Israelated - English Israel blogs

"Israelated - English Israel blogs" - 25 new articles BLANKLEY: Teaching religion :: Docstalk MUMBAI VICTIMS WERE SEXTUALLY MUTILATED :: Yid With Lid The Billion Dollar a Day Stimulus Plan :: Yid With Lid Global Cooling Alert-->Lake Superior Freezes Over in Dec. For First Time In Years :: Yid With Lid Antisemitism has irrational — and political — roots :: FresnoZionism.org Blogging the Hazon Food Conference–Day 2 :: Jewschool Tales From the Family Attic :: Jewschool Is Viagra The New Islamist Currency? :: Jewish Policy Center Blog Gay? Jewish? Want to be put in a box? :: Jewschool Jewish Reality :: Esser Agaroth Video: 'Palestinians' shoot 25 shells, Israel allows 90 trucks in :: Israel Matzav Crucifixion, Whips and Honor Killings.. :: RADARSITE Champions visit the Holocaust Museum :: Israel Matzav Anti Gaza War Demonstration in Tel Aviv :: things.co.il Funhouse Mirror News :: Israellycool The Power of Imagination :: A Liberal Defence of Israel "Obsession" -The Film :: RADARSITE Lost Likud votes not going to Kadima :: Israel Matzav Not So Merry :: Israellycool Operation Grapes of Appeasement :: Israellycool Ayatollah Kashani denounces "interferences of the Zionists in the Christian world" :: Judeopundit Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Israel and Jordan Compete For Wonders of the World: Get Your Vote On! :: Green Prophet Qassam lands 50 meters outside of Sderot Media Center :: RADARSITE Wall Street Journal: Boston Globe Worth $20-Million? :: Tikun Olam: Make the World a Better Place Hanukah: Holiday of Spiritual Renewal or Jewish Nationalism? :: Tikun Olam: Make the World a Better Place More Recent Articles Search Israelated - English Israel blogs BLANKLEY: Teaching religion :: Docstalk Read this article on the community site Tony Blankley OP-ED: I recently read a book that deserves the widest possible readership. The book is "The Trouble with Textbooks - Distorting History and Religion" by Gary A. Tobin and Dennis R. Ybarra. I have never met or talked with either of these gentlemen, but I can't say enough good things about this book. For all who believe that there is a fairly objective rendition of history that we are obliged to teach our children, this book reveals how shockingly far from that objective American education-and particularly school textbooks-have fallen. . In their conclusion, the authors quote the great historian of Islam, Bernard Lewis' observation concerning the willful bending of history: "We live in a time when great efforts have been made, and continue to be made, to falsify the record of the past and to make history a tool of propaganda; when governments, religious movements, political parties, and sectional groups of every kind are busy rewriting history as they wish it to have been, as they would like their followers to believe that it was." I discuss some of the findings of Mr. Tobin's and Mr. Ybarra's study in my latest book ("American Grit - What It Will Take to Survive and Win in the 21st Century," which will be released in January). "The Trouble with Textbooks" identifies a system of self-censorship and cultural equivalence that celebrates everybody and omits many unpleasant historic facts. The grievance group that has become particularly adept at influencing textbook publishing is the organized Muslim lobby. The founder of the Council on Islamic Education, the chief Islamic group for vetting textbooks in the United States, refers to his work as a "bloodless revolution … inside American junior high and high school classrooms." He is, regrettably, right. While these days one may expect "sensitive deference" to Muslim sensitivities, the authors show how American textbooks have gone so far as to outright proselytize Islam. As "The Trouble with Textbooks" shows, textbooks relate Christian and Jewish religious traditions as stories attributed to some source (for example, "According to the New Testament…"), while Islamic traditions are related as indisputable historic facts. The authors cite the textbook "Holt's World History," where one can read that Moses claimed to receive the Ten Commandments from God, but Muhammad simply "received" the Koran from God. In the textbook "Pearson's World Civilizations," the book instructs that Jesus of Nazareth is "believed by Christians to be the Messiah"- which would be a fine comparative religion study observation if the book didn't also disclose that Muhammad "received revelations from Allah." The "Trouble with Textbooks" is filled with such shocking examples. It reports on a textbook, "McDougal Littell's World Cultures and Geography," which relates that "Judaism is a story of exile" and that "Christians believe that Jesus was the promised Messiah," but that the Koran "is the collection of God's revelations to Muhammad." As "The Trouble with Textbooks" makes only too clear, one instance could perhaps be overlooked, but in fact there is a consistent, malicious practice that Islam - and only Islam - is repeatedly described in numerous prominent public school textbooks as historical truth. In those textbooks, Christianity and Judaism are equally consistently described as mere notions of their believers. I have no problem with religions being taught in public school textbooks on a comparative basis. But to see Islam, alone, taught as the "truth" is an outrage. This is only one small part