Must Read expose into Reuters News Agency's editorial position on stories involving the Jewish state of Israel:
...The World Bank annual reports are entitled "Intifada, Closures and Palestinian Economic Crisis." They make the very simple point that the intifada--an armed Palestinian war on Israel--leads to closures and thus the combination brings on a crisis.
The reports are quite careful in pointing out all the factors that led to the Palestinian economic decline. They do not say the losses were strictly due to Israeli curbs on movement. On the contrary, the 2003 report for example, written at the height of the violence, says the closures and movement restrictions are pretty insignificant. (see it here). This specific example of dishonesty matters because the approach we see here--predetermining the story, ignoring most of the factors involved, blaming Israel--sets a pattern for a whole raft-full of stories:
Why is there no peace? Israel doesn't give enough concessions.
Often there is no mention of Palestinian hardline positions, behavior in not keeping commitment, terrorism as a key element in the failure to achieve peace. Most important of all, there is endless talk about what Israel can or should give for peace but far less about what the Palestinians must give: end of conflict, full recognition of Israel, return of refugees to a Palestinian state, a real end to incitement and terrorism.
Why is there suffering in Gaza? Israel's restrictions. Far less mention of Hamas hard line, openly genocidal stance, constant aid to terrorist attacks and rocket firing, refusal to meet even minimal international requirements.
Why are Palestinians, to quote the Reuters story, "Deprived of dignity"? No mention of a corrupt government and gangs of gunmen who couldn't care less about their well-being, and a strategy that starts unwinnable wars. It's all Israel's fault.
It is bad enough that this kind of coverage is shaping the way that many in the West see the Middle East. What is really horrible is that these articles are being deliberately written to do so.
Radio's Michael Medved: 'Media-Messages vs Jewish Messages' for OU West '07
Orthodox Union West Conference Chair Rabbi Alan Kalinsky welcomes radio personality, Michael Medved. An orthodox Jew, Mr. Medved spoke to attendees about finding the balance between traditional religious Jewish-values and the contemporary values conveyed through mass-media into orthodox households. Video is in 6 segments (click Menu button on lower left of player).
Jews' Rights to a Sovereign State in Their Historic Homeland
In The Spectator, Melanie Phillips writes:Those (and there are many) who don’t know the history of the Jewish people and who have fallen for the propaganda lies that Israel was only created as a result of the Holocaust or that Jewish immigration to Palestine started in the 1880s would do well to read this concise historical account by Dore Gold and Jeff Helmreich.
The key point it makes is that Israel was not a new creation but the restoration of the Jews’ ancient national home, to which the international community recognised in the early years of the last century that they and they alone had an overwhelming legal and moral claim.
This was specifically on account of the fact that they had never renounced the land -- which had only ever been the nation state of the Jews alone -- but had been driven out; and that throughout the period of their exile they had repeatedly returned and established majorities in different parts of the land including Jerusalem. It should also be borne in mind that the present state of Israel is merely a small fraction of the original Jewish nation state; most of it was given away by the British to the Arabs in 1921 as a piece of regional realpolitik, and the remainder was to be divided between Jews and Arabs – the original two state proposal which the Arabs rejected in order to drive the Jews out of their rightful and internationally recognised home, the project which continues to this day.
The Jewish claim to the land of Israel was based on justice, international agreement and law. As a result, it is the only nation state whose legitimacy was agreed by the League of Nations and its successor, the UN. The reason I bang on about this so much is because the Big Lie of Israel’s alleged illegitimacy and presumption lies at the heart of the wider war against the western world.
It incites hatred and murderous hysteria in the Arab and Muslim world, and has turned many otherwise decent western liberals – who now openly say Israel should no longer exist -- into the intellectual accomplices to a second projected genocide of the Jews as well as making more likely their own eventual defeat as a civilisation.
As Dore Gold writes in his outstanding book, The Fight for Jerusalem, the jihadis see the Muslim conquest of Jerusalem as the essential prerequisite to their conquest of the world and the arrival of the end of days. Unless the west comes to understand this, and to understand the way in which this conflict has been so shockingly misrepresented for so long in the western mind and with what terrible consequences, it will itself be defeated.
The fate of Israel is intimately tied to the fate of the free world. Attitudes towards it are the litmus test of civilisation. It is, quite simply, the biggest moral issue of our times.
Key Points:
- A new critique of Israel proposes its elimination and replacement with a bi-national Palestinian-Jewish state. Israel's new detractors doubt the legitimacy of Jewish statehood, though they say nothing about the validity of dozens of new states that have emerged in the last half century, many of which lack any firmly rooted national identity. The new attack on Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state is particularly ironic since Jewish nationhood preceded the emergence of most modern nation-states by thousands of years.
- The new critics of Jewish statehood neglect the fact that Israel's communal expression - like that of many communal states around the world - in no way infringes the rights of minority citizens, who enjoy full equality under the law and the political system. They also ignore that this form of national expression is not unique; indeed, most states identify in some formal way with the religious or cultural heritage of their predominant communities. Yet only Israel is singled out for criticism.
- Israel is the only state created in the last century whose legitimacy was recognized by both the League of Nations and the United Nations. The League of Nations Mandate did not create the rights of the Jewish people to a national home in Palestine, but rather recognized a pre-existing right - for the links of the Jewish people to their historic land were well-known and accepted by world leaders in the previous century.
- By 1864, a clear-cut Jewish majority emerged in Jerusalem - more than half a century before the arrival of the British Empire and the League of Nations Mandate. During the years that the Jewish presence in Eretz Israel was restored, a huge Arab population influx transpired as Arab immigrants sought to take advantage of higher wages and economic opportunities that resulted from Jewish settlement in the land. President Roosevelt concluded in 1939 that "Arab immigration into Palestine since 1921 has vastly exceeded the total Jewish immigration during the whole period."
- Israel's new detractors seek to delegitimize Jewish national rights by arguing that their assertion was an extension of European imperialism. In fact, Jewish underground movements waged an anti-colonial war in the 1940s against continuing British rule. Israel was an anti-imperialist force when it first emerged, while the Arab states were aligned with the imperial powers, their armies trained and supplied by the French and British Empires.
- There was no active movement to form a unique Palestinian state prior to 1967. In 1956, Ahmad Shuqairy, who would found the PLO eight years later, told the UN Security Council: "it is common knowledge that Palestine is nothing but southern Syria." In the early 1960s, many Palestinians looked to Egypt's Abdul Nasser as their leader as much as to any Palestinian. Given the historical background, it is impossible to argue that the Palestinians have a claim to the Land of Israel superior to that of the Jews, as Israel's detractors contend.
- The new assault on Israel is partly based on ignorance of Jewish history in today's highly secularized world. But it also emanates from a new anti-Semitic wave reflected in a public opinion poll by the European Commission showing Israel as the country most regarded by Europeans as a threat to world peace. The president of the European Commission, Roman Prodi - alluding to the anti-Semitic underpinnings that led to the poll's results - said, "to the extent that this may indicate a deeper, more general prejudice against the Jewish world, our repugnance is even more radical."
U.S. National Intelligence on Iran: Duped, Duping, or Double-Dealing?
Americans accepting the NIE Estimate is like the Jedi Council clouded by the Dark Side of the Force while the Dark Lord of the Sith was plotting under their noses.
Count Dooku: What if I told you that the Republic was now under the control of a dark lord of the Sith?
Obi-Wan: No, that's not possible. The Jedi would sense it.
Count Dooku: The Dark Side has clouded their vision. Hundreds of senators are now under the influence of a Sith lord called Darth Sidious.
Obi-Wan: I don't believe you.
YID With LID: Iran Nuke Findings Based on Iran Officials Notes.
