Friday, May 31, 2013
Friday, May 24, 2013
Bury our heads in the sand to be pc?
Do we just bury our heads in the sand? There is the real world and the world we wish existed
British Soldier Hacked to Death in Islamist Attack in London - Gordon Rayner and Steven Swinford
A British soldier has been butchered on a busy London street by two Islamist terrorists. The men attempted to behead the soldier, hacking at him in front of dozens of witnesses, before both were shot by police.
After the killing, one of the men, believed to be a British-born Muslim convert, spoke calmly into a witness's video phone. "We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you until you leave us alone. Your people will never be safe. The only reason we have done this is because Muslims are dying by British soldiers every day."
Witnesses said the men used a car to run over the soldier just yards from the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich, southeast London, before setting about him with knives and a meat cleaver. As they attacked the soldier, one of the men shouted "Allahu akbar." (Telegraph-UK) Mayor of London says it is not about islam.
Boston marathon bombers did it for islamic jihad.
Ft Hood Muslim psychiatrist, still collecting full salary, kills many and shouts Allah akbar. But Obama says workplace violence.
A Palestinian Peace Message - Editorial (Wall Street Journal Europe)
Palestinian politics has overwhelmingly rejected the notion of the Jewish state's legitimacy. Yet the "peace process" marches on, with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and UK Foreign Minister William Hague in the Holy Land again this week to give it another try.
Enter Jibril Rajoub, veteran Palestinian politician and member of the Fatah Party's 20-person Central Committee. Appearing May 1 on Lebanese television, Rajoub said in Arabic that "The resistance, for us in Fatah, is still on the agenda. I am talking about resistance in all its forms." Such as? "By God, if we'd had a nuclear weapon, we would have used it this morning."
Quite a message from a man who a few years ago recorded a Hebrew-language television ad assuring Israelis "I am your partner." But so it goes with a Palestinian leadership bred by Yasser Arafat, who made an art of delivering different messages to different audiences in different languages.
A two-state solution will be at hand when Palestinian leaders endorse it - consistently, in Arabic, to the Palestinian people and to the Arab world at large, in children's textbooks and at their summer camps.
Friend of mine sent me this
Do you remember ? ? ? ?
1. In 1968 , Bobby Kennedy was shot and killed by a Muslim male.
2. In 1972 at the Munich Olympics, athletes were kidnapped and massacred by Muslim males.
3. In 1972 a Pan Am 747 was hijacked and eventually diverted to Cairo where a fuse was lit on final approach and it was blown up shortly after landing by Muslim males.
4. In 1973 a Pan Am 707 was destroyed in Rome , with 33 people killed, when it was attacked with grenades by Muslim males.
5. In 1979 , the US embassy in Iran was taken over by Muslim males.
6. During the 1980's a number of Americans were kidnapped in Lebanon by Muslim males.
7. In 1983 , the US Marine barracks in Beirut was blown up byMuslim males .
8. In 1985 , the cruise ship Achille Lauro was hijacked and a 70 year old American passenger was murdered and thrown overboard in his wheelchair by Muslim males.
9. In 1985 , TWA flight 847 was hijacked at Athens , and a US Navy diver trying to rescue passengers was murdered by Muslim males.
10. In 1988 , Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed by Muslim males.
11. In 1993 , the World Trade Center was bombed the first time by Muslim males.
12. In 1998 , the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed by Muslim males.
13. On 9/11/01 , four airliners were hijacked; two were used as missiles to take down the World Trade Centers and of the remaining two, one crashed into the US Pentagon and the other was diverted and crashed by the passengers. Thousands of people were killed by Muslim males.
14. In 2002 , the United States fought a war in Afghanistan against Muslim males.
15. In 2002 , reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and beheaded by---you guessed it was a--- Muslim males.
But we Americans never offend anyone, particularly fanatics intent on killing us.
British soldiers are told now not to wear uniforms off base so as not to provoke jihadists. Europe is done for. Jews already can't wear Jewish identifying material in many places in Europe.
British Soldier Hacked to Death in Islamist Attack in London - Gordon Rayner and Steven Swinford
A British soldier has been butchered on a busy London street by two Islamist terrorists. The men attempted to behead the soldier, hacking at him in front of dozens of witnesses, before both were shot by police.
After the killing, one of the men, believed to be a British-born Muslim convert, spoke calmly into a witness's video phone. "We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you until you leave us alone. Your people will never be safe. The only reason we have done this is because Muslims are dying by British soldiers every day."
Witnesses said the men used a car to run over the soldier just yards from the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich, southeast London, before setting about him with knives and a meat cleaver. As they attacked the soldier, one of the men shouted "Allahu akbar." (Telegraph-UK) Mayor of London says it is not about islam.