of the assault on truth in textbooks by organized Muslim special pleaders analyzed in the book "The Trouble with Textbooks." As you might expect, there are constant examples of American textbooks describing recent Middle East Israeli/Palestinian history in a manner consistent with the late Yasser Arafat's version rather than anything approaching honest and accurate history. I understand that perfect objectivity in the study of history is never possible. And it would not surprise anyone that each country tends to teach its children its history - and the history of the world - in a manner that makes the country look better than it perhaps is. What is particularly galling in this report on American textbooks is that some fraction of the 5 million or so Muslims in America is winning the battle for textbook writing against the interest and tradition of the 275 million or so Judeo-Christian Americans. "The Trouble with Textbooks" is a wake-up call to the parents of America to fight back to re-insert the truth of our history in our children's textbooks and classrooms. Is it too much to ask that in American schools our traditions and faith not be denigrated, but rather get equal treatment with other faiths and traditions? Tony Blankley is a syndicated columnist RSS 2.0: http://blogname.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss • Email to a friend • Related • MUMBAI VICTIMS WERE SEXTUALLY MUTILATED :: Yid With Lid Read this article on the community site "Even the Rabbi and his wife at Nariman House were sexually assaulted and their genitalia mutilated" Remember, the Rabbi's wife was pregnant. WHY this was kept from the public? Who are they protecting and why? Hiding it pretending it didn't happen? Why? Who would shield is from the truth and cover up the heinous barbarity of our mortal enemies. When Eisenhower liberated the camps he demanded the horor be photographed and documented so that no one could ever say (like Ahmadinejad and all of Islam's dhimmi appeasers) - that it didn't happen. We know who the enemy is we need to be protected from those on our side that censor the truth thereby aiding and abetting the the enemy. It is grotesque that this was not front page news as soon as the bodies were discovered. Shame on Israel for keeping their executioners' secret. They will have to answer to a higher authority. I think it might have been easy to deny the evil of the Nazis and their barbarism before their inconceivable atrocities were exposed. They were a most advanced, "modern" country - lovers of art, music (Wagner!) culture and technologically, they were ahead of the curve. More information is slowly coming out about the pious Muslims that attacked Mumbai November 26th - Mumbai's 9/11 and their depravity is unfathomable. This is pure evil. UPDATE: Terrorists sexually Humiliated guests before killing them Mumbai Mirror hat tip Drasty Foreign nationals at the Taj were particular targets of barbaric terrorists who first forced some of the guests to strip, then killed the. Disturbing photographs made available to this newspapers by police sources indicate that several of the guests at the Taj Mahal Hotel during the siege November 26 were sexually humiliated by the terrorists and then shot dead. Police sources confirm that even as the terrorists were engaged in a fierce combat with NSG commandos, they were humiliating their hostages before ending their terrifying ordeal. Foreign guests were their particular target. Eight of the 31 killed at the Taj were foreign nationals. Photographs taken by a police forensic team after the hotel was sanitised yield a gruesome picture of some of the guests in the nude. These bodies were found away from the hotel's swimming pool which makes it clear that they were not those guests who were taken hostage from the poolside. "Even the Rabbi and his wife at Nariman House were sexually assaulted and their genitalia mutilated," said a senior officer of the investigating team, not wishing to be quoted. Tell me again why we are not destroying these savages. Why, in G-d's name, why? (Source for the Above Atlas Shrugs) Read More about this story HERE Please email me at yidwithlid@aol.com to be put onto my mailing list.Feel free to reproduce any article but please link back to http://yidwithlid.blogspot.com • Email to a friend • Related • The Billion Dollar a Day Stimulus Plan :: Yid With Lid Read this article on the community site Lost in the discussion of how we solve the financial crisis and the ongoing recession is the effect that Oil prices have had in its creation. It is true that sub prime mortgages were an issue way before gas prices hit $4.50/gallon, but things didn't start falling apart until gas prices cleared the $4.00 mark. Now that prices are are falling its almost as if the economy is receiving a ONE BILLION dollar a day stimulus plan. That is the difference between what America was paying per day for gas when it was $4.50 and what we are paying today: Great Holiday News: We're Spending $1 Billion Less a Day on Gas! By Noel Sheppard Looking for your own financial bailout? Well, the unprecedented decline in gasoline prices the past five months is actually giving regular Americans a much-needed boost to their balance sheets possibly greater than what the government is doling out to the financial services and automobile industries. New data just released by the Oil