Alkmyst's Lab - Oratory

Ramblin on...

2005-11-28T18:39:00.000-05:00

Reality cluebats yossi beilin

2005-11-01T10:47:00.000-05:00

Sharon is Giving Terrorists Veto Power Over Negotiations

17:25 Nov 01, '05 / 29 Tishrei 5766

(IsraelNN.com) Responding to the prime minister’s remarks, Meretz-Yahad opposition party leader Dr. Yossi Beilin stated Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is placing veto power in the hands of the terrorists.

Beilin explained that by announcing he will not resume diplomatic talks with the Palestinian Authority (PA) in light of ongoing terrorism, Mr. Sharon is permitting terror organizations to dictate policy.

It doesn't seem to occur to this knave that if we actually STOPPED the terrorists, they would not be able to dictate our policy

Where are they now?

2005-10-30T18:42:00.000-05:00

13 families from Morag of the former Gush Katif have moved into houses in southern Judea. 6 Morag families are in Nitzan, the other 20 have scattered - and for the most part, Morag no longer exists.

Many of the Morag families spent the first two months since the expulsion in the high school dormitory in Ofrah, north of Jerusalem.

Another group of Morag families - six in number - is living at the caravila site of Nitzan, together with some 300 others from various Gush Katif communities.

"It cannot be denied that Morag has fallen apart," said one former resident currently living in Nitzan. "We just hope that the six of us, and possibly others, will remain together when our permanent homes are finally built." When will that be? "The truth is, we don't know. We are hoping for a permanent community outside Nitzan, but the government says that at least 200 families must sign up - and so far, there are only 130. So the uncertainty continues..."

A succinct update on other Gush Katif communities:

* Approximately 40 of 50 Gan-Or families are in Nitzan.

* Tel Katifa - currently in Even Shmuel, just south of Kiryat Gat and east of Ashkelon, hoping to move to new caravans in Even Shmuel.

* Netzer Hazani - must choose between Avnei Eitan in the Golan and Ein Tzurim (not ready yet) in the south.

* Atzmonah - some, joined by others from Gush Katif, are in the Faith City encampment, near Netivot in the western Negev. They are hoping that a caravila site will be ready within 2-3 months in the northern Negev/Lachish region so that they can build a new community there. Other families have made new homes in Yated, in the Halutza Sands area, south of Gaza.

* Netzarim - most in Yevul, in Halutzah Sands area, and some in Karnei Shomron, until housing units are ready in the Shomron city of Ariel.

* Moshav Katif - many to King Sha'ul Hotel in Ashkelon, some to Yad Binyamin, some to Atzmonah, and some on their own.

* Shirat HaYam - waiting for Prime Miniser's approval to move to Maskiyot in the Jordan Valley.

* Kfar Darom - still waiting to move into high-rise building in Ashkelon.

A little shout out to any singles in the U.S. and elsewhere -

there are plenty of young, single, men and women that are now quite keen on starting a new life. Best get to gettin while the gettin's good...

Give me liberty or give me dearth

2005-10-28T05:11:00.000-04:00

“If it is Crazy to be Jewish…Then Lock Us All Up in Mental Institutions”

Tziviya has been languishing without bail in an Israeli jail for women for more than 60 days, charged with involvement in anti-government protests following the expulsion of Jews from northern Samaria. She has angered the Israeli authorities by refusing to recognize the secular Israeli legal system, demanding to be tried before a rabbinic court. This new trend of Jews demanding trials according to Torah law has caused absolute hysteria among many Israeli judges. The judge presiding over Tziviya's trial actually ordered Tziviyah to be sent for psychiatric evaluation because of her insistence to be tried in a Torah court.

Not even 2 weeks later...

2005-10-26T14:11:00.000-04:00

Remembering Kinerret

And we have yet another reason to kick sharon and his treaonous appeasers out of office.

Who does number 2 work for?

2005-10-26T13:58:00.000-04:00

"Youth for Land of Israel" Building New Neighborhoods

and within hours...

Army, Police Sent to Remove Youth From New Neighborhood

But the army is here to defend the Jews, and the land of Israel from her enemies...

State of Expellees #12

2005-10-26T13:32:00.000-04:00

State of Gush Katif, Northern Gaza and Northern Shomron Communities
Report #12, October 24, 2005
Submitted by Toby Klein Greenwald
Commissioned by Israel Resource News Agency
and the Center for Near East Policy Research
[All previous reports available through the search engine www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com]

No Treatment for Special Needs Children

There are three families currently living in Ir Haemuna who have young children who have special needs, and who received regular treatments, paid for by National Insurance, in Neve Dekalim, the “capital” of Gush Katif, before the disengagement. One of the children, a 5-year-old boy, is recognized as a victim of terror, and receives treatments as a result of a mortar injury he suffered when he was only a year old.

Since the families did not know how long they would be in Ir Haemuna, they began to arrange for the children to receive treatment shortly before Rosh Hashana.

According to one mother, they were told by the supervisor of the local treatment center five minutes away that she was given an instruction by the Prime Minister’s office to not give treatment to any children from Ir Haemuna.

A more senior supervisor, who was also the supervisor of Special Education facilities in Gush Katif before the disengagement, stepped into the picture and met with the families on the eve of Succot, and said she would attempt to solve the problem.

The Prime Minister’s office did not respond to our question about the incident.

More on Ir Haemuna below.

Moshav Katif
The members of Moshav Katif have been staying in the Ulpana in Kfar Pines since the disengagement. Dvir Cohen, spokesman for Moshav Katif, says that the possible deal with Kibbutz Hafetz Haim fell through because the Disengagement Authority was not willing to pay for meals and the families of Moshav Katif, none of whom, to the best of his knowledge, have received compensation yet, do not have the funds to pay for food, nor do they have the facilities in the small guest house rooms to cook for themselves. The day after Succot, the Katif community will be moving to the King Saul Hotel in Ashkelon (which means that the elementary school children will have to change schools again).

The long term plan is to end up in the Lachish area, but it is not clear where they will be between a short stay about a month in the hotel and when they go to Lachish. Among the possibilities being discussed are being in a high-rise apartment building in Ashkelon, being in the Nechusha area in the Negev. There were originally almost 60 families in Moshav Katif. There are currently about 45 left in the Ulpana. The others have scattered to Ir Haemunah, to parents or friends or other private arrangements. This is one more example of a community that is slowly being broken up.

Seven sites of the Gush Katif community were visited over the Succot holiday.

Ganei Tal - Yad Binyamin 1
[Photos available]

The people from Ganei Tal are still living in cramped conditions in Kibbutz Hafetz Haim, although they are complimentary about how the kibbutz and its guest house has received them. They still have only two washing machines for more than 60 families, and have grown used to taking their laundry with them to family and friends when they go to visit.

The caravan site, to which they are due to move some time soon after the Succot holiday, is in the process of being completed. People from Ganei Tal have testified that there were homes that were tested for water-proofedness and found faulty. A “tour” of several of these houses confirmed what has been said about the small sizes of the rooms, and the fact that the living-dining-kitchen area is small and not sufficient for a regular sized family, including their kitchen appliances, and normal sized dining and living room furniture. There were no security rooms in the houses, as is required in new buildings by Israeli law. An outside glance at some of the houses revealed crooked “trisim” (closing blinds), which raises the question if those are freak occurrences or an indication of the general quality of the building materials and/or process. The homes are set very close together and the windows face each other so there is no semblance of privacy.

One Ganei Tal resident who toured a sample house, said about it, “Aside from the fact that it’s made out of cardboard, it’s not bad.”

Nitzan Residents here are from Neve Dekalim and a number of other Gush Katif communities
[Photos available]

It had rained for approximately fifteen minutes in Nitzan that day, and there were some streets that were filled with water, where the drainage was faulty, and many muddy areas.

MK Uzi Landau visited Nitzan that day, met with local residents and then toured one of the homes. At the same time there was a visit by Nobel Prize winner Professor Yisrael (Robert) Aumann and the head of World Mizrachi, Mr. Kurt Rothschild, who said that World Mizrachi had donated succot to Nitzan and elsewhere.

The residents spoke with MK Landau about the debilitating issue of unemployment.
Aaron Hazut, who had been the head of the secretariat of the Gan Or community before the disengagement, who is himself a victim of terror, led the discussion from the side of the residents. There are currently 270 families living in Nitzan. Hazut says, “We were not among those who said, ‘It won’t happen’. We didn’t think it would ‘weaken anyone to plan in advance; we wanted to find a solution.” He then went on to describe to MK Landau the problems that they’ve encountered, in spite of their decision to plan.

The main issue raise was unemployment. Hazut said, “The government built a local employment office but the ‘solutions’ they’re suggesting are putting salt in the wounds. There is a real feeling of unkept promises. The homes don’t have the proper infrastructure or security. The employment office doesn’t offer any real solutions. We’re trying to create the solutions ourselves.”

According to Hazut, there were originally 420 farmers in Gush Katif, of which 200 actually worked the land themselves. Most of those ended up in Nitzan. He said that 520 families would be located in Nitzan in the end, including others from Neve Dekalim.

The farmers claimed that the land they were offered was not developed; they were told to use their compensation money to develop it but then there would have left them nothing to build their businesses with afterwards.

They say that the compensation is based on what things were worth six years ago, but everything has gone up since then - the raw materials, gas, solar, etc. They valued their worth according to the old prices but they will have to pay the new prices. (This and other issues were raised before the disengagement by attorneys who brought petitions to the High Court of Justice, but ten out of eleven judges found, in most instances, against the people to be disengaged.)

Personal comments by farmers:
o So we sat [with the Disengagement Authority] before the disengagement, and what good came of it? Only bad - the entire Gush fell apart. You [politicians] also only worked on how to prevent it. Even during that period, those MK’s who considered themselves the “rebels”, should have worried about the “day after”.

o Personal comment: “They wouldn’t tell someone who lived on a kibbutz for 20 years, ‘Go rent an apartment on the third floor in a city...’”

o Another Farmer: We have to fight for everything.

o I was a person who was active, busy, doing business, now is doing nothing. We still have to pay our everyday supplies, but there are some people who have no income since June!

o We have to buy storage sheds, different furniture…The ministry of agriculture didn’t find solutions for us. My equipment is thrown in Masuot Yitzhak, and parts of it are always being stolen.

o They give us 90 meter homes in these kinds of conditions, and then we have to spend tens of thousands of shekels on storage. I look at the newspapers nothing appears there about this. We expect the people “in charge” to help take care of these things, to have a heart.

o We brought millions of dollars into the state of Israel through our exports. This [disengagement] is a national crime. And we’re a society who are law-abiding…

o There aren’t closets in the homes, someone had to spend NIS 40,000 just on all new closets. We’re still paying mortgages, and being charged $450 for rent.

o Farmer: We, who were super-farmers, are now super-unemployed. I grew 90 dunams of cherry tomatoes, exported tons to Europe, employed 60 workers a typical Gush Katif farmer. When I signed up for unemployment, they wanted me to take a job in a carton factory, folding cartons at minimum wage. Some of my Thai workers, that are working somewhere else, hopefully temporarily, are receiving NIS 5,000 a month. I would have received NIS 3,000 a month. We need something to get up for in the morning.

o At the most, we’ll receive 60% of what our real worth is, and that’s the best case scenario. They’re offering compensation that will be able to bring us, at best, to 50% of the output we had before. There is no possibility that we’ll reach what we reached before. We’ve already lost one season. Even if I started building right now, I won’t be able to get it off the ground till September, 2006.

o The day before the disengagement we sat with the Director of the Ministry of Agriculture and he said, “I’ll do thus and thus…”A month later, when we sat with him, we saw there are no solutions. They offer land far away, or inappropriate…The Minister of Agriculture doesn’t relate to us, or his deputy minister.

o They offered us land that is not sandy, not appropriate to our organic produce for which we developed an expertise. We can’t use up all our compensation on developing land. But we can’t just sit at home doing nothing, either.

o It takes an average of three years just to “learn” the agricultural land area. They say that it took the farmers from Yamit five years before they were able to produce effectively again [and they had three years in advance to prepare, and much higher level of compensation TKG].

o We had special terms with Agrexco and others; one has to work hard to be accepted into that “club”; now we have to start from scratch.

o At first, they came to us with the offer of going to Kibbutz Nahal Oz, to give us 2,000 dunams there. The government was to take care of the infrastructure. The only problem was that the kibbutz didn’t give the land in the end.

A visit was made to several families who live in Nitzan. They were obviously trying to make the most of the situation by arranging the homes nicely, but they all commented that they had to spend money on storage sheds, new closets or furniture that fit the small rooms, and other items, such as trisim (blinds). Unlike the caravans in Yad Binyamin, the homes in Nitzan all come without blinds, even though the homes look into each other. One family the Farjun’s - estimated that they had to spend between NIS 25,000 and NIS 30,000 on items that they would not have had to buy, had they stayed in Gush Katif, and that will not be covered by any compensation.

On a very troublesome note: They told MK Landau that three teenagers have been hospitalized in the psychiatric ward in Beer Sheva. “It’s a human tragedy,” said one resident. “There is no treatment for the problems of the teenagers. Not to mention how they feel, when they come home and ask, ‘Abba, what did you do all day?’ And these are youth who, before the disengagement, when professionals were sent to study them, were considered psychologically the strongest among youth.”

MK Landau promised to pursue solutions for the various issues.

Gan Or - Kibbutz Yavne
[Photo of Dorit and Tzvika available]

There are five families from the community of Gan Or who have been absorbed into Kibbutz Yavne on the basis of residents, not members, for the next two years. One family we visited, Dorit and Tzvika Fixler, had settled into a little kibbutz home that was 30% the size of their home in Gan Or. Dorit, who worked full time as an art teacher in Gush Katif, had not yet started working, as there already are art teachers in the kibbutz. Tzvika, who, with Dorit, owned a highly successful bio strawberry growing farm that exported extensively to Europe, is now working as a salaried employee for an irrigation company. They do not know what their long term plan will be and, like the other Gan Or people, are exploring a number of possibilities. The families in Kibbutz Yavne from Gan Or, mostly from the field of agriculture, made arrangements in advance, but because there was not a location that could take all of them, Gan Or was one of the communities that did not succeed in remaining together following the disengagement.

Elei Sinai Tent City
[Photos available]

According to spokesperson Edi Amit, families left in the tent city of Elei Sinai are waiting for the government to make them an offer of a communal settlement. The large Bedouin carpets meant to give a “feel of home” were sunk into the mud, as it had rained that day. A sign facing the highway says, “59 days without a home” (on October 19) and another sign, on a makeshift clinic tent, reads, “We treat people with sensitivity and determination”, a reference to the instructions given to the soldiers who removed people from their homes.

Shirat Hayam Hotel in Ashkelon Residents from Bdoloch, Morag, Elei Sinai and elsewhere.
[Photos available]

There are about 40 families left in this hotel.

The hotel, at the instructions of the Disengagement Authority, has allowed the people to remain in the hotel rooms but has closed the dining room. We found them, at dinnertime on chol hamoed Succot, sitting around a little table in the lobby, eating meals out of airline-type packets, that have been donated. For the most part, they buy their own food now. Most of them have not yet received any compensation and are unemployed.

Other families from those settlements, who had desperately wanted to stay together as communities, are scattered around the country. Rabbi Yishai Bar-Hen, who had been the rabbi of the secular, northern Gazan communities, gave us a tour, and was astounded to discover, in the process, that the hotel had dismantled the synagogue room. He expressed bitterness and anger about what he called “a lack of basic humanity” being shown the Gazan Jews. Another member of the Elei Sinai community fumed as she showed us the what she referred to as a “one-sided” contract that they had been offered by Kibbutz Carmia [contract available in Hebrew], where there already is an area with caravans for the disengaged, and more are due to be built. “The caravans aren’t ready yet,” she says, “but the Disengagement Authority wants us to move anyway.” She pointed out a clause stating that that they could not have “invited guests” in their homes, without permission of the kibbutz, only guests who “happen by”. [We have a copy of the contract.] They will be charged rent (deducted from their compensation, while they are still paying mortgages), almost $500 including expenses as of August 15, even though they will be moving in some time, they hope, in November. The payment is supposed to come from the Disengagement Authority, but the contract states that they will be required to pay, themselves, if the Authority does not. Also, the evacuees, not the Disengagement Authority, are required to have two guarantors sign the contract.

The secular Gazans said they were sorry that, whereas religious settlers were given succot as gifts, they were not offered to most of the secular. When asked if it was common practice for secular Jews in Israel to build succot, they replied, “We all did in Gaza.”

Atzmona Ir Haemunah (near Netivot)
[Photos available]

Atmona’s tent city, called in Hebrew “Ir Haemunah” The City of Faith is located on the outskirts of Netivot, a city in the Negev. It is in an abandoned factory compound. There is a reconstructed temporary playground in an empty area across the road, for Atzmona’s many children.

Large industrial tents have been set up and separated by plyboard and various materials into separate living quarters. Concrete and rubber sheeting have supplanted the pastoral community of grass and palm trees.

Atzmona was the “holy” settlement in Gush Katif, unique in its combination of deeply committed, religious people who were also welcoming and tolerant to outsiders. They allowed no televisions or secular newspapers into the community, and many of the adults were involved in the study or teaching of Torah; others were farmers who ran the largest plant nursery in the Middle East. It also boasted one of Israel’s most famous pre-army study (“mechina”) programs, headed by a rabbi who had been a pilot in the air force. That program has relocated to Yated, a community in the Negev, close to the Egyptian border and within the range of mortars from Gaza, where about 20 of Atzmona’s families including many farmers and the mechina teachers - went after the disengagement.

Most of the others about 57 families - have remained here, while they await a community solution. They are not interested in apartments scattered in various cities, or in what they consider the large, impersonal, Nitzan development, which are the only options they’ve been offered so far by the Disengagement Authority. A handful of families have arranged for other living quarters, for now.

There are areas in the compound set aside for study, for prayer, and the second floor of the factory has the school. The Ministry of Education refuses to finance either the school or the pre-schools. Bathrooms and showers for the community are metal stalls standing in a row at one end.

A slice of life: The “rabbanit” of Atzmona, Meira Netanel, welcomes us in their tent and explains that, “It’s been a hard day. The concrete is not level, and all the rain flowed down to our side and flooded the tents here.” She spent the day picking items up off the wet floor and trying to push the water out of the tent. Two of her daughters were sitting on a small couch, using plastic chairs as desks. There were crayons, books, and a Hebrew version of Monopoly on nearby stools.

Shabbat candlesticks stood on a small white tablecloth on a well-worn wooden bureau, and a bamboo bookshelf held food supplies. Meira said they were about to leave for a funeral near Yated. The 83-year-old man known as “Saba (Grandfather) Tzadok” Raab (brother of the Israeli poet Esther Raab), who became a media star during the disengagement, had passed away that afternoon. He was the oldest person to be expelled from Gush Katif, and was a favorite with the young people of Atzmona. “Saba Tzadok” was shown on Israeli TV when he spoke with the soldiers and officers who came to remove him from his home in Atzmona. He tried to return a medal to an IDF officer, a medal he received from the State of Israel for his personal war efforts against the Nazi’s, who destroyed his first home in Czechoslovakia. He also lived and fought in Kfar Etzion, that fell in the War of Independence in 1948, with the rest of Gush Etzion, and he sat in a Jordanian prisoners of war camp after that for a year. He lived for 18 years near his son in Atzmona, since the death of his wife, and worked in the Atzmona plant nursery. During the disengagement, he no longer wanted an Israeli medal, hence his attempt to return it.

Meira told us that her husband, the rabbi, had visited Saba Tzadok just before Rosh Hashana, and Saba had told him of his joy to at least be living in a new settlement in the Negev, where he would be able to bring a little bit of “tikun”, repair, to the world, following the disengagement. He worked a little bit every day, in spite of his age.

When asked what their future plans are, Meira said, “The government is offering us something in the Lachish area [where some other Gush Katif communities would also be] but nothing is finalized yet. There is a secular kibbutz there, with eleven families, of the Hashomer Hatzair [Communist] movement. We’d be perfectly happy for them to stay in the area, but they apparently would want to move, and have asked the government for compensation that it is not willing to pay. So I don’t know how long it will take. We may be here [in the tent city] for months.”

Interim possibilities? “Yes, in apartments scattered in various cities. But we want to remain a community.”

Her words are confirmed by Yonatan Rom, a member of the Atzmona secretariat, and he adds, “If the government wanted to help us relocate now with the same determination that they expelled us, we’d no longer be living in this tent city.”

There is a sign hanging from the “school” balcony, a sheet painted with the words, “It is impossible to stop this faith.”

For more information or contact information:
Toby Klein Greenwald
toby@wholefamily.com
0523-822104
From abroad: 972-523-822104

Jewish Founders of the USA

2005-10-23T15:53:00.000-04:00

Some months ago, I took a trip to Rhode Island, and visited the oldest Beith Knesseth in the US, Touro Synagogue. (thanks to alegrias on LGF for sparking me get up off my butt and finally post this)

Outside, a monement in honor of some Jewish founders of the US... In no particular order...

Gershom Mendes Seixas: 1746-1816 New York
First American-Born Jewish Clergyman

Aaron Louzada: 1693/5-1764 New Jersey
Pioneer in Bound Brook, New Jersey

Haym Saloman: 1740-1785 Pennsylvania
Broker to Office of Finance, Continental Congress

Solomon Bush: 1735-1795 Delaware
Soldier who fought with Washington; Wounded at Battle of Brandywine (Close to Delaware Line); Became Lietenant Colonel

Jacob Hart: 1746-1822 Maryland
Baltimore Merchant whose generous subscriptioin helped the patriots' victory at Yorktown

Moses Meyers: 1752-1835 Virginia
Leading merchant south of the Potomca; President of Norfolk City Common Council; whose home remains as a monument in the city of Norfolk

Jacob Mordecai: 1762-1838 North Carolina
North Carolina educator of females at his academy in Warrenton; Defender of Orthodox Judaism

Francis Salvador: 1747-1776 South Carolina
First Jew elected to office (In South Carolina Legislature); Gave his life in a first skirmish of the Revolution

Mordecai Sheftall: 1735-1797 Georgia
Ardent Patriot; Commissary General for South Carolina and Georgia; Prisoner of War; Leading Savannah citizen

Abraham Cohn: 1851-1928 New Hampshire
Recipient of the Congressinal Medal of Honor for gallantry in the Civil War

Moses Michael Hays: 1739-1805 Massachusetts
Grand Master, Masonic Lodge of Massachusetts; Insurance Broker

Aaron Lopez: 1731-1782 Rhode Island
Merchant Shipper; Builder of Newport's Commercial Importance

Myer Myers: 1723-1795 Connecticut
Leading New York Silversmith; Spent much of the Revolution in Wilton, Connecticut making ammunition in a foundry at Wilton

Here is George Washington's Letter to the Jews of Touro Synagogue and Newport, Rhode Island.

