And Hashem said to him, “This is the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying 'I will give it to your offspring,' I have let you see it with your own eyes, but you shall not cross over to there.”

So Moses, servant to Hashem, died there, in the land of Moab, by the mouth of Hashem. He buried him in the depression, in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor, and no one knows his burial place to this day. Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died; his eye had not dimmed, and his vigor had not diminished. The children of Israel bewailed Moses in the plains of Moab for thirty days; then the days of tearful mourning for Moses ended.

Jewish mourners carry the body of yeshiva student
Segev Paniel Avihail, 15, during his funeral at Mount Olives cemetery
overlooking Jerusalem's Old City, Friday, March 7, 2008.
(AP Photo/Dan Balilty)

Jewish mourners carry the body of yeshiva student Segev Paniel Avihail, 15, during his funeral at Mount of Olives cemetery. (Sebastian Scheiner / Associated Press)

A poster listing the names of the eight
Mercaz HaRav yeshiva students murdered by
an Arab terrorist. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)

Jewish mourners gather around the bodies
of the eight yeshiva students, murdered in a terrorist
attack, during their funeral at Mercaz Harav Yeshiva
in Jerusalem, Friday, March 7, 2008.
(AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

Bullet-riddled glass door from Yeshiva Mercaz HaRav.
(Yannis Behrakis/Reuters)

Mourners attending the funeral of the eight Jewish students.
(AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)

Who Will Comfort My People
(AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

Mourners attending the funeral of the eight
Mercaz Harav Yeshiva Students.
(AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)

Thousands gather for the funeral of the eight righteous yeshiva
students butchered by an Arab terrorist. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)

“Before Him the grave is naked, the consuming depths have no cover.”
Job: 26—6 (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)

Rabbi Yerachmiel Weiss, head of the Merkaz high school, spoke next, in a voice breaking with emotion and tears: "G-d is just, and His ways are just. We have questions; but the questions are so difficult, so difficult. How is it possible to eulogize one Torah scholar on Rosh Chodesh Adar? But two? and three, and four, and five? Your ways are so hidden, Master of the Universe! In Adar, we increase joy. Look how much joy You gathered to Heaven! They were in the midst of studying Torah, such joy, such purity. We have been left with such a hole. I just want to tell You, Master of the Universe, what great people You took: Yehonadav — he gave [nadav, in Hebrew] so much; what purity and simplicity. You took Yochai from us — he lives [chai] in G-d, what Torah study he did; even while they were setting up for the Purim party, he came to learn Torah. You took Segev Pniel of the Avichayil family — what a family, and what valour [chayil] in Torah! You took Yehonatan [meaning "G-d gave"] — what prayer, what Torah, what beauty. You took our dear Avraham David. Just two days ago I had a long talk with him in his room — what knowledge he had, what integrity, what music he gave us with his Torah reading. And the youngest, Neriah — the candle of G-d, his light will be missing from us..."

To read the complete story, please click here.

Baruch Dyan Ha-Emet

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:23 AM | Comments (8)

March 06, 2008

The Names

Kvittel, prayer-notes, in the Kotel, the Western Wall

The names of the victims have been released:

* Yochai Lipschitz, 18, of Jerusalem
* Yonatan Yitzchak Eldar, 16, of Shiloh
* Yonadav Chaim Hirschfeld, 19, of Kochav Hashahar
* Neriah Cohen, 15, of Jerusalem
* Roey Roth, 18, of Elkana
* Segev Pniel Avihayil, 15, of Neveh Daniel
* Avraham David Moses, 16, of Efrat
* Maharata Trunoch, 26, of Ashdod.

May Their Memory Be a Blessing.

Via: Israellycool

Seven of the ten wounded students remain hospitalized. The public is asked to pray for the recovery of: Naftali ben [son of] Gila from Sderot, Yonatan ben Avital, Shimon ben Tirza, Nadav ben Hadas, Reuven ben Naomi and Elchanan ben Zehava.

The funerals began at near the main entrance to the capital, at Merkaz HaRav Kook Yeshiva, considered to be the heart of the national religious movement. Rabbi Benny Eisner, a veteran Merkaz HaRav student and teacher in the high school, led the mourners in the recital of Psalms. At the conclusion of the eulogies and prayers, separate funeral processions will set out for the various communities where the boys are to be buried.

National Union MK Effie Eitam noted Friday morning that “whoever chose the Merkaz HaRav Yeshiva as a terrorist target knew it was the heart of national Zionism.” Virtually every religious-Zionist yeshiva in the country was founded and/or staffed by former students of the yeshiva.

Eitam, who learned at the yeshiva 30 years ago after living in the secular Ein Gev kibbutz, called the institution “the mother of all Zionist yeshivas” whose graduates serve in the IDF and have been at the forefront of development in Judea and Samaria. “The victims were murdered,” he declared, “but their hope and faith cannot be killed.”

Among the thousands of mourners at the funeral could be seen rabbis from around the country, as well as MK Ruby Rivlin, MK Zevulun Orlev, and former MK Ehud Yatom. Benches were set up at the entrance to the yeshiva for the families of the victims, surrounded by the large crowd of mourners.

Via: Arutz Sheva

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 11:17 PM | Comments (3)

Baruch Dayan Ha-Emet

Blood-stained sefer from the Beis Midrash of Mercaz Harav

Comforting a wounded friend

Unable to bear the images before his eyes

Israeli police secure the site

Baruch Dayan Ha-Emet, G-d is the Righteous Judge

And thousands celebrate in Gaza:

Sweets are handed out celebrating the Jerusalem massacre

Gazans thank Allah for the slaughter of innocent Jewish children

That's right, keep sending humanitarian aid to this genocidal state, keep supplying them with power and fuel so they can continue to wage war on Israel, Jews and the West.

Makes perfect sense.

The latest update about the massacre: Eight young men have been murdered, eleven wounded. Reports are that the terrorist carried a blue Israeli identity card and came from east Jerusalem.

And of course the U.N. is rushing to condemn this massacre.

You believed me?

Elder of Ziyon gathers together Arab reaction to the Jerusalem massacre. The slaughtered students—all 15 and 16-years old—are labeled “settlers” or “soldiers.”

The Arabs understand that it's acceptable to murder “settlers.” These brave Jewish pioneers have been so demonized by the liberal press in Israel, Europe and America that they they are blamed for their own murders because, y'know, they brought it on themselves by being too right wing, too Zionistic, too religious, too intent on living in Israel. And of course, the expulsion of the 9,000 Jewish “settlers” from Gaza in 2006 by the Israeli government made it official: it's open season on “settlers.”

But the expulsion of the Jews from Gaza does not make the Jews in Tel Aviv, Haifa, London, Paris or Los Angeles any safer from the jihadist threat. It only adds every city with a Jewish population to the list of zip codes to be rendered Judenrein. Because the Arabs have set a chilling precedent: they have succeeded in turning portions of the Jewish people into a cold, self-justifying Judenrat.

If you have the stomach to read the nauseating Arab press it's actually quite educational, and makes you realize that the Arab-Muslim world is a swamp of barbarism and proudly genocidal Jew-hatred.

Oh wait, I forgot, that's their culture, and we have to be sensitive to their “cultural discourse.” Because, y'know, all cultures are the same, and all cultures are equal. At least that's what your children are learning in college.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 06:32 PM | Comments (12)

March 04, 2008

Sound & Fury Signifying Incompetence

Caroline Glick comments on Operation Hot Winter; its lack of strategic and tactical coherence, the consequences for Israel and all democracies who are fighting Islamofascism. For the war against Israel is not a regional war over land and boundaries—those are just convenient fig-leafs for media savvy terrorists—but part of a transnational jihad being waged by Islamic radicals to bring about a Caliphite and a world without Jews, Christians, all non Muslims.

In one form or another, Olmert, Livni and Barak all said that the goal of Operation Hot Winter was to end the Palestinians' missile and rocket campaign against the Western Negev generally and against Ashkelon in particular. They intimated as well that the strategic objective of the campaign was to overthrow the Hamas regime in Gaza, and reinstall a Fatah government. Beyond that they said that they sought to kill or capture Hamas's leadership.

But the Olmert-Livni-Barak government gave the IDF insufficient tools to achieve these grandiose plans. They only allowed the IDF to deploy one infantry brigade and two partial tank battalions. They refused to expand the operation to a divisional sized force, which would still have been too small to achieve any significant or long-lasting results. The limited geographical scope of the IDF operation - in a 2-3 kilometer zone in northern Gaza - had no impact of Hamas's ability to continue to shoot off rockets and missiles whose ranges run from 5-25 kilometers. In short, the Olmert-Livni-Barak government enunciated operational and strategic objectives that it clearly had no intention of achieving.

Today the Gaza Strip is a terror state run by an Iranian proxy. Since Israel withdrew from Gaza in September 2005, Hamas and its terror partners in Fatah and Islamic Jihad have built terror armies along the model of Hizbullah. Hamas forces have received training in Iran, Syria and Lebanon. They have built up formidable arsenals of Katyusha and Kassam rockets as well as anti-tank missiles. And, according to Fatah and other sources, they have been augmented not only by Iranian, Syrian and Hizbullah operatives. Al-Qaida has also built up a presence in the area.

This combined force successfully overwhelmed Egyptian forces along Gaza's border with Egypt in January. Its current capacity has rendered extensive portions of southern Israel exposed to missile and mortar attacks. And unless it is routed militarily, its capabilities will only grow.

To read the complete story, please click here.

Hat Tip: Seraphic Friend, Joel Weisz

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 10:19 AM | Comments (6)

February 28, 2008

Two Fighting Generals

General John J. Pershing

The Hamas covenant gleefully borrows from the notorious Protocols of the Elders of Zion and states that Jews were behind World War I, World War II, international Communism, capitalism and, sigh, Zionism, hence, concludes the official charter of the Palestinian people, the State of Israel must be destroyed and replaced by an Islamic State to be ruled by Sharia. The covenant calls for the death of all Jews, not just in Israel, but everywhere.

The Palestinian people voted overwhelmingly for this genocidal platform. The State of Israel, in effect, ratified this program by expelling every single Jew from Gaza, thereby making yet another—count 'em 23—Arab-Muslim state Judenrein.

Some push the notion of negotiating with Hamas, but guess what, the Hamas covenant clearly says that all negotiations are simply a tactic of jihad whose real goal is the annihilation of the Jewish State.

Okay, not a lot of wiggle room with genociders.

So: let's move on to basic warfare.

How would America respond to terrorists on its own borders?

Bret Stephens has the answer in his fine Wall Street Journal piece: The S'derot Calculus:

On March 9, 1916, Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa attacked the border town of Columbus, N.M., killing 18 Americans. President Woodrow Wilson ordered Gen. John J. Pershing and 10,000 soldiers into Mexico for nearly a year to hunt Villa down, in what was explicitly called a “punitive expedition.” Pershing never found Villa, making the effort something of a failure. Then again, Villa’s raid would be the last significant foreign attack on continental U.S. soil for 85 years, six months and two days.

The citizens of Gaza attack Israel through various proxie armies and then claim to be innocent bystanders.

This can no longer be tolerated.

General Effie Eitam

General Effie Eitam, an Israeli hero, former commander of the IDF in South Lebanon, is the leader of the National Union-National Religious Party.

During the expulsion of 9,000 Jews from their homes in Gaza, Eitam defied the Israeli government and brought his wife and children into Gush Katif to witness and share the unbearable burden of Jews being expelled from their homes by fellow Jews.

Let's hear what this special man has to say about Gaza:

"The Hamas regime in Gaza can boast of one significant achievement—it managed to unite leftists and rightists in Israel. Both myself and Kadima's Haim Ramon understand that we need to act decisively and firmly in order to topple Hamas.

If the past we heard calls in the center of the political map urging talks with Hamas, its brutal attacks on Sderot residents led almost everyone to adopt the same view, and I also hope that it would lead to united deeds that have two aims: Military acts against Qassam launchers and their masters, and making it clear to the Gaza civilian population that electing a terror group to represent them is the main punishment they must bear.

The State of Israel left Gaza and provided its residents with a historic opportunity to elect their leadership — and they elected a radical, belligerent terror group that is Israel's most bitter enemy. And now, as was the case with many peoples throughout history, they are paying the price of their decision. It is immoral and impossible to task us with bearing even some of the price for their mistake.

Never before in history have we seen an entity that enjoyed impunity in the face of self-defense actions of the side under attack. Hamas declared a war on its neighbor with no discrimination between military and civilian targets, and with no provocation on our part. Yet we do not punish Gaza's residents; we merely realize our right for self-defense while facing a situation that is as clear, simple, and just as it gets.

The question of whether residents of Dresden had to bear the price for electing Hitler to lead them, or whether the residents of Hiroshima and Nagasaki had to bear the results of the Japanese government's policies in World War II is controversial to this day. Yet as opposed to other nations who simply turned whole cities and hundreds of thousands of civilians into direct victims—we have utilized the right for self-defense in a phased manner that does not result in direct casualties.

Therefore, Israel has the right to cut off the electricity that it supplies to Qassam workshops, the fuel it provides, which is used by launching vehicles, and the cement used to build tunnels and posts that will be used to fire at IDF soldiers one of these days. Israel's right to cut off the supply of these goods cannot face any legal or moral controversy; it also cannot clash with common sense, which demands that we ensure that our enemies would not "enjoy" Israel's economic and strategic power while attacking it.

The price paid by the Gaza population will benefit Israel. This is a legitimate and moral price, and claims regarding a humanitarian disaster are unfounded. We are no longer in Gaza, we made sure not to leave behind anything, and we withdrew to the last inch. Now Gaza is an enemy state. As such, we must address its indiscriminate hostility when it attacks civilians in contradiction of all international conventions and basic morals.

A situation whereby Israel, which is under attack, is asked to maintain the Hamas regime firing at our citizens is unthinkable. The demands for the prevention of a humanitarian disaster should be directed to international aid organizations. We most certainly need to also call on Egypt, Gaza's good neighbor, to do something that is called for and natural for a neighbor that is not in war with Gaza like we are—allow humanitarian aid to go through.

Yet instead of this, we see growing international pressure on Israel to do something completely unreasonable and continue supporting its enemies.

Therefore, before we send our sons to fight in Gaza's alleyways, reinforced with cement that we have transferred to Gaza through crossing points, and before we expose them to the fire of weapons smuggled into the Strip from Egypt - we must try to topple the Hamas regime, and certainly to weaken it through sanctions, while hermetically sealing off the border between the two warring parties.

The impossible situation whereby the Palestinians continue to fire Qassams, while receiving electricity for their Qassam workshops and fuel used by vehicles that fire Qassams, is deluxe terrorism that fits well with the dictum: "The master of the house has gone mad."

In this case, we are the master of the house, and the price we are paying is the security of Sderot and Gaza-region residents, and the stability of the entire State of Israel."

I'd like to know why General Eitam isn't the Prime Minister of Israel?

Original article on Y-net.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 12:58 PM | Comments (23)

February 27, 2008

Lethal Quassam Attack, Plus A Seraphic Suggestion

“Let's head to Gaza, there's a war to fight, jihadists to slice and dice.”

The first responsibility of a national government is to protect all its citizens. Not just some of its citizens.

Nor should a country, Israel, supply a proudly genocidal entity, Gaza, with the electrical power and fuel with which to kill the citizens of her country.

In fact, some would call this madness, or more accurately: national suicide.

But this is precisely what the current Israeli government is doing in regard to the terrorist state of Gaza.

Let's review:

1. The Arabs in Gaza and in Judea and Samaria overwhelmingly voted in favor of genocidal Hamas over genocidal Fatah.
2. Hama's covenant calls for the destruction of the Jewish State, it also labels all negotiations a tactic for jihad. Hamas plans to destroy Israel and replace it with an Islamic state to be ruled by sharia.
3. Naturally, this happy go-lucky-Arab state, not Palestinian, mind you, just Arab, thank you very much, will be, Judenrein. What a shock.
4. So: we understand that the Europeans—appeasers to the core—don't get it. Who cares? Their countries will be swallowed by Jihadists in about 25 years anyway, unless a few good folks pick up arms and start fighting and killing the Islamofascists and their fellow travelers. Good luck, buddies, we're with you.
5. But gee willikers, when did the Jews in Israel turn into leftist Eurotrash?
6. At what point did Israel surrender her self-defense to, ahem, international (as in Rwanda?) peace-keepers.
7. We really, really, really want to know.
8. Because we see little difference between Ehud Olmert and Neville Chamberlain.
9. And Tzipi Livni. Good grief! You're like this one woman cheering squad for shtupping foreign mercenaries on Israel's borders. Yeah, what could possibly go wrong with glorious French troops?
10. Hey, I have an idea: flatten Gaza.

FADE TO BLACK:

Shortly after a student at Sapir College in Sderot was killed and one other person was wounded by shrapnel in a Kassam rocket attack, a barrage of four Grad missiles struck the Ashkelon area. According to Channel 1, one person was wounded by shrapnel.

The Sapir College casualty has been identified as Roni Yihieh, 47, of Moshav Bit'ha near Ofakim. Yehieh, a father of four, was critically wounded when a rocket hit a parking lot on the western Negev campus, and died shortly after being evacuated to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon.

At least five other people were reported in shock after the attack. Army Radio reported that everyone present on the college campus was being shepherded into sheltered areas. College officials have decided to hold classes as scheduled on Thursday, despite earlier reports that studies might be put on hold.

To read the complete story, please click here.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 05:54 PM | Comments (28)

February 25, 2008

To Die in Jerusalem

The aftermath of a homicide bombing in Jerusalem

We have often pointed out that every film, in one way or another, is a rich moral landscape. Some films are pure propaganda. The work of Leni Riefenstahl in service to the Third Reich, propped up and glorified that genocidal regime. At the same time, Hollywood fought back with a series of movies that helped the allied war effort, movies that were inspirational to our troops and the folks at home.

Currently, we are awash in movies that serve to excuse and enable Islamic jihadists. These movies come from Hollywood in the guise of patriotic self-criticism—much akin to wife-beating in order to build a healthy marriage.

With the rise of cheap and highly mobile video cameras and editing consoles, full-length documentaries are produced and distributed on shoe-string budgets. And of course, because moral equivalence is all the rage among liberals, and hatred of Israel—a fig-leaf for Jew-hatred—is rampant among the chattering classes, we are witness to a deluge of films that enable Islamic jihadists and make light of Jewish victims.

One such film is To Die in Jerusalem, whose ostensible subject matter is this homicide bombing in Kiryat Yovel, 2002.

Gila of My Shrapnel, who survived the Machane Yehuda homicide bombing, writes articulately, eloquently, and with no shortage of wit about the cold, moral collapse at the core of this film.

The director's notes to the film reveal her thought process as a moral swamp, a film student drunk with mindless, Oprah chatter designed to disguise the true intent of the film: the elevation of moral equivalence between killer and victim, a cinematic, hence ethical point-of-view that leads to the glorification of Jew-killing.

If you care about movies, about the power of movies, this is essential reading.

If you care about Israel, about the war on terror, this is essential reading.

Because Israel and the Jews are the canary in the coal mine of civilization.

To Die in Jerusalem, Part I.

To Die in Jerusalem, Part II.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:27 AM | Comments (22)

February 22, 2008

Captain Joe is Going to Shoot You Tonight

From Seraphic Friend Jameel at The Muqata a story about a Jew who refuses to be intimidated by Arab terrorists, a Jew who strikes fear into the hearts of those who fling rocks and Molotov cocktails at cars traveling 55 mph. Ladies and gentlemen: Captain Joe.

Soccer Dad shows why The New York Times is no more reliable when it writes about Israel than when it smears John McCain.

Nice way to go into Shabbos: Solidarity with S'derot. H/T Gregg

Another lie brought to you by the mainstream media, enabled by incompetent Israeli press officers. American hating Marxist radical Rachel Corrie did not die while protecting an Arab home. She was protecting a tunnel used by Arab terrorists to smuggle in arms and explosives to kill Jews. Israel Matzav has the copy and video that tells the entire sordid story. Needless to say Rachel Corrie was no peace loving martyr, she was just another in a long line of leftist, terrorist-enabling Jew-haters.

The Oscars. Karen and I DVR the endless proceedings, then rip through the evening, mostly paying attention to what's really important: gowns, hair, jewelery and footwear. The only part of the evening that gets to my core is the Death Montage, when all the actors, writers, directors and other great artists who have died in the past years flash before my eyes. I bawl like a baby. But listen, for you hard-core fans, my friend Dirty Harry at Libertas will be Live Blogging the Oscars, and his conservative and very witty commentary will, I guarantee, be more entertaining than the show. Though Dirty Harry probably doesn't look all that good in a Alexander McQueen gown. Oh well, can't have everything.

When Jihad Came to America, by Andrew C. McCarthy. Essential Reading.

Karen and I wish all our friends a beautiful and profound miracle in Shabbat.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:43 AM | Comments (10)

February 17, 2008

Olmert's Gaza Incursion Plan is Folly

The planned incursion into Gaza is not to achieve victory, but to bring in a multi-national force after a cease-fire. And we all know how incredibly effective those multi-national troops have been in the past. Just look at what a great job the UNIFIL troops are doing on the Lebanese border where Hizbullah have rebuilt their bunkers and their rocket capacity to an even greater strength than ever before. And let's not forget the magnificent job the multi-national troops did in Rwanda when they stood by and watched, yes, watched, as close to a million souls were butchered.

But sure, by all means, bring in multi-nationals because as we all know they are just straining at the leash to help out the Jews.

What could possibly go wrong?

Olmert and Livni must go.

This government is a national disgrace, a danger to the existence of the State of Israel and to the future of the Jewish people.

Israel is considering a large-scale incursion into the Gaza Strip during which it would present an ultimatum to the international community for the deployment of a multinational force as the only condition under which it would withdraw, defense officials have told The Jerusalem Post.

To read the complete story, please click here.

Hat Tip: Seraphic Chaver, Kishke

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:05 PM | Comments (7)

Gaza: Ground Invasion High Alert

Seraphic Secret believes that a ground invasion of Gaza is unwise and unnecessary. Israel can accomplish more by cutting power and fuel to Gaza and then mounting an air campaign against this terrorist entity.

We fear that a ground offensive will result in far too many IDF casualties, and that no matter how hard the Jewish State tries to minimize civilian Arab casualties, this humanitarian gesture will inevitably boomerang into typical Jew-hating propaganda.

Just as America wisely chose not to invade the Japanese mainland in the closing months of World War II, knowing that the human cost would be too high, and thus ended the war with two bombs, Israel should make the same determination with the genocidal entity of Gaza.

Israel'smilitary has drafted plans for a large-scale ground invasion of Gaza to topple Hamas and destroy its military infrastructure.

As Israeli forces go on high alert after the killing of Hezbollah's senior guerrilla commander Imad Mughniyah last week, prime minister Ehud Olmert and defence minister Ehud Barak are coming under pressure to act to stop rocket attacks from the Islamic militants on southern Israel.

Fears of giving away too much detail have led to Barak warning media outlets not to publish specifics, but sources close to the government confirmed that if the go-ahead was given for a large-scale operation to take place, it would involve "a highly significant number of ground troops".

Sources told Scotland on Sunday: "The military leadership is telling the political leadership: 'If you send us to war, let us fight'."

"There would be no pussy-footing this time around," one source said. "There's much debate as Olmert doesn't want a large-scale military operation, but since he also doesn't want to negotiate directly with Hamas, there will come a time when he will need to give the go-ahead."

Hat Tip: Weasel Zippers. To read the entire story, please click here.

Today's Links:

Denmark Stands up to Iran And so do their newspapers, which is a lot more than we can say for the gutless MSM in America.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 12:57 PM | Comments (0)

February 11, 2008

The Decline and Fall of the State of Israel

Prime Minister Olmert and Foreign Mnister Tzipi Livni seem intent—if the reports on current negotiations to divide Jerusalem are true—on dismantling the State of Israel.

The endless and suicidal negotiations with Fatah have only emboldened this terrorist gang who openly boast in their media that their long range goal is the elimination of the Jewish State.

Further, Fatah and its Holocaust denying President Mahmoud Abbas, are incorrectly perceived and treated by Olmert, Livni and the Western powers as moderates, in contrast to Hamas who are, ahem, militants.

G-d forbid Hamas should be labeled terrorists, they might actually get angry and turn to, y'know, terrorism.

In truth, as Seraphic Secret has repeatedly emphasized, only tactics separate the two terrorist groups. Fatah favor slow, incremental steps: terrorist, diplomatic, and propaganda, leading to Israel's destruction. Hamas, certainly more up-front and confrontational, initiate terrorist attacks on every imaginable front. Both advocate for an Islamic state ruled by Sharia.

In the 2006 Palestinian elections, certified by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Hamas was the overwhelming winner, not just in Gaza, but in Judea and Samaria.

In response to the terrorist attacks on the Jewish residents of Gaza and elsewhere, Prime Minister Olmert ordered the expulsion of 9,000 Jews by Jews thus rendering another patch of land Judenrein.

This was an enormous victory for terrorism and it was recognized as such by jihadists everywhere.

It doesn't take a screenwriter's imagination to get into the minds of the terrorists: If Jews are willing to expel other Jews, in short, do the dirty work for the terrorists, well, what else can we get the Jews to do for us?

The fruits of the Gaza expulsions are clear.

Olmert and Livni are negotiating the division of Jerusalem with a terrorist entity, Fatah, that would be gobbled up by Hamas if not for the support of the Europeans, America, and yes the IDF in Judea and Samaria.

Hamas does not recognize the State of Israel, its covenant calls for the elimination of the Jewish State, and for jihad against the West.

Hamas launches missiles into Israel every single day. Yesterday, two brothers were horribly wounded, one child's leg was amputated. As in the Second Lebanon War, the Olmert government is paralyzed with no tactical nor strategic response to this declaration of war by Gaza.

In fact the State of Israel feeds this terrorist entity with the power and fuel to perpetuate their war machine. And the world demands that Israel continue supplying this terrorist state with power and fuel, as if the citizens of Gaza have absolutely no connection to the government they enthusiastically support and elected.

This disgraceful colonial mind-set absolves the Gazans of any responsibility for their own choices and actions.

Needless to say, this is a grave disservice to citizens of the State of Israel.

Israel's cautious military strikes announces to the citizens of Gaza that their terrorist regime is quasi-acceptable and has permission to act on their genocidal platform. As for the citizens who elected this notorious gang, well, somehow, they are immune from any and all personal liability.

The results for Israel is the end of deterrence.

Further, national security—the state's primary obligation—becomes something of a selective matter. Seraphic Secret is inclined to think that if Qassam rockets were raining on Tel-Aviv the military response would be rather robust.

For Gazans the message is clear: there are no consequences for their nihilistic political choices. No wonder they enthusiastically embrace Hamas and all the other terrorist gangs who pour into Gaza from Egypt c/o Iran and Syria. Thus, Gazan culture continues to devolve into brute, medieval Jew-hatred and Islamic death cults—which will only result in generations of steely-eyed jihadists.

Appeasement is not a foreign policy. It is suicide. No state can survive such leaky stewardship.

Let us be clear: The current Israeli government enables two terrorist entities, Fatah and Hamas.

Piece by piece, Israel is rendered Judenrein.

Piece by piece, Israel is made illegitimate in the eyes of the world.

Piece by piece, the jihadists move to eliminate the core of the Jewish experience by dividing Jerusalem, chewing away at the heart of Judaism. Does anyone really think that the Arabs will stop at East Jerusalem? They will demand another street, another neighborhood, and before you know it they will demand all of Jerusalem. All of Israel.

Make no mistake about it, the jihadists have a plan.

The chattering classes repeat the tired and intellectually bankrupt trope: “Let's have dialog with those who disagree with us.” Ignoring the simple fact that entering into civilized dialog with genocidal enemies legitimizes their final solutions.

The Jews are on the defensive.

Ask any soldier: offense wins, defense loses.

Every time.

Especially when defeatists and appeasers are leading the defense.

A divided Jerusalem will bring war to the heart of the Jewish State. Fatah and Hamas will battle for a short time, then inevitably merge into an even greater Jew-killing machine, and then every street and brick in Jerusalem will become a battleground.

If Jerusalem can be divided and handed over to an implacable enemy, then The Jewish State will inevitably fall.

FADE TO BLACK.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 10:23 AM | Comments (22)

February 05, 2008

Moderate Terrorists

When homicide bombers target a mall in Dimona, Israel, they target all malls in Israel. When homicide bombers kill one Jew they threaten all Jews from Israel to Great Britain.

Some may fool themselves that by expelling Jews from their homes they will appease Islamic terrorists, and bring peace to the the Middle East. This is pure fantasy. Sooner or later these same jihadists will demand that Jews give up their homes in Tel Aviv, Haifa, Paris, Sydney, and New York. The template is set with all 22 Arab Muslim countries Judenrein—excuse me 23, Gaza is the Palestinian State and it is, of course, free of Jews. Naturally, the Arabs demand that Judea and Samaria also be cleansed of Jews. It is unthinkable that any Arab tolerate Jewish citizens.

And the international community finds this ethnic cleansing perfectly acceptable.

It comes as no surprise that one of the homicide bombers in Dimona was a member of Fatah, the terror gang led by Mahmoud Abbas, now in so-called peace negotiations with Prime Minister Olmert.

Just last week, Aaron Klein reported in The Jewish Press:

The stated Palestinian goal of a Palestinian State is just a temporary ruse until “all of Palestine” can be “liberated,” declared Saleh Raafat, a member of the executive committee of Abbas's Palestine Liberation Organization in an interview on Fatah's official television network.

Raafat said the Palestinians would accept “22 percent of Palestine” as a temporary and not permanent” state until “all of Palestine” can be liberated.

When Raafat says all of Palestine, he means the State of Israel.

Fatah and Hamas are quite clear on their goals about eliminating the State of Israel. The two terror groups only differ on tactics.

Those who counsel endless negotiations with jihadists who seek the destruction of the Jewish State do not understand that these negotiations only favor the Arabs. The terror gangs grow stronger, their morale improves, and the resolve in Israel among the chattering classes crumbles at an astonishing rate. Many Israelis turn their scorn and hatred towards the Haredim instead of towards those who truly seek their destruction—a sad case of Stockholm Syndrome, and classic self-hatred.

Interpolation:

I had lunch the other day with my good friend Omri Ceren, of Mere Rhetoric. Omri is a secular Israeli, and his Ferrari of a mind works at about 120 mph. We discussed the Haredi, secular divide. Omri was, Baruch HaShem, eloquent: “Robert, okay, so they don't serve in the army, but since there is only one Jewish State in the world I'd like to err on the side of safety and just leave it alone. If not for people like the Haredim, Torah would not survive and thus the Jewish people would not survive.”

And as our son Ariel ZT'L once said to me: “HaShem made different Jews to serve Eretz Yisroel in different ways.”

End Interpolation:

Finally: Seraphic Secret receives a fair amount of mail from people who accuse us of being:

1. War mongers.
2. Racists.
3. Alarmists.
4. Meanies.
5. Not interested in seeking a just and peaceful solution to the Mideast conflict.

To which we respond:

1. War solves more problems than peace conferences. Remember: Munich.
2. For a true taste of racism, in the form of Jew-hatred, please read the Hamas charter. Or any Arab newspaper.
3. You bet. People should be alarmed. If you're not alarmed, you're a moron.
4.
5. Just and peaceful solution is code for: the end of the Jewish State.