Price Information Service reveals that we're currently spending $1 billion a day less on gasoline than we were back in July. Don't expect media members to be lining up to thank the oil companies for what was reported by the Associated Press just minutes ago: Tumbling crude prices have led to enormous declines in the price of retail gasoline. At the pump, retail gas prices fell six-tenths of a penny overnight to a new national average of $1.642 a gallon Friday, well below the year-ago average of $2.981 a gallon, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. "We're paying about a billion dollars per day less than we were in July" for gasoline, said Tom Kloza, publisher and chief oil analyst at Oil Price Information Service. "We could probably bail out some banks and maybe even some of the auto companies with the savings." CNBC's Mary Thompson broke down the numbers she received from Kloza Friday: when gasoline peeked on July 11, we were spending $1.613 billion a day to fill our tanks. The combination of lower prices and lower consumption brings that down to $611.5 million today. And, the news might get better because wholesale gasoline is currently trading around $0.80/gallon, which means that some parts of the country could see prices at the pump approaching $1 in the next few weeks. Of course, we shouldn't ignore huge declines in what we'll all pay to heat our homes this winter. Heating oil a year ago was $2.64/gallon. Now it's $1.25, or down over 50 percent. Maybe more important, this is down from a July peak of $4.15. And, natural gas has plummeted from $13.60 in July to $5.80 today, which means we're all getting a HUGE cut in heating costs not only from last year, but also based on what was being forecast just five months ago. This seems worthy of some holiday cheer, although it's likely most media outlets won't care until after Inauguration Day when they'll be able to give the new president all the credit. Please email me at yidwithlid@aol.com to be put onto my mailing list.Feel free to reproduce any article but please link back to http://yidwithlid.blogspot.com • Email to a friend • Related • Global Cooling Alert-->Lake Superior Freezes Over in Dec. For First Time In Years :: Yid With Lid Read this article on the community site In a development sure to upset the global warming nuts, the Western Part of Lake Superior (near Duluth) has frozen over during the month of December, for the first time in almost two decades. Early Ice has also closed the Madeline Island Ferry Line in December, the first time it's closed in December since 1985. Now if you ask the Al Gore types, they will tell you that Global Warming has caused the global cooling. That could only happen when Lake Superior, Hell freezes over. Read More below: For the first time in years, western part of Lake Superior freezes over John Myers Forum Communications Co. - If the big lake seems to have an unusually placid appearance off Duluth's shores these days, it's because you're looking at ice. The western tip of Lake Superior has frozen over in December for the first time in recent memory, and that could mean a long season of ice angling that hasn't been seen in years. "We were just talking that it's been something like 17 years since we had a good, long ice fishing season at this corner of Lake Superior,'' said Russ Francisco, owner of Marine General sporting goods store in Duluth. "This is the most ice I've seen in December in years. … I wouldn't go out yet, but if it stays cold and we don't get a big wind, people will be out there fishing soon.'' While ice remains unsafe — with an emphasis on unsafe — as it continues to move around off Duluth, seeing any ice this early has been rare in recent years. Francisco said the earliest safe ice will come in the small bays near the mouths of local rivers like the Lester and the French. Francisco said in the rare years recently when Lake Superior has partially frozen, it's usually in February or early March, after months of cold weather. Anglers and ice skaters had a few weeks of good ice in February 2007, for example, before temperatures rose and the ice blew out. West winds and warm weather could diminish the ice quickly. Francisco warns anglers to stay near shore and not venture off too far, especially until the Great Lakes shipping season ends in mid-January. The ice is still thin enough for Coast Guard cutters to clear the way for the last coal and taconite shipments with little difficulty. Cold month There's also thickening ice in the channel between Bayfield and Madeline Island, and the Madeline Island Ferry Line is about to close for the season — the first time it's closed in December since 1985. Locals and visitors hope the ice quickly becomes thick enough to drive on between the island and mainland. "We island dwellers like it because we get to drive on the ice road, and that's a lot more convenient. And we haven't been able to do that much in recent years,'' said Michael Dalzell, a captain for the ferry line. 