Boston marathon bombers did it for islamic jihad.
Ft Hood Muslim psychiatrist, still collecting full salary, kills many and shouts Allah akbar. But Obama says workplace violence.
A Palestinian Peace Message - Editorial (Wall Street Journal Europe)
Palestinian politics has overwhelmingly rejected the notion of the Jewish state's legitimacy. Yet the "peace process" marches on, with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and UK Foreign Minister William Hague in the Holy Land again this week to give it another try.
Enter Jibril Rajoub, veteran Palestinian politician and member of the Fatah Party's 20-person Central Committee. Appearing May 1 on Lebanese television, Rajoub said in Arabic that "The resistance, for us in Fatah, is still on the agenda. I am talking about resistance in all its forms." Such as? "By God, if we'd had a nuclear weapon, we would have used it this morning."
Quite a message from a man who a few years ago recorded a Hebrew-language television ad assuring Israelis "I am your partner." But so it goes with a Palestinian leadership bred by Yasser Arafat, who made an art of delivering different messages to different audiences in different languages.
A two-state solution will be at hand when Palestinian leaders endorse it - consistently, in Arabic, to the Palestinian people and to the Arab world at large, in children's textbooks and at their summer camps.
Friend of mine sent me this
Do you remember ? ? ? ?
1. In 1968 , Bobby Kennedy was shot and killed by a Muslim male.
2. In 1972 at the Munich Olympics, athletes were kidnapped and massacred by Muslim males.
3. In 1972 a Pan Am 747 was hijacked and eventually diverted to Cairo where a fuse was lit on final approach and it was blown up shortly after landing by Muslim males.
4. In 1973 a Pan Am 707 was destroyed in Rome , with 33 people killed, when it was attacked with grenades by Muslim males.
5. In 1979 , the US embassy in Iran was taken over by Muslim males.
6. During the 1980's a number of Americans were kidnapped in Lebanon by Muslim males.
7. In 1983 , the US Marine barracks in Beirut was blown up byMuslim males .
8. In 1985 , the cruise ship Achille Lauro was hijacked and a 70 year old American passenger was murdered and thrown overboard in his wheelchair by Muslim males.
9. In 1985 , TWA flight 847 was hijacked at Athens , and a US Navy diver trying to rescue passengers was murdered by Muslim males.
10. In 1988 , Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed by Muslim males.
11. In 1993 , the World Trade Center was bombed the first time by Muslim males.
12. In 1998 , the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed by Muslim males.
13. On 9/11/01 , four airliners were hijacked; two were used as missiles to take down the World Trade Centers and of the remaining two, one crashed into the US Pentagon and the other was diverted and crashed by the passengers. Thousands of people were killed by Muslim males.
14. In 2002 , the United States fought a war in Afghanistan against Muslim males.
15. In 2002 , reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and beheaded by---you guessed it was a--- Muslim males.
But we Americans never offend anyone, particularly fanatics intent on killing us.
British soldiers are told now not to wear uniforms off base so as not to provoke jihadists. Europe is done for. Jews already can't wear Jewish identifying material in many places in Europe.
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Iran is scared??? of Obama's promise to not let Iran get nuclear weapons
Iran is scared??? of Obama's promise to not let Iran get nuclear weapons
WJD
Sanctions? Diplomacy? Iran doesn't seem much to care.
Diplomats said Wednesday that Iran had installed 700 new centrifuges this year alone to speed a nuclear program that Israel and the West say is intended for the production of nuclear weaponry.
The Associated Press reports that diplomats leaked details of an International Atomic Energy Agency document set for release on Wednesday. In it, theagency says:
The new IR-2m centrifuges are believed to be able to enrich two to five times faster than the old machines. For nations fearing that Iran may want to make nuclear arms, that would mean a quicker way of getting there.
American funds are going to anti-Israel NGOs
WJD
The U.S. Congress received a report on Tuesday showing that American funds are going to anti-Israel NGOs that seeks to promote delegitimization, boycotts, and even antisemitism.
NGO Monitor, a watchdog group that monitors such organizations, compiled the report on the National Endowment for Democracy, a government-funded non-profit created in 1983.
The president of NGO Monitor, Gerald M. Steinberg, gave examples of several problematic groups, including MIFTAH, which is "involved in anti-Israel campaigns and anti-Semitism, including repetition of the infamous blood libel" and has accused Israel of murdering Palestinian children; and Windows, which makes "highly offensive comparisons between Israel and Nazi Germany."
Both the report and Israeli diplomats are seeking better oversight of such groups and the dispersal of government funds. They note that the ideologies promoted by these groups are an obstacle to peace and in contradiction to U.S. policy.
