Saturday, July 31, 2010

video on Israel sites

Israel's amazing contributions

Friday, July 30, 2010

moonbats vs Israel

Alan Dershowitz
Posted: July 28, 2010 09:31 AM
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Moonbats Against Israel
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It must be the summer heat but the moonbats seem to be loonier than ever when it comes to Israel and Jews.

Oliver Stone urges us to see the positive side of Hitler and Ahmadinejad, while imitating his two heroes by railing against Jewish control of the media. (To his credit, Stone has apologized for his bigoted statements.) According to Newsweek, Meg Ryan canceled a scheduled appearance at an Israeli Film Festival, despite the fact that this artistic festival is well-known to feature pro-peace and even pro-Palestinian films. Ryan's publicist insists that the film star never agreed to attend the festival. If that is true, Ryan should issue a public statement denying that she has boycotted, or would boycott, an Israeli film festival.

Doctors Without Borders suddenly erects borders when it comes to Israeli doctors who flew to the Congo to treat 50 local villagers who had been severely burned. The Israeli volunteers worked around the clock, treated the burn victims and trained local doctors to perform skin grafts, and donated tons of medical equipment. But the bigoted Doctors Without Borders refused to work with them and treated them "as though we were occupiers." This should not surprise people who have been following Doctors Without Borders over the years. Dr. Marie Pierre Allie, President of the French Branch of the organization, said that Israel's self defense actions in Gaza were actually worse than the Darfur genocide in the Sudan. Only a blind moonbat could even make such a comparison! As one critic put it well, these are doctors with borders but without scruples.

J Street, a leftist organization that pretends to be pro Israel, puts out a TV ad suggesting that I am against peace between Israel and the Arabs and that I agree with Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin in opposing the two state solution and supporting expansion of civilian settlements. When told that this was a lie, the head of J Street publicly acknowledged that, "He [Dershowitz] does support the notion of a two-state solution," but he has kept his mendacious ad unchanged.

Radical leftist, who support the expansion of rape law to cover obtaining sex by fraud, rail against Israel when Israel actually enacts such a law and applies it. An Israeli court sentenced a married Arab man to several months in prison for having sex with a woman after claiming that he was an unmarried Jew interested in marrying her. The Israeli courts had previously applied this law to Jewish men who had perpetrated comparable frauds. Though I personally think these sex-fraud law are seriously misguided (except in extreme cases such as lying about AIDS), I find it hypocritical in the extreme for radical leftist, who generally favor such laws, to use them as a club against the Jewish state and only the Jewish state.

A fifth rate French University has cancelled a writer's conference that was supposed to deal with "writing today in the Mediterranean Region: exchanges and tensions," because some unnamed participants refused to take part in a dialogue that included an Israeli Jewish author. This university, Provence Aix Marseille would have been lucky to attract any accomplished Israeli authors, but the conference could not go forward because the president of the school, to his credit, would not allow a conference to be held by bigots who would exclude others on the ground of religion or national origin.

don't trust NYT on Israel

Can New York Times Reports on Israel Be Trusted? - Andrea Levin
A May 7 story by Ethan Bronner cited "Nancy Kricorian, a New York City novelist and poet who visited here for the first time as part of the Palestinian [writers'] festival," who was quoted as "infuriated" at "military checkpoints and the separation barrier." She was presented as an apolitical literary soul newly encountering Middle East realities. Actually, Kricorian is the New York coordinator of the Code Pink organization and promotes stridently anti-Israel political positions. The Times should require candid identification of radical (and factually questionable) sources being cited. The writer is executive director and president of CAMERA, Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America. (Jerusalem Post)

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

best way to handle boycott

See also Israel Boycott Call Backfires - Hilary Leila Krieger
A call to boycott Israeli-made Ahava products in a Maryland beauty supply store backfired last week when pro-Israel activists countered by purchasing the shop's entire Ahava inventory. When the pro-Palestinian group Sabeel DC organized a boycott call at Ulta in Silver Spring last Saturday, the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington sent out an action alert urging supporters to visit the store and buy Ahava. "They cleaned the shelves out. It was the best Ahava sales weekend the store has ever seen," said Arielle Farber, director of Israel and international affairs for the council. (Jerusalem Post)

Monday, July 26, 2010

knocking down missiles

U.S., Israel Sign Deal to Tackle Iran's Long-Range Missiles
Israel and the U.S. have signed an agreement to make the Arrow II ballistic shield capable of shooting down missiles at a higher altitude, the Israeli Defense Ministry said on Sunday. The Arrow III will allow Israel "to deal with the threat of ballistic missiles with long range" and will give it "the ability to shoot down weapons of mass destruction outside the atmosphere," the ministry said. Israel, which describes its Arrow system as a defense against Iran, says the upgraded version will cap off its multi-tier air defenses.
The IDF plans to operate three anti-missile systems: Iron Dome, to tackle rockets with a shorter range of up to 60 km.; David's Sling, which has a range of hundreds of kilometers; and the Arrow III, designed to shoot down missiles outside the earth's atmosphere. (Reuters-Ha'aretz)

humanitarian crisis in Gaza-not enough sales

For all who believe the lies and propaganda about Israels attacks on civilian targets.


NOTE HOW IT IS FITTED TO SHOOT MISSILES

Captured Palestinian "garbage truck" from Gaza




This is a captured Palestinian garbage truck from Gaza.

The truck is set up to fire 9 Kasem rockets and then drive off innocently.
The note pasted on the drivers door says In case of traffic violations, please contact The Palestinian Authority.

The Israelis have evidence of ambulances and emergency vehicles set up the same way.


Doesn't it make you all "warm and fuzzy" that Obama just gave the Palestinians
400 million dollars from your taxes?

Thursday, July 22, 2010

About Israel









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srael is the 100th smallest country, and has about 1/1000th of the world's population. It is only 62 years old,
Only 62 years old, 7 million people strong (less than Virginia), and smaller in size than New Jersey, surrounded by enemies, under constant threat and possessing almost no natural resources, and yet…
Relative to its population, Israel is the largest immigrant-absorbing nation on earth. It has absorbed 350% of its population in 60 years.1
Israel is the only country in history to have revived an unspoken language.
Since the founding of the state, Israel has more Nobel Prices per capita than any other country. It has more laureates in real numbers than China, Mexico and Spain.2
Israel has the 8th longest life expectancy (80.7 years), longer than the UK, US, and Germany3
Israeli films were nominated three years in a row for the Academy Award's Best Foreign Film4
Environment
Israel is the only country that entered the 21st century with a net gain in its number of trees, even more remarkable -- in an area that's mainly desert.5
Over 90% of Israeli homes use solar energy for hot water, the highest percentage in the world.6, 7
Israel will be the first country to host a national electric car network.8
Israel is ranked in the top five Cleantech countries of the world, and operates the world’s largest desalinization plant.9
Israeli companies are producing the largest solar energy production facility in the world.
Science & Technology
Israel leads the world in the number of scientists and technicians in the workforce, 63% more than the U.S. It also has the most physicians and engineers per capita.10
Israel's scientific research institutions are ranked 3rd in the world.11
Israel is ranked 2nd in space sciences.12
Israel produces the 3rd most scientific papers per capita, and the most in stem cell science.13
More Israeli patents are registered in the United States than from Russia, India and China combined (combined population 2.5 billion). It leads the world in patents for medical equipment.11, 14, 15
Israeli companies invented the drip irrigation system, discovered the world’s most used drug for multiple sclerosis, designed the Pentium NMX Chip technology and the Pentium 4 and Centrium microprocessors, created Instant Messenger (ICQ), and Israeli cows produce more milk per cow than any other in the world!
Business
Israel has the 3rd highest rate of entrepreneurship among women in the world.16
Israel has attracted the most venture capital investment per capita in the world, 30 times more than Europe17
Israel has more NASDAQ-listed companies than any country besides the US -- more than all of Europe, India, China and Japan combined.18
In proportion to its population, Israel has the largest number of startup companies in the world. In absolute numbers, Israel has more startups than any country other than the U.S.19
Defying the Odds
Israel is the only country whose indigenous population returned to its native land after 2,000 years of forced exile.
There are 26 official Muslim states in the world, and 18 official Christian states, but there is only one Jewish state.20










7 reasons to support Israel as Jewish state
1. Archeological evidence proves it has been Jewish 4000 years
2. Historical evidence proves it has been Jewish 4000 years-no Palestinan people other than Jews, it was desolate until Jews rebuilt from Turks
3. Practical value of Israelis being there-makes a desert an orchid
4. Humanitarian concerns-6 million Jews slaughtered because Jews had no place to go
5. Strategic ally of US-deterrent to enemies of Democracy-we can depend on them. 911 the “other Middle East allies were cheering. Saves US lives
6. Road block to terrorism. Have shown world how to fight.
7. God said so. Read the Bible. Genesis 13:14-17 the whole Bible is a Zionist document

Conversion bill stalled

As Conversion Bill Stalls in Knesset, Jewish Diaspora Leaders Can Claim Victory
By Gal Beckerman
Published July 21, 2010, issue of July 30, 2010.



Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced July 18 that he would oppose a controversial bill dictating who could perform conversions in Israel by saying that it would “tear apart the Jewish people.” This particular turn of phrase and the fact that Netanyahu’s opposition has now effectively derailed the progress of the bill mark a clear victory for the forces of Diaspora Jewry, who saw in the legislation an attempt to define Jewish identity in a way that would exclude them.
Faithful Moment: A woman faces questions from a rabbinic panel in Jerusalem as part of her conversion process.
FLASH 90
Faithful Moment: A woman faces questions from a rabbinic panel in Jerusalem as part of her conversion process.

