February 29, 2004

Palestinian suffering on cue


One picture is worth a thousand words.

On Feb. 7, while photojournalists were recording a seemingly candid expression of "Palestinian suffering", Enric Marti of the Associated Press shot the scene from another angle, including the pack of photographers in his frame.

Check out the fraud perpetrated by "Palestinians" on the entire civilized world, here.

February 27, 2004

The disputed territories never belonged to the "Palestinians"

The disputed - or as Jew-haters like to say - the "occupied" territories never belonged to the "Palestinians".

Never.

These areas only came into Israeli possession as a result of Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon converging on Israel's border in 1967 - in what came to be known as the Six Day War - a war which the Arabs once again initiated with the singular goal to destroy all of Israel and all the Jews within.

It was a war started by Arabs and once again lost by Arabs and as a result, Israel took control of the land.

And I'll throw in an extra fun fact here; Judea, Samaria (the "West Bank") and Gaza are all mentioned in our Torah and were originally inhabited by our Jewish forefathers. Gaza is mentioned in several places in the Torah including Judges 1:18. Judea is first mentioned in our Torah in the book of Joshua.

Judea and Samaria were both renamed by our Arab enemies - Judea is now named the "West Bank", a phrase created by King Hussein of Jordan after the war in 1948 when he declared that Jordan would annex that area. The term "West Bank" stayed with the media, unchallenged, for the past 37 years. If you look on a map, the "West Bank" is eastern Israel.

And what is east of Israel?

Jordan, originally named Trans-Jordan, which is the partitioned land area that was allocated to the Arabs in 1948 when they refused the offer to have their own state.

An Incomplete List of Palestinian Murderous Rampages

The Associated Press
Sunday, February 22, 2004

During more than three years of fighting, 461 people have been killed in 110 Palestinian suicide bombings. Here's a look at some of the deadliest suicide attacks:

- Feb. 22, 2004: A bus in downtown Jerusalem, killing seven.

-Jan. 29, 2004: A bus on Jerusalem's Gaza Street, killing 10 people.

-Oct. 4, 2003: A seaside restaurant in Haifa, killing at least 19.

-Sept. 9, 2003: Cafe Hillel in Jerusalem, killing seven.

-Sept. 9, 2003: A bus stop near an army base outside Tel Aviv, killing eight Israeli soldiers.

-Aug. 19, 2003: A bus in Jerusalem, killing 23.

-June 11, 2003: A bus on Jerusalem's central Jaffa Street, killing 17.

-May 18, 2003: A bus at Jerusalem's French Hill neighborhood, killing seven.

-March 5, 2003: A bus in Haifa, killing 17.

-Jan. 5, 2003: Two bombers strike the Neve Shaanan pedestrian mall in Tel Aviv, killing 23.

-Nov. 21, 2002: A bus in Jerusalem, killing 11.

-Oct. 21, 2002: A bus at the Karkur Junction in northern Israel, killing 14.

-Aug. 4, 2002: A bus at the Meron Junction in northern Israel, killing eight.

-June 19, 2002: French Hill intersection in Jerusalem, killing seven.

-June 18, 2002: Patt Junction in southern Jerusalem, killing 19.

-June 5, 2002: Bus near Megiddo Junction in northern Israel, killing 17.

-May 7, 2002: A pool hall in the Tel Aviv suburb of Rishon Letzion, killing 15.

-April 10, 2002: A bus in Haifa, killing eight.

-March 31, 2002: A restaurant in Haifa, killing 15.

-March 27, 2002: A hotel dining room during a ritual Seder meal at the start of Passover in the city of Netanya, killing 29.

-March 20, 2002: A bus near village of Kfar Musmus, killing seven.

-March 9, 2002: Jerusalem's Moment Cafe, killing 11.

-March 2, 2002: Jerusalem's Ultra-Orthodox Mea Shearim neighborhood, killing 11.

-Dec. 2, 2001: A bus in the coastal city of Haifa, killing 15.

-Dec. 1, 2001: Two bombers strike Jerusalem's Ben Yehuda pedestrian mall, killing 11.

-Aug. 9, 2001: Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem, killing 15.

-June 1, 2001: The entrance of the Dolphinarium seaside disco in Tel Aviv - killing 21, mostly teenagers.

The Washington Post

February 26, 2004

OT But Important to Read: Ex-green beret to Kerry: 'You are a liar'

Ex-green beret to Kerry: 'You are a liar'
A former Special Forces green beret who served in Vietnam has touched a nerve with fellow veterans after penning a scathing column hammering Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.

