is a war in which the people of Israel are fighting to live. Hamas in Gaza needs to be dealt with the same way that Hitler was dealt with—they need to be taken out of power, tried for war crimes, and their supporters put in jail. Hamas was elected—the people in Gaza knew what Hamas was and voted for them anyway. I don’t trust the United Nations to set up a neutral government in Gaza, but control of Gaza has to be taken away from Hamas and other similar terrorist groups.

The criticism of Israel’s military action in Gaza needs to stop. The criticism is coming from people who either don’t understand what is actually going on or have a political agenda. The amount of propaganda coming from Hamas makes it very difficult to realize that Israel is fighting for the lives of its people. Israel did not begin this war, but in the interests of the people in Israel, it has to end the war with the total defeat of Hamas.

Irony At Its Best

On July 1, the U.K. Telegraph posted the story of Hessy Taft, the baby the Nazis used in their propaganda to epitomize the perfect Aryan child. What the Nazis did not know was that Hessy was Jewish. Ms. Taft is now Professor Taft and teaches chemistry in New York.

The article explains what happened:

In 1935, with the city rife with anti-semitic attacks, Pauline Levinsons took her six-month-old daughter Hessy to a well-known Berlin photographer to have her baby photograph taken.

A few months later, she was horrified to find her daughter’s picture on the front cover of Sonne ins Hause, a major Nazi family magazine.

Terrified the family would be exposed as Jews, she rushed to the photographer, Hans Ballin. He told her he knew the family was Jewish, and had deliberately submitted the photograph to a contest to find the most beautiful Aryan baby.

“I wanted to make the Nazis ridiculous,” the photographer told her.

He succeeded: the picture won the contest, and was believed to have been chosen personally by the Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.

…Her photograph appeared on widely available Nazi postcards, where she was recognised by an aunt in distant Memel, now part of Lithuania. But the Nazis never discovered Prof Taft’s true identity.

Mrs. Taft recently submitted her photograph to Yad Vashem.

Under The Surface Of The Pope’s Visit To Israel

Caroline Glick posted an article on her website today about the recent visit to Israel by Pope Francis. There were a few incidents during the visit that simply were not friendly to the Jewish state and its heritage.

The article reports:

In one of his blander pronouncements during the papal visit, Netanyahu mentioned on Monday that Jesus spoke Hebrew. There was nothing incorrect about Netanyahu’s statement. Jesus was after all, an Israeli Jew.

 
But Francis couldn’t take the truth. So he indelicately interrupted his host, interjecting, “Aramaic.”

 
Netanyahu was probably flustered. True, at the time, educated Jews spoke and wrote in Aramaic. And Jesus was educated. But the language of the people was Hebrew. And Jesus preached to the people, in Hebrew.

 
Netanyahu responded, “He spoke Aramaic, but he knew Hebrew.”

 
Reuters’ write-up of the incident tried to explain away the pope’s rudeness and historical revisionism, asserting, “Modern-day discourse about Jesus is complicated and often political.” The report went on to delicately mention, “Palestinians sometimes describe Jesus as a Palestinian. Israelis object to that.”

 
Israelis “object to that” because it is a lie.

It seems like a minor point, but it is not. Jesus was Jewish. Period.

The article continues:

Consider first Francis’s behavior at the security barrier.

 

Reasonable people disagree about the contribution the security fence makes to the security of Israelis. But no one can reasonably doubt that it was built to protect Israelis from Palestinian terrorist murderers. And Francis ought to know this. Francis’s decision to hold a photo-op at the security barrier was an act of extreme hostility against Israel and the Jewish people.

 

As the former Cardinal of Buenos Aires, Francis may have heard of the November 2002 massacre at Kibbutz Metzer. Metzer was founded by Argentine communists in the 1950s. Metzer is located 500 meters from the 1949 armistice lines which made it an obvious beneficiary of the security fence. But true to its radical roots, in 2002 members of the kibbutz waged a public campaign against the planned route of the security fence. They feared that it would, in the words of Metzer member Danny Dovrat, “ignite hostility and create problems” with the kibbutz’s Palestinian neighbors.

 

 
Thanks to that concern, on the night of November 10, 2002, a gunman from the “moderate” US- and EU-supported Fatah terror organization faced no physical obstacle when he entered the kibbutz. Once there he killed two people on the street and then entered the home of Revital Ohayon and executed Revital and her two sons, Matan, 5, and Noam, 4 years old.