From the moment that the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee approved the bill July 12, a broad coalition representing much of North American Jewry took a strong and at times fiercely emotional stand in opposition to its passage. Both the Reform and Conservative movements, along with the Jewish Federations of North America and the Jewish Agency for Israel, led the charge and managed to get a vote on the bill postponed at least until after the current two-month recess, if not indefinitely.

The bill was introduced by David Rotem, a Knesset member from Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu party, and its original intent was to simplify the process of conversion for the roughly 350,000 Russians in Israel who are not considered Jewish, many of whom are Yisrael Beiteinu’s constituents. But as it was debated and rewritten in committee, the bill took on, as one observer put it, “a life of its own.” Rotem’s proposed law would decentralize the conversion process so that city rabbis could perform it. But in order to gain support for this move from two religious parties in the Knesset — Shas and United Torah Judaism — Rotem also had to do something that would seemingly undermine his initial purpose: He would codify, for the first time, the authority of the Chief Rabbinate over all conversions.

For Reform and Conservative Jews, this meant that one kind of Jewish identity — the strict Haredi practice of the current Chief Rabbinate — would take precedent over any other denomination. And even though the bill encompassed conversions only in Israel, they feared that once the rabbinate was given authority over the practice, the earlier Supreme Court precedents that allowed those converted by Reform and Conservative rabbis outside Israel to gain citizenship could be overturned.

“I think it’s an issue of civil rights,” said Steven Wernick, executive vice president and CEO of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. “The Haredim, the Orthodox establishment, whether in the United States or in Israel, they are never going to acknowledge Conservative Judaism. I don’t want them to. I don’t need them to. I do require that the State of Israel, if it’s truly going to be the homeland of the Jews, that it be a homeland for all the Jews.”

“And part of what angered so many people is that you can’t ask me to go to the Hill, to the White House, and be an advocate for Israel against de-legitimization from our enemies and then tell me in the same homeland that I’m advocating for that I don’t matter, and that the Jewish expression that motivates me to fight for Israel as a Jewish issue is not good enough,” he added.

The draft of the bill that was approved in committee also included new language that surprised and shocked many of its opponents. It said that all conversion courts had to follow “acceptance of the burden of the Torah and commandments as required by Jewish law.” According to observers, this would mark the first time that the word Halacha, “Jewish law,” was entered into a piece of legislation, a noticeable departure from the secular identity of Israel’s democracy. It also left power in the hands of the Chief Rabbinate to interpret which practices adhered to Halacha and which did not.

Jerry Silverman, president and CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America, took the unusual step of inserting himself into the debate over the bill. He was in Israel on a visit when the committee vote unexpectedly took place, and he remained so that he could help sway opinion. Silverman was particularly dismayed by the inclusion of the word Halacha into the legislation.

“This word has never been used,” Silverman said. “And so the question becomes one of precedent, and we have to ask where is the government and the state going. We look at the immense amount of investment that is going in to try and tie North American Jewry and Diaspora Jewry to Israel, whether it be young people and Birthright or high school and college programs, and all the work that we’re doing in really supporting the State of Israel within the U.S., within the world. Then there’s this language that frankly has a de-legitimizing effect on the Jews in the Diaspora.”

The deep involvement of Silverman — who worked closely with Natan Sharansky, head of the Jewish Agency — proved decisive. In the week after the committee vote, the Diaspora leaders effectively branded the legislation as one that would undermine Jewish unity. Up against this description of what his bill represented, it was hard for Rotem to make his argument.

“I am willing to talk to them. I am not willing to be hostage,” Rotem told NPR, speaking of the leaders of the Conservative and Reform movements. “I am not willing to be threatened, and I’m not willing to be blackmailed.”

Rotem has argued that since the bill deals with conversions in Israel, there is no reason that Diaspora Jews should feel affected by it. And his views have been echoed by some members of the Orthodox community in America. In a recent statement, the Rabbinical Council of America said, “It ill behooves us to intrude on Israel’s democratic processes, or to threaten, even indirectly or by implication, a lessening of our full and unequivocal support for the State of Israel, if our views do not prevail.”

But according to Seth Farber, an Orthodox rabbi who runs ITIM, a not-for-profit that assists people whose conversions are called into question, supporters of the bill failed to understand that the particulars were not as relevant as its potential implications. Farber himself had a nuanced reading of the legislation’s provisions, but when he saw how much it had angered North American Jews, he decided to vocally oppose the bill.
Related Articles

* Upset Over Uproar, Some in Israel Wonder What All the Fuss Is About
* How To Fix a Broken System
* Preserving Jewish Unity
* Jewish Legitimacy
* On Conversion, Alienating Israel’s Friends

“I changed my tune when I realized the extent to which this issue had become highly emotional for North American Jewry and no longer an issue about the substance of the bill,” Farber said. “As soon as the impression was given that this would de-legitimize, I completely joined the forces of the anti-bill.”

It was the emotional tenor of the opposition that ultimately had the strongest impact. Even normally staid and sober supporters of Israel expressed their dismay in highly personal terms.

David Harris, executive director of the American Jewish Committee, wrote an op-ed for The Jerusalem Post, in which he described his own difficulties proving his Jewishness to an Orthodox rabbi when he tried to get married. “He asked us endless questions about our identity, later insisting on a paper trail a mile long,” he wrote. The experience soured him and clearly affected the way he saw the current debate.

“For those seeking to keep the Jewish people whole and the Israel-Diaspora intact for generations to come,” Harris wrote, “such moves are downright dangerous, with potentially profound implications.”

Oil found

By Haaretz Service
Tags: Israel news

An Israeli oil prospecting and production firm announced it has struck a commercial amount of the black substance in central Israel, Army Radio reported on Wednesday.


Arad oil drill.

Photo by: Daniel Bar-On
Givot Olam Oil Ltd notified the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange of the find in its "Megev Five" drill near the town of Rosh Ha’ayin, saying it can produce 470 barrels of oil a day.


The Industry, Trade and Labor Ministry said in response that the ministry's head of oil affairs had not yet received the relevant test results, thus preventing it from declaring a commercial amount of oil.


The prospected find comes in the wake of an unrepresented amount of natural resources being discovered in Israel in recent months.

Last month, the U.S. firm Noble Energy, which together with its Israeli partners has been carrying out exploratory drilling at three sites off the Haifa coast, raised its reserve estimate at the Tamar field by 15%, to 238 billion cubic meters.

The firm also announced it would start natural gas exploration at the Leviathan offshore prospect off Israel's coast in the fourth quarter of this year. The latter announcement came in the wake of estimates of 16 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the prospect.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

J street

Joel Pollak-Last night, as the tisha bav (24 hour fast day) holiday began, the new left-wing lobby known as J Street threw a cocktail party in downtown Chicago. The featured guest was J Street president Jeremy Ben-Ami. Since J Street has refused any previous request to debate the issues with me, I went down to speak to Ben-Ami & Co. myself.
One of my opponent’s senior staffers was there, as were about a dozen J Street staff and supporters. Ben-Ami was cordial, but seemed indifferent to the significance of the day. I asked him why J Street’s new ad attacks Joe Lieberman, who is well respected in the Jewish community. He described Lieberman–who supports direct talks between Israelis and Palestinians towards a two-state solution–as an “obstacle” to peace.
“If you showed the same enthusiasm in opposing Iran and Hamas as you do in fighting Alan Dershowitz, Elie Wiesel, and Joe Lieberman,” I said, “perhaps J Street would be more popular.” I also asked Ben-Ami about his organization’s attempt to use the federal government to target Jewish charities that may provide services to Israelis living across the 1949 armistice line. Why not investigate Islamic charities that fund anti-Israel views?
“I don’t give a shit about Islamic charities,” was Ben-Ami’s exact quote.
Now, does this help Pollak’s opponent or Pollak?
J Street brings its own baggage to midterm races but not much cash. Once candidates figure this out, will they really want a J Street stamp of approval? It’s hard to see why they would.

Monday, July 19, 2010

winning the pr war on Palestinians

Govt may fall over conversion bill

The struggle over the conversion bill is not quite over and the remarks
of Rabbi Amar yesterday have now made clear what many of us have been
saying all along: it is aimed at preventing non-Orthodox conversions.
Amar called for haredi parties to withdraw from the coalition if the
bill is not passed and said, "I told Prime Minister Netanyahu if, heaven
forbid, he permits Reform conversion, we will be turning the people into
two parts,meaning one part will not intermarry with the other....Pass
the conversion law or we will leave..." Amar is not concerned with the
bill because it will make conversion for Russians easier, but because it
will make 'Reform' conversions (and that includes us) harder - and this
from the rabbi we have been told for years is really liberal! I don't
know if Rotem really believes what he says when he tells us that it
won't harm our conversions or not but it is obvious what his partners
believe. He can have a bill that will help by leaving out the parts that
strengthen the authority of the Chief Rabbinate, but if he does that he
will loose the support of Shas and the Haredim whose agenda is not to
encourage conversion but to assert Orthodox monopoly not only in Israel
but throughout the world. In case this was not clear before, it should
be now.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Netanyahu blocks bill?

Dear Rabbi Schonfeld,

I am pleased to inform you that at the Cabinet meeting this morning the Prime Minister announced that the Conversion Bill (Rotem Bill) will divide the Jewish people, and should be opposed.

The Prime Minister informed Professor Yaakov Neeman, Minister of Justice, that the government has retracted its support for the bill in its current form.

As I have said in our conversations together, as well as in media interviews, I am in favor of reaching a compromise on this issue which will meet the main demands of all sides involved. Therefore, I am especially pleased that the bill in its current form will be removed from the agenda and hopefully revamped.