Today's Links:

Here's a thought provoking blog that asks: Am I a Frum Feminist?

Michael Yon: Men of Valor Part VIII

Internet Problems in the Muslim World: The Jooz Did It!

Please support our Seraphic Friends: Muslims Against Sharia.

Rampant Islamic Jew-hatred in Europe.

Radical Muslims for Obama.

On the Present Danger Facing Israel and All Jews by Rachel Neuwirth, an outstanding article.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:52 AM | Comments (17)

February 01, 2008

Why the Olmert Gang Must Go

Time to hear from Caroline Glick, the woman who should be Israel's Prime Minister.

Unable to decide what sort of war it was waging, for 34 days the government moved from tactic to tactic, strategy to strategy, never following through with anything, never realizing that there were consequences for what it was doing. And today, it follows the same model of incompetence in Gaza.

For the past two and a half years Israel has taken no effective action to end the rocket and mortar offensive against the Western Negev from Gaza. And rocket and mortar attacks have quadrupled over this period.

When Hamas seized power in Gaza in June, Israel failed to develop a strategy for dealing with the fact that an Iranian armed, trained and commanded terror group was perched on its border with Gaza and threatened to destabilize its largely undefended border with Egypt.

Still led by Olmert and Livni, who are now joined by Defense Minister Ehud Barak — the engineer of the unilateral withdrawal strategy of ceding land to terrorist groups — Israel cannot figure out what it is supposed to be doing. It has no strategic goal and so it can formulate no coherent plan.

To read Caroline Glick's complete article, please click here.

Hat Tip: Seraphic Friend, Joel Weisz

Karen and I wish all our friends a beautiful and profound miracle in Shabbat.

Today's Links:

The Jewish Press in New York, picks its candidates for Super Tuesday. Seraphic Secret has a great deal of respect for this fine weekly. It's one of the few Jewish newspapers in America that does not shill for the far left or the Democrats. It's also one of the few Jewish newspapers in America that's truly Jewish and not just some dopey, whatever makes you feel good at the moment pathetic excuse for Judaism that infects most American Jewish journalism.

Please sign this petition.

Here's a fine essay by screenwriter Andrew Klavan The Lost Art of War, about Hollywood's shameful spurt of anti-war, money-losing films. Via our friends at Libertas.

The New York Times will soon join Pravda in the graveyard of Jew-hating newspapers.

Jihadists Attacks Israeli Embassy in Mauritania.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:23 AM | Comments (3)

January 31, 2008

The War Over the War

The final chapter of The Winograd Report makes no difference whatsoever.

Olmert will not resign. Livni will not resign.

Resignation from office would imply honor, dignity—and conscience. It would also admit to shouldering responsibility for grievous errors before, during and after the Second Lebanon War.

Olmert and Company are unable to take responsibility for any failures. When Olmert launched the Second Lebanon War—with overwhelming support from the Israeli public—he announced his goals:

1. To secure the release of the Jewish soldiers kidnapped by Hizbullah.
2. To destroy Hizbullah and their rocket capabilities in Southern Lebanon.

By the end of the war neither goal was achieved. In fact, over half a million Israeli citizens were driven from their homes or were living in bomb shelters. The terror rockets continue to rain on Israeli soil, and of course, the Jewish soldiers are still in cruel captivity.

There should have been a ground invasion in the first week of the war, that's basic military doctrine, but Olmert allowed a military campaign to be fought on the cheap, from the air.

Livni's naivete in dealing with the U.S. State Department regarding a cease-fire, is simply mind boggling. And when she boasted that the UNIFIL troops on the Lebanese border was a victory for Israel, one was forced to ponder whether the woman was either a liar or bi-polar, for no Israeli politician could possibly be so clumsy with national security; no Israeli politician could possibly be so stupid as to surrender a volatile border crawling with murderous transnationational terrorists to U.N troops led by, get this, French soldiers.

Lebanon has since devolved into a Syrian shooting gallery, with one anti-Syrian figure after another being murdered. Hizbullah, backed by Syria and Iran, will hollow out Lebanon and take control within the next few months. Thus Israel will be cornered by two jihadist entities: Gaza and Lebanon.

This too is part of Olmert and Livin's shameful legacy.

But no, they will not resign.

Rockets pour into Israel from Gaza—but they will not resign.

Nor will they deal forcefully with Gaza, for they are not serious about national security. Like all appeasers, they speak not of victory, but of making concessions.

In fact, Olmert plans on talking with the Arabs about dividing Jerusalem because, well, obviously what can go wrong? Missiles launched from East Jerusalem? Snipers? Homicide bombers? The Western Wall coming under daily attack?

Unthinkable, right?

There has been enough talk with the enemy. Talking with those who plan the destruction of the Jewish State and the Jewish people is the first step in legitimizing genocide. It's time to stop negotiating our own final solution. It's time to tell the enemy that there is nothing to talk about.

You know what will happen?

They will kvetch and scream and the U.N will debate, and the apologists for terror in the N.Y. Times will write some angry articles—and then everyone will get bored and move on. Maybe to Kenya, or Congo, where genocide and ethnic cleansing are taking place, and where real refugees are suffering and dying of starvation, typhoid, and exposure.

But Olmert and Livini and their delusional enablers continue to talk and talk and with each word and sentence they give away a chunk of Israel, of the Jewish people, of Jewish history, until one day we will all wake up and the only words left will be the words of the Kaddish.

But Olmert and Livni will never resign because this is a country committing suicide at 24 frames per second. That's not slow motion.

Today's Links:

The Hillel at Tufts University welcomes a radical jihadist for "interfaith dialog." Higher education at work.

Teenage Arab Girl Strangled to Death by Her Brother in "Honor Killing." But, hey, that's their culture. And liberals want to know why we can't get along with our Arab neighbors? I'll tell you why: because a culture that accepts and condones such barbarism has nothing in common with my value system. G-d help us if we did get along with such a debased society. And of course, so-called honor killings have nothing to do with Islam. Uh-huh.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:46 AM | Comments (14)

January 26, 2008

Kibbutz Love Story

Okay, it's definitely time for some good news, and hey, how about a real life love story from Israel.

It was a case of East meets West in the Middle East Thursday night when Shoshana Rebecca Li, a descendant of the Jewish community of Kaifeng, China, married Ami Emmanuel, a new immigrant from Florida, at Jerusalem's Great Synagogue.

"For me, to have a proper religious Jewish wedding in Israel, it is a dream come true. I am very excited," Li, 29, said prior to the ceremony.

Emmanuel, 25, said he never believed he'd marry an Asian woman until he met Li at Kibbutz Sde Eliahu's Hebrew ulpan in May.

To read the complete story, please click here.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 07:21 PM | Comments (3)

January 20, 2008

Best of the Jewish Blogosphere # 150

Haveil Havalim #150 is up.

The Post of the week is Helpless, in which My Shrapnel recalls the homicide attack in which she was injured. Essential reading.

We thank Soccer Dad for including Seraphic Secret's Barely Awake on the Radio in this week's round-up.

Today's Links

You know how Seraphic Secret has been agitating for the Olmert government to shut off the power to Gaza. Well, guess who finally took our wise advice? H/T Seraphic Chaver, Kishke, and Judd Magilnick.

Update from Naomi Ragen:

Picture this: the electric plant which supplies 70% of electricity to the Palestinians in Gaza is in Ashkelon. The Palestinians in Gaza have been shooting kassam rockets at the plant ever since the "disengagement" i.e. the abandonment of Gush Katif. Now, Palestinians are crying that they don't have enough electricity. They are complaining about Israeli sanctions against them. They are going to the U.N.

The truth is, Israel has not stopped supplying electricity to Gaza. Not only that, but Israeli electric company employees are risking their lives to do so.

Mickey Tsarfati, head of the union of electrical workers, was quoted in YNet: "It is unbelievable chutzpah for them to complain. We have not stopped supplying them with electricity for a minute. And they have not stopped logging bombs at us for a minute." Many of the workers who fix the lines to Gaza daily are residents of Sderot. It has happened more than once that bombs fell next to their homes as they were fixing the lines to supply electricity to the bombers.

Now the U.N. and the Quartet, and the Arab League are all getting demands to stop Israeli "sanctions" against the Gazans....

You tell me what other country would be supplying electricity to people who are bombing their children on a daily basis, and risking their lives to do so.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 10:59 AM | Comments (11)

January 19, 2008

Israel's Fifth Column

Peace Now, which has nothing to do with peace, is an organization dedicated to handing victory to the jihadist enemies of the Jewish State.

They are lavishly funded by foreign governments. And they are suspected of setting up a financial scam to mask the source of their European funding.

Well, of course they did.

The Jew-hating Europeans would not look good on the Peace Now stationary. Even these Jew-hating Jews have the minimal smarts to comprehend this little PR faux pas.

The Knesset has passed a law requiring the publication on the internet of all contributions from foreign countries to Israeli associations.

The bill, proposed by MK Uri Ariel (National Union), stipulates that the foreign donations must be announced not only to the Non-Profit Associations Registrar, as has been the case until now, but also to the public at large, via the internet.

The bill's final Knesset readings were approved on Wednesday.

The bill is designed chiefly to fight Peace Now, a far-left Israel-based organization promoting Israeli retreat to pre-1967 borders and the end of all Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria. Peace Now is largely funded by foreign governments in the European Union.

Now, these vital paragraphs:

The biggest donors were Great Britain and Norway, which are opposed to the Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria - thus that the money they give Peace Now essentially serves those governments' foreign policy interests. Given Peace Now's surveillance activities over Israeli communities and IDF military installations in Judea and Samaria, the organization is thus "in effect spying on Israel for foreign governments," Bedein reported.

The Knesset Interior Committee confirmed in 2004 that Peace Now had received 50,000 Euros from the government of Finland to conduct intelligence activities in Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria, the Golan, Gaza and Jerusalem. The Israel Penal Code for Espionage defines “photography of sensitive areas of Israel for any foreign power” as an act of espionage, punishable by ten years imprisonment.

To read the complete article, please click here.

Why aren't these people under arrest as foreign agents, as spies for hostile governments? They bring aid and comfort to the enemy in every action and deed. They are collaborators; enemies of the Jewish State, enemies of the Jewish people.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 07:42 PM | Comments (4)

January 18, 2008

Living Under Terror's Shadow

If you read the mainstream media, you rarely hear about those who live under constant attack by Gaza's terrorist jihadist gangs. In fact, the MSM is unnaturally focused on the, ahem, innocent civilians in Gaza; never mind that the Gazans overwhelmingly voted Hamas into power, thus discarding any pretense of innocence.

The true innocent civilians are the Israelis who are under constant bombardment, constant terrorist incursions—and the Olmert government's refusal to treat Gaza as the hostile entity it has declared itself to be.

Here is a fine story about a small Moshav that borders Gaza. It should serve as a cautionary tale for the criminal inaction of the Olmert government, and what the enemy have in store for the entire Jewish state if more concessions are made in Judea and Samaria or, G-d forbid, if Jerusalem were to be divided.

Early this week Netiv Ha’asara was in the news again—just barely, a passing mention—when a mortar shell fired from Gaza lightly damaged a house there. Netiv Ha’asara, a moshav (cooperative farming community) of 550 people, is the closest Israeli community to Gaza, a scant 100 meters from the northern border of the Strip. It was formerly one of the Sinai settlements and was reestablished at its current location in 1982 after those were torn down at the behest of Israel’s then peace partner, Egypt.

Netiv Ha’asara also flickered briefly into the news on January 4 when it was hit by eight mortars from Gaza that caused no injuries or damage. If any of the Israeli Gaza-belt communities has a substantial news presence it’s the much larger Sderot, the battered town of twenty thousand to Netiv Ha’asara’s south and west.

Netiv Ha’asara, though, is a microcosm of a nightmarish reality and an almost incomprehensible story of perseverance.

To read the complete article, please click here.

Hat Tip: Seraphic Friend, Lance Fogel

Karen and I wish all our friends a beautiful and profound miracle in Shabbat.

Today's Links

Steel Rain Hits Israel This is known as war. But Olmert and his enablers proceed on the road of appeasement. They are not a government, but a band of criminals. A government's first responsibilty is national security, to protect and defend the citizens and the borders of its country. The Olmert government is failing miserably at this duty. In fact, this dark coalition seems more interested in protecting the jihadists in Gaza, those who have vowed to eliminate Israel and the Jewish people from the face of the earth, than in protecting the Jewish State or the Jewish people. Not since King Ahab has the Jewish people been led by such an odious figure. But Ahab, according to the Talmud, at least kept a kosher kitchen. Olmert has no such distinction. He is but one of Jewish history's ugly mistakes.

From Jameel at The Muqata: Olmert Targets the Blogosphere.

Treppenwitz points out that the recent wave of arrests have been targeting those who object to Olmert's policies. Will the left, presumably passionate believers in free speech, protest these outrageous police actions? But When They Came For Me It Was Too Late.

There is nothing worse than for a parent to lose a child. Seraphic Friend Alan Busch has written a loving tribute to his late son. Here's a wonderful review of Snapshots: In Memory of Ben. To order the book click here.

From our good friends at Libertas: The Writers Guild of America Sells out to the NAACP.

Victor Davis Hanson explains why Ghandi is an idiot. H/T Judd Magilnick

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 11:12 AM | Comments (7)

January 15, 2008

Israel: Not an American Colony

Listen to this interview with former UN Ambassador Dorey Gold. The other day in my radio interview with Shalom USA, I said that the Israeli government is responsible for the recent rush to appeasement, not President Bush. Soccer Dad, who was sharing a microphone with me, told me later that he doubted the wisdom of my statement. But now, listening to Dorey Gold, Soccer Dad has come round to see that yes, it is primarily the Olmert government who is pushing for all the concessions to the Arabs, not the Americans. Seraphic Secret thanks Soccer Dad for bringing this important interview to our attention.

Too often Israelis and American Jews view Israel as a colony of America. Psychologically, this absolves Israel's leaders from their stupid and murderous decisions and safely shifts the blame to the big bad Americans.

This is a denial of responsibility, a ghetto mentality, the sign of a people who are afraid to take responsibility for their own fate—a people too timid to exercise national power.

Mere Rhetoric comments on the Dore Gold interview.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 03:55 PM | Comments (3)

Settlements are Legal

Seraphic Secret's position on the so-called settlements is simple: Jews have the right to live anywhere in the world—especially in Israel. Currently there are 22 Arab/Muslim countries that are more or less Judenrein. For some reason the international community finds this ethnic cleansing perfectly acceptable.

Wait, make that 23 Arab/Muslim countries, let's not forget Gaza, which was cleansed of Jews by Jews, and is now the Palestinian State, a front-line for every transnational Jew-hating jihadist gang bent on Israel's annihilation.

When Muslims claim that the presence of Jews is intolerable to their political, religious or national sensibilities, the reaction should not be appeasement, but to send in more Jewish citizens and let the jihadists know that Jews do not live at the sufferance of anyone.

It always amuses Seraphic Secret that those who become outraged at the idea of expelling Arab fifth columnists from Israel are usually the first to advocate the expulsion of Jews from, well, anywhere the Arabs have threatened violence.

We wonder what the chattering classes will advocate when the Jihadists set their sights on Tel-Aviv, Haifa, Brooklyn, Stockholm, Paris, London, Brussels, when the jihadists voice their intolerance at the Jewish presence in those cities. For after they expel the Jews, they will come for the Christians, and then the other non-Muslim minorities.

Israeli settlements in the West Bank are legal both under international law and the agreements between Israel and the Palestinians. Claims to the contrary are mere attempts to distort the law for political purposes. Yet whatever the status of the settlements, their existence should never be used to justify terrorism.

To read the complete article, please click here.

Hat Tip: Seraphic Aunt Pearlie

Today's Links:

Let's turn from the grim political news to Seraphic Friend Jameel at the Muqata for a truly joyous story: Miracle Girl, The Wedding of Rachel Sharansky.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 12:58 PM | Comments (11)

Slow Motion Suicide, Part II

The one and only Caroline Glick wonders how Ehud Olmert continues to defy gravity. Ms. Glick also reveals some startling and unsavory facts about the leftist media elite in Israel—not so different from their bretheren in America who would yawn in boredom if Israel were to, G-d forbid, go up in flames. Caroline Glick, who should be the Jewish State's Prime Minister, also warns about Olmert's use, well, misuse of police powers to crack down on his political opposition and stifle dissent. Pay close attention to Israel's Tom Paine.

Monday Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni opened negotiations with her Palestinian counterpart Ahmed Qurei regarding the partition of Jerusalem; the destruction of hundreds of Israeli communities in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem; the expulsion of between a hundred thousand and half a million Israelis from their homes; the borders of Israel; and the right of immigration of millions of foreign, hostile Arabs to Israel.

To read the complete article, please click here.

Hat Tip: Seraphic Friend, Lance Fogel

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:32 AM | Comments (3)

January 14, 2008

Israel: Slow Motion Suicide

Seraphic Secret believes that the concessions being offered by the Olmert government to the Arabs are not just foolish and a grave security risk for the State of Israel—especially after the ethnic cleansing of Jews from Gaza—but a direct existential threat to the Jewish State. Olmert and those who remain in this odious, self-serving coalition, are in the same appeasement mind-set that Neville Chamberlain embraced when he negotiated with Hitler and declared "Peace in our time."

You do not make deals with your enemies. You defeat them in battle. Utterly. And then perhaps there will be a chance for peace. All else is delusional fantasy.

Former IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Yaalon is also sounding the alarm.

Yaalon, currently a fellow at the Shalem Center's Institute for Strategic Studies, explains that the problems in the Middle East are not caused by the Arab-Israeli conflict, as is the common misconception, but rather something much bigger which started even before Israel existed.

At the recent Annapolis summit, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni presented a policy to divide the Land of Israel and establish a state for Israel's Arab enemies in the hopes of achieving reconciliation.

...Moshe Yaalon, former Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, demonstrates how past Israeli concessions to the Arabs were rejected by the Arabs and actually increased violence. In this address to the WZO's World Conference of Orthodox Rabbis and Community Leaders, he notes that even the so-called "moderate" Fatah party refuses to recognize Israel as a Jewish state.

To view the video, please click here.

Today's Links

Bookworm brings us some fine excerpts from Jonah Goldberg's Liberal Fascism. You can order the book here.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 03:52 PM | Comments (25)

January 13, 2008

Barely Awake on the Radio

I'm awake now.

Really, if you heard the radio show I was barely conscious. Here's what happened. Last night I said to Karen: “Set the alarm so I can be sure to be up by 6:15.”

But I'm so nervous I wake up at 3 am and just, y'know lay there and wait, and work through the various problems of my latest screenplay.

Screenwriting is all about structure.

And Act Two is always the killer.

Also, you should know that I'm the one idiot in Hollywood who shows up on time for a meeting. And when I arrive five minutes early, the Dolce Gabbana clad secretaries sniff at me like I'm the biggest moron in the industry.

I can't help it. I think it comes from being Orthodox. Y'know, get up, daven at a certain time. Make Shabbos at a precise moment. In addition, and this is no small thing, being on time for a meeting just seems common courtesy.

Anywhoo.

By the time the alarm goes off and Karen tells me to get moving I'm like totally comatose. I make a huge pot of coffee, pour it down my throat. And repeat. Then trek to my office, which is twenty-feet behind Casa Avrech. The phone rings and a stern voice orders me to keep my answers short.

“Okey-doke.”

I wonder, is that short enough? Maybe I should have just said: “Okay.”

Anxiety.

Anyway, Soccer Dad and I discuss blogging and Israel—Omri was, um, not available—and though I'm half-asleep, I'm having fun and confess to the host that most of my readers would rather I write about Hollywood than politics.

Thanks so much to Soccer Dad for inviting me to participate in the interview. Here's his take on our interview.

Oh yes, Haveil Havalim #149 is up. Hosted by Life in Israel. This is the The "Vengeance upon the Nations" Edition.

Soccer Dad founded Haveil Havalim and we should all thank him for his hard work. I have often called him our national treasure. Now Soccer Dad has an important announcement regarding the future of Haveil Havalim. Click here to read what he has to say.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:55 AM | Comments (14)

January 11, 2008

George in Jihadland

And now, let's take a moment for some words of sanity and wisdom from the one and only Caroline Glick. Frankly, I'm exhausted. I can't wait for Shabbos. Then after Shabbos, I'm going to plant myself in the couch and watch some old Marion Davies movies. Israel seems intent on committing suicide in slow motion, how else to explain this bit of insanity?

US President George W. Bush arrived in Israel at the start of an eight-day tour of the Middle East at an interesting moment. In the lead-up to his trip, enemy forces, of both the terrorist and state variety, clarified their strategic outlook and the scope of their ambitions. Unfortunately, the president seems not to have noticed.

For the past several weeks, the leaders of the global jihad and their state sponsors in Syria and Iran have escalated their rhetorical and military attacks against Israel and the US. Osama bin Laden, his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri and his American lackey Adam Gadahn all issued video and audio appeals on the eve of Bush's trip. Their messages were devoted mainly to the campaigns against US forces in Iraq and against Israel. Bin Laden labeled Iraqi opponents of al-Qaida in Iraq apostates and called for Iraqis to rally around his allied forces. Gadahn called for Bush's assassination. All three men called for Israel's annihilation and for the unification of the forces of global jihad.

Then there is the al-Qaida affiliate Fatah al-Islam. Fatah al-Islam is considered a creation of Syrian intelligence. It is led by Shaker al-Absi, a Palestinian and a former member of the Syrian military. Syrian intelligence dispatched Absi to Lebanon last year to launch a campaign against the Lebanese military. Under his command, Fatah al-Islam took over the Nahr el-Bared Palestinian refugee camp where it pinned down the Lebanese Army for four months before being overrun.

Despite assertions by the Lebanese military that Absi had been killed, his body was never found. This week, ahead of Bush's trip, Absi surfaced alive with a videotape attacking the Lebanese army, calling for a jihadist takeover of the Levant and announcing his allegiance to Osama bin Laden.

To read Caroline Glick's complete article, please click here.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 10:24 AM | Comments (0)

January 10, 2008

Bush in Ramallah

I'm really confused.

President Bush keeps telling Israel that the so-called Palestinians are genuine partners in peace. In fact, he wants to carve out a state for them, including a divided Jerusalem, because y'know, the Palis are so trust-worthy.

Okay, so President Bush hops into Ramallah to visit his precious, peace-loving buddies and his security detail is made up of 1, 500 Secret Service, backed up by Israeli Shabak, and a few crack IDF units—we're talking a sterile security zone a mile wide and a mile deep.

But here's the thing:

Not one Arab is packing. The Arabs have been deleted from Presidential security detail the way Stalin used to delete his enemies.

What about the sixteen, ahem, security services, under the Fatah umbrella? Surely the Secret Service could have tasked one or two so-called Palis to a Presidential security detail? I mean, they are partners in peace, right?

Hence, my confusion.

I mean, hey, if President Bush wants Israel to live with these peace loving Arabs, how come he doesn't trust their security services to protect his body when he's in Ramallah?

Just, y'know asking.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:51 PM | Comments (12)

CNN Reporter as Terrorist Enabler

Ben Wedeman, a "reporter" for CNN, offers to show President Bush the misery of Gaza and the West Bank. Of course, everything is Israel's fault. You see, the Arabs bear no responsibility for anything; worse they have no abilities nor resources, though they've received more foreign aid than most Third World countries. But gee, they certainly rustle up the resources to build countless terrorist infrastructures. And hey, look at 'em rush to take credit for every drop of Jewish blood that's spilled, and for every bomb that explodes in Israel.

Well, I guess they have their priorities.

Wedeman even blames the economic problems of Bethlehem on Israel. In fact, Arafat started a campaign against the Christians of Bethlehem since the signing of the Oslo Accords of 1995. The flight of Christians from Bethlehem is shattering the economy. This, according to Wedeman, is, naturally Israel's fault.

In truth, Bethlehem has gone from an 80% Christian population to less than 8% since the Palestinian Authority took over.

That fine blogger Joshua Pundit demolishes every lie about Bethlehem that's published by the mainstream media. These lies have become so routine, so widespread, they now constitute a modern day blood libel.

It's a funny thing. Wedeman complains that the Arabs are isolated because of Israel's policies, hence they suffer economically. Let us point out that they are isolated because they have demanded to be isolated. When you vow in every deed and word to destroy the State of Israel, well, don't expect to get a big fact welcome from those you threaten and murder. Not after you send wave after wave of homicide bombers. Not after generations of unrestrained terror. Not after we view Arab television which teaches Arab children the most vile Jew-hatred this world has seen since the Nazis.

Also: Gaza used to be a bit more, ahem, multi-cultural. There were 9,000 Jews living there. The Arabs found this intolerable. Jews expelled Jews. The Gazans elected Hamas, a group whose charter explicitly calls for the destruction of Israel.
Um, yeah, Gaza is isolated, and the economy is shattered. What a shock. The Arabs have no one to blame but themselves.

By the way, Israel is completely isolated in the Middle East. If you carry an Israeli passport you cannot cross any border to any neighboring Arab state. But Israel thrives economically in spite of this huge burden, in spite of this religious bigotry, in spite of this disgusting bullying.

I have a question regarding isolation: why does no one mention that Gaza also shares a border with Egypt? The Egyptian border is also sealed. How come Wedeman isn't all hot and bothered about that isolation? And gee, aren't the Egyptians anxious to help out their Muslim brothers in Gaza who are suffering so horribly. I mean, how come they don't open up the border and let the Gazans come into Egypt and find some work?

I'm just messing with your head.

The Egyptians hate the so-called Palestinians. They want nothing to do with them. The Egyptians know, as does every Arab state, that when the Palis infiltrate a society, that society is immediately destabilized and only the most repressive measures can keep the beast in check. No, the Egyptians pay lip service to their beloved Arab brothers. Further, the Egyptians have made it policy to allow the jihadists to build tunnels from Egypt into Gaza in order to smuggle in money and weapons. This provides a safety valve for the Egyptian leadership. The jihadists in Gaza agree not to destabilize Cairo as long as Cairo enables their war against Israel.

But, of course, all of this is too complex for, ahem, journalists, like Wedeman. Reality is far too messy. It's much easier to stick to a simple-minded narrative where Jews are bad and Arabs are passive victims. This is known by the way, as Jew-hatred.

Wedeman is a typical enabler of terror and jihadism. In his world, when Jews build a wall to keep out homicide bombers it's automatically an apartheid wall. Same for checkpoints, which are there to halt bombs and homicide bombers.

In the world according to Wedeman, Jews have no right to self-defense.

Oh, and one more thing: Wedeman is a racist. His is a typical colonial mind-set that views Arabs as simple-minded desert dwellers, too stupid to build the most basic infrastructure. No, they can't do anything because the Jooz, so smart, so powerful, foil their efforts at every turn.

Hat Tip: Seraphic Brother-in-Law, Rabbi David Singer

The Augean Stables also comments on Wedeman's article and exposes Wedeman as either a liar or an ignoramus. Really, there are no other choices.

Today's Links:

Thousands Protest in Gaza Against Vampire Bush. Okaaaay, now send these people a few billion more in aid. And oh yeah, give them their very own state. They are definitely a mature and stable society. What could possibly go wrong?

Qassam Rockets Hit Israel. Some groups send flowers to greet Presidents, others send boxes of candy, but the so-called Palestinians send Qassam rockets—nine of 'em—as a message to President Bush “that no plan will defeat the Palestinian resistance.” Okey-doke, message received. Now, we have a message for Abu Mujihad: there's a Hellfire missile with your name on it. Look around the room. You think you can trust all the dirt bags gathered around you? Dude, you are so compromised.

Rocket Attack on American School in Gaza. Another shout-out to Pressident Bush from those peace-loving Arabs in Gaza. Yup, the very people Bush and Olmert are so anxious to set up in their very own state, and heck give em half of Jerusalem. Why not, what could possibly go wrong? Oh, but wait, Bush and Olmert are talking about the other Arabs, the moderate Arabs. I dunno, we're confused, these so-called moderate Arabs also voted overwelmingly for Hamas, a democratic vote that was certified by none other than, get this, Jimmy "Jew-hater" Carter. Anyway, if Abbas doesn't represent the Arabs in Gaza, who does he represent? And really, don't the Arabs in Gaza already have a Palestinian state? I mean, let's take a look at our check list of requirements:

1. It's Judenrein.
2. It's steeped in violence.
3. So-called honor killings are routine.
4. Transnational jihadist militias zip around in Toyotas.
5. Powerful clans have carved up various neighborhoods, in order to shake down citizens for protection money.
6. There is no central government, no taxes, no infrastructure.
7. Sharia law rules. Which means that women are at the mercy of men.
8. The tiny Christian minority lives in dhimmitude and fear.
9. It's a hollowed out state ruled by thugs who justify their existence with Jew-hatred and a perpetual war against Israel.
10. All information is doled out by the ruling Hamas party. A sickening diet of Jew-hatred and martyrology.
11. They blame Israel for, well, everything.

Yup, sounds like the Palestinian state.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 04:50 PM | Comments (9)

U.N. Peacekeepers Working With Hizbullah

When Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni boasted that the UNIFIL troops in Southern Lebanon would assure Israel's security, Seraphic Secret was a bit skeptical. We dared suggest that U.N. troops did not have Israel's national security at heart, and in fact, we predicted a rearming of Hizbullah in Southern Lebanon and a coopting of the the UNIFIL troops by the local militias.

Guess what?

We were right.

And the situation is even worse because Israel feeds information to the see-nothing, do-nothing UNIFIL troops and lo and behold the intel gets back to Hizbullah.

Waving hand in the air. Trying to get teacher's attention for a really vital question:

Why is Tzipi Livni still Israel's Foreign Minister? Livni is guilty of encouraging the placement of foreign mercenaries on Israel's borders. Would America allow UN troops to patrol our Mexican border? Of course not. The idea is absurd. It's treason. And now the idea of UNIFIL troops in Judea and Samaria is being floated by Condi Rice.

Look, enough is enough. Israel has to tell the Arabs: there is nothing more to talk about. The borders are set. No so-called refugees are going to enter Israel. This is the final status. A unified Jerusalem is the Jewish capital of The Jewish State. You don't like it, go kvetch to the New York Times. They'll write a few angry articles, get bored and then they'll move on. Maybe to the Congo where true refugees are starving, where mass rapes are taking place, where genocide is the daily bread.

A day after two Katyusha rockets struck Shlomi in the Galilee, defense officials raised concerns Wednesday that information they were regularly passing on to UNIFIL and the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) was also making its way to Hizbullah.

To read the complete article, please click here.

Today's Links:

The Untold Story: How the iPhone Blew up the Wireless Industry. You all know how much I love my Apple Powerbook, even more my Apple stock, well, here's an in-depth story on the iPhone. Hat Tip: Seraphic Friend: Judd Magilnick

Phyllis Chesler Interviews Lionheart a British Blogger in Hiding. George Orwell's 1984 is alive and well in modern day Britain. Lionheart, whose real name is Paul... writes about the massive number of Pakistani Muslim drug dealers in his hometown of Luton who addict British youth and whose profits fuel expensive lifestyles, paramilitary organizations, suicide terrorism, and religious hate speech against Jews, Christians, and the West. Ironically, what is said in mosques and madrassas and on protest marches all over the UK is never considered to constitute a “racially” motivated hate crime. As George Orwell understood, not all pigs are equal."