Lieberman's Patriot Act(ion)

2005-10-21T04:51:00.000-04:00

Lieberman: Gov’t Must Ban People & Parties Seeking to Further Terrorist Agenda

Lieberman added that unfortunately, the national government is “paralyzed, afraid to act,” citing the lynch murder of IDF soldier Eidan Natan-Zada, who was murdered after he opened fire on an Arab bus, after he was in police custody. Fearing the mob, the police turned him over and permitted the street justice.

Lieberman further cited that recently, Tibi has traveled to Lebanon, a hostile nation, and met on a number of occasions with officials in a country that does not maintain relations with Israel. MK (National Democratic Assembly) Azmi Bishara has traveled to another hostile nation, Syria, where he met with officials, Lieberman continued to point out.

Lieberman warned the Arab MKs are using their parliamentary clout and immunity to advance the agenda of terrorists, seeking to strip the state of its Jewish character. He called for definitive government action in response to the threat before it is too late. The National Union leader explained that on the one hand, we demand that Hamas disarm or be banned from Palestinian Authority (PA) elections but on the other hand, we are afraid to act appropriately against the same threat at home.

Wow, doesn't this sound familiar - kinda like the end result of the predictions made by another Member of Knesset back in circa 1985...

A member of a Party that the Knesset DID ban, and which party continues to this day to be considered "terrorists".

If you can't figure it out by now, you might be a ~~redneck~~ Liberal.

Ahhh, feel the love.

2005-10-12T05:59:00.000-04:00

IDF, Palestinian gunmen exchange gunfire in Hebron

IDF arrests Fatah man involved in shooting attacks

Palestinian woman attempts to stab soldier

Senior Hamas terrorist nabbed by security forces

and my favorite...

Shin Bet nabs 14-year-old would-be suicide bomber

A 14-year-old Palestinian boy suspected of planning a suicide attack in Israel was arrested Wednesday morning by members of the Shin Bet in the Balata refugee camp near Nablus.

The boy said that members of the Tanzim coerced him into reading his will on videotape while holding a gun and a Koran book, saying that if he did not do so, they would say that he was a traitor working with Israeli forces.

An Israeli security spokesperson said that Palestinian General Intelligence Officer Jamal Karnawi pressed the Tanzim to recruit the boy, according to an Army Radio report.

Tanzim

The Tanzim fighters, although nominally under Marwan Barghouti's control

Marwan Barghouti, in regards to an article from yesterday

On the other hand, it is not unlikely that Barghouti will be released in the future. In June of this year, Israel daily Yediot Acharonot reported that top Israeli officials have recommended that the government consider releasing Barghouti. The recommendation reportedly appeared in a secret document given to senior security cabinet ministers.

Mofaz removes head from rectum!

2005-10-11T21:13:00.000-04:00

Mofaz Wants High Court to Reconsider “Neighbor Policy” Decision

Shin Bet: 3 years - Federman: 100K shekels

2005-10-11T20:45:00.000-04:00

Federman Awarded 100,000 NIS in Damages for False Arrest

This, for 3 YEARS of being "administratively detained" (1 year) and house arrest (2 years).

Federman Planning a Civil Suit Against the Shin Bet

Excellent, let's follow suit with the rodefim that brutalized anti-expulsion activists.

Noam Federman of Hevron for being wrongfully placed under house arrest for two years. At the time, he was charged with being involved in a Jewish underground organization in Bat Ayin. The charges against him were found to be baseless and later dropped

We've got top men working on it. Who? Top. Men.

2005-10-11T17:22:00.000-04:00

MACHASH has closed all files on police violence in Kfar-Darom (Hebrew)

I hope they kept the originals...

2005-10-10T20:59:00.000-04:00

01:05 Turkey transfers Ottoman land records to Palestinian Authority upon request (Haaretz)

This at first seems like nothing, but I wonder...

Second, this gets me thinking that they're going to make a play to try and secure PR for their "long and rich history of palestinian (sic(k)) culture and ownership of the land" that has been Israel since before the pedophile profit ever walked the earth.

It seems as though records that could have been acquired from iraq have, well, gone up in smoke, as per this article...
Ya gotta hold you nose for this, cuz it's by Fisk...
...but there is some info in buried in there.

Deep into another link from a search on "Ottoman land records" Brings up this piece on Yugoslavia. Maybe tangential - maybe not - let's see what googling "Serbia muslim" yields...

Lookee here...

SERBIAN PERSPECTIVE
#
Historical Claims
In 1989, the 600th anniversary of the famous Battle of Kosovo, Serbian president, Slobodan Milosevic, won the affections of his countrymen when he declared Kosovo the cradle of Serbian civilization. The battle, which ended with the glorious defeat of Prince Lazar, a military hero who had chosen to die rather than surrender to the Ottoman Turks, became a symbol of Serbian steadfastness and the focal point of Serbian folklore. Cultural monuments and medieval churches scattered throughout the area demonstrate the rich cultural influence of Serbs forced out of the territory by Muslim invaders.

Kosovar insolence
The Serbs maintained that rebellious Albanian separatists erected an illegitimate "parallel government" in 1990 that diverted allegiance away from the central Yugoslav government and induced constituents to disregard state institutions. Albanians were instructed to boycott FRY elections, avoid paying Yugoslav taxes (although forced to pay the "parallel authorities" 3% of their income), abandon jobs in Serbian factories, mines, schools and hospitals and refuse to serve in the Yugoslav army. These same Albanians, however, continued to take advantage of the benefits given to them by the state and the system they did not recognize: health insurance, universal vaccination, employment in private and public sectors, and the use of over 100 cultural and artistic associations financed by the Republic of Serbia.
According to Serbian sources the unrecognized Kosovo government had created substandard Albanian-only schools and hospitals that discriminated against Serbians and produced "educationally handicapped" Albanian youth.

I'll be damned if that doesn't sounds familiar...

Let's get the

ALBANIAN PESPECTIVE

Historical Claims
While the Serbs might have played a prominent role in Kosovo in the 14th century, Albanians say their ancestors, the Illyrians, inhabited the area as far back as the 7th century, before the Turkish occupation. Kosovo, they claim, hadn't had a Serbian majority since 1689 when 30,000 Christians fled. Modern Serbs voluntarily emigrated in droves from the poor backwoods of Kosovo to more prosperous Yugoslav cities.

I wonder, where, pray tell, might Israel's resident islamofascists be heading with this one?

Passive Resistance
Initially the ethnic majority responded to repression with peaceful and passive resistance. In the early 1990s the Kosovars elected a pacifist, Ibrahim Rugova, to lead a shadow Kosovo government and voted overwhelmingly for independence. The government helped reinstate Albanian-language schools and health care institutions employing Albanian doctors that had been dismissed from state-owned hospitals by Serb installed authorities.

Ahhh, I see, a hudna, whilst they reload...

So far, I gotta say that maybe this guy Milosevic was ahead of his time? But anyway, back to the Ottomans...

Population Growth

Jerusalem had become the largest city in Palestine and the political and cultural center of the country at the end of the Ottoman era, on the eve of World War I. Much scholarship on the subject reveals the difficulties in trying to establish definitive population estimates for this period. The Ottoman census figures of 1905 reveal a total of 32,400 Ottoman nationals in Jerusalem: 13,400 Jews, 11,000 Muslims, and 8,000 Christians. However, these numbers do not reflect those with foreign nationality living in the city which more than likely would raise the numbers of Jews in Christians. Jewish sources for this year contend a much higher number, including one estimating 50,000 Jews in a total population of 75,000. The Ottoman sources for 1914 for the entire Qada’ of Jerusalem, given number of Jewish citizens to be 18,190. The historian Yehoshua Ben-Arieh has examined innumerable sources on the demography of the city at this time and concludes that:

In 1917, Colonel Zaki Bey, head of the Jerusalem Wheat Syndicate, reported to Jamal Pasha that Jerusalem had 31,147 Jews in an overall population of 53,410. These figures were based on birth certificates and police records; their accuracy is proven by the first comprehensive census in Jerusalem, made by the British in 1922. This census showed a general population of 62,000, including 34,300 Jews.

Statistics that record the residential area of the population in the different parts of the city were not taken at this period. However, it is known that at the beginning of the British Mandate, the area of the New City was four times greater than that of the Old City. Residents of the New City at the end of Ottoman rule, according to Ben-Arieh’s estimates, were as follows: 2,000-2,400 Muslims, around 15% of the estimated 12,000 Muslim Jerusalemites and 29,000 of the total 45,000 Jews. Christians constituted 15% of the population in the New City (or approximately 5-6,000 people). However, the city continued to grow as a residential area for Muslims, Christians and Jews witnessed by the 19 22 Census where 30.3% of the Muslims were living outside of the walls.

No wonder the islamonazis led by abbas(mal) are keen on using the Ottoman records...

No Comparison

2005-10-09T13:27:00.000-04:00

WWII "Voluntary" Expulsion Legally Recognized as Nazi Persecution

17:00 Oct 09, '05 / 6 Tishrei 5766

(IsraelNN.com) An Israeli court today recognized Jews who were influenced to flee their homes, even if not at gunpoint, as eligible for compensation under the state's Victims of Nazi Persecution Law. The case in which the decision was delivered was brought by 63 Jews who were forced out of their homes in Bulgarian towns to other areas of Bulgaria during World War II.

The relevant law defines victims of the Nazis eligible for compensation as those persecuted by the Nazis in the area under the rule of the German Third Reich, with two limitations: 1) the victim had his freedom limited in the Third Reich; or 2) the victim had his freedom revoked and he lived in the Third Reich or in a country under the influence of the Nazis.

Now I personally would never dream of making any comparisons between the Reich's expulsion of Jews, and the current situation of the sharon regime's expelling of Jews...

State of Gush Katif, Northern Gaza and Northern Shomron Communities

Report #8, October 6, 2005

Submitted by Toby Klein Greenwald

Commissioned by Israel Resource News Agency
and the Center for Near East Policy Research

URGENT NEWS ON SHIRAT HAYAM HOTEL IN ASHKELON

Friday afternoon: Just when it appeared that the problem was solved, the Disengagement Authority apparently did not reach an agreement with the hotel after all, as a result of which, according to Israel Radio on the PM news, it has cut off electricity, and will not be providing food for the residents of Gush Katif on Shabbat. At the time of this writing, close to Shabbat, an in-house Bdoloch spokesperson could not be reached. Aaron Farjun, who moved from the hotel to a caravan in Nitzan a few days ago, said, “Now everyone will see who the Disengagement Authority is. This country is governed by criminals.” Only a hotel secretary was available to talk, and she said, “They’ve closed the hotel because they [the Disengagement Authority] didn’t extend the contract. I don’t know what the people will do.” It is half an hour before Shabbat.

Holocaust Survivors – Looking Forward, from Neve Dekalim to Meitar

Miriam and Yehuda Gross, both 83 years old, live in Meitar now, near Be’er Sheva, near a married son. They lived in Neve Dekalim for 18 years.

They were both from Hungary. Yehuda spent the Holocaust in a work camp. Miriam was sent from one concentration camp to another, also spending time in Aushwitz.

They met and married after the war, and came to Israeli in 1957 with five children. A married daughter, Yehudit Tzveig, lived with her family in Ganei Tal, also in Gush Katif, and Miriam also had married grandchildren in Gush Katif.

The breaking point for them came a week before the 17th of Tamuz.

Miriam: “We saw what they had done to the [Palm Beach] hotel, how they took the people out. The whole area was full of soldiers and policemen, it was such a terrible sight. We had gone to visit our daughter Yehudit in Ganei Tal, and we could hardly go home. I said Yehuda, It’s not for us, we’ve gone through too much, this is not for us.” Then our son, who lives in Meitar, said there was a house there, so we moved here; the children helped us so in one day everything was in place.

“In Neve Dekalim, we walked around a week among the boxes. We’re here now. Nothing helps; it hurts, but I always look forward, I wanted us to rehabilitate ourselves. It isn’t bad here, but the 18 years in Neve Dekalim were the most beautiful time of my life; I never felt so at home as I did there. It was a beautiful period. And see what a nice story – I had a Poinciana tree, and there was a reporter there and an Israeli photojournalist, Shaul Schwartz, with whom we became friendly. I told him that what hurts the most is leaving that tree.

“One day he came to visit me here in Meitar and said, ‘I have a surprise for you.” He had extracted and brought me that tree, and two other palm trees as well, and he brought people to replant them by my house in Meitar. I didn’t know what to do, I was so emotional.

“I also became friendly with Yair Ettinger from Haaretz, a wonderful boy, and he wrote exactly what I said. He lived by us for some months. Shaul Schwartz said he made a film about us and will edit it in New York. They loved us there. Not just them - everyone. We were the oldest couple there and I had such a good connection with the young people around me. I’ll have that nowhere, no matter how nice the people are here, but the connection there, doesn’t exist anywhere else.”

Regarding compensation, Miriam says, “We got some of it, but the bureaucracy with the Disengagement Authority was a nightmare. We brought all the paperwork we needed at one time, and then for a whole month they asked for more, and for more… fortunately I have a son and a daughter-in-law who are attorneys and they helped me. The Disengagement Authority gave us such heartache, as if they wanted to make it as difficult as possible. But now we’ve received some of the compensation. I thought, maybe they don’t want us to really leave? It’s as if they didn’t appreciate the fact that we left early. We had many mixed feelings, but we have to get over it and go forward. When a person is sad, all the desire for life is over. We have to find joy and do the best we can. I love people, I love everyone.”

G’did Community Sent from Neve Ilan Hotel to Decrepit Hotel in Tiberias for Rosh Hashana

The community of G’did, currently living in the Neve Ilan Hotel, was told that they have to vacate the premises for Rosh Hashana.

The hotel arranged for them to be sent to a hotel in Tiberias. A spokeswoman for Gdid told us, “Some of the rooms were okay, but others were filthy, disgusting. Dirty dishwater ran in front of the hotel entrance. Three women fainted inside. The air conditioner in the ‘synagogue’ caught fire. Some people slept in the hotel lobby to escape from the terrible rooms.

They say they contacted the media but nobody wanted to “spoil the Rosh Hashana atmosphere.” Chaim Altman of the Disengagement Authority said, “I knew nothing about the problems with the hotel in Tiberias.”

More on the Gdid community and Neve Ilan in the next report.

Toby Klein Greenwald
toby@wholefamily.com
0523-822104

Reprinted with Permission of David Bedein
Bureau Chief
Israel Resource News Agency
Beit Agron International Press Center
Jerusalem, Israel
www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com
tel. 02 5300125

Sha-On AchShav!

2005-10-08T20:00:00.000-04:00

At this time, 02:00, clocks are being moved one hour back, moving from daylight savings time to standard time.

Deja Vu, Deja Entendu

2005-10-06T17:56:00.000-04:00

Olmert: No Release of Terrorists With Blood on Their Hands

Olmert stated that demands for an additional prisoner release will not achieve the intended result, adding there would be no release of terrorists with “blood on their hands.”

A meeting scheduled between the two leaders last month was canceled by Israel in response to the sharp escalation in terror attacks emanating from PA autonomous areas.

I know this music...

Hum a few bars and then fake it.

Lupolisansky, thy name is Dhimmi.

2005-10-06T16:23:00.000-04:00

Jerusalem Mayor to Fire Ramadan Cannon

Is there really anything that can be said here? What is a Jewish "leader" doing honoring the enemy with an act of symbolic violence against us?

Uhhh, didn't we leave Egypt?

2005-10-06T15:50:00.000-04:00

U.S. Congressmen Trying to Avert Lulav Crisis

Egypt announced last month it would prohibit exports of 700,000 lulavim, but New York Congressman Gary Ackerman (Democrat) has raised the issue with the Egyptian ambassador and with a close aide to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Pennsylvania Senator Erick Santorum (Republican) also has contacted the ambassador and urged him to "consider the needs of Jewish communities around the world."

I must be missing something, and I have to admit that never considered the source of where Lulavim came from.

But...

WTF?!?!?!

Is there any reason whatsoever that Israel, and for that matter, Jews anywhere, should be relying on EGYPT of all places to get religious articles from?
Consider THIS:

19:31 Egypt releases more than 800 prisoners to mark 1973 war with Israel (AP)

And this is who we're begging to give us our items for sacraments?

Shame!

I'm having a brainstorm of something that those who were expelled from their homes and farms in Gush Katif and northern Shomron can do as a startup business...

Outrage of the day...

2005-10-06T09:43:00.000-04:00

Brilliant. Let's remove what little bit remains of our detererence...

Supreme Court Outlaws Army Tactic

Under the procedure, IDF forces approach a house in which wanted terrorists are suspected to be hiding out, and prepare to arrest him. To avoid a military-style entry, involving the risk of violent escalation and deaths on both sides, including nearby Arab residents, the army orders or asks an Arab living in a neighboring house to knock on the door. The Arab is to inform those inside that the army is seeking their arrest and is demanding that they give themselves up. The operative assumption of the procedure is that Arabs would not open fire or otherwise harm their own compatriots.

The three-justice panel, headed by Chief Justice Aharon Barak, ruled unanimously today that the procedure should not be used, even if the neighbor agrees to take part. The judges agreed with the claim made by a PA civil rights organization - one of seven groups that demanded the outlawing of the procedure - that the neighbor's consent to take part is the result of his fear of the army.

Who else would come up with something this pro-arab?

I've said it before - I've met this guy personally, and I didn't like him before I ever knew his politics.

Shana Tova, BTW

2005-10-05T20:30:00.000-04:00

I know, I don't say it enough, because I'm often cynical, sarcastic, and callous...

But I'm having a great New Year so far, and don't wanna rain on anyone parade...

...or bring on the Ayin Hara by letting everybody know what's going so right...

But rest assured, there's a girl involved. :-)

Teeth of theTiger

2005-10-02T13:53:00.000-04:00

Suicide Bomber in Oklahoma, USA Hat Tip: LGF posters

It was a matter of time...

And Tom Clancy nailed it.

Head's up, America!

Game on!

Get the pigskins...

More at Free Republic

So we can deport Jews...

2005-09-29T18:40:00.000-04:00

Israel Deports Jewish American for Security Reasons

An Israeli official reported that a man was deported from Israel on Tuesday for allegedly committing “offenses that could endanger the security of the State.”

Shneor Zalman Hatzkolevitch, 28, from New York, was arrested for allegedly threatening to kill Prime Minister Sharon. This was in protest of the expulsion of the Jews from Gush Katif which took place over a month ago.

According to Sabin Haddad, an Interior Ministry spokeswoman, the GSS requested his deportation.

Deportation of American Jews for security reasons is rare, but this is the second case in a little over a month. In August, an Israeli-American was deported for forty days in order to ensure that he would not do anything drastic to inhibit the expulsion from Gush Katif. As mentioned before, the expulsion has been completed in the meantime.

So why don't we deport the terrorists?

Help them Rebuild!

2005-09-29T18:02:00.000-04:00

Hands-down the best chesed you could do this Rosh Hashanah

Happy holidays, you religious Jews...

2005-09-27T05:43:00.000-04:00

Hevron Residents: Jewish Neighborhood Could be Destroyed at any Moment

10:57 Sep 27, '05 / 23 Elul 5765

(IsraelNN.com) Hevron's Jewish community has received word that the government may not wait until after the holidays to attempt to remove Jews from the Shalhevet neighborhood, located in what local Arabs used to use as an outdoor marketplace.

"We have been informed that they could rush in at any moment during the next couple days and throw these people out," a resident told Arutz-7. "It would be a good idea for people to make their way to Hevron to help reinforce the neighborhood."

The marketplace was built atop Jewish-owned land that was confiscated by local Arabs after the Jewish residents of the city were massacred and expelled in 1929.

Where are they now? Still homeless...

2005-09-26T16:17:00.000-04:00

Reprinted with Permission of David Bedein
Bureau Chief
Israel Resource News Agency
Beit Agron International Press Center
Jerusalem, Israel
www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com
tel. 02 5300125

Report #4, Sept. 21-2
Submitted by Toby Klein Greenwald
Commissioned by Israel Resource News Agency and the Center for Near East Policy Research

Families to "Karavilot" in Yad Binyamin

The first group of families moved into the "kavilot" in Yad Binyamin on September 21. They were from the Torat Haim yeshiva of Rav Tal. There have been a number of shloshim ceremonies that individual communities have held, among them Ganei Tal and Netzarim. Ganei Tal held their ceremony at Kibbutz Hafetz Haim, where they are still staying in the small guest house rooms, waiting for more karavilot to be ready at Yad Binyamin. Netzarim held their ceremony at the closest possible point to Netzarim. www.jobkatif.org.il

Many of the evacuees from Gush Katif are now unemployed and the Israeli government is not helping them find work. All that the government has done so far is told them to sign up at the regular unemployment office in Ashkelon, a city that already has 16% unemployment. Aside from the scant chance of them finding work through this office (as one former Katif lifeguard said yesterday on a Channel One TV special, "What will I do? Take another lifeguard's job??"), they are still scattered all over Israel, from Beer Sheva to the Golan. A group of volunteers have created a site, www.jobkatif.org.il, which features positions from all over Israel in which priority will be given to people who have been expelled from their homes in Gush Katif.

Evacuees to be Evicted by Regency Hotel (formerly the Hyatt) in Jerusalem

It was reported today, September 22, that before the holiday season, the evacuees staying at the Regency Hotel in Jerusalem will have to move to either the Gold Hotel or the Ceasar Hotel, also in Jerusalem. This is because the contract between the Regency and the Disengagement Authority will be up and the Regency, it says, has already committed to tour groups. However, Aaron Henya, an evacuee from Gush Katif who is staying at the Regency, said that in the last few weeks he has seen ads in the newspaper in which the Regency has been trying to attract people to the hotel. Henya and others interviewed have stressed over and over again that they do not want to stay in the hotels, but that they want a community solution.

The Children There are 3,100 children who have been expelled from their homes, but associations for the protection of children have been strangely silent. The evacuees currently in the hotels are especially upset about the fact that their children will have to move, once again, to different pre-schools and schools, and that it is not even the last move. In the best case scenario, these children will have been in at least four different schools in the course of this last year. (Gush Katif at the end of the last school year, their present location, their new location after moving to one of the new hotels, and their final school, from which they will also have to move about two years from now.)