Melanie Phillips explains that this could be something far more insidious:
So why has America done this? Maybe because it has sold Israel to the devil, in the shape of Iran and Saudi Arabia, in order to save its skin in Iraq.
As we know, it is of overwhelming importance to President Bush that peace comes to Iraq by November’s presidential election. The situation in Iraq over the past few months has dramatically improved. This has been assumed to be because, under the shrewd strategic leadership of General Petraeus, the previously terror-supporting and fratricidal tribal leaders finally turned against al Qaeda and decided to unite to reclaim their country from the endless spiral of mass murder.
But there may be another explanation. The Samson Blinded blog suggests the US did a deal with Iran, in which Iran wound down its support for terror in Iraq — in return for which the US promised not to bomb Iran.
The NIE was published to cloak this decision in the convenient if implausible fiction of the scaling down by the US intelligence community of the Iranian threat.
The major player at Annapolis was Saudi Arabia. It was Saudi’s ‘peace plan’ to destroy Israel which the US was trying to force Israel to accept. My own sources suggest that at the heart of Annapolis was another deal done with Saudi Arabia by the US.
Saudi is absolutely terrified by the power of Iran, which it perceives as a major threat to itself and its role in the entire region. Saudi well understands that for Iran, the destruction of Israel is the core goal of goals which is driving Iran’s nuclear weapons programme — a programme that also directly threatens Saudi itself. So it made a deal with the US. Saudi would tell its terror puppets in Iraq to back off — and as a quid pro quo the US would force Israel to the negotiating table with the Palestinians and set in train a process to force it into concessions that would deal it a mortal blow. Thus two birds would be killed with one stone: Iran’s frenzied impulse to build a nuclear weapon — and Israel itself.
If this analysis is correct, Israel’s existence and the safety of the world have thus been bargained away in exchange for the ability of a US president to declare success in Iraq. On the other hand, as I said in my post below, it may be that Bush has simply been out-manoeuvred by both the spooks and the State Department.
The NIE report is of course being cheered on by all who see America (and Israel) rather than Iran as the major threat to the world. Those who believe the poisonous fiction about the ‘neocon conspiracy’ will once again be unable to grasp what is staring them in the face. Indeed, madness over Iraq is now broadening into madness over Iran. Those whose truncated brain processes tell them that the failure to discover weapons of mass destruction in Iraq proves that they never existed now claim that the Iranian threat is no more than a malevolently constructed fiction. Neocon ‘warmongers’, they say, believe US intelligence when it says there is a threat but not when it says there isn’t.
This ignores the context of that intelligence. All intelligence should be regarded with a degree of circumspection. It has to be assessed in the light of everything else that we know about the given situation. Given what we knew back in the 1990s about Saddam -- his regional ambitions, ties to terror and WMD efforts -- it is reasonable to conclude that US intelligence first failed to assess correctly the threat he posed to the west; then got part of it right; and then devoted the aftermath of the invasion of Iraq to putting out disinformation in order to cover up their own past incompetence. And given what we know about Iran, the NIE’s volte-face simply isn’t credible.
The report states as firmly as it can that Iran was developing a nuclear weapon until 2003. Is it really likely that it would have stopped and not re-started? If so, why is it continuing to defy the international community by enriching weapons grade uranium in 3,000 centrifuges? Why doesn’t it open up all its nuclear sites to IAEA inspectors? Why has it gone to such lengths to scatter and bury its nuclear installations? Why would a country whose president has said: ‘We must get ready to rule the world… the Islamic government in Iran is the pre-requisite for a world wide Islamic state’, which has committed itself publicly to the destruction of Israel and which is responsible for blowing up coalition soldiers in Iraq as part of its three decade-war against the west, want to restrict its nuclear technology to the blameless production of electricity?
Those who bat such questions away would believe in fairies at the bottom of the garden. The west is signing its own death warrant. With its ignorance and stupidity exceeded only by its arrogance, it is unable to see that it is being played for suckers.
Pull yourself together, Mr President. You may score temporarily in Iraq, but at what terrible cost?
She updates: As the Weekly Standard points out for the umpteenth time, the US intelligence community has a lousy record in that part of the world. Ever since the war in Iraq, elements within that intelligence community have been throwing disinformation around both to santise retrospectively their own incompetence and to thwart President Bush’s foreign policy approach towards the ‘axis of evil’. This latest NIE smells like another exercise in political gamesmanship.
No-one knows whether President Bush intends to strike Iran before he leaves office. What this NIE tells me is that some intelligence folk think (with ‘high confidence’) that he may well do so — and they are determined to stop him.
In the Washington Post, John Bolton shows up the NIE report for the rubbish that it is in his typically incisive way. But the thing that really caught my eye was this:
Fifth, many involved in drafting and approving the NIE were not intelligence professionals but refugees from the State Department, brought into the new central bureaucracy of the director of national intelligence. These officials had relatively benign views of Iran's nuclear intentions five and six years ago; now they are writing those views as if they were received wisdom from on high. In fact, these are precisely the policy biases they had before, recycled as ‘intelligence judgments.’They weren’t even independent intelligence officials at all. No wonder this NIE is such an insult to the intelligence.
She updates on Pearl Harbor Day with references from The Wall St. Journal and the NY Sun:
The NIE is not about intelligence or Iran. It is about the treacherous war that has been waged by the State Department and intelligence world against President Bush ever since 9/11. As the New York Sun went on to observe:
"The proper way to read this report is through the lens of the long struggle the professional intelligence community has been waging against the elected civilian administration in Washington. They have opposed President Bush on nearly every major policy decision. They were against the Iraqi National Congress. They were against elections in Iraq. They were against I. Lewis Libby. They are against a tough line on Iran. One could call all this revenge of the bureaucrats… The bureaucrats may even think they are stopping another war."
It's a dangerous game that may boomerang, making a war with Iran more likely. Our diplomats, after all, hoped to seal this month a deal to pass a third Security Council resolution against Iran. Already on Monday the Chinese delegation at Turtle Bay has started making noises about dropping their tepid support for such a document. Call it the Van Diepen Demarche, since the Chinese camarilla can boast that even America's intelligence estimate concludes the mullahs shuttered their nuclear weapons program more than four years ago."
As a result of the NIE, the world is now an even more dangerous place. What perfidy. Ahmadinejad has every reason to gloat. Unless the US pulls itself together, this is the way the west loses.
'US official: Iran retains nuclear capabilities' - Jpost
The US intelligence report showing Iran froze weapons development in 2003 does not show the full picture, a top US intelligence official told Congress on Thursday.
The deputy director of National Intelligence, Donald Kerr, told a House of Representatives Intelligence subcommittee that Iran retains key nuclear capabilities despite having frozen its weapons development and its ambitions could be considered benign, Reuters reported.
Kerr said there was reason to believe Iran still wanted an ability to make nuclear weapons.
He was responding to a Republican lawmaker who questioned the accuracy of an official National Intelligence Estimate this week that said US agencies did not know whether Iran intended to develop a nuclear weapon.
"We did not in any way suggest that Iran was benign for the future," Kerr told the panel. "What we had to do was address the evidence we had, that at least a part of their program (was) suspended in 2003."
Kerr noted the assessment also concluded with "moderate confidence" that Iran still wants a future weapons capability.
US Rep. Todd Tiahrt, a Kansas Republican, told Kerr he was puzzled by the new intelligence estimate. "We have this sort of dichotomy, the words and actions from Iran seem to be offset by the National Intelligence Estimate," Tiahrt said. He suggested US intelligence agencies had gotten too big at their headquarters and not put enough agents in the field.
Call Key Congressional Aides to Avert Annapolis Damage
Annapolis: A Naqba (catastrophe) of our very own?