 
Fatah praised the attack on its website and pledged to conduct more assaults on “Zionist colonizers,” and promised to continue “targeting their children as well.”

The Catholic Church does not have a good record in supporting Israel or the Jewish people. Pope Francis needs to condemn the killing of innocent civilians by the Palestinians rather than support a government that has chosen to purchase arms instead of building infrastructure with the money given to it by the United Nations and other countries.

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The Latest Dumb Thing Our State Department Has Said

Breitbart.com posted an article today quoting State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki. Mr. Psaki stated, “Our position is that Israel is a Jewish state, but it is not necessary for the two sides to agree on this in the final agreement.” Wow.

So Israel should agree to set up a Palestinian state and Palestine doesn’t have to agree that Israel is a Jewish state? Does Palestine have to agree that Israel has the right to exist? That might be a little detail to get straightened out before Palestine becomes a state and forms an official military.

The article reports:

Recently, the U.S. had appeared to agree with Israel. President Barack Obama referred to “the State of Israel–a Jewish state” in his recent State of the Union address, and Secretary of State John Kerry twice referred to “the nation-state of the Jewish people” in recent remarks to the AIPAC conference of pro-Israel activists in Washington. However, both were careful to avoid insisting upon Palestinian recognition of Israel’s identity.

The Palestinians did not agree to recognize Israel as a Jewish state in the Oslo Peace Accords of 1993, and considers such recognition to be a new demand. Palestinian propaganda denies Jews the right to sovereignty.

America needs to grow up and realize that we cannot bring peace to the Middle East until Palestine agrees to recognize the existence of Israel and until Palestine stops training its children to hate Israelis (see rightwinggranny.com). Until the culture of hatred changes, there will be no peace.

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A Major Obstacle To Peace In The Middle East

On Tuesday, Israel Today reported on a billboard put up in Nazareth by local Muslims.

The article quotes the billboard which features a picture of an Israeli stop sign:

The poster (and Koran 4:171) reads:

“O people of the Scripture (Christians)! Do not exceed the limits of your religion. Say nothing but the truth about Allah (The One True God). The Christ Jesus, Son of Mary, was only a Messenger of God and His word conveyed to Mary and a spirit created by Him. So believe in God and His messengers and do not say: ‘Three gods (trinity)’. Cease! It will be better for you. Indeed, Allah is the One and the Only God. His Holiness is far above having a son.”

The article further reports:

Evangelical Christians from Nazareth have become a growing and integral part of the overall Messianic body in the land, while traditional Christians (Catholics, Greek Orthodox, etc) have been waking up to their historical and religious connection to the Jews and are joining the Israeli army in ever greater numbers.

People of different faiths can live together only if the people involved respect each others’ right to their beliefs. This poster is an example of why there will not be peace in the Middle East until the Muslims accept the existence of Israel and accept the fact that everyone should not be forced into Islam. Unfortunately, the Koran encourages evangelism by the sword.

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Ignoring History When It Interferes With Your Politics

Breitbart.com posted an article today about the UNESCO exhibition that was scheduled to open in Paris on January 20. The exhibition has been cancelled because documents the Jews’ 3,500+ years connection to the Land of Israel, chronicling the timeline from the days of Abraham to the 21st century.

The article reports:

UNESCO cancelled the event, while not disputing the factual basis whatsoever behind the exhibit itself, for fear it may hurt the “peace process.” The event, which had been planned for over two years, was cancelled three days before it was set to open. The successful campaign mounted to cancel the expo can largely be accredited to a last minute protest by the Arab group at UNESCO.

The protest doesn’t change history. The problem with the exhibit is that it reminds people of the history of Israel. The connection between the Jews and Israel goes back thousands of years. The Palestinians did not exist as a people seeking a homeland until after 1967. As Walid Shoebat stated, “One day during the 1960s I went to bed a Jordanian Muslim, and when I woke up the next morning, I was informed that I was now a Palestinian Muslim, and that I was no longer a Jordanian Muslim.”

The article at Breitbart.com reminds us:

The UN has maintained its heavy biases against the State of Israel for many years. Some argue that it has become the sole focus of the entire United Nations system: to engage in a delegitimization campaign against the Jewish state. Israel’s envoy to UNESCO, Nimrod Barkan, once stated that UNESCO has an “obsession” with Israel. In October, UNESCO left a single meeting in Paris declaring it had passed six separate resolutions condemning tiny Israel, but none regarding the rest of the world in its entirety.

According to UN Watch, an incredible 100 percent of UNESCO’s condemnatory resolutions have been in opposition to Israel.