"I've been deluged with e-mails," Don Bendell told WND. Most of the e-mails and phone calls he's received are from fellow Vietnam veterans, though he says some are from military personnel serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Take a look at my website," Bendell said, "and the number of guest-book entries."

Here, at Smooth Stone, we don't want to see a villifying liar as our next president. When the next terror attack hits the United States, and folks, you know that the Islamofascists will do the unthinkable, we will want a solid leader in office who will have the brains, courage, integrity, stamina and discipline to defend us.

Folks, WE ALREADY ARE AT WAR NOW, and why anyone would want a phony (have you heard how he talks? what is up with that accent anyway?!) appeaser like Kerry, is beyond our comprehension. In the name of the three thousand who died on 9/11, and for all those who have died at the hands of murderous Islamofascists, and for all of the American soliders who died during and who are still missing from VietNam, DO NOT VOTE FOR KERRY.

February 25, 2004

Time To Go – Arik

The Government of Israel, is now conducting a chain of critical mistakes which will be painful and costly to undo in years to come. Few of those are:

· Allowing Arafat to freely manage terrorism, as well as to control Palestinian diplomacy. This is literally a disgrace. People die all the time directly as a result of this hoax. No serious progress with the Palestinians will ever be possible, as long as that man is there.

· The continuous Israeli embracing of the “Road Map” as the only valid diplomatic platform. Israel agreed to a package of concessions in the midst of a war. The other side, accepted Israel's intentions to make these concessions, while not dropping even one of the cynical claims, and continuing using terror as a strategic tool. Kol Hakavod, Arik!

· The repeated references Sharon makes to “Bush’s Vision”, and the general style of working with the US Administration, shows lack of basic understanding and vision for U.S – Israel relations. Sharon is turning Israel into a puppet Government of the State Department. His adopting an “ALWAYS SAY YES ” strategy in his working with the US administration, will make the first “TIME TO SAY NO” - into a major crisis in US – Israel relations. It seems like Israel no longer tries to coordinate anything with the Administration, we simply say YES to anything they want.

· The building of the fence is a mistake. It is counter productive to the efforts to live with the Palestinians in Peace in the future. It damages severely the majority of the Jewish communities in Samaria because it is weakening Israel’s historic right to the land. It is a fence of hate, born in a war of terror, it is an ugly scar on the body, the hills, of our beautiful Israel.
No one will ever accept it’s path, and it will not even deliver the main purpose of it’s reasoning – Security. Israelis will continue to suffer Palestinian terror, but simply, other forms of it. Perhaps worse like Kassam Rockets in Samaria, which were already found last week.

· But worse of all, the explicit talk in the past 3-6 months of destroying Israeli villages and settlements, relocation and transfer of thousands of Israelis from their homes, in a unilateral pullout of whole regions. This is the worse form of decision-making, and the most illegitimate ideological platform that the Sharon and his Government has ever introduced to date.

Copyright© MichNews.com. All Rights Reserved.

Project Human Rights

Terrorism is any premeditated attack for political, religious, or nationalistic aims in which the intended primary target is civilian.

The intentional targeting of civilians as a goal is a grotesque international phenomenon. Nearly every type of public venue has suffered the carnage terror brings: markets, restaurants, hotels, schools, buses, trains, airplanes, offices, apartments, social clubs, embassies, churches, mosques, synagogues, temples.

There are many compelling and legitimate causes and grievances throughout the world that deserve attention and resolution. And discontent, opposition and resistance to a particular situation can take many forms. However, terrorism is never justified for whatever the cause. There are no exceptions and no exemptions. It doesn't matter where it happens, who the victims are or the identities of the perpetrators. Terror is terror.

There is a clear moral distinction between targeting civilians intentionally as the primary goal and attacking a military target as the primary aim. That difference is the demarcation between terror and guerilla actions.

All loss of civilian life is tragic. Always. All governments fighting terror are obligated to minimize civilian casualties when responding to attacks. Yet, terrorists often put large populations at risk by purposely hiding in civilian areas, increasing the likelihood of bystander casualties in counter-terror military operations.

Terror as a tactic must be universally rejected and unequivocally repudiated by all responsible leaders, institutions, and governments. Those who continue to support terror or condone it must be discredited locally, regionally and internationally.

Project Human Rights

RadioRote: Israel : 2,500-Year-Old Jewelry Found in Israel

Well folks, looks like this is just another nail in the coffin on the "Palestinian's" claim that Hebrews and Jews never lived in Israel, and that the Holy Temple was originally a mosque. Yeah, riiiiiiiiiight.