In 1938, the world was silent while 6, 000,000 Jews were systematically brutally murdered. More than 20,000,000 men, women, handicapped, aged, sick, prisoners of war, forced laborers, camp inmates, critics, homosexuals, Slavs, Serbs, Germans, Czechs, Italians, Poles, French, Ukrainians, and many others were murdered along with the Jews. Among them 1,000,000 were children under eighteen years of age.
Hitler told Himmler that it was not enough for the Jews simply to die; they must die in agony. ----Robert Payne, The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler
Dear Friends,
Let's work together to send a loud and clear message about what is happening TODAY in Annapolis.
CCJ is sponsoring an innovative grassroots effort to generate calls to the White House, the State Department and the Israeli Embassy so that the calls are free.
Simply click here or on the link below and you will be asked to provide name, state and phone number. You will be called and connected to the White House, State Department or Embassy as requested by you. There's even a suggested script for a short, effective message.
http://cjhsla.callsForJerusalem.org
The Thanksgiving holiday weekend is over but Annapolis is upon us - so let's do our part here to bombard and drum this message into their heads and hearts.
For those who want to make their message even more powerful, make your own phone call to the following American congressional aides who have can have influence on the Annapolis catastrophe (naqba).
Below you will find a short list of the aides to key influential members of Congress with contact information. Contacting aides is the way to go. A fax or phone call is most effective; e-mail only if nothing else is possible. At the bottom you will find a cut and paste email list of the email addresses.
ALAN MAKOVSKY Alan is the senior professional Majority staff member for the House Committee on Foreign Affairs . He doesn't work with one Congressperson, but rather with the committee. Ask that he convey your message to all Democrats on the Committee phone 202-225-6735 fax 202-226-3581 alan.makovsky@mail.house.gov
HOWARD DIAMOND Deputy Chief of Staff for CONGRESSMAN GARY ACKERMAN , Chair of the House Subcommittee on the Middle East and Asia, of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. phone 202-225-2601 fax 202-225-1589 howard.diamond@mail.house.gov
MATTHEW ZWEIG Professional Staff Member, Minority Staff, for House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Works with CONGRESSWOMAN ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN , ranking member of the committee (was chair before the elections) and a good friend to Israel. Ask that he convey the message to all Republican members of the Committee and especially to Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen. phone 202-226-8467 fax 202-226-7269 matthew.zweig@mail.house.gov
ELISE KENDARIAN ARONSON Chief of Staff for CONGRESSMAN JIM SAXTON , who has opposed Oslo on Capitol Hill and been a staunch friend. phone 202-225-4765 fax (202) 225-0778 elise.aronson@mail.house.gov
JASON STEINBAUM Chief of Staff for CONGRESSMAN ELIOT ENGEL , who is on the House Subcommittee on the Middle East and Asia and a good friend to Israel. phone 202-225-2464 fax (202) 225-5513 jason.steinbaum@mail.house.gov
TOM STALLINGS Chief of Staff to CONGRESSMAN TRENT FRANKS , a Congressman with growing influence, who is a solid friend and has taken on the issue of the inciteful PA school books. phone 202-225-4567 fax 202-225-6328 tom.stallings@mail.house.gov
ZAHAVA GOLDMAN Legislative Assistant to CONGRESSMAN HENRY WAXMAN , who has powerful influence on matters of foreign policy and speaks out for integrity in government. phone 202-225-3976 fax 202-225-4099 zahava.goldman@mail.house.gov
LESTER MUNSON Chief of Staff for CONGRESSMAN MARK KIRK , who is a member of the House Appropriations Committee, which has considerable power, and co-chairs a Republican caucus group, thus having contact with others. phone 202-225-4835 fax 202-225-0837 lester.munson@mail.house.gov
DON MacDONALD Staff director for CONGRESSMAN BRAD SHERMAN , Chairman of the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade. phone 202-225-5911 fax 202-225-5879 don.macdonald@mail.house.gov
If you want to check for your own Congressperson, see: http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.shtml
Copy and paste email and keep sending anti-Annapolis letters.
This list includes the above email addresses as well as the email addresses to the Israeli Consulates throughout the US and to Shas and Lieberman parties in Israel.
president@whitehouse.gov,
secretary@state.gov weiner@mail.house.gov alan.makovsky@mail.house.gov howard.diamond@mail.house.gov matthew.zweig@mail.house.gov elise.aronson@mail.house.gov
jason.steinbaum@mail.house.gov tom.stallings@mail.house.gov
zahava.goldman@mail.house.gov lester.munson@mail.house.gov
don.macdonald@mail.house.gov Emb-sec2@israelemb.org ashariv@newyork.mfa.gov.il consul.sec@atlanta.mfa.gov.il consul@boston.mfa.gov.il consul-GeneralSec@bostonmfa.gov.il
contactus@chicago.mfa.gov.il consular.dep@houston.mfa.govil heb-sec@houston.mfa.gov.il concal.sec@houston.mfa.gov.il info@losangeles.mfa.gov.il info@miami.mfa.gov.il info@philadelphia.mfa.gov.il
For those who live in Israel and for those who are Israeli citizens, here is the list of Knesset members. Remember that phone calls and faxes are much more effective than e-mails.
Telephone blitz list of MKs to call, fax or e-mail about leaving the government now.
Name Party e-mail Phone Fax
David Azoulay, Shas dazoulay@knesset.gov.il 02-6408184,5 02-6753908
Ze’ev Boim, Kadima zboim@knesset.gov.il 02-6408439, 40 02-6496062
Zeev Elkin, Kadima zelkin@knesset.gov.il 02-6408145,6 02-6496438
Israel Hasson, Yis Beitenu ihasson@knesset.gov.il 02-6408119,20 02-6496585
Avig Liberman, Yis Beitenu aliberman@Knesset.gov.il 02-6408388,9 02-6408921
Alex Miller, Yis Beitenu amiller@knesset.gov.il 02-6408017,8 02-6496479
Yitzchak Vaknin, Shas yvaknin@knesset.gov.il 02-6408106 02-6496079
Eli Yishai, Shas eyishai@knesset.gov.il 02-6408406,7 02-6662909
The people who answer these phones are the parliamentary aides to the MKs. Here is a sample of the brief message you may give, preferably in Hebrew:
“Shalom, MK ______ . I am _____, a concerned citizen (who supported the ______ party in the previous election. I am asking you, as the deadline of Annapolis approaches, to leave Olmert’s government before it will cause a calamity for the entire Jewish people.
Thank you.”
“Shalom, Chaver Knesset _______. Ani ___________, ezrach mudog, (shetomach b_________ b’bchirot ha’achronot) . Ani poneh eylacha b’kriah b’rega ha’acharon mamash. Ana, azove et memsholto shel Ehud Olmert lifnai shehamemshalah hazu tavee asone al am yisrael culo.
Todah rabah.”
Courtesy http://cjhsla.callsForJerusalem.org
In 1938, the world was silent while 6, 000,000 Jews were systematically brutally murdered. More than 20,000,000 men, women, handicapped, aged, sick, prisoners of war, forced laborers, camp inmates, critics, homosexuals, Slavs, Serbs, Germans, Czechs, Italians, Poles, French, Ukrainians, and many others were murdered along with the Jews. Among them 1,000,000 were children under eighteen years of age.
Hitler told Himmler that it was not enough for the Jews simply to die; they must die in agony. ----Robert Payne, The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler
Dear Friends,
Let's work together to send a loud and clear message about what is happening TODAY in Annapolis.
CCJ is sponsoring an innovative grassroots effort to generate calls to the White House, the State Department and the Israeli Embassy so that the calls are free.