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Israel prefers Assad stays
WJD
Israeli intelligence officials were quoted in the U.K. Times on Saturday saying that Israel would prefer a weakened Assad regime in Syria, rather than a victory for rebel forces.
According to YNet, one official was quoted saying, "Better the devil we know than the demons we can only imagine if Syria falls into chaos and the extremists from across the Arab world gain a foothold there."
Many observers of the conflict have concluded that Syrian rebel forces have been essentially taken over by Islamist forces, including some affiliated with Al-Qaeda.
Another official reportedly said that Israel would prefer "that the two sides fight each other instead of joining forces against Israel." This was the case during the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s, when an Israeli official quipped that "it's a shame they can't both lose."
Israel and Syria have been official enemies for decades, but since the 1973 Yom Kippur War have maintained an uneasy but nonetheless stable ceasefire on Israel's northern border.
Friday, May 17, 2013
Why did IRS go lenient on terrorist groups and tough on pro Israel?
Why did IRS go lenient on terrorist groups and tough on pro Israel?
Posted: 14 May 2013 08:15 AM PDT
(Paul Mirengoff)
Josh Gerstein at Politico reports that the same Internal Revenue Service office that singled out Tea Party groups for extra scrutiny also challenged Israel-related organizations, at least one of which filed suit over the agency’s handling of its application for tax-exempt status.
The group in question is called Z Street. It alleges that one of its attorneys was told that its application for tax exemption was delayed and sent to a “special unit…to determine whether the organization’s activities contradict the Administration’s public policies.”
As Gerstein explains, Z Street sought the 501(c)(3) status applicable to most charities, allowing for tax deductible donations. Most of the Tea Party groups that have come under scrutiny applied for 501(c)(4) status, which allows advocacy groups to avoid federal taxes on their operations but doesn’t render donations to the groups tax deductible. However, both kinds of applications are processed in the same Cincinnati office.
What is the IRS’s explanation for investigating Z Street? It admits that applications mentioning Israel received special attention, but says this was because “Israel is one of many Middle Eastern countries that have a higher risk of terrorism.”
This is absurd. Israel may have (or have had) a high risk of being victimized by terrorism. But this fact should create no presumption that groups concerned about, or connected with, Israel are linked with terrorism. And absent that concern, what is the justification for extra scrutiny? Under the IRS’s logic, maybe it should now consider providing extra scrutiny to charitable groups headquartered in Boston.
Under President Bush, the IRS cracked down on “charitable” groups that support or sympathized with terrorists — an outgrowth of the fact that Muslim charities funneled money to Islamic terrorists. But, says Gerstein, President Obama has backed away from this approach, declaring that he thought government rules were unfairly impeding Muslims from carrying through on their religious obligation to donate to charity.
How ironic that the Obama IRS now seems focused instead on a tiny pro-Israel group that questions the president’s approach to the Middle East.
The IRS’s response to Z Street’s lawsuit raises more questions than it answers. The concern, according to the IRS, was not whether pro-Israel groups contradict Obama administration policy, but rather whether they violate “public policy.”
One doubts the ability of bureaucrats to distinguish Obama policy from “public policy.” Giving IRS the benefit of the doubt (but why would we at this point), the stated public policy in question is that the government shouldn’t bestow a benefit on an individual or organization engaged in illegal activity like terrorism, or in an officially disfavored activity such as racial discrimination.
But why would a pro-Israel advocacy group be suspected of engaging in terrorism or racial discrimination?
And how do some of the questions posed to pro-Israel groups relate to terrorism or racial discrimination? Among the inquiries sent to at least one group were:
Does your organization support the existence of the land of Israel?Describe your organization’s religious belief system towards the land of Israel.
The proper answer to the second inquiry is, none of your damn business.
It’s too early to reach firm conclusions about the allegations in Z Street’s suit against the government. But the matter warrants our close attention.
Monday, May 13, 2013
Obama's IRS targeted pro Israel and Jewish groups too
Obama's IRS targeted pro Israel groups too! When are decent fair minded heretofore slavish Obama admirers going to realize he is a common Chicago street thug politician, lying tyrant? He seems likable enough and can be articulate when on a teleprompter, but if ruining the US economy isn't enough, and allowing terrorism to flourish abroad and here, what will it take?