Thank you for bringing me your concerns on this issue and for all of your helpful comments.

Best wishes,

MK Yuli Edelstein
Minister of Public Diplomacy
And Diaspora Affairs

The latest news here is that Netanyahu is opposed to the conversion bill

The latest news here is that Netanyahu is opposed to the conversion bill.

"Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu announced on Sunday that he opposes the conversion bill, proposed by Israel Beiteinu MK David Rotem. Netanyahu said the bill could tear apart the Jewish people. The prime minister plans to try to reach an agreement with Israel Beiteinu over the bill, however, if the bill is not removed, Netanyahu said he plans to tell the Likud and other coalition parties to vote against it."
http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=181769

*The Ongoing Destruction of Jerusalem*

*The Ongoing Destruction of Jerusalem*
(c) Rabbi Menachem Creditor

When Israel has needed us, we have shown up in numbers. On the UC Berkeley
Campus, at Berkeley's Peace and Justice Commission, at Richmond City Hall,
at San Francisco City Hall, and many other places, publicly and privately.
When Israel will, in all likelihood, need us again, we will show up based
on an unconditional love for our family, for our homeland, for the Jewish
People. *But this is meant to be a mutual love, a visceral family bond, an=
d
Israel is not doing its part.*

This past week, on Rosh Chodesh Av, two events in Israel fulfilled the
Mishna's teaching that "when we enter the month of Av, joy is reduced. (Ta'=
anit
4:6)" Anat Hoffman, director of Women of the Wall, was arrested by Israeli
police who violently wrested a sacred Torah scroll from her
armsas she and a large
group were singing their way from the women's side of the
Kotel to Robinson's Arch. Not 30 minutes later, Yisrael Beiteinu Minister
of Knesset David
Rotem=
presented
a bill to hand all power over conversion into the hands of
Israel=92s Charedi-dominated Rabbinate. The bill passed through its first
reading (of three required before final presentation) in the Knesset law
committee by a 5-4 vote.

If you have not yet fasted on Tisha Be'Av, perhaps because you do not mourn
the Destruction of the Temples, or the Destruction of Jerusalem, *I ask you
to fast this Tuesday for Tisha Be'av, because Jerusalem is not finished
being destroyed*. Fast for spiritual reasons or fast for the despair of an=
d
hope for Jewish Peoplehood - those should be, and must again become
synonymous.

Religious pluralism is both an Israeli national security issue (only a
handful of Charedim serve in Tzahal) and a Business issue (Charedim spend
however their leadership directs them). In a few years, more than 50% of
the Israeli children who enter first grade will be Charedi, thanks to
government subsidies for Charedim to have more children. In 12 years more
than 50% of Israeli 18-year-olds won't join the army. In 15 years, more
than 50% of them won't go to university or join the workforce. Israel's
fabric is being torn. I will not dehumanize Charedim, but I'm reframing m=
y
perspective. They act as a dynamic political block despite the differing
views of various sects -* we must too. *

I am seething with hurt and anger. Israel is my home, and I will not be
alienated from it. Not by extremist politicians nor by those who serve
neither its army nor the spiritual interests of their global family. I pra=
y
that the soul we all share has its home reaffirmed by our homeland.

Become a supporter of the Masorti Movement 's
commitment to changing the fabric of Israel's Jewish experience. It isn't
Movement-building for the sake of a Movement being built. Israeli Arabs an=
d
Ethiopian Olim, Sephardim and Russians - we claim their presences in Israel
as success stories but the societal bigotry and government inaction that ha=
s
been their experience for decades is finally touching closer to home. I am
a champion of Masorti Judaism because it believes righteous insitutions
exist for purposes greater than themselves. * Israel should too. *Segregat=
ed
schools and anti-pol=
ice
violence make
all the very real triumphs and advances in Israel seem less. It is harder
to lobby against Iran's nuclear program (again, for Israel's sake) with a
crushed Jewish heart.

From the depths of my Zionist heart, I encourage you to join the fight
against this bill and all i=
t
represents. I ask you to rage at the vile remarks made by Charedi and Yisr=
ael
Beitinu MKs against non-Orthodox Jews durin=
g
the bills reading, to rage at the arrest of Anat Hoffman. I'm asking you
to join the urgent fight against the worst enemy of the Jewish People:
spiritual and physical violence being done by Jews to the Jewish People one
by one, and as a whole.

Here in the States, and particularly in the Bay Area, Jewish Pluralism is
alive and well, affirmed and lived by rabbis and communal leaders. How
terrible that to experience Jewish Sisterhood and Brotherhood I cannot (so
far) turn to Israel. Change is hard, and this is a moment that demands
action. The Knesset need not be the current elected officials. Therefore
the symbol of Jewish National sovereignty is redeemable. It is up to us to
mobilize the Jewish People, and Israeli society to recognize that the
symbols are the people, not relics controlled by fundamentalists. *Extremi=
sts
can be permitted to determine Israeli politics and "Jewish authenticity" no
more.*

There is an election to win - it just hasn't been announced yet. It begins
this week with a fast, but we have a lot of important work ahead of us.

"*For Zion's sake I will not keep silent* (Isaiah 62:1)."

Will the Knesset sever ties with Diaspora Jewry?


[]

Sunday July 18, 2010


Will the Knesset sever ties with Diaspora Jewry?

[]


Posted by Rabbi Andrew Sacks


It was all smiles last week as Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and
US President Barack Obama reminded us all of the unbreakable,
eternal, bond that links the two countries. It was just a short time
ago that relations seems strained and everyone did his/her best to
put on a happy face.

But if only the Jewish people could crow about this sense of unity.
If only we could feel confident that Israel is seen as a high
priority in the North American Jewish community.

But the facts, quite sadly, point to frightening trends. Many younger
Jews, often educated Jews, do not place a Israel at the center of
their Jewish identity. Most have never visited. Fewer today support
Israel financially.

Some who support Israel through more liberal Zionist organizations
(e.g. JStreet, Americans for Peace Now, The New Israel Fund) are,
quite sadly, dismissed as self-haters.

The Jewish Agency, which many have come to see as having outlived its
usefulness - primarily as an organization concerned with Aliyah - has
now started to focus on helping to build a new Jewish/Zionist
identity, through education and experiential programs

I am a believer of our need to build a Zion that is compatible with
our dreams. Herzl saw the establishment of a Jewish state not as the
completion of the Zionist dream. He wrote:
Zionism, as I understand it, is not solely about the desire to
acquire a legally secure piece of real estate for our downtrodden
people, after all, but also about the desire to grow towards moral
and spiritual perfection."

It is for this reason the Diaspora Jewry has not only the right, but
even the obligation, to become actively involved in the rebuilding of
our Zionist dream. This dream has been largely hijacked by the
minority of non (or anti) Zionist Zealously Orthodox, who are
undermining the Zionist dream by their control of so much of life in Israel.

Some two weeks back Netanyahu sent a letter to the leaders of the
non-Orthodox movements declaring his firm support for their
importance, and his determination that the various denominations not
be harmed by any legislation brought before the Knesset. He received
a rousing reception at the AIPAC meetings.

But that was then and this is now.

Yesterday the Knesset Law Committee passed a conversion bill that has
the potential to undo years of court victories which demanded the
recognition by the State of Israel of Masorti/Conservative and Reform
conversions. This new bill is worded so that the Chief Rabbinate (who
has been a source of trouble with regard to woman's rights, marriage,
divorce issues, matters of kashrut, and burial) will be handed carte
blanche now in nearly all matters related to conversion.

The idea behind this conversion legislation is praiseworthy. It was
conceived to open up the doors to conversion before the hundreds of
thousands of Israeli citizens who live here as Jews (under the Law of
Return) but are not regarded as Jewish by halacha (Jewish law). But
the bill as written will bring in so very few new converts to
Judaism. Tinkering around the edges just will not bring the change
that we need and for which halacha allows.

Far more serious is that the bill is a severe slap in the face at the
majority of affiliated Jews in North America. Who among us does not
have a family member or close friend who is a Jew by Choice?

While it may be so that most Americans care little about internal
Israeli politics - conversion is an area very much on the minds of
the members of the Diaspora leaders and the rank and file. MK Rotem,
author of the Conversion bill, has poked a finger directly into the
eye of Jews abroad and then announced that he does not care if they
withhold support for his bill. He has cast aside so many of us in
order to make a deal with his non-Zionist haredi friends.

He promised, just two weeks ago, a committee to work out the language
that was problematic while preserving the ideal of his bill. He has
now broken that promise.

Today's headlines proclaimed that Netanyahu did not believe that the
conversion bill would come up for a vote before the full Knesset. As
reassuring as this may sound, I have one simple question: The bill
passed in committee by a vote of 5-4. How many Likud MKs were present
to vote against the bill in that committee meeting? Exactly ZERO. If
Bibi wanted this bill to die in committee only one member of Likud
would have been required to show up and vote no.

So are we to believe that the bill is dead? It may be that owing to
all of the letters sent by members of the non-Orthodox, and even the
more liberal Orthodox, that Netanyahu has had a light bulb moment. Or
he may just be stalling for time as we are on the verge of a three
month Knesset break.

In my view, postponing, delaying or even killing the bill is far from
sufficient. Netanyahu must realize that he is more than the head of a
small body of 120 Knesset Members. In many ways he serves as a head
of the Jewish world.

Now is the time for our Prime Minister to say "Enough to politics and
religion. Enough to kowtowing to the non-Zionists. We accept that
there are many ways to live a fully Jewish life, and the Zionist
dream will be fully realized only when we dream of the possible
rather than live in the dark."