Simply click here or on the link below and you will be asked to provide name, state and phone number. You will be called and connected to the White House, State Department or Embassy as requested by you. There's even a suggested script for a short, effective message.
http://cjhsla.callsForJerusalem.org
The Thanksgiving holiday weekend is over but Annapolis is upon us - so let's do our part here to bombard and drum this message into their heads and hearts.
For those who want to make their message even more powerful, make your own phone call to the following American congressional aides who have can have influence on the Annapolis catastrophe (naqba).
Below you will find a short list of the aides to key influential members of Congress with contact information. Contacting aides is the way to go. A fax or phone call is most effective; e-mail only if nothing else is possible. At the bottom you will find a cut and paste email list of the email addresses.
ALAN MAKOVSKY Alan is the senior professional Majority staff member for the House Committee on Foreign Affairs . He doesn't work with one Congressperson, but rather with the committee. Ask that he convey your message to all Democrats on the Committee phone 202-225-6735 fax 202-226-3581 alan.makovsky@mail.house.gov
HOWARD DIAMOND Deputy Chief of Staff for CONGRESSMAN GARY ACKERMAN , Chair of the House Subcommittee on the Middle East and Asia, of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. phone 202-225-2601 fax 202-225-1589 howard.diamond@mail.house.gov
MATTHEW ZWEIG Professional Staff Member, Minority Staff, for House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Works with CONGRESSWOMAN ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN , ranking member of the committee (was chair before the elections) and a good friend to Israel. Ask that he convey the message to all Republican members of the Committee and especially to Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen. phone 202-226-8467 fax 202-226-7269 matthew.zweig@mail.house.gov
ELISE KENDARIAN ARONSON Chief of Staff for CONGRESSMAN JIM SAXTON , who has opposed Oslo on Capitol Hill and been a staunch friend. phone 202-225-4765 fax (202) 225-0778 elise.aronson@mail.house.gov
JASON STEINBAUM Chief of Staff for CONGRESSMAN ELIOT ENGEL , who is on the House Subcommittee on the Middle East and Asia and a good friend to Israel. phone 202-225-2464 fax (202) 225-5513 jason.steinbaum@mail.house.gov
TOM STALLINGS Chief of Staff to CONGRESSMAN TRENT FRANKS , a Congressman with growing influence, who is a solid friend and has taken on the issue of the inciteful PA school books. phone 202-225-4567 fax 202-225-6328 tom.stallings@mail.house.gov
ZAHAVA GOLDMAN Legislative Assistant to CONGRESSMAN HENRY WAXMAN , who has powerful influence on matters of foreign policy and speaks out for integrity in government. phone 202-225-3976 fax 202-225-4099 zahava.goldman@mail.house.gov
LESTER MUNSON Chief of Staff for CONGRESSMAN MARK KIRK , who is a member of the House Appropriations Committee, which has considerable power, and co-chairs a Republican caucus group, thus having contact with others. phone 202-225-4835 fax 202-225-0837 lester.munson@mail.house.gov
DON MacDONALD Staff director for CONGRESSMAN BRAD SHERMAN , Chairman of the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade. phone 202-225-5911 fax 202-225-5879 don.macdonald@mail.house.gov
If you want to check for your own Congressperson, see: http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.shtml
Copy and paste email and keep sending anti-Annapolis letters.
This list includes the above email addresses as well as the email addresses to the Israeli Consulates throughout the US and to Shas and Lieberman parties in Israel.
president@whitehouse.gov,
secretary@state.gov weiner@mail.house.gov alan.makovsky@mail.house.gov howard.diamond@mail.house.gov matthew.zweig@mail.house.gov elise.aronson@mail.house.gov
jason.steinbaum@mail.house.gov tom.stallings@mail.house.gov
zahava.goldman@mail.house.gov lester.munson@mail.house.gov
don.macdonald@mail.house.gov Emb-sec2@israelemb.org ashariv@newyork.mfa.gov.il consul.sec@atlanta.mfa.gov.il consul@boston.mfa.gov.il consul-GeneralSec@bostonmfa.gov.il
contactus@chicago.mfa.gov.il consular.dep@houston.mfa.govil heb-sec@houston.mfa.gov.il concal.sec@houston.mfa.gov.il info@losangeles.mfa.gov.il info@miami.mfa.gov.il info@philadelphia.mfa.gov.il
For those who live in Israel and for those who are Israeli citizens, here is the list of Knesset members. Remember that phone calls and faxes are much more effective than e-mails.
Telephone blitz list of MKs to call, fax or e-mail about leaving the government now.
Name Party e-mail Phone Fax
David Azoulay, Shas dazoulay@knesset.gov.il 02-6408184,5 02-6753908
Ze’ev Boim, Kadima zboim@knesset.gov.il 02-6408439, 40 02-6496062
Zeev Elkin, Kadima zelkin@knesset.gov.il 02-6408145,6 02-6496438
Israel Hasson, Yis Beitenu ihasson@knesset.gov.il 02-6408119,20 02-6496585
Avig Liberman, Yis Beitenu aliberman@Knesset.gov.il 02-6408388,9 02-6408921
Alex Miller, Yis Beitenu amiller@knesset.gov.il 02-6408017,8 02-6496479
Yitzchak Vaknin, Shas yvaknin@knesset.gov.il 02-6408106 02-6496079
Eli Yishai, Shas eyishai@knesset.gov.il 02-6408406,7 02-6662909
The people who answer these phones are the parliamentary aides to the MKs. Here is a sample of the brief message you may give, preferably in Hebrew:
“Shalom, MK ______ . I am _____, a concerned citizen (who supported the ______ party in the previous election. I am asking you, as the deadline of Annapolis approaches, to leave Olmert’s government before it will cause a calamity for the entire Jewish people.
Thank you.”
“Shalom, Chaver Knesset _______. Ani ___________, ezrach mudog, (shetomach b_________ b’bchirot ha’achronot) . Ani poneh eylacha b’kriah b’rega ha’acharon mamash. Ana, azove et memsholto shel Ehud Olmert lifnai shehamemshalah hazu tavee asone al am yisrael culo.
Todah rabah.”
Courtesy http://cjhsla.callsForJerusalem.org
Rally in Manhattan Against World Sacrificing Israel to Global Jihad, Monday at Noon
Grassroots Rally For Israel 800 2nd Ave, NYC Mon, 26 Nov, noon-2pm
Your brothers and sisters in Israel will be in mortal danger if the proposed giveaways are agreed upon at the Annapolis Summit.
We must strongly object to any division of Jerusalem by the Government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert & Co.
We must protest the planned expulsion of our 250,000 brethren living in Judea and Samaria – The Biblical Israel, and of inviting thousands of terrorists to live within 10 miles of Israel’s population centers.
And, we must protest the imminent release of another 441 terrorists from Israeli prisons.
Now you have the opportunity to Demonstrate Your Opposition to the Annapolis Summit .
WE WILL MEET MONDAY, NOVEMBER 26 , 2007 AT 12 NOON until 2pm, OPPOSITE THE ISRAELI CONSULATE IN NEW YORK CITY (SECOND AVENUE BETWEEN 42 & 43 STREET)
Bring placards (and the press)!
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Contact BUDDY (vegibud@gmail.com) or EVA (havadishon@yahoo.com)
Your brothers and sisters in Israel will be in mortal danger if the proposed giveaways are agreed upon at the Annapolis Summit.
We must strongly object to any division of Jerusalem by the Government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert & Co.
We must protest the planned expulsion of our 250,000 brethren living in Judea and Samaria – The Biblical Israel, and of inviting thousands of terrorists to live within 10 miles of Israel’s population centers.
And, we must protest the imminent release of another 441 terrorists from Israeli prisons.
Now you have the opportunity to Demonstrate Your Opposition to the Annapolis Summit .