=====

From Radio Rote: Israel

2,500-Year-Old Jewelry Found in Israel

Israeli archaeologists excavating caves near the Dead Sea discovered jewelry, a makeup kit and a small mirror -- 2,500-year-old fashion accessories for women.

The trove apparently belonged to Jews who returned from exile in Babylon in the 6th century B.C., said Tsvika Tsuk, chief archaeologist for the Israel Nature and Parks Authority.

"This find is very rare. Both for the richness of the find and for that period, it is almost unheard of," Tsuk said on Friday.

Using metal detectors, archeologists found the treasures under a stone-like accumulation of sediment thrown up by a nearby spring. They included a necklace made of 130 beads of semiprecious stones and gold; a scarab; an agate medallion of Babylonian origin; and a silver pendant with an engraved crescent moon and pomegranates.

What appears to be a makeup kit contained an alabaster bowl for powders, a stick to apply the cosmetics and a bronze mirror. They also found a pagan stamp showing a Babylonian priest bowing to the moon.

"These finds confirm the (biblical) accounts of Jews returning from exile in Babylon," Tsuk said.

When the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar conquered the Kingdom of Judah in 597 B.C., he sent many Jews into exile in Babylon. These Jews and their descendants were later allowed to return by the Persian monarch Cyrus in 538 B.C.

Tsuk said the find shows that there was a wealthy and flourishing community of returnees living in the area. "These are not the belongings of a simple person," he said.

The archaeologists were part of a joint team from Hebrew University in Jerusalem and Bar Ilan University in Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv. They have been excavating caves near the Dead Sea for the last three years. (LA Times/ AP/ Gavin Radbinowitz)

Palestinian Christians: Victims, Not Partners by Robert Spencer

Robert Spencer interviewed Walid Shoebat, a former PLO terrorist who has become a Christian and has recently been speaking out against jihad ideology. He confirmed something Spencer discussed in Onward Muslim Soldiers that this talk of tolerance and non-violence is often cultivated by radical Muslims as part of a larger tactical strategy.

In the Palestinian Authority, this strategy involved the co-opting of the embattled Palestinian Christian minority into the larger jihadist agenda. With Christians, Shoebat explains "we saw a need for unity." Palestinian Christians were happy to oblige. Most Palestinian Christians, says Shoebat, were "educated on Replacement Theology, in which God was done with Israel and Jews. They were in turn supportive of the Palestinian cause to liberate all Palestine."

Click here to read the rest of the article by Robert Spencer.

February 24, 2004

We Should Not Forget

We Should Not Forget
Eight people were killed and 62 people were wounded (10 in serious and critical condition) in the homicide bombing on a bus in the German Colony neighborhood in Jerusalem, on February 22, 2004.

Staff Sergeant Nathaniel Havshush z'l - Age 20
Lior Azulai z'l - Age 18 - 12th grader
Yehuda Haim z'l - Age 48
Article: Murder of Our Sandwich Man in Jerusalem
Yuval Ozana z'l - Age 31
Bnayahu Jonathan Zuckerman z'l - Age 18 - 12th grader
Yaffa Ben-Shimol z'l - Age 57
Rahamim Rami Duga z'l - Age 37 (no picture yet)
Ilan Avisedris z' - Age 41

May the memory of those that were killed be blessed.
May the wounded have a full and speedy recovery.

Smooth Stone gratefully acknowledges the efforts of Jacob for supplying the harrowing photos.

Statement from Israeli Delegation at the Hague

Statement from Israeli Delegation at the Hague
(Communicated by the Israeli Delegation at the Hague)
Monday, 23 February, 2004

At the same time as Israel is burying eight victims of a suicide bombing yesterday by a member of Yasser Arafat's own Al Aqsa brigade, the Palestinians are using the United Nations Court to attack Israel for building a fence that could have saved their lives.

The Palestinian statements to the court today confirmed the concerns of many
countries about the one-sided nature of the question before the court:
it seeks to put Israel's measures to stop terrorism on trial, but not the terrorists themselves; it focuses only on Palestinian quality of life and not on the right of Israelis to life itself; and it stresses only Israeli responsibilities without a word about the responsibilities of the Palestinian side.

Israel is a nation of exception

Israel is a nation of exception. Israel must be viewed as a nation that is an exception, a nation that was like no other, that was re-established as a result of horrific crimes against humanity and her circumstances must be viewed in their entirety, and, must be viewed as legitimate.

