If I forget thee, O Jerusalem....

T minus1 Day

2006-03-27T14:50:00.000-08:00

Thats right. T minus 1 day and counting until the new Israeli elections. Ahead in the polls is current acting Prime Minister and Prime Minister delegate Ehud Olmert and his Kadima party. Various polls have ranked Kadima the clear favorite to win out of the three major parties with suspected win tallies of between 34 and 36 seats out the 120 seat Knesset (Israeli Parliament). source
Avodah, or Labor party, the left of center socialist party headed by Amir Peretz is said to have support varying from 17 to 21 seats. This is surprising when considering in a major speech to party supporters, that was supposed to be in English, he stumbled over the English words for about 3 minutes, and thus made his campaign, and himself, seem unprofessional and sloppy. The seeds would be almost right for Labor to sow an Avodah-led government this time around, if it weren't for their too soft position on terrorism and fighting it. Either way, if Kadima wins a majority goverment, or a slight majority, Labor would most likely be a major coalition partner with the Kadima government.
Likud, headed by the mistrusted and disliked Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu, is predicted to win between 13 and 17 seats. A poor showing from the past two elections under the leadership of Ariel Sharon, but for various reasons, it makes sense. Not least because the bulk of Israelis dislike Bibi, due to various reasons.
Another, even more surprising reason and turn of events is that Avigdor Leiberman, leader of the Russian-Israeli Jewish party "Yisrael Beiteinu" (Israel is our Home) party is actually picking up a lot of seats for its coalition party National Union. Its picking up a lot of fringe voters who would have voted Likud, but won't out of principle of hating Netanyahu, as well as others who like its principles and ideas it espouses. Lieberman has suggested that Israel should unilaterally withdraw from large arab areas, and officially and unilaterally redraw the borders of Israel, leaving out the heavily arab areas, and including the heavily Jewish areas in the West Bank. This is a similar plan to what Kadima chief Ehud Olmert has said he would do if Hamas doesn't renounce terrorism and recognize Israel's right to exist. So, most likely the new Israeli government looks like it will be something along these lines for a coalition: Kadima-Labor-National Union (Yisrael Beiteinu) coalition, with Likud and the hard right and hard left becoming the loyal opposition.

Zachor "Remember"

2005-11-13T21:54:00.000-08:00

67 years ago last Wednesday was the Kristallnacht pogrom that marked the beginning of the End for European Jewry, and the beginning of the Holocaust. Let us all spread the word "Never Again" so that truly, it will be, never again. And let us pause for a minute to remember those who this event was the beginning of the end of their lives, which this heralded.

http://www.jewishmag.com/67mag/shoah/title.gif

The Beliefs of the JDL

2005-08-28T17:22:00.000-07:00

The JDL (Jewish Defense League) is a very controversial organization in the world today. I do not understand why. Here is the five principles of the JDL's beliefs taken from their website http://www.jdl.org.il