WE WILL MEET MONDAY, NOVEMBER 26 , 2007 AT 12 NOON until 2pm, OPPOSITE THE ISRAELI CONSULATE IN NEW YORK CITY (SECOND AVENUE BETWEEN 42 & 43 STREET)
Bring placards (and the press)!
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Contact BUDDY (vegibud@gmail.com) or EVA (havadishon@yahoo.com)
TV News from Israel (in English)
- The UN Secretary General is concerned about Hizbullah's rearming and the situation in Lebanon, as Lebanese military officials claim their soldiers opened fire on Israeli warplanes;
- Two people are wounded in a terrorist drive by shooting attack
- Defense Minister Barak authorizes cutting electricity to Gaza in response to the continued Palestinian rocket attacks.
Anchorman: Mark Kaplan
"No Jewish Prayers in Palestine's Jerusalem'- Mufti
If Jerusalem is divided, and it's eastern part made the capital of "Palestine" - world Jewry will be forever cut off from the hope it has held onto for 2000 years, and be once and for all prohibited from ascending the Temple Mount and even from praying at the Western Wall.
This warning was clearly sounded in an interview the former PLO-appointed mufti of Jerusalem gave to The Jerusalem Post this week, excerpts of which were published Thursday.
Ikrema Sabri emphatically told the Post no Israelite temple had ever stood on the Temple Mount.
What's more, the cleric insisted, the Western Wall - whose massive stones the entire world knows to have been laid by Herod the Great during the Roman occupation of the Land of Israel - had nothing to do with any temple either.
"The wall is not part of the Jewish temple. It is just the western wall of the mosque. There is not a single stone with any relation at all to the history of the Hebrews.
"It was always only a mosque - all 144 dunams, the entire area," Sabri said.
"No Jews have the right to pray there. ... No Jewish prayer. If the Jews want real peace, they must not do anything to try to pray on Al-Aqsa. Everyone knows that."
The Mufti's ranting underscored how the Muslim Arab effort to wrest Israel's holiest site from the Jewish people and entrench it under irreversible Islamic control is intensifying in the run-up to next-month's US-sponsored Middle East conference.
Washington is pushing for this conference, fully aware that the Arab side’s intent is to steal great chunks of Israel’s historic homeland for the creation of a Juden-rein Palestinian state that will never tolerate Jewish and Christian worship on or near the Temple Mount – or at any other site deemed sacred to Islam.
Reported by Stan Goodenough of Jerusalem NewsWire.
This warning was clearly sounded in an interview the former PLO-appointed mufti of Jerusalem gave to The Jerusalem Post this week, excerpts of which were published Thursday.
Ikrema Sabri emphatically told the Post no Israelite temple had ever stood on the Temple Mount.
What's more, the cleric insisted, the Western Wall - whose massive stones the entire world knows to have been laid by Herod the Great during the Roman occupation of the Land of Israel - had nothing to do with any temple either.
"The wall is not part of the Jewish temple. It is just the western wall of the mosque. There is not a single stone with any relation at all to the history of the Hebrews.
"It was always only a mosque - all 144 dunams, the entire area," Sabri said.
"No Jews have the right to pray there. ... No Jewish prayer. If the Jews want real peace, they must not do anything to try to pray on Al-Aqsa. Everyone knows that."
The Mufti's ranting underscored how the Muslim Arab effort to wrest Israel's holiest site from the Jewish people and entrench it under irreversible Islamic control is intensifying in the run-up to next-month's US-sponsored Middle East conference.
Washington is pushing for this conference, fully aware that the Arab side’s intent is to steal great chunks of Israel’s historic homeland for the creation of a Juden-rein Palestinian state that will never tolerate Jewish and Christian worship on or near the Temple Mount – or at any other site deemed sacred to Islam.
Reported by Stan Goodenough of Jerusalem NewsWire.
Antisemitism in the Past Millenium - Timeline
1250 - Pope Innocent III refuses Jews of Cordova, Spain to build a synagogue
1253 - Jews are expelled from Vienne, France by order of Pope Innocent III
1275 - King Edward I of England orders cessation of persecution of French Jews
1290 - Last of 16,000 English Jews expelled by King Edward I, leaves
1294 - Jews are expelled from Berne, Switzerland
1322 - Jews are expelled from France for 3rd time
1348 - Jews in Zurich, Switzerland are accused of poisoning wells
1349 - Townspeople of Fulda, Germany massacre Jews
1349 - People of Krems, Austria accuse Jews of poisoning wells
1349 - Jews of Freilsburg, Germany are massacred
1349 - Jews are expelled from Burgsordf, Switzerland
1349 - Jews are expelled from Zurich, Switzerland
1349 - 60 Jews murdered in Breslau, Silesia
1360 - Jews are expelled from Breslau, Silesia
1370 - Jews are expelled/massacred from Brussels, Belgium
1391 - Jews of Palma, Majorca massacred
1391 - Jews are massacred in Toledo and Barcelona, Spain
1394 - Jews are expelled from France by order of King Charles VI
1420 - Jews of Syria and Austria expelled
1421 - Jews of Styria Austria imprisoned and expelled
1427 - Jews are expelled from Berne, Switzerland
1430 - Jews are expelled from Speyer, Germany
1430 - Jews are expelled from Eger, Bohemia
1450 - Jews are expelled from Lower Bavaria by order of Ludwig IX
1452 - Ferdinand II, the Catholic, King of Aragon/Sicily, expelled Jews
1453 - 41 Jewish martyrs burned at stake at Breslau
1454 - Jews are expelled from Brunn, Moravia by order of King Ladislaus
1479 - Jews are expelled from Schlettstadt, Alsace by Emperor Frederick III
1492 - 100,000 Jews expelled from Sicily
1492 - Jews are expelled from Spain by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella
1493 - Last day for all Jews to leave Sicily
1496 - Jews are expelled from Syria
1496 - Jews are expelled from Carintha, Austria
1496 - Jews are expelled from Portugal by order of King Manuel I
1497 - Jews are expelled from Graz (Syria)
1498 - Jews are expelled from Nurenberg, Bavaria by Emperor Maximillian
1505 - Jews are expelled from Orange Burgandy by Philibert of Luxembourg
1510 - Jews are expelled from Colmar, Germany
1515 - Jews are expelled from Laibach, Austria
1526 - Jews are expelled from Pressburg, Hungary by Maria of Hapsburg
1539 - Jews of Tyrnau, Hungary (then Trnava, Czech), expelled
1549 - Jews are expelled from Ghent, Belgium
1550 - Jews are expelled from Genoa, Italy
1563 - Jews are expelled from France by order of Charles VI
1563 - Jewish community of Neutitschlin, Moravia expelled
1567 - Jews are expelled from Brazil by order of regent Don Henrique
1598 - Genoa, Italy expels Jews
1654 - Jews are expelled from Brazil
1670 - Jews expelled from Austria by order of Leopold I
1670 - Austrian Emperor Leopold I expels 4,000
1699 - Jews are expelled from Lubeck, Germany
1716 - Decree orders all Jews expelled from Brussels, Belgium
1727 - Jews are expelled from Ukraine by Empress Catherine I of Russia
1731 - All Hebrew books in Papal State are confiscated
1738 - Jews are expelled from Breslau
1740 - Jews are expelled from Little Russia by order of Czarina Anne
1742 - Empress Elisabeth orders expulsion of all Jews from Russia
1745 - Jews are expelled from Prague
1775 - Marshal Oscar von Lubomirski expels Jews from Warsaw, Poland
1784 - Jews are expelled from Warsaw by Marshall Mniszek
1809 - Citizenship is denied to Jews of Canton of Aargau, Switzerland
1816 - Jews are expelled from Free city of Lubeck, Germany
1829 - Jews expelled from Nikolayev and Sevastopol, Russia
1829 - Jews expelled from Portugal