'We're telling people to get their cars off the island by Friday or Saturday because we probably won't be running any more by New Year's.'' Not only is December ice rare on Superior, but thick ice has become the exception during any winter month. In several recent winters, the ferry line never did shut down, forced to operate all winter because ice never formed or was too thin for people to drive across. December's average temperature at the Duluth office of the National Weather Service has been an unusually cold 9.3 degrees below normal, with a dozen nights below zero and one as cold as 22 below. Tom Lonka, meteorologist intern for the Weather Service in Duluth, said satellite photographs show just the western tip of Lake Superior ice-covered this week. While there's not enough ice to make a difference yet, an ice-covered Lake Superior can even affect Northland weather, reducing open water access and diminishing lake effect snowfall. And increased ice can help keep water from evaporating, leading to more water in the lake next spring. It's believed the lack of ice cover in recent years has been a big factor in declining lake levels. Please email me at yidwithlid@aol.com to be put onto my mailing list.Feel free to reproduce any article but please link back to http://yidwithlid.blogspot.com • Email to a friend • Related • Antisemitism has irrational — and political — roots :: FresnoZionism.org Read this article on the community site Recently I wrote that evildoers like Bernard Madoff and the Rubashkins reflect badly on the Jewish people. Well, they do, but I think they have very little effect on the prevalence of anti-Semitisim, despite the horror stories being circulated. What they have done is cause an increase in antisemitic expression by giving antisemites something to talk about. David Duke is never one to miss an opportunity. What else is new? Anti-Semitism, and indeed, all group hatreds, are irrational. A rational antisemite would have to prove that Jews are in general more dishonest than non-Jews, and there is no such proof. Certainly one Bernie Madoff out of  13 million Jews is statistically insignificant, no matter how expensive or well-publicized his crimes are. Not that it isn't annoying. I imagine that many African-Americans slapped their foreheads when Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA)  was found with $90,000 of cold cash in his freezer. But it didn't prove anything about anyone other than Jefferson (and any co-conspirators he may have had). But nobody suddenly became a racist because of Jefferson and nobody became an antisemite because of Madoff. And unfortunately, very rarely does someone stop being one as a result of rational argument. The very irrationality of group hatreds — which are possibly vestiges of the group behavior of primates — give them power to stir the emotions. This is why anti-Semitism is so popular with dictatorial regimes, who depend on emotions like fear and hatred to control and motivate their populations. And this — the deliberate stirring of atavistic emotions for political purposes — is probably the major source of antisemitism today. In particular, Iranian and Arab regimes — including the Palestinian Hamas and Fatah — deliberately promulgate the most disgusting, emotionally powerful antisemitic myths of the Middle Ages and Nazi era in order to create new antisemites, antisemites who will be prepare to fight and die for their irrational feelings. Sometimes one can see their intentions in the myths they choose. It is very important for Ahmadinejad to talk about Jewish 'control' of the US, for example, because he needs to arouse hatred of his greatest enemy — the US — as well as of Jews and Israel. Technorati Tags: antisemitism, Madoff, Rubashkin, Ahmadinejad • Email to a friend • Article Search • Related • Blogging the Hazon Food Conference–Day 2 :: Jewschool Read this article on the community site I sat in on two excellent sessions this morning, one incredibly inspiring, the other downright terrifying. For more click below The first session was on the Jewish Farm School. The JFS is chaired by Simcha Schwartz and Nati Passow. It is neither a farm, nor a school (just yet, soon it will be both), but a concept. The concept is simple, bring Jewish education to the farm and to bring the farm to Jewish education. Simcha told me JFS seeks to "bring school to the farm and bring the farm to school," Jewishly. The JFS is funded by Hazon, but is an autonomous organization. They are serviced, right now, by the Teva Learning Center, ADAMAH and the Kayam Farm at Pearlstone. My favorite thing that is being done, specifically at Kayam, is the Mishna Gan, a garden planted according to Mishnaic principals (like kilayim, not mixing seeds; and pe'ah, leaving the corners unharvested) It is an incredible program that I believe will revolutionize the Jewish food movement and Jewish education, alike. The program focuses on urban sustainability, community and individual urban gardening, traditional Jewish agriculture and values, is volunteer based and has some amazing stuff going on. Right now, JFS is engaging 75 students across the country. They do consulting work for institutions and schools, so if you're an administrator, give them a holler! Soon they will have a home-base (both a farm and school) in the Putnam Valley, outside NYC. Definitely visit their links, they are amazing. Yesterday, I wrote a bit about the result of our exile on our food knowledge, JFS has the vision and passion to restore that knowledge, and fill us with new knowledge. Afterwards, I sat in on a session from H. Eric Schockman of MAZON who spoke about the global food crisis. Here are some scary facts: in 2007, 36.2 million people were food insecure (17.4 