The United Nations may have begun with a beautiful idea–world peace and freedom for all the citizens of the world. Unfortunately, a number of countries that do not support democracy have banned together to form a very influential voting bloc within the organization and have caused the United Nations to stray from its original mission. Rather than condemn terrorist regimes and tyrannies, the organization has focused its condemnation on Israel. It really is time for the United Nations to leave America and go elsewhere. The improvement in the traffic situation in lower Manhattan alone would be astonishing.

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The Temple Mount Sifting Project

Tonight I had the privilege of hearing Dr. Gavriel Barkay speak at the Ahavath Torah Congregation in Stoughton, Massachusetts. Dr. Barkay spoke about the Temple Mount Sifting Project. The project takes mounds of Temple Mount material from the Kidron Valley dump to the Tzurim Valley National Park and sifts through the mounds for archaeological finds.

The website of the Temple Mount Sifting Project explains some of what the sifters have learned:

Early in the Sifting Project, we already noticed that there were differences in the frequencies of certain types of finds from different areas. Moreover, similar finds, and sometimes fragments of the same object, were discovered within short periods of time. This suggested that these similar objects were originally next to each other. But the full significance and value of dividing the material at the dump into different areas was discovered only last summer, during the processing of quantitative data for the Third Preliminary Report which we recently published. We found that artifacts which we assume to be from the same context were also distributed in a similar manner. Another example is that we found that artifacts which can be identified with the Horses of the Crusader era Templar Knights were distributed in a similar way among the dump areas.

The soil involved in the Temple Mount Sifting Project was illegally removed from the Temple Mount, resulting in the loss of much archaeological information. It is encouraging to know that the volunteers of the Temple Mount Sifting Project are recovering valuable information despite the illegal removal of the dirt from the Temple Mount.

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Bias? What Bias?

On July 29, the Washington Times posted a story about a controversy involving a history textbook being used in an advanced placement course in Florida. The textbook devotes a 36-page chapter to Islam, but has no chapters on either Christianity or Judaism.

The article illustrates some of the bias:

Here’s an example: Muhammad and his armies’ take-over of Medina states depicted “people happily accept[ing of] Islam as their way of life. It leaves out that tens of thousands of Jews and non-believers were massacred by [Muhammad’s] armies. It’s a blatant deception.”

At the same time, the book depicts Jesus as claiming to be the Messiah — but writes as fact that Muhammad was the prophet, Mr. Workman said in the Townhall article. Students in the class are also taught about the Koran and pillars of Islam.

The article quotes a school board member:

“Some of the descriptions of the battles use the word ‘massacre’ when it’s a Christian battle and ‘takeover’ when it’s a Muslim battle,” said Amy Kneessy to Fox News. “In young minds, massacre paints a very different visual picture than a takeover or occupation — when in fact both battles were very bloody.”

At some point Americans will realize that Islam supports Sharia Law. Sharia Law and democracy are mutually exclusive. There is an effort by some in the Muslim community to undermine the American way of life and impose Sharia Law on America. Hopefully, the school boards in this town and other towns will continue to be vigilant in examining the textbooks the children are using.
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United Jerusalem Day Celebration

Today I had the privilege of attending a United Jerusalem Day Celebration at the Victory Assembly of God in Sharon, Massachusetts. The event was sponsored by Rabbis and Ministers for Israel; Pastor Joe Green; Victory Assembly of God; Pastor Dick Ingram; Christians and Jews United for Israel; Rev. Fumio Taku; Friends of the IDF; Lior Zommer; Russian Jewish Community Foundation; Alex Koifman; The Irwin M. and H. Ethel Hausman Memorial Speakers Series; Rabbi Jonathan H. Hausman.

The featured speakers were Shai Bazak, Consul General of Israel to New England, Cathy Lanyard, Executive Director, American Friends of ALYN Hospital in Jerusalem, Col. Amnon Meir, I.D.F. Liaison Offer to TRADOC, and Dr. Pat Robertson of CBN.

The day was a celebration of Israel and its eternal capital, Jerusalem. Rabbi Hausman spoke of the need for Christians and Jews who support Israel to travel to Israel to see the country for themselves. He pointed out that less than one quarter of American Jews have ever visited Israel. The Rabbi reminded us that Israel is the only country in the Middle East where Christians live freely.