1853 - Austrian law forbids Jews from owning land
1862 - Gen U.S. Grant expels Jews from Tennessee, issues Order #11, barring Jews from serving under him
1882 - Czar Alexander III bans Jews from living in rural Romania (May Laws)
1891 - Jews are expelled from Moscow, Russia
1898 - Jews are expelled from Kiev, Russia
1914 - Jews are expelled from Mitchenick, Poland
1914 - Jews are expelled from Tel Aviv by Turkish authorities
1915 - Jews of Laibach, Austria expelled
1917 - Jews are expelled from Tel Aviv and Jaffa by Turkish authorities
1939 - Jews in Lodz, Poland ordered to wear yellow star of David
1941 - All Jews living in Baltic States are obligated to wear a Jewish star
1941 - Jews are expelled from Hungarian, Ruthenia
1944 - Hungary orders all Jews to wear yellow stars
1253 - Jews are expelled from Vienne, France by order of Pope Innocent III
1275 - King Edward I of England orders cessation of persecution of French Jews
1290 - Last of 16,000 English Jews expelled by King Edward I, leaves
1294 - Jews are expelled from Berne, Switzerland
1322 - Jews are expelled from France for 3rd time
1348 - Jews in Zurich, Switzerland are accused of poisoning wells
1349 - Townspeople of Fulda, Germany massacre Jews
1349 - People of Krems, Austria accuse Jews of poisoning wells
1349 - Jews of Freilsburg, Germany are massacred
1349 - Jews are expelled from Burgsordf, Switzerland
1349 - Jews are expelled from Zurich, Switzerland
1349 - 60 Jews murdered in Breslau, Silesia
1360 - Jews are expelled from Breslau, Silesia
1370 - Jews are expelled/massacred from Brussels, Belgium
1391 - Jews of Palma, Majorca massacred
1391 - Jews are massacred in Toledo and Barcelona, Spain
1394 - Jews are expelled from France by order of King Charles VI
1420 - Jews of Syria and Austria expelled
1421 - Jews of Styria Austria imprisoned and expelled
1427 - Jews are expelled from Berne, Switzerland
1430 - Jews are expelled from Speyer, Germany
1430 - Jews are expelled from Eger, Bohemia
1450 - Jews are expelled from Lower Bavaria by order of Ludwig IX
1452 - Ferdinand II, the Catholic, King of Aragon/Sicily, expelled Jews
1453 - 41 Jewish martyrs burned at stake at Breslau
1454 - Jews are expelled from Brunn, Moravia by order of King Ladislaus
1479 - Jews are expelled from Schlettstadt, Alsace by Emperor Frederick III
1492 - 100,000 Jews expelled from Sicily
1492 - Jews are expelled from Spain by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella
1493 - Last day for all Jews to leave Sicily
1496 - Jews are expelled from Syria
1496 - Jews are expelled from Carintha, Austria
1496 - Jews are expelled from Portugal by order of King Manuel I
1497 - Jews are expelled from Graz (Syria)
1498 - Jews are expelled from Nurenberg, Bavaria by Emperor Maximillian
1505 - Jews are expelled from Orange Burgandy by Philibert of Luxembourg
1510 - Jews are expelled from Colmar, Germany
1515 - Jews are expelled from Laibach, Austria
1526 - Jews are expelled from Pressburg, Hungary by Maria of Hapsburg
1539 - Jews of Tyrnau, Hungary (then Trnava, Czech), expelled
1549 - Jews are expelled from Ghent, Belgium
1550 - Jews are expelled from Genoa, Italy
1563 - Jews are expelled from France by order of Charles VI
1563 - Jewish community of Neutitschlin, Moravia expelled
1567 - Jews are expelled from Brazil by order of regent Don Henrique
1598 - Genoa, Italy expels Jews
1654 - Jews are expelled from Brazil
1670 - Jews expelled from Austria by order of Leopold I
1670 - Austrian Emperor Leopold I expels 4,000
1699 - Jews are expelled from Lubeck, Germany
1716 - Decree orders all Jews expelled from Brussels, Belgium
1727 - Jews are expelled from Ukraine by Empress Catherine I of Russia
1731 - All Hebrew books in Papal State are confiscated
1738 - Jews are expelled from Breslau
1740 - Jews are expelled from Little Russia by order of Czarina Anne
1742 - Empress Elisabeth orders expulsion of all Jews from Russia
1745 - Jews are expelled from Prague
1775 - Marshal Oscar von Lubomirski expels Jews from Warsaw, Poland
1784 - Jews are expelled from Warsaw by Marshall Mniszek
1809 - Citizenship is denied to Jews of Canton of Aargau, Switzerland
1816 - Jews are expelled from Free city of Lubeck, Germany
1829 - Jews expelled from Nikolayev and Sevastopol, Russia
1829 - Jews expelled from Portugal
1853 - Austrian law forbids Jews from owning land
1862 - Gen U.S. Grant expels Jews from Tennessee, issues Order #11, barring Jews from serving under him
1882 - Czar Alexander III bans Jews from living in rural Romania (May Laws)
1891 - Jews are expelled from Moscow, Russia
1898 - Jews are expelled from Kiev, Russia
1914 - Jews are expelled from Mitchenick, Poland
1914 - Jews are expelled from Tel Aviv by Turkish authorities
1915 - Jews of Laibach, Austria expelled
1917 - Jews are expelled from Tel Aviv and Jaffa by Turkish authorities
1939 - Jews in Lodz, Poland ordered to wear yellow star of David
1941 - All Jews living in Baltic States are obligated to wear a Jewish star
1941 - Jews are expelled from Hungarian, Ruthenia
1944 - Hungary orders all Jews to wear yellow stars
Defenders of the God of Israel against the Forces of Evil
A moving tribute to our Israeli brothers-in-arms on the front-lines of defense against the Holy War of the global jihad.
Man's role in creation is that of a Guardian. "And G-d took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden, to work it and to keep it" (Genesis 2:15).
The Creator entrusted His world to our care, charging us with the responsibility of safeguarding and developing the resources and potentials which He has granted and made available to each individual.
Man's role in creation is that of a Guardian. "And G-d took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden, to work it and to keep it" (Genesis 2:15).
The Creator entrusted His world to our care, charging us with the responsibility of safeguarding and developing the resources and potentials which He has granted and made available to each individual.
'Every Jew alive today is a result of a miracle' - the Secret of Jewish Resilience
'Every Jew alive today is a result of a miracle'- the Secret of Jewish Resilience
President John Adams, the Second President of the United States: "I will insist the Hebrews have [contributed] more to civilize men than any other nation. If I was an atheist and believed in blind eternal fate, I should still believe that fate had ordained the Jews to be the most essential instrument for civilizing the nations ... They are the most glorious nation that ever inhabited this Earth. The Romans and their empire were but a bubble in comparison to the Jews. They have given religion to three-quarters of the globe and have influenced the affairs of mankind more and more happily than any other nation, ancient or modern."
Paul Johnson - Christian historian, author of A History of the Jews & A History of Christianity: "Certainly, the world without the Jews would have been a radically different place. Humanity might have eventually stumbled upon all the Jewish insights. But we cannot be sure. All the great conceptual discoveries of the human intellect seem obvious and inescapable once they had been revealed, but it requires a special genius to formulate them for the first time. The Jews had this gift. To them we owe the idea of equality before the law, both divine and human; of the sanctity of life and the dignity of human person; of the individual conscience and so a personal redemption; of collective conscience and so of social responsibility; of peace as an abstract ideal and love as the foundation of justice, and many other items which constitute the basic moral furniture of the human mind. Without Jews it might have been a much emptier place."