In a report on Channel Two Radio today, Mr. Shuly Levi of the Disengagement Authority stated that there were "many solutions" for the evacuees of Neve Dekalim, in rented apartments in various cities. When asked by the radio reporter if there were also solutions for them as a community as well, he said, "Yes, also as communities."
This is in direct contradiction to what Mr. Haim Altman, official spokesman for the Disengagement Authority, told this reporter two days ago when he admitted that there were not community solutions for the people of Neve Dekalim at this time. To recap: He said that there are 65 small "karavilot" at the Nitzan trailer camp, and that eventually there will be 442 homes ready in the Nitzan settlement, still not enough for all the families of Neve Dekalim.

Unprecedented Hostility on Channel One TV

Channel One gave a lot of air time to the promoting of its Wednesday night special, "One Month Later", regarding the state of the evacuees. What viewers saw, however, when they tuned in, was unprecedented hostility on the part of show moderator Geula Even, whose blatant and undisguised hatred and disdain for the evacuees of Gush Katif and the Shomron surpassed even that of veteran news anchor Haim Yavin, whose series "Land of the Settlers" generated an outcry several months ago (and is now being screened in Arab countries). Ilan Cohen, Director of the Prime Minister's office, was the guest from "one side", and Bentzi Lieberman, head of the council of communities of Judea and Samaria, was from the "other side". Lieberman, however, received almost no air time, and the only "difficult" questions that Even asked of Cohen were along the lines of, Why is the government spending so much money on the evacuees? And, Why doesn't the government just tell them they have to leave the hotels and move into the apartments? The only moderating voices were those of the reporters who interviewed people in the field. However, even in one of those cases, a reporter felt it necessary to add, after showing the tent cities, that the settlers are once again fortifying themselves alone, far away from the "national consensus". One evacuee from Elei Sinai asked, "Why do they want to break us apart, destroy us? It is better for us to be together in this tent camp than to be broken apart."
One of the hairiest scenes was at a high school at which girls from the hotels are studying. They cried and screamed their anguish at reporters. A number of parents reported that their young children have been saying to them, "Okay, vacation is over, now when do we go home??"

Dr. Smadar Ben-Asher, a psychologist from Ben Gurion
University of the Negev, also interviewed, said, "These people are experiencing mourning and loss, and in a situation like that, a person needs an environment that is stable and protected, and that is exactly what they don't have. The most preferable way for them to live now is as communities, not in hotels or in rented apartments." She quoted Dr. Muly Lahad, Israel's trauma "guru", who said that "30% of the children who have been evacuated will suffer from emotional problems as a result of the disengagement. The families in the hotel are not functioning as families," said Ben-Asher. "Some of the children are losing their sense of parenting. They are suffering trauma and sadness."

55% of the evacuees are still living in hotels. As of this week all of them will have 150 shekel a day deducted from their eventual compensation, and as of October 1, it will be 300 shekel a day, even though they have no community option offered to them.

Ilan Cohen continued to repeat, like a mantra, that the government is waiting to hear where the people want to go, yet the people themselves say repeatedly that they don't want to be split up. There were scenes of community life in the two tent cities, Ir Haemuna (of Atzmona people) and Elei Sinai, in Yad Mordecai. In both places communal systems of turn-taking and mutual help have been set up by the evacuees.

Update on Homesh Synagogue
When the IDF was asked to explain the destruction of the synagogue in Homesh, they said, "Ask the Ministry of Defense". Their reply was that the synagogue was destroyed because it was in a bomb shelter and it was decided to not leave bomb shelters undestroyed for security reasons. They would not elaborate what those security reasons are. The Hamas in Kfar Darom The Hamas has taken over Kfar Darom and renamed it "Ir Yassin" (the City of Sheikh Yassin).

Israeli television filmed the Hamas last night showing off their weapons, including weapons that they boasted had murdered Israeli soldiers, and a row of rockets lined up that they said "will be shot at Sderot". The Channel One news team that screened the segment requested no reaction from Ariel Sharon, Defense Minsiter Shaul Mofaz, or Chief of staff of the IDF, Dan Halutz.

Artistic Creation out of the Ashes
A new melody to "Adon Haslichot" has been composed by the Hazan Elad Tzfira, because of the destruction of Jewish life in Gush Katif. It can be reached through http://www.katif.net/ro_new.php?id=9218.

And they wonder..

2005-09-26T13:49:00.000-04:00

Why they don't get halachic recognition in this country...

"As representatives of mainline Protestant Churches and the American Jewish community, we have demonstrated that Christians and Jews can work together to seek peace even when there is disagreement on specific policies and solutions. As a result of these days, we will now be even more effective advocates for a secure, viable and independent Palestinian state alongside an equally secure State of Israel, affirming the historic links that both the Jewish People and the Palestinian People have to the land.

There really are people this stupid in the world.

Amazing.

Christians and Jews get along fine in America, after only a few hundred years, so why not make a muzzle'em state out of part of the Jewish homeland?

Makes perfect sense to me...

A pentagram. How appropriate.

2005-09-26T13:44:00.000-04:00

They just don't see the obvious, do they?

What's wrong with a six-pointed star? Not like that has any meaning in this country...

Mic Battle MK's

2005-09-26T09:03:00.000-04:00

Of course, NYT-Israel division shills for arik...

And, to add to the confusion, political reporters received a beeper message from a self-described settler activist claiming he had sabotaged the microphone on the settlers' behalf.

"Yours truly, A. Raviv"

Sharon's departure effectively broke up the meeting, which degenerated into angry recriminations between his supporters and opponents. But even before the microphone imbroglio, the meeting was marked by unprecedented incivility: as Sharon was about to start speaking, a group of his opponents walked out of the hall, an act that officials from Sharon's bureau likened to Muslim leaders' walkout from the UN General Assembly when Sharon got up to speak there earlier this month.

Beautiful attempt to dehumanize democratic opposition, and simply expressing an opinion. Everybody's already heard what sharon has to say, cuz actions speak louder...

Netanyahu supporters also heckled ministers who spoke against advancing the primary, shouting "Arik [Sharon] is a traitor," while an organized group of Sharon supporters heckled Netanyahu with equal ruthlessness, screaming "Bibi fled" - a reference to Netanyahu's temporary departure from politics after losing the 1999 election.

Timeline note - the first organized shouting I heard was from the 30-35 thugs for sharon that took over the front...

What a zoo! They call this politics?

2005-09-25T16:38:00.000-04:00

PM Sharon Unable to Address Likud C'tral C'tee After Electricity Cut Twice

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was prevented from addressing the Likud Central Committee due to the two electrical failures.

The first time Sharon climbed the podium, the electricity went out and it was reported that a wire had been cut.

Several minutes later, Sharon again took the stage and began his speech. Before he could finish a sentence, the electricity went out once again.

Pro and anti Sharon activists traded accusations over responsibility for the cut electricity, some accusing Netanyahu supporters and other claiming Sharon's people were in control of the infrastructure of the event and therefore were behind the "provocation," which they claim is aimed at gaining Sharon sympathy.

Let me just add my 2 shekels here:

I spent the entire evening there, and it was an absolute clusterf--k, in my humble opinion.

Watch for sharon to use this excuse to bring to the Likud Court saying he didn't get a chance to say his piece, and push off the vote on whether to bump up the primaries, which he is quite likely to lose to Netanyahu.

There was an obviously organized group of about 30-35 people that took over the front of the crowd, blocking vision, and making noise the whole time anyone against sharon had anything to say - they had the feel of soccer hooligans. I would not be the least surprised to find out they were paid off to do it.

The room got a alot quieter after Netanyahu finished... probably because of this:
PM opponents leave venue as Sharon takes podium.

By this the Jpost meant the first time he took the podium, after the rallying feel-good music. Which they had to replay the second time he got up. It was beautiful. He looked somewhat foolish, and immediately got on his cellphone after the second time.

Here's Haaretz's ticker of the evening edited for relevance:

22:03 Police: No evidence Sharon`s microphone was sabotaged at Likud meeting (Haaretz)
20:52 Likud spokesperson: Somebody spilled water on the electricity box (Haaretz)
20:48 Lapid: PM`s refusal to speak is better than what he could have said (Ch. 1)
20:43 Sharon walks out of Likud Central Committee meeting (Ch. 1)
20:38 Likud spokesperson: Someone deliberately cut off electricity (Ch. 1)
20:35 Sharon returns to seat after microphone disconnected (Haaretz)
20:22 Hanegbi: I will vote against early Likud primaries (Haaretz)
20:01 Netanyahu: The question is whether we`re the Likud or left of Meretz (Haaretz)
19:49 Shalom: We all share the desire to keep Likud in power, not the left (Ch. 1)
19:48 Shalom: We must keep the Likud together (Channel 1)
19:46 FM Shalom: Only the left will benefit from our struggle (Ch. 1)
19:45 Min. Shalom: If we`re no longer in power, Beilin or Tibi could take over (Haaretz)
19:39 Landau: Sharon has shown his concern for the Palestinians, what about us? (Haaretz)
19:36 Uzi Landau: Likud can`t lose power because it`s not really in power (Haaretz)
19:18 Min. Livnat: We must preserve settlement in West Bank, Golan (Haaretz)
19:10 Min. Livni: Vote against early primaries so we can lead the country (Haaretz)
18:54 Likud Central Committee holds minute of silence for Simon Wiesenthal (Channel 1)
18:53 Sheetrit: Likud should give itself a `Hara-Kiri` and split into 8 (Haaretz)
18:49 MK Meir Sheetrit: Likud`s existence is being threatened (Haaretz)
18:48 Min. Sheetrit: Vote for early primaries could lead to left-wing gov`t takeover (Haaretz)
18:40 PM Sharon enters Likud Central Committee meeting (Ch. 1)
18:39 Boim to Likud members: We must not destroy Likud movement (Haaretz)
18:18 Netanyahu, Landau ask supporters not to heckle PM Sharon during address (Ch. 1)
17:40 200 Likud Central C`tee members gather in Tel Aviv for primaries date debate (Ch. 1)

Unintentionally, Lapid hits it right on:

sharon not being able to talk was the best thing he could have done, because he has jack to say there. He's already bought off all the people he can, and by not being able to speak it gets him off the hook tonight, and gives him an out to avoid the vote on primaries. Now if the police don't find anything out of the ordinary, it might make it more difficult for him to pull it off, but who cares, anyway - he's going to do exactly what he wants...

UPDATE:

Likud C'ral C'tee Observes Moment of Silence For Simon Wiesenthal

20:12 Sep 25, '05 / 21 Elul 5765

(IsraelNN.com) Following the Likud Central Committee speech of Minister Meir Sheetrit, Central Committee members observed a moment of silence for Simon Wiesenthal.

Nazi-hunter Wiesenthal died this past week and was buried in Israel on Friday.

Sorry, maybe the members did, but I didn't hear a moment of silence the entire time.

In fact, having gone to many, many, many of these over the years, my boss said this one was by far and away the worst ever, unable to hear a thing, and just a complete mess.

UPDATE 9.26.05 8:49

The Media Circus Surrounding the Sharon Microphone Affair

Another question that has the security community concerned is how did someone get into the sterile area, close to the prime minister, and pull the plug without detection by Shin Bet agents. MK Ehud Yatom (Likud), a retired senior intelligence community official, told Galei Tzahal (Army) Radio that one must wonder how the person knew exactly what line to pull, disconnecting the microphone without knocking out any lights.

And I can say for a fact that they were not letting anyone into that sterile area, as I spent much time at the entrance to it, trying to get a message to Tzachi Hanegbi, the chairman of the event, to no avail, even after to speaking with a few of the other Ministers in view of the guards.

This seems suspisciously like maybe the Shin Bet knew what was going to happen, or possibly made it happen themselves?

Another incident that leads me to think not all was as kosher as it should be is that the previously mentioned hooligans up front at one point threw something, what looked like water, within a 10m proximity of the PM himself, and instead of a reaction of shutting things down temporarily and moving somebody out, things went on without a hitch. I don't care what it looked like - that liquid could have been anything, as I myself was admitted to the event with an already opened bottle, and even a pocket knife.

Something stinks here, and it smells like it was planned...

Compensated my tuchus.

2005-09-25T08:28:00.000-04:00

Reprinted with Permission of David Bedein
Bureau Chief
Israel Resource News Agency
Beit Agron International Press Center
Jerusalem, Israel
www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com
tel. 02 5300125

State of Gush Katif, Northern Sinai and Northern Shomron Communities Report #3, Sept. 20
Submitted by Toby Klein Greenwald
Commissioned by Israel Resource News Agency and the Center for Near East Policy Research
The World Bank in Gaza and vacated Gush Katif Globes journalist Gadi Golan reported that the World Bank will grant a series of financial incentives to entrepreneurs and investors who set up enterprises, businesses, and civilian infrastructures in the Gaza Strip. This was reportedly agreed to by World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz and Vice Premier Shimon Peres in New York this week, when they were guests of former President Bill Clinton at the inaugural meeting of the Clinton Global l Initiative.
In what may be a related development, the Jerusalem Post reported on Friday that the prosecutor of the Austrian government says he suspects Ariel Sharon was bribed by Cyril Kern, who may have been a front man for Martin Schlaff ? a major shareholder in the Jericho casino. The Post reported that the police suspect that Kern gave a ?loan? hoping the prime minister would reopen the casino, which was a big money maker for the Palestinians and for the businessmen associated with it. Israel Radio reported on Monday that there are legal experts who say that now that Israeli primaries are drawing near, it would be appropriate if the Israeli police authorities would make public the report they sent to the Austrian authorities a year ago [regarding Sharon]. Note: Dov Weisglass, the architect of the Disengagement Plan and advisor to Sharon for the last several years, is a partner in the law firm that continues to represent the Austrian firm that has a shareholding in the casino. The same Austrian firm also has the exclusive right to build casinos elsewhere in the Palestinian Authority, for example, in the areas that used to be Gush Katif.
Moshav Katif Update According to Ezra Heidu, spokesperson for Moshav Katif, the decision regarding the possibility of moving the Moshav Katif community to Eivin for three months, while a more permanent solution is found, is not expected to come through.
There are no other options at this time, he said. The community, currently using the dorm rooms of the Ulpana of Kfar Pines, very much wants to remain together, but it is getting more and more difficult for them, now that the students of the Ulpana have returned. Some Katif families have already left.
Another Katif ?temporary resident? at the Ulpana said that, while they are grateful to the community that has taken them in, they have no kitchen facilities in their small rooms, and the food that they eat is the student dorm food, and since some of them prefer to eat quietly, as families, after the girls are finished, they are sometimes faced only with leftovers. He also said that it is very difficult, that he has to drive long distances to work in the south, and when he comes home late at night, he sees that someone in his family has to do dish-washing duty in the girls? dining hall, and that aside from the exhaustion, he feels uncomfortable washing dishes with teenage girls. He also noted that, even though the people of the village are very willing to help, the laundry gets mixed up, lost, or ruined when the lights and darks are mixed. When asked why they don?t speak up about the food, dish-washing and laundry issues, he said, ?People are embarrassed. We?re not used to living like this. Our hosts are doing their best; we don?t want to complain.? His family spent thousands of shekels this month on new clothes and food. [Minhelet Sela spokesperson Chaim Altman, when speaking about this arrangement, called the dorm a ?guest house?.]
Heidu said that the operating of Minhelet Sela is ?between Sdom and Chelm. Their behavior is between irresponsibility and criminal. There is a joke we tell - that Yonatan Basi [head of Minhelet Sela] was the only person who really believed that the expulsion would not take place. From the beginning they related to us like refugees, which is also why their ads said, ?There is a solution for every resident?, not ?There is a solution for every community?.?
Netzer Hazani Update Anita Tucker of Netzer Hazani, when asked what has happened since we spoke almost two weeks ago, says, ?Absolutely zero?. Half of the families are in tiny rooms in Kibbut Ein Zurim, waiting for their caravans to be ready. The other half are in Hispin, in the Golan Heights. In her case, her husband works in Dimona, so they all get together in Hispin for Shabbat, where her son?s family is. Their final dwelling place is still unknown. The problem, she says, is that every time the community finds a good location to build together as a community, the government will not give them land there. They still can?t get to their containers, as there is nowhere to put them, to remove necessary objects and clothing. People are forthcoming in setting up interest-free loan arrangements, she says, but ?It?s hard to take loans when you?re used to being productive.?
Reaction of Minhelet Sela:
Chaim Altman, spokesperson for Minhele Sela, said that the issue of Moshav Katif in Eivin is still ?under negotiation?. He also said that after three months in Eivin, there is a possibility that the people of Moshav Katif, along with those of Gdid, will settle in Masuot Yitzhak, though this was not an option mentioned by the Katif people. Altman claimed that it isn?t clear to them who is a ?group? that wants to settle together and who isn?t; that they don?t always speak in one voice and that the responsibility for what went wrong is shared. He said, ?We?re doing our best. Your questions should be asked of the Prime Minister. I can?t figure out [a solution for] each and every one.? He said that there are plenty of apartments near each other in Lod and Beer Sheva. When asked how someone who works down south can be expected to travel from Lod, he said, ?It?s closer than Hispin [in the Golan].?
Regarding Netzer Hazani moving to Ein Zurim, he said, ?It?s still under negotiation.?
Regarding media reports that there were 100 ?kavavilot? standing empty in Nitzan, Altman said the real number is 65, and that those are either 60 square meters or 90 square meters, that there are none left that are 130 square meters. (Most of the families have at least five children.)
He said that more than 200 families from Neve Dekalim currently want to join Nitzan, the regular ? not caravan - community, and that there will eventually be 442 homes ready there. (There are 600 families from Neve Dekalim.)
Regarding the future of the religious families left from Homesh, who have not settled in the secular, communist Moshav Yad Hanna, Altman confirmed that ?I don?t know anything about them.?

Compensated. Riiiiiiiight.

2005-09-25T08:22:00.000-04:00

Reprinted with Permission of David Bedein
Bureau Chief
Israel Resource News Agency
Beit Agron International Press Center
Jerusalem, Israel
www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com
tel. 02 5300125

19th September, 2005 EVACUEE UPDATE
BY: Toby Klein-Greenwald, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER

Contents: Homesh IDF Bulldozes Synagogue More "Compensation"?
Netzarim Comic Relief: Ministry of Social Services: "Toss it."

Homesh
On September 18 it was announced that more than 30 families from Homesh, northern Shomron, would be moving to temporary quarters at Yad Hana, a communist kibbutz. According to Menora Hazani, a community activist and acclaimed documentary filmmaker from Homesh currently living in Shavei Shomron, along with seven other families, the number is closer to 15. She says there were 35 non-religious families in Homesh to begin with and another 27 religious families. According to Israel radio, in return for accepting the families from Homesh, the government of Israel will forgive most of the kibbutz debts, that are estimated at 4.5 million shekels. 15 other families from Homesh are scattered in caravans or hotels. Hazani says, ?I don?t know where we will be long term but we want it to be in the Shomron.? They have neither requested nor been offered any help from Minhelet Sela, who have initiated discussions with them about receiving compensation, but not about any long term housing solutions.
First the Homesh people went to Elkana, where they stayed for two weeks at the expense of Elkana; and Shavei Shomron is also hosting them ?our of good will. Their possessions are packed in containers that they cannot get to. Hazani has been documenting everything for a new film depicting the relations between the religious and non-religious of Homesh leading up to the disengagement, which were full of love, but also arguments. Channel 10 has expressed an interest in it but she will need private funding to complete it.

IDF Bulldozes Synagogue
Hazani also reported a little known fact that the residents of Homesh tried, without success, to get out to the media: On the same day that the Palestinians were burning synagogues in Gush Katif, IDF bulldozers destroyed the synagogue in Homesh. They must have done it on their own,says Hazani, since the government had decided otherwise.

More Compensation?
All of the news outlets in Israel today (Sept. 19) were abuzz with the fact that the Knesset Finance Committee approved an additional 1.5 billion shekels in ?compensation? for the Jews who have been expelled from Gaza and the Shomron. The terms used (?assive, zorem [flowing] funds, etc.) gave the impression that these were new funds based on new demands. In fact, most of these were the same funds that had been approved by the High Court of Justice (after pro-bono attorneys proved that the government was offering too little), but that were threatened to be held back from the expelled if they did not leave by August 15 of their own accord. In fact, about 400 million of this amount will not go to the expelled, but to the various government offices who carried out the disengagement, such as Defense. Another 300 million will be used to help struggling business that have had to start over.

In an attempt to vilify the Gush Katif settlers, Basi is quoted in today?s Haaretz (Sept. 19) as saying, "We promised the Gaza evacuees that we would maintain the life styles to which they were accustomed. Buying them seaside villas in Bat Yam is out of the question, so the next best thing is buying them half a dunam in Ashkelon. This, in spite of the fact that the residents of the Katif settlements have never asked for seaside villas in Bat Yam, but have told every journalist who was willing to listen, We just want to stay together as communities. Meanwhile, they are asking for reasonable temporary dwellings where they can try to put their lives together again.

The Maariv site, NRG, reported that the people from Gush Katif will each receive hundreds of thousands of shekels for the years they've been there. In fact, each person from Gush Katif is slated to receive NIS 4,800 for every year he lived there (though the home-owners will receive nothing for their land or auxiliary elements, or for anything inside that upgraded the home). However, a young person who was born and raised in Gush Katif and got married after the cutoff date, to another girl in Gush Katif, and who together made a new home in Gush Katif, would receive nothing.

The same news source reported that the building in Ashkelon, meant to be the temporary home of 60 families from Kfar Darom, will cost 39 million shekels. What is not included in the article is that, according to Asher Mivtzari, spokesperson for Kfar Darom, the building is meant to also house all the community's schools, kindergartens, yeshivot, community center and other community entities.

NRG also quotes updates from Minhelet Sela that describe premises such as crowded and bare yeshiva dormitories as guest houses. Netzarim The director of the PM's office, Ilan Cohen, reportedly met with people from Netzarim today, for the first time, in an attempt to find a temporary housing solution for them, as they are currently living in Ariel College. No spokesperson from Netzarim could be reached for comment.

Comic Relief: Ministry of Social Services:Toss it

Following the dissemination of the longer report submitted by this reporter, The State of the Communities of Gush Katif and Northern Sinai, I received a phone call from Gilat Hayun, secretary to Ministry spokesman Nahum Ido. She asked why they had been faxed the report, and said that Ido had told her,There is nothing I can do with it. Toss it. I explained that perhaps someone thought that the Ministry of Social Services would have some interest in the situation of the evacuees. After I rejected her offer to send it to the research section, she agreed to pass it on to the director of the ministry.