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 10:35 AM | Comments (3)

January 09, 2008

Police Silence Israeli Opposition

Israel is supposed to be a Democracy. But it seems that only far left groups are allowed to voice their political opinions in the Jewish State. All others are hastily silenced by the repressive forces of the liberal establishment.

Three people were taken into custody and their literature confiscated as they were handing it out to foreign journalists outside the Dan Panorama Hotel in Jerusalem Wednesday night. The Dan Panorama is where most of the journalists who are covering the Bush visit are lodging.

The literature in question is a booklet authored by Arlene Kushner entitled, Fatah as Moderate: A Hard Look Post-Annapolis, published by the Center for Near East Policy Research at the Beit Agron International Press Center in Jerusalem.

We find this story extremely disturbing.

Hat Tip: Seraphic Brother-in-Law, Rabbi David Singer

A superb dispatch by Rabbi Daniel Gordis on what we can learn from the Mishnah about the true intentions of the Arabs towards the Jewish State. Hat Tip: Seraphic Friend, Ralphie.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 02:53 PM | Comments (6)

January 07, 2008

Nobel Prize Winner Aumann on War and Peace

“The expulsion of Jews from Gaza was stupid, venal, and barbaric. The expulsion of Jews from Gaza led directly to the war with Hizbullah, and now to the rain of missiles on S'derot.”

Nobel Prize laureate Professor Robert Aumann is speaking in my shul, The Young Israel of Century City. He has a snow-white beard, and an infectious, impish smile. The title of his speech is: War and Peace, a variation of his Nobel lecture.

Professor Aumann is speaking on Shabbos thus I'm unable to take notes, and so I apologize for any mistakes or misquotes. The professor is an eloquent and terrifyingly rational spokesman against appeasement and the trading of land for, well, war. His field is mathematics—game-theory to be precise—but he dispenses with all technical jargon for this lecture. He speaks in simple, down-to-earth prose, the language of common sense.

Professor Aumann explains that America won the cold war not by disarming, as so many peace groups demanded, but by taking the opposite, counter-intuitive strategy—arming to the teeth.

“America had strategic bombers in the air, carrying nuclear payloads 24/7, so the Soviet Union understood that they were under constant threat of nuclear attack. This tactic, overwhelming force, coupled with an overwhelming threat, prevented war. If we had disarmed, there would have been war.”

Professor Aumann goes on to analyze the situation in Israel: “The whole notion of demanding "peace now" is dangerous. It assures that there will be war. Our Arab cousins do not lack for patience, they are in it for the long haul. They understand that this is a multi-generational conflict. They tell us that the Crusaders came and went and they expect us to be gone too. Well, the more we keep begging for "peace now" the more we convince them that we have no staying power. We are our own worst enemies. We're a people with ants in our pants. We need to learn patience. If we demand peace now, we will never have peace now.”

On the homicide bombers: “Don't call them madmen. They act out of rational self-interest. Their tactics have worked. If not for homicide bombers Jews would never have been expelled from Gaza. I have a great deal of respect for these people. We must take them seriously. To dismiss them as crazy people is foolish. Again, they act out of rational self-interest. They know that terrorism works”

On War: “To dismiss war as irrational is wrong and short-sighted. Wars have been with humans since the dawn of civilization. Until quite recently war was viewed as something quite noble. But again, to dismiss war as irrational is to misunderstand that war is most often the action of rational actors acting out of self-interest with the best information they possess.”

Professor Aumann hammers home his message: “We must not display our desire for peace at any price. It is self-defeating. We must learn patience. We must show the Arabs that we are in Israel to stay. That nothing they do will dislodge us from our homeland, Israel. Too often, we are our own worst enemies.”

Professor Aumann's Nobel Lecture

Professor Aumann You Tube, Middle Eastern Games

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 12:26 PM | Comments (2)

January 06, 2008

Best of the Jewish Blogosphere #148

Haveil Havalim #148: The Impediment to Peace Edition, is up.

Oh, and you absolutely must check out the results of his Self-Hating Jew Contest! Though I have to tell you, Yid with Lid did miss a few real self-haters here on the left-coast.

Here's how Yid with Lid introduces this fine blogcollection:

This week President Bush, and his group of terrorist appeasers are traveling to the Middle East. Bush's trip will be an impediment to peace. Thats because it appears that the President of the United States has fallen back on the old US policy, the one created by Jimmy Carter and followed through by Bush Sr. and Clinton... Terrorism is BAD except when the victims are Jews.

To check the pulse of the Jewish blogosphere, please click here.

Yasher koach to Yid with Lid for a job well done.

Oh yeah, nothing from yours truly this week. I just wasn't feeling it.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 12:07 PM | Comments (2)

January 01, 2008

The Myth of Peace, The Reality of Terror

From Seraphic Friend Naomi Ragan:

I want to tell you the story of two boys, twenty year olds, both them in the elite of elite army units, both of them from Rabbinical families, both of them living in Kiryat Arba, the Jewish neighborhood of Hebron.

Achikam Amichai and David Rubin were out on leave from their IDF units, enjoying a well-earned holiday. They decided this past Friday afternoon to take take a little hike in their backyards. Their friend Naama Ohayon went with them.

It was a beautiful day, beautiful scenery, wild and open, as it is in that part of the land of Israel. They passed an Arab, who asked them for water. The boys gave it to him, then waved goodbye and went on their way.

A short while later, alerted by the Palestinian they had shared water with, three armed terrorists who had been lying in wait for an opportunity to kill Israelis and steal their weapons, drove by and opened fire on the three young people.

Our boys, ambushed and badly wounded, nevertheless, began firing, killing the terrorist driver of the car. The other two terrorists then hopped out of the car, put their guns at point blank range to the fatally injured boys and fired. These "big heroes" then threw their dead comrade out of car like so much garbage, and took off, back to Hebron where they live.

Hiding In the forest, Naama Ohayon, who had miraculously escaped, used her cell phone to contact Israeli security forces, who praised her unbelievable cool in the face of the horror she had witnessed. Security forces rescued her, but it was too late for the boys.

Meanwhile, Shimon Peres found time for a photo opportunity to shake hands with a member of Abu Maazen's government who expressed his "condolences." This, of course, before it became known that the killers were Abu Maazen's paid employees.

According to Efrat Weiss, writing in YNET, sometime on Friday evening, the Palestinian Authority started the rumor that it wasn't a terrorist attack at all, but a "drug deal" gone bad. This went all over the Israeli news, and you can just imagine how the parents must have felt. Others said the boys had no right to go hiking.

Right, let's all stay in our homes and quake.

Meanwhile, the two murderers, fearing the IDF was closing in on them, turned themselves over to Palestinian security forces, who didn't say a word about this to the Israelis. However, when Israeli security asked them pointedly to turn over the weapons of the murderers and the victims, they did. But they didn't turn over the killers, who they are still "interrogating."

Surprise surprise, these weren't Hamas operatives. They were salary-earning members of the Palestinian Authority, paid for by U.S. and European Union donations to Abu Maazen, the "good Palestinian" as opposed to the Hamas, who are terrorists and "bad Palestinians," the ones we need to weaken by supporting Abu Mazen and his gang of thugs.

The names of the murderers are: Omar Badar Ali-Halim Teha, a resident of Hebron, 26, a "soldier" in the Palestinian National Security Forces, and an active member of Fatah; Ali al Hamid Regev Dindis, 24 a Hebron resident who is a clerk in the Sharia court of the Palestinian authority, and also connected to the Palestinian Secret service. The dead driver is 23 year olf Radil Abdul Naim Natshe.

There are many conclusions to be drawn from this story. I will leave you to draw them concerning the myths of making peace with the Palestinian Authority.

Naomi Ragan

Today's Links:

A Fatah Member by Any Other Name by Khaled Abu Toameh

Seraphic Friend Treppenwitz is properly outraged that journalists from Haaretz see this terrible atrocity as an opportunity for Israel to nip the bud of, um, armed right wing terrorism. Yup, now it's a crime in Israel to be a religious Jew. Really, I told you that Haaretz is just Al Jazeera in Hebrew.

The so-called Palestinians usher in the New Year with, what else—homicide. Arab on Arab death count in the PA entities is already up to three. We admire consistency.

Bush Won't Visit Dead Terrorists Tomb Huge sigh of relief.

French, um, Youths Only Torch 372 Cars on New Years Eve.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 12:13 PM | Comments (6)

December 28, 2007

Terror at Telem Springs

The IDF have seriously compromised Islamic Jihad's terrorist structure. This is evident from the near perfect targeted killings the IAF have pulled off in coordination with Shin Bet, Israeli intelligence. We suspect a mole deep inside Islamic Jihad-Hamas has been feeding Israel intelligence for quite some time, which has allowed them to eliminate a super hit parade of terrorist leaders over the past month. Electronic surveillance alone cannot yield such high quality intelligence.

Islamic Jihad are, no doubt, in disarray. This is why they have been begging Israel for a cease-fire. Here's a rule of Middle Eastern warfare. When Arabs propose a ceasefire, that means they are hurting. Badly. That's the time to ruthlessly press forward the offensive, kill the terrorists while they are on their knees.

Islamic Jihad are on the run, never knowing when an Israeli laser guided missile will send them to Allah. At the same time they must try and figure out who among them is the traitor. There are so many possibilities, so many surly cousins who bear grudges, so many sisters forced to marry idiots, so many young men who feel they do not get the respect they deserve, so many loser uncles badly in debt who might be tempted by Shin Bet payoffs.

In this poisonous atmosphere it's impossible to trust anyone, impossible to mount decent operations that have any tactical value, impossible to get a good night's sleep.

Hence, we should not be surprised that the terrorists have resorted to this low-level gangland style attack at Telem Springs. It has no tactical significance, it's just another horrible and bloody reminder that the so-called Pali Arabs are thugs with no honor, and no ability to fight like real men. As one intelligence analyst privately confided to me, “The Palestinians are like the Sopranos, except the Sopranos weren't living off welfare checks; at least they supported their own families. The Palestinians can't even do that. And they've received more foreign aide than any other country on planet earth. They're just corrupt welfare trash with AK-47's.”

And so: the Olmert government should reinstate the roadblocks they lifted. No terror, no roadblocks. It's not a complex equation.

The Olmert government is also considering swapping 200 terrorists for Gilad Shalit. This would be a terrible mistake for it would mark every single Israeli soldier as a target for kidnap and ransom, and by extension, every Jew on the face of the earth.

The Israeli response to this terrorist attack should be swift and overwhelming. More targeted killings.

Let me repeat: turn off the power in Gaza, turn off the power in that Jew-hating entity. Deny fuel and power to Hamas who have vowed to wipe Israel off the face of the earth. It is in their official charter. The people of Gaza voted overwhelmingly for Hamas, thus they are complicit in the crimes of that odious regime.

And Israel should never release a single terrorist from jail as a confidence building gesture, or as a prisoner exchange.

In fact, the only person who should be swapped for our soldiers is Ehud Olmert.

Two Jewish hikers in their 20's were murdered in a terror attack at Telem Spring, near Adora, south of Jerusalem.

Two Jewish boys and a girl departed on a hike from Kiryat Arba to the spring, a secluded nature spot.

An all-terrain vehicle drove up next to them, and two terrorists inside opened fire. The two youths were armed and returned fire killing one terrorist and wounding the second. The youth died from their wounds.

The girl managed to hide and phone Kiryat Arba's Magen David Adom emergency services at about 12:00 noon Friday. Despite her traumatized state, she guided the emergency crews and IDF forces to the location of the attack. Since she was unable to give the precise location on the trail, it took the forces a long while to locate her.

To read the complete story, please click here.

Karen and I wish all our friends a beautiful and profound miracle in Shabbat.

Links:

Arafat behind Munich Massacre & Other Terrorist Acts Hat Tip: Seraphic Friend Dr. Carol.

Shocking, just shocking! Remember when we Conservatives insisted that Arafat was not a moderate, that he was just another terrorist? No, insisted the liberals and the left, Arafat is a moderate. And then the dolts in Sweden gave him the Nobel Peace Prize. Which goes to show what that's worth. Well, of course we have the exact same situation with Mahmoud Abbas. Once again we're being told that he's a moderate, a man of peace. This is more fantastic nonsense. He's a former financier for Arafat's terrorist activities; he was the bagman for the Munich massacre. He's a terrorist—in bespoke suits.

Hamas Suspects Collaborators No kidding. Let the fratricide begin.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 12:18 PM | Comments (0)

December 27, 2007

Silent Nightmare of Iranian Jews

Another patch of Muslim soil has become uninhabitable for Jews.

In Iran, Jews are tolerated as dhimmis, but conditions are deteriorating at a pretty steady rate. State sanctioned anti-Jewish policies make an authentic Torah life almost impossible. A trickle of Persian Jews are making their way to Israel. It's vital that we get every Jew out of Iran as quickly as possible, before disaster strikes.

Why Iranian Jews, and why now?

“Because their lives are at stake,” answered Jankelovitz simply. “They are in a unique situation because of the regime. There are increased cases of discrimination. Learning the Hebrew language has been banned. Jewish day schools have been closed down—all of them. There are no more Jewish day schools in Iran,” he said.

Jewish children have to go to school on Shabbat, and on all Jewish holidays including Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.

“They come with nothing but the clothes on their backs and a small suitcase with almost no money at all,” said Jankelovitch. “Their money is worthless because of the exchange rate. People live in a beautiful house which they sell and it is not even worth $10,000.”

To read the complete article, please click here.

Let me also add a personal note. I live in Los Angeles. There is a large emigre Persian Jewish community here. Many are my friends and they tell me that they are in contact with relatives who remain in Persia where conditions are gradually becoming worse for the Jewish community.

The Persian Jews are caught between a rock and a hard place. They are forced to take part in government demonstrations where they must chant "Death to America" and "Death to Israel." If they refuse they will be arrested as Zionist spies. They must also tell journalists that life under Islamic rule is just wonderful. In short, they must lie or be arrested as, you guessed it, Zionist spies.

If the Persian Jews make applications to emigrate from Iran their wealth and property are stripped by the Islamic Republic. The Mullahs divide the spoils among their relatives and henchmen.

The 25,000 Jews of Iran are the last Jews of any sizable number still living under Muslim rule.

All other Muslim states are Judenrein.

In about 5 years, the Shia state of Iran will also be Judenrein and for the first time since the 7th century Islam will have succeeded in making life so intolerable for their Jewish citizens that all 23 Muslim states on planet earth—I'm including Gaza as the Pali state—will be rendered Judenrein.

Oh, the Christians in Gaza are not doing very well, their days are quite clearly numbered.

Okay, there are about 2,000 Jews hanging on by a thread in Morocco. They will be gone in one generation. Who knows what the next king's policies will usher in. There have already been terrorist attacks against the Moroccan Jewish community. The writing is on the wall.

No Jews in Jordan. No Jews in Algeria. No Jews in Tunisia. Saudi Arabia officially bars Jews from setting foot on Saudi soil. Charming local custom. Yemen, maybe 100 old and dying Jews. Syria, the same. Egypt, the same. Libya, none. Iraq, done. Afghanistan, one crazy old Jew who lives in the Kabul synagogue all by himself. Pakistan? You've got to be kidding. No Jews in the UAE.

That's quite a track record for the religion of peace.

Is it any wonder the Muslim world is a swamp of ignorance, disease, and an economic basket case. In fact, the only growth industry in the Muslim world is transnational terrorism.

Today's Links:

Soccer Dad also posts about the Persian Jews.

From Counterterrorism Blog: Analysis of the Bhutto Assassination.

Mark Steyn reflects on the terrible inevitability of Benazir Bhutto's fate.

Beyond the Veil: Israel-Pakistan Relations As Seraphic Friend Jake Novak notes: “Good overview of Bhutto's history vis a vis Israel. Her father was putrid, she had her moments.”

From Augean Stables: Editor of Haaretz, a Leftist naturally, asks Condi to “Rape” Israel. Nothing that the Israeli left says or does surprises me any longer. Peace Now has been exposed as a tool of hostile foreign governments. Some have said that Haaretz is Israel's version of The New York Times. This is not true. Haaretz and her writers are far too crude. Haaretz is Israel's Al Jazeera.

IAF Kills Another Islamic Jihad Terrorist Leader . It appears that Shin Bet has compromised the inner circle of Islamic Jihad. The Israeli security services have knocked off close to a dozen high value targets in an incredibly short time, with negligible collateral damage. This indicates that Israel has eyes and ears close to the inner circle of the upper ranks in the terrorist networks. It could be a surly cousin. Or a sister who was denied a marriage she desperately wanted. In the shame/honor Muslim society there is no shortage of blood enemies in your very own family. No doubt, trust is in very short supply in Gaza these days. Look for the terrorists to start bumping each other off at the slightest provocation.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 11:31 AM | Comments (12)

December 19, 2007

Israel's Intelligence Estimate, Seraphic's Estimate, Plus Fashion Advice for Tzipi Livni

By now we've all heard about the NIE, which has been wrongly misinterpreted to indicate that America should not be worried about the Persian Nuclear program, when in fact, the NIE states the exact opposite.

Now comes, the Israeli Intelligence Estimate.

It's good news slash bad news time.

Let me just state for the record that I lived in Israel before, during and after the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Hence, my faith in the soundness of intelligence reports is somewhat jaded. Even as the Egyptians and Syrians were massing on Israel's borders there were those in the intelligence community who insisted to PM Golda Meir that the Arabs were engaged in saber rattling or, y'know, war games.

Intelligence estimates are an art form, not a science. You do the best you can with the information you have; and good analysts should isolate politics from their memos like bad viruses.

This separation of politics from analysis is wholly absent from the most recent American NIE and it is a deeply regrettable. It does no credit to our national security, nor does it serve the good names of our sixteen security services.

Deep pessimism alongside cautious optimism—those are the two key principles that emerge from this year's Annual Israeli Intelligence Estimate. The report will be presented to the security cabinet in several days time by IDF Intelligence Chief Major-General Amos Yadlin, but the highlights are here for you now in a Ynet exclusive report.

To read the complete article, please click here.

Seraphic Secret would like to make its own recommendations to the Israeli Security establishment. We make no pretense of being politically impartial, we freely admit that we are on the right wing of the spectrum, but we believe that our ideas are common sense and backed up by historical precedent and sound military doctrine.

1. The Persian nuclear threat is not just an existential threat to Israel but a huge regional headache to the Sunni Arab states. Just as Israel eliminated the Syrian/North-Korean nuclear threat, Israel will have to take out the Persian facilities. The plan is in place. Training takes place round the clock. Everyone will heave a huge sigh of relief, especially the Saudis and the Jordanians.

2. Gaza. Do not invade. Quick, turn out the lights. I have to admit, I'm getting frustrated. I keep giving level-headed advice and yet Ehud Olmert and Tzipi Livni pay no attention.

Snarky Digression: Tzipi, hey, at least listen to me when it comes to fashion advice. I work in Hollywood. I know something about image making.

Ready?

For the love of G-d, lose the pant suits! Who do you think you are, Hillary? I'm sorry to break the news to you, but you do not look like the Foreign Minister of the Jewish State. Nope, you look like an ill-tempered drag queen from New Jersey whose hair has been glazed in Canola oil.

Are you allergic to shampoo and conditioner? How about a nice trumpet skirt that's absolutely flattering to your figure, and a rich silk blouse with a strand of simple pearls. No need to teeter on killer heels, three inch classic Chanels will do just fine. And top off the look with a buttery leather handbag, something deeply colored that will really pop. Come on, girl, you rep the Jewish people. Even Golda looked more lady-like and cute than poor dowdy you.

Anywhoo. Why, pray tell, does Israel supply Gaza with the fuel and power that enables Israel's sworn enemies to rain rockets and mortars on Israel every three minutes since Gaza became Judenrein in June 2006? H/T link to graph, Soccer Dad

People say: you can't punish the entire population for the crimes of a few terrorists. I go: the population of Gaza elected these genocidal terrorists. The Gazans are adults, they made a free electoral choice that was certified by none other than Jimmy Carter. They hide and even celebrate these terrorists. This makes Gaza a hostile entity.

You know how the allies won World War II? By punishing the German and Japanese citizens who supported their genocidal regimes. The Arabs deserve no less. In fact, they deserve quite a bit more.

3. The IDF should continue with the targeted killings. In the past few days they have knocked off an impressive list of terrorists, eleven senior Islamic Jihad operatives were killed in Gaza, including Majd al Harazin, head of Islamic Jihad's military wing and Karim Dahlul, director of their Qassam missile production.

This indicates that human intelligence in Gaza has improved along with electronic surveillance via drones and other cool Hollywood SFX methods. The terrorists are thugs, clever thugs, but they are stuck a few generations behind the super smart Jews in the technology field and this puts them at a severe disadvantage. The IDF should keep offing the terrorist, and stay on the offensive. This keeps the terrorists awake at night, has them scrambling from safe house to safe house; their cell phones are useless—Israeli surveillance are listening. And best of all, the terrorists are wary of every loser cousin who might bear a mysterious grudge and flip for Shin Bet.

This constant pressure reduces the terrorist network to a profoundly constricted circle, unable to better their military resources, or mount effective terrorist attacks. Inevitably, the cells stagnate, members turn on one another due to personality conflicts, mutual suspicion and creeping paranoia. The terrorists become disoriented, hunted things, nice fat targets for Israeli smart bombs.

4. For goodness sake, more roadblocks. As you can see, they work in thwarting horrendous terrorist plots.

5. Lebanon. Hellooo! Do not invade. Once Syria takes over, and that's pretty much inevitable the way things are playing out, and Hizbullah/Iran hollow out the country so that it's just a geographical entity for competing transnational terrorist gangs, there's going to be a lull. And then something bad will happen. Hizbullah will unleash from the Land Once Known as Lebanon against Israel—and what should Israel do?

Simple: The Israeli Air Force should fly to Syria and reduce Puppy Assad's palace to rubble. Destroy the electrical grid to Damascus and while the IAF is at it, remind the Syrian air force what a bunch of grapes they are.

Believe me, Lebanon will go very quiet, very quickly.

6. President Mahmoud Abbas. Let's be honest, this is the guy who has made a career of denial. He wrote his Ph.D at the, ahem, prestigious Moscow Friendship University on the charming topic of Holocaust denial. He financed the Munich massacre. Oh, come on, let's call him what he was, the bag-man. But he denied knowing what was going to happen. And now as President of the so-called PalAbs, whenever one of his terrorist "policemen" murders a Jew, he denies knowledge or responsibility. Yup, the perfect President for the so-called Palestinian National movement.

Ignore him. His own people do, why do we pay him any deference?

7. The government of Israel should announce that Jerusalem is the undivided capital of Israel. There's nothing to talk about. The Temple Mount? Israel runs the show. Again, nothing to talk about.

8. Israel must never, ever retreat from one inch of land; this includes all of Judea and Samaria. It is intolerable that any territory be declared Judenrein. If Arabs whine that the presence of Jews is intolerable to their delicate sensibilities, well then, the world should recognize their sensibilities for what they are: warped Jew-hatred.

9. Oh man, I just ran out of gas. It's the Fast of the 10th of Teveth and my vision just went: wow, my office is spinning.

And it was in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth (day) of the month, that Nebuchadnetzar, King of Babylon came, he and all his hosts, upon Yerushalayim, and he encamped upon it and built forts around it. And the city came under siege till the eleventh year of King Tzidkiyahu. On the ninth of the month famine was intense in the city, the people had no bread, and the city was breached.

—Kings II: 25, 1-4

10. Karen and I wish all our Seraphic Friends a meaningful fast.

Links: Seraphic Friend Shrink Wrapped has two very fine post that touch on many of the same areas we discuss.

Part I: Can Israel Survive?

Part II: Option 6

And from Ocean Guy, Simple graphics that prove the more financial aid to the so-called PaliArabs, the more murdered Jews. Okaaay, so 7.4 billion dollars should buy a lot of dead Jews.

Finally, on this holy day, are we surprised to discover that Arabs have desecrated the grave of biblical Joshua?

No, we are not.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 10:57 AM | Comments (16)

December 18, 2007

Utmost Savagery, But Who Cares, They Don't Kill Jews

Some sobering numbers:

Over a million starving refugees. Real refugees, not welfare witches.

Four million people dead from disease, starvation, and savage warfare since 1996.

U.N. Peacekeepers who cannot keep the peace.

This is the Congo, a mineral rich country which is once again devolving into primal savagery.

But hey, let's keep talking about the Pali Arabs and while we're at it let's give them an additional 7.4 billion dollars to squander.

Why?

Because their enemies are Jews and the Europeans desperately need to wipe away the ghastly, self-incriminating memories of World War II from their blood-stained hands.

Regarding that 7.4 billion in aid, let us be clear: none of the monies will be spent on infrastructure to improve the lives of the ordinary Arab. Much will be swallowed in the black hole of Pali corruption. The balance will be used to purchase weaponry and pay the salaries of terrorists in order to wage war against Israel.

And as always, when that happens, Israel will be blamed for the genocidal violence directed at her because Israel does not cheerfully cooperate with her murderers by dismantling more road blocks, or making even more, er, "painful concessions." Like: national suicide.

P.S. Hey, where's Jimmy Carter? Not in the Congo. You know why? No Jews to blame.

Yet.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 11:06 AM | Comments (2)

December 17, 2007

Ninotchka and I

“Can you tell me the origin of your name?”

I'm in a box and shipping store, sending a Chanukah gift to Offspring #2 and her husband, a large framed photo that needs to be carefully wrapped and boxed.

So: I've just filled out the paperwork and the lady behind me—Russian by her accent—has glanced at my name and posed the question.

Anya is a middle-aged lady with a pretty grim expression that seems permanently fixed to her face.

She fires questions at me, one after the other. Her hair is pulled back into a severe bun and there's not a trace of mascara, lipstick or blush on her face. Need I mention that she's wearing the most sensible shoes I have ever seen on a woman who does not live and work on a snow-bound farm in North Dakota.

“It's from the Torah: when Joseph is made a minister in Egypt he is carried through the streets and it says in Parsha Mekaytz: And they called before him: Avrech. The great medieval commentator, Rashi explains: a father in wisdom, but tender in years. ”

“Does that describe you?”

“Um...”

We continue to chat as the photo is cushioned in multiple layers of bubble wrap.

My inquisitive and quite humorless Russian friend has been in America since the late 70's.

“It was hard in the Soviet Union, huh?”

Notice my hard-hitting analysis of cold war politics. Anya looks at me the way Lenin looked at the Mensheviks. She waves her hand in the air as if brushing aside an annoying fly.

“First Hitler killed the Jews, then Stalin. If it was not one, it was the other. But you want to know when it was the best for us?”

“Tell me.”

“After the Six Day War.”

“Really, I thought things were really hard for Jews in the Soviet Union at that time.”

“Do not believe it. After Israel won the war the Russians, our enemies, looked at us with new-found respect. Goyim would come up to Jews in the streets of Moscow and congratulate us on our great victory. Let me tell you, we want the world to fear and respect the Jews, not to love us.”

“You should have a talk with Prime Minister Olmert.”

Anya growls: “Fool.”

I go: “You sound just like Greta Garbo.”

Anya tells me that she's never seen any Greta Garbo's movies. Anya tells me that she reads books. Movies are, in her opinion, a waste of time. I tell her she has to see Ninotchka and I give her a brief plot synopsis, then quote one of Garbo's great lines from the movie:

The last mass trials were a great success. There are going to be fewer but better Russians.

Anya stares at me for a long moment, then bursts into the most delightful laughter I have ever heard.

“That's what Garbo does in Ninotchka.”

“What?”

“Garbo laughs.”

“Maybe I make an exception and see this one movie.”

“Good move.”

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 10:57 AM | Comments (17)

December 10, 2007

The Abandonment of the Jews

Caroline Glick on the NIE report and the geo-political implications for American-Israeli relations.

The Israeli strike in Syria also demonstrated the superiority of Israel's intelligence on weapons of mass destruction programs over America's. And the NIE takes revenge on Israel for its comparative advantage.

Given the NIE's assertion that Iran is not a threat, the report is a direct assault on the credibility of Israel's intelligence services. Moreover, since Israel's intelligence services insist that Iran's nuclear program is the greatest threat to global security, the NIE serves to paint Israel's intelligence community not merely as unreliable, but as hostile to American interests.

So not only does the NIE make it impossible for the US to take action against Iran, it also sets a dangerous trap for Israel. If Israel doesn't take action against Iran's nuclear installations it risks annihilation. And if it does take action, it can expect to be subject to international and American condemnation far worse than what it suffered after bombing Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor in 1981.

To read Caroline Glick's complete article, please click here.

Hat Tip: Seraphic Chaver, Kishke

Even our British cousins believe we have been hoodwinked by the the Iranians. H/T Seraphic Friend from the Great North, A. Mark David, Q.C.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:54 AM | Comments (4)

December 06, 2007

Peace Now Might Not Exist, But They Are Foreign Agents

Good news, at last.

At least for those who love Israel.

A new internet site has been opened with the goal of pointing out the damage caused by the far-left Peace Now organization.

Aryeh King, a long-time activist on behalf of Jewish interests in eastern Jerusalem, has opened the new Hebrew-language website as part of his long-time struggle against the dangers of Peace Now. Peace Now was founded in 1978 on the basis of the belief that only the removal of all Jewish presence from Judea, Samaria and Gaza would lead to peace, and has ever since made it its goal to destroy all vestiges of Jewish life in those areas.

Here's where things get a bit Orwellian. Not surprising when dealing with Peace Now, because, get this, the radical jihadist-enabling organization, does not officially exist.

Website founder King recently filed a suit against Peace Now based on Tzali Reshef's admission that the organization does not legally exist. In response to an earlier suit by King against Peace Now demanding an award for damages, Reshef said that Peace Now cannot be sued because it is not technically a legally-recognized association. King then countered with a suit demanding that Peace Now be erased from all the cases it itself brought against Jewish interests in Judea and Samaria.

"If it can't be sued, then it can't sue," King says. He expresses astonishment that the State Prosecution - headed until last week by Peace Now co-founder Eran Shendar - never "realized" that the many court suits filed over the years by Peace Now were illegal.

And as Seraphic Secret has pointed out time and again, Peace Now and their supporters are not interested in peace. Their true goal is the elimination of the state of Israel.

Just follow the money.

Guess where Peace Now gets its funding?

Your local synagogue?

No.

Your friendly Mikveh, ritual bath?

Not quite.

Your Shabbos pushkeh, charity box?

Not really.

Hold the presses. The generous funding is provided by European governments, which makes Peace Now agents of foreign interests.

To which we can only sit up and dash off a brilliant piece of dialog that goes something like this: Duh.

An often-forgotten tidbit that appears on the site is the fact that Peace Now was funded to the tune of nearly two million shekels by European Union countries in 2003 - including from the Foreign Ministries of Great Britain and Norway - as well as another 1.75 million in 2005. In later years, reports independent researcher David Bedein, other EU countries joined in the funding, which was reached a total of five million shekels ($1.25 million) in 2006.

Britain and Norway are fundamentally opposed to the existence of Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria, thus the money they give Peace Now invariably serves those governments' foreign policy interests. Bedein reports that Peace Now is thus "in effect spying on Israel for foreign governments," as its surveillance activities cover not only Israeli communities, but also military installations belonging to the IDF.

Peace Now may not exist officially, but their "other" existence is a mortal threat to the lives of Israeli citizens and to national security.