million were children), that is 11% of our population. Yet, only 53.9% of those people were registered with Supported Nutritional Assistance Programs (i.e., food stamps). Food stamps are a right since LBJ legislated so. Yet, our system cuts local jobs that allocate the support, they require English language (the problems with that policy are obvious, considering who is usually poor in America). The Bush administration removed the word "hunger" from all federal documentation and surveys, presenting the image that hunger no longer exists in America, when this is clearly not the case. The term is now "low food security," which frankly does not have the same impact, in my opinion. America spends, annually, $90 billion on combating hunger (because, you know, it doesn't exist any more) $14.5 billion to charity (i.e., food banks), $66.8 billion to combat hunger related illness, and $9.2 billion to combat reduced productivity in school and work from hunger. According to Schockman, if we spent 7 cents a day per man, woman and child who is "food insecure," hunger would be cut in half in ten years time. The Obama transition team contracted MAZON for advise, and has since committed to end hunger by 2015, something Schockman says is very possible. As of today, just 1.16% of our federal budget goes to food security (and how much goes to blowing up people in other countries?) I asked Schockman three things we can each do as individuals to ease the global food crisis and this was his response: 1. Go into your pantry, take out the NUTRITIOUS non-perishables, and donate them to your local food bank 2. Monitor hunger advocacy, call your representatives and senators and if they are not, demand they add their name to Congress' "Hunger Caucus", which is currently painfully small at around 30-40 members. 3. Think globally, our purchases and choices effect trade policy and agricultural development policy. Think before you buy/eat. More from Day 2 and Day 3 after Shabbos! ShareThis • Email to a friend • Article Search • Related • Tales From the Family Attic :: Jewschool Read this article on the community site I've been hearing stories of people losing jobs, having trouble finding jobs, stealing massive amounts of money from jewish institutions, and generally getting very worried. It's troubling, painful, and can be hard to listen to.   But during the great depression- one Jewish man, calling himself B. Virdot to conceal his true identity, placed an advertisement offering to pay people to share their stories with him.  The people who wrote to him had no idea who he was, and his grandson, who had heard the story, had no idea it was his own grandfather until this past summer, when he found a suitcase of their letters in the attic.  His grandson, Ted Gup, wrote an article  in the NY Times about his grandfather and the letters he found. Searching for an explanation for this act of kindness- he comes up with this one: So why had my grandfather done this? Because he had known what it was to be down and out. In 1902, when he was 15, he and his family had fled Romania, where they had been persecuted and stripped of the right to work because they were Jews. They settled into an immigrant ghetto in Pittsburgh. His father forced him to roll cigars with his six other siblings in the attic, hiding his shoes so he could not go to school. My grandfather later worked on a barge and in a coal mine, swabbed out dirty soda bottles until the acid ate at his fingers and was even duped into being a strike breaker, an episode that left him bloodied by nightsticks. He had been robbed at night and swindled in daylight. Midlife, he had been driven to the brink of bankruptcy, almost losing his clothing store and his home. By the time the Depression hit, he had worked his way out of poverty, owning a small chain of clothing stores and living in comfort. But his good fortune carried with it a weight when so many around him had so little. If his grandson is right, Samuel Stone (a.k.a. B. Virdot)  was able to listen to all these stories because he had not forgotten his own. Perhaps our daily obligation, as Jews, to remember our own story- of slavery and oppression, can help us listen to the stories of others, however painful and troubling they might be, and reach out in times of need.  ShareThis • Email to a friend • Article Search • Related • Is Viagra The New Islamist Currency? :: Jewish Policy Center Blog Read this article on the community site The Arabic news channel Al-Arabiya reports that the CIA gives Viagra, the male potency drug, to tribal patriarchs in Afghanistan in exchange for intelligence on the Taliban. Apparently, providing these pills is yielding better results than traditional incentives, such as money or weapons. Demand for the "little blue pill" has risen in the Middle East in recent years. Palestinians in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip have made a fortune by smuggling Viagra via subterranean tunnels from Egypt's • Email to a friend • Related • Gay? Jewish? Want to be put in a box? :: Jewschool Read this article on the community site A clinical psychology student at Long Island University is looking for "Jewish, gay men" to fill out his survey. Must be "male and 21 years of age or older." My name is Jacob Rossmer and I am currently a clinical psychology student at Long Island University (C.W. Post Campus) doing research