It's funny cuz it's true...

2005-09-22T13:34:00.000-04:00

10 Reasons To Love Palestine

By Goffaq Yussef, great Palestinian comic

Golly gee, I am SOOOO proud to be a Palestinian Arab from the West Bank. Let me tell you the reasons why I have such warm, fuzzy feelings about my people and culture:

1. There is no such thing as Mothers Day. No worry about cards, gifts, and expensive meals. There is no honor in being a woman in our culture, so there is no reason to devote a day to her. We do, however, get to enjoy watching our fathers beat our mothers senseless for the slightest real or imagined infraction. Also, if Dad suspects that Mom spoke to a strange man in the street, he gets to kill her to preserve the family honor!

2. Weapons. Every child, from the time he can grasp an object, is trained to feel comfortable with a rifle or pistol in his hand. And every Palestinian has a weapon: a gun, a rocket launcher, a pound of C-4. What good are hands if they aren't used to kill?

3. Hate. Boy, we love to hate. Hate is the very basis and foundation of our culture. From the time a child is old enough to understand language, we teach him to hate. Hate Jews, hate the West, hate his fellow man, and most of all, hate himself. We have no love songs, we do not preach love, the word love does not appear anywhere in our society. Hate is the fuel that runs our motors.

4. Death. The moment a Palestinian Arab child is born, his parents begin to plan his death. How will he die? Will he be struck by an Israeli bullet while being used as a human shield by Palestinian gunmen? Will he get shot while throwing rocks at Jewish soldiers? Will he be packed with explosives and sent to blow himself up, killing others? Or will he merely be one of the many Palestinians murdered by other Palestinians in the normal course of daily life in the death-culture of the Palestinian Arabs? Who knows? That's part of the thrill.

5. Unemployment. Palestinians used to have jobs, working in Israel. But then, our leaders had a brilliant idea: suicide bombings! For their own protection, Israel had to close its borders, preventing Palestinians from going to their jobs, so they could sit around unemployed and blame the Jews for it. What great fun to be your own worst enemy!

6. Martyrdom. Who in their right mind wants to be a martyr? Among normal people, a martyr complex is considered immature and obnoxious, if not downright crazy. With us, it's the central syndrome of our society! Hey, look at me, I'm gonna kill myself and become admired! And then, when we do kill ourselves, instead of being considered pathetic, we DO get admired! It's a whole complete cycle of sickness! American kids collect baseball cards; Palestinian kids collect martyr cards (really! no joke!).

7. A feeling of entitlement. When Israel came into being, we declared war. We lost. We fought again. We lost. We fought again. We lost. Israel had the right to kill us all (we sure would kill all of them if we got the chance). Instead, they allow us to live on land they conquered. But we can't leave that alone. We have to claim entitlement to live on land that we lost in 6 wars. Since when does the loser of a war get to claim the land he fought over? They don't. But we do. Not only that, but we happily kill our kids over it! Hey, what's more important -- a chunk of dirt, or some worthless kid who isn't going to amount to anything anyway?

8. Uselessness. The Jews have won more Nobel Prizes than all other ethnic groups combined. Their contributions to science, art, literature and the humanities is far out of proportion to their population. What have Palestinians produced? Nothing! Not a thing. We don't do anything productive. We're too busy rioting and killing and chanting and screaming and calling for everyone's death. And we blame the Jews for it, as though the Jews stop us from being productive.

9. Friends. The Palestinian people sure know how to pick 'em. Saadam Hussein. The Taliban. Adolf Hitler. You name a psychopath, and we embrace him. And look who our supporters are! The American Nazi Party. The KKK. Just check their websites and see how they stand in solidarity with us. When you support the Palestinian "cause," you're in real good company. Bring your white sheet!

10. Freedom. The biggest laugh in the world is when people call us "freedom fighters" or they say we're fighting for our freedom. Take a look at all 22 Arab countries. Do you see any freedom there? Well, that's what our country will be like if we ever get one. It will be a dictatorship run by armed, masked thugs who will kill anyone who dissents. Just like we are now. Freedom???? LOLOLOLOL The word doesn't even exist in our language. Hey, just like George Orwell said: "Freedom is slavery. Long live big brother!"

Remember: Israel is bad!
Its existence keeps reminding us what a bunch of losers we are.

Extreme!

2005-09-22T13:28:00.000-04:00

Gotta check these threads out...

Let's throw some salt in them wounds...

2005-09-22T13:24:00.000-04:00

Refugees Outraged as Gov’t Asks They Leave Hotels

The Disengagement Authority is pressuring 700 Gush Katif transferees to leave the hotels to which it moved them when the government destroyed their homes and communities last month.

There remain less than two weeks until the Jewish holiday season begins, and it will bring with it another bit of topsy-turviness and change from routine. Most שmong those families are simply unready to move out. They are asking for a community housing solution to be found.

They must have been talking about the glorious compensation accomodations like this...

Absolutley disgraceful.

UPDATE

Batya Medad tells it like it is...

Over and over, I keep reading and hearing on the news that the government's Disengagement Authority made arrangements to separate the Disengagement victims and designed all sorts of "temporary" solutions, necessitating multiple moves and further dislocations, even though the experts and the victims themselves all agree that they want to preserve their communities and social, educational and religious ties. It's a known fact that the best chance for a healthy recovery and adjustment is to facilitate the continuity of the refugees' communal lives.

But don't you get it? The government made its plans to divide, separate and disorient the victims because it was the opposite of what is best for the refugees. Their overall aim is - not was, but is - to demoralize and destroy the national religious section of the population....

What a long, strange trip it's been...

2005-09-19T14:06:00.000-04:00

Gotta sort thru all the pictures from awhile now, so the highlights from my recent trips abroad will be up for perusal

In the meantime, let me start with the last 24 hours...

So, coming thru the Budapest Intl Airport, waiting in line to check in with El Al led to one of the most ironic things I've dealt with lately - that being, the girl working for security, asking about our bags and such as is sitting there with a neckstrap full of little pictures of none other than that icon of violent uprising and brutal communism, that's right -you guessed it:

Ernesto "Che" Guevarra.

I had to set aside my urge to smack some sense into her by the fact that I wanted to get home. The sheer ridiculousness of it, her, with that, sitting there asking me about security was almost too much to handle, and I nearly laughed straight in her face. Luckily, I squelched the temptation.

After a much-delayed flight, we (and by this I mean my boss and I) arrived in Ben Gurion International.

For reasons that I will stress now I had nothing to do with, the police had raided my apartment in Jerusalem a day after I had left the country on this particular business trip. They basically turned every last item in my apartment upside down, all over the floor, tables - everywhere - one of my roomates has some footage of the aftermath.

I gotta say, I'm nowhere near the situation that those in New Orleans are going thru, but still, it'll be a real pain to waste the time sorting thru and reorganizing everything I own. What really ticks me off is that I spent days before I left cleaning and organizing to begin with, so that I could sublet the room.

So anyway, unfortunately for me, although I won't get into the details, because I'm not sure yet if there will be prosecution, the fact that I have chemical equipment (used in preparation of Bio-diesel, a sample of which was even on the desk) made them very agitated, and as such I had a welcome reception waiting for me at the airport as soon as I hit Passport Control.

I had expected it, so the shock on the girl's face when she ran my papers was no surprise to me. When the 3 security guys showed up, I think I asked them if I could get my duty free, becasue it might be awhile, and I could use a good strong drink. This was about midnight.

I have to say they were much more polite than I was expecting, but after arranging for my boss to get home (which took an hour, and the man is 87 years old and blind) they went thru every millimeter of my bags with cotton swabs, then I got to talk with, if I'm not mistaken, a representative of every security agency that exists in Israel until about 5:45 AM, and they let me take my stuff home, with a summons to be at the local station by 10 AM, which basically meant that I got home, dropped by bags off, and went stright there, because there was no way I would be able to wake up after all that, so I then had the pleasure of being processed from 7AM until 11 AM, after which they let me out on my own recognizance.

So that's the short of it, for those who are interested, and thank you very much to those of you who called and wrote - it looks like I'll be fine, and hopefully this will be completely taken care of before I have to travel outside the country again, because I have no desire to go thru this again, as it is an extreme waste of my time.

Back home, finally!

2005-09-19T03:59:00.000-04:00

Just a quick post to say I am safe and sound in my apartment, after 10 hours of dealing with various police branches...

More later - gotta recharge...

Expulsion victims still jobless

2005-09-18T03:54:00.000-04:00

But you can help, especially if you have any job offerings.

Shapira asks for any and all employment opportunities to be sent to her at jobkatif@hotmail.co.il

Here's some latest details

"The government works to make a check mark [that it is helping], but does not find solutions," Sternberg charged. He said offers of employment are unsuitable. "Two hundred people go [to the government office] and 190 return. If there are job offers, they are suggestions that a kindergarten teacher work as an electrician or welder."

Sternberg, who is also unemployed, sharply criticized the government's advertising campaign claiming that "for every [Gush Katif] resident that there is a solution." Sternberg said, "It is a cheap campaign without any value or content, and now the reality is blowing up [in our faces]."

Earlier this month, a private effort got underway to find jobs for the many Jews who are unemployed as a result of the uprooting of Gush Katif and northern Samaria. Netta Shapira, who has taken it upon herself to be a clearing house for employers seeking to offer jobs to the expellees, quotes Maimonides in her email announcing the effort, saying that the greatest charity is to make a person independent.

"As of now," Shapira writes, "the families are in a state of uncertainty in every aspect of life; yet, in coming weeks, each family will have to decide where it is headed. And the matter of livelihood is a critical aspect of that decision. As the group in question is large and varied in every way, any open position may be appropriate for someone among them."

Israeli Media - the epitome of self-loathing

2005-09-17T17:50:00.000-04:00

Wow, The LLLatest Ydyots discovered a thing called a Torah...

A Nazi in all of us
Of course, we more than anyone are forbidden to forget, having experienced the worst destruction in history, but we mustn't bury ourselves in eternal trauma.
The Holocaust is only connected to us. From the 1940s until the end of time we must all understand the evil that exists within every human being.
The Holocaust was not perpetrated by Amalekites, or by demons from some Black City.
It was perpetrated by people not too dissimilar to us.
Because it turns out that that evil is to be found inside every human being.
From now on, let us say that the war against Amalek is the war against this evil that resides inside all of us.

Maybe they'll get to the part about Sdom and Gomorrah

Oooh. Just realized there's some more fun to be had here...

Giving power back to God
The wise thing to do would be to give matters of life and death back to God, to completely reject the responsibility commanded by Moses.
If God, the Giver of life, wants to kill – let Him do it. Not us. This is a clearly illegal mitzvah, with its black flag of immorality flying high in our day, and we must refuse to carry it out.

Anyone who calles themselves a Jew and gets their information from Ynet needs some serious therapy. With a fungo bat.

LLLefties LLLose on the ICJ

2005-09-17T16:41:00.000-04:00

In many ways, including their moral compass...

Oh wait... they would have to have had one to begin with, wouldn't they?

But in this particular case, they had to drop the charges...

Here's the guy they told Scotland Yard to arrest for "war crimes"

Major General Doron Almog

But ask Almog, 53, about his toughest mission, and he'll tell you it's nothing he's ever done in the army.

"Taking care of my boy - that's the most immense challenge I've ever faced," says the trim general, sitting in his backyard, watching his son, Eran, frolic in a toddler's wading pool. Eran is 20. He wears a diaper, chews only baby food, and cannot speak. He is autistic and mentally retarded.

Self hate and blatant backwards thinking brought to you like only a LLLeftist can...

As Caroline Glick points out

Yesh Gvul is arguably a criminal organization. For years it has been running public campaigns to convince soldiers to refuse to serve in the IDF. This is a criminal offense. And yet, the State Prosecutor's Office has refused to open any investigation against its members.

Anyone wanna take a bet to see if any Nationalist religious Jew is going to get tried for the same offense, for telling religious Jews not to serve in an army that expells Jews?

sharon makes history again

2005-09-16T01:33:00.000-04:00

the first Israeli PM to address the UN General ASSembly in Hebrew.

other diplomatic acheivements include being the first to :

use the word "occupation"

say that our enemies "deserve their own state"

Zionists poison paleostinian water! Oh wait, strike that, reverse it...

2005-09-16T01:26:00.000-04:00

Desalination Plant Threatened by PA Sewage Line

06:11 Sep 16, '05 / 12 Elul 5765

(IsraelNN.com) Israel water officials warn that if the Palestinian Authority (PA) is permitted to continue with a planned sewage line that will dump sewage into the sea, it would undoubtedly threaten the Ashkelon desalination plant scheduled to begin operating in the coming weeks.

Israel’s water commissioner warned the PA sewage line must be stopped, physically if need be.

That reminds me - has anyone done anything about the Wazzani river that the scum to the north was dumping sewage in?

He forgets Jerusalem

2005-09-15T15:14:00.000-04:00

sharon at te UN: "Mi sh'yishkach Yerushalayim yishkach yemini"

Usually taken as "He who forgets Jersualem forgts his right hand"

Literally, He who would forget Jerusalem would forget his right"

sharon forgot he was supposed to be on the right, and I have no faith that he remembers what Jerusalem means.

Passing the Global Test...

2005-09-15T14:45:00.000-04:00

Sharon Ends Speech with ´Happy New Year´

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has concluded his speech in Hebrew to the United Nations General Assembly and concluded with a wish for a good year for the world. The Jewish New Year begins early next month.

Of course, quite a few Israelis use this expression when they have really nothing better to say, can't be bothered to think of something relevant and appropriate...

Sharon opened his speech with a declaration on the eternity of a united Jerusalem and then expressed sorrow for the victims of the Katrina disaster. Sharon added that Israel is offering whatever aid that is needed.

The Prime Minister Ariel Sharon throughout his speech spoke of "thousands of years of memories"

Yeah - all the way to Sandy Koufax...

of the Jewish people and he noted Abraham, the Ten Commandment and Moses.

He told the world leaders that he grew up as a farmer

That's funny, Dhimmi Carter was a farmer, too, and his ineptitude in foreign affairs directly led to modern-day terrorism succeeding as it does...

and not a soldier and that it caused him great pain to surrender part of Israel because the land "is dear to us."

Take a guess at who Israel's ONLY ranch owner is... c'mon, guess...

He said the withdrawal from Gaza is Israel's way of holding out a hand for peace, but added that the Palestinian Authority (PA) must stop anarchy, put an end to terror and build a society based on peace. Regarding the security fence, Sharon said it has saved lives and that every country in the world would do what Israel did in order to prevent terrorists from attacking children, families and people on their way to work.

Wrong. Any other country in the world would have collapsed the caves that these animals live in and finished off their neighbors, just in case they any funny ideas...

Can we question their patriotism now?

2005-09-14T09:57:00.000-04:00

Look what the appeasing, LLL, MSM whores drug in...

Voice of Palestine broadcaster: Mosques are different from Synagogues
*********************************************************************

Dr. Aaron Lerner (of IMRA

Haifa born Zulfa al-Husseini, who broadcasts in Hebrew in the Palestinian Authority's Voice of Palestine, explained in an interview on Israel Radio's "It's All Talk" program with Gabi Gazit this morning that there is a fundamental difference between synagogues and mosques.

Synagogues have no unique architecture, al-Husseini argued, and thus have no status once their contents are removed, while mosques have a unique architecture and thus remain holy even if they are emptied of their contents.

The Situation of the Evacuees from Gush Katif

2005-09-13T04:40:00.000-04:00

Reprinted with permission of David Bedein

Israel Resource News Agency

Arlene Kushner,
Senior Investigative Journalist,
September 7, 2005

Sources
Information for this report has been acquired from authoritative sources: The Israel Legal Forum the group of more than 50 lawyers working pro-bono and for token payment on behalf of the evacuees; Lema'an Achai a non-governmental social service agency in Ramat Beit Shemesh that has assumed major responsibility for providing counseling for the evacuees; Jewish Family Services, Israel a non-governmental social service agency that has been providing some assistance to evacuees; and evacuees themselves.

Background
The realities with which the evacuees are coping are best understood set in context:

1) The Israeli governmental agency responsible for attending to the people expelled from Gush Katif has insisted on dealing with individual families.

The Disengagement Authority, SELA, from the beginning of this process has been willing to negotiate compensation only with individual families, who then presumably would make their own independent arrangements for which SELA would have no responsibility. In some relatively few instances, SELA has offered to provide housing for individual families.

The Gush Katif evacuees, on the other hand, have insisted that only relocation as communities will meet their needs. Community leaders indicated to SELA that they wished to have the Israel Legal Forum negotiate on their behalf, as communities; the government authorities refused.

There is precedent for what they have been requesting: When the Jewish population was moved out of the Sinai in 1982, they were relocated as communities.

As a result of this impasse, situations have arisen in which the government is maintaining it has provided places for people to live, but the people are saying that the scattered accommodations being suggested are not acceptable to them, and they consider that they have not been provided for.

2) By any measure one might use, the government was ill-prepared for moving the more than 8,000 residents of Gush Katif.

In part, this is because preparation took place over a period of months, rather than the three years of preparation done before the Sinai evacuation. Thus a great deal of transient living is facing the evacuees.

Stop-gap accommodations were all that awaited most of the families when they were removed from their homes. While some small percent had arranged more stable accommodations for example, having already accepted compensation or agreed to move to caravans the plan for the majority of evacuees was short-term placement in hotels. Mere days before the date of evacuation, however, SELA authorities realized that the 1,000 hotel rooms they had reserved were insufficient for the 1,700 families that were to be moved out: 2,500 were necessary. Officials of SELA, aided by members of the Legal Forum, scoured the country seeking additional hotel rooms. So inadequate has been the planning that there are cases in which whole families with several children were moved into one hotel room, with mattresses on the floor.

In some instances, Gush Katif families declined hotel rooms offered because the arrangements were severely inadequate or would have caused the scattering of the community. In some of these cases, the community set up tents, considered a preferable option; in other instances non-governmental offers of alternative accommodation, such as school dormitories, were accepted.

There were no government-provided social workers on the scene at various hotels to assist with the trauma of relocation and to give practical logistical advice. Evacuees distraught, angry, confused, and depressed found themselves having to also deal with such pragmatic issues as having no place to do laundry. It has been the large scale provision of assistance by volunteers professional social service and legal volunteers, and a large cadre of laypersons willing to help with a myriad of details and provide comfort that has greatly ameliorated the situation for the evacuees.

Originally the stay in hotels was slated to be for ten days, but was extended. It is certainly expected, however, this first stage of interim accommodations will come to an end before long. For most of the evacuees, this will be followed by a period of living in more solid but still temporary housing, for a period of two or three years as permanent solutions are worked out. When they left Gush Katif two weeks ago, two-thirds of the evacuees had no idea where they would be going for this stage.

The temporary housing will be provided largely via apartments, and in some instances caravans. At Nitzan, 400 caravans (euphemistically called caravillas) are planned and some 200 families were able to go straight there and skip the stop-gap hotel accommodations. Additional families, coming from various Gush Katif communities, have since moved in. They have encountered severe difficulties, as they have been provided only with a complex of caravans with no synagogue, clinics, stores or schools local to them. The government is spending $100,000 to construct each of these caravans, which will be destroyed in three years.

As to the final permanent stage of housing, when the people left Gush Katif, a full 90% had no idea where this permanent stage would bring them. The Israel Legal Forum had proposed viable solutions such as settlements in the Negev or in Nitzanim to which whole communities might be moved. These proposals were made in sufficient time for them to be properly activated, but were rejected by the government. Some suggestions made by the government were not viable. For example, farmers rejected the possibility of relocation to the Galilee because climate and soil conditions are so different from those of Gush Katif that they would have no farming expertise; they require a southern setting in order to sustain themselves.

According to head of the Israel Legal Forum, Dr. Yitzhak Miron, all claims by the government that it was absolved of responsibility to prepare accommodations for families that did not negotiate before the evacuation are without basis in law. The government made a decision to move these people; the government had a responsibility to provide for them.

3) Reports that the evacuees will be generously compensated are in error: Monetary compensation will be provided according to a formula involving length of residence in the community, whether the family owned or was renting, and other factors. The original full package of compensation for all parties 2.5 billion shekels was increased to 4.5 billion shekels when the Israel Legal Forum went to court to expose the inadequacy of the projected sum. This larger amount is still 50% less than is needed for families to restore themselves to anything approximating their former positions. In brief: for families who owned houses, roughly $700 per square meter, some $50,000 for land, and $1,000 for each year each individual over age three lived in the community; for renters, some $10,000; for certain land owners possibly compensation via new land, although the plan is not working out successfully.

Government threats illegal according to Dr. Miron to reduce compensation of persons who refused to leave voluntarily before August 17 are being challenged by the Forum in court now.

The current situation
Many, if not most, of those evacuated from Gush Katif are without income. Either their farms were dismantled or their jobs were terminated. Securing employment has been problematic for many because of uncertainty as to where they are going to be located. There have been numerous reports of volunteers providing ready pocket cash for people who found themselves without enough to manage.

Dramatic efforts are under way to move some greenhouses and the plants they contain to new locations within the Green Line. This is particularly true in Atzmona, but also in other former settlements such as Kfar Darom and Netzarim. (Note: Many of the greenhouses are being left in tact via an arrangement to turn them over to the Palestinians.) Thousands of volunteers have been working furiously to bring everything out but will not be able to entirely succeed; much will be lost because of the deadline for the final closing of Gush Katif this Friday, September 9, so that the area can be entirely turned over to the Palestinians next week. Urgent appeals to extend the deadline have not been honored.

Those who had mortgages on their former property within Gush Katif are required to continue to make payments. In some instances it may be possible to ask the bank to freeze the mortgage until the compensation comes through. It should be noted, however, that taking mortgage costs out of the compensation package means having very little left for securing something else.

The evacuees' belongings, of necessity left behind in their homes, have been packed in containers (with a maximum of two containers permitted) and shipped to storage sites. Considerable anxiety and frustration has accompanied this entire process. There were incidents of looting of belongings before they were packed and there have been incidents of damage in the storage areas. It remains unclear as to whether there is insurance covering the belongings. The compensation package does include something for moving expenses (14,000 to 21,000 NIS roughly $3,100 to 4,600), but in a great number of cases the cost of moving and storing belongings far exceeds this. Some families arranged for additional containers and storage on their own, because what was being provided was inadequate.