Israel is a nation which is an exception to the establishment of previous nations.

We didn't ask to be exterminated and no other nation was ever established as a result of an attempted extermination.

No other nation has been fighting for her survival like Israel has. Israel must survive.

Israel will survive.

February 23, 2004

Please Remember This

Please know that whenever someone uses the term "occupied territories" to describe Judea and Samaria, they are helping to promote Palestinian propaganda and to further the big lie that the current dispute is based on what happened after the Six Day War.

The correct term is "disputed" territories.  You can only occupy land if it belonged to a sovereign state and you then took it over.  Judea and Samaria never did. Israelis have as much right to settle there as Arabs, and far deeper historical roots in the land.  There is nothing in the least illegal about it. In the history of warfare, Israel was the first victor who immediately wanted to negotiate land for peace, only to have the losing side reject the offer.  Israel is still willing to negotiate, as long as these lands aren't used (as they are now) as safehouses for terrorists.

A very long and informative article on this subject is available at DISPUTED TERRITORIES: Forgotten Facts About the West Bank and Gaza Strip Foreign Ministry of Israel - February 2003

http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH0n1m0

February 22, 2004

What a weak religion

Muslims threaten their adherents with death if they make a decision to leave Islam for another belief. That seems to indicate that the Islam religion must be weak because they will tolerate no dissension or straying from their ranks.

Did you know?

The Koran voids the existence of the Torah and the New Testament. Nothing existed prior to Muhammad except written corruption, and the koran was invented to "correct" this.

Same thing with the Al-Aksa mosque. The mosque voids the existence of Solomon's Temple. No temple existed prior to the mosque.

Thomas W. Lippman writes in his book, "Understanding Islam" of the Muslim calendar, which in a few countries is also the official public calendar:

"The first day of the first year corresponds to July 15, 622 A.D., the year in which Muhammad and his followers migrated from Mecca to Medina. The months are Muharram, Safar, Rabi al-Awwal (Rabi I), Rabi al-Thani (Rabi II), Jumada I, Jumada II, Rajab, Shaban, Ramadan, Shawwal, Dhu'l-Qadah, and Dhu'l-Hijjah. The years are designated "A.H.," Anno Hegirae, "after the hijra" (the Arabic word for the migration)."

That's when the arab clock starts ticking. What an absolutely perverse and myopic ethnocentric platform to base a society on.

Even if the Palestinians get their own country, and we know that HaShem will never allow that, it will take more than borders, more than a "Palestinian" currency and more than a "Palestinian" national orchestra to cure the inherently dysfunctional elements of Arab society to enable them to co-exist in a world with non-Arabs.

Nope, folks, it doesn't look too promising.

Anti-Semitic words, signs scar building in New York City

Fifteen swastikas and the words "Kill all Jews" were discovered scrawled with a marking pen on three floors inside a Coney Island apartment building, cops said yesterday.

NY Daily News

Israel's Restraint

Folks, Israel's restraint in the aftermath of today's bombing is remarkable.

Any other nation on earth under attack as Israel is would have already begun bombing the Palestinian Authority. If this had happened in America, you would already see the B-52's in the air, blowing up the place where the terrorists were sent from. It is sheer hypocrisy on the part of those who say that Israel must not build the security barrier.

The irony of all this is that at the same time that we are witness to the destructive and deadly effects of Islam and of this attack on Israel, she sits as the sole defendant in The Hague tribunal. We must put an end to this farce immediately.

The one who should stand accused is Arafat, not the State of Israel !!

Jerusalem Bus Blast Kills Seven and Maims at Least 59

Jerusalem Bus Blast Kills Seven
An Islamist homicide bomber blew himself up on a crowded Jerusalem bus Sunday morning, killing seven people and wounding 59 in another attack by homicidal sub humans.

May the "Palestinian" only know civil war and strife.

May the "Palestinian" people in the land stolen from Israel only fight with each other in unholiness.

May the people and the fake nation of "Palestine" become barren.

May the red, black and green "Palestinian" flag wave tattered and shrapnel-torn, blood-splattered and ripped.

May the "Palestinian" rise up against "Palestinian" in punishment for their ungodly, homicidal culture, their thievery, anarchy, mutiny and unholiness they have waged on the innocent and legitimate nation of Israel.

May all these things be the gist and substance, core and essence of the kleptocracy and homicidal "Palestinian" nation and may the "Palestinian" nation remain a decomposing stillborn.

AMEN.