AHAVAT YISROEL -- LOVE OF JEWRY
The Jewish Defense League came into being to educate the Jewish people to the concept of Ahavat Yisroel -- one Jewish people, indivisible and united, from which flows the love for and the feeling of pain of all Jews. It sees the need for a movement that is dedicated specifically to Jewish problems and that allocates its time, resources, energies and funds to Jews. It realizes that in the end -- with few exceptions -- the Jew can look to no one but another Jew for help and that the true solution to the Jewish problem is the liquidation of the Exile and the return of all Jews to Eretz Yisroel -- the land of Israel. It sees an immediate need to place Judaism over any other "ism" and ideology and calls for the use of the yardstick: "Is it good for the Jewish people?"
HADAR -- DIGNITY AND PRIDE
JDL teaches the concept of Hadar -- pride in and knowledge of Jewish tradition, faith, culture, land, history, strength, pain and peoplehood. Hadar is the need to have pride in Judaism and not allow it to be disgraced and defiled by beating and desecration of Jewish honor. This is the concept that the great Jewish leader Zev Jabotinsky attempted to instill in the oppressed and degraded masses of Eastern Europe 60 years ago. The anti-Semite's hatred and contempt of the Jew is an attempt to degrade us. It is an attempt to instill within the Jew a feeling of inferiority. It is an attempt that, all too often, succeeds in promoting Jewish self-hatred and shame in an attempt to escape one's Jewishness. Hadar is pride. Hadar is self-respect. Hadar is dignity in being a Jew.
BARZEL -- IRON
JDL upholds the principle of Barzel -- iron -- the need to both move to help Jews everywhere and to change the Jewish image through sacrifice and all necessary means -- even strength, force and violence. The Galut image of the Jew as a weakling, as one who is easily stepped upon and who does not fight back is an image that must be changed. Not only does that image cause immediate harm to Jews but it is a self-perpetuating thing. Because a Jew runs away or because a Jew allows himself to be stepped upon, he guarantees that another Jew in the future will be attacked because of the image that he has perpetuated. JDL wants to create a physically strong, fearless and courageous Jew who fights back. We are changing an image, an image born of 2,000 years in the Galut, an image that must be buried because it has buried us. We train ourselves for the defense of Jewish lives and Jewish rights. We learn how to fight physically, for it is better to know how and not have to, than have to and not know how.
MISHMAAT -- DISCIPLINE AND UNITY
Mishmaat -- discipline and dedication -- creates within the Jew the knowledge that he (or she) can and will do whatever must be done, and the unity and strength of willpower to bring this into reality. It was the lack of discipline and Jewish unity that led continually to the destruction of the Jewish people. It is Jewish unity and self-discipline that will lead to the triumph of the Jewish people.
BITACHON -- FAITH IN THE INDESTRUCTIBILITY OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE
Faith in the greatness and indestructibility of the Jewish people, our religion and our Land of Israel is Bitachon. It is a faith that is built by our belief in the Jewish G-d of Hosts and the incredible saga of Jewish history that has seen us overcome the flood of enemies that have arisen to wipe us out in every generation. It is this faith in the permanence and survival of the Jewish people that, in turn, gives faith in the ultimate success of the Jewish Defense League. No matter how difficult, no matter how impossible the task may seem -- if it is a good task, if it is a holy task -- it will succeed, because it must.
The sources for the philosophy and actions of the Jewish Defense League are Jewish sources. They stem from the wellsprings of Jewish tradition and have their roots in Jewish teachings. In the Bible, in the Talmud, in the teachings of our rabbis throughout the ages, in Jewish practice throughout history, the concepts of Ahavat Yisroel and Hadar Yisroel and the practices of Barzel Yisroel, Mishmaat Yisroel and Bitachon Yisroel are hallowed. At the same time, an eternal debt is owed to Jews of our age who also recognized that these concepts are indeed Jewish and who fought an assimilated Jewish tide to put them into practice. We refer to the great Zev Jabotinsky, his followers and his movement of which we consider ourselves a spiritual part. And sitting in Heaven righteously alongside Jabotinsky is the founder and forever spiritual leader of the Jewish Defense League, Rabbi Meir Kahane. May the Almighty grant us the understanding to recognize and act on our problems forthrightly and the courage to go out to battle against our enemies in the face of all obstacles -- from within and without.

I believe in these ideals 100%. Thank You.

2005-07-29T22:54:00.000-07:00

"You will cross the Jordan and settle the land which G-d is giving you as an inheritance. He will give you rest from all your enemies which surround you, and you will dwell secure. Then there shall be a place which G-d shall choose to cause His name to dwell therein...
There shall you seek Him"

Deuteronomy 12:10-11, 12:5

"Then the Lord thy G-d will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the peoples, whither the Lord, thy G-d hath scattered thee"

Deuteronomy 30:3

US Muslim scholars issue Fatwa against Terrorism

2005-07-29T22:34:00.000-07:00

http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AMERICAN_MUSLIMS_TERRORISM?SITE=ILJOL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