To read the complete article, please click here.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 01:48 PM | Comments (1)

December 05, 2007

Jews Making Jews Targets for Terrorism

Seraphic Secret has recently learned that the Olmert government is initiating a campaign of intimidation and harassment against Jews living in Judea and Samaria. Sources and several e-mails informed us that some residents in Efrat have had their cars searched and their lap-tops opened at highway blockades reserved as terrorist check-points.

This indicates that Olmert is moving down the path of appeasement, laying the groundwork for the eventual expulsion of what might be over 100,000 Jews from their homes.

Israel will be bracketed by several Gazas. The Jewish state will be in the grip of a Jihadist stranglehold.

I have a question: when does the Israeli government become indistinguishable from a Judenrat?

Just, y'know, curious.

And now, as Olmert releases hundreds of terrorists from jail, arms the PA with over two million rounds of ammunition, machine guns, and ACP's, this odious government is at the same time moving to confiscate weapons from Jews in Judea and Samaria. This is as good as painting targets on their collective spines.

It is the second night of Chanukah.

It is worth remembering that the Hasmoneans declared war on the Syrian Greeks and the Jewish lackeys who collaborated with the pagans who persecuted Torah and those who were loyal to HaShem.

The IDF is conducting a large scale operation to confiscate weapons from the Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria, according to Channel 10 TV. The purpose of the operation is described as "putting the settlers' gun permits in order." The security coordinators of the communities in Samaria have been summoned to a meeting with IDF officers Thursday; community leaders are convinced that the IDF intends to collect many of the weapons in the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.

To read the complete article, please click here.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 03:55 PM | Comments (5)

December 01, 2007

Jerusalem United

This just in to Seraphic Secret, and I assume a host of other blogs.

Question: How can an Orthodox Rabbi possibly reconcile advocating for the division of Jerusalem with Judaism?

Answer: Thank you for that question Loraine, but unfortunately as Orthodox Jews we are unable to answer you so we are forwarding on the question to the Rabbi.

Shalom Rabbi,

This letter is being written with shivering hands and chattering teeth from a cold, wet tent on the border between Israel and Gaza. We have read and re-read your article published in the Jewish Journal “An Orthodox Rabbi’s plea: Consider dividing the Jerusalem.” As it is Jewish behavioral ethic to judge one’s fellow with the benefit of the doubt, we are trying to stifle our initial feelings of perfidious betrayal and thoughts that you are merely capitalizing on your status as an Orthodox Rabbi for opportunistic self-aggrandizement. With Israel’s fate being decided in Annapolis this week, we are trying to understand how you, an honest and sincere G-d fearing, Torah-observant Rabbi, could possibly advocate for the division of Jerusalem, the Capitol of the Jewish People.

In Israel today, there are hundreds of thousands of Arab Muslim citizens who proactively advocate for the destruction of Israel. Their elected Muslim Knesset members meet with terrorist leaders to conspire against us and consistently endorse policies that would lead to the eventual annulment of our Jewish State. We are surrounded by countries who have historically sought to destroy the State of Israel since before she was even created. Egypt, Syria, Iran, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and all the other countries in the Arab League have not given up the dream to put an end, once and for all, to the “Zionist Entity”. Honestly, these threats are nothing new and have simply become expected, but it is appalling for a self-described Orthodox Rabbi to advocate for the division of our sacred Capitol, and the undeniable moral and strategic weakening of the State of Israel that would follow.

Perhaps seeing the Middle East through the prism of CNN or the occasional solidarity mission to a five-star hotel would lead one to believe that simply relinquishing the Land liberated in 1967 would lead to peace. Please allow us to share a little bit of a different perspective. We are reservist soldiers who have left our lives and our families for up to a month every year to protect Israel and the Jewish people. For the past few years, we have been stationed in the Gaza region where we are located now. In 2005, the unilateral disengagement from Gaza evicted 8,000 Jews from their homes, and Gaza was ceded to the Palestinian Authority. Today, in place of the promised peace and calm that was to result from the disengagement, Gaza is now a war-torn territory controlled by the Hamas, and there are more guns, missiles, and artillery than ever before in history. Multiple rockets and missiles fall daily onto the helpless citizens of Sderot, within the 1948 borders of Israel! We recently visited with the people of Sderot to show our support, and a local teacher informed us that her young students, when asked why they thought snails had shells, unanimously replied “to hide from the Kassam rockets.” Is this the fate you wish upon the Jewish children of Jerusalem Rabbi Kanefsky?

While we could continue expending energy and focus on exposing the moral ambivalence, erroneous and specious historical assertions in your article, that would not be an honest depiction of our true difficulty with your proposals. If you were a politician or a journalist, perhaps such a discussion would be in order. But you, Rabbi Kanefsky, purport to be an Orthodox Rabbi. You know that Jerusalem is mentioned over 700 times in the Bible, while the Koran has not one reference to our holy city. You know that for more than 2,000 years our people have been praying daily for Jerusalem, solemnly breaking a glass in memorial of her Temple’s destruction, and leaving a portion of the walls in our homes unfinished because our cherished city lies in ruins. You know the words of King David who told us of the tears we shed “by the Rivers of Babylon… when we remembered Zion,” and both promised and warned of what would happen if we should ever forget our beloved Jerusalem. You know of our murdered ancestors who whispered Jerusalem with their last breath.

Rabbi Kanefsky, you call for honesty. You claim to believe in the Torah as the word of G-d, yet when composing an argument as critical as the division of our national and spiritual Capitol, you do not even quote one Jewish source! Rather than determining your stance based on Torah, Jewish Law, or the word of G-d, you quote “International Law” composed by many of the same nations who assisted or looked away as six million members of our family were slaughtered.

Intellectual Honesty, Rabbi Kanefsky. G-d demands it and your congregants, students, and followers deserve it. Please retract your article and stand with Jerusalem and the Nation of Israel. If you do not, accept our challenge to a debate and we will let the truth speak for itself. In these times of isolation and unparalleled danger, it is vital for us as a nation to unite with courage, clarity, and faith in G-d.

We look forward to hearing from you soon.

B’Ahavat Yisrael (With love of Israel),

Ari Abramowitz and Jeremy Gimpel

Karen's astute analysis of flower-child Kanefsky.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 05:52 PM | Comments (2)

November 27, 2007

No Lasting Peace

Another common-sense blast from Ralph Peters, an analyst who refuses to be seduced by the mass delusions of the State Department.

Short of intolerable carnage, there's no durable solution to the Israeli-Palestinian problem. None. The best all parties can hope for is an occasional time-out.

A respite between rounds isn't worthless, of course - lives are saved, Israel's economy improves and the Arabs get one more chance to get their act together. But we're forever disappointed because we're convinced there's a good, permanent solution, if only we can figure it out.

That's the American way: a can-do spirit, the conviction that no problem's too tough for us. But, in the real world (and in the bizarre fantasyland of Arab culture), some foreign problems can't be resolved equitably. They can only smolder on, occasionally erupting in flames.

In the Middle East, you can't buy peace. You can only buy time. If we want to help at all, the fundamental requirement is to have realistic expectations.

At present, the situation is aggravated by the Bush administration's desperate quest for a headline-worthy foreign-policy success - mirroring the Clinton administration in its closing years. But desperation's a poor basis for dealing with a geopolitical problem of near-infinite complexity, with ill will on every side except our own.

What happens in the course of Middle East "peace" talks under such circumstances? Whether the American administration is Republican or Democrat, it pressures Israel for concessions - since the Arabs won't make any. Prisoner releases precede each summit; territorial handovers come under discussion.

For their parts, Arab leaders and their representatives assume we're sufficiently honored if they just show up. We hear no end of nonsense about the great political risks they're taking, etc. We're suckers for any fat guy in a white robe with an oil can.

Today's session in Annapolis may or may not result in a we-the-undersigned statement or a few unenforceable commitments. And yes, there's merit just in bringing folks together and keeping them talking. But the baseline difficulty is that we want to solve problems for people who don't really want those problems solved.

Mahmoud Ab- bas and his Fatah Party, for example, couldn't accept a genuine peace tomorrow morning - even though Hamas' coup in Gaza has put them up against the wall. Their problem? The most successful jobs program in the Arab world has been Palestinian "resistance" to Israel.

Consider what peace with Israel - real peace - would mean in the West Bank and Gaza, in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley: Tens of thousands of gunmen (and terrorists) out of work, with no marketable skills - and radicalized by decades of fanatic rhetoric.

Think a punk who's grown accustomed to swaggering around town in a face mask with a Kalashnikov is going to scrub squat toilets for a living?

Generations have grown addicted to the struggle - and its perks. It's the only bearable justification for their individual and collective failures in life. Real peace with Israel would probably spark a convulsion throughout the Arab world - as tens of millions realized that their sacrifices were a travesty that merely empowered thieves.

Another reason Arab states won't make peace: Most of their leaders have only survived in power because they have Israel to blame for every disappointment their people face. Israel has become the great excuse for every self-wrought failure in the Middle East - and that excuse is more valuable to Arab rulers than peace could ever be.

Were peace ever to arrive, Arabs might begin to demand good government. And the corruption that has thrived during decades of crisis could come into question. Worst of all, Arabs might have to accept responsibility for the catastrophic condition of their own societies.

In the end, the problem's difficulty can be put in New York City terms: A shiftless, violent family that turned an apartment into a slum was evicted. The new tenants cleaned up the place and made the apartment a showcase. Now the former tenants hate them for it - and want the apartment back.

But the apartment can only accommodate one family.

If you want a sober perspective on the Annapolis dog-and-pony show, just ask yourself this: Who will leave disappointed, if nothing much results?

The Arabs won't care. They came because we got on our knees and begged.

The Israelis will just be relieved that their latest trip to the geostrategic dentist is over.

Any Russians soiling the furniture at the Naval Academy will be delighted if another American effort flops.

And the Europeans just popped in to check the "we care" box.

The only unhappy campers will be us. We set ourselves up. Again.

Oh, and even if there's some sort of agreement, only the Israelis will honor it. Grudgingly.

We're dealing with people who are fighting for their lives and homes. Our team's fighting for poll numbers. Now that's asymmetrical warfare.

By electing ourselves as the Middle East's indispensable problem-solvers, we've just put ourselves on the blame line for other people's problems. Without solving any of them.

Santa won't show up at Annapolis. If he did, the best gift he could bring the Bush administration and its Democratic rivals would be a sense of reality: It's a lot easier to believe in Santa than in Arabs accepting a just peace with Israel.

Ralph Peters' latest book is Wars of Blood and Faith.

Original New York Post article here.

Hat Tip: Super Soccer Dad

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 02:47 PM | Comments (4)

To Be or Not to Be

The Annapolis Peace conference begins today. And for those of you who harbor any illusions let Seraphic Secret be quite clear.

The conflict between Israel and her Arab neighbors is not about land. It never has been.

It's an existential conflict.

Quite simply: Muslims deny the right of Jews to live in their own national and religious homeland. Muslims deny any Jewish historical claims to Israel, to Jerusalem, they even deny the existence of the two Temples on the Temple Mount. Thus, we should not be surprised that Mahmoud Abbas received his PhD. from Moscow's Friendship University for a thesis in which he denies the Holocaust.

Indeed, the entire framework of the Arab relationship to Israel and to Judaism is denial of reality.

Annapolis feeds this madness, adds to this mountain of denial and third world delusion.

Here's a fine common-sense brief.

By BERNARD LEWIS
November 26, 2007 Wall Street Journal

Here with some thoughts about tomorrow’s Annapolis peace conference, and the larger problem of how to approach the Israel- Palestine conflict. The first question (one might think it is obvious but apparently not) is, “What is the conflict about?” There are basically two possibilities: that it is about the size of Israel, or about its existence.

If the issue is about the size of Israel, then we have a straightforward border problem, like Alsace-Lorraine or Texas. That is to say, not easy, but possible to solve in the long run, and to live with in the meantime.

If, on the other hand, the issue is the existence of Israel, then clearly it is insoluble by negotiation. There is no compromise position between existing and not existing, and no conceivable government of Israel is going to negotiate on whether that country should or should not exist.

PLO and other Palestinian spokesmen have, from time to time, given formal indications of recognition of Israel in their diplomatic discourse in foreign languages. But that’s not the message delivered at home in Arabic, in everything from primary school textbooks to political speeches and religious sermons. Here the terms used in Arabic denote, not the end of hostilities, but an armistice or truce, until such time that the war against Israel can be resumed with better prospects for success. Without genuine acceptance of Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish State, as the more than 20 members of the Arab League exist as Arab States, or the much larger number of members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference exist as Islamic states, peace cannot be negotiated.

A good example of how this problem affects negotiation is the much- discussed refugee question. During the fighting in 1947-1948, about three-fourths of a million Arabs fled or were driven (both are true in different places) from Israel and found refuge in the neighboring Arab countries. In the same period and after, a slightly greater number of Jews fled or were driven from Arab countries, first from the Arab-controlled part of mandatory Palestine (where not a single Jew was permitted to remain), then from the Arab countries where they and their ancestors had lived for centuries, or in some places for millennia. Most Jewish refugees found their way to Israel.

What happened was thus, in effect, an exchange of populations not unlike that which took place in the Indian subcontinent in the previous year, when British India was split into India and Pakistan. Millions of refugees fled or were driven both ways – Hindus and others from Pakistan to India, Muslims from India to Pakistan. Another example was Eastern Europe at the end of World War II, when the Soviets annexed a large piece of eastern Poland and compensated the Poles with a slice of eastern Germany. This too led to a massive refugee movement — Poles fled or were driven from the Soviet Union into Poland, Germans fled or were driven from Poland into Germany.

The Poles and the Germans, the Hindus and the Muslims, the Jewish refugees from Arab lands, all were resettled in their new homes and accorded the normal rights of citizenship. More remarkably, this was done without international aid. The one exception was the Palestinian Arabs in neighboring Arab countries.

The government of Jordan granted Palestinian Arabs a form of citizenship, but kept them in refugee camps. In the other Arab countries, they were and remained stateless aliens without rights or opportunities, maintained by U.N. funding. Paradoxically, if a Palestinian fled to Britain or America, he was eligible for naturalization after five years, and his locally-born children were citizens by birth. If he went to Syria, Lebanon or Iraq, he and his descendants remained stateless, now entering the fourth or fifth generation.

The reason for this has been stated by various Arab spokesmen. It is the need to preserve the Palestinians as a separate entity until the time when they will return and reclaim the whole of Palestine; that is to say, all of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Israel. The demand for the “return” of the refugees, in other words, means the destruction of Israel. This is highly unlikely to be approved by any Israeli government.

There are signs of change in some Arab circles, of a willingness to accept Israel and even to see the possibility of a positive Israeli contribution to the public life of the region. But such opinions are only furtively expressed. Sometimes, those who dare to express them are jailed or worse. These opinions have as yet little or no impact on the leadership.

Which brings us back to the Annapolis summit. If the issue is not the size of Israel, but its existence, negotiations are foredoomed. And in light of the past record, it is clear that is and will remain the issue, until the Arab leadership either achieves or renounces its purpose — to destroy Israel. Both seem equally unlikely for the time being.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:38 AM | Comments (4)

November 24, 2007

Saving Israel

Annapolis is coming up on Tuesday and a stew of Judenrein Arab countries are going to show up in order to pressure Israel to, well, cease to exist.

Yep, let's face it, that is the end game. Here's a revealing quote from a PLO official that lays it out nice and neatly:

The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct ‘Palestinian people’ to oppose Zionism.

— PLO executive committee member Zahir Muhsein, 1977 interview, Dutch newspaper Trouw.

Look, our friends the Saudis won't even shake hands with Jews. Now that's how to negotiate. And the left are so desperate for acceptance and approval from a bunch of Jew-haters they are willing to hand over Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, expel something like 85,000 Jews from their homes—Gaza redux, now that worked out extremely well—and offer citizenship to like a zillion jihadist Arabs—all for a handshake, and some vague promises of recognition.

Gee, what a bargain.

If I was offered a deal like that in Hollywood—I'd fire my agent.

No handshake to the infidel Jooz. Not surprising from a country—well not really a country—more like a massively corrupt family corporation that officially does not allow Jews to set foot on its soil, and soaks its people in the most ghastly Jew-hatred imaginable.

But the Saudis have a peace plan.

These people who condemn a gang rape victim to be whipped .

Yes, we're supposed to listen to their geo-political wisdom.

Who else is coming to Annapolis?

Algeria.

Oh goody. Now there's a model of state craft. Not a Jew left in Algeria. You know why? Because after the blood-soaked Algerian revolution against France the Muslims murdered or expelled the entire ancient Algerian Jewish community. Any reparations ever paid for property and money stolen?

You have to be kidding.

Who else is coming to Annapolis?

Yemen.

Another model Arab/Muslim state.

But wait, only about 200 Jews, old and infirm, left in this country. And why is that? Oh, you know every Jew expelled. Property and money stolen.

Reparations ever paid to these Jewish refugees?

Not one penny.

Hey, Syria might even show up. They get rewarded for trying to build a nuclear program hand in hand with the peace-loving North Koreans and Persians, which of course would never be used to threaten Israel.

Any Jews in Syria?

About 200, old and infirm.

Like all Arab countries the Syrian Jews were expelled, all money and property seized. Reparations for these Jewish refugees? Zero.

World interest in the 800,000 Jewish/Arab refugees?

Zero.

You know why?

Because Israel gathered them in, and as good Jews took care of them. Unlike the Arab countries who use their so-called Palestinian cousins like pawns to pull focus from festering domestic problems and constantly blame the Jews for, well, everything.

Who else can we expect at Annapolis?

Sudan.

Now there's a diplomatic victory.

Let's follow State Department logic: The Janjaweed militia, Khartoum's official death squads, have murdered somewhere between 200 to 400,000 non Arabs in the past few years. We have no idea how many rapes have been committed by the Janjaweed, nor how many women have been taken as sexual slaves.

There are about a million Darfur refugees.

True refugees; starving, dying people.

Not like the so-called "Palestinian refugees" who are the welfare queens of the U.N., actually of planet earth.

So: according to State Department logic, we're supposed to believe that Sudan, a genocidal, jihadist state, is a truly useful partner regarding Mideast peace talks.

Okay, I'm just a dopey screenwriter, didn't go to Harvard or Yale, but this might be the dumbest thing I have ever heard. It has all the logic of setting free Fatah terrorists, as a quote unquote confidence building measure.

Because if Olmert doesn't set them free, the Arabs might get really pissy and turn to, G-d forbid, terrorism, instead of the peaceful path they have been following.

Anyway, Olmert, Livni and Barak can be counted on to give away everything but a strategic coffee shop or two in Tel Aviv, and so it's up to us to make sure these appeasers don't hand over Jerusalem.

Here's a link. Just follow the instructions.

And here's a simple equation: If we can't summon the political, religious and national will to keep a united Jerusalem, then we certainly will not be able to defend the State of Israel—for Jerusalem is the heart of the Jewish people's identity.

If you believe that a divided Jerusalem will bring peace, well you have a very short memory.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 06:04 PM | Comments (13)

November 20, 2007

Open Season on Jewish Settlers

A Jew has been murdered.

In the land of Israel.

The terrorists will put out the fable that this atrocity was committed in order to derail Annapolis.

This is a tactical ploy to force gullible Israelis to stand up and proclaim that no matter how many Jews are murdered they will sit down and negotiate with the very people who ordered and executed these murders.

The PA play their old double-flag game. They send word down through the ranks to spill some Jewish blood in order to intimidate Israel and the West into making more concessions before negotiations even begin; the implied threat is that there will be greater bloodshed if concessions are not made.

This is how jihadists negotiate—through the business end of a Kalachnikov.

It's madness to sit down with such people.

It's greater madness to contemplate rewarding such thugs with a state.

And of course Mahmoud Abbas, the old Holocaust denier who received his Ph.D from Moscow's Friendship University—impressive!—denies that he's involved in this round of violence; shrugs and says he has no control over this particular group.

He's lying, of course.

The PA finances and controls Fatah's Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the terrorist group who proudly take responsibility for this atrocity.

But Abbas lies and lies and lies some more. That's what he learned from his mentor the serial liar and master terrorist Yasir Arafat.

But let's play a game: let's say Abbas is not lying.

Why would Israel negotiate with a man who has no control over anything?

In fact, there's a joke among the Arabs: Abbas is the President of The Muqata. In case you don't know, The Muqata is Arafat's compound in Ramallah.

Mahmoud Abbas is a simulcram of a leader invented by Ehud Olmert, Tzipi Livni and Condi Rice to convince themselves that there is someone responsible with whom to negotiate. In truth, Mahmoud Abbas is no more substantial than a holograph.

Abbas and the PA are not in control of Gaza. That salient now belongs to Hamas, Hizbullah and a dozen other transnational terrorist gangs and the various rival criminal clans who have carved up the neighborhoods like mini mafias. As for Judea and Samaria, well, only one precinct voted for the PA, the rest are solidly behind Hamas. Only the presence of Israeli citizens and the IDF keeps this soil from descending into familiar Palestinian bloodshed and chaos.

Here's the bitter truth about Abbas and the PA: they are effective thieves, liars and killers. Beyond that, they are unable to organize effective garbage pick-ups in a single municipality.

In any case, a Jew has been murdered and the world yawns.

But we at Seraphic Secret are outraged at the murder and the disgusting silence that echoes from the world media. And when they do bother to mention this atrocity, it's tacitly excused through the use of editorial language that cunningly stresses this fine husband and father's status as a "settler."

Fact: America was built by courageous settlers.

When did settler become a dirty word?

When did it become politically correct to murder settlers?

Shame on the left, and so many feckless liberal Jews for torturing language to the point where this word has become a badge of shame.

For in truth each settler is performing a holy mitzvah by settling the Land of Israel.

Jews have the right to live anywhere and everywhere.

I have a prediction.

In a few years, Muslims will declare sections of New York, Tel Aviv, Amsterdam, Paris, London, Los Angeles and Copenhagen, to be Muslim territory, and those who are not part of the Umma will be considered infidels—hence fair game.

What will the citizens of those fine cities do when they find themselves hunted like Jewish settlers?

Thousands of mourners came to Kedumim Tuesday afternoon for the funeral of Ido Zoldan, 29, son of Nachman and Miriam Zoldan, who was killed by Arab gunmen late Monday night as he returned in his car from Karnei Shomron to Shavei Shomron.

Ido (pronounced ee-doe), known affectionately by all who knew him as Idodee, had been studying in chevruta (a study group for Jewish learning) with a friend, and was on his way home when the terrorists riddled his car with bullets.

Gray clouds filled the sky and rain poured down on the funeral. The speakers were the leading spiritual and political voices of the Jewish communities in northern Samaria and in the rest of Judea and Samaria, nearly all of whom knew Ido well, and it was clear that this funeral was unlike others. The voices bespoke deep pain and angry courage. Ido was truly a beloved and inspiring individual.

These are some of the words that were said at the funeral:

Rabbi Tzvi Farbstein, Rabbi of Kedumim: "This is not the family's private grief not; this is not the community's private grief, this is the grief of the Nation of Israel…

"On the day that the government of Israel understands that we have come home after 2000 years and the Land of Israel cannot be bargained over, the terror will be eliminated. On the day that the government of Israel understands that Jewish blood is not free for the taking, the terror will be eliminated. On the day that the government of Israel stops differentiating between moderate murderers and immoderate murderers, between Hamas and other murderers, the terror will be eliminated."

To read the entire story and view the heart breaking pictures please click here.

Baruch Dayan Emet

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 05:42 PM | Comments (6)

November 18, 2007

The Best of the Jewish Blogosphere #141

Haveil Havalim #141 is up and it is titled: The Save Israel Edition.

Yid with Lid has done a fine job of culling and organizing a series of powerful blog posts about the danger of appeasement that grips certain elements of the Israeli government, and of course the usual arch leftists in the Israeli and American communities.

Point out that Israel expelled 9,000 Jews from Gaza in exchange for peace and instead got Hamas and a daily barrage of rockets, the left says: “Give up more territory—and by the way, divide Jerusalem.”

Point out that Hamas promises to crush Fatah and take over Judea and Samaria and the left insists that only further concessions will bring peace—and by the way, divide Jerusalem.

Ignoring the proven reality that concessions only invite further aggression. That the Muslims have a very different view of, ahem, peace.

Ignoring the facts that both Hamas and Fatah deny the legitimacy of Israel's right to exist at all, deny the existence of both Jewish Temples on Har Habayit in Jerusalem, and are now targeting Rachel's Tomb by inventing a religious claim designed to oust the Jewish presence after thousands of years—and the left just shrugs off this cultural and religious atrocity as inconsequential.

Point out that both Fatah and Hamas have vowed to annihilate the entire state of Israel in their official charters and the left shrugs and says one has to pursue peace at all costs—and divide Jerusalem.

Point out that Jerusalem was once divided and it was a disaster for the Jews and the left says it will be different now because the Arabs are so, y'know, peace-loving.

Point out that sometime peace only comes at the end of a gun barrel and you're accused of being a war monger.

It's enough to make a grown man weep.

No wonder the Arabs love the Israeli and American left. At every turn in history, these peace-loving creatures enable tyrants and aggressors—and make the end of Israel and Jews a civilized topic of discussion.

And let's not forget Project Valor-IT Veteran's Day Fundraiser, to provide voice-activated lap-top computers to injured and disabled veterans. Please donate generously. This is a very important tzedakah, charity.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 11:41 AM | Comments (2)

November 15, 2007

Is Israel a Jewish State?

As I put up this post I'm watching the Democrats debating on CNN. They are talking—endlessly—about universal health care.

Frankly, they sound like a bunch of Bolsheviks.

Except for Dennis Kucinich—who sounds like a man who's gulped deeply from the Kool-Aid. Man, when he opens his mouth the other candidates are like: Can somebody puh-leese drop some extremely strong medication on poor Dennis.

They also talk—naively, ignorantly—about ending the war in Iraq.

Helloooo. We're winning the war in Iraq. The surge is working.

But they won't admit that. It's bad for their party. Al Qaeda is on the run, but the Dems will keep playing the Tet Offensive card.

This is cynicism of the highest magnitude.

Memo to John "Hair" Edwards: You keep darkly referencing the "neo-Cons" in the Bush administration. Why don't you just come out and say what you really mean?

Jews.

Memo to Hillary: Don't you ever wear a simple trumpet dress, a nice silk blouse and wool pencil skirt? Something, um, lady like? You know why nobody trusts you?

Two words: pants suit.

You know what the Democrats are not talking about? What they won't dare talk about in any serious manner?

Islamic terror.

They won't even form the words. The Democrats will not discuss the existence of transnational Muslim jihadists who are battering down the walls of Western civilization.

How come?

Well, the Dems, no doubt, have an, ahem, "nuanced view," of the war of terror.

Translation: they are in denial for they are living in 1938; appeasement is a habitual reflex for liberals.

But when it comes to so-called global warming, believe me, there's nothing nuanced about their position. It's quite militant. One might even say: uncompromising. One might even say: fanatic.

It's easy to fight the weather. It's fun to blame big-bad multi-national corporations—boo Haliburton, always works—for polluting mother earth. It's makes everyone feel all so self-righteous and holier-than-thou.

But fighting evil, well, that's way too complicated for the liberal imagination.

Meanwhile, Israel is on the chopping block, and Jeff Jacoby is eloquent on Israel's Jewish character and the Arab Jew-hatred that is intent on delegitimizing Israel and Judaism simultaneously.

In advance of the upcoming diplomatic conference in Annapolis, Israel Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced the other day that he expects the Palestinian Authority to finally acknowledge Israel's existence as a Jewish state. A newly arrived visitor from Mars might wonder why this should even be an issue - after all, Israel is a Jewish state. If the more than 55 countries that make up the Organization of the Islamic Conference are entitled to recognition as Muslim states, and if the 22 members of the Arab League are universally accepted as Arab states, why should anyone balk at acknowledging Israel as the world's lone Jewish state?

Yet Olmert's demand was rebuffed. Saeb Erekat, the senior Palestinian Authority negotiator, said on Monday that Palestinians would refuse to recognize Israel's Jewish identity on the grounds that "it is not acceptable for a country to link its national character to a specific religion."

In fact, there are many countries in which national identity and religion are linked. Argentinian law mandates government support for the Roman Catholic faith. Queen Elizabeth II is the supreme governor of the Church of England. In the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, the constitution proclaims Buddhism the nation's "spiritual heritage." The prevailing religion in Greece," declares Section II of the Greek Constitution, "is that of the Eastern Orthodox Church of Christ."

In no region of the world do countries so routinely link their national character to a specific religion as in the Muslim Middle East. The flag of Saudi Arabia features the shahada - the Islamic declaration of faith - in white Arabic script on a green background; on the Iranian flag, the Islamic phrase "Allahu Akbar" (God is great") appears 22 times. And then there is Erekat's own Palestinian Authority, whose Basic Law provides in Article 4 that "Islam is the official religion in Palestine."....

To read Jeff Jacoby's complete article, please click here.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 05:22 PM | Comments (13)

November 12, 2007

Pogrom and the Silence of the Media

Mobs burn Jewish homes, terrorize Jewish families; there is looting, kidnapping, chaos. Jews end up fleeing homes they have lived in for generations out of fear for their lives.

And the mainstream media imposes a resounding net of silence over the entire atrocity.

In which country did this outrage just happen?

The complete story and pictures: A Pogrom in Israel.

Hat Tip: Seraphic Friend, Jameel at the Muqata.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:07 AM | Comments (3)

November 06, 2007

A Jewish State?

This from the woman who should be Prime Minister of Israel.

The Greek Orthodox Church is one of the largest landholders in Israel. It owns the land on which both the Knesset and the President's residence are built as well as vast land tracts throughout the capital city and the country as a whole. Since the Patriarch oversees those lands, his identity is anything but trivial.

After sacking Irineos, the church held elections for his successor. According to a World Net Daily report, all the candidates were required to sign a letter to the Palestinian Authority pledging, "We, the candidates of the Greek Orthodox Church, hereby agree that…in the event that we are elected, we shall act for the cancellation of all transactions made during the period of Irineos I, and shall keep the Orthodox religious trust."

In keeping with centuries-old practice, for the Greek Orthodox Patriarch to formally assert his authority, he must first receive the approval of all the relevant governments. Today this means he must receive the approval of Jordan, the Palestinian Authority and Israel. After Irineos was ejected from office, Theophilos immediately distinguished himself from his fellow clerics with his enthusiasm for barring Israel and Jews from using church lands. He secured Palestinian and Jordanian backing ahead of the elections by pledging to operate in accordance with Jordanian rather than Israeli law. Jordanian law prohibits all land sales to Jews.

In light of this, it is obvious why, until last week Israel refused to accredit Theophilos. Then too, like the government's response to the anti-Jewish mob violence in Peki'in, the ministerial committee's decision to approve Theophilis's election and so pave the way to formal governmental acceptance of his credentials raises serious questions about the Olmert government's commitment to defending the civil and human rights of Jews and Israel's identity as a Jewish state.

By accepting Theophilos as Patriarch, Israel is siding with its enemies against itself. It is signaling to Israel's antagonists that terror and extortion continue to pay. Just as terror is viewed as the force which compelled Israel to vacate Gaza and south Lebanon, so in the case of the Greek Orthodox Patriarch, Israel's enemies would be justified in believing that their decision to terrorize the church leadership and force it to embrace anti-Semitism and the jihadist aim of ethnic cleansing of Jews from the Holy Land was the right decision.

To read Caroline Glick's complete column, please click here.