The beginning of the school year has generated additional anxiety and emotional problems with children feeling disoriented, and parents worried because they know there will be further transitions that are not good for their children.

It remains unclear by when people will be required to leave the hotels. A great many people still do not know where they are going for their next stage of resettlement. According to a lawyer with the Israel Legal Forum, the government is not making an effort to insure that everyone will be provided for in this next stage. There have been reports of arrangements in the planning that fell through; some community groups are making their own arrangements. The problem stated above regarding a strong determination to remain together applies here in the face of apartments offered in scattered locales in some instances.

Less then 50% of the families have received some government money at this point. 50,000 NIS in relief money (to be deducted from the eventual compensation package) was to have come speedily to every family that applied. At this point, any family that has applied for emergency relief but has not completed the entire application for compensation has been denied the relief.

Israel Resource News Agency has one purpose: to report Israel's reality to the media by retaining the services of the best Israeli and Arab journalists to cover, research and investigate the events of the day.

Since its inception in 1987, Israel Resource News Agency has covered every aspect of peace negotiations, providing hands-on coverage for the press from Jerusalem, Ramallah, Gaza, Gush Etzion, Hebron, Oslo, Bonn, Brussels, the Wye Plantation, Shepherdstown, Washington, Ottawa, Toronto and Vienna.

Israel Resource News Agency conducts its news investigations with commissions from bona fide news organizations and foundation grants.

A membership organization helps Israel Resource News Agency maintain its operation.

All fees and funds are transmitted to Israel Resource News Agency through an IRS tax deductible organization, known as the Center for Near East Policy Research, P.O. Box 1783, Brookline, MA 02446-0014.

Respectfully Submitted,

David Bedein
Bureau Chief
Israel Resource News Agency
Beit Agron International Press Center
Jerusalem, Israel
Tel. (+972-2) 530-0125 or cell phone (+972-54) 722-2661

Blatantly Illegal manuevering led to handover of assets to terrorists

2005-09-13T04:27:00.000-04:00

Where Terror Rules

By David Bedein

Ariel Sharon's government added a specific clause to the final version of the Disengagement Plan, a plan that was ratified by the Israeli government on June 6th, 2004 after an earlier version had been rejected by Sharon’s own Likud Party referendum on May 2nd, 2004. That clause mandated that all properties from evacuated Israeli communities be transferred to "a third, international party which will put them to use for the benefit of the Palestinian population that is not involved in terror." The Prime Minister’s Disengagement legislation in English can be found at www.pmo.gov.il.

With such legislated assurance that all assets given over to the PA would not be handed over to any terrorist organization, Prime Minister Sharon was able to win successive Knesset (Israel’s parliament) votes and numerous suits in the Israel High Court of Justice that challenged the legality of the Disengagement Plan.

Read it all...

Look who supports sharon...

2005-09-13T04:01:00.000-04:00

Rally in Support of Sharon Relocated For Fear of Empty Square

A demonstration in support of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, organized by Yossi Beilin, has been moved due to concern that not many people would show up to it.

The rally, organized by those behind the Geneva Initiative, was to take place a week and a half from now in Tel Aviv's Rabin Square. Participants were to include Peace Now, Ami Ayalon's HaMifkad HaLeumi and the Shomer HaTzair youth movement.

Rabin Square has been filled several times to capacity by anti-expulsion demonstrations, but left-wing organizers were concerned that the size of the large square would emphasize the small numbers in attendance and moved their rally to opposite the Prime Minister's residence.

Awww, that would be a shame, wouldn't it?

Where is all that popular support that we heard so much about?

All of the non-right-wing-extremists are fully behind the expulsion, so why worry about attendance?

Unless....

Nahhhh.... they wouldn't have been lying to us all along, would they?

Yeah, it's Sept 11th

2005-09-11T20:22:00.000-04:00

So I guess I'll post my 9/11 story.

I was sitting in study hall, in my senior year, when a friend came running into the room, saying "They bombed the tower!" Naturally, not having heard anything yet, I took this to mean that someone had done something the water tower a couple klicks away in the rural northern town where I lived at the time.

So I went to the big screen TV that everyone was watching CNN on, who had no idea who was behind these terrorist attacks.

I figured I wasn't going to get anything useful from CNN, so I asked myself, "who would know about which guys might be behind this terrorism?" so I went online to the Jerusalem Post. Those attacks were like a slap in my face that woke me up to the fact that I was Jewish, and will always be so, whether I liked it or not. I wasn't religious at the time, barely been into a synagogue since my Bar Mitzvah, like many American Jews that grew up with little incentive to hold to their heritage.

First thing I saw was an ad for Birthright Israel that said, FREE TRIP TO ISRAEL in flashing letters. I figured, right time, right price, and promptly applied.

Went in Jan 2002, came back to the US to finish my degree, and made Aliyah in June 2002.

I highly reccommend anyone who is in a similar state of mind to do likewise.

Time to wake up and get up! KUMAH!!!

IDF folds

2005-09-11T11:49:00.000-04:00

The flag.

In Azza.

The only, only, ONLY positive things about this showplay is that the PR benefit is that we are not simply pulling out in the middle of the night likefrom Lebanon.

I'm still disgusted.

Update: 18:58 Israel time

Former Chief Rabbi: Every Jew Should Tear Shirt in Mourning as IDF Leaves Gaza

Too late - I tore mine the the day Jews were expelled from their homes.

Can we question their patriotism now?

2005-09-11T07:35:00.000-04:00

Arab Parties Likely to Unite

New regulations including a heightened election ceiling of 2% is likely to result in Arab parties uniting ahead of the 2006 election.

Polls are showing that if Arab parties run independently, they are unlikely to achieve the minimum number of votes to obtain seats in Knesset. As such, a deal is expected by which the parties would run on a joint slate

Soooo.. the arabs living in Israel will be, ummmm.... banding together... under what banner, you may ask?

MK Tibi Seeking the Release of Terrorists

Oh. Of course. That one.

Update 23:40

Tibi: A Jew Does Not Request From a Palestinian Not to Destroy Synagogues!

"A Jew does not request from a Palestinian not to destroy a synagogue!" Tibi declared, using a play on the slogan "A Jew does not expel a Jew," used by anti-expulsion activists during the struggle against the Disengagement Plan.

About the rabbis who said that the synagogues should be left so that Arabs would destroy them instead of Jews, Tibi said: "They have no G-d"

And so it begins...

Israeli Arab Village in the Galilee Demands Independence.

sharon the flip-flopper. again.

2005-09-11T07:01:00.000-04:00

Mazuz Embarrassed by Gov’t’s Change of Position Regarding Synagogues

11:59 Sep 11, '05 / 7 Elul 5765

(IsraelNN.com) Attorney General Menachem Mazuz on Sunday morning expressed harsh criticism against cabinet ministers for their sudden change of heart regarding the destruction of Gaza’s synagogues.

Mazuz stated the process is an embarrassing one, adding “there will be a price.”

The attorney general stated, “nothing has changed since the government decision [to destroy the synagogues] two week’s ago, and to say something has changed is not the case.”

Gee, that's funny.

Nothing changed between the time sharon was elected on a platform against appeasing terrorists, and the time he decided to make Gaza judenrein, but that doesn't seem to be an embarrassment for "peace now" activist attorney-general mazuz.

Interesting that sharon went on the attack right off the bat about Bibi being an opportunist, while it appears that as soon as the Supreme Court indicates that he has crossed the line, he suddenly has a change of heart.

How touching.

He maybe, possibly, finally learned some shame...

Professors for a Strong Israel
Statement to the Press - 8 September 2005
----------------------------------------------------------------
Re: Encouraging antisemitism

The flight from Gaza and the expulsion of the Jewish residents from their homes offer encouragement not just to terrorism but also to antisemitism. The destruction of the synagogues by Sharon - with the backing of the judicial system - will foster attacks on Jews, on synagogues, and on Jewish cemeteries all over the world. It will discourage aliya; it will further erode the public's faith in the judiciary. Professors for a Strong Israel declares that the injury to the judicial system and to its standing in the public eye are yet another sacrifice to the idol of "disengagement," which demands victims from across the spectrum of life in Israel. Sharon's Israel has lost its moral right to protest against antisemitism in other countries.

Dr. Ron Breiman, Chairman of PSI
Tel: 050-551 8940

Not that the word "Jew" really means much to him, as he seems to be going full-out to pass the global test - the UN loves him now, when just last year he was a terrible butcher in the eyes of the world. He's gotten his place in the history books.

Politically motivated arrest of anti-expulsion activist

2005-09-05T14:06:00.000-04:00

Imagine that.

The upstanding Isaeli police, headed by the sharon regime, would never, ever, inappropriately us the police force to achieve their political goals, would they? Israel is a democracy, right?

Stop the presses! Enraged muslims kill own, go on rampage against Infidels!

2005-09-05T13:53:00.000-04:00

Paleos love Christians

Mobs of angry Muslim Arabs attacked Christian Arabs in the town of Taibeh, torched their houses and stores and stole property, Saturday night and Sunday, following the murder of a Muslim woman who had become involved romantically with a Christian man from the town. Palestinian Authority (PA) police said the woman was murdered by her own family's relatives.

The mobs attacked the Christian town after the family objected to the investigation by the PA into the death of the woman. Several hundred Muslims chanted "God is great" (Allah Hu Akbar) and poured kerosene on buildings before setting them on fire and stealing jewelry and furniture from houses. They also destroyed a Christian statue.

But, of course, everyone should keep up the pressure on Israel to withdrawl from other areas of Judea and Samaria.

Hurricaine season ain't over, people.

Call for renewed intifada... guess who?

2005-09-05T13:43:00.000-04:00

Nope. It's not the paleos...

It's Peace Now.

In response to statements released on Monday by Deputy Defense Minister Ze’ev Boim, committing to the construction of 3,000 housing units in Ariel, the radical left-wing Peace Now organization warned such a move would result in a “renewed intifada,” referring to the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) terror war which was launched in September 2000.

In a statement released by Peace Now, the organization warns renewed construction in Ariel would invalidate any progress gained by the implementation of the Gaza/Samaria Disengagement Plan.

Time to indict sharon

2005-09-04T15:45:00.000-04:00

Some of us have said from the start that sharon is a criminal. His corruption has brought a tradegy to the state of Israel and to the Jewish people, and he must eventually face the music.

He has betrayed the morals, the people, and the government of Israel, and it finally comes out that among his other many questionable activities, (some of which have been posted here in the past year) a glaring infraction of the law has been committed by the very regime that enacted it, betraying himself at last.

Palestinian Authority Brings Hamas into Power in Gaza - despite Israeli legal constraints against assets for Palestinians "involved in terror"

The Palestinian Authority, the PA, has been bringing the Hamas terrorist organization into positions of authority, to formalize the group's influence in the Gaza Strip.

This, despite the fact that Sharon's government had added a specific clause to the final version of the disengagement plan, which was ratified by the Israeli government on June 6th, 2004, after the April 18th version had been rejected by the Likud referendum on May 2nd, 2004. which mandated that all properties from evacuated Israeli communities would be transferred to "a third, international party which will put them to use for the benefit of the Palestinian population that is not involved in terror"

Yet more shameful actions on the part of Israeli law enforcement

2005-09-04T15:34:00.000-04:00

That this woman was in prison to begin with is a pure political witchhunt, as she was being punished for being married to a man who is a lawyer active in defending those accused by the LLLeftist government for simply opposing a suicidal terrorist empowerment plan

Ettie Meidad Released; One Girl in Isolation

Ettie Meidad of Hevron, imprisoned for 25 days with her baby daughter on two-year old charges that were previously dropped, was freed today. In a surprise move, the State Prosecution requested that she be released with no restrictions, and that she not be required to appear at further court sessions.

Upon arriving at the gate to be released, Mrs. Meidad - wife of Honenu legal rights organization founder Shmuel Meidad - refused to go. She saw a young girl, one of the seven imprisoned in Maasiyahu Prison in Ramle for attempting to enter an area marked for disengagement, being beaten by guards. Mrs. Meidad said that she would not leave the prison until the girl was treated properly.

Finally, Mrs. Meidad was half-dragged out, while the girl was placed in isolation. The girl was punished because she refused to be subjected to a full-body search for drugs. "There is no reason that a young girl must be subjected to such an intimate search time after time, when there is no real suspicion that she is bringing in drugs," Mrs. Meidad said.

Two days beforehand, this was printed in Voice of Judea

Meet Israel's youngest inmate - 9-month-old Miriam

by Moshe Ben Israel

The Youngest Israeli prisoner – 9 month old Miriam Medad

Etti Medad of Hebron, mother of nine and grandmother of two was arrested last month with three of her children, nine-month-old Miriam, two year-old David, and five-year-old Yehuda, after she refused to appear in court for her second retrial on charges of participating in an illegal protest against the destruction of Livnat Ozeri's house on Hill 26 in Hebron, two years ago. Etti and her nine-month-old baby remain in prison together for the duration of the trial - something that may take many months.

The fact that Etti was tried and found not guilty of these very same charges in the past, as well as the fact that the case was again closed after it had been reopened a second time has not discouraged the Israeli prosecution from re-opening the case a third time. All of this coupled with the fact that the charges leveled against her are merely misdemeanors have not hampered the prosecution's ability to have Etti and her baby Miriam arrested and detained for the duration of the new trial.

Mishalot Yisrael, the Israeli referendum organization, in conjunction with the group Honenu have embarked upon a national campaign to free Etti and Miriam. Those who wish either to contribute funds to help defray the cost of printing posters and advertising or to help collect signatures demanding their release can contact Mishalot Yisrael at 0544876709 or send a donation to Mishalot Yisrael – POBOX 6592 Jerusalem, Israel 91060

To protest online, please visit here.

But they're building a democratic state!!!

2005-09-04T15:20:00.000-04:00

Yet another sad example of what Israel is getting in return for giving into pressure from within and abroad as to appease those who would destroy us.

PA Legislator Convicted of Terrorist Activities

(IsraelNN.com) A member of the Palestinian Authority's legislative council was convicted today by an IDF military court of terrorism-related crimes. In a plea-bargain, the terrorist-legislator, Hussam Khader, admitted his membership in Fatah, his involvement in supplying terrorists with funds for arms, and his foreknowledge of a planned suicide bombing.

Khader was arrested by IDF forces in 2003. Israeli intelligence sources at the time claimed that the PA legislator was a funnel for Iranian and Hizbullah monies for Fatah-affiliated terrorists.

Fatah is the central faction of the PLO, and the faction to which PA leader Mahmoud ("Abu Mazen") Abbas belongs. Fatah, through the PLO, has been running the PA since its establishment under the late arch-terrorist Yasser Arafat.

Prolly shoulda said this earlier

2005-09-03T21:54:00.000-04:00

But since all my 4 readers are from LGF anyway, y'all already know where to send help for Katrina victims, but just for the sake of argument that my reader base has possibly grown outside that box, Charles Johnson just posted this link to a

list for donations

More police updates

2005-09-01T10:28:00.000-04:00

Elon Moreh Residents Accuse Police of Revenge

Yesha Human Rights Group to Sue Police on Brutality

Comptroller's Report: Charges Against Police Are Ignored

and one from the army...
Disgraceful that this is even an issue

Thanks, arik. You could have been great, but now your name and your retreat will be a black stain on the history of Israel.

Fuzzy math

2005-08-31T20:10:00.000-04:00

9000 people in Gush Katif and Northern Shomron

0.1338% of Israel population, now homeless.

484,674 people in New Orleans

0.1638% of US population now homeless.

That's kindof an odd coincidence...

Update: 15:01 Israel / 10:01 EST

It is evident from all the chaos that there was little to no preparation done by the NOLA government for this kind of event.

Difference is, one was done by humans, on purpose, and could have been prevented.

More than 95 percent of expulsion victims do not have a permanent solution to housing and basic needs despite a government campaign advertising the opposite, the Legal Forum for the Land of Israel announced at a press conference Wednesday.

Spokesman Yitzchak Meron accused the government of staging a disinformation campaign spearheaded by 20 public relations professionals in Israel and in the United States. He said they are telling major Jewish organizations that the expelled Jewish residents received half a million dollars and luxury hotels and that their children will start school like the rest of the country on Thursday.

Many families are living in cramped hotel rooms which they must leave by Sunday and their children have no schools to receive them, Meron stated. He added that their possessions are in containers in the Negev although hundreds of families have been temporarily placed in the north and center of the country.

David Bedein nails it again

2005-08-24T11:06:00.000-04:00

Reposted by express permission of the Author.

David Bedein
Israel Resource News Agency
Beit Agron International Press Center
Jerusalem, Israel
www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com
tel. 02 5300125

The government of Israel has launched a PR effort to convey the impression that Israeli citizens evicted from their homes and farms in Katif and Northern Samaria over the past week were given checks of close to half a million dollars and sent to luxury hotels until the end of the month, with new homes waiting for them at the end of the summer.

On Tuesday, August 23rd, Attorney Dr. Yitzhak Meron , a senior member of the Israel Legal Forum, a civil liberties organization compromised of 50 Israeli lawyers, conducted a press conference in Jerusalem which provided sobering evidence that the Sharon government may not be conveying the whole picture.

Dr. Meron explained how the Israeli government is simply not prepared to provide for the 1,700 families evicted from their homes in Katif and Samaria, and made the following ten points.

1. The Israel Legal Forum, representing these evicted communities, asked the government last December to do everything in its power to see to it that the communities to stay together, wherever they are relocated. Every significant study (especially those regarding what happened when people were moved from Sinai) indicates that keeping communities in tact helps to prevent post traumatic stress disorder, which can result in serious emotional disability.

2. The government clearly aware of all of this still preferred to act in a fashion that would break up communities, dealing with separate families and attempting to place them in different locations.

3. Monetary compensation will be provided according to a formula which involves the time of residence in the community, whether or not the family owned or was renting, along with factors of family size. Most families have yet to receive any money.

4. The Government threatens to reduce compensation of persons who refused to leave voluntarily before August 17th. These threats are being challenged by the Forum in the Israel High Court of Justice as being patently illegal.

5. The government rented out 1,000 rooms in hotels for evacuees, although the reality was that 2,500 rooms were required, because of large families.

6. No social workers were dispatched by the government to help the evacuees cope logistically, and no psychologists were sent by the government to be on hand to help with the trauma.

7. There was insufficient food in hotels which offered only two meals a day and there was a lack of facilities for doing laundry.

8. 90% of the families have no idea yet where they will go in two weeks time.

9. Some 450 Families signed up for caravan mobile homes (euphemistically referred to as “caravillas”) in Nitzan (adjacent to Nitzanim). 200 families have received their keys, but are encountering vast problems: There are no synagogues, no schools, no clinics and no shops.
These mobile homes cannot fit the books, furniture or appliances of people from Katif who are being moved from much bigger homes. Their possessions are stored in hot warehouses near Beer Sheva,, with no insurance.

10. The government claim that Katif communities had not contacted the authorities on time was refuted. The Israel Legal Forum wrote with a "power of attorney" to the government of Israel on behalf of the people of Katif last December. However, the government would not respond to the officially appointed legal counsel of Katif residents, preferring instead to mislead the media into believing that the people of Katif simply "refused to deal with the authorities".

Who's throwin' this Paleo party, anyway?

2005-08-18T13:43:00.000-04:00

List from IMRA, with extra links by me for background...

Mr.Yahya Yekluf, Minister of culture, and Mr. Waleed Abd Rabuo "Dang! Is we really dat po?, minister of agriculture take the charge of the northern area of the West Bank

Mr. Mazen Sonokrot ("The industry sector is committed to meet the following objectives: modernizing industrial infrastructure in Palestine and furthering competitive expertise in the four major sectors of marble and stone, food and beverage, textiles, and medicine."), Minister of Economy, and Mr. Ziad Al-Bandak "ugly crime against Palestinian antiquities", the Minister of Tourism and Antiquities take the charge of Beit Hanoon area. (Ironically, while in Bethlehem also said "messenger and prophet of peace was born."

Mr. Sofyan Abu-Zayda ("The Israeli action today is unilateral and we want it to be coordinated in order to change the criteria and terms Israel isputting on the release of the prisoners"), Minister of the Prisoner Affairs takes the charge of the northern area of the Strip.

Mr. Sad El-deen Khrma, Minister of Transportation takes the charge of middle area of Gaza Strip.

Mr. Mohammad Ishtia, Minister of Public works and Housing takes the charge of the northern area of KhanYounis.

Mr. Sakher Besaso, Minister of Sport, and Mr. Zuheira Kamal,("Perhaps this step will awaken us from a dream - the dream of peace, negotiations and agreements. They are still saying to us, 'You are still under occupation', so we now have to discuss among ourselves where this leaves us,") the Minister of Women Affairs takes the charge of KhanYounis area.

Thehni Al-Wahaidi, the Minister of Health takes charge of Rafah area.

Mr. Sabri Sadam, Minister of Information Technology takes the charge of the staff which is responsible for Rafah border crossing.

Information Minister running control of the border? That's a little odd. shimon peres had some interests in PalTel, which would fall under the auspices of the Information Minister.

More associations that you'd otherwise have to register for...

Give 'em a ring and let 'em know how ya feel...

No shizzle, Sherlock

2005-08-10T12:04:00.000-04:00

AG: No indication Yitzhak Rabin killing was due to incitement

Mazuz warned that excessive use of laws against incitement could curb free speech. "The atmosphere within the public has an influence, but it must not be used as an excuse to shut people's mouths," he said.

Day late, meet Dollar short.

Methinks this LLLefty doth protest too much

2005-08-10T11:28:00.000-04:00

MK Bronfman: The Right Will Put Liberals in Labor Camps

"If the justice system, and Mazuz at its head, do not cease their obsequiousness before the incitement of the extreme Right, then the fate of Israel will be like the fate of the Weimar Republic, and the liberal camp will find itself in labor camps," MK Bronfman said.

Well, not that it makes much of a difference, but...

The Labor Party is made of liberals, so wouldn't they logically want to be in labor camps?

Don't say we never warned you...

2005-08-10T11:05:00.000-04:00

Gush Katif Spokeswoman rougfhed up by the cops

2 more cops indicted for brutality against Jews

(IsraelNN.com) The Department of Investigation of Policemen decided to indict in disciplinary court two policemen, Lion Vaknin and Muhamed Azbarga. The two are accused of attacking Yitzhak Hildesheimer, a journalist photographer, in one of the demonstrations against the expulsion from Gush Katif.