Friday, July 16, 2010

Flotilla terrorists tied to Turkish govt

The organization that sponsored the Mavi Marmara blockade-busting ship to Gaza has ties to the Turkish government and worked closely with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling party, The New York Times reports.

The organization, Humanitarian Relief Foundation (often called I.H.H.), helped Erdogan shore up support with Muslims ahead of elections next year, the Times reports. The group also has helped improve Turkey's standing in the Arab world.

As many as 10 members of Erdogan's party intended to board the Mavi Marmara, but were warned off at the last minute by a foreign ministry concerned their presence might escalate tensions.

According to the Times, the government “could have stopped the ship if it wanted to, but the mission to Gaza served both the I.H.H. and the government by making both heroes at home and in the Arab world,” said Ercan Citlioglu of Bahcesehir University in Istanbul

Support for Israel near record high, Gallup Poll shows July 14, 2010

Support for Israel near record high, Gallup Poll shows
July 14, 2010

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Support for Israel among Americans is at a near record high, a poll showed.

According to the Gallup Poll, 63 percent of Americans say their sympathies in the Middle East conflict are with Israel, while 15 percent side with the Palestinians. The rest favor both sides, neither side or have no opinion.

Support for Israel was higher only in 1991, shortly after Israel was hit with Scud missiles during the Gulf War, when it was at 64 percent.

The poll, conducted in early February, was part of Gallup’s annual World Affairs survey in which Americans were asked a series of questions about their opinions of 20 countries or entities, including Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Israel’s ranking, at 67 percent favorable, was among the highest of the countries surveyed. The Palestinian Authority, at 20 percent, was among the lowest.

Support for Israel increased more among Republicans and independents than Democrats, the poll showed. Since 2001, there has been an increase of 25 points among Republicans and 18 points among independents. Support for Israel among Democrats has stayed about the same.

Abbas says-we want war

PA’S ABBAS: “If you [Arab states] want war, and if all of you will fight Israel, we are in favor.”





The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) is calling for a complete cut of ties and financial aid to Mahmoud Abbas’ Palestinian Authority (PA) following Abbas’ remarks to a meeting of Arab writers and journalists in Jordan that he and the PA would be “in favor” of a general Arab war with Israel, were one possible. Abbas was reported in the official PA daily, Al Hayat Al-Jadida as saying, “We are unable to confront Israel militarily, and this point was discussed at the Arab League Summit in March in Sirt (Libya). There I turned to the Arab States and I said: ‘If you want war, and if all of you will fight Israel, we are in favor’” (Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik, ‘Mahmoud Abbas: “If all of you [Arab States] will fight Israel, we are in favor,”‘ Palestinian Media Watch, July 7, 2010). The ZOA is calling for an end to all ties and aid to the PA unless Abbas issues a retraction and apology.



Other anti-peace statements by Mahmoud Abbas:



· On recognizing Israel: “It is not required of Hamas, or of Fatah, or of the Popular Front to recognize Israel” (Al-Arabiya [Dubai] and PA TV, October 3, 2006, Itamar Marcus & Barbara Crook, ‘Abbas dupes US: “Recognition” is functional, not inherent,’ Palestinian Media Watch, October 5, 2006); “I say this clearly: I do not accept the Jewish State, call it what you will.” (Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook, ‘Mahmoud Abbas: “I do not accept the Jewish State, call it what you will,”‘ Palestinian Media Watch, April 28, 2009).

* Fighting Israel: “We have a legitimate right to direct our guns against Israeli occupation … Our rifles, all our rifles are aimed at The Occupation” (Khaled Abu Toameh, ‘Abbas: Aim guns against occupation,’ Jerusalem Post, January 11, 2007; Independent Media & Review Analysis, January 12, 2007).
* On Jews: “The sons of Israel are corrupting humanity on earth” (World Net Daily, January 11, 2007).
* On Israel: “the Zionist enemy” (Associated Press, January 4, 2005; CNN.com, January 7, 2005).
* On suicide bombers and other terrorists: “Allah loves the martyr” (Wall Street Journal, January 5, 2005); “Our latest Shahids (Martyrs) are the six who were killed in cold blood by Israeli forces in Nablus [terrorists who killed Rabbi Avshalom Meir Hai] and in Gaza [terrorists carrying explosives and a ladder near Israel’s border fence]” (PA TV (Fatah), Dec. 31, 2009, Itamar Marcus & Nan Jacques Zilberdik, ‘Abbas glorifies recent murderers,’ Palestinian Media Watch, January 5, 2010).
* On wanted Palestinian terrorists: “heroes fighting for freedom” (Ed O’Loughlin, ‘Abbas courts Gaza militants for votes,’ Age [Melbourne], January 3, 2005); “Israel calls them murderers, we call them strugglers” (Jerusalem Post, December 25, 2004).
* On Palestinian terrorist leaders Yasser Arafat, Hamas’ Ahmad Yasin and Abdel Aziz Rantisi and Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s Fathi Shikaki: “martyrs” (Palestinian Media Center, September 14, 2005); “The ways of the shahids [martyrs] Arafat, Abu Jihad [Khalil Ibrahim al-Wazir], George Habash and even Sheikh Ahmed Yassin – are the ways we recognize. These are the ways in which we are meant to preserve the national interests of the Palestinian people” (Khaled Abu Toameh, ‘Abbas proposes referendum to Hamas,’ Jerusalem Post, November 11, 2008).

· On Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine founder and leader George Habash: “The death of this historic leader is a great loss for the Palestinian cause and for the Palestinian people for whom he fought for 60 years” (‘PFLP founder George Habash mourned as “historic leader for Palestinians”‘,’ Daily Star [Beirut], January 28, 2008).

· On Hamas: “We must unite the Hamas and Fatah blood in the struggle against Israel as we did at the beginning of the intifada. We want a political partnership with Hamas” (Jerusalem Post, February 5, 2007).

· On Yasser Arafat: “It is our duty to implement the principles of Yasser Arafat” (Haaretz, January 3, 2005); “We will continue in the path of the late president until we fulfill all his dreams” (Agence France-Presse, November 11, 2005); “The Palestinian leadership won’t stray from Arafat’s path” (Yediot Ahronot, November 11, 2006).

· On Fatah’s pioneering role in terrorism: “I had the honor of firing the first shot in 1965 and of being the one who taught resistance to many in the region and around the world; what it’s like; when it is effective and when it isn’t effective; its uses, and what serious, authentic and influential resistance is … We [Fatah] had the honor of leading the resistance and we taught resistance to everyone, including Hizbullah, who trained in our military camps” (‘Abbas: Armed ‘resistance’ not ruled out,’ Jerusalem Post, February 28, 2008).

* On disarming Palestinian terrorists: a “red line” that must not be crossed (‘Candidate Abbas confronts delicate balance on Hamas,’ Washington Times, January 3, 2005)

· On the so-called ‘right of return’ of Palestinian refugees and their millions of descendants which, if implemented would end Israel as a Jewish state: “The issue of the refugees is non-negotiable … We … reject any attempt to resettle the refugees in other countries” (Khaled Abu Toameh, ‘Abbas: Aim guns against occupation,’ Jerusalem Post, January 11, 2007); “We will not give up the right of return” (Ali Waked, ‘Abbas: We won’t waive right of return,’ Yediot Ahronot, July 12, 2009).

* On the Lebanese terrorist group Hizballah: A source of pride and sets an example for the “Arab resistance” (Jerusalem Post, August 6, 2006).
* On Saddam Hussein: “Saddam Hussein has entered history as a symbol of Pan-Arab nationalism” (Independent Media Review and Analysis, December 31, 2006).





ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said, “This latest scandalous statement by Mahmoud Abbas, favoring an all-out war against the Jewish state of Israel tops the astonishing list of his extreme, anti-peace, pro-terror statements reproduced above. Abbas has openly said that if only the Arabs could concert their action to wage war on Israel, he would be absolutely in favor of that. In other words, all Palestinian talk about peace is a sham. He neither wants peace nor works for it. He simply wants to obtain from Israel through negotiations – because he can’t wage a successful war to destroy Israel – what he cannot obtain through war, without making peace.



“It is highly significant that Abbas said this publicly, even in Arabic. Abbas knew that this statement, like other anti-peace statements he has made, would be eventually picked up, translated and become more widely known. But he doesn’t care. He knows from experience that no-one will hold him to account, that no one will take note and alter their policy towards him. He knows he will pay no price. He can speak the ugly, vicious truth about Palestinian and Arab aims, knowing there will be no consequences. This underscores the complete fraudulence of the PA and the so-called peace process President Obama is keen to revive.



“Now that Abbas’ war-like and extreme words have been revealed for an English-speaking audience, it is important not to allow mealy-mouthed, sweet-talking Palestinian apologists to try and spin Abbas’ words as having been ‘misinterpreted’ or not having their actual, plain meaning which, to repeat, is this – the PA is negotiating, but only because the Arab world fails to unite and wage war on Israel to eliminate it.



“The only thing Abbas is lamenting here is the weakness of the Palestinian/Arab side. Were Palestinians stronger and able to destroy Israel, they would do so without further discussion, negotiation or hesitation. These are the words of an Palestinian Arab supremacist war-monger – not of a Palestinian peace maker.