Cathy Lanyard spoke of the work being done at ALYN Hospital in Jerusalem, Israel’s pediatric and adolescent rehabilitation facility. ALYN treats children with a wide range of congenital and acquired conditions including cerebral palsy, neuromuscular diseases, spinal cord injuries, brain injuries, burns, terror and motor vehicle accident victims. The goal of the hospital is the equip children to go home and lie with their families.  Ms. Lanyard spoke about a Guardian Angel program to help Americans support this hospital and the work that they do.

Shai Bazak, the Consul General of Israel to New England, spoke of growing up in Israel and learning the history of the country and of the Jewish people. His father fought in the 1948 war for the liberation of Israel. In listening to him speak, I began to understand the role of the Western Wall in the life of an Israeli Jew. He described the Wall as a place for prayer and thanksgiving.

Pat Robertson spoke of God’s blessing on the Jewish people and the need for Christians to support Israel. Dr. Robertson spoke of the recent terrorist bombing in Boston. He reminded us that Islam divides the world into two categories–dar al-Harb, the house of war, and dar al-Islam, the house of Islam. There is no in-between. He pointed out that Islam is a political system with a goal of world domination. Dr. Robertson pointed out that in World War II we knew our enemy–we knew it was the Nazis–not all of the Germans–and we fought that enemy and won. He stated that we have to do that with Islam. He reminded us that David purchased Mount Moriah in order to make a sacrifice to God after he disobeyed God by taking a census. Solomon built his temple in Jerusalem.  As both Christians and Jews, we need to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

The final speaker was Col. Amnon Meir, I.D.F. Liaison Officer to TRADOC. He stated that he was born in Israel and that his parents were born in Israel. He spoke of a visit to the concentration camps of the Holocaust. In speaking with a survivor of a camp in Austria, he said that the man said that the three most important moments of his life were–the day the U.S. army freed his concentration camp, the day the state of Israel was established, and the day that Jerusalem was unified. He reminded us that Israel is a peaceful nation that desires peace, but Israel lives in a rough neighborhood and needs to hold a big stick (a strong army).

It was an amazing day. Listening to the speakers who were raised in Israel talk about the Western Wall and what it was like to grow up in the midst of such incredible history was awesome. It was a celebration of Israel and Jerusalem. It was also a celebration of the unity that can exist between Jews who love Israel and Christians who love Israel.

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Altering The Facts To Get The Conclusion You Want

In June 2012, I posted a story about a kindergarten graduation in in Gaza (rightwinggranny.com). The article included a picture of sweet little kindergarten children dressed in camouflage outfits carrying rifles. This is the picture:

Below is a sample of Palestinian media taken from YouTube:

.

Meanwhile, CBN News reported today that a research study funded by the United States State Department has said that that Palestinians do not teach their children to hate Israel at school and through the media.

The article at CBN states:

American, Israeli, and Palestinian researchers spent three years examining hundreds of textbooks to determine how the two sides portrayed themselves and each other. They called their report, “Victims of Our Own Narratives? Portrayal of the ‘Other’ in Israeli and Palestinian School Books.”

“As you know in the Oslo agreements, this was highlighted as a key issue, education for peace,” Dr. Bruce Wexler, professor emeritus and senior research scientist in psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine, told CBN News.

Wexler, Adwan, along with Daniel Bar-Tal, professor of research in child development and education at Tel Aviv University, presented their findings in Jerusalem on Monday.

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad welcomed the research, saying the “conclusions are not in line with its standing pre-conceived positions.”

One interesting aspect of this study is that it charges that putting the 1972 Olympic Massacre in Israeli history books casts Palestinians in a negative light because the terrorists who killed the 11 Israeli athletes were Palestinian.

Israeli Strategic Affairs Ministry Director General Yossi Kuperwasser is quoted in the article at CBN:

“I’m afraid that this report is going to be used in order to whitewash the Palestinians from the need to really tackle the major problem that prevents us from promoting peace here,” Kuperwasser said.

“And this is the ongoing Palestinian incitement for hatred, incitement for violence, for terror and the ongoing denial of the Palestinians of the rights of the other and the existence of the other, which is the Israelis and the Jews in this piece of land,” he added.

Until someone is willing to tell the truth about what is going on, there will not be peace.

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This May Be One Reason Why ‘We Can’t All Just Get Along’

Yesterday Breitbart.com reported that the European Union (EU) has been asked to intervene to prevent the execution of a man who sold the Bait HaMachpela (House of the Patriarchs) to Jewish families in Hebron.