on the conflict that Jewish, gay men (of all different sects of Judaism) face over identifying as both Jewish and gay. The hope for this research is to help shed some light on how Jewish, gay men adapt to this conflict and then to report back to the psychology community and the community at large. At the current time I am looking for research subjects to complete an online, anonymous, and entirely confidential survey on this topic. If you have any questions, concerns, etc. please let me know. Thanks so much and below is the link for the website. Jacob Rossmer Participants should beware that a lot of the answers are rather restricting. Denominational affiliation is ranked in a way that BZ (and others) have argued against, you'll have to say the age at which you identified as "homosexual" (um, never?! who uses that word to describe themselves?), rank yourself using the Kinsey scale (though the survey doesn't identify the question as such), resign yourself to a gender and sexuality binary, and recognize all manner of negative stereotypes in the questions. Sounds like fun, right? ShareThis • Email to a friend • Article Search • Related • Jewish Reality :: Esser Agaroth Read this article on the community site Second Night of Hanukkah 5769 I recommend reading Carolyn Glick's "Netanyahu's Grand Coalition." It confirms our fears of the dangers an Obama administration poses to Israel. In fact, according to her sources, it's worse than we thought. Who still thinks I'm crazy for suggesting that U. S. troops are on their way to Israel,...or are already here? But that's not what prompted me to write about "Jewish Reality." Nor is it [exactly] Glick's criticism of Moshe Feiglin, where I believe she goes a little too far, nor is it her criticism of Likud Party Leader Binyamin Netanyahu, where I believe she doesn't go far enough. No. What prompted me to write about "Jewish Reality" was the following snippet which caught my eye: Like the Left, Feiglin bases his strategic and economic notions on a complete denial of reality. Whereas the Left ignores the Arabs, Feiglin ignores the West. Feiglin's religious adherence to his views has made him few friends in Likud or elsewhere in Israeli politics. What "reality" is she talking about? The proverbial "facts on the ground?" I cannot speak for Moshe Feiglin. However, I can say that religious Jews are sometimes accused of "ignoring reality." As Jews, one of our roles to make TORAH THE reality in this world. If it is not compatible with Torah, we are supposed to weed it out of the world's so-called reality. The many, but not all, modern orthodox Jews, who accept many Western concepts, and Western ideas of "progress," as [automatically] being compatible with Torah, do not get this. The mamlachti [undying state loyalist] religious Jews, who are unable to see the conflict between halacha and several, if not many, Israeli laws, do not want to get this. The Haredi Jews, who do get this, are prevented by their hashqafah from being involved fully in this process. Thus they only focus on limited aspects of making Torah the reality in this world. We don't even have to get into classic, "centrist" debate over "who decides what is or isn't compatible with Torah?" The farthest that most "religious Zionist" MK's are willing to go to include Torah in the Knesseth's reality is whether kosher food is served at an official event, and whether that event takes place on Shabbath or not. The idea of considering Torah in how to run a government, deal with a sworn enemy, or whether a soldier should refuse an order contrary to halachah (Jewish Law) is completely beyond them. Although I agree that it is important not to ignore the "reality on the ground," it is even more important not to neglect, let alone, ignore the ultimate goal, the transformation of the current "reality" into a Torah-based world. This is the real, all-encompassing Tiqqun Olam (reparation of the world). Even though I do not agree with Moshe Feiglin on many points, I do not believe that he denies nor ignores this "reality," but neither does he ignore the ultimate goal, however selective he may be as to how he expresses this. He does not ignore the West; he simply keeps the West in perspective. No, I am not deluded into thinking that democracy, let alone Israeli deMOCKracy, is in the least bit Jewish. However, until we succeed in establishing a truly Jewish government, including a King and an accepted Sanhedrin, I will most likely vote in Israeli elections. However, my vote will be cast to help prevent leftists and Arabs from gaining additional Knesseth seats, not because I think that any revelations or solutions will result from any Knesseth deliberations or other actions. As Jews, whether we believe it or not, our "reality" IS the Torah, and we have to make it such. If this is going over your head, or worse, in one ear and out the other, then not only is it very likely that you and I live in very different, Jewish realities, but that we also choose to do so. ********* For more on what Jewish government could like, in the not so distant future, see Machon Shilo: Rabbi David Bar-Hayim on Jewish Governance. • Email to a friend • Related • Video: 'Palestinians' shoot 25 shells, Israel allows 90 trucks in :: Israel Matzav Read this article on the community site The 'Palestinians' shot 25 mortar shells into Israel from Gaza on Friday