“The ZOA calls on the Obama Administration and the Netanyahu government, urging them that neither America nor Israel should negotiate further nor aid in any way Abbas and the PA unless an apology and retraction are issued. Further ties and aid should be conditional upon the PA instituting sweeping, genuine reform to Palestinian aims and society – most importantly, true acceptance of Israel; the arresting of terrorists and dismantling of their networks; and an end to the incitement to hatred and murder within the PA that feeds war and bloodshed

Thursday, July 15, 2010

winning the PR debate

worries about conversion bill

the most direct concern to us is the formal
public explicit declaration in the bill that the Chief Rabbinate now will
have exclusive jurisdiction over conversion, like it has enjoyed in the
State of Israel from the "Status Quo Agreement of 1947" over marriage and
divorce. This declaration certainly calls into question the future of
non-Orthodox conversions in Israel for the purposes of being registered in
the Population Registry (Mirsham Ha'Ochlasin) as Jewish but also by
extension could be used to invalidate the conversions performed in the
Diaspora on behalf of concerts who are making aliyah by any rabbinic
authority (Reform, Conservative and Liberal Orthodox) not recognized by the
Chief Rabbinate. So yes, non-Orthodox converts and even some Orthodox
converts could lose the right to make aliyah under the Law of Return if the
Ministry of the Interior decides to apply these same criteria from the law
to Diaspora converts. Again, this is speculation but not unfounded fears.

Proposed Conversion Law:
How good intentions turned into abhorrent legislation

By Rabbi Uri Regev, Advocate
President & CEO of Hiddush
1 Av 5770
July 12, 2010


"Jerusalem was only destroyed because they zealously applied the
strict letter of the Law [Torah] and not going beyond the letter of the
law." (Babylonian Talmud, Bava Metzia 30B)

1. The proposed conversion law [formally titled: The Chief Rabbinate bill
(Amendment - Powers in Matters of Conversion), 5770-2010] in the formulation
presented today to the Knesset Constitution & Law Committee is the worst and
most damaging in the sequence of conversion bills that MK Rotem, who chairs
the Committee, has proposed. It represents an unsavory surrender to the
rabbinical establishment and the ultra-Orthodox politicians. The proposal
is designed to expand the authority of the Chief Rabbinate and undermine
conversions done by the major religious movements within the Jewish people.
It pretentiously claims to facilitate easier access to conversion for new
immigrants and halt the increasing trend to nullify conversions after the
fact on the grounds of non observance of commandments. This proposal does
not solve the problems faced by new immigrants, and it puts at risk Israel's
strategic interests, by jeopardizing the cooperation and solidarity with
Diaspora Jewry. It places Israel on an inevitable collision course with
most Jews of the world today - and represents an unfortunate example for
highly objectionable legislation. It may have started with good intentions,
but after passing through the ultra religious political mill it has become
an appalling bill which must be rejected outright.

2. In article 1 the authority of the chief rabbinate is expanded, by
granting it "responsibility over conversion in Israel". This authority never
been granted to the Chief Rabbinate, and it is in clear contradiction with
consistent rulings of the Supreme Court, which negated the authority of the
Chief Rabbinate over conversion matters that are not tied directly to
issues of personal status. This expansion contradicts the principle of
"Freedom of Religion and Conscience" promised in Israel's Declaration of
Independence, and the desire of the majority of Israeli Jews to see
religious life here firmly based on pluralism and equality of all streams
of Judaism.

3. The article's language worsened in comparison to the draft that was
presented to the Knesset Committee in March. It now states explicitly that
the authority of the Chief Rabbinate "will not harm conversions that were
done by the Special Rabbinical Courts that were appointed by virtue of
government decisions and Rabbinical Courts that operate according to law".
In his recent visit to the US and in meetings with heads of the Jewish
federations and the non Orthodox Jewish streams, Rotem stated that the
formulation of the Bill that was presented in March,[the language of which
stated that the "Responsibility of the Chief Rabbinate over conversion
would not diminish the rights of other authorities to conduct conversion in
Israel according to any law"] provided for continuation of the recognition
of Reform and Conservative conversions. We doubted his statements on this
issue that were aimed at silencing criticism from the non-Orthodox movements
against the proposed law. Now it is patently clear that this was never the
intention, and that the new legislation attempts to undermine the continued
recognition of these conversions, and is intended to enable the Ministry of
Interior to argue before the Supreme Court that the legal situation has
changed and that non-Orthodox conversions, which do not fall within the new
language of the "exemptions" to the authority of the Chief Rabbinate, may no
longer be recognized.

4. Article 2 aims in part to expand the ranks of converting rabbis, in hopes
that among the "City Rabbis" and the "Local Council Rabbis" there will be
some with a moderate approach. The present draft adds an explicit condition
to the validity of their conversions; that they "will be recognized .only if
the conversion was conducted according to the religious requirements . after
acceptance of the yoke of Torah and commandments according to Halachah".
Beyond the ridiculous nature of this condition, which implies that the Chief
Rabbinate and the ultra Orthodox politicians entertain doubts as to whether
the "City Rabbis" and "Local Councils Rabbis" will act according to Jewish
Law, there is here a severe set of conditions in the most sensitive area of
converting new immigrants. Namely - the law states that even conversions
conducted in these new Orthodox rabbinical courts will be invalid if they do
not sufficiently comply with the requirement to accept the "yoke of
commandments". So long as the Chief Rabbinate does not publicly clarify to
what extent it is prepared to adopt lenient rulings regarding the demand to
accept the "yoke of commandments" from new immigrants - the new legislative
exercise is doomed to failure from the outset. Everyone who deals with
conversion knows exactly the nature of the challenge, and if Rotem and the
Chief Rabbinate are not prepared to recognize the reality and reconcile with
it - it is best they do not delude the new immigrant population and not push
the State of Israel into a collision course with the Jewish People
unnecessarily.

5. The present draft also includes a threat and sanctions against rabbis who
serve on the "Special Rabbinic Courts" if they do not satisfy the chief
rabbis as to requiring acceptance of the "yoke of commandments" by the
converts. The Bill authorizes the chief rabbis to forbid these rabbis from
continuing to officiate in conversions.

6. The proposed law professes to block the growing trend of retroactive
nullification of conversions, whether by "Regional Rabbinic Courts" when
adjudicating matters of personal status, or by City Rabbis who refuse to
recognize lenient Orthodox conversions and do not approve weddings for these
converts. Instead of drawing the logical conclusion and removing from
Rabbinic Courts and City Rabbis the State exclusive authority, and basing
their function on voluntary choice of those who accept their authority as
in every other democratic society. The present Bill tries "to eat its cake
and have it too." The Bill attempts to bypass the extreme rabbinic courts
by instructing that to rule on the validity of past conversions you first
have to refer it to the original court that conducted the conversion, and
that appeals against its decisions will require approval of the president
of the High Rabbinic Court. Likewise the Bill creates an alternative channel
for convert marriages, by a member of the converting rabbinic court, instead
of the "recalcitrant" City Rabbis. The time has come to recognize the truth
- the politicization of religion and creation of an Orthodox monopoly has
brought about the growing extremism and Haredization. . The answer is to
abolish the monopoly - not establish an apparatus of "rabbinate B" to bypass
"rabbinate A."

7. The proposed Bill makes it possible to nullify conversions if the
converting rabbinic court, or a Rabbinic Court of Appeal, decides that the
conversion "was conducted on the basis of misleading information". As is
known, the candidate for conversion is required to promise before the
rabbinic court to observe the commandments and give religious education to
his/her children. There is no doubt but that those who wish to may easily
nullify conversions after the fact, holding that the promise given the
rabbinical court was not sincere. This is how "nullifiers" acted in the
past, and they can continue to do so in the future.

8. Requiring the approval of the president of the High Rabbinic Court as a
condition for nullifying conversions is a dubious block against this
phenomenon. Rumor as to Chief Rabbi Amar holding a lenient approach have
not been proven, and nothing has been heard from him directly and
unequivocally as to his position regarding the vexing question of accepting
the yoke of Torah and commandments by converts. But what is no less
important is that in the best case scenario - this is a patchwork remedy
that does not provide a real solution. Rabbi Amar will conclude his term in
office in a few years, and there is no doubt but that the path of the Chief
Rabbinate is leading to even more religious extremism. Therefore, there is
no point in placing the matter in the hands of the president of the High
Rabbinic Court to close up the gaping hole in this dam, and it is clear that
nullification of conversions will continue.



[IN THE ORIGINAL DRAFT, THERE WAS ALSO THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE WHICH WAS
SUBSEQUENTLY DROPPED- RRG]