February 20, 2004

Interesting Petition regarding "The Passion"

Folks, Mike Evans, a Christian minister (and author of some bestsellers), is the chairman of the board of the Corrie ten Boom Foundation in Haarlem, Holland. Most of the elders in the ten Boom family gave their lives for saving almost 800 Jews during the Holocaust. Mike's father was a Christian, and his mother an Orthodox Jew. He was raised as a Christian, but still was physically attacked as a child in "Christian America." He was pelted with eggs, tomatoes, his family's front door was spray painted with "Christ-killer" and he was called "Christ-killer" and "Jew-witch."

Six months ago, Mel Gibson requested a meeting with approximately 30 Christian ministers to screen his latest film, "The Passion of the Christ." Mike Evans was one of the ministers. Following the screening, Mr. Gibson asked if the group thought changes needed to be made to his film in light of accusations that the movie could be used to incite anti-Semitism.

Mike Evans replied, "Mr. Gibson, put a postscript at the end of the movie so that when it is shown in anti-Semitic countries, it will be difficult for anti-Semites to use this movie for their evil purposes." Evans suggested to him that at the end of the movie, he put the following: "During the Roman occupation, one-quarter million Jews were crucified by the Romans, but only One rose from the dead."

Mel Gibson said, "This is good! I needed something anyway, and this is it. I'll do it. I'll do it."

Mike Evans believes that instead of demonizing, degrading or patronizing the Jewish people, Christians need to ask forgiveness for the terrible sins committed against them throughout history in the name of Christ.

Foks, the movie will be released on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 25, and Mr. Gibson still has not included the postscript to which he committed on Aug. 19, 2003, in Dallas, Texas, at AMS Productions.

For that reason, the Corrie ten Boom Christian Holocaust Center has launched a website asking 1 million Christians to write Mr. Gibson to thank him for the movie, to commit to pray for Mr. Gibson and the Jewish people, and to appeal to him to include this simple postscript. Millions of Jews living in the midst of a sea of bigotry could then know that Christians – real Christians – do not hate Jews, but rather love them.

Check out the site here.

February 18, 2004

New Blog Pal, Kesher Talk

Folks, check out Kesher Talk, a site about Judaism, Jewish culture and politics, Middle East affairs, etc. The writing is sharp, witty, intelligent and spot on and is now a permanent link on Smooth Stone.

Israel's Untold Story - folks, a must-read

Israel's Untold Story by Lee Wolfe
You probably heard about the suicide bombing that brutally claimed the lives of eleven Israeli bus passengers two weeks ago. One of the victims was a young woman with whom I worked until just a few weeks ago. Her name was Dana Itach. She was completely blown to pieces. They identified her by her teeth.

There were dozens more who were pulverized, crushed, scalded and sliced open but who managed to survive. One of them is a friend with whom I only recently became acquainted. His is a story you may not have heard.

I visited him in the hospital the day after the bombing. Very weak, eyebrows singed off entirely, face splattered with blackened blood stains and red lacerations, he opened his eyes just after I walked into the hospital room.

When I saw him I tried to put on an appropriate expression that would hide my fear at seeing his wounds. And I had no idea what to say. But by the time I was by his bed, he relieved me of my inability to start a dialogue. He managed to focus his rolling, glassy, morphine-intoxicated eyes and, in a barely audible and scratchy voice, his words slowly leaked out.

"There was a great, bright, searing, yellow light. And the sound, it's something I can't describe. And then I was lying there and I realized it was a pigua (terror attack). And then I looked down and I thought, 'Oh no, my leg is gone from the knee down'. But it was just a piece of someone else's bloody flesh that had wrapped around my leg. And I thought 'Maybe I should finally leave this country.' You're lying there in absolute agony and there's no one there to help you. All these thoughts were going through my head. And I thought, 'If I leave it's a victory for the enemy.'"

For the next six months he will be recovering from a shattered knee cap, a severed vein in his leg, shrapnel wounds, severe internal contusions and a number of surgeries. In addition, he will be dealing with the psychological wounds as well. Two weeks after the bombing, he is notably stronger. He has taken several steps with a walker and he is actually able to move himself, very gingerly, within his bed in order to find a position which is a little less painful. But he is exhausted and mentally tormented. He confided, "Every day I'm fighting to keep my sanity... I'm not sleeping; the dreams keep me from sleeping."

THE OTHER UNTOLD STORY

Even if you did pay some attention to this latest genocide bombing, my friend's story, his agony, his long road of recovery ahead is probably a story of which you weren't aware. But it's only one of the stories to which you likely didn't hear. The other untold story follows.