And this one's just beautiful:
Disengagement Training Halted Due to Excessive Violence

14:18 Aug 10, '05 / 5 Av 5765

(IsraelNN.com) The multi-service division-level training exercise for security services to be assigned to eject Jews from Gaza and northern Samaria was halted this afternoon by commanders due to excessive violence on the part of the trainees.

Commanders of the Caracal Battalion halted the exercise, being held in Kerem Shalom, when soldiers of the Border Guard units taking part used excessive force against the mock evacuees. Soldiers ordered to play the role of Gush Katif and Samaria residents were told to display "active resistance".

This is training, mind you, for how to act when faced with the real deal.

Ironic that it happens in Kerem Shalom...

Let's not forget either about the child abuse...
Couple Arrested, Children Remain Alone

It occurred in the late hours of Tuesday night. Policemen attempted to serve Miriam and Yaron Adler with papers forbidding them from entering their home in Sa-Nur, in the northern Shomron. The couple, which was staying at Miriam's parents’ home in N’vei Daniel in Gush Etzion, refused to accept the papers. The policemen then brutally arrested them, and the couple’s six children - aged 1 to 9 - were left alone in their home in Sa-Nur...

...Miriam’s sister, Michal, was witness to the brutal arrest. She said afterwards that plainclothes policemen burst into her parents’ home at 11:45 PM, without presenting any warrant. Her parents, who were Prisoners of Zion in the former Soviet Union for ten years, attempted to find out what the policemen wanted. Michal said that the policemen merely pushed them aside and made their way to the second floor. Only after a while did they present the family with the warrant they had in their possession.

Good thing they got out of Russia, where brutal communist dictators did whatever they wanted...

These pigs wanna blow my house down...

2005-07-29T11:12:00.000-04:00

Administrative Arrests & Detentions Likely

10:20 Jul 29, '05 / 22 Tammuz 5765

(IsraelNN.com) Attorney General Menachem Mazuz is reported to be preparing for the administrative arrest and detention of “right-wing extremists” based on Shin Bet recommendations, explaining the people on the list pose a threat to the implementation of the Gaza/Shomron Disengagement Plan.

Mazuz is expected to meet with Shin Bet officials in the coming days, as he will confer with other security agency heads, the state prosecutor and other relevant officials, preparing arrest orders for dozens of disengagement opponents.

In a Meet the Press interview with Mazuz to be aired over the weekend on Channel 2 TV, the attorney general warns of disorder and lawlessness among a growing number of disengagement opponents, adding Yesha (Judea, Samaria & Gaza) leaders have the power to stop their actions, warning their failure to do so may lead to anarchy.

Using this line, Mazuz justified arresting and detaining citizens without charging them with any crime and without permitting them due process under our legal system.

And so it goes...

Punished for being Jewish and disagreeing with an immoral expulsion of Jews.

Why am I not surprised?

2005-03-28T16:46:00.000-05:00

Agent Provocateur Exposed, Gag Order Imposed
20:49 Mar 28, '05 / 17 Adar 5765

An agent provocateur seems to have been discovered attempting to entrap members of the Yesha Council by offering them explosives. The episode includes police complicity and use of a gag order.

The episode began Wednesday when a student who had been volunteering for the Yesha Council was asked to return the vehicle he had been using to distribute anti-disengagement literature.

The “volunteer” handled logistical tasks such as distributing flyers and hanging banners and was therefore loaned a vehicle by the Yesha Council to use for the work. Ohad Bart, the council’s logistical director contacted the volunteer, told him they no longer needed his services and requested that he return the vehicle. The volunteer gave various reasons why he could not return the vehicle and in the end Bart agreed to send a Yesha Council employee to pick up the car from the volunteer’s home in Lod.

When the Yesha Council employee spoke with the volunteer a few days before the Purim holiday, the volunteer asked him, “Do you maybe need grenades for the struggle? I could sell you grenades.” The Yesha Council employee responded that that was not the way the struggle would be waged.

The disturbing offer was relayed to Bart who immediately contacted MK Uri Ariel. The two became suspicious that the whole affair was a frame-up and that even though they had refused the explosives, once they picked up the vehicle from the “agent provocateur” they would be stopped by Police and grenades would suddenly be “found” hidden in the car – resulting in a “expose” of Yesha Council involvement in violence and illegal activity.

Bart and the Yesha Council worker decided to call the police instead of picking up the vehicle themselves – asking that they arrest the volunteer/provocateur.

The police then made a strange request of the two Council workers. They asked them to go to the volunteer’s house “with an undercover officer disguised as a settler.” They instructed them to tell the volunteer that they were in fact interested in procuring explosives, and buy them – in order to catch him in the act.

Bart, familiar with the Shabak (GSS) tactic of using agents provocateur to delegitimize the right-wing, immediately refused, suspecting the police would then arrest everyone, accuse them of buying explosives – and result in headlines about the Yesha Council in the next day’s papers aimed at torpedoing the anti-expulsion movement. He told the police to go alone, saying he would come afterward to recover the Yesha Council’s vehicle.

When the two men arrived to collect the vehicle, police refused to inform them whether the volunteer was in fact arrested or not and whether grenades were found.

When Yesha Council spokesman Emily Amrousi called a press conference to expose the incident to the media, police slapped a gag order on the entire episode.

Yesha Council member Bentzy Lieberman took the initiative of publishing the name of the volunteer and the fact that he was a student at Yeshivat Ateret Kohanim in Jerusalem’s Old City. Lieberman signed the letter with a request that security forces refrain from “planting provocateurs like Avishai Raviv.”

Raviv was the Shabak agent responsible for several fictional swearing-in ceremonies as well as the distribution of posters prior to the murder of Yitzhak Rabin often cited as examples of right-wing incitement (such as the poster of Rabin dressed a Nazi). Raviv, in fact, sent out a beeper message to reporters minutes after Rabin was reported shot, reading, “We missed this time but next time we won’t.” Raviv even founded a fictional “extremist” group called Eyal which consisted of youths he paid to pose for reporters, some of whom were in on the ruse.

On Terri Schiavo

2005-03-23T11:02:00.000-05:00

All I have to say is this:

Her husband doesn't care if she lives or dies, obviously, because he already has kids with another woman. He should be compelled to give up his status as legal guardian, and with it, any rights to the monies involved, which he has apparently used dubiously.

Let her parents take care of her, and let her live.

End of story.

Home on the Range? Will W talk about THIS with sharon?

2005-03-21T21:29:00.000-05:00

Does this apply to current Israeli policy?: A US law which forbids US Foreign Aid Recipients from using US- supplied law enforcement equipment to subjugate human rights and civil liberties

BY: DAVID BEDEIN, Bureau Chief, Israel Resource News Agency

This week, at Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon, in southern Israel, the Israel Defence Forces will conduct an exercise to conduct a “dry run” to practice bringing dead and wounded Jewish Israeli residents to the hospital, following the summer plans of the Israeli government to forcibly remove all 8,000 Jewish men, women and children from their 21 farming communities in the Jewish communities of the Katif district in Gaza and another 2000 Jews from 4 communities in Northern Samaria.

A senior official in Israeli intelligence estimates that at least 100 Jewish residents will be killed in the expulsion process, since these residents have no intention of leaving their homes and farms voluntarily, and since the IDF has every intention of using live ammunition to facilitate the expulsion of Jews from Katif and the Northern Samaria, while razing their houses, farms and synagogues.

In late February, at the closing press conference of the annual Israel convention of the Conference of Major Jewish Organizations from North America, a journalist asked Conference Chairman James Tisch how Jewish Americans will react if the Israel Defence Forces use American-supplied law enforcement equipment to kill Jewish Israelis. The journalist also asked Tisch if it was legal to use US made law enforcement equipment in that process.

Here is the law in question:
The US Foreign Assistance Act

Clause (a)(1) of the Human Rights amendment to the US Foreign Assistance Act clearly states that “ a principal goal of the foreign policy of the United States shall be to promote the increased observance of internationally recognized human rights by all countries …no security assistance may be provided to any country the government of which engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights…Assistance may not be provided… to a country the government of which engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights”

The law goes on to state that “The President is directed to formulate and conduct international security assistance programs of the United States in a manner which will promote and advance human rights and avoid identification of the United States, through such programs, with governments which deny to their people internationally recognized human rights and fundamental freedoms, in violation of international law or in contravention of the policy of the United States”.

This law also mandates that “United States has taken to promote respect for and observance of human rights in that country and discourage any practices which are inimical to internationally recognized human rights, and publicly or privately call attention to, and disassociate United States and any security assistance provided for such country from, such practices”. This US law defines ''gross violations of internationally recognized human rights'' includes …flagrant denial of the right to life, liberty, or the security of persons”

Prof. Eliav Schochetman, Hebrew Professor of Law Emeritus and Dean of the Shaari Mishpat Law College, testified last month at the Israeli Knesset Parlimentary Law Committee that the decision of the state of Israel to demolish the homes and villages of 10,000 citizens, represents the kind of human rights infraction that is described in the human rights amendment to US Foreign Assistance Act would violate the constraints of Israel’s own “Basic Human Rights Law" which oversees Israeli democratic institutions in matters of human rights and civil liberties, in the same way that the US Bill of Rights ensures that the US government can never trample on the human rights and civil liberties of American citizens. In his testimony, Schochetman noted that this Israeli government decision represents a violation of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to which all democratic governments are adherents. Schochetmen added that Israel’s decision to expel Jews from their homes, would represent a wanton violation of basic human rights and civil liberties that are protected under Israeli and international human rights law.

Prof. Schochetman cited clause 9 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which
mandates that it is illegal for sovereign governments to expel their citizens and ethnic minorities from their homes, from their private properties or from their farms.

Since the only group that Israel has slated for expulsion would be Jews, it may be recalled that the government of Serbia was recently held liable for international prosecution at the International High Court of Justice in the Hague, under the charge of "ethnic cleansing", after leaders of Serbia expelled an ethnic minority, solely because of their religion.

Schochetman also mentioned the clauses in the San Remo Treaty that was ratified by the League of Nations and then by the United Nations which provide international protection for Jews to purchase and dwell in the "Jewish Homeland", defined as any land which lies anywhere east of the Jordan River.

Since the Israeli government intends to use US supplied law enforcement equipment in its proposed expulsion, the question remains: Will the US Congress and will the American people allow for the use of US supplied law enforcement equipment in such a process that violates human rights and civil liberties?

This has now become an American issue.

Civil disobedience... yep, that's a felony charge.

2005-03-21T10:36:00.000-05:00

Morning y'all! It just gets better each day!

This here is a riot...those crazy NZ'ers...

New Zealand MK: 'Make Vanunu Citizen'
12:59 Mar 21, '05 / 10 Adar 5765

(IsraelNN.com) A New Zealand parliament member jibed Israel today with a suggestion that his country grant Mordechai Vanunu citizenship as a response to suspicions that Israeli intelligence officials forged New Zealand passports. Vanunu worked in the Dimona nuclear facility until he leaked information on Israel's nuclear capability. Israel last year freed him from jail after he served 18 years.

New Zealand legislator Keith Locke of the Green Party said Vanunu deserves freedom. Locke said giving him New Zealand citizenship would be significant because the country is nuclear-free.

Good, 18 years for leaking classified information. Let's compare that with the Attorney General that's in sharon's pocket, and what he thinks deserves prison time...

A-G Mazuz: 20 Years in Jail for Traffic Jammers
13:59 Mar 21, '05 / 10 Adar 5765

(IsraelNN.com) Anti-disengagement protesters who seriously disrupt traffic face up to 20 years in jail, Attorney General Meni Mazuz warned today. He told police officials that freedom of expression does not include causing civil disturbances. A few dozen protesters last week tied up Tel Aviv traffic for hours when they burned tires on a major highway.

Mazuz said he will seek the harshest punishment possible under the law. He added that disturbing traffic restricts the public's freedom. Police official have said that the toughest part of the planned evacuation this summer might be demonstrations throughout the country at the same time that most of the police force will be in the 25 Jewish communities to be dismantled.

I'm still a little upset that when the LLLabor union workers shut down the ports, I had to wait over 2 months for much needed shipment from home to arrive.

...waiting for fair and balanced treatment...

Go ahead and whitewash, MSM whores

2005-03-18T09:56:00.000-05:00

The internet does not forget.

Please note that these are the LLL papers, the same ones that have been pushing ariel sharon's psychotically suicidal disengagement plan. It is no wonder that they care not about morals, intereseted only in their own profit.

Haaretz, Fri., March 18, 2005 Adar2 8, 5765

Newspapers fined over prostitution ads

By Itim

For the first time in Israel, major newspapers have been fined for advertising prostitution services, and senior managers in charge of the advertising sections have been penalized.

Justice Daniel Beeri of Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court fined Yedioth Ahronoth, Maariv and the Schocken network, which owns Haaretz, NIS 125,000 each. The senior editors who stood trial and were responsible for running the ads were given community service of 150 hours each.

However, the judge expunged the criminal record, claiming a criminal conviction could harm the defendants' future.

The law prohibiting the advertisement of prostitution services is
relatively new, and the maximum penalty is six months in prison. When
meting out the punishment, Beeri said he took into account that this is
the first trial on the issue.

The three newspapers were accused of publishing 500 ads for prostitution
services between the years 2001 and 2004, on an almost daily basis.

The prosecution asked for the conviction of the newspapers' senior management: Haaretz's managing director Yosef Warshavski, Maariv managing director Ron Kleinfeld, and Ronen Shapira, who is charge of the ads page at Yedioth Ahronoth.

The prosecution claimed that the newspapers were motivated by profit of
millions of shekels, and that each ad brought in NIS 20,000-30,000.

The newspapers said the law passed in the Knesset prohibiting prostitution
ads was ambiguous and susceptible to different interpretations. The
newspapers' attorneys said their clients had tried to cope with the law by
changing the wording of the ads, and that other papers had violated the
law, but "for some reason" the large three papers were taken to task and
tried.

History repeating?

2005-03-16T10:39:00.000-05:00

Apparently today Joseph Biden, a sane member of the Democratic Party was on Israel Radio, and expressed concern over speculation that ariel sharon's might be in danger.

The Israeli government quickly found a scapegoat, just in case.

Yigal Amir's Brother Charged With Threatening Sharon
15:32 Mar 16, '05 / 5 Adar 5765

(IsraelNN.com) Police have charged Hagai Amir, brother of the assassin of Yitzchak Rabin, with threatening to kill Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. After prison guards restricted telephone privileges of imprisoned Yigal Amir's and family members had not heard from him, his brother Hagai visited and told a prison guard, "Are you afraid I'll assassinate Sharon?"

He added that he could arrange to have the prime minister killed, and the guards reported the conversation to authorities who arrested him.

Note that he never said he had any plans to, which for someone in his position would be the dumbest thing ever, given that he has most likely been under constant surveillance for years now. I just have to say, if anybody offs sharon, my bet is still that it was ordered by shimon peres. Just like last time.

Legal argument against the "disengagement"

2005-03-15T14:15:00.000-05:00

For immediate release:
Yoram Schifftan on why the sharon ~~hitnakut~~ ~~disengagement~~ PLO Empowerment Plan is patently illegal.

Professors For a Strong Israel Press Release

2005-03-15T12:55:00.000-05:00

Professors for a Strong Israel
Statement to the Press - 15 March 2005
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Re: He hasn't learned a thing

Surely at the dedication ceremony at Yad Vashem the Prime Minister will
repeat slogans about the lessons of the Shoah and about keeping alive its
memory. By his deeds Sharon has shown that he has forgotten it all. In
return for handing over Jericho to the Palestinian Terror Authority,
Sharon has received from Abu Mazen (himself a Holocaust denier) the
release of the murderers of Rehavam Zeevi, late Minister in Sharon's
government. When Sharon's Israel considers seriously the release of
terrorist murderers, is it any wonder that the terrorist release their
brethren?

Professors for a Strong Israel demands that the Prime Minister revoke the
surrender of Jericho to the rule of terrorists and murderers.

Dr. Ron Breiman, Chairman of PSI

Likud Labor League - the new LLL

2005-03-15T10:06:00.000-05:00

Israel Reaching Out to Dovish Groups In Bid To Counteract Conservatives Seeks Support For Gaza Plan
Israel's ambassador in Washington, Danny Ayalon, is slated to take part in a March 14 forum on Capitol Hill, hosted by Americans for Peace Now, a group that supports Israel's dovish Peace Now movement and regularly criticizes Israeli settlement policies. The group historically has had little contact with representatives of Israel's Likud-led governments.

And with good reason. They are insane, and only support violence when it supports their ends, like fighting with Jewish soldiers and acting as human sheilds for terrorists.

The scheduled appearances of Ayalon and Olmert are said to be part of an intense campaign recently launched by Israeli diplomats in the United States to rally American and Jewish public support for the disengagement plan and the resumption of Israeli contacts with the Palestinian Authority. The main goal, Israeli diplomats said, is to counteract the efforts of politically conservative Jews and evangelical Christians who oppose Israel's plan to withdraw from Gaza, and dismantle four West Bank settlements, in July.

He is, of course, admitting that this policy is LLLeftist.

The ZOA's national president, Morton Klein, said he rejects the Israeli argument that Jewish groups in America must support policies pushed by Jerusalem. American Jews have a right — indeed an obligation — to oppose Israeli policies they think are damaging to Israel, he said. Klein added that his group is launching a newspaper advertisement campaign this week to publicize anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish comments made by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

I like Klein. He's a good Jew, and we need good Jews, because there are way too many sniveling, whiny, spineless Jews...

Bush's push for aid received a boost this week from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the lobbying powerhouse known as Aipac. The group's spokesman, Josh Block, stated that "there is a historic opportunity for progress" and said Aipac supports "aid to the Palestinians with the right oversight." [Here's what I'd call the appropriate oversight]

Communal leaders say that pro-disengagement forces are not being rallied. "It is therefore necessary to mobilize the majority that is supportive, and it is very important that Israeli officials will be involved in doing that," said Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League. In turn, Foxman added, Jewish communal leaders ought to be doing more to help Israel's government. "It is very important that the president, his administration, Congress and the American people appreciate the support of America's Jewish community for Sharon's plan," he said.

Really, Abe. How nice of you to determine the fate of Israeli Jews from your comfortable home in the USA. Why don't you help Israel by, oh, lemme think here a second... I got it! Actually becoming part of it, and living in the ancestral JEWISH homeland? Silly me, you might have to give up your Lexus! I couldn't ask you to make any kind of personal sacrifice for something you claim to believe in.

"The historic point in time that the Middle East is passing through right now is also being reflected in the public diplomacy efforts of Israel and American Jewish organizations," said Lewis Roth, assistant executive director of Americans for Peace Now.
In an APN article:
Professor Rosenblum said that Muslim students, while denouncing the attack, felt it was important to understand the grievances of Muslims overseas. That position, however, earned them the scorn of those who felt the only appropriate response was a swift and military one.

"It was hard to teach in a classroom where students had such preconceived ideas and had essentially become propagandists for their own side," he said. "It was quite nasty and ruthless in the classroom."

The course was his response.

His idea was to get students to examine their feelings on the Middle East, then use the rest of the semester to make the best possible case for the other side. He brought in Israeli and Palestinian speakers, and United States government officials. Within a few weeks, classes were running nearly twice as long as scheduled.

"I did not expect anybody to change their position," he said. "My job is just to get you to feel a little bit of confusion by revealing that what you thought was a black and white struggle has a little more gray."
"There is now a broader center on issues dealing with the peace process, and organizations such as APN are a part of that center."

Note that he doesn't make an anaolgy like "shake some cobwebs out" or "shed some light and clear things up". No. This Uncle Chom specifically states that he wants to create confusion, and this man is a teacher how?

If Peace Now is now part of the center, than I guess you could say that I'm on the far-right center, but still part of this "broad center". In fact, I think I'll start a new organization called Organization for War Now. "You've been OWNed." has a nice ring to it...

Good idea, Mofaz. Just wonderful.

2005-03-14T18:21:00.000-05:00

Jericho to PA on Wednesday; Tulkarm, Kalkilya Next in Turn
00:26 Mar 15, '05 / 4 Adar 5765

(IsraelNN.com) Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz late Monday night agreed to turn over control of Jericho to the Palestinian Authority (PA) on Wednesday and Tulkarm early next week. Kalkilya, near Kfar Saba, will be the next city in line to become full responsibility of the PA, according to Mofaz.

The Defense Minister met for several hours with PA Interior Minister Nasser Yousef at a hotel in Herzilya, north of Tel Aviv.

Giving the PA control of Jericho has been delayed because of Israeli demands for guarantees of safety for travelers around the city on the main highway between the Dead Sea, east of Jerusalem, and the Bet She'an and Tiberias to the north. Under the new agreement, Israel will control the road, but the PA can begin training police in the city.

My Spidey-sense tells me there's going to be a major attack sometime within 7 days from now. Sounds kinda like "The Ring", except this video, we've all seen.

LLL vs Sharansky

2005-03-14T16:24:00.000-05:00

Wow, is all I can say- This is really thorough, and will likely take y'all awhile to bounce around all the separate links...

Excellent Steven Plaut article

What's in store for Gaza?

2005-03-14T15:35:00.000-05:00

Please note that all of these pics are labeled as "Jewish Right-Wing protestors. Please also note that none of the security forces are wearing any kind of identiifying badges, so that none of them can be singled out for prosecution of abuses. They will all be simply "following orders".

No badges here

No badge here either

This one has rank...

How many guys does it take?

Still none

I was alerted to this while reading something Posted here

oh, the irony

2005-03-12T23:46:00.000-05:00

Here's a little nugget o' insanity I found while diggin up some info about the attack by a Australian Christian on the Golden Zit on the face of Jerusalem...

There is a false sura, (chapter), called al-Muslimoon[bat -ed]. In the true Holy Quran there is no such sura. Whilst reading this fake sura one gets a sense of Islam condemning the other, believers of the book, and descendants of Prophet Adam. This is false, untrue. There is another fake ‘Quran’ website that has been found to originate from Israel and the Zionist influences. They have very simply called their site: http://www.thequran.com

This seems to be a very clear and simple guide to studying the Holy Quran but it is a false ‘Quran’. To battle these corrupted website organizers, it is necessary to log onto true websites. Check and double-check your sources. The words of the Holy Quran have descended from God and has not been re-written or wrongly interpreted since its descent in 610 A.D. almost 1500 years.

So lemme get this straight... never been misinterpreted, so what their saying is that all the fatwas, jihad, etc...is absolutely correct interpretation of the ~~necronomicon~~ koran. Whew! I was having a little trouble there wrapping my brain around that...