The Jewish community of Hebron has asked the EU to stop the execution. The story reports the response of EU Committee for Foreign Affairs Chairman, Dr. Fiorello Provera:

“Abu Shahala’s conviction has no justification, and therefore the European Union will intervene to save his life. It is inconceivable that a man who sells his house will be convicted of a crime and sentenced to death. The PA is the foremost beneficiary of a European assistance, so we must intervene interest and demand the PA immediately cancel Abu Shahala’s death sentence. And, to remove the death penalty for the sale of property and land [to Jews].  I call on the PA to immediately block the implementation of death sentence on Abu Shahala, as required by the UN General Assembly.”

The PA has been clear from its founding that it wants to drive the Jewish people from Israel. That in itself is the main obstacle to peace in the Middle East. I am not convinced you can negotiate with people who would kill a man for selling his house.

The Canary In The Coal Mind Is LIghtheaded

Česky: Vlajka Severoatlantické aliance (NATO)....

Česky: Vlajka Severoatlantické aliance (NATO). English: Flag of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Español: Bandera de la Organización del Tratado del Atlántico Norte (OTAN). Polski: Flaga Paktu Północnoatlantyckiego (NATO). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The canary in the coal mine is in trouble. When bad things happen to the Jews or to Israel, shortly afterward, bad things begin to happen to the rest of us.

Breitbart.com is reporting today that Turkey has blocked Israel from attending a NATO summit to be held in Chicago in May. The Turks claim that the move was made in retaliation for the refusal of Israel to formally apologize for its attack on the Mavi Marmara.

The article reports:

The Obama Administration, whose fearless leader just assured Jews of his support for Israel at the Holocaust Museum, was noncommittal in its response when queried whether they would openly state to NATO that they wanted Israel to participate.  State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland was evasive when she was confronted:

Q: Well, would you be — would the United [States] — would the administration be comfortable if Israel did not participate?

MS. NULAND: Again, we — there are many, many ways that these partnership activities may go forward. They’ve been done in different ways at different summits. So I’m not going to get into what we’re talking about, how it might work, who’s going to come. We’re still working on all of that.

Q: You — the administration won’t come out and say that it wants Israel to be at the — to participate at the — at the — at the summit in Chicago?

MS. NULAND: We haven’t made any announcements …

Q: … If you can’t come out and say that the United States wants Israel to participate, its main ally in the Middle East, and you won’t come out and say that the administration wants them to participate in whatever event is going on in Chicago, that’s — that is going to be seized on …

MS. NULAND: So every summit is done on a case-by-case basis, and we haven’t made a decision about who’s going to be invited yet …

Q: … But the Turks wouldn’t be objecting to Israel’s participation, if someone hadn’t proposed that Israel participate. And if you have proposed that they participate —

MS. NULAND: Again —

Q: — and you’re not willing to stick up for it, I don’t understand why —

MS. NULAND: I’m not going to get into, here, what we have proposed and where we are in the internal dialogue at NATO until the issues are settled by consensus.

So Turkey, whose government is now run by Islamists and whose leader is ostensibly Obama’s friend, is dictating policy to the United States. And as usual, Obama is only too willing to throw Israel under the bus.

It’s time to elect a President who will actually support Israel.

 

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Thursday Night In Stoughton, MA

ATC Speakers Forum Presents:
 
“”A Perspective on Islam, Christians and Israel“
 
With
 
Dr. Mark Durie
 
 
 
Thursday, January 19, 2012
7:30 p.m. ~ 9:00 p.m.
Ahavath Torah Congregation
1179 Central St., Stoughton, MA
  
Dr. Mark Durie is a theologian, human rights activist and pastor of an Anglican church. He has published many articles and books on the language and culture of the Acehnese, Christian-Muslim relations and religious freedom. A graduate of the Australian National University and the Australian College of Theology, he has held visiting appointments at the University of Leiden, MIT, UCLA and Stanford, and was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities in 1992.
 
 
This lecture by an Australian scholar of Islam discusses the contradistinctive intersection of Islam’s doctrine, Israel as the independent sovereign project of the Jewish people and Christian support of Israel’s right to exist.
 
There is no charge for the this event. Donation of $5 suggested.
 
This event is co-sponsored by Christians and Jews United for Israel (CJUI), Rabbis and Ministers for Israel (RMI), ACT Boston, ACT Framingham
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A Welcome Perspective

English: "aerial view of Omaha Beach, Nor...