From the Associated Press

Muslim scholars issued a Fatwa or religious decree against terrorism yesterday (July 28). In it, the scholars admitted that Jihadis are distorting Islam and Jihad for their own personal and political goals. While I am not sure as to how effective this Fatwa will be, I applaud the American Muslims for the act. I am not sure, however, if it will be effective in stopping terrorists and terrorism in Muslim nations, because the Fatwa was released in America, by American Muslim clerics, for the American Muslim community. No Muslim terrorists were American, except for that one convert who lived in Oklahoma and was converted to Islam and studied in the UAE under one of Bin Ladens supporters.
But for the most part, the overwhelming majority of American Muslims do not condone terrorism in the first place, so I do not know what good a fatwa will do to stop terrorism. I hope that this will lead to a sort of "domino theory" affect in the Muslim World, wehre the clerics there will issue similar Fatwas condemning terrorism, because, that is what we need to stop terrorsim: Having Saudi, "Palestinian", Iranian, Syrian, etc. clerics issueing Fatwas condmenig terrorism. THEN it might do some good. But personally, while I appreciate and applaud the gesture, I don't really feel like this will do anything. Let's hope I'm wrong.

the new anti-semetism

2005-07-26T21:12:00.000-07:00

Before the formation of Israel, the scapegoat was the Jewish people. "The Jews control the media!" people cried, and cited these, and many other things as examples of the international Jewish conspiracy.

One would think, that in the 21st century, people would put such stereotypical scapegoating behind them. Unfortunately, this is not the case. However, instead of the "Jews" being the scapegoats, it is replaced with "the zionists". However, anyone with half a brain knows that the majority of Zionists are Jews. The founder of the movement was a Jew, Theodor Herzl, some of our current brightest zionist thinkers are Jews (such as Alan Dershowitz) and more or less all the rank and file zionists are Jews. Granted, some of the modern zionists are Christians, mostly Christian fundamentalists, who believe that only when all of Israel is under Jewish control will the second coming of Christ be upon us, and the kingdom of Heaven will ascend upon the earth, but overall, most zionists are Jews. This is a sly ploy by the leftists and anti-semites to enable their bigotry without being condemned as bigots. "No, no, we don't hate the Jews," the claim, "We only dislike zionists. Its the zionists that we have a problem with" they scream.

I was browsing the internet, and I came upon this site. This site claims, that the "zionists" are the heart of the world's problems, and are trying to bring down western civilization. It continues to claim that it has scientific and political/historical "proof" of the conspiracy. However, in their "proof" they merely rehash old anti-semetic stereotypes and characatures of Jews that were popular in the first half of the twentieth century. This site continues to assert that "the zionists" were to blame for the London bombings of July 7th, 2005, the Madrid train bombings, and for September 11th attacks. They claim that there was a world zionist conspiracy out to destroy America and the west ever since JFK refused to sell Israel nuclear secrets, as well as many other "anti-zionist" decisions of JFK's term. The site continues to argue that thus, the "zionists" assasinated JFK, framed Lee Harvey Oswald, and since that time have been planning the destruction of the west. It has links to many "essays" claiming to have "proof" of these conspiracies. Here is one such essay.