Richard Baehr
The lies pile up and the president goes silent
The week just ended may have been the worst week experienced by the Obama administration, and there are over 220 to choose from. The congressional testimony by three whistle-blowers on the widening Benghazi scandal drew attention even from the mainstream media outlets, which had chosen to bury the story for months. The president's press secretary, Jay Carney, in a performance worthy of a short career in this capacity, managed to double down on the falsehoods, continuing to avoid admitting even the obvious. For starters, Carney maintained that the talking points distributed to U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice for use in her appearances on the major news networks a few days after the attack in Benghazi on September 11 reflected what was known about the attacks, as opposed to the story the administration wanted to get out there (a spontaneous demonstration in reaction to an anti-Muslim video), and that the changes in the talking points in the days prior to Rice's appearances were merely stylistic, rather than substantive.
It is understandable that with less than two months to go in the presidential campaign, and the president ahead in the polls, and holding favorable ratings on his management of foreign affairs, there was pressure from the political types, who seem to be central to every decision by the administration, to defend the Obama foreign policy narrative even if a totally invented script on Benghazi needed to be written to do this. The narrative that needed defending, in reality, more mythology than substance, argued that al-Qaida had effectively been destroyed with the death of bin Laden, and that our Libyan intervention had been a great success.
Then on Friday, an arguably bigger story blew up on the administration. The Treasury Department's inspector-general for tax administration is expected to level serious charges next week of an attempt by Internal Revenue Service officials to target conservative groups seeking to obtain tax-exempt status under the code. The administration, as is its habit, released the news of the problematic behavior by agents in the Cincinnati office of the IRS on Friday afternoon, assuming the story would get overshadowed by the continuing Benghazi controversy, with which it would have to compete. The release of the news included suggestions that the singling out of the Tea Party and other conservative groups, was the work of lower level employees, in a branch office, and of course was unknown to departmental superiors or other higher up officials (e.g., the White House). These intimations have already proven false. Certain IRS officials were either in the dark about the operation or lied under oath to Congress in 2012 when asked about the program by members of Congress who had been informed about the behavior of the IRS by groups trying to gain the tax exemption. Incredibly, spotting words such as "constitution," "Bill of Rights," and "patriot" in the name or mission of groups, were red flags for the IRS agents. The IRS agents also asked for donor lists, which is both illegal and chilling for potential donors. And the supposedly rogue "way down the totem pole" agents in Cincinnati were anything but; that office is the central processing office for the IRS to consider applications for tax exempt status, so it represents ground zero for this activity.
One can easily make a case that the current law is too lax, and organizations that achieve tax-free status are more interested in political advocacy than in charitable purposes, such as education and communication on issues. If this is one's view, however, then enforcement of the law should presumably be applied consistently, across the board, to organizations and groups that may have crossed the line, regardless of their message. Groups that are really conducting politics and only pretending to have a charitable purpose would be identified from both the Left and the Right. This, of course, is not what happened here. The only groups that were identified by their mission or name, were on the Right, in other words, perceived political opponents of the Obama administration.
There is much evidence that Americans are not well versed in their history, including relatively recent history. Going back fewer than 40 years, the first impeachment article drawn up in the U.S. House of Representatives for President Richard Nixon in 1974 described his abuse of presidential authority by using the IRS to target political opponents. Is the offense of less significance now because the Democratic Party is in power, and it stuck the IRS on Republicans and conservatives? So far, the connection between the banana republic activity of the IRS agents and the White House has not been made. But this controversy is in its first weekend. So far, there has been no testimony under oath by anyone before a congressional committee. And more importantly, the misconduct is so serious that even the administration's most ardent defenders are not spinning that nothing bad happened here. Even Jay Carney admitted this was wrong, and that may be a first for him.
The president, who loves to be in the public view at all times, so long as the audience is friendly (worshipful is preferred), was little seen this week except for an appearance before a carefully selected group of cheering women to promote the increasingly troubled rollout of his health care reform bill, popularly known as Obamacare. That legislation will result in significant financial costs and prove politically embarrassing to the administration if healthy younger people do not enroll in large numbers. There was not a word from the president about Benghazi or the IRS controversy. Instead, Jay Carney was served up as the piñata for a suddenly aggressive White House press corps, which for over four years seemed to see its role as mainly to provide political cover for the administration.
The IRS story will get much bigger this week. The pro-Israel group Z Street, for which I serve as a board member, received a brushback from the IRS when it applied for tax-free status in 2010. The IRS agent who communicated with Z Street indicated that a special division of the IRS had been created to review applications for groups involved with Israel, and in particular was interested in its involvement with terrorism (!) There were also questions about the group's political positions, in particular how consistent they were with those of the administration. Until this weekend, no one had put together the IRS political harassment campaign against pro-Israel groups with the stories that had been circulating of roadblocks and challenges to the Tea Party and conservative groups.
The scrutiny of Z Street was not an isolated event for the IRS. Other Jewish groups, including groups not focused on Israel, were also targeted.