Article 3 of the Bill changes the Citizenship Law in a way that reduces
recognition of converts according to the Law of Return and the Citizenship
Law, and creates a distinction between Jews-by-choice and Jews-by-birth. .
This is an outrageous initiative, which contradicts Jewish tradition and
particularly harms converts from abroad whose attraction to Judaism was
enhanced by a visit to Israel. This is a most grievous change of the legal
situation, which will hurt many converts and make them into "second class"
Jews.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

winning the pro-Israel debate/pr war

Winning the Israel debate:
You often have a one sentence chance-they’ll say
“How can you support Israel when it: illegally occupies others? Steals innocent Arab land? Kills babies? Responds disproportionally with massive firepower?
YOU say:
Responses: use any and all
You have it totally backwards
1. Only Israel cares about harming innocents and does everything it can to avoid it, The Arabs PURPOSELY, deliberately try and kill Israeli children
2. How can you support the Palestinians when they: note 2 below
a. Kill their daughters for dating –honor killing
b. kill gays for being gay
c. Inspire their kindergarteners to be suicide mass murderers
d. name streets after mass murderer terrorists of Jews
e. stole Jewish land. It was promised to Jews 4000 years ago, Jews lived there steadily and unbroken 4000 years, the Jews who left only left as slaves in chains-not willingly . Read the Bible if you don’t believe me.
f. are given total control of Gaza and instead of living in peace send 8000 missiles from inside mosques and schools and non military targets in Israel . Israel totally withdrew from Lebanon in 2000 and Hezbollah still wants to destroy Israel. Would you trust them as your neighbor? There is NO WAY to satisfy Arab grievances and let Israel survive.
g. proudly say in polls they support suicide mass murder of Israeli children
3. The Palestinians have a country-Jordan. The rulers there are carpetbaggers the British installed from Saudi Arabia. Why should the Palestinians have 2 countries and the Jews none? Let them complain to Jordan. Jordan controlled the west bank from 1948-1967. The blame for no Palestinian state #2 is theirs, not Israel.
4. Why reward Arabs/ Palestinians for violence? The Palestinians had a chance at a second country in 1947 when the UN offered it and they turned it down to gamble on destroying Israel which was one day old and mass murder the Jews there. Why should they be rewarded for that?
5. There is no Arab Palestinian people. It is all made up. Check any history book about any date before 1930. All references to Palestine and Palestinians were Jewish. The Arabs stole the title “Palestinian”just for more anti-Semitism-to steal jewish land.
6. Disproportionate? US nuked 2 Japanese cities, firebombed Dresden vs Israel, at cost of own soldiers, went house to house to try and stop the 8000 missile throwers from Gaza. Guess you don’t care if Jews are killed. The Palestinians shoot from hospitals, put children in front of their soldiers, dress as civilians, fire from crowded civilian areas. Would you ask your govt to do nothing to protect your family?
7. What have Palestinians done for peace? Offered nothing but hateful rhetoric, teaching 5 year olds to hate, honor mass murderers of Jews, refuse face-to-face negotiations, lie about Jewish 4000 year presence in Israel, lie about how many Arabs were born inside Israel, call for Israel’s destruction, start intifadas, shoot missiles at Israel schools,
Israel, on the other hand, has agreed to 2 states in that tiny area, eliminated checkpoints once terror eased, allowed more goods in Gaza even though they know they will be used for weapons, made it known some parts of Jerusalem could go to the Arabs, begged for face-to-face meetings, given the Sinai up for peace with Egypt, pulled out of Gaza 100%. The Arabs give 0 except more violence and hateful rhetoric. Time to demand they stop the violence and hate from the Arabs and then peace will come easily. See note below

8. Apartheid wall? Many nations put up protective barriers, including the USA. Israel only did it to stop the many suicide bombers killing hundreds of Israelis. It stopped it 100%. Wouldn’t you want to protect your child going to school. The only nation in the entire Arab world the Arabs have equal rights is the jewish state. Do you know there are 13 Arabs in the Israeli government? Jews have no rights in any Arab country-850,000 were expelled from 1948-1950.

9. The Muslims have done nothing for the world except bring terror. Jews and Israel are saving the world in countless ways. You suffer from the psychological “Stockholm syndrome”-identifying with the violent aggressor.
10. It is the Arabs who persecute their citizens , have horrible living standards, practice apartheid etc see http://israelgreatest.blogspot.com/p/light-unto-nations.html
11. Israel is self-critical when it errs or oversteps, vs Arabs/Palestinians which make murder, persecution, death, violence, terror their main program
12. There can be no peace until Palestinians change. Tragically, because of the actions of the PA and the attitudes toward Israel of its citizens, peace remains an illusion. Israel has already given away all of Gaza and one-half of the West Bank. Yet the Palestinians continue their incitement, refusal to arrest terrorists, and to truly accept Israel’s right to exist. Until the actions of the Palestinian Authority change to promote a real peace, and until President Obama seriously pressures the PA to make those changes, no amount of friendly photo-ops and friendly public words will change the reality that peace is not yet at hand.

13. What Palestinian suffering? West Bank Arabs among highest standard of living and freest in entire Arab world. Israeli Arabs live better than American minorities. On measures of health, they do better than the American white majority. Palestinian Arabs living in the Israeli-controlled West Bank and Gaza Strip have fared better in terms of life expectancy, adjusted real income, and educational attainment than many fellow Arabs, according to the United Nations. Most of their problems are because of their anti-Israel attitudes. Notes below

14. Israel is the David, Arabs the goliath. 6 million people vs 400 million /15 mile wide country vs millions of square miles of Arab territory. 1 country vs 21 Arab countries. Oil vs no oil.

15. Can’t believe anything Palestinians say: Abbas phd was to deny Holocaust, claims Israel no historic tie to Jerusalem, doctors photos, claim genocide all the time when they cause it, deny journalists, threaten journalists

16. Your just anti-Semitic; impose standards on Israel that no one else has

17. Palestinians bulldoze Palestinian homes: Hamas destroys dozens of homes in southern Gaza
May 16 02:59 PM US/Eastern
By RIZEK ABDEL JAWAD
Associated Press Writer
RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) - Hamas police wielding clubs beat and pushed residents out of dozens of homes in the southern Gaza town of Rafah on Sunday before knocking the buildings down with bulldozers, residents said. Gaza's militant Hamas rulers said the homes were built illegally on government land. Newly homeless residents were furious over Palestinians on bulldozers razing Palestinian homes.







From former USA National US Debate champion Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg


NOTES
2. To make matters worse, the PA has permanently glorified killers of Jews by naming over a hundred streets, schools, and sports teams after them. Last month a new song was performed by a Palestinian children’s choir about the glory attached to “martyrdom” – dying a violent death while waging war and terrorism on infidels, in this case, Jews, has become a hit on Arabic websites. Not to mention that no map in the PA shows Israel – only Palestine.” The PA’s President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salaam Fayaad visit the homes of murderers of Jews and publicly call them martyrs.

7. Fatah/PA officials from Abbas down declare that they do not accept Israel’s existence as a Jewish state. Abbas has openly stated “It is not required of Hamas, or of Fatah … to recognize Israel.” Senior Fatah figure Nabil Shaath recently asserted that Hamas need not end terrorism or recognize Israel to be part of a Palestinian unity government.

And this incitement has consequences. Polls have shown that 75% of Palestinians deny Israel’s right to exist. In April, an An-Najah University poll found that more than-two thirds of Palestinians rejected a peace encompassing a Palestinian state alongside Israel. In January 2009, a Jerusalem Media & Communications Center poll found that Palestinian support terror attacks on Israelis by 55% to 38%.

13. Within Israel, there are too many Arabs studying in Israeli universities and living alongside Jews to justify the term 'apartheid' other than as an anti-Semitic screed.
There are gaps in opportunity between Jews and Arabs in Israel, but they are largely the responsibility of the Arab community itself. And the problems of Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza likewise reflect Arab more than Jewish activity.
The common problem of Israeli Arabs and Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza is a failure to recognize the legitimacy of Israel, and to participate with it. Rather than cooperating politically for mutual benefits, both groups of Arabs persist in extreme rejection. Palestinians hold onto keys to doors that no longer exist, and demand the return to conditions before 1948. They along with Israeli Arabs deny any responsibility for the fate that befell them, and cling to a sense of having a monopoly of justice. Instead of accepting a decent offer in the summer and fall of 2000, Palestinians embarked on an intifada. Rather than accept as a partial success the withdrawal of settlements from Gaza, they persisted in rocket attacks. These responses have earned them the deepened distrust of Israelis, and helped produce a government that is not inclined to offer the same deals as its predecessors.
Israeli Arabs have not learned the lesson of American minorities, i.e., to play within the system and exchange political support for material benefits. Most of the Arabs elected to the Knesset persist in harsh criticism from outside the major parties, rather than deals negotiated from inside. The Palestinians of Jerusalem refuse even to participate in local elections. They give up the opportunity to select a third of the local council and be a deciding factor in the mayoral elections. As a result, they live in neighborhoods with sub-standard facilities. When asked why they do not cooperate with the Israeli establishment, the Arab mantra is that cooperation is bound to fail due to Israeli 'racism.'

make planes invisible

Seeing Clearly




Soon won't be detected on radar Photo: AP







Israel's secret new weapon?


Israeli company uses nanotechnology to develop paint that makes planes disappear off radar

Ofer Petersburg Published: 07.13.10, 14:29 / Israel News
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Imagine for a moment what the battlefield will look like in the future. Unmanned planes flying through the air; robots fighting on the ground; smart missiles hunting down targets. Now imagine that none of this can be detected on radar screens.




It may sound fictional, but it's happening. An Israeli company called Nanoflight is currently developing a special paint that makes drones, missiles, or war craft simply disappear. Or, to be more precise, they become very difficult to detect.

R&D

23 UK firms attend Israel conference / Ynetnews

Representatives from Britain's life sciences sector take part in prestigious Biomed 2010 convention
Full Story





The critical stage in developing the paint, which was developed in a nanotechnology lab, has recently concluded, and a successful test run was conducted this week. For the test run, a thin layer of the material was painted on dummy missiles, and radar waves aimed at them had a difficult time registering them.



The paint particles don't make the missile's detection on the radar disappear completely, but make it exceedingly difficult to positively identify the object as a missile. In the future, this development will allow any missile or jet significantly decreased radar detection.



Even though they may not entirely disappear from radar screens, this technology is a considerably more cost-effective method to evade radar detection than purchasing an American stealth plane for $5 billion.



How does it work? In order to locate objects, the radar transmitter sends out electromagnetic waves. When these waves hit an object, they are scattered in all directions, with some of them being bounced back to the radar itself. Regular signal reception indicates the existence of an object.



The nanotechnology developed envelopes the object, absorbs the radio waves emitted by the radar, and releases them as heat energy scattered in space. In doing so, the material disguises the object, making it difficult to identify by radar.



"We are only at the beginning and are discovering new worlds everyday," said Eli Shaldag, a former senior Israel Air Force official who worked on the Arrow missile project. He currently is part of the military applications department of Nanoflight.