The level of insanity in these assertions are not only off base, bigotted, and insulting, but also supremely crazy. I quote from the site:
"PRESIDENT JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY REFUSED TO SHARE US NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY WITH ISRAEL, WANTED THE FEDERAL RESERVE BANKS PLACED UNDER US GOVERNMENT CONTROL, REJECTED THE OPERATION NORTHWOODS PLANS OF JEWISH GENERAL LEMNITZER, WANTED THE CIA DISSOLVED, AND PLANNED TO WITHDRAW U.S. ADVISORS FROM VIETNAM.INSTEAD -- ZIONISTS ASSASSINATED JFK, BLAMED CIA"PATSY" LEE HARVEY OSWALD, AND REPLACED JFKWITH "COVERT JEW" LYNDON BAINES JOHNSONWHO CANCELLED OR REVERSED JFK'S PLANS.
JFK demanded that Israel allow inspectors to see Dimona and was assassinated 3 months later... Israel then pressed President Johnson for A-4E Skyhawks and F-4E Phantoms and obtained them, in 1966, with one condition: They would NOT be used to deliver nuclear weapons. The State Department wanted inspections of Israel's Dimona reactor linked to the aircraft purchases but Johnson ignored them [and] delivered the F-4E Phantoms on 5 Sept 1969
WITH NUCLEAR CAPABLE HARDWARE INTACT
"Rodney Stich's book "Defrauding America" tells of a deep-cover CIA officer assigned to a counter-intelligence unit, code-named Pegasus. This unit had tape-recordings of plans to assassinate Kennedy from a tap on the phone of J. Edgar Hoover. The people recorded on those tapes were "[Nelson] Rockefeller, Allen Dulles,
LYNDON BAINES JOHNSON, GEORGE H. W. BUSHand J. Edgar Hoover."" GUESS WHO was in Dallas, Texas, when JFK was assassinated on 11/22/1963? -- GEORGE H. W. BUSH
THIRTY-EIGHT YEARS LATER ZIONIST JEWS, ZIONIST CHRISTIANS,AND THE ZIONIST-CONTROLLED US MASS MEDIA RESURRECTEDJEWISH GENERAL LEMNITZER'S OPERATION NORTHWOODS,EMPLOYED IT AGAINST THE UNITED STATES ON 9/11/2001,BLAMED IT ON CIA "PATSIES" BIN LADEN AND HUSSEIN,STARTED THE AFGHANISTAN WAR, IRAQ WAR, AND APHONEY WAR ON TERROR TO BANKRUPT AMERICA.
GUESS WHO was in NY for the WTC attacks? -- GEORGE H. W. BUSH
THE WAR ON TERROR IS A PROTECTION RACKET INITIATED BY THE WORLD FINANCIAL ELITE KNOWN AS THE "CROWN" IN LONDON. THEIR INSTRUMENT IS THE MOSSAD/CIA-RUN ZIONIST PROJECT.THE MAIN VICTIMS ARE THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES.THE GOALS ARE TO OVERTHROW WESTERN CIVILIZATIONAND ESTABLISH A WORLD POLICE STATE KNOWN AS"ERETZ ISRAEL"; OR, "THE NEW WORLD ORDER."

The emphasis on the last sentence was added by me. Anyone who has any kind of background in Hebrew knows that "Eretz Yisrael" means "the land of Israel" however, this is just further proof of the "anti-zionism"; which is, really, just a thinly veiled smoke screen for modern anti-semetism. Now, this website may not exactly be the most credible or official looking website around, but there are many more that make similar wild claims, but look and "feel" more professional. Thus, this is not just one crazy super-liberal conspiracy theorist; rather, this is a full-blown movement in the "liberal" circles in America, and the west today.

Here are just a few of the sites that flaunt this scapegoating fallacious material as fact:
http://zionistconspiracy.org/
http://www.apfn.net/messageboard/5-13-03/discussion.cgi.41.html
http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/archive.cgi?noframes;read=39745
Report on it from the Washington Times
http://www.artpolitic.org/infopedia/se/September_11,_2001_Terrorist_Attack___Zionist_conspiracy_theories.html
http://discardedlies.com/entries/2005/02/zionist_conspiracy_reaches_nepal.php

Prayer for the Israel Defense Forces

2005-07-24T14:05:00.000-07:00

He Who blessed our forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - may He bless the fighters of the Israel Defense Force, who stand guard over our land and the cities of our God from the border of the Lebanon to the desert of Egypt, and from the Great Sea unto the approach of the Aravah, on the land, in the air, and on the sea.
May HASHEM cause the enemies who rise up against us to be struck down before them. May the Holy One, Blessed is He, preserve and rescue our fighting men from every trouble and distress and from every plague and illness, and may He send blessing and success in their every endeavor. May He lead our enemies under their sway and may He grant them salvation and crown them with victory. And may there be fulfilled for them the verse: For it is Hashem, your God, Who goes with you to battle your enemies for you to save you.

Now let us respond: Amen.