"And at least one purely religious Jewish organization, one not focused on Israel, was the recipient of bizarre and highly inappropriate questions about Israel. Those questions also came from the same non-profit division of the IRS at issue for inappropriately targeting politically conservative groups. The IRS required that Jewish organization to state "whether [it] supports the existence of the land of Israel," and also demanded the organization "describe [its] religious belief system toward the land of Israel."
The mainstream media disregarded Barack Obama's political history in Chicago, his work as a community organizer, his connections with radicals and Israel haters such as Bill Ayers, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Ali Abunimah and Rashid Khalidi, or his attachment to Saul Alinsky's methods and blueprint for political action. The president has so far largely kept his distance from the storm clouds gathering over his administration over Benghazi and the IRS. On Benghazi his fingerprints are clearer, since he personally provided misleading information (you can use a different word) about the attack in several talks and interviews in the two weeks after September 11, in every case blaming the anti-Muslim video maker for stirring up a mob to attack the consulate. He knew that was untrue, but kept saying it anyway. The bigger question will be this: Is it really possible that IRS agents simply chose to deal with conservative groups and Jewish groups in the way they did without any direction from above? And if there was direction from above, from how far up the chain of command was the direction given?
Richard Baehr
The lies pile up and the president goes silent
The week just ended may have been the worst week experienced by the Obama administration, and there are over 220 to choose from. The congressional testimony by three whistle-blowers on the widening Benghazi scandal drew attention even from the mainstream media outlets, which had chosen to bury the story for months. The president's press secretary, Jay Carney, in a performance worthy of a short career in this capacity, managed to double down on the falsehoods, continuing to avoid admitting even the obvious. For starters, Carney maintained that the talking points distributed to U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice for use in her appearances on the major news networks a few days after the attack in Benghazi on September 11 reflected what was known about the attacks, as opposed to the story the administration wanted to get out there (a spontaneous demonstration in reaction to an anti-Muslim video), and that the changes in the talking points in the days prior to Rice's appearances were merely stylistic, rather than substantive.
It is understandable that with less than two months to go in the presidential campaign, and the president ahead in the polls, and holding favorable ratings on his management of foreign affairs, there was pressure from the political types, who seem to be central to every decision by the administration, to defend the Obama foreign policy narrative even if a totally invented script on Benghazi needed to be written to do this. The narrative that needed defending, in reality, more mythology than substance, argued that al-Qaida had effectively been destroyed with the death of bin Laden, and that our Libyan intervention had been a great success.
Then on Friday, an arguably bigger story blew up on the administration. The Treasury Department's inspector-general for tax administration is expected to level serious charges next week of an attempt by Internal Revenue Service officials to target conservative groups seeking to obtain tax-exempt status under the code. The administration, as is its habit, released the news of the problematic behavior by agents in the Cincinnati office of the IRS on Friday afternoon, assuming the story would get overshadowed by the continuing Benghazi controversy, with which it would have to compete. The release of the news included suggestions that the singling out of the Tea Party and other conservative groups, was the work of lower level employees, in a branch office, and of course was unknown to departmental superiors or other higher up officials (e.g., the White House). These intimations have already proven false. Certain IRS officials were either in the dark about the operation or lied under oath to Congress in 2012 when asked about the program by members of Congress who had been informed about the behavior of the IRS by groups trying to gain the tax exemption. Incredibly, spotting words such as "constitution," "Bill of Rights," and "patriot" in the name or mission of groups, were red flags for the IRS agents. The IRS agents also asked for donor lists, which is both illegal and chilling for potential donors. And the supposedly rogue "way down the totem pole" agents in Cincinnati were anything but; that office is the central processing office for the IRS to consider applications for tax exempt status, so it represents ground zero for this activity.
One can easily make a case that the current law is too lax, and organizations that achieve tax-free status are more interested in political advocacy than in charitable purposes, such as education and communication on issues. If this is one's view, however, then enforcement of the law should presumably be applied consistently, across the board, to organizations and groups that may have crossed the line, regardless of their message. Groups that are really conducting politics and only pretending to have a charitable purpose would be identified from both the Left and the Right. This, of course, is not what happened here. The only groups that were identified by their mission or name, were on the Right, in other words, perceived political opponents of the Obama administration.
There is much evidence that Americans are not well versed in their history, including relatively recent history. Going back fewer than 40 years, the first impeachment article drawn up in the U.S. House of Representatives for President Richard Nixon in 1974 described his abuse of presidential authority by using the IRS to target political opponents. Is the offense of less significance now because the Democratic Party is in power, and it stuck the IRS on Republicans and conservatives? So far, the connection between the banana republic activity of the IRS agents and the White House has not been made. But this controversy is in its first weekend. So far, there has been no testimony under oath by anyone before a congressional committee. And more importantly, the misconduct is so serious that even the administration's most ardent defenders are not spinning that nothing bad happened here. Even Jay Carney admitted this was wrong, and that may be a first for him.