Hat Tip: Seraphic Friend, Joel Weisz

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:38 AM | Comments (1)

November 01, 2007

The Report Nobody's Talking About

So: A leading left-wing institute puts together a report to support its notion of dividing Jerusalem, but guess what happens? The report contradicts the institute's core idea and goes on to say that dividing Jerusalem is based on a series of faulty premises.

What happens to such a report?

It is buried.

Honestly, who would have thought the left would stoop to such dishonest tactics?

Even as leading cabinet ministers openly advocate a division of Jerusalem, a new report on the problems inherent in such a move has garnered little attention. This disregard is remarkable for two reasons. The first is the report's provenance: the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies, a respected left-wing research institute that has hitherto been a leading proponent of dividing the capital, and whose proposals have served as the basis for successive Israeli offers to do so from 2000 onward. The second is the report's chief revelation: that the dramatic erosion in what was once a wall-to-wall consensus against dividing Jerusalem has been based almost entirely on faulty premises.

To read the complete article, please click here.

Hat Tip: Seraphic Cholent Friend, Michael Makiri

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 02:35 PM | Comments (4)

The 'Road Map' to National Suicide

All people, Jews or gentiles, who dare not defend themselves when they know they are in the right, who submit to punishment not because of what they have done but because of who they are, are already dead by their own decision; and whether or not they survive physically depends on chance. If circumstances are not favorable, they end up in gas chambers.
– Bruno Bettelheim, Freud's Vienna and Other Essays

Bettelheim, like the Greek poet Homer, understands that the force that does not kill – that does not kill just yet – can turn a human being into stone, into a thing, while it is still alive. Merely hanging ominously over the head of the vulnerable creature, it can choose to kill at any moment, poised lasciviously to destroy breath in what it has "graciously" allowed, if only for a few more moments, to breathe, this force mocks the fragile life it intends to consume. The pitiable human being that stands helplessly before this force has already become a corpse.

Israel, this pitiable human being in macrocosm, is now in a final process of becoming a "thing." Called upon incessantly by our "civilized" world to negotiate with unrepentant terrorists, every prime minister from Rabin to Olmert has proudly agreed to assorted policies of national defeat (arguably, Menachem Begin as well, when one considers the one-sided Sinai surrender – a first example of "land for nothing"). Current Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's idea for Middle East peace is more of the same. Prodded by Washington, which vainly seeks a single American foreign policy success amidst a sea of constant failure, Olmert's best plan has been to ratify another humiliating scheme of national auto-desecration.

The urbane prime minister generously accepts President Bush's proposal for a two-state solution. The only problem is that the Palestinian side does not.

To read the entire article, please click here.

And from Seraphic Friend Shrinkwrapped, this fine essay which is thematically related: The Decline of the West: Mainstreaming anti-Semitism.

Anti-Semitism is like a good paranoid delusion. It explains all of one's problems and disguises all of one's defects. The anti-Semite, like the Paranoid Schizophrenic, need take no responsibility for their own failures, which preserves self-esteem, and also enables and rationalizes the expression of primitive feelings of deprivation, frustration, and rage while preserving one's essential passivity. The anti-Semite, like the Paranoid Schizophrenic, is thus under no obligation to change any of his dysfunctional behavior; in fact, anti-Semitism, as with Paranoid delusions, allows him to remain convinced of his own superiority, moral, ethical, racial, congenital, etc., in the face of abject failure and obstinate reality.

We see this on a daily basis in the anti-Semitic vitriol spewed forth by the Palestinians, Iranians, and other varieties of Middle East anti-Semites, not least of whom are our friends, the moderate Saudis. They are vile but have the decency to express their hatred in undisguised fashion. It is not their fault that various useful idiots in the West (and Israel) ignore what they say and how they act.

More egregious and ultimately more dangerous for Israel and the Jewish people is the minimally disguised anti-Semitism of the urbane sophisticates on the left. Anti-Semitic attitudes and expressions have become acceptable on some of our most prestigious University campuses. Ivy league colleges that find conservative speech (or even merely apostatic liberal speech a la Larry Summers) anathema, have no difficulty offering a platform and hearing to the worst genocidal anti-Semites, like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, or accepting as scholarly work such operationally anti-Semitic tracts as produced by Walt & Mearsheimer. This is more than troublesome.

To read the entire essay, please click here.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 10:47 AM | Comments (0)

October 31, 2007

Diogenes of the Middle East

A fine essay by Soccer Dad on Yosef Kanefsky's proposal for a divided Jerusalem.

In 1967 Israeli leaders no doubt thought that they'd trade some of the land they captured for peace with Egypt and Jordan (and presumably the wider Arab world.) But Israel never assumed that it would be forced to return to its Auschwitz borders. Resolution 242 was worded "from territories" not "from all territories" confirming that assumption. So no, it wouldn't be an honest telling to say that Israeli leaders expected the country to risk international ostracism due to its policies after the 6 Day War. I'm not going to judge Rabbi Kanefsky, but his telling is not accurate.

To read the entire article, please click here.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 06:56 AM | Comments (0)

October 30, 2007

United Jerusalem

An emergency coalition of American Jewish groups has been formed to save a united Jerusalem. In response we expect the Arabs to start rioting and killing Jews in terror attacks—and liberals to start whining about: occupation, refugees, poverty, the cycle of violence, the roots of terrorism, racism, Islamophobia, neo- colonialism, capitalism, truth and um, the Zionist conspiracy.

Did we miss anything?

Oh yes: the legitimate grievances of the Muslim world. That's a truly meaningless nugget.

An unprecedented coalition of American Jewish groups has formed on short notice to ensure that united Jerusalem remains Jewish.

Among the member organizations are the National Council of Young Israel, the Orthodox Union, the Rabbinical Council of America, Emunah Women of America, AFSI, Hineni, AJOP (Outreach), NCSY, Poalei Agudath Israel of America, ZOA, and more. More organizations are set to join in the coming days.

The formation of the coalition marks the first time since the establishment of the State of Israel that a significant group of American Jewish organizations has united in opposition to Israeli government policy; many of the member organizations are among Israel’s most loyal and active supporters.

Please click here for the complete article.

And this from the usually divided Knesset:

More than half of Knesset Members from both the opposition and the coalition factions have signed a petition against plans to hand over parts of Jerusalem to the Palestinian Authority.

The document rejects plans to relinquish Israel’s sovereignty over holy sites in the Old City and the City of David, just outside the Old City walls, as well as possible intentions to give eastern Jerusalem’s Arab neighborhoods to the PA.

Likud MK Yisrael Katz and other Likud MKs spearheaded the drive, and they were quickly joined by nearly 30 coalition MKs, including thirteen members of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s own Kadima party and all of Shas.

Two Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel Our Home) MKs, David Rotem and Esterina Tartman, signed the petition, as did Yoram Marciano of Labor - the only Labor MK to do so. Four ministers also signed the petition, including Yaakov Edry and Ze’ev Boim of the Kadima party, and two others from the Gil Pensioners’ party.

To read the rest of the article, please click here.

Looks like Yosef Kanefsky is, um, in the minority. What a stunner. Here's Elder of Ziyon's take-down of Kanefsy's call for putting Jerusalem on the table.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 06:42 PM | Comments (0)

Targeted Killings

On the heels of the article by Lieutenant General Yaalon about Ethical Dilemmas in Counterterrorism, here's a fascinating article that deals with real world ethical problems Israel faces every single day, every single hour. Essential reading.

On Saturday morning, Sept. 6, 2003, six F-16s were waiting off the coast of Gaza. Mofaz, the defense minister, sat in his office and changed the channel on his TV from CNN to live footage of Gaza from a reconnaissance drone. By noon, several Hamas leaders had arrived at the home of Marwan Abu Ras, a religion professor who was also a Hamas activist. The Israeli cameras zoomed in to catch the details.

"Some came on foot, some came by car, some parked far away and walked," Mofaz recalled. "They covered their faces with kaffiyehs and wore flowing clothes so they'd be hard to track."

A Shin Bet agent in the command center called out the identities of the men. "It was the 'Who's Who' of Hamas," said Gabi Ashkenazi, then Yaalon's deputy. "People we'd been hunting for years."

"It got intense," Yaalon recalled. "The reports -- 'Here comes Mohammed Deif.' 'Here comes Adnan al-Ghoul.' 'Here comes Ismail Haniyeh.' They said the names, I pictured each one, and I pictured blown-up buses and disco bombings, and shootings, murders of children, and kidnapped soldiers."

Gallant, the prime minister's adviser, called Sharon at his ranch and told him about the extraordinary gathering. "We're talking about people responsible for killing hundreds of Israelis," Gallant said. "They're planning on killing hundreds more."

Sharon was setting up for his grandson's sixth birthday party. He asked, "Are the planes ready?"

In Gaza, the last Hamas member arrived in a white station wagon. Dichter himself had arrested him twice, "with these hands," he said, holding up thick, calloused fingers. It was Sheik Ahmed Yassin, a paraplegic and Hamas spiritual leader. As his wheelchair disappeared into the house, an agent called the sheik by his code name: "the Carcass."

Yaalon said to the air force chief: "Ready?"

To read the entire article, please click here.

Hat Tip: Seraphic Friend Soccer Dad

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:38 AM | Comments (2)

October 29, 2007

Kanefsky: Flower Child

Karen writes:

Liberals like Rabbi Kanefsky do harm by providing fodder for our enemies, thus betraying the cause of Klal Yisroel. But, at their core, they are not Hamas, they are Woodstock children who never grew up. They should not be in positions of leadership or power, for they are just foundlings. They use "magical thinking"—if they wish things to be so, if it seems to be the good thing to be self destructive and weak, and it feels good, than by, G-d, let's do it!

Who cares what the consequences are. It doesn't matter what the facts on the ground are, what realpolitik demands, what history has proven. What really counts is what makes us feel self-righteous and good. The one word that describes Rabbi Kanefsky is: immature.

The naivete that leads a flower child to instruct her offspring to lie on the ground and tell the bully who has terrorized him, “Hey, come on, I should be honest with you, I've taken some self defense courses and I might beat you this time. I thought it only fair to warn you.”

Grow up Rabbi Kanefsky.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 05:17 PM | Comments (9)

Ethical Dilemmas in Counterterrorism

A fine article by Lieutenant General Moshe Yaalon, former Chief of Staff of the Israeli Defense Forces.

Over the course of the past six decades, the reason for the existential threat to Israel has remained unchanged: The refusal of many, if not most, governments and peoples in the Middle East to accept the existence of the Jewish state. The nature of that threat, however, has undergone a dramatic evolution. In recent years, we have witnessed a shift from conventional warfare--that is, wars between armies and states--to “subconventional” warfare (such as terrorism and crude rockets) and superconventional warfare (such as missiles and weapons of mass destruction). Accompanying this change has been a profound political-ideological shift, from the prominence of nationalist-secular movements to that of religious-jihadist ideologies.

This new type of warfare, and the ideology that fuels it, are defined by the intent to kill civilians. Terrorism, rockets, missiles, and WMDs all avoid engaging the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) directly, aiming instead at the general Israeli population. The groups that exploit these methods of warfare do so partially because they know they cannot emerge victorious from a direct confrontation with the IDF. They do so primarily, however, because of their belief that Israeli society is the weakest link in Israel’s national-security chain. And indeed, attacks on Israeli civilians--and the military retaliation they provoke--are the kind most likely to arouse critical moral dilemmas for both the Israeli military and the democratic society it seeks to protect.

Faced with this new kind of warfare, military decision makers at every level, from the chief of staff down to the regular soldier, are forced almost daily to make choices of the most extreme kind--namely, those that will cost lives. In order to grasp the true difficulty, even impossibility, of these choices, it is first necessary to understand what the IDF has been up against in recent years.

To read the rest of Lieutenant General Yaalon's fine article from Azure, please click here.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 03:40 PM | Comments (3)

October 26, 2007

Pull the Plug on Fatah

Seraphic Secret would like to go into Shabbat with this fine article by Caroline Glick—who really should be the Prime Minister of Israel.

In this essay, Glick only strengthens Seraphic Secrets simple equation:

Hamas is Fatah.
Fatah is Hamas.

Once this simple reality is understood, Israel's choices are radically focused and the only open road is war—then victory.

All other options lead to defeat, either in a terrifying nuclear flash by way of Persia, or death by a thousand cuts through slow-motion appeasement.

In any case, Israelis must put aside all thoughts of negotiating with jihadists, a western illusion, and prepare for all-out war sometime in the next few years. A war that will not end with some desperate, petro-dollar international cease-fire to save Arab honor, but an unconditional surrender where the Arab street realizes that he has, once again, lost and been beaten into dust by Jewish soldiers.

Israel has made the mistake, time and again, of trying to make war, well, nice. This is not only foolish, it leads her enemies to hold Israel in contempt.

As Winston Churchill said, “The surest way to end a war quickly is to lose it.” Israel seems in a great hurry to lose an existential battle against her Arab enemies.

It is all well and nice to show restraint against harming enemy civilians, but when reticence is paid for by the lives of your own citizens it is no longer restraint—it is national suicide.

When the Arabs in Gaza elected Hamas as their official government, they enthusiastically chose a group whose official charter calls for the annihilation of the State of Israel and the death of Jews everywhere. In fact, part of the Hamas charter is based on the notorious Tsarist forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

The Arabs of Gaza knowingly and freely elected a genocidal government.

They are not innocent civilians, rather enablers and cheerleaders of state terror and murder. Fatah is no different. Their charter is much the same.

It is time for the world to allow the Arabs of Gaza, Judea and Samaria to take full responsibility for their political and military choices.

Last week the Zionist Organization of America published a full-page ad in The New York Times that showed clearly Fatah is a terrorist organization dedicated to Israel’s destruction. The ZOA quoted ten articles of Fatah’s charter that reject Israel’s right to exist and call explicitly for Israel’s destruction.

Following the publication of the ZOA ad, Members of Congress Shelley Berkley (D- Nevada) and Roy Blunt (R-Missouri) co-sponsored House Resolution 758, which demands that Fatah abrogate the offending articles of its charter. The resolution specifically notes that in addition to presiding over an organization whose charter commits it to destroying Israel, in October 2006 Abbas stated that “It is not required of Hamas, or of Fatah, or of the Popular Front to recognize Israel.”

The resolution also recalls that in February 2007 Abbas signed the Mecca Agreement with Hamas that established a “unity government” between Fatah and Hamas dedicated to “confronting the occupation.” Moreover, Resolution 758 notes that in May 2006, Abbas accepted the so-called Prisoners Plan. That plan, written by jailed terrorists, called for Hamas and Fatah to collaborate in their terror war against Israel.

To read the entire article from The Jewish Press, please click here.

Karen and I wish you all our friends a lovely and meaningful Shabbat.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 02:32 PM | Comments (2)

October 25, 2007

University of Delaware Campus Bigots

This is not just about academic freedom. This is about Arab bigotry and how anti-Zionism and Jew-hatred have become legitimized forms of expressions in the groves of academia. The University of Delaware have acted disgracefully. No surprise. We have no doubt that Saudi money is being shoveled into their, ahem, Middle Eastern studies dept.

Yesterday, the University of Delaware asked Asaf Romirowsky to step down from an academic panel at the University of Delaware because another panelist, University of Delaware political scientist Muqtedar Khan, didn't want to share the podium with anyone who served in the Israeli Defense Forces. Romirowsky, who holds joint American/Israeli citizenship and lives in Philadelphia, had been invited to join Khan, his colleague in political science, Stuart Kaufman, a staff member of the National Security Council during the Clinton administration, and a graduate student to discuss anti-Americanism in the Middle East. The program was organized by the College Republicans, the College Democrats, and the Students of Western Civilization Club. The Leadership Institute provided the funds for the panel, which met on the University of Delaware campus on Wednesday evening. The students offered Romirowsky the opportunity to come to campus next week and speak alone, with no other panel members who might object to his presence.

To read the entire article by Michael Rubin, please click here.

Hat Tip: Winfield Myers, Director Campus Watch at the Middle East Forum in Philadelphia.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 04:14 PM | Comments (15)

Coordinating Council on Jerusalem

Jewish Leaders Initiate International Effort to Keep the Jewish Capital Secure, Intact and United

NEW YORK, NY (October 24, 2007) - We are proud to announce today the formation and launch of The Coordinating Council on Jerusalem, for the purpose of uniting American Jewish organizations on behalf of a secure and unified Jerusalem. Rabbi Pesach Lerner, Executive Vice President of the National Council of Young Israel, founded the initiative as a united public front of Jewish American organizations towards the principle of keeping Jerusalem united. It has been endorsed by hundreds of Jewish leaders in the Diaspora and Israel.

Recently, in preparation for next month's Annapolis summit with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, ministers of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government put forth their view that Jerusalem was negotiable and opened the door to concessions of parts of Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount, world Judaism's holiest and most revered site. Following his ministers' remarks, Olmert himself questioned the value of maintaining Jewish sovereignty over certain Jerusalem neighborhoods. As a result, Jewish leaders around the world are coalescing around a simple bottom-line position: World Jewry opposes Israeli negotiations which would include any discussion of ceding sovereignty over part or all of Jerusalem.

Realizing the historic breach and potentially tragic significance of these ministers' position, as well as the pivotal role being played by the US Secretary of State, Rabbi Pesach Lerner, a well-known leader of numerous Israel-related campaigns, immediately recruited Jeffrey Ballabon, a nationally known strategist with expertise in issue campaigns, crisis management and government relations (www.ballabongroup.com) to recommend and execute a broad-based international strategy to ensure continued Jewish sovereignty over all of Jerusalem. As a first step, the two called for the creation of a body to coordinate and leverage efforts in Israel and the Diaspora to secure Jewish interests in Jerusalem's future.

The formation of the Coordinating Council marks the first time since the establishment of the State of Israel that a significant group of American Jewish organizations have created a broad united front to pursue a policy directly involving Israel that is based on an explicit principle that supersedes deference to the sitting Israeli government. Notably, many of the organizations on the Coordinating Council are among the State of Israel's most loyal and active supporters.

Within hours of the announcement of their intent to create the Coordinating Council, Lerner and Ballabon were contacted by dozens of Israeli groups which also have decided to coordinate their efforts with the Council.

"Jerusalem has been the epicenter of the Jewish People for 3,000 years. It is the inheritance of Jews everywhere and for every generation. Even the suggestion that Jerusalem could be divided is appalling to a majority of Israelis and the global Jewish community," said Rabbi Lerner. "The Coordinating Council on Jerusalem is an unprecedented display of unity. Every organization is setting aside other priorities and agendas and differences to unify around the future of Jerusalem. We are committed to helping each other to ensure that all of Jerusalem remains the capital of the Jewish People.

"Preserving an undivided Jerusalem is a paramount issue not only for Israelis, but for the worldwide Jewish Community. This is not a decision any Israeli government can make unilaterally. Jerusalem belongs to all Jews, even those not living in Israel, and their opinion matters."

Adds Ballabon, "We are gratified by the overwhelmingly positive response to the creation of the Coordinating Council on Jerusalem. Each organization on the Coordinating Council is a responsible national or international organization and each is exercising crucial leadership for their constituencies on the issue of the preservation of Jerusalem. The threat is grave and what is at stake for all Jews is incalculable and irreplaceable. By uniting and coordinating, members of the Coordinating Council are sending a message of unmistakable unity, unshakable commitment and a determination to succeed."

Leaders of the Coordinating Council on Jerusalem have scheduled meetings with members of Congress and White House officials in the coming weeks, as well as with Israeli government officials and members of Knesset.

The Coordinating Council on Jerusalem, currently in formation, includes Americans for a Safe Israel, Association for Jewish Outreach Programs, Emunah of America, Hineni, Jerusalem Reclamation Project, National Conference of Synagogue Youth, National Council of Young Israel, One Israel Fund, Poalei Agudath Israel of America, Rabbinic Alliance to Save Jerusalem, Rabbinical Alliance of America, Rabbinical Council of America, Religious Zionists of America, Russian Jewish Community Foundation, Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations (OU), Unity Coalition for Israel, Young Israel Council of Rabbis, and Zionist Organization of America.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:04 AM | Comments (2)

October 24, 2007

Israel Besieged

By Esther Levens

Israel Unity Coalition

The American administration’s new peace initiative in the Middle East is based on wishful thinking.

Late reports tell us that Mahmoud Abbas is making more demands before agreeing to attend the Summit to be sponsored by the US, in Annapolis, MD. Condoleezza Rice is determined to conclude an agreement with Abbas, who will promise “peace” in exchange for every conceivable tangible demand from Israel.

Besides almost all of Judea, Samaria and Gaza, half of Jerusalem, the entire Temple Mount, right of return of four million Palestinian refugees, border areas from before the Six Day War, freedom for all PA prisoners, the right to open Palestinian institutions in Jerusalem, return of the terrorists deported from the Church of the Nativity, and immediate retreat to the September 2000 lines (these are the lines from which the Arabs launched the second intifada, in which Yasser Arafat and Abu Mazen's Fatah terrorists killed more than 1,000 Israelis); in addition, they demand the execution of the third stage of the Oslo Accords, an end to building in the settlements, and cessation of the construction of the Mughrabi Bridge in Jerusalem.

Weak Israeli leadership is putting Israel’s future at risk. Since Oslo, Israeli concessions have routinely led to increased violence. Israel is being pressured to return to the 1967 green line, give up land acquired in Arab-initiated wars and accept millions of Palestinian refugees. The United States is propping up Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as a peace partner, even though he is manipulated by the terrorist organization Hamas, which now controls the Palestinian territories after winning democratic elections.

Israel is threatened from all sides. Iran is waging a proxy war against Israel from both Gaza and Lebanon and openly says they will use a nuclear bomb to destroy the country. Currently, since Israel withdrew from Gaza, Palestinians continue to launch rockets and terrorist attacks into Israel. When Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon, Hezbollah amassed thousands of rockets along the border, then provoked a war with Israel. As more land is given to Radical Islamists, this trend will most likely continue.

The original Palestinian refugees numbering in the thousands have grown to 4 million. If Israel admitted them, Jews would quickly become a minority in their own state, which is already 20 percent Arabs who are granted full citizenship rights. No consideration is given the fact that 800,000 Jews (refugees) fled persecution or were expelled from Arab lands after 1945. And of course no mention is ever made of reparations for these refugees.

Israel absorbed the displaced Jewish refugees; at the same time Arab countries forced Palestinian refugees to live in camps on their borders, breeding poverty, hatred and terrorism. To date, the only Arab country that accepts Palestinians as citizens is Jordan. And 70% of the people in Jordan are Palestinians, making Jordan essentially a Palestinian state.

The underlying problem is the fact that the Arab states and their terrorist organizations, including al Qaeda, Hamas, Fatah, Hezbollah, PLO, al aksa Martyrs Brigade, PFLP, etc. do not accept Israel’s right to exist and openly call for her destruction. Israel represents only one front in the Arab Islamists’ war to create an international caliphate

The upcoming Annapolis Summit simply plays into the hands of the ultimate goal to eradicate the State of Israel by creating a 23rd Arab state. If history repeats itself, the new state will doubtless become one more terrorist stronghold in advancing the global Islamic Jihad aimed at world conquest.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:20 AM | Comments (1)

October 22, 2007

Without Illusions

Fine analysis by Barry Rubin on the illusions of Middle East strategy in the West.

The alternative Western view of Middle East strategy—so influential in academic, media, and to some extent diplomatic circles—has a six-point program that boils down as:

Make deals with Iran, Syria, Hamas, and Hizballah; ally with Muslim Brotherhoods; and split Iran and Syria.

Those more extreme who advocate this approach are sympathetic to these forces, seeing them as more misunderstood victim than aggressive oppressor; the more moderate among them merely think the radicals can be moderated through concessions and confidence-building measures. In other words, they are not really adversaries but either already good guys or can be converted into playing that role.

By this analysis, those who claim these radical regimes and movements are dangerous due to their radical ideology, violent methods, and totalitarian goals are standing in the way of solving issues quickly, painlessly, and peacefully. They are warmongers perpetrating needless conflicts.

This analysis generates tremendous anger against the United States and Israel or anyone else who tries to explain that this approach will not work.

Too read the entire article, please click here.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:02 AM | Comments (2)

October 20, 2007

Show of Force

Superb article by Noah Pollak in Azure on why Israel gets annihilated in the court of world opinion.

On June 9, 2006, a beach in Gaza was rocked by an explosion that killed seven members of a Palestinian family. Shortly afterward, Palestinian Authority television released a horrific video showing a 10-year-old girl shrieking amidst the dead bodies on the beach, and Palestinian hospital workers and spokesmen angrily blamed Israel Defense Forces (IDF) artillery fire for the deaths--even though no investigation had been conducted, and the Palestinian accusers had no way of knowing what caused the explosion. The exultant declarations of an Israeli massacre were reported as fact in newspapers and television broadcasts around the world; human rights groups joined in the condemnations; and once again Israel found itself the object of international outrage over the issue of civilian casualties.

If this story and its origins fit a predictable pattern, so did Israel's reaction to the crisis: The IDF immediately ceased military activity in Gaza, and Israeli officials at the highest levels reflexively assented to the IDF's culpability and promised an investigation of the incident.

The last chapter of the story is equally familiar: It was ultimately determined that the Palestinians on the beach were not killed by the IDF. Rather, Hamas had mined the section of beach where the explosion occurred, hoping to defend their arsenal of Kassam rockets against Israeli commando missions. After the explosion, Hamas men combed the beach, removing shrapnel that could be used as evidence. The sensational video that captured the sympathies of credulous journalists and set off a wildfire of opprobrium turned out, upon objective evaluation, to be a mangled skein of spliced footage and puzzling anachronisms. It was, in other words, a fake. The explosion itself occurred some ten minutes after the last IDF artillery shell had been fired into the area, and the shrapnel found in the victims' bodies was not from Israeli munitions. Hamas, in a sloppy attempt at defending Gaza, had almost certainly killed its own citizens.

In the end, none of the exculpatory evidence mattered in the least: Israel had been tried and convicted in the court of world opinion in the first few days after the incident. And, as has happened so often before and since, Israeli officials had helped their enemies make their case.

To read the rest of the article, please click here.

Hat Tip: Seraphic Friend David Suissa

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:16 PM | Comments (6)

October 08, 2007

Olmert: the New Judenrat

In every generation the Jewish people are cursed with turncoats. There are also meshumadim, apostates; those who subjugate their own people in the name of love, universal brotherhood, world peace and security.

There have been military defectors, opportunists like Flavius Josephus. Read his work and you will find that this traitor has one main theme running throughout his histories: the Jews alone are responsible for their disasters. The Jews are responsible for all the ills that have befallen them. The vast slaughter, the near genocide visited upon the Jewish communities of Israel by the Roman legions was, according to Josephus, the sole responsibility of the Jews. They asked for it; they got what they deserved. The Romans, a civilized nation, were driven to slaughter by the zealot Jews.

The thirteenth century convert Pablo Christiani, enthusiastically helped the church persecute the Jewish people, his former co-religionists. Once again, this traitor claimed that the Jews brought disaster on themselves, this time through the evils of the Oral Law.

Karl Marx was another Jewish renegade who singled out his people for a particularly wicked brand of attack. The Jews, claimed Marx, were the most evil capitalists on the face of the earth. Again, the pattern persists. The Jews are the source of the prime evil that stalks the earth. For Marx it is, of course, capitalism. Thus, every evil that befalls them is historically justified.

During World War II, this Jewish renegade reached his apotheosis in the human monster known as Mordechai Rumkowski.

Here is an excerpt from his infamous speech: The Deportation of the Children from the Lodz Ghetto:

But as we were guided not by the thought: "how many will be lost?" but "how many can be saved?" we arrived at the conclusion – those closest to me at work, that is, and myself – that however difficult it was going to be, we must take upon ourselves the carrying out of this decree. I must carry out this difficult and bloody operation, I must cut off limbs in order to save the body! I must take away children, and if I do not, others too will be taken, God forbid...

Rumkowski too blames the Jews. They have not cooperated with their torturers with sufficient enthusiasm.

Even worse, complains Rumkowski, King of the Jews, these ungrateful wretches refuse to make common cause with the Judenrat.

Finally, Rumkowski threatens to kill any Jew who does not properly cooperate in their own extermination.

And now we have the leftist appeasers and their leader Ehud Olmert, the spiritual offspring of Josephus and Rumkowski; here is a Jew who is not a Jew, a Jew who is ready to do the unthinkable, prepared to divide the holy city of Yerushalayim, ready to surrender the heart of Judaism—all in the name of a political illusion, a chimera we have seen fail time and again.

Of course, Olmert blames the Jews.

He indicts Torah Jews.

He blames the settlers.

He condemns those Jews who believe that Mahmoud Abbas, the elected Prime Minister of the so-called Palestinian people is not a moderate.

Olmert blames those Jews who are suspicious of a man whose Ph.D, received from, get this, the Peoples Friendship University in Moscow, for a dissertation on "secret relations between Nazism and the leadership of the Zionist movement" in which Abbas argues that "Zionists encouraged Nazism in order to gain sympathies for Jewish immigration to Palestine, and that after the war, with the same purpose, Zionists vastly inflated the number of Jewish Holocaust victims."*

But for Olmert & Company, the Jews who point out that Mahmoud Abbas is in fact an IslamoNazi, well such Jews are the true enemy.

Who else are Olmert's enemies? Jews who recite the following Tehillim:

ה אִם-אֶשְׁכָּחֵךְ יְרוּשָׁלִָם-- תִּשְׁכַּח יְמִינִי. 5 If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.
ו תִּדְבַּק-לְשׁוֹנִי, לְחִכִּי-- אִם-לֹא אֶזְכְּרֵכִי:
אִם-לֹא אַעֲלֶה, אֶת-יְרוּשָׁלִַם-- עַל, רֹאשׁ שִׂמְחָתִי. 6 Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I remember thee not;
if I set not Jerusalem above my chiefest joy.

— Psalm 137

Olmert's greatest enemies are Jews who make speak common sense, common political sense.

For instance: Jews who argue that returning land to the Arabs will bring peace is demonstrably false.

Judea and Samaria had been in Arab hands before the combined attacks of Egypt, Syria and Jordan in 1967—a war, declared Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, whose sole purpose is to "push the Jews into the sea."

For those of you who don't speak Arabic this is the language of genocide.

There can be no serious argument for peace in return for land—not after Gaza.

The disputed territories are in Israel's hands because of protean and terminal Arab aggression.

Now, please try and understand the following logic:

These disputed territories cannot retroactively become its cause.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office on Monday morning denied the report in Al-Quds al-Arabi that he and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas had agreed to transfer the Temple Mount's holy sites to Jordanian custody.

The Prime Minister's Office said that no agreement had been reached on the holy sites in Jerusalem.

According to the report in the London-based newspaper, Olmert and Abbas had agreed that the Temple Mount sites would be under Jordanian jurisdiction in a final peace deal, and Jordanian citizenship would be granted to 90,000 east Jerusalem residents.

To read the entire story, and we suggest you keep a barf bag handy, please click here.

Hat Tip: Seraphic Chaver, Kishke

Seraphic Friend Jameel over at The Muquata blogs passionately about Olmert's plan to divide the heart of the Jewish people.

Mere Rhetoric points out that the Arabs demand Israel's destruction as a condition to all negotiations. And Prime Minister Olmert, bless his leftie heart, sees no problem in this moderate demand.