Good Jews and Christians, [dhimmis -ed] believers in the Book, may be turned against innocent Muslims and Islam by way of these fake ‘Quran’ websites.

Or maybe possibly by watching what muslims do to themselves, each other, and anybody who disagrees with them... Beware the fake, but accurate websites, oh unschooled dhimmi!!

1 year after Madrid

2005-03-11T14:12:00.000-05:00

Madrid Bombings

Europe still doesn't get it.

"sharon has gall"...

2005-03-11T07:21:00.000-05:00

To honor the spirit of International Women's day, an Iranian woman got up on a Lufthansa plane and demanded freedom for Iran.

arik sharon, however, used the day to show his egocentric disregard for women, calling on the wives of Likud members to try and convince them to pass his budget and keep his suicidal plan going. Nothing shows respect like begging and cajoling a whole bunch of women at once to "use their influence" on their husbands to change their minds... I dunno, I thought the idea of marriage was that the couple would act as one, not subject to outside pressure on what they do or think...

good luck arik. Oh, and how did the begging go over with anti-Jew paritzky and the arabs?

Here are some relevant quotes:

PM Sharon Turns to MKs Wives in Attempt to Influence Budget Vote
09:33 Mar 11, '05 / 30 Adar 5765

(IsraelNN.com) Prime Minister Ariel Sharon made an appeal to the wives of Likud MKs Thursday night, asking that they prevent the toppling of the government by convincing their spouses to vote for the state budget.

"We are facing a problem today," Sharon said, at a Likud observance of International Women's Day. "Our problem is that there is a group within the Likud faction that is threatening to vote against the budget and thereby topple a Likud government. This has to be made clear: A vote against the budget means the toppling of our government. I am sure that none of you wants this to happen, and I am sure that you will make every effort to prevent the toppling of the Likud government...

"I ask you to use your influence and make every effort to prevent a situation in which a Likud government falls due to the fact that a group among the Likud Knesset faction is announcing that it will vote against the budget on the day it is presented."

Likud C´tral C´tee Member: Sharon Has Gall Asking Us Not to Topple Gov´t
11:27 Mar 11, '05 / 30 Adar 5765

(IsraelNN.com) Likud Central Committee member Stella Avidan from the Yad Eliyahu branch, took part in the meeting last night between Likud women and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in honor of International Women's Day.

She responded on the Likudnik web site to Sharon's request that the women "convince their husbands" to refrain from toppling his government. "How can he ask us not to bring down his government?" Avidan asked. "The Prime Minister has trampled every recent decision the Likud Central Committee has made. The Prime Minister has forgotten the Likud platform yet he still has the gall to ask us to prevent the fall of this government, which has acted contrary to the way of the Likud and has absolutely no mandate?"

Avidan said she asked Sharon why he has not honored the decisions of the Likud Central Committee, the most recent one requiring a national referendum on his plan to expel the Jews of Gaza and northern Samaria from their homes. "Sharon persisted in evading the question, saying not to mix politics with the budget," she said.

MK Uzi Landau: Sharon Agreed to Meet Abu Mazen But Not Members of His Own Party
09:30 Mar 11, '05 / 30 Adar 5765

(IsraelNN.com) MK Uzi Landau, one of the leading anti-disengagement forces within the Likud, said last night that PM Sharon continues to cynically maneuver himself within the farcical system he [the PM] insists is Israeli democracy.

"The Prime Minister repeats his known monologue, yet he alone will be responsible for the downfall of the government," Landau said, responding to Sharon's pleas to the wives of Likud MKs to influence their spouses to vote in favor of the 2005 budget. If the Knesset fails to pass the state budget by March 31, the government will dissolve and new elections will take place on June 28. Opponents of the Gaza and Jenin pullout believe that the toppling of the government is the only way to delay the implementation of the disengagement plan. "Sharon agrees to sit with [PA chairman] Abu Mazen but refuses to meet with members of his own party," Landau said.

Columbia, Colorado..... Hebrew U?

2005-03-10T15:40:00.000-05:00

Could be that some of the same attention that is given to exposing the blatant academic fraud and hypocrisy that permeate American universities' humanities departments in their perpetration of rabid antisemitism and blood libels, be turned to cleaning out the raging self-hatred being preached in schools in Israel itself...

Now what I also notice from this is that Abe Foxman talks a great deal, but apparently doesn't seem to DO very much. When he does, it's usually aimed more at scuttling the actions of Morton Klein, of the ZOA, whom Foxman regards as "extreme" and regularly (according to a personal conversation with Klein) sends vitriolic, hate filled messages to him. Bergman, from this article, had to threaten Foxman with exposing the ADL's irrelevancy to force him into doing anything at all.

Heb U Rector Haim Rabinowitz (mailto:haimr@huji.ac.il), and his spokesperson, Orit Sulitzeanu (mailto:orits@huji.ac.il Tel: 972-052-608016), need to have some accountability in this matter, as they have allowed it to pass with nary a reprimand of Zimmerman.

Once again, the liberal academics and media are free in their comparison of Israel's treatment of the arabs as being reminiscent of the reich, while completely ignoring the actual resemblance of sharon's treatment of Jews, which actally does resemble the events and laws that were passed in Germany in the years leading up to the Shoah.

The same article in Hebrew:
-------------
Haaretz, Thu., March 10, 2005 Adar1 29, 5765

When the anti-Israel sentiment comes from within

By Yair Sheleg

For years, Jewish organizations and their leaders seeking to contend with
blatant anti-Israel statements have encountered the response, "What do you
mean? Similar statements are made in Israel, by Israelis."

A few weeks ago, there was a new precedent for this phenomenon. Abraham
Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, sent a letter to
Hebrew University President Prof. Menachem Megidor demanding a public
response to statements made by the head of the university's German studies
department, Prof. Moshe Zimmerman. According to the letter, Zimmerman
compared Israel Defense Forces soldiers to Nazis.

University authorities in effect failed to say a thing to Zimmerman.
Moreover, the university rector, Dan Rabinowitz, demanded that the former
leader of the Jewish community in Berlin, Dr. Alexander Brenner, apologize
for his statement that "there are professors at the Hebrew University who
compare the behavior of IDF soldiers to the behavior of SS soldiers."

Foxman decided to intervene after the matter was brought to his attention
in repeated requests from one of the university's lecturers, Dr. Yaacov
Bergman of the School of Business Administration. Bergman, who says that
he leans to the political right since the events of September 11, 2001, is
leading a campaign over Zimmerman's statements, not only on the political
front but also mainly as part of a struggle for the image of universities
in Israel. His own university, he says, "acts as a guild primarily
protecting the interests of its own members, as opposed to the interests
of the public."

In applying pressure to Foxman, Bergman took advantage of the fact that
Foxman has been embroiled in a similar affair in New York in recent
months. There, in a scandal that made waves across the United States,
Foxman urged Columbia University leaders to denounce Arab professors in
the Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures Department, who regularly
question the legitimacy of Israel.

In the wake of the media storm, Columbia President Lee Bollinger decided
to cancel a controversial course entitled "Palestinians and Israel,"
taught by Prof. Joseph Massad. Massad was quoted as having said in a
lecture that "The Jewish state is a racist state that does not have a
right to exist," and that Ariel Sharon "resembles Nazi propaganda minister
Joseph Goebbels."

Another professor, Hamid Dabashi, was quoted as having said that Israel is
"a ghastly state of racism and apartheid," and called Israel's supporters
"Gestapo apparatchiks." Dabashi later announced that he had decided to
exercise caution regarding his public statements, and canceled several
public appearances.

Foxman writes to Megidor

Foxman did not enter lightly into the Zimmerman affair at the Hebrew
University. Bergman says that he threatened Anti-Defamation League
personnel that if they do not intervene here, he would "pick up the
telephone and call Bollinger's office to tell him that he does not need to
take them seriously."

In recent months, Bergman consistently leaned on Ken Jacobson, who heads
the Anti-Defamation League's International Department, to the point where
Jacobson angrily responded, "I do not respect your pressure tactics."

However, the pressure appears to have worked. On February 16, after a few
weeks of correspondence, Foxman wrote a letter to Megidor. In his letter
he notes that, "While any professor has the right to express his or her
views, it seems to me that the university administration has an obligation
to consider when certain views are beyond the pale and harmful to the
institution and the Jewish People. I believe leaders of institutions have
an obligation to speak out when hateful messages are conveyed, and to
consider taking certain actions against those individuals who are
articulating such messages."

As the letter's tone makes clear, Foxman does not point to specific
actions. "Because of my feelings regarding the question of freedom of
expression and academic freedom, I also did not demand that Columbia
University take specific steps," he told Haaretz. "I only demanded that
action be taken in this matter, and that is what I demand of the Hebrew
University."

Foxman said he indeed approached Megidor with a measure of hesitation
partially because a Jewish and Israeli institution was involved.

"However, I cannot finally adhere to a double-standard: One demand of
Columbia University and another of Hebrew University."

The affair began in August 2001, with an article written by historian Anat
Peri for Haaretz. Peri's article investigated the image of Europe and its
relations to Israel. Peri wrote a sentence stating that while smaller
European nations denounced Israel and compared Israel to Nazi Germany,
"Germany, which cannot afford to denounce Israel as the equivalent of Nazi
Germany, supports any Israeli person or group who compares Israel to the
Nazis, from B'tselem to Prof. Moshe Zimmerman."

Zimmerman filed a libel suit against Peri and Haaretz. It is not
Zimmerman's first libel suit. The late Rehavam Ze'evi sued him for libel
in response to an article in the weekly Jerusalem that compared members of
the right-wing to Nazis. In 2000, Ze'evi won that suit. This time, too,
Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court Judge Yehudit Shevah accepted the assertions
of Peri and Haaretz that Zimmerman did compare Israeli organizations and
individuals to Nazis, on various occasions. She even cited some examples,
"Between Hebron youth and Hitler Youth, between the motivation and
conditions of service in some of the IDF's elite units and that of the
Waffen SS, between Israeli soccer fans and those of the Third Reich, and
between the Old Testament and Mein Kampf."

Zimmerman writes to Brenner

In January 2004, about two months before Zimmerman's suit was dismissed,
Alexander Brenner was interviewed on Israel Radio in a program about new
European anti-Semitism. "The fact that Hebrew University professors
compare Israel to the Nazis fans the flames of German anti-Semitism," he
complained. A few days later, Brenner received a letter from Zimmerman
demanding an apology, on the grounds that, "The faculty at the Hebrew
University may assume that you were hinting about me."

He received another request to apologize several weeks later. This letter,
signed by Hebrew University Rector Haim Rabinowitz, actually included a
proposed script outlining the language of the apology.

Bergman is convinced that the timing of both demands for an apology is not
coincidental. "Zimmerman knew that a judgment in his case was about to be
made public, and believed that Brenner's apology regarding such an
indictment would influence the magistrate."

The demands made of Brenner were exposed in another article, written by
Peri for Maariv in July, entitled, "The Hebrew University's Disgrace." The
article was accompanied by a response from the university's spokeswoman,
Orit Sulitzeanu. According to Sulitzeanu, "The rector believed, based on
information which he received, that Dr. Brenner was interested in
apologizing to the professors of the university, and, therefore, he was
offered a proposed transcript of a letter which would make it possible for
him to withdraw his general indictment of them. In retrospect, the rector
believes that he should not have become involved in the matter.
Zimmerman's reaction to this reticent response was a letter to Maariv
attacking the rector for his failure to meet his obligation to protect
fellow members of the academic faculty at the university."

Brenner's response was unavailable this week. University spokeswoman
Sulitzeanu reiterated her claim that the rector believed, "that Dr.
Brenner is interested in apologizing in order to put an end to the
affair."

Even when asked, the spokeswoman failed to address Foxman's demand that
the university administration respond to Zimmerman's statements. According
to Sulitzeanu, the letter reached the university president's office only
this week.

Zimmerman, for his part, does not hesitate to attack. "Brenner's
accusations toward me are unfounded, even after Judge Shevah's ruling," he
said. "Because, with all due respect, we are talking about the
Magistrate's Court, and I have already filed an appeal with the District
Court."

Zimmerman does not deny the existence of comparisons he has made between
aspects of the Nazi period and present-day Israel, but concludes that they
are "The comparisons of a historian, based on his professional principles.
Comparison does not mean that both sides are necessarily equivalent."

Regarding the involvement of Bergman and Foxman in the affair, he says, "I
don't have to respond to every barking dog in the street," and criticizes
Foxman's failure to contact him before turning to university
administration. "People have to know the facts before they start running
around," he says.

Foxman, in turn, said: "It is not my role to conduct a dialogue with this
professor. And what could he possibly tell me? That Israel really does
resemble the Nazis? What concerns me is that the university handle this."

Foxman promises to continue to confront those who compare Israel with the
Nazis in the future, "exactly as we do in regard to people who are not
Israelis or Jews. We must not say that it is forbidden for some and
permissible for others."

Trusting fools...

2005-03-10T11:10:00.000-05:00

#1 Quote as distributed by the Prime Minister's Media Advisor:

"Jews will continue to pray at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron >and to live there."
PRIME MINISTER ARIEL SHARON'S COMMENTS IN THE KNESSET
(Communicated by the Prime Minister's Media Adviser)
Monday, 07 March, 2005

#2 Quote as distributed by the Foreign Ministry in "Israel Line"

"Jews will continue to pray at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron," Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon said today in response to the shooting attack.
Israel Line - Monday, March 7, 2005
Today's Israel Line was prepared by Victor Chemtob at the Consulate General of Israel in New York | www.israelfm.org
Israel Line is a daily summary of news items taken directly from the Israeli
media.

Anyone got an agenda? Anyone trust sharon (spit) when he said this anyway? Lesse...

Telephone poll carried out by "Brain Base" ["Maagar Mochot"] of a representative sample of 495 adult Israelis (including Israeli Arabs) and a representative sample of 357 people on the rolls of the Likud Party under the direction of Prof.Y.Katz for Israel Radio's "Another Matter" program on 9 March 2005.

[Right voters = vote NRP and National Union]

The prime minister declared this week in the wake of the shooting of
soldiers near the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron that Jews will continue
to live in Hebron. In our opinion, will the prime minister remain loyal to
his declaration?
Total: Yes 33% No 46% Other 21%
Likud voters: Yes 31% No 49% Other 20%
Labor voters: Yes 38% No 38% Other 24%
Shinui voters: Yes 42% No 58% Other 0%
Right voters: Yes 3% No 86% Other 11%

Dr. Aaron Lerner, Director IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis)
Website: http://www.imra.org.il

Moral of the story, nobody believes a traitor, not even those who's agenda he's pushing. New elections and good riddance to bad rubbish.

Someone in Belgium loves me...

2005-03-10T00:16:00.000-05:00

Apparently awhile back I got my Jew-haters mixed up in a post of mine on www.LittleGreenFootballs.com. It was picked up by a Belgian poster here.

standard
Post count: 154

quote this post 18/02/2005 18:21:00
This is my favoured:
"#7 alkmyst 2/17/2005 04:49PM PST
Whaddya expect from the country that hosts the Hague International Court of InJustice?"

Hehehe...

I guess being the seat of the anti-Jewish -ahem- I meant to say, anti"zionist" EUtopians is soooooooo much better.

BTW, if someone wants to fill me in here, who bent over for the Germans first in WWII? Was it Belgium or the Netherlands?

Have fun when they give you the choice of your ass in the air 5 times a day, jizya/dhimmitude, or the sword.

Ya fight God's law and God's law will win.

2005-03-09T22:21:00.000-05:00

I can't wait to meet these guys. Finally more than one person involved in law that I can respect :-)

The Sanhedrin´s Declaration Concerning the Disengagement
17:08 Mar 08, '05 / 27 Adar 5765

The reestablished Sanhedrin has concluded extensive deliberations on the disengagement plan, rejecting it as a contradiction to the Torah of Israel.

The current format of the Sanhedrin is the renewal of the historic Sanhedrin, Judaism's highest legal-religious tribunal during Holy Temple times. The 71-man assembly convened in one of the Holy Temple chambers, and existed from several decades before the Common Era until roughly 425 C.E. The renewed body was launched last year in Tiberias, and convenes in Jerusalem.

Following an intensive study and debate on the issue and its halakhic [Jewish legal] implications, the Sanhedrin drafted a declaration Monday, stating inter alia:

* The disengagement plan, involving the uprooting of Jewish communities in Gaza and Samaria and the abandonment of these areas to a foreign entity, is in direct contradiction to the Torah of Israel, and is null and void. Future governments of Israel will have to re-conquer the areas in question.

* The decision to implement the uprooting will cause large numbers of Jews to transgress many of the Torah's commandments.

* The Government of Israel and the Knesset, in their present form and power structure, are institutions that have no authority according to Jewish Law to render decisions that contradict the Torah of Israel.

* No Jew is permitted to cooperate with the program of uprooting, in any way whatsoever.

* Any Jew – including a soldier or policeman – who supports the uprooting, whether directly or indirectly, whether by voting in its favor, or by giving counsel, or by supplying vehicles or materials, and certainly anyone who actively participates in the uprooting, thus transgresses a large number of Torah commandments, such as not standing idly by one's neighbor's blood (Lev. 19,17).

* The uprooting of the residents of the Gaza Strip and Samaria is a crime and an injustice to the residents, and places many other communities – in fact, all citizens of the State of Israel – in mortal danger.

* By this declaration, the Sanhedrin, as the link of continuity of the Torah received by Moses at Sinai, hereby expresses the stance of Israel's Torah... The Sanhedrin, as the representative of the Jewish people throughout history, hereby affirms that the Jewish people -- regardless of this or that government -- does not relinquish, and is not entitled to relinquish, so much as the span of a solitary man's foot of the Land of Israel according to its Biblical boundaries, for it is G-d's land.

My lying eyes

2005-03-09T22:15:00.000-05:00

I must need to update my perscription, because the 2 pictures here in the highly questionable Jerusalem Post article do not seem to make sense to me...

The media wouldn't be using deceptive tactics to try and push an agenda would they? The Newspapers are out to report the truth!

sharon hits bottom, shows true colors yet again

2005-03-09T21:54:00.000-05:00

In the only way he can save his political power, sharon is desperately struggling to make sure the budget gets passed.

PM Sharon Trying to Recruit Budget Supporters
21:55 Mar 09, '05 / 28 Adar 5765

(IsraelNN.com) Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is to meet with Knesset Member Yosef Paritzky, who is a single-man faction, to persuade him to support the government in the upcoming parliamentary vote on the national budget.

MK Paritzky was removed from the ultra-secularist Shinui party last year when his semi-legal political machinations against a fellow Shinui leader were made public. He resigned as a minister as a result, but remained in the Knesset.

Left out of this artlicle is that paritzsky was not thrown out of shinui for his views, of which he expressed by refusing to even sit in the same room as somone wearing a kippah.

Good job, arik. Go beg the arabs next.

Columbia gets something right...

2005-03-06T19:59:00.000-05:00

Well, as was pointed out by one of the speakers of the event, it was very nice of Comlumbia University to allow some freedom of speech inside it's own campus that was highly critical of it.

Here's my quick summation of my impressions of those who spoke: (from the time I arrived)

Rachel Erhenfeld: Excellent

Natan Sharansky (via videolink): Excellent as always

Donna Divine: Weak - didn't say much and seems to have opened her mind a little too wide - it seems to be leaking.

Phyllis Chesler: Amazing!!! This woman came from the Femminist movement, and made every point about islam that feminists everywhere should be making. she drew some fire from someone (either paleonazi or more likely, ISM, given that I found afterward a note on the floor that read "that's funny, I've been on ISM twice and have never heard of an 'ISM rally' " Those someones that were in the audience apparently (I was in the overflow room at the time) got incensed when she said that Israel's army is moral, saying "I got shot twice by the IDF". A few people put tape over their mouths, and were allowed to leave, without too much incident. Chesler handled them very well, I thought, not giving them the attention they so desperately wanted.
She's one to watch!

Martin Kramer (via vidlink): Could've been stronger in his wording, but he gave a decent speech.

Charles Jacobs: Whoa. This guy started off with "I want you all to write down a word - dhimmi" Awesome. He also came out with this one - "Edward Said NEUTERED the Left"! It doesn't get any better! He was a powerhouse, not letting up for a second, although he did turn over the floor to, and I apologize for not hearing all their names correctly, Simon Dang, from Sudan, who had been victimized by the slaverly practices by muzzlenazis there, and wondered why it is that Sudan is included in the Middle East for many purposes, but not for others, which is allowing the academic institutions to gloss over it, calling it an "African" problem there, as opposed to what it really is - a muzzlenazi one - murders to the tune of 900,000 blacks since 1994, that has been ignored by the UN, EU, LLL, etc... Oh, and he reminded everybody that OBL got his start in Sudan. Also, 3 other black muslim speakers from Darfur and Mauritania desribed the arab muzzlenazi atrocities there, the slavery they perpetrate, and the death and destruction that ensue. One of them mentioned that he went to the mosques internationally to ask for help, he went asked the UN, and the people that wound up helping him and others with him turned out to be none other than those evil, Zionist occupiers and crusaders - that's right - Jews and Christians helped his people. I got to talk with Simon afterward, and was sorry he didn't have more time, to explain a little about how those WMD's that never showed up in Iraq somehow found their way thru Syria to get to Darfur... I'm betting eventually he'll realize what had been going on there is what's at the root of islam, and leave it permanently.

David Werpin: talked alot but didn't say much - good politician material

Alan Dershowitz (Video Archive from Feb 7, 2005 at Columbia): Weak - I never liked Dershowitz, and he reminded me why... Don't get me wrong - he's got skills, and he's getting somewhat better than he used to be, but he couldn't resist showing his true feeling towards his ancestry by playing to the non-Jews that he is so verrrrryyyy egalitarian by coming out with nugget of manure, "Edward Said is the Meir Kahane of the palestinians." This is wrong on SO many levels. First, Edward Said is for the elimination of all Jews. Kahane was for arabs leaving Israel alone. Said was a career propagandist that got kicked out of his own community, and spouted his evil bile from a tenured position. Kahane was elected to the Knesset, and the government was so scared of it that they had to make an entirely new law that only applied to Kahane not being allowed in the Knesset. Said died of natural causes. Kahane was murdered, his murderer was never brought to justice, and wound up being one of the terrorists of the first attack on the WTC. Oh, and I've heard an audiotape of Derhowitz debating Kahane from back in ~1978, where Kahane WIPES THE FLOOR with him. For all his lawyering arguing skills, he can't defend against the eternal truths of Torah, and it shows.