The president, who loves to be in the public view at all times, so long as the audience is friendly (worshipful is preferred), was little seen this week except for an appearance before a carefully selected group of cheering women to promote the increasingly troubled rollout of his health care reform bill, popularly known as Obamacare. That legislation will result in significant financial costs and prove politically embarrassing to the administration if healthy younger people do not enroll in large numbers. There was not a word from the president about Benghazi or the IRS controversy. Instead, Jay Carney was served up as the piñata for a suddenly aggressive White House press corps, which for over four years seemed to see its role as mainly to provide political cover for the administration.
The IRS story will get much bigger this week. The pro-Israel group Z Street, for which I serve as a board member, received a brushback from the IRS when it applied for tax-free status in 2010. The IRS agent who communicated with Z Street indicated that a special division of the IRS had been created to review applications for groups involved with Israel, and in particular was interested in its involvement with terrorism (!) There were also questions about the group's political positions, in particular how consistent they were with those of the administration. Until this weekend, no one had put together the IRS political harassment campaign against pro-Israel groups with the stories that had been circulating of roadblocks and challenges to the Tea Party and conservative groups.
The scrutiny of Z Street was not an isolated event for the IRS. Other Jewish groups, including groups not focused on Israel, were also targeted.
"And at least one purely religious Jewish organization, one not focused on Israel, was the recipient of bizarre and highly inappropriate questions about Israel. Those questions also came from the same non-profit division of the IRS at issue for inappropriately targeting politically conservative groups. The IRS required that Jewish organization to state "whether [it] supports the existence of the land of Israel," and also demanded the organization "describe [its] religious belief system toward the land of Israel."
The mainstream media disregarded Barack Obama's political history in Chicago, his work as a community organizer, his connections with radicals and Israel haters such as Bill Ayers, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Ali Abunimah and Rashid Khalidi, or his attachment to Saul Alinsky's methods and blueprint for political action. The president has so far largely kept his distance from the storm clouds gathering over his administration over Benghazi and the IRS. On Benghazi his fingerprints are clearer, since he personally provided misleading information (you can use a different word) about the attack in several talks and interviews in the two weeks after September 11, in every case blaming the anti-Muslim video maker for stirring up a mob to attack the consulate. He knew that was untrue, but kept saying it anyway. The bigger question will be this: Is it really possible that IRS agents simply chose to deal with conservative groups and Jewish groups in the way they did without any direction from above? And if there was direction from above, from how far up the chain of command was the direction given?
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Friday, May 10, 2013
Women of the Wall vs Rabbi Ayatolla
Many early authorities did permit women to wear a tallit, such as Isaac ibn Ghiyyat (b. 1038), Rashi (1040–1105), Rabbeinu Tam (ca 1100–1171), Zerachya ben Yitzhak Halevi of Lunel (ca. 1125–1186), Rambam (1135–1204), Rabbi Eliezer ben Yoel Halevi (ca 1140–ca 1225), Rashba (1235–1310), Aharon Halevi of Barcelona (b. ca 1235?), Rabbi Yisrael Yaaqob Alghazi (1680–1761), Rabbi Yomtob ben Yisrael Alghazi (1726–1802))
So who are their illustrious Rabbi s denying the women to wear it, pray at our holiest sites and defying the courts. Rabbi Ayahtolla?
Jerusalem: Haredim attack Women of the Wall
Thousands of female haredi worshipers arrived at the site, heeding the call of community leaders rabbis Ovadia Yosef and Aharon Leib Shteinman who entreated female Ulpan students to hold a mass prayer at the Western Wall on Friday in an attempt to push aside the Women of Wall prayer set for the same time. However, the rabbis stressed there is no need to act provocatively or violently.
A mass brawl erupted at the site at around 6:30 am, during which garbage, water, coffee and various objects were flung at dozens of Women of the Wall and police forming a human barrier between the female group and the ultra-Orthodox. Three yeshiva students were detained during the clashes. Two police officers were injured lightly.
Women of the Wall (photo: Gil Yohanan)
The protest comes in response to a Jerusalem District Court ruling last month, whereby the Women of the Wall may conduct their pluralistic customs in the holy site.
| Video: Eli Mandelbaum |
Knesset members Miri Regev (Likud ) and Tamar Zandberg (Meretz ) arrived on the scene. Zandberg described the scenes as "tumultuous and exciting," saying those objecting to the female group's right to pray at the site have shown themselves to be seeking antagonism at any cost.