morning, and Israel repaid them by allowing 90 trucks of supplies to cross into Gaza - including more fuel with which more shells can be made. Let's go to the videotape.Israel is completely capable of defeating the 'Palestinians.' All it has to do is decide that it wants to defeat them. That ought to happen sometime • Email to a friend • Related • Crucifixion, Whips and Honor Killings.. :: RADARSITE Read this article on the community site Cross posted by Findalis of Monkey in the Middle ...are now all permitted in Gaza under the new Shar'ia act that has been passed. In line with its Islamist ideology, the Palestinian Authority in Gaza has enacted a new law adopting the traditional Muslim criminal code. Penalties include amputation and crucifixion, as well as the death penalty for negotiations contrary to Hamas's interpretation of "Palestinian interests". According to a report on the new law appearing Wednesday on the Al-Arabiya website, as translated by Palestinian Media Watch, the Palestinian Legislative Council approved a bill "to implement Koranic punishments." The Arabic website, the online arm of the popular Al-Arabiya satellite news outlet, refers to the London-based Saudi-owned newspaper Al-Hayat, which said the decision to implement shari'a (Islamic law) was "seen as unprecedented," and that it has "brought criticism and concern from human rights organizations in the Gaza Strip." The criminal code adopted by the PA includes such punishments as lashes, amputation of thieves' hands, crucifixion, approval of blood revenge, and execution. According to the Arabic press, the law stipulates that only the victim of a crime can pardon opt to forgo the "Koranic penalties". Among the crimes punished with lashes, and that have no specific "victim" who can pardon the offender, are the consumption, owning or producing of wine. According to the new PA law such an individual "will be punished with 40 lashes if he is Muslim, and anyone who drinks wine, or angers another person [with wine], or causes him distress when drinking wine in a public place, or goes to a public place while drunk, will be punished with no less than 40 lashes and imprisonment for the minimum of three months." Touching on the political aspect of the Hamas ideology, the new law reportedly includes the death penalty for anyone who "raised a weapon against Palestine on behalf of the enemy during war, was appointed to negotiate with a foreign government on a Palestinian issue and negotiated against Palestinians' interest, performed a hostile action against a foreign country in a way that endangers Palestine in war or in harming political relations, served a foreign army in time of war, advised or helped soldiers to enlist in this army, weakened the spirit or the force of resistance of the people, or spied against Palestine especially during war." If in fact passed, as reported in the Arabic press, the new law only puts into practice what was stated succinctly by a PA legislator - Hamed Bitawi of the Hamas organization - just after Hamas won the January 2006 PA elections in a sweeping victory: "The Koran is our constitution, Mohammad is our prophet, jihad is our path and dying as martyrs for the sake of Allah is our biggest wish." His statement was answered with a standing ovation and calls of "Allahu Akbar". It also bears noting that the Palestinian Authority Constitution as it was adopted under the PLO's Yasser Arafat and led by Fatah also declares, "The principles of Islamic shari'a are a major source for legislation." Full Story What fun! I guess that Gaza will now be out as a destination for Spring Breakers. No liquor, no rock and roll music and women who look like this: Not a very fun place to spend spring break. On the other hand we will now see a surge in Honor Killing. It has been made legal to kill your mother, sister, daughter, aunt, etc... if she has destroyed your honor. And the execution method of crucifixion might boost tourism. It will be a great thing to watch on Hamas television the executions of gays, lesbians, and other undesirables if you cannot attend them in person. Or watch the whipping of those who take a beer or two for enjoyment. The stoning of adulterous women should be a great ratings boost and let us not forget the weekly amputations of hands of the thieves. And while this is happening do you believe for one instance that the MSM will report on it? Or that gay and lesbian groups will take to the streets around the world to protest the murder of their brothers and sisters? Or women's groups demanding justice for the women of Gaza from the tyranny of Shar'ia? You won't hear anything of the sort. What you will hear from all these groups is the condemnation of Israel for so-called Human Rights Violations and the praise of Hamas. • Email to a friend • Related • Champions visit the Holocaust Museum :: Israel Matzav Read this article on the community site Some of you may have noticed that I was posting a little late Thursday night. That's because I was up watching the World Champion Boston Celtics play the Lakers in Los Angeles (the wonders of 'internet TV'...). Unfortunately, the Celtics lost (for the first time in 20 games). But during a trip to Washington on December 11, the Celtics - led by All Star Ray Allen - paid a champions' visit to the • Email to a friend • Related • Anti Gaza War Demonstration in Tel Aviv :: things.co.il Read this article on the community site The stakes are high in the Gaza strip. Black clouds of war loom over it. Not everybody is supportive of an invasion. Though I think it's currently only a war of words, I stood with protesters this afternoon in an antiwar demonstration.   