Gifford Miller: Missed it, but was informed that he didn't say much

Efraim Karsh: This guy was funny, but a bit pessimistic. He brought up good questions, but offered no real solutions. Apparently he was blackballed for following the footsteps of Eli Kadour, MidEast historian.

Nat Hentoff: Missed it, but I bet that Atlas Shrugged will tell you more about him.

Rachel Fish: This girl has got it - she is really a driving force here, from Harvard Divinity School to the David Project, she's got it going on. Oh, and her Powerpoint Kung-Fu is strong.

Debbie Schlussel: Witty, biting humor for this gal who helped the FBI take down some radical islamaniac money-funneling. Rockin'!

Brigitte Gabriel: This woman made the case and point about why the Lebanese deserve their country back, and we should all kick the Syrians and Hizbulah out. She brought a fatwa on herself by speaking out against Hizbullah, and wound up living in Israel for awhile, working in journalism (obviously not one of the LLL... She had alot of very strong words against the mullahs, and pretty much the rest of the muzzlenazis. another one to watch.

David French: Good speech, in depth as to the legal aspects of what FIRE does, and he's a lizardoid - nuff said.

Morton Klein: As the head of the ZOA, and a strong and brilliant Right-thinker, he gets alot of viscious flak from the ADL, the UJC, and the other LLL Jews that currently have "credibility" in the US. For someone with Tourette's to get up and speak in front of crowds like he does, well, I'm just simply impressed beyond measure.

Kenneth Jacobson: ADL assoc.dir. Weak. Not impressed.

Martin Peretz: Didn't catch most of it,

I was preoccupied with following a request of my boss, and trying to convince the organizers to give him a chance to make a few unscheduled comments, but since it was already past 5 pm, they said that people wanted to go home, and denied him that opportunity.

I was unimpressed by this from the administrators, because they had someone right in front of them, who would have offered information on topics like:
what it was like growing up in Poland before the third reich invaded, about Professors for a Strong Israel, about Americans For a Safe Israel, about LLL in Universitites in both the US and Israel, about being in the Irgun Zvai Leumi - the founding of the state of Israel, the founding of the Likud party, and other points about another meeting with Sharansky that I attended with him a few weeks ago in Israel.
They decided not to go out on a limb, such is life. Maybe next time, when I take him to speak with the student body, which was sorely under-represented in the peanut gallery today. I shall be trying to organize something in the next few weeks, so keep your ears open if you're gonna be in NYC...

All in all, I gotta give credit to the organizers of this event: it was done pretty well, speakers form both side of the aisle, although the lefties were weak. It's a great thing that this was done, and we need to keep up the right fight.

Weisglass/Sharon/Rashid/Schlaff - money ties to the arabs run deep.

2005-02-26T19:07:00.000-05:00

David Bedein
Bureau Chief
Israel Resource News Agency
www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com
Tel. 02 5300125

Jericho, the Casino and the firing of the IDF Chief of Staff
by Makor Rishon Staff

Published in the weekly Israeli newspaper, "Makor Rishon", 25/2/05 [translated from the original Hebrew print edition]

It took barely an hour following the start of this week's Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting to figure out that its guest speaker, Israel Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz had quickly become the least popular person in the room. Mofaz was blasted equally by both left and right wing MK's committee members for his decision not to extend the tenure of IDF Chief of staff Moshe (Boogie) Ya'alon past July of this year, just days before the Gaza disengagement plan is slated to be carried out.

In a rare and fleeting moment of unity, Meretz MK's Yossi Sarid and National Union MK Professor Aryeh Eldad both accused Mofaz of endangering Israel's security by turning Yaalon into a "floor rag to serve the immediate needs of Mofaz and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon". Oppositon head and Shinui party Chairman Tommy Lapid also said that Mofaz had made a mistaken decision in firing Ya'alon. MK Eldad even called for Mofaz' resignation.

Committee chairman Dr Yuval Steinitz said he was too dissatisfied with Mofaz' answers and that the committee would seek specific clarifications from him, Prime Minister Sharon and even the Chief of Staff due to the seriousness of the matter.

Likud Mk Ehud Yatom pointed to Yaalon's public warnings and disapproval (as well as those of GSS Chief Avi Dichter) regarding Sharon's disengagement plan as the real reason for Yaalon's unexpected dismissal.

But according to a credible security source the main reason for Yaalon's ouster is more closely tied to the City of Jericho than it is to Gaza.

The source revealed that Ya'alon was critical of the recent set of security meetings between Mofaz and Mohammed Dahlan, Senior Advisor to PA President Mahmoud Abbas and former PA Gaza Preventative security Chief. The Chief of staff reportedly warned Mofaz against turning over Jericho to PA security control at this time. Ya'alon reportedly told Mofaz. "What can Dahlan give you. He will not be able to secure the city". Mofaz rebuffed the chief of staff reportedly telling him that "the issue is a political one and not military".

According to a source close to the Palestinian Authority, Ya'alon's fierce opposition to relinquishing IDF security control over Jericho at this time and Mofaz' and apparently Sharon's displeasure with Yaalon's warnings may also lead directly to the doors of the Jericho Casino and back to some senior offices in Israel.

The source noted that Yaalon and other senior security figures have expressed concern in the past that Jericho's casino profits --that have been estimated at more than one million dollars per day even after the start of the Al Aksa Terror war in 2000- had also been used as a prime funding source for Palestinian terror activity against Israel. As recently as this month on Channel One's Friday evening program with Amnon Zichroni, journalist Uri Dan, a close associate of Sharon, said that the Jericho casino is a source of funding for Palestinian terror groups and should not be reopened now. Dan also said the Israeli underworld and their Palestinian counterparts are cooperating in the Jericho Casino racket. " The problem, Dan added "is that the Palestinian underworld is also part of the current leadership of the PA."

Israeli concerns aside, Palestinian sources confirmed this week that returning Jericho to PA hands and its casino to full operation is now "at the top of the Palestinian agenda". West Bank strongman Jibril Rajoub and former senior Arafat financial advisor Mohammed Rashid who is known to control Arafat's several billion dollar portfolio top the list of Palestinians believed to have among the heaviest financial interests in the casino. It was also reported on radio Palestine in Arabic this week that Dahlan has been appointed Palestinian Minister for Local Government Affairs-- a post that would logically include responsibility over Jericho.

It is also well known in Israel that MK Omri Sharon, the Prime Minister's son and closest confidante and Former Sharon Bureau Chief Dov Weissglass have been long time associates of Rashid. The younger Sharon and Weissglass were reportedly Rashid's guests at his swank Tel Aviv Apartment on the night of Sharon's election victory in February 2001 according to Israeli journalists Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff in their 2004 book, The Seventh War.

An Israeli source with close ties both to the Palestinian Authority and Jordan noted this week that some Israelis and Europeans may also be interested in reopening the Jericho casino as soon as possible. A very senior Israeli security source said this week that he and others in the IDF remember "with a cynical smile the repeated approaches Weissglass made to the IDF and security establishment after the closing of the Jericho Casino in 2001 to convince them to reopen the casino."It was well known to us that Dov Weissglass had personal interests in the Jericho Casino, the senior security source added this week. The source added that he does not understand Mofaz's role in the matter.

Of equal interest is the fact that Weissglass is still actively associated with his law firm Weissglass-Almagor that until recently was the law firm of record representing the Jericho Casino and other interests of the Palestinian Authority, facts that were reported in Makor Rishon and as recently as September 2004 by investigative journalist David Bedein in the American Magazine Frontpage.com. According to Bedein, the law firm Weissglass -Almagor is today listed as representing the interests of Casino investor and European financier Martin Shlaff whose alleged financial contributions to Prime Minister Sharon's 1999 and 2001 campaigns are under criminal investigation.

Prime Minister Sharon's office responded angrily to Makor Rishon's request for clarification regarding the reported Mofaz Ya'alon discussion and the statements by separate senior security sources regarding Dov Weissglasses connection to the Jericho Casino.

The unsigned response from the office of the Prime Minister's media advisor read as follows:

"The arrangement between Israel and the Palestinians was signed between Defense Minister Mofaz and his Palestinian counterpart. Mofaz is soley responsible for transferring (security control of Palestinian) cities and he and only he will decide when to transfer them. In addition, even if the city of Jericho is transferred there is no intention of allowing Israeli citizens to enter the city, in accordance with the standing orders of the Head of IDF Central Command. The hinted charges in your request for clarification are not only a complete lie but they also contain intentional slander ":

Makor Rishon has not responded to the veiled threat made by the Prime Minister's media Advisor.

Dov Weissglass himself issued a similarly angry response some years ago against Mendy Orr, former Coordinator Israel's activities in Judea and Samaria. in the 1990's. At that time, Weissglass who was not in Government service but represented the Jericho Casino, threatened to sue Orr for slander for his public charges that that the casino funded Palestinian terror groups. Following Orr's statements that he made while in uniform, Weissglass sent him a warning that if Orr did not take back his charges against the casino Weissglass would sue him for slander. Orr ignored Weissglass's warnings.

Late last week it was also reported that Omri Sharon is expected to be indicted by Attorney General Manny Mazuz for breach of trust and illegal campaign contributions for misappropriating funds for his father's 1999 Likud primaries campaign and Sharon's 2001 campaign for prime minister. The Omri Sharon indictment is part of the ongoing investigation into his connection to various illegal funding sources including Martin Shlaff, reportedly a source of illegal campaign contributions to Sharon. Shlaff's loan to Sharon is believed by many to have been wired into the account of Sharon's South African connection and friend Cyril Kern before being transferred to Sharon's account in Israel. All these issues are still under criminal investigation.

Austrian financier Martin Shlaff is also well known as a major investor in the Jericho casino, together with Sharon longtime friend Cyril Kern.

So perhaps even IDF chief of Staff Ya'alon did not realize how raw the political was that he touched when told told Mofaz that Jericho should not be transferred so quickly to Palestinian control.

Weissglass Hypocritical traitor?

2005-02-23T13:45:00.000-05:00

David Bedein
Bureau Chief
Israel Resource News Agency
www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com
Tel. 02 5300125

THE MAN RUNNING NEGOTIATIONS FOR THE STATE OF ISRAEL CONTINUES TO REPRESENT
THE JERICHO CASINO AND THE SHARON FAMILY, DESPITE ORDERS TO THE CONTRARY

Last summer, after this news agency published a series of articles in Makor Rishon and in Front Page Magazine concerning Dov Weissglass, which revealed that Weissglass maintained his law practice while continuing to function as the director of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office, Weissglass resigned his position as office director and arrived at a special arrangement with the Israeli civil service commission which allowed him to assume the role of "special advisor" to the Prime Minister of Israel.

According to Aryeh Greenblatt, spokesman for the Israel Civil Service Commission, Weissglass now receives a 1/3 salary in this new arrangement as "special negotiations advisor to the Prime Minister".

In a letter that our agency received on October 13th, 2004 from the office of the Israeli Attorney general in respect to Dov Weissglass, the office of the Israeli attorney general formally stated that Weissglass had given an absolute commitment to "completely divest himself from his law firm" in his new position of responsibility.

In that letter, the Israeli attorney general confirmed that Weissglass's law firm indeed "represented the Jericho Casino owned and operated by an Austrian business" and that Weissglass's law firm had indeed "represented the Sharon family'" The letter did not mention that the other shareholders in the Jericho casino interests were Yassir Arafat and his security chief, Jibril Rajoub.

The Israel Defence Forces is on the record that the casino in Jericho was a major source of laundering funds for Palestinian terrorist activity.

The IDF official who made that accusation was none other than General Yaakov (Mendy) Ohr, commander of the Israel Defence Forces central region, made that accusation in January, 2001.

At the time, Weissglass, acting on behalf of the Jericho casino interests, threatened to sue General Ohr unless Ohr would withdraw that accusation. Ohr stood his ground and would not back down. Weissglass did back down, however, and never sued Ohr.

There are reports that the recently dismissed IDF commander in chief Yaalon, maintained that re-opening the casino operation in Jericho represents a security threat to the state of Israel.

However, a check with the Israel Corporate Authority reveals that Weissglass never divested himself of his partnership in his law firm, a procedure which would have been relatively easy to do.

Officials of the Israel Corporate Authority report that it would take exactly one day for Weissglass to divest himself from his law firm and to substitute the name of another lawyer in his stead.

However, Weissglass has chosen NOT to divest himself from his law firm, which continues to represent the casino interests in Jericho and which continues to represent the Sharon family.

Meanwhile, Weissglass, acting on behalf of the Prime Minister of Israel in negotiations with the Palestinian authority, has given the go-ahead to the Palestinian Authority to reopen casino in Jericho,

At the same time, the Israeli Attorney General has instructed the Israel District Attorney to indict Member of Knesset Omri Sharon for illegal financial activities on behalf of the election of his father, Ariel Sharon.

The fact that Weissglass maintains his law practice under his own name therefore assumes a double significance.

This means that the man who oversees the senstive foreign affairs and security negotiations on behalf of the state of Israel is also running a law firm for a casino that launders funds for terror activity against the state of Israel while at the same time representing MK Omri Sharon, who stands to be indicted in a case of election fraud against Weissglass's government client, the Prime Minister of the State of Israel.

Every major news agency in the state of Israel has access to this story.

Out of a show of loyalty to the policies of the Prime Minister of Israel, no other news agency in Israel will touch this subject.

Israel Channel Ten TV's Moti Kirschenbaum, the former head of the Israel Broadcasting Authority appeared yesterday on the IDF Army Radio newreel program hosted by prominent IDF Radio hoist, Razi Barklai. and stated that "There's no doubt," he told Army Radio on the same program, "that the media are dealing with the Sharon family with uncharacteristic tenderness because of their [the media's] empathy towards his diplomatic plans."

IDF Army Radio host Razi Barkai asked Kirschenbaum, "So how does it work? Is there someone above who gives out instructions of what and how to report?" Kirschenbaum said, "It's not a coordinated decision, but rather stems from the fact that the reporters and the commentators are sick of the current situation and they want to see personally if there's a chance to change the situation."

It will be instructive to see if the foreign press, as part of its in depth coverage of Israel, will act differently than the Israeli press in covering conflicts of interest which remain inherent to current Middle East negotiations.

New Poll: Majority rejects Sharon's Disengagement - Must read

2005-02-08T15:37:00.001-05:00

Reprinted with Permission of David Bedein
Bureau Chief
Israel Resource News Agency
Beit Agron International Press Center
Jerusalem, Israel
www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com
tel. 02 5300125

ISRAELI AUTHORITIES PANIC OVER NEW SURVEY RESULTS

An independent initiative to launch a national referendum on Sharon's
disengagement plan is worrying government officials who plan to do
everything they can to prevent the Israeli public from voicing their
opinion on this critical issue.

The following is a translation of an article that apperared on the
Hebrew msn site, Feb. 7, 05:
http://news.msn.co.il/news/criminallawcourt/criminal/200502/20050206165406.htm

Survey Against Referendum Suspected of Incitement

The "Jewish Alternative Disengagement Plan" is the name of the new young
competition that has arisen to challenge the Prime Minister's
disengagement plan. While The Prime Minsiter's plan speaks of separation
from the Palestinians, by way of a phased withdrawal from the territories
of Judea, Samaria and Gaza, the new plan, that is being backed by
"Mishalot Yisrael", speaks, in reality, about the transfer of the Arabs.

The registered organization (Mishalot Yisrael), commissioned a survey
(referendum), that has already been launched, known as the "Sderot
Referendum". The organizers represent themseleves as those who will try
"to bring a smile to the Jews in Israel and to permit them to voice their
opinion".

On the "Mishalot Yisrael" website (www.referendumforisrael.com or
www.mishal.org) appears declarations requesting to propose the "Biblical
Plan" as an alternative plan to the one known as "The disengagement
plan". According to the alternative plan the territories will be annexed
to Israel and the Arabs who live there will be removed. According to the
organizers of the referendum, Sderot is the starting point. 6500
referendum ballots (to every household in Sderot) have already been
distributed, in which the citzens have been asked to vote their
conscience.

Yekutiel ben Yaakov, one of the leaders of the organization, explains
about the initiative: "We have started in Sderot because those who are
first to be affected by the disengagement should be the first to be
polled, however we want every Jew in the world to vote and to express
their view on the subject".

The question, as it appears on the site (www.mishal.org or
www.referendumforisrael.com):

Do you prefer the "Sharon/Peres Disengagement Plan" (which includes
transfering Gaza and Northern Shomron to "Palestinian" control, and
expulsion of all of the Jews who live there - A move that would bring
"Palestinian" territory closer to major Israeli cities such as Ashkelon
and Tel Aviv)

More than

"The Jewish Alternative Disengagement Plan" (which includes annexing these
territories and expulsion of the Arabs living there who refuse to to an
area outside of Israel, deep beyond a safe security buffer zone - A move
that would effectivelly distance the "Palestinian" population from major
Israeli cities like Ashkelon and Tel Aviv)?

On Saturday night February 5th 2005, police arrived at Ben Yaakov's
Jerusalem residence, detaining him for several hours of investigation
after which he was released. The official reason for the arrest: "Search
for inciteful material".

"I did not know why they were arresting me. Evidently, there was no
grounds for the arrest and this is why I was immediately released. They
told me they were searching for materials containing incitement, so I told
them that if they were looking for the Sderot ballots they can collect
them from 6500 houses in Sderot were they have already been distributed."

Ben Yaakov promises to publish the results of the survey in the near
future and he is sure that the "biblical plan" - "The Jewish Alternative
Plan" will win by a landslide. "We have to hope that the government will
be sensitive to public opinion. We have already commisioned several
national surveys from credible polling institutions and according to some
of them, there is a majority for the Jewish alternative plan."

Why are you really doing this referendum?

"The Israeli authorities are very scared of a referendum and we want to
show the minority (the supporters of Sharon's disengagement plan,
according to Ben Yaakov) the true results of such a referendum".

Isn't it clear to you that you are proposing Apartheid that contradicts
democracy?

"I don't support Apartheid against Arabs. If Ariel Sharon wants to
separate the Jews from the Arabs - this is Apartheid. Ariel Sharon has
paved the way and given a stamp of Kashrut for the future expulsion of the
Arabs, since he proposes expulsion of the Jews. As far as I am concerned,
Arabs that are loyal can remain in our territories without any
problems..."

If the reader's comments to this article on msn.co.il are any indication,
such a referendum as the one proposed by Mishal Yisrael, would result in
an impressive victory for those who are offering the Jewish alternative
plan. Over 80 percent of the comments were fully supportive of the Jewish
alternative plan.

Andras Bereny who was a key member of the Italian referendum party in
Brescia, and a former candidate for the Italian Senate, who has helped
pass over 4 referendum packages in Italy has joined forces with the
organizers of the Israeli Referendum Initiative from "Mishalot Yisrael"
and will be in Sderot at polling stations together with attornies to
verify signatures and ballots. Bereny said, the Mishalot Sderot Referendum
is very exciting to me as a Jew as it is the real thing with us
contributing to determining the destiny of the Jewish people and not just
some other nation in the Galut."

"Mishalot Yisrael" has invited international observers to witness true
Israeli democracy at work. "Our goal is to get a bigger voter turnout at
our referendum than there is in national Israeli elections," said Ben
Yakov.

Ben Yakov rejects the type of referendum that Yesha is lobbying on behalf
of for several reasons. Firstly, they offer no alternative to the Sharon/
Peres proposal. Second, we have no time to wait for Sharon to agree to
make a referendum. If Sharon should agree to such a referendum he will
have the advantage as the one who words the referendum, wins the
referendum. And according to every national poll that has been taken in
Israel, Sharon has a firm majority if the question will be a Yes / No
referendum on Sharon's disengagement plan. The reason for this is that the
average Israel wishes to be as far away as possible from the
"Palestinians."

Our referendum that offers the Jewish alternative, actually offers an
alternative that would distance the Arab threat further away, and not
conflict with Torah and democratic values. Sharon's proposal to drive out
all of the Jews from Gaza and Shomron negates the Torah and democracy.
Sharon calls for expulsion of each and every Jew from Gaza. That is as
racist a proposal one could make."

"Adding the alternative proposal that calls not to throw out every Arab
because they are Arab, but rather to remove most of the Arabs who will
likely refuse not to swear allegiance with Israel offers a Jewish and
democratic alternative that is sure to win over the hearts of most Jews in
Israel. When we publish the results that we have from the national
omnibous surveys that we have already commissioned, people will be shocked
to learn just how many people reject Sharon's plan when given a
viable alternative."

People wishing to vote in this referendum can do so on line on
www.mishal.org

Ben Yakov plans to shock the nation on Thursday when he releases the
findings of the earlier surveys that he has already commissioned from
national pollsters on this subject.

People wishing to find out more or to volunteer at polling stations can
call 0544 876 709 or 0547910341 in Israel. In the USA calls can be placed
to 718 874 2057.

Funds are needed to publish more ballots and posters and to finance this
massive campaign to save Israel. Funds can be sent to Mishalot
Yisrael - 210/14 Jaffa Road, Jerusalem, Israel.

Funds can be deposited in The Mishalot Yisrael bank account:
Mishalot Yisrael - Yerushalayim at Bank Hapoalim,
Branch 968, account number: 676769

Bank transfers/wires can be sent to:
Mishalot Yisrael - Yerushalayim,
Bank Hapoalim - Jaffa Rd.- Branch 968 - AC # 676769,
Swift Code: Poalilit

2005-02-02T05:44:00.000-05:00

Mr Al.K.Myst attempting to reach across borders...

2005-02-02T05:42:00.000-05:00

A Zionist Jew with horns... (it's actually called a shofar)

2005-02-02T05:41:00.000-05:00

Settler girls and American immigrants reclaiming Jewish land in the what will be the expansion of Newe Dekalim

2005-02-02T05:40:00.000-05:00

2 year old avocado planted on Jewish land. Another year and we can eat from it's fruit! (well, theoretically)

2005-02-02T05:38:00.000-05:00

Not all news photographers are bad guys... This one, for example, got this absolutely Perfect pic of john (I'm richer, smarter, and more cultured than you) kerry (ex-US presidential loser)

2005-02-02T05:36:00.000-05:00

Evil Jewish Zionists in ritual dance preparing to feast on arab eyeballs

2005-02-02T05:33:00.000-05:00

Bungalow getaway - availiable to rent!!!

2005-02-02T05:31:00.000-05:00

In Gaza, Jews produce life...