Mark Twain, an agnostic and self-acknowledged skeptic, penned this in 1899 in Harper's Magazine: "The Egyptian, Babylonian, and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away. The Greek and Roman followed, made a vast noise and they are gone. Other peoples have sprung up, and held their torch high for a time, but it burned out and they sit in twilight now or have vanished. The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind. All things are mortal, but the Jew. All other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?" (courtesy CheckItOutNowNYC via YouTube).
President John Adams, the Second President of the United States: "I will insist the Hebrews have [contributed] more to civilize men than any other nation. If I was an atheist and believed in blind eternal fate, I should still believe that fate had ordained the Jews to be the most essential instrument for civilizing the nations ... They are the most glorious nation that ever inhabited this Earth. The Romans and their empire were but a bubble in comparison to the Jews. They have given religion to three-quarters of the globe and have influenced the affairs of mankind more and more happily than any other nation, ancient or modern."
Paul Johnson - Christian historian, author of A History of the Jews & A History of Christianity: "Certainly, the world without the Jews would have been a radically different place. Humanity might have eventually stumbled upon all the Jewish insights. But we cannot be sure. All the great conceptual discoveries of the human intellect seem obvious and inescapable once they had been revealed, but it requires a special genius to formulate them for the first time. The Jews had this gift. To them we owe the idea of equality before the law, both divine and human; of the sanctity of life and the dignity of human person; of the individual conscience and so a personal redemption; of collective conscience and so of social responsibility; of peace as an abstract ideal and love as the foundation of justice, and many other items which constitute the basic moral furniture of the human mind. Without Jews it might have been a much emptier place."
Mark Twain, an agnostic and self-acknowledged skeptic, penned this in 1899 in Harper's Magazine: "The Egyptian, Babylonian, and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away. The Greek and Roman followed, made a vast noise and they are gone. Other peoples have sprung up, and held their torch high for a time, but it burned out and they sit in twilight now or have vanished. The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind. All things are mortal, but the Jew. All other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?" (courtesy CheckItOutNowNYC via YouTube).
13 Fundamental Truths of Judaism and its Foundations
The great codifier of Torah law and Jewish philosophy, Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon ("Mamonides" also known as "The Rambam"), compiled what he refers to as the Shloshah Asar Ikkarim, the "Thirteen Fundamental Principles" of the Jewish faith, as derived from the Torah. Maimonides refers to these thirteen principles of faith as "the fundamental truths of our religion and its very foundations." The Thirteen Principles of Jewish faith are as follows:
1. Belief in the existence of the Creator, who is perfect in every manner of existence and is the Primary Cause of all that exists.
2. The belief in G-d's absolute and unparalleled unity.
3. The belief in G-d's non-corporeality, nor that He will be affected by any physical occurrences, such as movement, or rest, or dwelling.
4. The belief in G-d's eternity.
5. The imperative to worship G-d exclusively and no foreign false gods.
6. The belief that G-d communicates with man through prophecy.
7. The belief in the primacy of the prophecy of Moses our teacher.
8. The belief in the divine origin of the Torah.
9. The belief in the immutability of the Torah.
10. The belief in G-d's omniscience and providence.
11. The belief in divine reward and retribution.
12. The belief in the arrival of the Messiah and the messianic era.
13. The belief in the resurrection of the dead.
It is the custom of many congregations to recite the Thirteen Articles, in a slightly more poetic form, beginning with the words Ani Maamin--"I believe"--every day after the morning prayers in the synagogue.
(Courtesy Chabad.org)
1. Belief in the existence of the Creator, who is perfect in every manner of existence and is the Primary Cause of all that exists.
2. The belief in G-d's absolute and unparalleled unity.
3. The belief in G-d's non-corporeality, nor that He will be affected by any physical occurrences, such as movement, or rest, or dwelling.
4. The belief in G-d's eternity.
5. The imperative to worship G-d exclusively and no foreign false gods.
6. The belief that G-d communicates with man through prophecy.
7. The belief in the primacy of the prophecy of Moses our teacher.
8. The belief in the divine origin of the Torah.
9. The belief in the immutability of the Torah.
10. The belief in G-d's omniscience and providence.
11. The belief in divine reward and retribution.
12. The belief in the arrival of the Messiah and the messianic era.
13. The belief in the resurrection of the dead.
It is the custom of many congregations to recite the Thirteen Articles, in a slightly more poetic form, beginning with the words Ani Maamin--"I believe"--every day after the morning prayers in the synagogue.
(Courtesy Chabad.org)
"The Jewish enemy within" - Melanie Phillips on Emanuele Ottolenghi's essay on Jewish victimhood
Emanuele Ottolenghi has written an important and profound article, "The left among us likes victimhood," published in Britain's Jewish Chronicle. He has spotted a particularly striking and grotesque aspect of the odious hatred of Israel displayed by an increasing number of Jewish intellectuals on the left. Redefining moral virtue to exclude every characteristic other than being a left-wing personality, they seek to redefine Jewish moral virtue to exclude Jewish nationalism. Claiming to be returning to authentic Jewish values, they therefore purport to speak in the interests of Jews and Judaism by saving Jews from themselves in their reprehensibly un-Jewish embrace of Zionism and Israel.
Thus Jewish nationalism is un-Jewish, apparently, because it promotes war rather than peace (ignoring, of course, the inconvenient truth that Israel is a militarised society only because it is the historic victim of an unremitting war waged against it); and Jews are said to have a duty to be hostile to Jewish nationalism because Jews were the victims of nationalism. This, of course, is so absurd as to be incredible to anyone outside the bizarre thought system of the extreme left; the equation of fascism with national self-determination not only suggests a form of cultural nihilism, since it would make it morally beyond the pale for any people to have its own nation, but is contradicted by the left’s own championing of Palestinian and other supposedly nationalist movements claiming the very same right to self-determination.
More fundamentally, however, these Jewish Israel-haters – most of whom have only a tangential connection with Judaism – reveal by these arguments a profound ignorance of Judaism and Jewish history and ethics (an ignorance underlined by the way they use the salvation language of Christianity to denounce Jewish self-determination). They appear to think that Zionism, or Jewish nationalism, is a kind of colonial neologism that was appended to Judaism in the nineteenth century. But the Jews’ identification of themselves as a nation, and a nation moreover that had its national home in Israel for hundreds of years until the Romans occupied it and threw them out, is absolutely integral to Judaism as a religion. Jewish peoplehood was introduced with Abraham when God chose his descendants to become a mighty nation to carry the divine message; Jewish nationhood was born in the exodus from Egypt; the mourning for the loss of Zion and the longing to return are woven into the Jewish religious calendar and Jewish religious liturgy.
Moreover, the idea that the Jews should not fight to defend their homeland but turn the other cheek is not a Jewish religious concept at all. On the contrary, the Bible makes it clear that the Jews had a duty not only to fight for their homeland, but to destroy their enemies by causing the kind of devastation which the modern state of Israel would never dream of enacting — unlike its Arab enemies, who would and regularly do. The idea that Jews have a duty not to fight for their collective life but instead to surrender and die is profoundly un-Jewish – indeed, it is suicidal by any standard, and no people would be expected to adhere to such a monstrous precept. But for the Jewish Israel-haters, the Jews alone apparently must choose their own destruction as the pre-condition for their moral redemption. As Ottolenghi observes:
Thus Jewish nationalism is un-Jewish, apparently, because it promotes war rather than peace (ignoring, of course, the inconvenient truth that Israel is a militarised society only because it is the historic victim of an unremitting war waged against it); and Jews are said to have a duty to be hostile to Jewish nationalism because Jews were the victims of nationalism. This, of course, is so absurd as to be incredible to anyone outside the bizarre thought system of the extreme left; the equation of fascism with national self-determination not only suggests a form of cultural nihilism, since it would make it morally beyond the pale for any people to have its own nation, but is contradicted by the left’s own championing of Palestinian and other supposedly nationalist movements claiming the very same right to self-determination.