"This is a breakthrough with the potential to change the rules of the game in the battlefield," Shaldag said.



When will the material be ready for use on war craft?



"We have already completed the main development stage. We conducted a number of tests and discovered that the particles in their nanotechnology composition do significantly neutralize the ability to detect objects that have been painted with the material. We are entering the second stage, after which we will already be able to produce the material in larger quantities."



Will this material be applicable for additional uses in the future?



"Absolutely yes. Discovery of nanotechnology materials is still in its infancy, and we are decoding the secret of this technology's power every day. We are currently working on developing an application of the material that will work with infrared so that soldiers won't be detected on night-vision goggles."




According to company officials, the material can also be used for civilian purposes.



"Just like the nanotechnology material can prevent a radar from detecting a missile, it can also prevent radiation emitted by electrical transformers from reaching nursery schools," said Nanoflight CEO Ricardo Burstein.




Burstein also noted that the material can prevent pollution through its absorption and transformation properties.



"In the future, it could be painted on sidewalks and roads in order to decrease air pollution. We are currently conducting an experiment with the City of Ramat Gan in which we are painting guardrails with the material in order to purify pollution from cars," Burstein explained.

new Pro Israel group

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/39613.html





New conservative group will oppose Obama Mideast policy
By: Ben Smith
July 12, 2010 03:54 PM EDT

Leading conservatives will launch a new pro-Israel group this week with a scathing attack on Rep. Joe Sestak, the Democratic Senate candidate in Pennsylvania, the first shot in what they say will be a confrontational campaign against the Obama administration’s Mideast policy and the Democrats who support it.

The Emergency Committee for Israel’s leadership unites two major strands of support for the Jewish state: The hawkish, neoconservative wing of the Republican Party, many of whom are Jewish, and conservative Evangelical Christians who have become increasingly outspoken in their support for Israel. The new group’s board includes Weekly Standard Editor William Kristol and Gary Bauer, the former Republican presidential candidate who leads the group American Values, as well as Rachel Abrams, a conservative writer and activist.

“We’re the pro-Israel wing of the pro-Israel community,” said Kristol.

While President Barack Obama and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attempted to put the best public face on their differences after a White House meeting last week, the two leaders have had a contentious relationship. Some American backers of Israel, as well as many Israelis, remain deeply suspicious of Obama’s efforts to press Israel toward specific policy shifts and to improve American relations with the Muslim world.

The new committee declined to disclose its funding — as a 501(c)(4) advocacy organization, it isn’t required to — but said it had raised enough to air its first ad, starting this week, on Fox and CNN and during a Philadelphia Phillies game. The ad attacks Sestak for signing a letter criticizing Israel’s blockade of Gaza while not signing a defense of Israel circulated by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and for appearing at a fundraiser for the Council on American Islamic Relations, which it describes as an “anti-Israel organization the FBI called a ‘front group for Hamas.’”

CAIR denied the 2008 allegation, and no charges were ever brought against it.

“Does Congressman Joe Sestak understand Israel is America’s ally?” asks the ad’s narrator.

A spokesman for Sestak, who defeated Sen. Arlen Specter for the Democratic Senate nomination, rejected the ad’s characterization.

“Joe is a strong supporter of the State of Israel,” said April Mellody, referring to the congressman’s service as a naval officer in the first Gulf War. “It’s political silly season, so it’s not surprising these conservatives are trying to distort Joe’s record.”

The Emergency Committee plans to advertise in other congressional races as well, according to Noah Pollak, its executive director.

“We want to be hard-hitting; we want to get into the debate and shake things up and make some points in a firm way,” he said.

The group will target races for the House and the Senate, but there’s little doubt the larger target is the Obama administration, which Bauer told POLITICO is “the most anti-Israel administration in the history of the United States.”

Along with earlier pressure on Israel to restrain building in Jerusalem, critics point to suggestions that the U.S. won’t seek to block an investigation led by the U.N. secretary-general into its raid on a flotilla bound for Gaza and new pressure on Israel to disclose its nuclear program.

Much of the traditional relationship between the U.S. and Israel remains unchanged, notably strong military-to-military ties and arms sales. Israel has also been pleased by increasing American pressure on Iran.

A White House spokesman, Ben Rhodes, declined to comment on the new group but provided a string of recent comments from Netanyahu on the strength of the countries’ relationship.

“I trust Barack Obama, the president of the United States, to carry out with me the policies that have joined Israel and the United States in what Barack Obama has called the unbreakable bond,” Netanyahu told CBS’s Katie Couric last week. “We have common goals, common interests, and we now have a job to do to get on with our common goal of achieving peace with security. I trust we’ll be able to do that together.”

The Emergency Committee will fit into a broadening spectrum of American pro-Israel groups, many of which have followed AIPAC’s lead in seeking to avoid open rifts with the White House and the political parties. Kristol said this group was inspired in part by the new liberal group J Street, whose ability to amplify criticism of the Israeli government showed, he said, the power of a small new group — if on the other side of the debate.

“There are some who say they’re pro-Israel but aren’t really,” he said, referring to J Street. “Then there’s AIPAC, which is a wonderful organization, but one that’s very committed to working with the administration, so they pull some punches publicly.”

One official at an American Jewish organization welcomed the group to the degree that it would make criticism of Democrats “mainstream,” but also expressed concern that a group with such Republican origins would contribute to a deepening partisan cast to the debate over Israel, with Republicans lining up behind the Israeli government while some Democrats align themselves with Netanyahu’s American critics.

Bauer dismissed that notion.

“I encourage our Democratic friends to have a competition with us on who can be more pro-Israel, because I think it’s in the interests of the United States and not a political party,” he said. “I’m really hoping that people like Sen. [Chuck] Schumer and others will aggressively speak out for Israel at a time like this.”

And the group’s emergence has already provoked rancor on the left. After a liberal foreign policy blogger noticed that the group had quietly registered a website, the national security editor for the blog of the Democratic-aligned Center for American Progress, Matt Duss, tweeted sarcastically, “Because the world really needs another astroturf Israeli propaganda outfit.” A spokeswoman for CAP said he spoke for himself and not the group.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Netanyahu states it clearly

Observations:
Palestinians Have to Say "The Conflict Is Over," As Sadat Did - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
After meeting with President Obama, Prime Minister Netanyahu told the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in New York on July 7:
"We don't want to govern the Palestinians and we don't want them to be either our subjects or citizens of the country. We also want to make sure that they have their own independent dignified life, but that they don't threaten the State of Israel....In addition, the Palestinians have to do something that they so far have not done. And that is to do what Anwar Sadat did - to come forward and say, 'It's over. The conflict is over. There is no more war, there is no more bloodshed and there will be no more conflict.'"
"One thing that unites all of us is that we all know that we are not foreign interlopers in the Land of Israel....We have nearly a four-thousand-year connection to this land and the return of the Jewish people to Zion, the restoration of Jewish sovereignty in our ancestral homeland, is not just one of the great events of modern times, it's one of the greatest events of all time....For the Jews...Zion is only one place - Israel - and the connection between our people and the Land of Israel is as strong and enduring as any people's connection to any place on earth."
"All responsible countries say that Israel has a right to defend itself, but virtually every time we seek to exercise that right, we are nearly universally condemned....So it seems that, even after six decades, many around the world are still uncomfortable with the idea of Jewish sovereignty. Perhaps they have not internalized the fact that the Jews will no longer be passive victims of history. We are now actors on the stage of history. We now chart our own collective destiny and that requires Israel to have a secure and unchallenged right of self-defense that is accorded to other nations as well."
"For 2000 years, the Jews were the perfect victims. And perfect victims may be perfectly moral but they're still victims. The purpose of the Jewish state is to defend Jewish lives. And in that defense, the standard that must be applied to Israel is not perfection but a standard that is applied to any other country faced with similar circumstances."
"What other country has suffered thousands and thousands of rockets rained on its cities?...Britain. And yet Israel's response to the rocketing of its cities is a fraction, a fraction, perhaps a percent or less of the response in terms of casualties inflicted by Britain on those who attacked it."

Boycott campign vs Israel a failure

The Anti-Israel Boycott Campaign: A Study in Failure - Robert Fulford
Given the publicity the plan to pressure Israel with boycotts, divestment and sanctions (routinely abbreviated as "BDS") has been receiving, the program should be on the way to success. But is it working? The answer seems to be No.
Jon Haber, who runs the website "Divest This!" (divest-this.com), reported in the Jerusalem Post that despite nearly a decade of BDS activism, not one college or university has sold even one share of a company identified as a supporter of Israel. The divesters are good at attracting crowds, writing manifestos, passing motions and getting their opinions onto TV. But they get few results.
In May, the divesters were cheered by news that Deutsche Bank had sold its shares in the Israeli company Elbit. However, this news was closely followed by Deutsche Bank's announcement that it was untrue - the bank had no Elbit shares to sell. Curiously, during the period when enemies of Israel were doing their best to cut its economic lifelines, Israel's economy remained in much better shape than equivalent economies elsewhere. Of all the OECD nations, Israel was the last to show signs of recession and among the first to begin recovering. (National Post-Canada)

what about Obama's recent praise?

Jerusalem
Photo by: Associated Press
The Region: Behind the praise
By BARRY RUBIN
07/12/2010 00:06

The recent meeting between Obama and Netanyahu was as good as it’s going to get.
At the recent meeting between US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, the president could not have been more effusive. They had an “excellent” discussion, Netanyahu’s statement was “wonderful,” and the USIsrael relationship is “extraordinary.”

Hard to believe this is the same Obama.

The US president wants to improve relations with Israel for several reasons.