Shortly after the bus bombing, a lone Israeli Mossad-trained operative, secretly and specifically trained for his mission, commandeered a private Palestinian truck just outside Ramallah in the West Bank. He flagged down the driver by the side of the road, and, when the driver stopped to help him, he climbed into the passenger seat of the truck's cab and withdrew a Walther P-22 rimfire handgun, specially fitted with a silencer. In the truck's payload area were some 25 local Palestinian passengers from the nearby West Bank town of Al-Hadiri, who were taking their regular weekly ride to Nablus.

The driver, now at gunpoint, followed the orders of the Israeli operative. He drove to within 150 meters of President Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah. At that point, he was coldly and silently murdered by a bullet to the head. The Israeli operative exited the truck's cab and walked around to the back of the truck where the passengers were reading, eating a quick morning bite and talking amongst themselves. Here, with his gun supporting his orders, the Israeli operative instructed 15 of the passengers to get out of the truck and lie on the ground, face down, ten meters away.

He calmly surveyed the faces of those remaining in the truck. Then, with the almost-imperceptible dexterity of the oft-practiced move, he reached under his jacket toward his belt with his free hand, unhooked a high-explosive fragmentation grenade, pulled the pin, held it momentarily, and then tossed it into the truck's payload area. He ran several steps hard toward the passengers whom he had forced to lay down on the ground, diving for cover beside them. The ten passengers in the truck were instantly vaporized, spewed into pieces and scorched to death, remains of limbs flying in all directions.

With the remaining passengers catatonically frozen in fear and shock, the operative calmly got to his feet, pulled out a ten-inch hunting knife, a shot gun and a hand-held flame thrower and methodically sliced, shot and scorched each of those whom he had forced to lie on the ground. Some were mortally wounded, some received moderate injuries (such as burns, shot wounds and severed veins) and others were lightly injured. Finally, the operative positioned the Walther P22 against his head and killed himself. The whole orgy of massacre took less than a minute.

How could it be that you did you not hear of this latter story? Within an hour, much of the world expressed its revulsion and outrage at the Israeli attack. Most European countries immediately cut diplomatic relations with Israel, banishing the respective Israeli ambassadors from their lands and closing all Israeli diplomatic missions. Most African nations vowed support for Yasser Arafat and sent senior diplomats to visit the poor, shaken man in his office (only 150 meters from the attack site).

Throughout the Middle East, hundreds of thousands of outraged citizens took to the streets decrying the barbaric violence and vowing to end Israel's reign of terror. Syria, Lebanon and Egypt massed troops along their respective borders with Israel. The United States censured Israel in harsh and unequivocal terms and cut 40% of its annual aid package to Israel. Israel was never so wholly isolated. How is it that you did not hear of this?

The reason you didn't hear any of this is because the second story contains two vital inaccuracies: First, the operative involved was not an Israeli Mossad agent; rather he was a Palestinian policeman from Bethlehem named Ali Muneer Jaara.

Second, the people he coldly murdered with shrapnel-packed explosives and those he cruelly injured were not Palestinian commuters within 150 meters of Arafat's headquarters; rather they were Israeli commuters who were attacked within 150 meters of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's home in Jerusalem.

With these two inaccuracies thusly corrected, you did, in fact, know all about the second story. It was, in fact, the same story I recapped at the start: the genocidal bombing of Israeli commuters in Jerusalem two weeks ago; the bombing in which my former co-worker was murdered and my friend was deeply wounded along with dozens of others.

In fact, the real untold story, the part that truly went unheard by definition, was the near total absence of international reaction against the Palestinian-supported policy of brutal violence and terror, a policy which manifested itself in almost exactly the same way as my fictional account of the murder of Palestinian commuters occurred. There was the same coldly premeditated plan of murder, the same surveying of the victims faces before the act; and the same rending of human flesh and bone with fire and iron. The same political statement by conducting the mass murder within 150 meters of the political leader's home. The fictional account, with Palestinian victims, lead to (fictional but not unexpected) worldwide outrage. The actual account, with Israeli victims, lead to worldwide silence.

The real untold story is untold because it made no sound, no fury, no ripples and no impression on those who control Palestinian strategy. It was the relative international silence -- as Israelis were cut down and cut up, flesh shredded within 150 meters of their Prime Minister's residence -- that once again thunders in Israeli ears.

Where were the forceful condemnations? Where were the morally correct governments of the West de-crying this crime against humans and following up with practical actions and consequences?