Video courtesy of jn1.tv
Deputy Jerusalem Mayor Isaac Pindar (United Torah Judaism) branded Women of the Wall "the women of provocation." Pindar told Ynet the thousands of haredi women who came this morning to hold a mass prayer nearby were "the true women of the wall."
Police forces at the scene restraining a haredi man (photo: Gil Yohanan)
Reform Movement CEO Rabbi Gilad Kariv, who also arrived at the site, said the leaders of the haredi public "desecrated the sanctity" of the Western Wall by calling on ultra-Orthodox to confront the Women of the Wall.
The Rabbi of the Western Wall Shmuel Rabinovich said "these pictures hurt the eye. The Jewish Torah should unify and I ask the Lord above to give everyone the wisdom to overcome the controversy."
He added a compromise regarding the praying sectors at the site was achieved through a Supreme Court ruling over a decade ago, but "a small group nevertheless decided to start the argument all over."
The riot again brings to the fore the issue of religion’s role – and the authority wielded by religious authorities associated with religious practice – in the modern State of Israel. In addition to being portrayed as the epicenter of Jewish prayer, the Western Wall is simultaneously a holy site and a site used for ceremonies such as soldiers’ swearing-in ceremonies and other national activities.
Until now, the site has been run in the manner of an Orthodox synagogue, with a high partition separating men’s and women’s prayer areas. Women coming to attend a bar mitzvah (a coming-of-age ceremony for boys at age 13) have had to climb up on chairs to peek over the partition in order to be part of the festivities.
Women of the Wall's Catherine Leff, 17, whose father is a Conservative rabbi, said the events actually strengthened the group and encouraged the members to sing and pray even louder. She said that at some point the haredim began to spit at the women until police cleared them from the area. According to Leff, the bus which transported the Women of the Wall out of compound was pelted with huge stones, but no one was injured.
Students enrolled in the Reform Movement's pre-military academy were also on hand to support the Women of the Wall. "We arrived from Tel Aviv to show our support," one of them said. "It is also a lesson in democracy, as there is no law that forbids women from praying in this manner."
During the prayer, a woman approached the yeshiva students and yelled out "Israel's chief rabbi will be a woman." She was immediately removed from the area by police.
Yaakov, a 21-year-old haredi, said, "What these women are doing is disgraceful and against the Torah. We will continue to fight them. A woman draped in a tallit (prayer shawl) is ridiculous. Jews do not act this way. I am willing to get arrested. Some things justify a violent reaction."
| These extremists don't even speak for historical Judaism. Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg |
Thursday, May 9, 2013
China and Israel
The "Start-Up Nation" and the Chinese Dream - H.E. Gao Yanping
On May 5, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu embarked on an official visit to China, the first by an Israeli prime minister since 2007. Two-way trade between China and Israel has increased from $50 million in 1992 to $9.91 billion in 2012. Netanyahu's visit is of great significance, and will promote a new high in China-Israel relations.
The friendship between the Chinese and Jewish nations dates back more than 1,000 years. The Jewish people in then-Chinese capital Kaifeng enjoyed equal rights to the Chinese. From the 1880s onward, thousands of Jews went to northeast China because of rising anti-Semitism in Russia and Eastern Europe. Before and during World War II, when Jewish people were struggling for survival against the Nazi Holocaust, Shanghai became the only city in the world open to Jews.The writer is the People's Republic of China's ambassador to Israel.(Jerusalem Post)
See also The Geography of Sino-Israeli Relations - Binyamin Tjong-Alvares
As China and Israel complete their 20th year of diplomatic relations, the two nations are poised to explore the abundance of synergies that bind them through deeper and broader interaction and a shared goal of bringing those benefits to the wider world. (Jewish Political Studies Review)
On May 5, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu embarked on an official visit to China, the first by an Israeli prime minister since 2007. Two-way trade between China and Israel has increased from $50 million in 1992 to $9.91 billion in 2012. Netanyahu's visit is of great significance, and will promote a new high in China-Israel relations.
The friendship between the Chinese and Jewish nations dates back more than 1,000 years. The Jewish people in then-Chinese capital Kaifeng enjoyed equal rights to the Chinese. From the 1880s onward, thousands of Jews went to northeast China because of rising anti-Semitism in Russia and Eastern Europe. Before and during World War II, when Jewish people were struggling for survival against the Nazi Holocaust, Shanghai became the only city in the world open to Jews.The writer is the People's Republic of China's ambassador to Israel.(Jerusalem Post)
See also The Geography of Sino-Israeli Relations - Binyamin Tjong-Alvares
As China and Israel complete their 20th year of diplomatic relations, the two nations are poised to explore the abundance of synergies that bind them through deeper and broader interaction and a shared goal of bringing those benefits to the wider world. (Jewish Political Studies Review)
Even smart people can be stupid Hawking the hypocrite
Even smart people can be stupid Hawking the hypocrite
Stephen Hawking Reaffirms Support of Israel Boycott - Jonny Paul (Jerusalem Post)
On Wednesday, University of Cambridge physicist Prof. Stephen Hawking reiterated that he pulled out of the fifth President's Conference in Jerusalem because he supports an academic boycott of Israel.
Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, director of Shurat HaDin-Israel Law Center, noted, "His whole computer-based communication system runs on a chip designed by Israel's Intel team."
Stephen Hawking Reaffirms Support of Israel Boycott - Jonny Paul (Jerusalem Post)
On Wednesday, University of Cambridge physicist Prof. Stephen Hawking reiterated that he pulled out of the fifth President's Conference in Jerusalem because he supports an academic boycott of Israel.
Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, director of Shurat HaDin-Israel Law Center, noted, "His whole computer-based communication system runs on a chip designed by Israel's Intel team."
Important June 7 Northbrook lecture on USA and Israel
forward this invitation to others who may wish to commemorate
Richard's passionate commitment to Israel.
The Richard G. Schoenstadt Memorial Lecture
Israel, America, and the World
Featuring
John Podhoretz, editor of Commentary magazine, columnist for the New York Post, former presidential speechwriter, and author of best-selling books on political analysis.
William Kristol, political analyst and commentator, founder and editor of The Weekly Standard and a regular commentator on the Fox News Channel
Register Here!
There is no charge for the lecture, but pre-registration is strongly recommended.
Pre-lecture Reception
5:30 PM
Attend a pre-lecture reception with speakers. (Contribution $100 per person)
Register today!
Please forward to others who may want to attend this important evening.
Sunday, June 9, 2013
7PM
Temple Beth-El
3610 Dundee
Northbrook, IL
Made possible by the generosity of the
Morris Weiser Family Foundation
To Protect Our Heritage Educational Fund is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization and contributions are tax deductible as permissible the law.
John Podhoretz Bill Kristol
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Successful Israeli strike on Syrian chemical weapons
WJD
Successful Israeli strike on Syrian chemical weapons
Saturday's Israeli air strikes on Damascus was far more than an attack on weapons being sent to Hezbollah, American officials said on Monday. It was a direct assault on Syria's entire chemical weapons arsenal - and it succeeded.
The strikes hit multiple targets in the early morning hours on Saturday, but YNet reports that the primary target was "a military research center that American officials have called the country’s main chemical weapons facility."
It is possible that this was the source of the single massive explosion that lit the night sky over Damascus for hours. Video of the explosion has gone viral on the Internet.
Should this report prove accurate, it would mean a major shift in Israeli tactics. With its "red line" on the transfer of chemical weapons already violated, Israel appears to have decided on a policy of absolute preemption.
It is not only determined to prevent the transfer of chemical weapons, but to completely eliminate the Syrian regime's chemical weapons arsenal. This implies a much larger military operation, and one that may continue for some time.
Hamas schooling-kill Israelis
Hamas Schools Teaching Children How to Kill Israelis–with Real Guns
Evelyn Gordon | @evelyng1234
05.01.2013 - 2:00 PM
05.01.2013 - 2:00 PM 
Having complained frequently about the media’s failure to report anything that might detract from their preferred narrative of Israel-as-villain, I’m delighted to discover that one British paper is bucking this trend. The Telegraph ran two articles this week describing the miserable situation in Hamas-run Gaza. And as reporter Phoebe Greenwood makes clear, the culprit isn’t Israel, but the elected Hamas government.
The first describes how Hamas has introduced military training into the curriculum of Gaza high schools–after having previously excised sports from said curriculum on the grounds that there wasn’t time for it. The mandatory weekly classes include learning how to shoot a Kalashnikov rifle; students who so choose can learn more advanced skills, like throwing grenades, at optional two-week camps. The article also includes video footage of Hamas militants demonstrating their skills for the students on a school playground: They carry out a mock raid on an Israel Defense Forces outpost, killing one soldier and capturing another, then demolish the outpost with a rocket-propelled grenade.
The first describes how Hamas has introduced military training into the curriculum of Gaza high schools–after having previously excised sports from said curriculum on the grounds that there wasn’t time for it. The mandatory weekly classes include learning how to shoot a Kalashnikov rifle; students who so choose can learn more advanced skills, like throwing grenades, at optional two-week camps. The article also includes video footage of Hamas militants demonstrating their skills for the students on a school playground: They carry out a mock raid on an Israel Defense Forces outpost, killing one soldier and capturing another, then demolish the outpost with a rocket-propelled grenade.
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