* Source: Mahmoud Abbas, The Other Side: The Secret Relations Between Nazism and the Leadership of the Zionist Movement, Friendship University, (Moscow, 1983), trans. Simon Wiesenthal Center, Los Angeles.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 11:40 AM | Comments (20)

October 03, 2007

The Al Durah Blood Libel

When Daniel Pearl was beheaded, the jihadists in the death video noted as one of their grievances, the murder of little Muhammed al Durah by Israeli soldiers.

The second intifada got a kick start with al Durah's "martyrdom."

Osama bin Laden made reference to Muhammed al Durah in one of his cave videos.

There are al Durah streets and boulevards in almost every Arab capital.

But the al Durah murder never happened.

It was another Pallywood production.

Here's an invaluable thirteen minute video with commentary. Birth of an Icon.

Where is Muhammed al Durah?

Probably in a madrassa in Pakistan.

Charles Enderlin, the French reporter who broke the story, used 59 seconds of footage shot by Palestinian cameraman Talal abu Rahmah that shows a cowering father and son against a cinder block wall, under fire, Enderlin claims, by merciless Israeli soldiers.

And then, little Muhammed dies. It is horrible and one can only recoil from the horrific imagery.

But if you look at the footage, there is no blood. None. Zero. It is a grotesque set-up designed to inflame and incite violence against Israel and anyone who supports Israel, for who can speak up in defense of cold-blooded child killers.

Further investigations revealed that Israeli soldiers, positioned and angled as they were, could not possibly have shot at the father and son. The bullets could only have come from Arab gunmen.

French reporter, and let's face it, a man whose work reveals a profound bias against Israel, Charles Enderlin has withheld footage from the shooting for seven years, claiming that he does not want the footage to be used for "partisan purposes."

In plain language this means the out-takes reveal that the shooting was produced by Palestinian terrorists in collaboration with cameraman Talal abu Rahmah, and once viewed the Israelis would be exonerated.

For Enderlin and his supporters, truth is now a partisan issue.

Stepahine Gutmann writes in depth about the al Durah affair in Chapter Two of her important and timely book, The Other War: Israelis, Palestinians and the Struggle for Media Supremacy. As I have said before, Gutmann's book is an eye-opener about the corruption and bias of the mainstream media in their coverage of Israel.

Tirelessly, Professor Richard Landes has written of the al Durah blood libel. Courageously and with laser-like precision Landes has hammered away at Charles Enderlin, the French TV Network that employs Enderlin, and the left-wing Israelis who are content, if not anxious to shoulder the blame for the make-believe death of a child. Anything to suggest that occupation is the root cause of all conflict and hatred in the region.

In truth, Israel's existence, and a Jewish presence in the Middle East is the religious grievance that is at the root of jihad. All else are convenient fig-leafs to make western liberals comfortable as they enable Jew-hating jihadists.

Natan Sharansky published this article, Palestinian Propaganda Coup, in The Wall Street Journal.

Last month, a French court heard an appeals case whose forthcoming verdict will have far-reaching ramifications for all who value truth and accuracy in Middle East news reporting. The case involves Philippe Karsenty, a French journalist and media commentator, who was found guilty of defamation after he called for the firing of two France 2 Television journalists responsible for the Sept. 30, 2000, news report on the alleged killing of a 12-year-old Palestinian boy, Mohammed al-Dura, by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

It has been seven years since France 2 Television broadcast the excruciating footage of Mohammed and his father Jamal crouching in terror behind a barrel in Gaza’s Netzarim Junction while, according to the report, under relentless fire from IDF soldiers. The 59-second clip, which ends with the boy apparently shot dead, was presented around the world as an unambiguous case of Israeli savagery.

The tape fanned the flames of what became known as the second intifada. The boy Mohammed was the iconic martyr, his name and face gracing streets, parks and postage stamps across the Arab world. His memory was invoked by Osama bin Laden in a jihadist screed against America, and in the ghastly video of the beheading of American Jewish journalist, Daniel Pearl.

Shortly following the al-Dura incident, however, a series of inquiries cast grave doubt on the accuracy of the original France 2 report. The official IDF investigation concluded that, based on the position of IDF forces vis-à-vis the Duras, it was highly improbable, if not impossible, that an Israeli bullet hit the boy. Research by the Atlantic Monthly, the New Republic and Commentary magazine concurred. Then a German documentary revealed inconsistencies and probable manipulations in the account of France 2’s lone journalist on the scene that day, Palestinian cameraman Talal Abu Rahmeh.

And yet France 2 refused to release Abu Rahmeh’s full 27 minutes of raw footage. It did, however, agree to let three prominent French journalists view the footage. All three concluded that it comprised blatantly staged scenes of Palestinians being shot by Israeli forces, and that France 2’s Jerusalem Bureau Chief Charles Enderlin had lied to conceal that fact.

Subsequently, alleging gross malfeasance, Mr. Karsenty called for the firings of Mr. Enderlin and France 2 News Director Arlette Chabot. But France 2 stood defiant, suing Mr. Karsenty for defamation.

The defamation trial passed almost unnoticed in Israel, to the apparent detriment of Mr. Karsenty’s case. In his ruling in favor of France 2, judge Joël Boyer five times cited the absence of any official Israeli support for Mr. Karsenty’s claims as indication of their speciousness.

Israel’s decision to stay on the sidelines was unfortunate because the truth always matters. The al-Dura incident wasn’t the only media report to inflame passions against Israel in recent years, but it was the one with the highest profile. Moreover, if, as Mr. Karsenty and others have claimed persuasively, the al-Dura incident is part of the insidious trend in which Western media outlets allow themselves to be manipulated by dishonest and politically motivated sources (recall the Jenin “massacre” that never was, or the doctored Reuters photos from Israel’s war against Hezbollah in 2006), then France 2 must be held accountable.

It is important to note that the al-Dura news report profoundly influenced Western public opinion. When I served in the Israeli government as minister of Diaspora Affairs from 2003 to 2005, I traveled frequently to North American college campuses. I heard first hand how Mohammed al-Dura had shaped the perceptions of young people just beginning to follow events in the Middle East. For many Jewish students, the incident was a stain of dishonor that called into question their support for Israel. For anti-Israel students, the story reaffirmed their sense of Zionism’s innately “racist” nature and became a tool for recruiting campus peers to the cause.

To its credit, Israel has come to recognize that it must play an active role in uncovering the truth. The IDF recently sent a letter to France 2 demanding the release of Talal Abu Rahmeh’s 27 minutes of raw footage, asserting the implausibility of IDF guilt for the death of Mohammad al-Dura, and raising the possibility that the entire affair may have been staged.

Tragically, there is no way to repair the damage inflicted on Israel’s international image by the France 2 report, much less restore the Israeli and Jewish victims whose lives were exacted as vengeance. It is possible, however, to deter slanderous news reporting — and the violence that often accompanies it — by setting a precedent for media accountability via the handover of Talal Abu Rahmeh’s full 27 minutes of raw footage. Encouragingly, the judge presiding over Mr. Karsenty’s appeal has now requested the tapes. France 2 must make a full public disclosure. If there is nothing to hide, why should it refuse?

Mr. Sharansky is chairman of the Adelson Institute for Strategic Studies at the Shalem Center in Jerusalem.

Al Durah archives from Pajamas Media. An excellent resource.

From Professor Landes: French Court Orders Rushes

Israelis (Finally) Go After Enderlin. Be aware, you will need to keep scrolling down to read entire story.

Enderlin Lies

Five Scenarios of the al Durrah Affair

Conversations with Charles Enderlin Ditto, as far as scrolling down to read entire story.

A final note: What is to be done with Charles Enderlin? With his al Durah footage and report he fanned the flames of violence that led to the deaths of hundreds if not thousands of people.

Did Enderlin know that his story was a fraud, another Pallywood hoax designed to bolster the image of Israel and Jews as savages who deserve every homicide bomber that comes their way?

The Talmud teaches us that we never know what's in a man's heart. Thus we can only judge a man by his actions. Charles Enderlin has long known of Pallywood lies. To Professor Landes regarding Palestinian hoax footage he said: “Oh, they do it all the time, it's their cultural style.”

Thus Enderlin reveals that he's racist, holding Arabs and Muslim culture to a low standard of behavior.

He also admits, indirectly, that the Arabs manufacture news stories—lies—but such propaganda is acceptable because, well, it's part of their culture.

Monsieur Multi-cultural Enderlin.

In short, Enderlin's actions betray his motives and biases at every turn. Charles Enderlin assisted an infamous hoax and for seven long years has attempted to cover up his criminal behavior.

Enderlin has blood on his hands. He is an accessory to murder.

Enderlin should be stripped of his Israeli press credentials and then arrested and charged as an accessory to homicide and conspiracy to cover up the evidence of his crime. Failing this Enderlin should escorted into Gaza. Let Hamas have him. They deserve Enderlin and he certainly deserves Hamas.

And France2, the Network that broadcast this footage and has supported Enderlin's cover-up, what is to be done about this network that helped flame jihad? They should be kicked out of Israel. Let every foreign correspondent know that such wretched standards of journalism will no longer be tolerated by the Jewish state.

Freedom of the press does not mean that reporters are free to manufacture blood libels.

In observance of Shmeni Atzeret, Simchat Torah and then Shabbat, Seraphic Secret will be off-line until Sunday. Karen and I wish all our friends joyous holidays, and a lovely and meaningful Shabbat.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 01:15 PM | Comments (8)

September 26, 2007

Last Ramallah Lyncher Arrested

Let's face it, it's been a tough week.

But then I saw this good news and my spirits immediately rose. I just had to share the story with the Seraphic community.

There is some measure of justice.

Mazal Tov to the fine men and women of the IDF intelligence services who tracked down this terrorist after all these years. Let every jihadist know that Jewish blood will be avenged, that we will never forget, never forgive.

Too bad the death penalty in Israel has only been used once—for Adolph Eichmann.

IDF soldiers have arrested the last of the Palestinian Authority (PA) terrorists responsible for the brutal lynching of two IDF reservists in Ramallah seven years ago.

Soldiers apprehended 36-year-old Tanzim terrorist Hayman Zaben in Shechem early Wednesday. Zaben was one of those responsible for bludgeoning to death IDF reservists Vadim Nurzitz and Yossi Avrahami in a PA police station in Ramallah in October, 2000.

The two Israeli reserve soldiers had accidentally entered PA-controlled Ramallah, just six miles north of Jerusalem, and were arrested by PA police. It was once they were in custody that the lynch occurred.

TV images of the lynching show a body of one of the two Israelis being tossed from the police station window to a mob of local Arabs who beat the soldiers’ bodies with anything they could get their hands on. The mob is seen waving body parts in the air and proudly displaying their blood-soaked hands to their comrades.

To read the entire article and to view the lynching video—which is quite graphic and disturbing—please click here.

Karen and I wish all our friends a lovely, joyous and meaningful Succot. Seraphic Secret will be off-line until Sunday for the observance of the holiday of Succot and then Shabbat.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 04:29 PM | Comments (9)

No Peace for Israel

Here's a fine article, originally a radio talk, by Pofessor Paul Eidelberg, on the dangers of appeasement to the jihadists.

We in America should heed these lessons well. Entire swaths of Europe might already be lost, but we still have a chance to stanch the tide. Though judging by the, ahem, progressive response of students and faculty at Columbia—they're just furious at Bollinger's "insulting treatment" of Jew-hater Mahmoud—Columbia University might already be Columbiastan.

Israel is retreating toward its 1949 Auschwitz lines. Many attribute this retreat to Israel’s ardent desire for peace. This desire for peace, however, has resulted in ceaseless Arab terrorism and Israel’s emasculation.

This desire for peace, uttered ad nauseum by Israeli policy-makers and opinion-makers, has stupefied Israelis, emboldened Israel’s enemies; and made Muslims contemptuous of Jews.

Did England’s or France’s desire for peace transform Germans into doves? Germany was the home of humanism, of philosophy and science. Are Muslims more humanistic than the nation that produced Kant, Schiller, Heine, and Einstein?

But let me address Israel’s current political elites: Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Defense Minister Ehud Barak—and of course Israel’s so-called elder statesman President Shimon Peres. These Alice-in-Wonderland politicians would have us believe that withdrawing from Judea and Samaria will pacify Israel’s distraught Arab neighbors—like giving them a daily dose of Prozac.

I ask these peace addicts: Why should you expect peace from Muslims who despise Israel as an outpost of Western civilization that threatens the autocratic power structure of Islamic states?

Why should you expect peace from Arabs who teach their children to hate Jews and exalt suicide bombers? Is it not foolish of you and shameless to negotiate with Palestinians when 85% of these Arabs are committed to Israel’s destruction? What do you want to negotiate—the mode and date of your destruction?

To read the entirie article, please click here.

Hat Tip: Unity Coalition for Israel.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 01:46 PM | Comments (0)

September 23, 2007

Operation Orchard Yields North Korean Nuclear Material

More revelations about Operation Orchard.

Israeli commandos from the elite Sayeret Matkal unit—almost certainly dressed in Syrian uniforms—made their way stealthily towards a secret military compound near Dayr az-Zawr in northern Syria. They were looking for proof that Syria and North Korea were collaborating on a nuclear programme.

Israel had been surveying the site for months, according to Washington and Israeli sources. President George W Bush was told during the summer that Israeli intelligence suggested North Korean personnel and nuclear-related material were at the Syrian site.

Israel was determined not to take any chances with its neighbour. Following the example set by its raid on an Iraqi nuclear reactor at Osirak 1981, it drew up plans to bomb the Syrian compound.

But Washington was not satisfied. It demanded clear evidence of nuclear-related activities before giving the operation its blessing. The task of the commandos was to provide it.

Today the site near Dayr az-Zawr lies in ruins after it was pounded by Israeli F15Is on September 6. Before the Israelis issued the order to strike, the commandos had secretly seized samples of nuclear material and taken them back into Israel for examination by scientists, the sources say. A laboratory confirmed that the unspecified material was North Korean in origin. America approved an attack.

News of the secret ground raid is the latest piece of the jigsaw to emerge about the mysterious Israeli airstrike. Israel has imposed a news blackout, but has not disguised its satisfaction with the mission. The incident also reveals the extent of the cooperation between America and Israel over nuclear-related security issues in the Middle East. The attack on what Israeli defence sources now call the “North Korean project” appears to be part of a wider, secret war against the nonconventional weapons ambitions of Syria and North Korea which, along with Iran, appears to have been forging a new “axis of evil”.

To read the rest of the story, please click here.

This video presentation includes animated scenes reconstructing the raid. Well done.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 11:11 AM | Comments (2)

September 21, 2007

Israel & U. S. Shared Intel for Raid

The latest on Operation Orchard.

Israel and the United States collaborated on intelligence ahead of an alleged IAF raid on a suspected Syrian nuclear site on September 6, the Washington Post reported Friday.

According to the report, Israel informed the US this past summer that North Korean personnel were in Syria to help the country's nuclear program. The intelligence in question reportedly included satellite imagery.

In return, the US provided some sort of corroboration.

To read the rest of the story, please click here.

Well, all this is sort of obvious. The Israeli jets had to have the squawk codes of the American fighters in the region or they would have ended up in a nasty friendly engagement. Also, the Israeli commando unit on the ground in Syria, no doubt, came through Iraq, courtesy of the U.S.

Nevertheless, it's good to know that Israel and America are working so closely together to halt the spread of nuclear arms among the Arab regimes.

This video presentation of Operation Orchard includes animated scenes of the attack.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:58 AM | Comments (2)

September 20, 2007

Jimmy Carter's War Against the Jews

Democrat Jimmy "Jihad" Carter is waging a war against Jews and the State of Israel. This excellent five minute flash video answers every libel the ex-President of the United States has hurled at the State of Israel.

Jimmy Carter: another Democrat the jihadists just adore.

Via: David Horowitz and the Terrorism Awareness Project

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 04:09 PM | Comments (5)

September 19, 2007

Jerusalem Protest Rally Against Olmert

It's about time.

And Seraphic Secret is in Jerusalem.

In spirit.

Okaaaay, we do the best we can.

We will blow our shofar here in Tinsel Town in support of this rally against the leftist appeasers in the Israeli government who would betray the Jewish people to jihadist genociders.

Women in Green is planning a rally Wednesday night in Jerusalem against the plans of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to divide Jerusalem and establish a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria.

The protest has been called by the grassroots nationalist camp organization for 7 PM at Paris Square at the southern end of King George St., a block away from the Prime Minister's residence in the capital. It will be timed to coincide with a dinner meeting between Olmert and visiting U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice.

Those who can blow a shofar (ram's horn) are asked to bring one.

Asked if she is expecting a large turnout for the event, Women in Green co-founder Nadia Matar told Arutz-7, "We know that we have 350,000 people who signed a petition against a Palestinian state, and many more who feel the same way. We also know that in general, only the die-hard activists generally show up for protests like this. This will be our opening shot; we have to get the ball rolling."

A press release for the event states that Olmert and Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah have "already signed an 8-point document which basically calls for the creation of a PLO state in all of Judea and Samaria, the destruction of over 95% of the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, the division of Jerusalem, and the handing over of the Temple Mount to the PLO."

Women in Green quotes Israel's founding Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, as having said:

“No Jew is at liberty to surrender the right of the Jewish Nation and the Land of Israel to exist. No Jewish body is sanctioned to do so. No Jew alive today has the authority to yield any piece of land whatsoever. This right is preserved by the Jewish people throughout the generations and cannot be forfeited under any circumstance. Even if at some given time there will be those who declare that they are relinquishing this right, they have neither the power nor the jurisdiction to negate it for future generations to come. The Jewish Nation is neither obligated by nor responsible for any waiver such as this. Our right to this land, in its entirety, is steadfast inalienable and eternal. And until the coming of the Great Redemption, we shall never yield this historic right.”

The press release likens the historic appeasement in Munich that led to World War II to what is likely to occur following the "appeasement of the Arabs planned for this November" at the US-sponsored international Middle East summit in Washington.

"Whereas the allied powers couldn’t have guessed the extremity of Hitler’s designs," the announcement states, "our leaders have no such excuse. The only honest conclusion twelve years after the Oslo Accords were signed is that the Arabs want war, not peace. The Arabs’ sole and consistent purpose remains the destruction of Israel. Therefore, ongoing peace negotiations have nothing to do with peace.

"History sometimes arrives at climactic junctures that are followed by a point of no return. Once crossed, the momentum leading to disaster becomes unstoppable. We fear that the second Munich conference being planned for this November is such a juncture.

"Israel’s leadership has lost all sense of national responsibility and accountability as it rushes heedlessly down this path. It doesn’t represent the interests of the Jewish people or the Jewish State, but submits willingly to foreign interests and pressures. It has become the accomplice of Israel’s enemies in securing the enemy’s goals."

To read the entire article please go to Arutz Sheva

P.S. Our friend John at the fine military blog Op For has an absolutely hysterical post about Iran's latest threat to attack Israel.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 05:44 PM | Comments (8)

Israel to Adopt Seraphic Secret Security Plan, Maybe

Finally, the State of Israel is paying attention to Seraphic Secret.

Time and again we have urged the State of Israel to switch off the electricity to Gaza, the Palestinian state, a terrorist Islamic entity that sends missiles into Israel every day of the week. A state that is ruled by Hamas, whose Covenant calls for the destruction of the State of Israel, whose charter actually quotes The Protocols of the Elders of Zion as a rock solid source for a world-wide Jewish conspiracy to rule the world.

Seraphic Secret has urged the lame Israeli government to turn off the electricity to Gazastan like a gazillion times.

Okay, they're finally listening.

Sheesh, took long enough.

I just want one thing in return:

An exclusive option to the film and TV rights to the Operation Orchard story.

I'm the man to write and produce that film. In fact, Hollywood will not touch this incredible story, You know why? The good guys are Jews-Israelis and the bad guys are, y'know, Islamist genociders.

Jihadist Muslim Jew-haters are the new fashionable accessories in liberal Hollywood.

Hey, maybe I should chuck this Hollywood gig and start consulting on security matters.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Israel on Wednesday to reconsider its decision to declare the Gaza Strip an "enemy entity," warning that any cutoff of vital services would violate international law and punish the already suffering civilian population.

In one of his toughest statements aimed at Israel since taking the reins of the UN on Jan. 1, Ban said he was "very concerned" at the Israeli government's declaration earlier Wednesday "and its announced intent to interrupt essential services such as electricity and fuel to the civilian population."

"Such a step would be contrary to Israel's obligations towards the civilian population under international humanitarian and human rights law," he said.

"I call for Israel to reconsider this decision," the secretary-general said in a statement read by UN spokeswoman Michele Montas.

The government decided to declare the Gaza Strip an enemy entity on Wednesday, choosing to adopt a plan presented by Defense Minister Ehud Barak during the security cabinet meeting in which it was recommended that electricity be cut off the region's 1.4 million Palestinian residents.

To read the rest of this story, please click here.

Hat Tip: Seraphic Chaver, Kishke

And here's an article from Arutz Sheva that sums it all up rather nicely: How Can the Kassams be Stopped

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 02:12 PM | Comments (9)

Olmert Spins like a Persian Centrifuge

Here's how it works:

Olmert secretly negotiates a deal with Arab Holocaust denier and terrorist leader Mahmoud Abbas. Olmert knows that the terms of the deal are foul, disgusting, but look, he's a leftist political hack so he does what comes naturally: he secretly leaks the secret deal through one of his leftie hack ministers—to test out public reaction.

He wants to see how far he can go—old appeaser that he is—before he's forced to swallow the electric Kool-aid.

Well, the trial balloon goes up, and whoa, it is not well received. The balloon actually explodes. Big time. What a stunner, the Jewish people are deeply, mortally attached to the entire City of Jerusalem; have been for several thousand years.

Really Ehud, didn't you get the memo:

If I forget thee O Jerusalem may my right hand forget her cunning. Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I remember thee not; if I set not Jerusalem above my chiefest joy.

— Psalm 137

So now Olmert AKA Neville Chamberlain is blaming TOG.

The Other Guy.

“It was all Chaim Ramon's plan,” we imagine Olmert saying, “I, as Prime Minister had absolutely nothing to do with negotiating this deal. I was busy, with, um, insider trading.”

Several ministers express outrage at vice premier's letter proposing ceding parts of Jerusalem to Palestinian Authority. Kadima MK warns party could turn into Meretz; Olmert's office says plan does not obligate prime minister.

To read the rest of this article, and to get a good chuckle, please click here.

Hat Tip: Seraphic Chaver, Kishke

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:37 AM | Comments (7)

September 18, 2007

Olmert to Divide Jerusalem

I admit when I'm wrong. I'm enough of a man to step back and take responsibility for my mistakes.

I've libeled Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

I've said that he's not fit to be Prime Minister.

I've said that he's not a strong, decisive leader.

I was wrong.

He's a great leader, a great Prime Minister—for the so-called Palestinian people.

For the Jewish people, he's only suitable to lead some ghetto Judenrat.

This from that fine blog Israel Insider:

The independent Palestinian news agency Maan published a Hebrew document late last week that purports to represent the "principles" apparently agreed on in negotiations between Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. While the offices of both men denied any connection to it, comments by Israeli President Shimon Peres confirm some of the main points. On one of the most controversial points, that Israel has agreed to surrender sovereignty the Old City of Jerusalem, Peres pointedly refused to comment.

To read the entire article, please click here.

The people of Israel must rid themselves of Ehud Olmert, Tzipi Livni and their entire regime of appeasers and fools before Israel is swallowed by a sea of genocidal Jihadists.

Hat Tip: Seraphic Chaver, Kishke

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 02:41 PM | Comments (20)

September 17, 2007

Israel's Deterrence

Several weeks ago, Karen and I invited Omri, of Mere Rhetoric to Casa Avrech to join us for Friday night Shabbos meal. Omri arrived with a bottle of wine, a big smile, and lots of rhetoric.

Actually, not mere rhetoric, but spellbinding Shabbos conversation. Our young friend authors one of the best blogs in the known universe.

Here's Omri's take on the Israeli raid into Syria.

Under the delusion of international assurances and Oslo headiness, Israelis had decided that the era of big wars was over and that the future of Israeli security lay with the IAF. Call it the Don Rumsfeld approach to Middle East security — light, swift units designed to fight in close urban areas. The problem is that—as it turns out—armies still need to use tanks and soldiers to defeat large numbers of enemy tanks and soldiers trying to kill them or invade their territory. And Israel specifically still needs to be able to convince its enemies that not only can it use its tanks and soldiers, but that it's willing to do so. Since Halutz resigned and Ashkenazi took over, the IDF has moved away from the over-reliance on the IAF that had marked Halutz's disastrous tenure.

To read the rest of the article, please click here.

Has anyone noticed that New York Times Jerusalem correspondents Steven Erlanger and Isabel Kirshner have, so far, imposed a near total black-out on the Israeli raid story? Is this because they know that Hamas and Fatah will revoke their press credentials if they write about this daring strike? Or maybe the editorial desk in New York are just not interested in a story that does not lead with collateral damage.

As Stephanie Gutmann points out in her seminal book, The Other War: Israelis, Palestinians and the Struggle for Media Supremacy, Western correspondents, who usually favor Arab victimhood and delusions anyway, are subject to strict censorship and intimidation by the Palestinian authorities. Thus, the news that comes out of the major media outlets is doubly slanted against Israel.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 12:03 PM | Comments (8)

September 16, 2007

The Secret Israeli Raid

Right before Rosh Hashanah I wrote about the audacious Israeli raid deep into Syria—codenamed Operation Orchard—that took out a nuclear cache that North Korea sold to the Iranians. More details of this raid are being revealed and it's clear that when the full details are known it will rank as one of the great military strikes of all time. Israel also inserted ground forces into Syria, a commando unit to direct laser beams on the target.

I can just see the post cards: “Hey, Ma, I'm in Syria. Hope I don't have to stay over Shabbos. It's kinda harsh.”

The Syrians have spent billions of dollars on the latest Russian air defenses, and yet these defenses went dark because the Israelis completely jammed them. If they wanted to, the IDF could have bombed Damascus back to the stone age. Once again, as in the Cold War, Russian technology and training prove ineffectual against the IDF. Putin must be banging his head against the non-existent Berlin Wall. And Puppy Assad, well, he's going to be demanding some coupons back from the Ruskies. “Nothing worked against those Jooz.”

Hey, maybe it's, y'know, a Zionist conspiracy.

Nothing worked.

As Offspring #3 would opine: “Duh.”

Syria is a thugocracy. Officers are promoted based not on merit but on loyalty to the minority Alawite regime, hence every corner of the Syrian military is corrupted by graft and brutal political infighting. Tribal and religious loyalties are all consuming. Mediocrity rules.

Israel is a Democracy, only the best rise to become officers and commandos. In symmetrical warfare, Israel makes dust of her Arab opponents.

Meanwhile, over in Iran, the Mullahs have to be wondering when the Israelis are going to be dropping in for a quick visit. The Persian air defenses are not half as elaborate as the Syrians, and the Persian air force is even worse—really, I'm not kidding—than the Syrian. I suppose the only card Iran will play is trans-national terrorism: killing civilians, taking hostages, hosting another Holocaust denial conference. But in the end, the Israelis are coming, and though the dolts in the U.N. will shout and scream, everyone, including the Sunni Arab world, will sleep a lot easier once the Persian nuclear facilities have been annihilated.

While I was in shul over Rosh Hashanah, others were gathering the threads of this story:

It was just after midnight when the 69th Squadron of Israeli F15s crossed the Syrian coast-line. On the ground, Syria’s formidable air defences went dead. An audacious raid on a Syrian target 50 miles from the Iraqi border was under way.

At a rendezvous point on the ground, a Shaldag air force commando team was waiting to direct their laser beams at the target for the approaching jets. The team had arrived a day earlier, taking up position near a large underground depot. Soon the bunkers were in flames.

To read the rest of the story, please click here.

Today is Tzom Gedaliah, The Fast of Gedaliah. Here's a fine primer for this solemn day.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:10 AM | Comments (19)

September 12, 2007

Rosh Hashanah 2007

Eruv Rosh Hashanah, commonly known as The Jewish New Year, but in truth referred to as Yom Ha-Zikaron, Day of Remembrance, or Yom Teruah, the Day of Sounding the Shofar. Now we are witness to a series of violent assaults on the existence of the State of Israel.

Last Thursday, the Israeli Air Force penetrated deeply into Syrian territory and apparently bombed an Iranian arms shipment that was being transferred to Hizbullah.

However, there is something wrong with this picture.

Iran are constantly arming Hizbullah. It's non-stop. Why would Israel suddenly spring into action and fly over Turkey then penetrate so deeply into Syrian that the IAF were just a few miles from the Iraqi border?

The intel for this raid has been building for months. Security was top-level. The raid was perfectly planned, split-second timing was crucial; this was a daring attack, extremely dangerous and carried potentially serious international blow back.

In truth, Israel had no choice.

The North Koreans have been selling nuclear material to the Syrians. And this cannot stand.

As John, from the invaluable military blog Op For, explained to Seraphic Secret:

This is cause for concern. The hardest part about constructing a bomb is finding grade fissible material. If Iran bought direct from the North Koreans, the Syrians could put together a crude device in short order. Mating it to a delivery system, different story. But who needs missiles and jets when you have a fanatic with a back pack and access to Israeli cities?

There was a second purpose to the Israeli raid, and that was to test Syrian radar and ground defenses. If you check your world maps you'll see that the most direct route from Israel to Iran is over Syria.

Sooner or later Israel must take out the Iranian nuclear facilities.

With the success of this raid the IAF has an excellent portrait of the capabilities of Syrian radar and their reaction times. Syria did not scramble a single jet. Not surprising. Their pilots are grapes; they would be annihilated by Israeli top-guns. Syria would be left without jets or pilots. Assad's regime would be defenseless against an always looming military coup, not to mention Syria's bellicose Arab and non-Arab—Iran—brethren.

North Korea, the hermit kingdom, might be dismantling parts of her nuclear program, but at the same time this cash-starved tyranny is doing a brisk business with Iran and any other trans national jihadist group with hard currency to spare.

This unholy marriage cannot be ignored by Israel. Even the current Israeli government, foolish and ineffectual as it is, recognizes an existential threat when it looks them straight in the eye. It's not hard to mistake the face of a genocidal, Holocaust denying regime.

For the moment, Gazastan, the de facto Palestinian state, must be contained—turn off the power for crying out loud—military might and political treasure must be summoned for the real threat. Indeed the true war lies, as it has for over 30 years, in Persia.

As we move into the most solemn days in the Jewish calendar, Karen and I thank all our Seraphic Friends for your friendship and support. Let us all pray for victory over our common enemies.

Kesivah vachasimah tovah.

Seraphic Secret will be observng Rosh Hashanah and then Shabbat, so we will be off-line until Sunday.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 10:51 AM | Comments (12)

September 10, 2007

Qassam Injures Dozens

Over 40 Israeli soldiers were wounded after a Qassam rocket launched from northern Gaza landed on a military base in the western Negev early Tuesday morning. This is the largest number of casualties to date resulting from a single Qassam attack.

Three rockets were launched at around 1:30 am, from the area of the Palestinian town of Beit Hanoun. Two of the rockets landed in open areas, but one landed in the Zikkim base, about 1 kilometer north of the Gaza Strip, next to a tent containing several soldiers from a battalion in basic training.

Two of the casualties were seriously injured, nine were moderately injured and 30 were lightly injured. The wounded, along with their battalion members, were scheduled to complete basic training mere hours after the attack took place.

To read the rest of the story, please click here.