Where was the flood of foreign diplomats dispatched to Israel to show support? Where were the street demonstrations by morally upright and aghast citizens of the world bitterly condemning the barbaric violence against Israelis? Where was the cutback in financial support to the Palestinian government? Where was the expression of outrage? Where was your cry of revulsion, your scream for an end to the continual, purposeful, intended, directed annihilation and mutilation of simple Israeli commuters?

Would you have done so if my fictional account was true? If so, why didn't you do so this time?

The untold story is not new. But its duplicitous and silent continuance is a thunderous death-knell for more Israelis. Beyond Israel, as citizens of Bali and Moscow and New York and Istanbul know, your co-worker or friend could be next.

I am outdone

Here Are the Days of Us
Folks, I must bring your attention to the poetry of one of this site's readers, Giv'atayimGirl. So, please stop what you are doing and go to http://hometown.aol.com/givatayimgirl/index.html in order to meditate on the pain of loss and the love of one person for another.

GG, thank you so much for sharing your beautiful lyrical and Jewish soul with us. I am truly honored.

PA: Israel is "Satan's offspring","founded on racism, Protocols"

In an interview broadcast Feb. 6 on PATV, Ahmad Nasser, Secretary of the Palestinian Legislative Council, asserts that Israel cannot exist "among human beings" because it was "founded on the basis of robbery, terror, killing, torture, assassination, death, stealing land and killing people."His comments reflect the PA's continuing campaign to challenge and deny Israel's right to exist. The interview also cites The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the infamous Russian forgery that was presented as the Jews' secret plan to rule the world, as the basis for the recent exchange of 400 Arab prisoners for one Israeli and the bodies of three soldiers. Nasser says the prisoner exchange is part of Israel's plan to show that a Jewish life is worth more than an Arab life, and proves that Israel is a "racist country" that "hates all the goyim, all the foreigners."

Here is the text of the interview:

Ahmad Nasser, Secretary of the Palestinian Legislative Council, as interviewed on PATV Feb. 6, 2004:

Nasser: "Israel is not deterred from anything. Israel was established on the basis of theft. Israel, the State of Israel, is the Satan's offspring, a Satanic offspring. Israel was founded on theft from the first moment. It was founded on the basis of robbery, terror, killing, torture, assassination, death, stealing land and killing people. On this basis, Israel was founded and will continue this way, never able to exist because its [Israel's] birth was unnatural, a Satanic offspring, and cannot exist among human beings. . . . Only in this way can Israel exist. It is not capable of existing naturally as other nations in the world."

Woman Interviewer: "The very existence [of Israel] is unnatural, is not logical. The root, the root itself is rotten."

Nasser: "This state is based on racism, biblical concepts, death, killing and destruction ...."

Nasser (on the exchange of 400 Arab prisoners for one Israeli and three bodies of Israeli soldiers): ". . . We see that Israel is trying to delude the world, and delude the Arabs and the Palestinians psychologically - that one Israeli will be exchanged for a thousand Palestinians. Meaning - Israel is interested in planting among the Palestinian, the Arab or the world the concept of value - the value of a Jew and the value of an Arab. But it is not true..." [Interrupted]

Interviewer: "This concept appears in The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, that they [the Jews] are at a high level [of existence] and the rest are at a low level."

Nasser: ". . . It [Israel] does all it can to take as many prisoners of war as it can, for example, 10,000 Arab prisoners in exchange for the release of a hundred [Israeli] prisoners of war. By this, Israel is trying to put a value on an Arab and a value on an Israeli or Jew . . . Israel is an aggressive country, a racist country, an ideologically hostile country, which hates all the goyim, all the foreigners. Israel is a Satanic offspring."

Well, folks, if Israel is Satan's offspring, then "Palestine" must be Satan's large intestine.

Rocket Factory Found In Ramallah

Well folks, warnings of rocket attacks in Judea and Samaria have long been heard - and today those who issued the warnings received a measure of support:

It was released today that a month ago, Israeli security personnel arrested a Hamas terror cell in Ramallah that was engaged in manufacturing Kassam rockets. The rockets were to be fired at Jewish towns in Judea and Binyamin, just south and north of Jerusalem, and possibly at Jerusalem itself. The head of the cell, Fadel Taha, and five accomplices were all arrested, and their Kassam-making lab was found.

Taha was released from Israeli prison two years ago.

Click here, folks, for another example of "peace" at any price.