Image via Wikipedia

Today the North County Times posted a very thoughtful editorial by Susan Estrich. The editorial deals with her recent trip to France that included Normandy. She talks about the driver who drove her out to Normandy. He commented that he felt France had been wise to stay out of the war. He felt that it was unfair that Marshal Petain was prosecuted for treason after the war because he made peace with Hitler. When asked about the Jews, the driver said he didn’t know.

Ms. Estrich reminds us:

There were many righteous men and women in France who tried to save their Jewish countrymen and -women. Clearly, that did not include my driver’s family. Nor the Vichy government. All told, 76,000 Jews were sent to concentration camps in France. Refugees were among the first to be rounded up. Pity those who thought they would find refuge from Hitler in France. They were as much in the dark as I was. They paid with their lives. All but 2,500 of those sent to the camps in France died.

Ms. Estrich then points out that because it was January, most of the places she wanted to visit near Normandy were closed, but the American cemetery and the small museum next to it were open. She then comments on the beauty of Omaha Beach, reminding us that it was not beautiful on June 6, 1944.

She tells us:

Omaha Beach is quiet. Even on a rainy day, it is beautiful. But it was not beautiful on D-Day. The ocean was dyed red with the blood of brave Americans who waded from their boats into enemy fire —- kids who gave their lives to save each other, to liberate the French, to defeat evil.

On that day, as the tape in the museum says, they carried the fate of the free world —- “the entire free world” —- on their young shoulders.

They saved the world.

My father was one of the people who landed on the shores of France on June 6, 1944. He was one of the lucky ones who landed on Utah Beach instead of Normandy Beach. He was one of the lucky ones who came home safely. His generation paid a tremendous price so that Europe and America would remain free.

Ms. Estrich concludes:

My friend Annie was the one who told me to go to Normandy. She is the child of survivors, born in Munich after the war. She said that standing in that cemetery, she was overcome with pride to be an immigrant to this country.

For all our problems, we are still the luckiest people on the face of the globe. And one of the reasons for that is because of those young soldiers who gave their lives for our freedom —- and for the freedom of people like my driver and his family. He may not know enough to appreciate that. But I do. God bless America.

Sometimes it is good to reflect on the challenges and accomplishments of the American past. I feel that some day in the future we may be called to meet similar challenges. I hope we are still up to the task.

 

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Highland Park And New Brunswick Were Targeted By Anti-Semites On Tuesday Night

Arutz Sheva today that at least five Jewish-owned businesses in Highland Park, New Jersey, were attacked on Tuesday night.

The article reports:

Vandals hurled bricks through the plate glass windows of a kosher restaurant, a kosher pizza shop, two Judaica stores, and a Jewish-owned hardware store.

At least three other Jewish-owned business in nearby New Brunswich were also targeted. Tuesday was the anniversary of the 1947 United Nations Partition Vote to create the Jewish state of Israel.

Local police issued the following statement:

“We would also like to briefly address the fear that these are acts motivated by anti-Semitism or that these are bias crimes,” the statement said. “The Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office has been notified, but it is too soon to reach a conclusion.

“All of our officers are aware of the sensitivity of this situation and we will make every effort with patrols and surveillance to keep everyone safe. We would like to encourage you to communicate with your congregants and urge them to avoid speculation which could lead to unnecessary anxiety.”

Anyone care to guess if that statement would have been made had the victims been anything other than Jewish?

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The Arab Spring May Lead To A Very Cold Winter

 

The distinctive multiple-arched BYU Jerusalem ...

Image via Wikipedia

Ynet News reported yesterday on a Muslim Brotherhood rally in Cairo’s most prominent mosque Friday. The rally ended with those in attendance vowing to “one day kill all Jews.”

The article reports:

Some 5,000 people joined the rally, called to promote the “battle against Jerusalem’s Judaization.” The event coincided with the anniversary of the United Nations’ partition plan in 1947, which called for the establishment of a Jewish state.  

The article further reports:

Muslim Brotherhood spokesmen, as well as Palestinian guest speakers, made explicit calls for Jihad and for liberating the whole of Palestine. Time and again, a Koran quote vowing that “one day we shall kill all the Jews” was uttered at the site. Meanwhile, businessmen in the crowd were urged to invest funds in Jerusalem in order to prevent the acquisition of land and homes by Jews.

 Throughout the event, Muslim Brotherhood activists chanted: “Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv, judgment day has come.”

I can understand the initial revolt in Egypt. There were a lot of young people who wanted freedom and the opportunity for economic advancement. Unfortunately, I think the so-called Arab Spring has been co-opted and turned into something that will be very ugly and will destabilize the Middle East.

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