This attack indicates that that the terrorists have improved their ability to aim the Qassam rockets. These are not pin-point laser munitions, but they don't have to be. They are weapons of terror. Last week the Arab terrorists targeted a children's day care center. Today an army base. Soon the terrorists will improve the Qassam's range and the lethality of these rockets will make them something more than just a weapon of terror.

They will be weapons of slaughter.

I will say it again: It is time for Israel to turn off the power to Gaza. There is no reason for Israel to enable her blood enemies. The so-called Palestinians have received more foreign aid than any other country on the face of the earth. They could have used the money to build an infrastructure, to build an electrical power grid—instead of relying on Israel, their enemies, for electricity.

Instead, the so-called Palestinian leadership stole the money, or used it to buy weapons to kill Jews. But mostly the PA leadership just pissed away billions upon billions of dollars on the most corrupt thugogracy the world has ever seen.

And oh yes, Suha Arafat, Yassir's pretend wife, gets about a million dollars a month to fight on behalf of her beloved Arab brethren from her seventeen-room luxury Paris apartment. It's a tough life—shopping all day long—but somebody's gotta do it.

There is no reason for the IDF to invade Gaza. Just turn off the power and let the terrorist state of Gazastan implode. The citizens of Gaza voted Hamas into power, let them take full responsibility for their free and proud choice.

My good friend David who blogs at Treppenwitz, has a beautiful and clear-eyed view of this attack and the Olmert government's, ahem, stern response.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:15 PM | Comments (11)

Israeli Undercover Grocers Deliver the Goods

A group of undercover Israeli soldiers disguised as Arabs on Friday kidnapped a senior Hamas member of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas' military wing, near the Rafah crossing in the Gaza Strip, Palestinians sources told Hamas' website.

Palestinian sources told Ynet that the man was apparently involved in the kidnapping of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.

The sources said that the undercover soldiers entered the Gaza Strip, and carried out their operation near the Rafah Crossing. According to the sources, the undercover soldiers were disguised as grocers riding a donkey-pulled wagon. Sources said they disguised force even chatted with locals near the crossing.

According to the report, the undercover soldiers approached a plot of land belonging to Muhawesh al-Kadi, a senior Hamas official who acts as spokesman of the organization’s special security forces in Rafah.

Al-Kadi was working his land when the disguised force approached and kidnapped him. The Palestinian sources reported that the operation went quickly and smoothly. The undercover force left Rafah with al-Kadi, and brought him to Israel.

According to the report, the operation was carried out about 2 kilometers from the security fence, in an area where a large number of Hamas gunmen are stationed.

Hamas officials confirmed that this was one of the Israelis' most daring acts and that troops disguised as Arabs had not entered so deep into the Strip for a long time.

At first, Hamas officials believed that al-Kadi was kidnapped by Fatah members on the backdrop of Friday's clashes in the Strip, and ruled out the possibility that it was an Israeli operation due to the distance from the fence and the boosted presence of Hamas gunmen in the area.

Hamas even considered launching an attack on Fatah members, but an inquiry in the area revealed that the man was kidnapped by an Israeli force that left toward Kerem Shalom, where it was guarded by two helicopters.

The IDF's Spokesperson's Office did not respond to the report.

I wonder if they wrapped the terrorist in paper or plastic.

Original story from Ynet News

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 11:27 AM | Comments (8)

September 05, 2007

Towards Catastrophe

Common sense should inform a people that when their enemies promise to liquidate them they should take these threats seriously. Common sense also dictates that when these threats are backed up by hundreds of rockets a month, one does not dismiss these rockets as: "crude," "handmade," or "highly inaccurate." Are they waiting for the technology to improve before they feel that Jewish lives are imperiled? Are they waiting for the limbs of children to be strewn over a bloody playground? Does intent no longer count?

History counts.

And history, especially Arab history, bears out this simple calculus: when Arab/Muslims make threats against Jews, they mean what they say and they always follow through on their threats. Those who dismiss such threats as nothing more than rhetoric, flowery language, are themselves nothing more than racists. I respect our enemies. I take them quite seriously. They mean what they say and they say what they mean. Read the Fatah Constitution. It is quite explicit. It calls for a Palestinian State in all of Israel. After you read this, move on to the Hamas Covenant. It's proudly genocidal in its intentions towards the State of Israel; parts are even based on The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, that notorious Jew-hating forgery drummed up by the Tsar's secret police.

It is all well and nice to call for peace talks, but talk is cheap, and talk is often just a fig-leaf for preparing for war. Tyrants count on extended negotiations to buy time in order to weaken the enemy, break down the morale of democracies, and embolden the so-called peace camps. Hitler adored the appeasers in England and France. Hamas and Fatah have no better friends than Peace Now and other such wretched groups of Jewish Kapos.

The Arabs have been at war with Jews and with Israel since time immemorial. Unfortunately, many Jews refuse to face this uncomfortable fact.

Here's another uncomfortable fact: In a battle against fanatics only another strain of fanatics can meet and defeat such an enemy. Witness Spain, Sicily, and certain parts of the Balkans; these were highly religious, national and tribal cultures which succeeded in driving back the sword of Islam. The Catholic reconquest of Spain could only have been achieved by an overriding religious ethos to counteract imperial Islam.

Tragically, this simple truth is too much for some Jews and Americans to bear, hence they prefer national suicide.

Now, let's hear from Michael Freund who is afraid, very afraid:

Is anyone out there awake? I'm beginning to suspect that the recent end-of-summer heat wave has lulled many of us into a peaceful snooze, so much so that we have become virtually oblivious to some rather important and far-reaching developments.

By any standards, the headlines of the past few weeks should have sparked a furious public outcry, accompanied by stormy demonstrations, irate parliamentary debates and massive protests and letter-writing campaigns.

But there has been none of that, nary a peep, as the prime minister of the State of Israel secretly negotiates away much of the country and its strategic assets.

What has happened to our sense of outrage? In the wake of his meeting with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas last week, reports surfaced that Ehud Olmert had discussed wide-ranging concessions such as dividing Jerusalem, uprooting dozens of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria and forgoing Israeli sovereignty on the Temple Mount.

To read the rest of Michael Freund's article, please click here.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:08 AM | Comments (7)

September 04, 2007

Sderot: State of Siege

First day of school for the children of the Gaza-belt communities of Israel and the Islamo-Nazis in Gaza celebrate by aiming their rockets directly at a day-care center.

Seraphic Secret has, time and again, called for turning off the power to Gaza. Israel must not to enable her enemies, must stop providing power to a genocidal terrorist state.

Two years ago the State of Israel forcefully removed 9,000 Jews from their homes in Gaza in the vain hope that by rendering even more Arab/Muslim land Judenrein there would be some measure of peace. There are already 22 Arab/Muslim states that are Judenrein; Gaza makes that number twenty-three. I suppose the next logical step is making Judea and Samaria Judenrein. After that London and Paris, and who knows maybe even Brooklyn.

Of course, Hamas correctly judged the expulsion of the Jews from Gaza as appeasement, surrender. Hamas declared victory over Israel—another step in the final solution to the Zionist entity.

After a short and incredibly brutal civil war, Hamas roundly defeated Fatah and drove them from Gaza. Hamas, a jihadist gang who proudly call for the liquidation of the State of Israel, are now firmly in control of a defacto Palestinian state. Gaza, another happy-go-lucky Arab/Muslim tyranny—just what the world needed—has transformed itself into a forward base for transnational jihadists groups including the Iranian-backed Hizbullah. Al Qaeda has a nice big footprint in Gaza. The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood is smuggling arms into Gaza at an astonishing rate. Yes, now that Gaza is Judenrein, jihadists are flocking to this utopian Palestinian state.

And yet Israel supplies Gaza with its electricity.

This is madness—national suicide.

This is war, and Israel must act in her national defense. Everyone hates us anyway, so turn out the lights in Gaza and damn public opinion.

In wake of the escalation on the Gaza front Defense Minister Ehud Barak ordered the defense establishment to look into the legal ramifications of cutting off supplies to the Gaza Strip in an effort to impair Hamas's ability to govern over the Palestinian populace.

The officials were asked to review Israeli and international law on cutting off electricity, stopping supply of fuel, and the supply of metals that could be used in the manufacturing of Kassam rockets.

Barak also declared an official state of emergency in Gaza-belt communities, transferring authority of local councils and municipalities to the IDF, Barak anounced on Tuesday.

On Monday, Nine rockets fell in Sderot, including one Kassam which landed outside a day care center, causing 12 small children to be treated for shock at Ashkelon's Barzilai Hospital.

To read the rest of this story, please click here.

Hat Tip: Seraphic Friend, Kishke

And here's an excellent article by my friend Brad A. Greenberg, published in the Los Angeles Jewish Journal about Sderot.

Here's Sderot Under Fire: A Photo Tour, by It's Almost Supernatural. Don't miss it.

From my friend Jameel at the Muqata, here's some harrowing video from Sderot, showing the terror of the first day of school.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 12:10 PM | Comments (21)

August 14, 2007

Hamas Thanks the Israeli Left for Help in Killing Jews

How many lives have left-wing statements cost Israel? In a damning condemnation of the Israeli left, a new book about the battles known as the Oslo War quotes Hamas leaders saying that the behavior of Israel's left-wing encourages them to continue their terrorist attacks.

The book, The Seventh War, by journalists Avi Yisacharov of Voice of Israel Radio and Amos Harel of Haaretz, is based on comprehensive investigations and interviews with Hamas terrorist leaders in Gaza and Israeli prisons.

Yisacharov told Channel 1 Television yesterday that Hamas leaders had told him clearly: "It was the Israeli left and your peace camp that ultimately encouraged us to continue with our suicide attacks."

Yisacharov said he was told as follows:

"We tried, through our attacks, to create fragmentation and dissention within Israeli society, and the left-wing's reaction was proof that this was indeed the right approach. When we heard about the 'Pilots' Letter' [written and publicized last year by 27 Israel Air Force pilots who refused to take part in bombing missions against terrorist leaders in Arab towns], and the elite soldiers who refused to serve [in Judea, Samaria and Gaza], it strengthened those in our camp who promoted the idea of suicide bombers...

"The disengagement from Gaza is proof of our victory. The fact is that Sharon is willing to withdraw unconditionally, and is essentially raising a white flag and retreating. Only by force can we teach the other side what to do."

Original article in Arutz Sheva.

The Seventh War has not yet been translated into English.

Look for the Israeli left to initiate a campaign of character assassination aimed at the authors of the book. Look for the Israeli left to question the veracity of the interviews. They will say things like: “Since when do we believe what Hamas has to say?” Look for the Israeli left to claim that the interviews are actually a clever disinformation campaign designed to create further fractures in Israeli society. Look for the Israeli left to do what they always do: agitate for even further appeasement to the Arabs. Look for the Israeli left to do anything but face up to realty.

Remember, being on the left means never having to say you're sorry.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 10:41 AM | Comments (8)

August 08, 2007

Muslim Refugees From Sudan to Israel

News that Israel is a free and safe democratic country that respects human rights is spreading quickly amongst Muslim Sudanese refugees from Darfur who are fleeing genocide. Hundreds, who are looking for asylum and a better life, have crossed the Southern Border into Israel. In this video we hear from one of the 12 mothers about their escape to Israel through Egypt and how well they and their children were treated by the Israel army when they entered Israel illegally. Visit them in their safe houses provide by the Israeli Government.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 03:01 PM | Comments (5)

August 04, 2007

Strong Nation, Weak Leaders

Israel withdrew from Lebanon and Hizbullah immediately declared a military victory over the IDF. Israel expelled close to ten thousand Jews from Gaza and created a Judenrein territory that would gladden the heart of any Nazi. Did the Arab Muslim world welcome this as a gesture of peace?

Not quite.

Surprise, Hamas declared victory over the IDF and immediately opened up with a rain of missiles that, um, has not stopped.

Who would have thought?

Gaza is now a forward base for Hamas, and Hizbullah—Iran's proxy army—and the new kid on the block: al-Qaida, a brand new presence in the PA territories. But listen, when Israel so ignominiously makes war on its own citizens and surrenders territory faster than the French, a huge vacuum blossoms and nasty critters anxiously scurry in. Al Qaida has always stated that Jerusalem will be their "final battle."

You would think that the present Israeli government would have learned some Pavlovian lessons by now, but it appears as if Olmert & Co. are not as educable as rats. And let's be honest, they are leftists and so theories, otherwise known as delusions, have replaced reality.

In any case, here's a simple checklist of what happens when you make nice to terrorists:

1. Appeasement invites further aggression.
2. Giving up land for vague promises yields greater terror.
3. Every Israeli movement towards peace is met by greater Arab/Muslim terror in the form of Sharia yearning Islamists. Remember Hamas was elected not just in Gaza but in Judea and Samaria.
4. Never forget that the second intifada was deliberately sparked by terrorist leader Arafat immediately after Barak offered to withdraw from 96% of Judea and Samaria, and carve up Jerusalem — a despicable and dangerous proposal for it set a precedent that should never have been made.
5. Even when Israel withdraws from territory, they are in the wrong because the withdrawal was unilateral, or the withdrawal was somehow incomplete, or Israel is really imposing a blockade, or — fill in the blanks. So, no matter what Israel does it's always wrong.

Now, Olmert and Livni want to hand over parts of Judea and Samaria to Fatah.

Guess what happens next?

1. Peace breaks out, and we all sing Kumbaya.
2. Klingons invade.
3. Fatah/Hamas/Hizbullah use this new territory as a forward base to make war on Israel.

If you answered #1: Hmm, this means that you are from Planet Berkely. We recommend a thousand milligrams of Thorazine — per hour.

If you answered #2: Good news, you are actually a good deal saner than those folks from Planet Berkley. No medication necessary. Just keep fighting those nasty Klingons.

If you answered #3: Mazal Tov! This means you are qualified to be the next Prime Minister of Israel.

Caroline Glick, one of the few men left in Israeli politics, views the corrupt Olmert gang with cool disdain, and offers her perspective on what is to be done with these weaklings who, if left in power, will carve up our beloved Eretz Yisroel Israel until it's nothing but a series of municipal parking lots selling kosher-style bagels.

Today Olmert has one overriding policy objective: He wants to get his picture taken with the Saudis.

Since US President George W. Bush announced his intention to organize a regional conference of Arab leaders to pressure Israel to give land to the Fatah terrorist organization, the most urgent order of business for Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has been to convince the Saudis to come to the conference. To achieve this goal they are ready to give up Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem. To achieve this goal they are willing to cut Israel in two to enable the Palestinians to have "territorial contiguity" between Gaza and Judea.

Furthermore, over the opposition of the defense establishment, Olmert and his ministers are willing to end their opposition to the US plan to supply Saudi Arabia with JDAM precision bombs. That Israel has no way of defending itself against JDAM assault. That the Saudi regime and military are crawling from head to tail with al-Qaida operatives is immaterial.

To read Caroline Glick's entire article, please click here.

Hat Tip: Seraphic Friend, Kishke

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:06 PM | Comments (7)

August 02, 2007

Why the Left Hates Israel

On Saturday in Jerusalem, I participated in a moving religious service to honor one of Israel’s most celebrated heroes from last summer’s war against the Hezbollah terrorists.

Lieutenant Eli Kahn, 23, led a unit of elite Paratrooper Commandos advancing against heavily defended Hezbollah positions in the Southern Lebanon town of Maroun al-Ras in the early days of the fighting. The Israelis, hoping to knock out Katyusha rockets that had already taken a bloody toll on civilian targets, drew unexpectedly intense fire from the enemy and sustained heavy casualties.

While tending to one of his wounded paratroopers, Lt. Kahn saw a terrorist run toward them and throw a grenade that landed at their feet. Rather than jumping out of the way and abandoning his comrade to certain death, Lt. Kahn immediately picked up the grenade and threw it directly back at the Hezbollah fighter — killing the terrorist and turning the tide of battle. For his leadership and quick thinking, he received the Medal of Valor — Israel’s equivalent of America’s Medal of Honor. The young hero’s father, Howie Kahn, remembered that his boy played Little League before the family immigrated to Israel from the United States and suggested that his skills as a slick-fielding shortstop paid off with that one fateful and well-aimed toss on the field of battle.

Excellent article by my friend Michale Medved about a Torah Jew who's also an Israeli war hero — and why the left hates Israel.

Hat Tip: Seraphic Friend, Jeremayakova

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 02:09 PM | Comments (0)

Egyptians Murder Sudanese Refugees

They were refugees from the killing fields of Sudan. Somehow they managed to escape the murderous rampages of the Islamic government sanctioned Janjaweed death and rape squads. They made their way to Egypt, a Muslim country. But they were not welcome, and so they tried to sneak into Israel, the Jewish State, for they knew that there they would be safe; they knew that Jewish values protect the weak and the innocent. These Sudanese refugees understood, deep in their souls, that in an Arab/Muslim world infected with a viral Jew-hatred, it was Jews who were their best and last hope.

At the Egyptian-Israeli border the Sudanese were shot down, then savagely beaten to death by Egyptian soldiers.

Will we see this on the nightly news? Will the New York Times, or The Washington Post print bold headlines decrying this atrocity? Will the oh-so-compassionate Peace Now movement in Israel organize a protest march?

No, they will not.

Because to acknowledge evil means having to confront it — and arch liberals are far more comfortable accusing democracies of war crimes. There are, of course, no dangerous consequences — save fashionable celebrity.

Egyptian soldiers executed four Sudanese refugees near the Egypt-Israel border overnight Wednesday in full view of IDF troops, a shaken-sounding IDF soldier said in an interview to Channel Ten, Thursday evening.

According to the soldier, female IDF soldiers operating night vision devices identified several refugees approaching the border in an attempt to infiltrate Israel, and alerted troops who arrived after a few minutes in an army jeep.

But Egyptian troops also discovered the refugees. They fired upon them, immediately killing two and wounding a third. A fourth refugee ran towards the fence and an IDF soldier stretched out his hands, trying to help him cross the fence.

To read the entire article, please click here.

Hat Tip: Seraphic Friend, Kishke

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 11:02 AM | Comments (6)

July 25, 2007

Israel and Barry Bonds

Yes, Israel now has a professional baseball league. No, Barry bonds has not been drafted by the Jewish state.

But Israel does have a Barry Bonds problem, and though we all love baseball and some would say that the national past time is the life-blood of the American soul, I'm sure no one would argue that America's national security depends upon the exquisite geometry of baseball.

At least no one who is sane.

Anywhoo.

Israel's Barry Bonds problem is existential.

Indeed, a poll taken recently found that a majority of Americans are actually rooting against Bonds, hoping that somehow he will fail to break the record.

Nobody likes a cheater, after all. And America's baseball fans feel cheated, and rightly so.

While all this may sound rather quaint, and entirely irrelevant, to a country such as Israel, the fact of the matter is that it couldn't be more pertinent.

For Israel has its own "Barry Bonds problem," though it is far more dangerous, and more lethal, than the one across the Atlantic. Because the Jewish state has been cheated as well - by its leadership, which continues to fiddle while the country burns.

Like Bonds, our politicians claim glorious titles for themselves and seek to command our respect, even as they spit upon everything we hold dear.

To read the entire article by Michael Freund, please click here.

Hat Tip: Seraphic Friend, Mordechai Schiller

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 12:18 PM | Comments (12)

July 18, 2007

Israel: The Bush Doctrine

As you reflect on the President's recent address on the Middle East, please take note of this analysis by respected scholar and author Michael Oren which appeared in today's Wall Street Journal — it is quite important.

If the Israeli media largely overlooked the diplomatic innovations of Mr. Bush's speech, they completely missed its dynamic territorial and demographic dimensions. The president pledged to create a "contiguous" Palestinian state—code for assuring unbroken Palestinian sovereignty over most of the West Bank and possibly designating a West Bank-Gaza corridor. On the other hand, the president committed to seek a peace agreement based on "mutually agreed borders" and "current realities," which is a euphemism for Israel's retention of West Bank settlement blocks and no return to the 1967 lines.

To read Michael Oren's entire article, please click here.

Hat Tip: Seraphic Friend Matthew Brooks, Republican Jewish Coalition

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:35 AM | Comments (6)

July 15, 2007

The Shape of Wars to Come

Here's a superb analysis of the the Second Lebanon War by Lt. Col. Abe F. Marerro, published in the Armed Forces Journal. Col. Marrero views the Israeli Hizbullah war in terms of Fourth Generation Warfare, and sees last summer's clash as a model for future conflicts—especially those emanating from Shia Iran, Hizbullah's masters.

This a fine article, a worthy introduction to the theories of Fourth Generation Warfare, and a cautionary note as to the type of multi-dimensional warfare we in the west are engaged in against an implacable and relentless jihadist enemy. I have highlighted a section about the uses and abuses of propaganda because too few journalists in the west are aware of how they are skillfully manipulated by the genocidal Islamists. As for Al Jazerra; it's as much a legitimate news outlet as Der Sturmer was a meaningful news source about Judaism for the Third Reich.

The events in Kfar Kana serve as an instructive example of how Hezbollah manipulated the media in support of a robust information campaign. On the morning of the bombing, major news networks throughout the world were connected to a live feed Al Jazeera was providing from Kfar Kana showing rescue workers removing the bodies of children from under the rubble of a collapsed building. There were approximately 28 civilians killed, including women and children. It was belatedly revealed by IDF media sources that the explosion was caused by unexploded IDF ammunition after the buildings were reoccupied by the civilians. Kfar Kana was targeted because it was a launching pad for Katyusha rockets and, as was its policy throughout the war, the IDF distributed flyers warning noncombatants (and unfortunately combatants) prior to airstrikes. This tidbit of information was not as widely disseminated as the original story and ignored by most of western media; accordingly, the damage was done. This is a telling example of how Hezbollah successfully executed the information dimension of fourth-generation war.

To read the entire article, please click here.

Hat Tip: Seraphic Friend, John at Op For.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 02:24 AM | Comments (0)

July 10, 2007

Israel Rediscovers Big Wars

The Second Lebanon War continues to gnaw away at the Israeli body politic like a rabid dog. Olmert, like some power-mad monarch, holds on to office even as he remains, by consensus, the most inept Prime Minister since, well, Ehud Barak. And what do you know, Barak is resurrected, folded into the Olmert government, and suddenly Olmert doesn't look so gosh darned disastrous.

Smoke and mirrors.

Anything to fight off the Bibi Netanyahu juggernaut.

But the various operational, strategic, and tactical failures of the IDF in the Second Lebanon War cannot, will not, and should not be ignored. Honest self-criticism is essential to the health and vitality of a nation's military preparedness. Here then is a short but pointed reminder of what happens when a first-class fighting force forgets basic doctrine.

Israel continues to seek lessons from their war last year with Hizbollah, and now there's a government report pointing out that, when the fighting broke out last Summer, Israel had not conducted a large scale military operation since 1982 (when they went into Lebanon to stop terrorist attacks on northern Israel.)

To read the rest of the article, click here to go to Strategy Page.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 01:15 PM | Comments (0)

July 09, 2007

What Really Happened

Here's a fine video from, The Terrorism Awareness Project, regarding the history of the Middle East, Israel and the conflict with her Arab neighbors. Produced by David Horowitz, the four chapters in this video reveal the big lies that have animated the so-called Palestinian narrative since its inception.

Click here to view the videos, but I warn you, if you are anti-Zionist you will be confronted with a series of uncomfortable facts. To deny and refute these facts you will have to fall back on lies, half-truths, and dopey leftist slogans.

Hat Tip: Seraphic Friend, Jake Novak

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 04:30 PM | Comments (2)

July 08, 2007

Ehud Olmert: 40 Years of Public, er, Something

Pop Quiz:

Pick up your Number Two pencil.

Open your notebook.

Answer this question:

Ehud Olmert has been in Israeli politics for 40 years. What has he contributed?

You have five minutes to write your answer.

Time's up.

Click here to go to Seraphic Friend, Mere Rhetoric for the You Tube reply.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 10:41 AM | Comments (5)

July 01, 2007

War Map

This is so cool. Check out the shifting war map of the middle east, and you'll see 5,000 years of history in just 90 seconds.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 10:34 AM | Comments (4)

June 28, 2007

Grand Slam

The Jewish people have been waiting 5,000 years for this transcendental experience.

Click here to view a true miracle from Israel.

I'm not kidding, this video will bring a smile to your face and a tear to your eye. If not, check chest for presence of heartbeat—or wallet for Hamas membership card.

Hat Tip: Seraphic Brother-in-Law, Rabbi David Singer

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 10:28 AM | Comments (13)

June 08, 2007

Israel Defends United Kingdom, I'm Not Kidding

File this under, oh, I dunno, irony.

While Jew-hating British academics are boycotting Israeli Academics (BTW, does that include Arab/Israeli academics?) Elbit, an Israeli company that "develops, manufactures and integrates advanced defense electronic and electro-optic systems," has just signed a contract to, well, protect the British Isles.

Gee, I guess the British government isn't aware of the boycott. Or maybe the Elbit defense systems are developed, designed and built by, um, peaceful desert nomads.

Uh-huh.

And yes, full disclosure, we do own stock in Elbit and, oh boy, are we thrilled. We wrote about this wonderful company a few weeks ago when we were not giving financial advice and since then the stock has gone only up.

Israel's Elbit Systems keeps the United Kingdom safe.

Jun. 07 - Israel's Elbit System's British arm, Thales UK - UAV Tactical Systems Ltd. (U-TacS) has been awarded a $110 million contract to provide intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance (ISTAR) support for the UK armed forces. The contract includes the supplying of Hermes® 450 UAV systems, as well as training the UK Ministry of Defense how to use and maintain the system. The President and CEO of Elbit Systems, Joseph Ackerman said: "Once again, we are proud to be a part of a winning team together with Thales UK in a project based on the High End tactical Hermes® 450 UAV, globally recognized as a brand name for UAV customers worldwide."

Via:Israel 21c

Along with all of you, Karen and I are definitely going to have a lovely and meaningful Shabbat.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 04:06 PM | Comments (2)

The Six Day War: Forty Years On

This is an excellent, succinct article about the origins of the Six Day War and the subsequent Israeli administration of Gaza, Judea and Samaria. The unvarnished facts will not make an iota of difference to the legions of Jew-haters who masquerade as "intellectual anti-Zionists" but it's good to remind those who value truth of the facts of history, and how the Arab states have consistently waged war against Israel, and rejected offers of peace at every single turn.

Forty years have now passed since the "Six Day War" which resulted in Israeli control over the Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip, West Bank, eastern Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. Some media reports already refer to the fortieth anniversary of the "occupation."

The goal of this special report is to remind HonestReporting subscribers of the events of 1967 and Israel's administration of the disputed territories.

How Did the War Begin?

While June 5 marks the day that Israel initiated its military operation, it is important to note that the immediate Arab threats to wipe out Israel began in the preceding months. It is also critical to take the causes of the Six Day War into account before analyzing the resulting status of land taken as a result. International Law makes a clear distinction between land "occupied" during a war of aggression and land taken as a result of a defensive war.

This distinction explains why so many enemies of Israel are using this anniversary to rewrite history and falsely claim that the Six Day War was initiated by Israel in order to illegally capture land.

To read this fine article in its entirety, please click here.

Karen and I wish you all a lovely and meaningful Shabbat.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 03:36 PM | Comments (0)

Raid on the Reactor

Thursday June 7 was the 26th anniversary of the Israel Air Force’s stunning attack on the Iraqi nuclear reactor at Osirak. The Military Channel’s “Raid on the Reactor” is an excellent documentary on this historic air strike, featuring interviews with the IAF pilots who flew the mission.

Click here to view the entire video.

Hat Tip: Little Green Footballs

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 12:36 PM | Comments (0)

June 07, 2007

40 Years Later

Israeli Paratroopers in the famous picture from June 1967 return 40 years later.

6 day War and 40 Years Later

This picture has been all over the web, and no doubt you've received it by e-mail, but in the off-chance that one or two of you has not seen this wonderful photo, well, we too are doing our civic duty and posting it.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:50 PM | Comments (12)

No Peace Without Surrender

“Do you know those old paintings from Europe of ruffled officers offering their swords in surrender?”
“Sure, I've seen a few.”
“Did you ever wonder why the paintings were made, the moment immortalized?”

It is 1973. I'm talking with my friend Amos. He's a kibbutznik, a short, stocky fireplug of a man who has just returned from the furnace of the Sinai front where he participated in history's greatest tank battle. An officer and a natural leader of men, Amos is something of a minor celebrity since the wire services ran a picture of his handsome face, grinning from the hatch of his tank, his skin filthy with grime, but the light in his eyes absolutely fierce.

“Why were you smiling?” I asked.
“Because we were alive and the Egyptian tanks were dead.”
“How many did you kill?”

Amos shrugged. He did not want to go there.

“The Egyptians were brave, don't let anyone say otherwise, but they just hunker down and use their tanks as firing platforms. That's all wrong. They have no idea how to fire and manuever, how to flank a position, and not the vaguest notion how to withdraw tactically without getting slaughtered. They died bravely—but stupidly.”

Back to the art of war, more specifically, the art of surrender.

Amos has aspirations to study art history, with a deep focus on military imagery in European art.

“Ceremonies in war are important indicators. Wars begin with formal declarations between two countries, and ideally they should end in formal surrenders. They were highly ritualized where opposing generals often shared multi-course meals, they toasted each other and complimented one another's armies on their bravery and honor. The losing general would surrender his sword to the winning general. This signaled total defeat. It was a historic moment and it had to be immortalized so that everyone knew who won and who lost.

“That's how the American Civil War ended, at that place called Applemattox.”
“Appomattox.”
“And look at World War II, Germany and Japan signing forms of unconditional surrender. It was public and therefore everyone knew the outcome. There was no ambiguity. It was spectacle, necessary theatre.”

Amos pauses, slowly, sadly shakes his head.

“We did not properly win the Six Day War. Oh, we won it, but the world stepped in and declared a ceasefire. Do you realize what a disaster that was? That's why we just fought this war. Back in '67 the Arabs were able to walk away and lie to their people about the nature of the war—even though they were decisively beaten. And we just crushed them again. In some ways even worse. But again the world allows them to escape defeat without surrendering. These ceasefires are killing us. Let me tell you this: until we defeat the Arabs, until they are made to surrender, hand over their swords—we will never have peace.”

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:56 AM | Comments (11)

June 06, 2007

Fighting the Boycott

This petition is important. Please sign it, and send it on to your friends and collegues.

Here is my signature and comment:

#2184 Name: Robert J. Avrech
Title: Emmy Award Winning Screenwriter
Hometown: Los Angeles CA, USA

Comment: Follow the money and you will most certainly discover that Wahaabi funds are now being shoveled into numerous British academic and research institutions. This wretched boycott is nothing more than a fig-leaf for Jew-hatred. Londonstan rising.

Written by: Alan Dershowitz, Steven Weinberg, Edward Beck and Members of the SPME Task Force on Countering Academic and Professional Boycotts.
June 4, 2007 To: Academics and Professionals Standing In Solidarity With Our Israeli Academic Colleagues Against All Boycott Proposals and Actions

We are academics, scholars, researchers and professionals of differing religious and political perspectives. We all agree that singling out Israelis for an academic boycott is wrong. To show our solidarity with our Israeli academics in this matter, we, the undersigned, hereby declare ourselves to be Israeli academics for purposes of any academic boycott. We will regard ourselves as Israeli academics and decline to participate in any activity from which Israeli academics are excluded.