From Larry Miller, a breif overview of the conflict

2005-07-24T13:21:00.000-07:00

A brief overview of thesituation is always valuable, so as a service to all Americans whostill don't get it, I now offer you the story of the Middle East injust a few paragraphs, which is all you Really need.Here we go: The Palestinians want their own country. There's just onething about that: There are no Palestinians. It's a made up word.Israel was called Palestine for two thousand years. Like "Wiccan,""Palestinian" sounds ancient but is really a modern invention. Beforethe Israelis won the land in the 1967 war, Gaza was owned by Egypt, theWest Bank was owned by Jordan, and there were no Palestinians."As soon as the Jews took over and started growing oranges as big asbasketballs, what do you know, say hello to the "Palestinians," weepingfor their deep bond with their lost "land" and "nation." So for thesake of honesty, let's not use the word "Palestinian" any more todescribe these delightful folks, who dance for joy at our deaths untilsomeone points out they're being taped. Instead, let's call them whatthey are: "Other Arabs Who Can't Accomplish Anything In Life And WouldRather Wrap Themselves In The Seductive Melodrama Of Eternal StruggleAnd Death."I know that's a bit unwieldy to expect to see on CNN. How about this,then: "Adjacent Jew-Haters." Okay, so the Adjacent Jew-Haters wanttheir own country. Oops, just one more thing. No, they don't. Theycould've had their own country any time in the last thirty years,especially two years ago at Camp David. But if you have your owncountry, you have to have traffic lights and garbage trucks andChambers of Commerce, and, worse, you actually have to figure out someway to make a living.That's no fun. No, they want what all the other Jew-Haters in theregion want: Israel. They also want a big pile of dead Jews, of course--that's where the real fun is -- but mostly they want Israel. Why?For one thing, trying to destroy Israel - or "The Zionist Entity" astheir textbooks call it -- for the last fifty years has allowed therulers of Arab countries to divert the attention of their own peopleaway from the fact that they're the blue-ribbon most illiterate,poorest, and tribally backward on God's Earth, and if you've ever beenaround God's Earth, you know that's really saying something.It makes me roll my eyes every time one of our pundits waxes poeticabout the great history and culture of the Muslim Mid east. Unless I'mmissing something, the Arabs haven't given anything to the world sinceAlgebra, and, by the way, thanks a hell of a lot for that one.Chew this around and spit it out: Five hundred million Arabs; fiveMillion Jews. Think of all the Arab countries as a football field, andIsrael as a pack of matches sitting in the middle of it. And now thesesame folks swear that if Israel gives them half of that pack ofmatches. Everyone will be pals.Really? Wow, what neat news. Hey, but what about the string of warsto obliterate the tiny country and the constant din of rabid bloodoaths to drive every Jew into the sea? Oh, that? We were just kidding.My friend Kevin Rooney made a gorgeous point the other day: Justreverse the Numbers. Imagine five hundred million Jews and fivemillion Arabs. I was stunned at the simple brilliance of it. Cananyone picture the Jews strapping belts of razor blades and dynamite tothemselves? Of course not.Or marshaling every fiber and force at their disposal for generationsto drive a tiny Arab State into the sea? Nonsense. Or dancing for joyat the murder of innocents? Impossible. Or spreading and believinghorrible lies about the Arabs baking their bread with the blood ofchildren? Disgusting.No, as you know, left to themselves in a world of peace, the worst Jewswould ever do to people is debate them to death After September 11thour president told us and the world he was going to root out allterrorists and the countries that supported them. Beautiful.Then the Israelis, after months and months of having the equivalent ofan Oklahoma City every week (and then every day) start to do the samething we did, and we tell them to show restraint.If America were being attacked with an Oklahoma City every day, wewould all very shortly be screaming for the administration to just bedone with it and kill everything south of the Mediterranean and east ofthe Jordan.

Now does this seem fair to you? It doesn't seem fair to me.

Shalom aleichem,

Begin

2005-07-23T00:24:00.000-07:00

As it is written...
"For Zion's Sake I will not be Still, and For Jerusalem's Sake I will not be Silent, Until Her Righteousness Emanates like bright Light, and Her Salvation blazes like a Torch."
Isaiah 62:1