More fundamentally, however, these Jewish Israel-haters – most of whom have only a tangential connection with Judaism – reveal by these arguments a profound ignorance of Judaism and Jewish history and ethics (an ignorance underlined by the way they use the salvation language of Christianity to denounce Jewish self-determination). They appear to think that Zionism, or Jewish nationalism, is a kind of colonial neologism that was appended to Judaism in the nineteenth century. But the Jews’ identification of themselves as a nation, and a nation moreover that had its national home in Israel for hundreds of years until the Romans occupied it and threw them out, is absolutely integral to Judaism as a religion. Jewish peoplehood was introduced with Abraham when God chose his descendants to become a mighty nation to carry the divine message; Jewish nationhood was born in the exodus from Egypt; the mourning for the loss of Zion and the longing to return are woven into the Jewish religious calendar and Jewish religious liturgy.
Moreover, the idea that the Jews should not fight to defend their homeland but turn the other cheek is not a Jewish religious concept at all. On the contrary, the Bible makes it clear that the Jews had a duty not only to fight for their homeland, but to destroy their enemies by causing the kind of devastation which the modern state of Israel would never dream of enacting — unlike its Arab enemies, who would and regularly do. The idea that Jews have a duty not to fight for their collective life but instead to surrender and die is profoundly un-Jewish – indeed, it is suicidal by any standard, and no people would be expected to adhere to such a monstrous precept. But for the Jewish Israel-haters, the Jews alone apparently must choose their own destruction as the pre-condition for their moral redemption. As Ottolenghi observes:
Calls abound for Jews to repent, condemn Israel, hear the gospel of anti-Zionism and convert to a new, exciting form of Judaism, based more on Karl Marx and Rosa Luxembourg than Theodor Herzl and David Ben Gurion. So is the rush to heed them. With antisemitism rising across Europe alongside violence in the Middle East, Jews have been under pressure for several years now. Instead of getting sympathy for the harassment they are subjected to, Jews have earned onlyFor these Jewish Israel-haters, Jewish victimhood is the authentic Jewish moral experience. To put it another way, to them the most elevated kind of Jew is a dead Jew. And that is surely the real crime that Israel commits in their eyes – that it was restored specifically to ensure that never again would Jews be powerless victims but instead would fight for the survival of the Jewish people. And that is unforgiveable – because what these Jews of the left really hate is not just Israel but Judaism itself.
scorn for their refusal to denounce Israel first.
That is the sad truth — one that anti-Zionist Jewish intellectuals, with their demonising rhetoric against Israel and their patronising attitude towards fellow Jews, have irresponsibly abetted. To shield themselves from shame and abuse, Jews are asked to discard Israel from their own collective identity. This step, and an active denunciation of Israel as the antithesis of progressive
and Jewish values (themselves, in this vision, synonymous with one another), will gain them full acceptance. Scores of Jews, especially among the progressive intellectuals, indeed comply in public acts of mea culpa, thus lending an alibi to antisemites and gentrifying anti-Jewish prejudice in the process.
America's Founding Financial Hero: Haym Solomon
In 1975 the United States Postal Department issued a stamp honoring a man named Haym Salomon for his contribution to the cause of the American Revolution. This stamp was uniquely printed on the front and the back. On the glue side of the stamp, the following words were printed in pale, green ink. “Financial Hero - Businessman and broker Haym Salomon was responsible for raising most of the money needed to finance the American Revolution and later to save the new nation from collapse.” I personally have one of these stamps. Historians who have studied the story of Haym Salomon all agree that without his “contribution to the cause” there would be no America today. Haym Salomon bought and sold financial papers to raise money for Robert Morris who was the Superintendent of Finance for the Continental Congress. He believed that America would be a safe haven for the Jews. But this son of a rabbi also believed that one day in the future, Jerusalem would rise from the dust, the Jews would return to their ancient homeland, and Israel and Jerusalem would once again be the home of the wandering Jew. Salomon determined to do all that he could to finance the Revolution so that America could survive until that future time when his people would once again fill the streets of Jerusalem. From one crisis to the next, Robert Morris went to Haym Salomon for help, and Salomon always responded. Haym Salomon gave his entire personal fortune of over $800,000 to the cause of the Revolution. This debt was never repaid. He died sick and penniless at the age of 45, January 6, 1785, leaving behind a young widow, Rachel, and four children all under the age of seven.
Dr. Richard Booker, Founder/Director, Institute for Hebraic-Christian Studies
Dr. Richard Booker, Founder/Director, Institute for Hebraic-Christian Studies
Jewish Prophecy Film: "The Last War"
The books of the prophets, the Talmud and the tomes of Jewish spirituality predate the other traditions of Gog and Magog- Armageddon. Kabalist organization, Torah Ohr, attempts to show you what's behind today's headlines. (:48 min)
Hundreds Pay Final Respects to Chabad Leader, Rabbi Avraham Levitansky of Santa Monica, California
Chabad's founding representative in Santa Monica, Rabbi Avrohom ben Yitzchok Isaac Halevi Levitansky, died on Sunday, 27 May.
Raised in Chicago, Rabbi Levitansky was the first emissary ("shaliach") appointed by the Lubavitcher Rebbe to serve with Rabbi Boruch Shlomo Cunin, director of Chabad on the West Coast in 1972.
Bais Chabad of Simcha Monica was founded as one of ten Chabad institutions presented to the Rebbe for his 70th birthday.
In addition to directing Chabad of S. Monica, Rabbi Levitansky was instrumental in opening Chabad's first Gan Israel Day Camp, and he helped establish the "release-time" program enabling children in public schools to receive a Jewish education. Rabbi Levitansky also helped launch Chabad's Talmud Torah and educational institutions in California, and was also active in opening Chabad in Long Beach.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with his family as we mourn the tragic, untimely passing of our dear Rabbi Levitansky. He was a cherished friend and partner who worked tirelessly for the community -- and was greatly loved in return," said Rabbi Cunin.
Rabbi Avrohom was referred to as ‘the glue’ of the west coast, his entire being given over for spreading yiddishkeit He was buried in Chabad's Mount Olive Cemetery, near the graves of his mother and brother.
"The greatest tribute we can give to Rabbi Levitansky now is to follow his example," added Rabbi Cunin.
Raised in Chicago, Rabbi Levitansky was the first emissary ("shaliach") appointed by the Lubavitcher Rebbe to serve with Rabbi Boruch Shlomo Cunin, director of Chabad on the West Coast in 1972.
Bais Chabad of Simcha Monica was founded as one of ten Chabad institutions presented to the Rebbe for his 70th birthday.
In addition to directing Chabad of S. Monica, Rabbi Levitansky was instrumental in opening Chabad's first Gan Israel Day Camp, and he helped establish the "release-time" program enabling children in public schools to receive a Jewish education. Rabbi Levitansky also helped launch Chabad's Talmud Torah and educational institutions in California, and was also active in opening Chabad in Long Beach.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with his family as we mourn the tragic, untimely passing of our dear Rabbi Levitansky. He was a cherished friend and partner who worked tirelessly for the community -- and was greatly loved in return," said Rabbi Cunin.
Rabbi Avrohom was referred to as ‘the glue’ of the west coast, his entire being given over for spreading yiddishkeit He was buried in Chabad's Mount Olive Cemetery, near the graves of his mother and brother.
"The greatest tribute we can give to Rabbi Levitansky now is to follow his example," added Rabbi Cunin.
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