Anti Gaza War Demonstration   Like in the protests during the Lebanon war, the red colors dominated the scene. With the general elections coming in 6 weeks, there were signs that were directed to the elections. The red Hadash party was behind this protest. Member of Knesset Dov Khenin was there, holding a sign, and then speaking in front of about 200 people that gathered. He said there's another solution to the sorry state of Quassam rockets on Sderot - not a military one. He called for a real "Tahadiya", including a prisoner swap and resuming negotiations with Mahmuyd Abbas (Abu Mazen).   Dov Khenin   The slogans that were shouted over and over again throughout the protest were similar to the those during the Lebanon war: "In Gaza and in Sderot, children want to live" (literal translation from Hebrew) sounded exactly like "In Beirut and in the Krayot, children want to live".  The difference is that this time it's in the south and not in the north, and that this time I went to protest before the war breaks out, and after our army is in the mud. Well, there are other differences as well, but that's enough for now.   Protesting against Gaza Invasion in Tel Aviv     More pictures from this preliminary Anti Gaza War Demonstration I hope to upload some videos later on this weekend. Happy Holidays! • Email to a friend • Article Search • Related • Funhouse Mirror News :: Israellycool Read this article on the community site JERUSALEM, December 26 (FMN) - The UN today stepped up its pressure on the Arab world to send humanitarian aid to the besieged residents of Sderot, suffering under years of constant rocket bombardment from Iranian-backed Arabs. "The brave people of the Negev are being forced out of their homes, in what can only be called ethnic cleansing," stated UN General Assembly President Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann. "This slow genocide is being ignored by the world at large, and the Arab world is responsible." The Arab world have been enforcing a siege on Israel for over sixty years. Basic humanitarian items are not allowed into Israel from most Arab countries, and Israel is likewise banned from selling its own goods to its neighboring states, hurting the economy of the tiny nation. "Legally, Israel is suffering under occupation, as the Arab states control all of Israel's land borders," stated Brockmann. "In addition, there are hundreds of Arab settlements in Israel itself, which have been the major obstacle to peace for decades." "The Arab treatment of Jews and Israelis can only be described as a form of apartheid," said former US president Jimmy Carter as he visited Ashkelon in a solidarity visit. "Israel, one of the most crowded nations in the world, has been forced to give more and more land to the expansionist Arabs over the past decades, and it gets nothing in return. Peace requires full normalization, and I am disappointed that even Egypt and Jordan continue to incite against Jewish national self-determination." "Israel has turned into an open-air concentration camp," asserted peace activist Lauren Booth last month. "The Israeli economy is being constrained by the Arab boycott of Israel, which is still largely in force. The occasional 'peace' treaties and tiny trickle of trade is just a facade by the Arab world meant to cover up their humanitarian crimes against the peaceful people of Israel and their aims to shrink Israel's land area into nothingness." While all of Israel suffers from the Arab blockade, it is the residents of Sderot who are suffering the most lately from indiscriminate rocket attacks by the Iranian-funded Arabs of Gaza. UN Human Rights investigator Richard Falk called the rocket attacks "a crime against humanity" and demanded that "the Arab states, flush with oil money, must provide Sderot residents with basic needs, like rocket shelters, psychologists and medical professionals." "For sixty years, the Arab nations have conspired to block Jews from being able to return to their land. They have started overt and covert wars against the only Jewish state. The few Jews who remain in Arab countries suffer from official and unofficial discrimination. "Hundreds of resolutions against the systematic Arab attempts to destroy Israel have been ignored by these expansionist states, and Israel remains besieged even after so many years. How long will the world remain silent?" Academics such as John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt have also noted that world opinion tends to support the so-called "Arab Lobby" even as the genocidal intent of the Arab world is explicitly stated in their media and mosques. "The Arab influence on world governments is directly proportional to power of the Arab economy, which influences businesses and politicians in ways that can only be described as insidious. As a direct result, simple moral values become muddled as the Arab world works hard to influence the agendas of Western nations, to remarkable success," stated Walt in a lecture in Munich last Sunday. Spread the Word:

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