Alan Dershowitz
Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law
Harvard University

Stanley Deser
Dirac Medal
Ancell Professor of Physics
Brandeis University

Roald Hoffmann
Frant H. T. Rhodes Professor of Humane Letters
Cornell University

Daniel Kahneman
Nobel Prize - Economics
Professor of Psychology
Princeton University

Eric R. Kandel
NobelPrize - Medicine
University Professor
Columbia University

Steven Weinberg
Nobel Prize-Physics
Josey Regental Professor of Science
University of Texas, Austin

Elie Wiesel
Nobel Peace Prize
Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities
Boston University

Scholars for Peace in the Middle East Task Force on Countering Academic and Professional Boycotts

Paul Appelbaum
Elizabeth K. Dollard Professor of Psychiatry, Medicine & Law
Columbia University

Edward S. Beck
President, Scholars for Peace in the Middle East
Laureate Professor, School of Psychology
Walden University

John R. Cohn
Professor of Medicine
Thomas Jefferson University

Ruth Lichtenberg-Contreras
Vienna Natural History Museum
University of Vienna

Stanley Dubinsky
Associate Dean of the Graduate School
University of South Carolina

Awi Federgruen
Charles E. Exley Professor of Management; Chair of Decision, Risk and Operations Division,
Columbia University Business School

Lisbeth S. Fried
Visiting Professor
Near Eastern Studies
University of Michigan

Judith S. Jacobson
Associate Professor
Mailman School of Public Health Columbia University

Richard L. Lubman
Associate Professor Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
University of Southern California School of Medicine

Edward H. Kaplan
William N. and Marie A. Beach Professor of Management Sciences,
Professor of Public Health, and Professor of Engineering
Yale University

Ed Morgan
Law Professor
University of Toronto

Joel Pachter
Professor of Pharmacology
University of Connecticut Health Center

Edgar Pick
Professor
Director, the Julius Friedrich Cohnheim - Minerva Center
for Phagocyte Research
Head, the Ela Kodesz Institute of Host Defense
against Infectious Diseases
Incumbent, the Roberts-Guthman Chair in
Immunopharmacology
Sackler School of Medicine
Tel Aviv University

Elihu D. Richter
Center for Genocide Studies
Hebrew University-Hadassah, School of Public Health and Community Medicine

Harvey A. Risch
Professor, Chronic Disease Epidemiology
Yale University School of Public Health

Bruce Rubenstein
Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry
New York University School of Medicine

Marius Usher
Professor of Cognitive Psychology |
Birkbeck, University of London

Jeffrey Wielgus
Research Associate, Department of Life Sciences
University of British Columbia

For Further Information: Contact Dr. Edward S. Beck, President,
Scholars for Peace in the Middle East : Phone: 717.576.5038 or email ScholarsforPeace@aol.com

Visit Scholars For Peace in the Middle East website
http://www.spme.net

To Sign this petition click here.

To see current signatures please click here.

Hat Tip: Seraphic Friend, Dr. Carol.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 11:09 AM | Comments (2)

Just Wait

Yet there remains a strong impulse to run after will-o'-the-whisp hints of peace, such as those currently coming from Damascus, or at the very least a feeling that Israel must ever be ready to entertain any peace initiative and begin negotiations in order to demonstrate its eagerness for peace.

In a recent lecture to foreign journalists, however, Robert Aumann, winner of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Economics for his work in game-theory, argued that these impulses must be suppressed for our survival. Israel, he said, must stop conveying the impression to the Arabs of being desperate for peace at any price.

The Arab strategy is not to defeat Israel in battle, but to gradually wear down Israel and make life unbearable. Time, the Arabs feel, is on their side. The key for Israel, then, is to convince the Arabs that "We have time; we have patience; we have stamina." But Israel’s weariness, its various capitulations, gestures, convergence plans have only served to convince our Arab "cousins" that "we no longer have spiritual strength, that we have no time, that we are calling for a time-out."

To read Jonathan Rosenblum's entire article, please click here.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:32 AM | Comments (0)

June 05, 2007

The Sounds of Liberation

This is incredible, and will bring tears to your eyes.

What you are now about to hear is perhaps one of the most riveting recordings in the modern-day history of Israel. I refer to the dramatic sounds of Israeli Defense Forces entering and liberating Jerusalem's Old City and the Western Wall on June 7th, 1967. You hear the sounds of gunfire. You hear the footsteps of Israeli soldiers, as they draw closer and closer and as General Uzi Narkiss instructs them and asks to be shown where the Western Wall stands. We hear a triumphant Brigadier General Shlomo Goren, later to become the Chief Rabbi of Israel, as he recites the memorial prayer and sound the shofar, as Israeli soldiers weep with sorrow over their comrades killed in combat.

Listen closely to this piece of history, which is housed in the archives of the Avi Yaffe Recording Studio in Jerusalem.

Listen to Historic Broadcast

Here is the Translation:

Colonel Motta Gur [on loudspeaker]: All company commanders, we're sitting right now on the ridge and we're seeing the Old City. Shortly we're going to go in to the Old City of Jerusalem, that all generations have dreamed about. We will be the first to enter the Old City. Eitan's tanks will advance on the left and will enter the Lion's Gate. The final rendezvous will be on the open square above.

The open square of the Temple Mount.

Sound of applause by the soldiers.

IDF Radio Reporter Yossi Ronen: We are now walking on one of the main streets of Jerusalem towards the Old City. The head of the force is about to enter the Old City.

Gunfire.

Yossi Ronen: There is still shooting from all directions; we're advancing towards the entrance of the Old City.

Sound of gunfire and soldiers' footsteps.

Yelling of commands to soldiers.

More soldiers' footsteps.

Yossi Ronen:The soldiers are keeping a distance of approximately 5 meters between them. It's still dangerous to walk around here; there is still sniper shooting here and there.

Gunfire.

Yossi Ronen:We're all told to stop; we're advancing towards the mountainside; on our left is the Mount of Olives; we're now in the Old City opposite the Russian church. I'm right now lowering my head; we're running next to the mountainside. We can see the stone walls. They're still shooting at us. The Israeli tanks are at the entrance to the Old City, and ahead we go, through the Lion's Gate. I'm with the first unit to break through into the Old City. There is a Jordanian bus next to me, totally burnt; it is very hot here. We're about to enter the Old City itself. We're standing below the Lion's Gate, the Gate is about to come crashing down, probably because of the previous shelling. Soldiers are taking cover next to the palm trees; I'm also staying close to one of the trees. We're getting further and further into the City.

Gunfire.

Colonel Motta Gur announces on the army wireless: The Temple Mount is in our hands! I repeat, the Temple Mount is in our hands! All forces, stop firing! This is the David Operations Room. All forces, stop firing! I repeat, all forces, stop firing! Over.

Commander eight-nine here, is this Motta (Gur) talking? Over.

Inaudible response on the army wireless by Motta Gur.

General Uzi Narkiss: Motta, there isn't anybody like you. You're next to the Mosque of Omar.

Yossi Ronen: I'm driving fast through the Lion's Gate all the way inside the Old City.

Command on the army wireless: Search the area, make sure to enter every single house, but do not touch anything. Especially in holy places.

Lt.- Col. Uzi Eilam blows the Shofar. Soldiers are singing 'Jerusalem of Gold'.

General Uzi Narkiss: Tell me, where is the Western Wall? How do we get there?

Yossi Ronen: I'm walking right now down the steps towards the Western Wall. I'm not a religious man, I never have been, but this is the Western Wall and I'm touching the stones of the Western Wall.

Soldiers: [reciting the 'Shehechianu' blessing]: Baruch ata Hashem, elokeinu melech haolam, she-hechianu ve-kiemanu ve-hegianu la-zman ha-zeh. Translation: Blessed art Thou Lord God King of the Universe who has sustained us and kept us and has brought us to this day.

Rabbi Shlomo Goren: Baruch ata Hashem, menachem tsion u-voneh Yerushalayim. Translation: Blessed are thou, who comforts Zion and bulids Jerusalem

Soldiers: Amen!

Soldiers sing 'Hatikva' [The Israeli National Anthem] next to the Western Wall.

Rabbi Goren: We're now going to recite the prayer for the fallen soldiers of this war against all of the enemies of Israel:

Soldiers weeping.

Rabbi Goren sounds the shofar.

Rabbi Goren: El male rahamim, shohen ba-meromim. Hamtse menuha nahona al kanfei hashina, be-maalot kedoshim, giborim ve-tehorim, kezohar harakiya meirim u-mazhirim. Ve-nishmot halalei tsava hagana le-yisrael, she-naflu be-maaraha zot, neged oievei yisrael, ve-shnaflu al kedushat Hashem ha-am ve-ha'arets, ve-shichrur Beit Hamikdash, Har Habayit, Hakotel ha-ma'aravi veyerushalayim ir ha-elokim. Be-gan eden tehe menuhatam. Lahen ba'al ha-rahamim, yastirem beseter knafav le-olamim. Ve-yitsror be-tsror ha-hayim et nishmatam adoshem hu nahlatam, ve-yanuhu be-shalom al mishkavam [soldiers weeping loud]ve-ya'amdu le-goralam le-kets ha-yamim ve-nomar amen!

Translation: Merciful God in heaven, may the heroes and the pure, be under thy Divine wings, among the holy and the pure who shine bright as the sky, and the souls of soldiers of the Israeli army who fell in this war against the enemies of Israel, who fell for their loyalty to God and the land of Israel, who fell for the liberation of the Temple, the Temple Mount, the Western Wall and Jerusalem the city of the Lord. May their place of rest be in paradise. Merciful One, O keep their souls forever alive under Thy protective wings. The Lord being their heritage, may they rest in peace, for they shalt rest and stand up for their allotted portion at the end of the days, and let us say, Amen.

Soldiers are weeping. Rabbi Goren sounds the shofar. Sound of gunfire in the background.

Rabbi Goren: Le-shana HA-ZOT be-Yerushalayim ha-b'nuya, be-yerushalayim ha-atika!Translation: This year in a rebuilt Jerusalem! In the Jerusalem of old!

The historic radio broadcast of the liberation of the Temple Mount and the Western Wall was researched, transcribed and translated by Yitschak Horneman / Quality Translations, Jerusalem.

Television producer Yossi Ronen recalls broadcasting the liberation of the Temple Mount and Western Wall. The third of three eye witness accounts provided to 'Bamahane - IDF Magazine' by men who took part in the key moments of the Six Day War, which helped change the course of Jewish, Middle East and world history

Live from the Western Wall by Yossi Ronen

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 12:29 PM | Comments (12)

A Perfect Metaphor

There can be no solution to the Middle East's problems until the Arabs learn that only they can find a solution to their shame and the solution lies within them.

Click here to read the entire article by ShrinkWrapped.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 12:17 PM | Comments (2)

Remaking the World in Six Days

By all contemporary accounts, it was one of the most stunning military victories in history. In six intense days of fighting that began on June 5, 1967, Israeli forces saved their country from an imminent existential threat, defeated three major Arab armies and almost quadrupled the territory under their country's control.

Israeli flags flew on the banks of the Suez Canal, over the Golan Heights and above the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, the holiest site in Judaism. The victory was so great that Israelis naturally assumed that this would be their last war and that the spoils of their triumph could be traded for a permanent peace.

Needless to say, it did not come to pass. Today, Israel still occupies much of the land it conquered in 1967, while peace remains maddeningly elusive. This week, 40 years after they astonished the world, and themselves, with their lightning-quick feat, many Israelis are questioning whether they indeed won the Six-Day War — or whether it was in fact a Pyrrhic victory leading to more wars, prolonged occupation, internal political turmoil and terror.

To read the rest of Michael Oren's article, please click here.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 10:11 AM | Comments (0)

Revising History: June 5, 1967

Scientists believe history began 13.7 billion years ago. Proprietors of the newly opened Creation Museum in Petersburg, Ky., believe history began 6,000 years ago. Apologists for Arab terrorism and tyranny believe history began a short 40 years ago.

To read the rest of this article, please click here.

Hat Tip: Seraphic Friend, Yonoson Fisgus M.D.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:25 AM | Comments (4)

May 30, 2007

IDF: In Denial

As we all know the Winograd Comission was appointed by the current Israeli government to investigate the Second Lebanese War. The findings shredded the performances of Prime Minister Olmert, Defense Minister Peretz, and former IDF Chief of Staff Dan Chalutz.

Here's an interesting analysis of the Winograd report by Haninah Levine. Levine stresses three vital lessons for the Israeli Defense Forces.

1. Western militaries are in active denial concerning the limitations of precision weapons.
2. There are real world consequenses to overstretching the military.
3. Rhetorical praise for the troops must not interfere with an honest assessment of their abilities.

Click here to read Levine's analysis.

Levine writes for The Center for Defense Information, a think-tank that clearly veers to the left, but I find this analysis credible and forthright, and as I've said many times, Seraphic Secret values truth over ideology.

I'd be interested in hearing reactions to this analysis from our wise and articulate commenters.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 06:52 AM | Comments (2)

May 21, 2007

Learning from Yojimbo

A 35-year-old woman was killed Monday when one of three Kassam rockets fired at Sderot struck a car. She was the first Israeli killed in a rocket attack since November.

A 20-year-old man was moderately wounded in the rocket attack and twelve people were suffering from shock.

Islamic Jihad, Hamas and the Palestinian Resistance Committee (PRC) claimed responsibility for the attack.

Streets were blocked in the area following the incident and Sderot residents ran towards the scene to try and locate loved ones. The Home Front Command was working with police to keep people away from the site.

The attack came as EU Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni were meeting in the western Negev town.

Livni said during a joint press conference with Solana in Sderot that Israel did not consider the option of a cease-fire as feasible, because to Hamas it was only an opportunity to rearm and not to adhere to the true meaning of a cease-fire.

To read the entire story, please click here.

Seraphic Secret has already pointed out that Gaza gets its electricity from Israel. In other words, Israel is supplying the terrorists with the power they need to continue their murderous attacks on Israel.

To the charge that shutting off the power to Gaza is collective punishment, we see no reason why the so-called Palestinian people should not be subject to retaliation for the actions of the government they have elected. That is what war is all about: punishing a people for the governments they have chosen. And no people deserve more punishment than the so-called Palestinians who have enthusiastically chosen one genocidal regime after another.

Besides, one of the definitions of war is collective punishment. The American Civil War was only fought to a successful conclusion once the citizens of the South were made to suffer for their support of slavery and secession. Sherman and his army had to march and ruthlessly destroy the cotton plantations and civilian infrastructure of the Southern states—only then did that terrible war come to a swift conclusion.

The attempt to make war a pin-point affair, painless and, well, nice, is a grievous sin. The Arabs have only contempt for Israel's restraint. And the Jew-hating Europeans chronically hold Israel responsible for crimes never even committed. Thus, in the end, the attempt at fighting a politically correct war brings great suffering to the people of Israel, and by extension to the West. The only people who benefit from this type of warfare are the terrorists and those Muslims who yearn for a 7th century caliphite.

As for cease-fires: As if we needed reminding, Tzipi Livni is a delusional fool. There are no meaningful cease-fires with terrorists—only seeds for much larger battles; again, only the jihadists benefit.

It's time for Israel to play the role of Sanjuro in Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo: Israel should step in and help Hamas and Fatah—wipe each other off the face of the earth.

Caroline Glick's latest thoughts: Denial is not a Strategy.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 01:16 PM | Comments (4)

May 18, 2007

The Inbetween War

Seraphic Friend Jameel, over at The Muqata, has asked me to coin a new name for the war that's about to break out in Gaza.

My response: "Gee, a war? I just thought the Arabs were killing each other for, y'know, practice?"

Jameel, understandably jaded, titles his entry: Here We Go Again, and later pleads: "This time we better win."

Here's the problem:

Hamas and Fatah are fighting a civil war in Gaza. There has never been a unity government. That was a charade from the the very beginning, each side maneuvering carefully, looking for the right moment to move in for the kill.

Within this civil war are smaller turf battles between powerful crime families, tribes and clans fighting for control of neighborhoods, for their sex, liquor, drugs and various black market operations.

All this under the guise of national liberation, and enabled by the useful idiots of the left in Israel and the West. It's much like supporting the Mafia in the name of civil rights for Italian Americans. But the left is stuck in a nihilism so self-destructive that they cannot be reasoned with nor redeemed. They are the tools of the worst moral thugs in the world, the most rabid Jew-haters since the Third Reich.

But I digress:

Is this a war?

And:

Can Israel win?

We have seen the end of conventional industrial war. This is the age of Fourth Generation Warfare. Modern day terrorists are able to challenge nation-states through incremental terrorist steps: homicide bombers, Qassam rockets, Molotov Cocktails, child-snipers. Industrial nations like Israel and America will not respond with full military might to these "insurgent threats."

Why?

1. World opinion will consider nation-state responses "disproportionate" as "civilian" deaths flash across TV screens. Let's be clear, as in the Second Lebanon War, the terrorists defined civilian deaths to a willfully naive press.
2. The homefront, pushed by a liberal and hostile media, is unwilling and unable to accept casualties in a war with faceless, nameless combatants who celebrate death over life.
3. Terrorists seem to be decentralized. In fact, most groups, at the moment, get their financing, training and support from Iran and Syria.
4. Thus, the only effective way of decapitating the terrorist organizations is by attacking the root-states: and for Geopolitical and strategic reasons, neither Israel nor America are prepared to do this. At least not yet.

And so the West fights the war on terror on the cheap; and loses and loses and loses. In horrible and agonizing slow motion.

The terrorists no longer follow the playbook of Lenin and Mao. They are not looking to overthrow and take over entire nations. Heck, they know their own limitations. They understand who and what they are: destroyers, not builders. And so, under the romantic banner of national liberation, a convenient fig-leaf for their Western apologists, they chip away at nation-states and fill in the vacuum with their criminal, Islamic enterprises.

The Taliban's brutal rule in Afghanistan illustrates how a terrorist band steps into a political vacuum with no ability to build a modern infrastructure. Tribal warlords impose brutal Sharia over an exhausted population.

Entire areas of Pakistan are lawless frontiers, closed to the Pakistanian army and controlled by Islamic warlords with liquid and always shifting loyalties. Hizbullah/Iran in Southern Lebanon is another example of Islamic gangsterhood taking over swaths of territory from a weak nation-state. This phenomenon is spreading throughout Africa.

Israel created the perfect opportunity for a Hamas/Islamic putch in Gaza when Jews were forcibly expelled by Jews; this signaled to the Islamic fanatics and to the world that the Jewish state would help create an Islamic thugocracy right on Israel's border.

Naturally, there are plenty of voices in Israel and in the West who are advocating the exact same measures for Judea and Samaria. There is no end to the charms of appeasement and defeatism—especially among Jews.

The terrorists no longer have to make outrageous demands. The outrageous has become commonplace. Let the liberals and leftists do most of the work. It's not even called collaboration. It's labeled civilized dialogue.

Thus, politely and well mannered, more and more Jews go to their graves.

And now Qassam rockets rain down on Israel.

What is the correct response?

People talk of evacuating S'derot.

Wrong.

The correct response should be: evacuating areas of Gaza.

But this will not happen because if we do this we: "will become just like them."

Or:

"Jews don't do things like that."

Or:

"It's collective punishment."

Conveniently forgetting that this is precisely the definition of war: collective punishment. War is never about the individual civilian, it's about the choices the civilians have made as to their leadership.

In fact, the endgame the terrorists count on is just this merciful mindset.

You see, when a nation-state is not at war, and not at peace, she is somewhere inbetween, and that inbetween place is the very space where she becomes most vulnerable. It's the zone of not-quite-all-out-war where the terrorists want you to be for that is where they thrive.

Nation states like Israel and America, and soon all of Europe, will have to come to the realization that when you go to war you must fight to win—anything less spells doom for your civilization.

If you fight an Inbetween War, you lose.

And we cannot afford to lose to the Islamic terrorists.

Karen and I wish you all a lovely and meaningful Shabbos and Chodesh Tov.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 10:20 AM | Comments (8)

May 17, 2007

Hypocrisy in Jerusalem

With the exception of the Netanyahu government, every Israeli government since 1993 has enabled the Arabs to undermine the state's control of Jerusalem. While paying lip service to the city's unity, by errors of commission and omission, Israel's governments have failed to defend the property rights of public and private land owners in Jerusalem. They have allowed the PA, enemy states like Saudi Arabia and the EU to openly abet illegal building projects in the city.

Moreover, while they have used the letter of the law to justify expelling Jews from their communities in Judea and Samaria, successive governments have ignored both the letter and the spirit of the law in refusing to take concerted action to enforce the laws of the state by blocking illegal building in the capital.

So this week, as the government conducts its hollow celebrations of the reunification of eternal capital of the Jewish people which it does so little to defend, and the Left, the EU and the US emptily speak of their "peace policies," the Jewish people must stop tolerating this dirty game.

When Barak offered Arafat the Temple Mount at Camp David in 2000, Ariel Sharon reacted by stating that Jerusalem is an eternal trust given to the Jewish people and no one has the right to breach that trust.

Forty years after the city's reunification, it is the responsibility of Jews in Israel and throughout the world to stand up for Jerusalem. We must work to expose that in its support for the city's division, the Left seeks to empower a racist regime that embodies everything the Left claims to oppose, against Israel, which embodies the very rule of law and civil rights the Left purports to care about.

To read Caroline Glick's entire article, please, please, please click here.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 11:10 AM | Comments (2)

May 15, 2007

Yom Yerushalayim, 40th Anniversary

On this day, in 1967, the city of Jerusalem was unified.

People forget that:

The Arabs started the Six Day War. Nasser promised to push the Jews into the sea. He meant it.
Under Jordanian rule, Jews were forbidden to enter to Old City of Jerusalem.
The Kotel, the Western Wall, was a garbage dump, courtesy of our multi-cultural Islamic cousins.
Headstones from Jewish cemeteries were used by the practitioners of the religion of peace as paving stones in the streets of the Old City.
Jordanian snipers used to sit on the walls of the Old City and take pot shots at Jews. When a Jew was killed the Jordanian government would claim that the Arab soldier was "deranged." They had lots and lots of deranged soldiers. They were all Muslims. Duh.
When the Hashemites could not collect taxes in Judea and Samaria, they would just, y'know, open up with mortars and howitzers on defenseless villages. Makes the IRS look like a bunch of pussies.
Under Jordanian occupation, disease and poverty were rampant in the Old City, and even worse in Gaza, which was occupied by Egypt.

Naturally, the Arabs refer to the creation of the State of Israel, May 15th, 1948 as Al Naqba, the Catastrophe. Does that maybe tell you something about their mind-set in regard to the existence of the state of Israel? Any alarm bells going off?

Here's how a few Arab Israeli students celebrated Yom Yerushalayim.

Arab students arrived at a location on the Mount Scopus campus wearing black T-shirts and shouting, "With our blood with our soul we die for you Palestine."

Just a bunch of wild and whacky college students, right?

Click here for the entire Ynet article.

Here's more Yom Yerushalayim celebration—so-called Palestinian style.

Yeah, let's give em a state of their own. Makes perfect sense.

Oh wait, they already have one: Gaza.

You know how you can tell it's an Arab state?

It's Judenrein.

I strongly urge everyone to read General Uzi Narkiss' superb book: The Liberation of Jerusalem, The Battle of 1967

General Narkiss led the battle that liberated Jerusalem. This modest volume reveals strategey, tactics, and the oh-so-delicate politics involved in the furious and bloody battle for Jerusalem; the spiritual core of this great soldier is also clearly revealed.

We desperately need more men like General Narkiss in today's IDF.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 01:48 PM | Comments (2)

May 10, 2007

Benchmarks for a Bloodbath

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is not purposely trying to destroy all of Israel's hard-won security gains of the last five years. But if she were, she could hardly have improved on her new benchmark proposal.

To read the entire article, and you should, please click here.

Hat Tip: Seraphic Friend, Kishke

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 10:26 AM | Comments (2)

May 08, 2007

Birthrate = Birthright

The Jewish birth rate was expected to exceed that of Muslims in Israel over the next 18 years, a report said.

A study by the Washington-based American-Israel Demographic Research Group said Jewish fertility, the highest in the developed world, was rapidly approaching that of Arabs in Israel. The group, in a report entitled "Forecast for Israel 2025," projected a 79 percent Jewish majority as well as long-term population stability between Jewish-Arab population groups in Israel.

To read the entire story, please click here.

Hat Tip: Seraphic Friend, Yonoson Fisgus, M.D.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 03:01 PM | Comments (11)

May 07, 2007

Waiting for the Dead

Defense Minister Amir Peretz said following a Sabbath of rockets fired on Sderot that Israel is prepared for an operation in Gaza. According to Yisraeli newspaper, defense officials say he is waiting for Israeli deaths to launch a full scale retaliation.

To read the entire article, please click here.

Peretz is waiting for dead Jews.

Isn't that comforting.

Now it's official: Peretz enables the jihadists, in fact, he's a co-conspirator. The jihadists can fire away, frighten entire populations, horribly wound Israeli citizens, and suffer no consequences.

But the IDF might invade if there are fatalities.

Um, how many fatalities? One, two, three, fifty? What is the devil's arithmetic here? How many dead Jews does it take for Peretz to react?

By the way, the Israeli army should not be reacting. An intelligent Defense Minister uses the army offensively, proactively. But Peretz is a fool and a fraud, a former peacenik who has no business being Israel's Defense Minister.

The dead will find no comfort when the IDF invades Gaza. It's too late for them. And their families and friends, well, they have heard what Peretz has said, it should only be a short step to charge this heartless man with murder.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 02:31 PM | Comments (2)

Israel: Making War Easy

Over the past few days, 10 Kassam rockets have been launched from Judenrein Gaza into Israel. Israel's response was to hit a car carrying terrorists. One terrorist was wounded.

Yeah, that'll do it.

Did you know that Gaza gets it's electricity from Israel?

That's right.

A month ago, the so-called Palestinians shot an Israeli electrical worker. He was fixing the grid that feeds Gaza.

In the meantime, Condi Rice is pressuring Israel to:

1. Send weapons to the PA, which they will use to kill Jews. Plus, America will be sending 59 million dollars to the PA "security forces." ie. terrorists.
2. Israel also has to open up border crossings: to make life easier for the so-called Palestinians. In reality, this will make it easier for homicide bombers to get into Israel and kill more Jews.

These are called, in diplo-speak: confidence building measures. Haven't we been down this road before? With various American presidents, various Israeli Prime Ministers, and always with the same results: Israel makes concessions and the so-called Palestinians make war.

Does anyone see a pattern here?

Call me cynical, but I have no confidence in confidence building measures. Not when you're dealing with a a bunch of thugs whose leadership defines terrorism as "resistence."

I'm talking about Abbas here, not Hamas.

So let's sum up: The Arabs send Kassams into Israel and Israel is expected to send arms, and open up border-crossings for these peace-loving Arabs.

And what do the Arabs give in return?

Vague promises from the PA that they will crack down on the various dissident factions.

Makes perfect sense.

I know this is hard for some people to believe, but Israel's withdrawal from Gaza was a disaster. It signaled to the Arabs, the Iranians, and the entire Muslim world, that terrorism works, that Israel is weak, that it is politically correct to create Judenrein territories in a post-Holocaust world, and that Jews will collaborate in such an atrocity, and finally: the Gaza withdrawal signaled that terrorism can chip away at Israel's national will until nothing remains but... nothingness.

To quote from The Belmont Club's analysis of the Winograd Report:

...ceding the initiative to the enemy and withdrawing from contact while he is still advancing increases rather than decreases vulnerability. It does not "take troops out of harms' way". It sets them up for the slaughter. The second error is more fundamental. Disengagement is an act in which the enemy gets a vote. The Israeli public's desire for peace, which manifested itself in unilateral withdrawal, the abandonment of its allies and in the reluctance to give the give the slightest offense to its enemies could only have succeeded in ending the fighting if it had been matched by a similar desire on the part of its enemies.

It is not for nothing that retreat in the face of a still-active enemy is considered the most dangerous of military operations. Only among Western politicians is such an operation synonymous with safety.

War is the disproportionate response to acts of aggression.

To react with restraint is to lose a war in a slow motion; it is to prolong war and increase misery.

I have posted this quote by General William Tecumseh Sherman before, but it's time to post it once again:

"Every attempt to make war easy and safe will result in humiliation and disaster."

It is time to shut out the lights in Gaza.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:16 AM | Comments (10)

May 03, 2007

Oust the Scoundrels

Minute by minute coverage of the massive anti-government rally in Israel, including pictures.

Olmert & Co. are a bunch of scoundrels. They have blood on their hands. Kadima is bankrupt. This government has no moral legitimacy.

The Iranians are building a nuclear bomb.

The Syrians have stock-piled a record number of missiles, aimed at Israel's major cities.

Hizbullah is preparing for round #2 in Southern Lebanon.

And as always, the so-called Palestinians call for genocide, and the destruction of the Jewish state.

This crisis cannot be solved by shuffling cabinet posts. Tzipi Livni must not emerge as the next Prime Minister; she's as incompetent about matters of national security as Olmert.

New elections are the only solution, and Likud would probably emerge as the winner, with Benjamin Netanyahu as Prime Minister.

This would be a step in the right direction for Israel must deal with her greatest problem: the loss of the national will to fight and defeat her internal and external jihadist enemies—and though Netanyahu has problems (what Israeli politician doesn't?) he is not an appeaser and he understands that military force is vital to Israel's self-interest.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 03:40 PM | Comments (2)

Massive Anti-government Rally

Rain threatened to put a dampener on Thursday's anti-government rally at Tel Aviv's Rabin Square but as the rally kicked off at 7.p.m. and the showers subsided, the square filled up and organizers claimed that more than 150,000 were in attendance.

To read the entire story, please click here.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 10:35 AM | Comments (0)

May 02, 2007

The Winograd Commission Drops a Bomb

And finally, the commission had harsh words for a large swath of Israel's political and military elites, whose assumptions led to the mistaken belief that the IDF and homefront had no need to prepare for a "real" war. Among those faulty assumptions, the Commission listed: the belief that "Israel is beyond the era of wars;" that its "military might and superiority are sufficient to deter others from declaring war against her; "that this military might" would be sufficient to send a painful reminder to anyone who seemed to be undeterred; and that "since Israel did not intend to initiate a war, . . . the main challenge facing the land forces would be low intensity asymmetrical conflicts."

Those words sounded almost identical to Ari Shavit's indictment of the Israeli elites in Ha'aretz last summer. He wrote then of the assumption "that Israel is insanely strong." Based on that assumption, "the defense budget was cut, the values of volunteerism mocked, the concepts of heroism and fortitude made despicable." "The unending attacks [of the elites] on nationalism, militarism and the Zionist narrative have eaten away from the inside at the tree trunk of Israeli existence, and sucked away its life force," warned Shavit. Meanwhile those same elites "stopped doing reserve duty, stopped sending their sons to fighting units, . . . mocked those officers who warned about unilateral withdrawals, . . . and mocked those who warned that emergency storehouses were empyting out and the enemies were becoming stronger."

After the release of the interim report, the same Shavit had the last word. "For many years, Israelis sought a government without the religious. In the Olmert government, they got a government without G-d -- . . . without a moral compass, without a political agenda, without a grip on reality."

To read Jonathan Rosenblum's entire article, please click here.

Hat Tip: Seraphic Friend, Mordechai Schiller

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:45 AM | Comments (4)

May 01, 2007

Olmert's Oops

They didn't know what the hell they were doing.