Obviously, he doesn’t want to be bashing Israel in the period leading up to the November elections. Polls show that for Americans, his administration’s relative hostility toward Israel is its least popular policy...

AS I’VE pointed out before, once Israel concluded that there would be no Western commitment for overthrowing the Hamas regime, it might as well go to a containment strategy. This Western policy is terrible but Israel is merely recognizing the real situation and making the best of it...

OBAMA PRAISED Netanyahu just as much on the “peace process.” The president said: “I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu wants peace. I think he’s willing to take risks for peace.”

Remember that quote when Obama turns on Netanyahu again after the November elections. As for risks, we’ve had enough of those, thank you very much.


DOES ISRAEL’S government trust Obama? Of course not. Israelis in general are under no illusions about Obama’s view of their country, his willingness to battle revolutionary Islamists, or his general reliability and toughness...


There is a possibility of Obama turning to a much tougher stance on Israel after the congressional elections are over. Yet with a plummeting popularity at home and many domestic problems, perhaps Obama will have more on his mind than playing Middle East peacemaker.

The Palestinian Authority is so uneager for a peace agreement that anything Israel says on the subject is most unlikely ever to be implemented. And it seems that the Obama administration has at least some sense that it isn’t going to get an Israel-Palestinian peace agreement so it doesn’t want to look foolish in making this a high priority and then failing.

Thus, Israel’s strategy is as follows: try very hard to get along with the administration, seek to keep it happy, and avoid confrontation without making any major irreversible concessions or taking serious risks. Have no illusions, but keep the US government focused on Iran as much as possible.

The next Congress will be more likely to constrain the president and who knows what will happen in future. A building freeze might be ended on strong grounds the next time. It is quite possible that Iran, Syria, and other radical forces will so assault the United States and trample on its interests that Obama will be forced to alter course. And there’s always the 2012 presidential election.This, then, is the best policy for Israel to follow considering the more unattractive options. And for the foreseeable future, Obama will play along.
It isn’t neat but it is real world international politics.

The writer is director of the Global Research in International Affairs Center and editor of Middle East Review of International Affairs and Turkish Studies. He blogs at www.rubinreports.blogspot.com Post
what about Obama's recent praise?

will the Presbyterians side with the murderers, suicide bombers, terrorists?

Presbyterians Debate Anti-Israel Measures


July 8, 2010

Dear Friend of Israel,

The Presbyterian Church (USA) -- one of the “mainline” Protestant denominations that used to make up the religious establishment in this country -- is once again embroiled in controversy for its stance on Israel. In the past, the denomination was at the forefront of the anti-Israel divestment movement. At its biennial General Assembly the group has considered an array of resolutions and statements harshly critical of Israel.

As I write this, the PCUSA is again holding its General Assembly, and is again considering adopting controversial statements against Israel. On the agenda this year is a report titled “Breaking Down the Walls” by the church’s Middle East Study Committee (MESC). Critics have lambasted the report for legitimizing doubts about Israel’s right to exist, for endorsing a notorious document authored by virulently anti-Israel Palestinian leaders , and for calling on both Iran and Israel to “refrain from nuclear arms proliferation” -- as if peaceful, democratic Israel and bellicose, authoritarian, Israel-hating Iran pose a similar threat to the Middle East.

But the tide may be turning against the anti-Israel faction in the PCUSA. It is significant and heartening to note that more and more people, including Presbyterians, are speaking out against the MESC report. One pastoral letter signed by a number of prominent Presbyterians called the report “unbalanced, historically inaccurate, theologically flawed, and politically damaging.” Guastav Niebuhr, a prominent religion writer and great-nephew of Reinhold Niebuhr, perhaps the preeminent Protestant theologian of the 20th century, said in a blog post co-written with Katharine Henderson that the report “strays from this path to peace-building and instead deals in neatly-assigned roles Israel as oppressor, Palestinians as victims.”

Still, the fact that such resolutions are even considered for approval at all is a sign that the anti-Israel sentiment in mainline Protestant denominations like the PCUSA runs deep. Despite their lessening influence, the decisions made by these denominations do have an effect on public opinion, and can help influence policy. That is why we must continue to hope and pray that their influence diminishes and that the influence of the majority of Christians who love and support Israel continues to rise.

The PCUSA likely won’t make a decision on “Breaking Down the Walls” until their General Assembly ends later this week. But there is much you can do as this denominational debate continues. First, you can stay abreast of these developments on our Stand for Israel blog. If you are a member of a PCUSA congregation, ask your pastor to speak out against this anti-Israel document. Voice your support for Israel in the political realm. And, of course, pray that the world will come to a truer understanding of the dynamics in the Middle East and stand united in support of God’s chosen people.

With prayers for shalom, peace,


Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein
President

Obama don't you see the truth?

Rick Richmond
Over the past year, Netanyahu (1) formed a coalition government with parties to both his right and left, (2) proposed immediate negotiations with no preconditions, (3) formally endorsed a two-state solution (as long as one of them is Jewish and the other is demilitarized), (4) removed scores of West Bank roadblocks and checkpoints, (5) implemented an unprecedented settlement moratorium, and (6) plans even more gestures to the perpetually confidence-impaired Palestinians to encourage them to join negotiations to give them a state.

During the same period, the Palestinians have been unwilling to commence direct negotiations unless Israel first conceded the principal issues to be negotiated, and Obama has acted as if he were the Palestinians’ attorney – not bound by U.S. commitments to Israel (the 2004 Bush letter), ignoring longstanding understandings on the meaning of a settlement freeze, manufacturing a crisis about future Jewish housing in the Jewish area of the capital of the Jewish state, voting for a UN resolution singling out Israel on its most sensitive defense issue, etc.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Rabbis For Israel

*RABBIS FOR ISRAEL*

*Mission Statement*

* ***

*Introduction*

* *

Rabbis for Israel is a forum of rabbis from all streams, who are
deeply concerned by the drift in much of world opinion that has made it
legitimate to single out Israel for blame and censure in respect of the
Israeli/Palestinian conflict.



While we recognize that Israel shares some responsibility for the current
state of affairs, we believe that the roots of the conflict and its broader
dimensions are much more complex than is generally presented and that
attempts by Israel's detractors to lay the blame for the lack of progress
towards peace at her door while pressing her alone to make concessions are
not only unjustified but frequently motivated by political interests,
naivety, ignorance, misinformation or even anti-Semitism.



We are particularly concerned by the manner in which some organizations
within the Jewish community that profess to care for Israel and her
well-being advocate that pressure be applied upon her to make unilateral
concessions. Similar demands are not made of the Palestinians to respond in
kind if at all. We believe that such advocacy, which results in
intransigence and increased demands from the Palestinian side, does not
advance the cause of peace. In discrediting Israel publicly, such
organizations not only weaken support for her but also serve the interests
of her detractors and enemies.



At a time when it has become fashionable to castigate Israel for unrest in
the Middle East and elsewhere, we appeal to Jews everywhere to respond to
criticism of Israel with support and to advocate on her behalf.





We urge rabbis who agree with the Mission Statement below to sign on to it,
demonstrating their support for a reasonable solution to the
Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Please email Rabbi Micky Boyden at
boyden@zahav.net.il to do so.



*The Mission Statement of Rabbis for Israel*



*A Lasting and Secure Peace for Israel*

We, the undersigned, believe that Israel has a legitimate right
to exist as a sovereign, democratic Jewish state in the historic homeland of
the Jewish people. We support a peaceful and just resolution to the
Israeli/Palestinian conflict that will recognize two independent states, a
Jewish state of Israel and a Palestinian state, living side by side in
peace, security, and prosperity.

We call upon the Arab world to accept unequivocally and publicly
Israel's permanent right to exist in peace.



*Sovereignty*

We believe that any resolution of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict
will require Israel to cede sovereignty over most of the West Bank and will
need to address the aspirations of both Israelis and Palestinians concerning
Jerusalem, a city that is holy to three religions.

Palestinian claims for a right of return will need to find their
resolution within the Palestinian state once established.



*Teaching Tolerance and Peace*

We call upon Muslim and Christian religious leaders to establish
frameworks in their own communities to oppose messages of hatred and
violence against Israel, to work towards developing a spirit of mutual
understanding, tolerance and peace with Jews, and to encourage the
strengthening of peaceful relationships and partnerships between Israelis
and Palestinians.

We demand that the Palestinian Authority, Hamas and their agents
cease using the media, mosques and textbooks to foster and incite hatred
against Israel and the Jewish People.



* Support for Israel*
We call upon leaders in the Jewish community to support Israel in
their public statements and express any concerns they may have with great
caution and considerable forethought given the manner in which their views
are likely to be manipulated to Israel's detriment by those who use every
opportunity to vilify her. **

* *

*The Use of Violence*

We call upon Palestinian political and religious leaders to
denounce the use of violent *Jihad*, and demand that the Palestinian
Authority, Hamas and their agents cease all forms of support, complicity and
participation in or glorification of terrorist activities.



*Moral Equivalency*

We recognize Israel's moral right to defend her citizens against
attacks emanating from the Palestinian territories. To demand that Israel
forgo the right to defend her citizens in order to improve the lot of
Palestinians without the latter abandoning their call for violent resistance
is both morally and ethically repugnant. As such, we reject the moral
equivalency that some would draw between the suffering of the Palestinians
and the lasting psychological trauma not to mention literal endangerment of
life with which Israelis have to contend.



*Israel's Defense*
We call upon the international community and media to recognize that any
resolution of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict will demand that Israel's
very real security concerns be addressed, particularly in the light of the
key role played by Iran and Syria in arming and training Israel's enemies.