February 17, 2004

Casualties of War

Statistics on the murder of Jews by arabs via JPost. Seven years of attacks in Israel claim hundreds of victims. It's a war that was started by "palestinians" and rooted in "palestinian" myth and propaganda. Jewish blood is no longer cheap, folks, and the days of Jews rolling on their backs in submission are gone.

P.A. Arabs Less Attached To Land Than Was Thought

A public opinion survey taken in the Palestinian Authority shows that fully 37% of the population would agree to leave their "homeland" in exchange for material benefits.

The 705 respondents of the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion (PCPO) poll were asked, "If you were to receive a job offer, a home, and $250,000, would you be willing to emigrate to a foreign country?" Just a tad over half said no, while 37% said yes, they would be willing to leave under such circumstances.

Of those who would leave, not even a quarter would choose an Arab nation, while 60% would choose Europe or an English-speaking country.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/print.php3?what=news&id=57362

Who Wants To Be An Anti-Semite? by Jeffrey Dunetz

Since the popularity of Survivor, a TV show that that puts people in the wilderness to survive on their own wits, there has been a plethora of reality TV series: the Batchelor, The Mole, The Last Resort, and Boot Camp to name a few. There's even a program called Joe Millionaire, where women pursue an eligible young man, thinking that he is super rich. After he chooses the girl of his dreams, she finds out the truth: he's really just a poor construction worker with an income of less than $20,000.

Last month was the NAPTE convention. It's where station executives get to see the programming that producers propose to put on TV for the next year. As you might expect, there were tons of new reality show previewed.

Although I'm not a TV executive, I was privileged to get a glimpse of the first episode of one of the new shows. It's called, "Who Wants To Be An Anti-Semite?"

The show has an interesting premise. People have to hide their hatred of Jews by disguising their actions as something else. Each week the contestant whose anti-Jewish feelings are most obvious gets voted off the show. At the end, the winner gets an all-expenses-paid vacation to Paris, where they'll receive the key to the city.

Some of the contestants were so obvious that you just knew that they were going to be thrown out right away. Egyptian State Television, who ran a television series based on the old blood libel lies, offered no disguise whatsoever. They were thrown out the first day.

But some of the contestants were incredibly creative.

Take the Dutch Agriculture Ministry. They banned shechitah, the kosher way to slaughter animals as defined by the Talmud. They really had audience going there for a while, saying that it was cruel to animals. But then the judges were shown scientific studies showing that it was humane and they were reminded of the fact that most anti-Jewish governments start their persecution by banning practices such as keeping kosher (Nazi Germany for example), the Dutch were dismissed from the show also.

Other early dismissals were the International Red Cross for banning the Magen Dovid Adom -- the Red Star of David -- but allowing the Red Crescent, and the United Nations, whose claim that they are not against Jews was laid bare by the UN's hate-filled, anti-Jewish Conference on Racism in Durban.

Some contestants were really good. For example, Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja, who refused to sell high tech gas masks to Israel so she can protect her own citizens in the wake of a chemical weapon attack from Iraq. The British Musicians Union, who used the old "we are not anti-Semitic, just anti-Zionist" excuse when debating a motion to ban the cultural exchange of Israeli and British artists.

The winner of the first episode was Democratic candidate for President, Rev. Al Sharpton, who under the guise of fighting racism, has called the Jewish people "diamond merchants" and helped incite an anti-Jewish pogrom in Crown Heights. He has done such a great job in masking his anti-Jewish sentiments that Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe has come right out and said, "Any Democrat who attacks Al Sharpton is no longer welcome in our party."

A deciding factor was Reverend Sharpton's ability to convince the same political party that justifiably challenged Trent Lott for his history of racism to ban debate on his track record of anti-Semitism. Great performance, Reverend Al!

If the show gets picked up for a full season, Reverend Sharpton will have to compete against the likes of the BBC and MSBC host Pat Buchanan who continues to have a successful career on the TV news without being challenged about his October 1990 piece in the New Republic. In the article Pat talks about "group fantasies of martyrdom" and challenges the historical record that thousands of Jews were gassed to death by diesel exhaust at Treblinka. "Diesel engines do not emit enough carbon monoxide to kill anybody."

It's still unknown whether enough TV stations will purchase the show to give the green light for full production. According to some unnamed sources, the producers were going to meet with the Jewish controlled bankers to bankroll the production should the Jewish controlled media refuse to pick up the show.

February 16, 2004

Wailing wall partially collapses and - who would have guessed - Jews are blamed

Just as we thought, the collapse of part of a stone embankment adjacent to the Western Wall during yesterday's rare snowstorm and last week's earthquake has prompted a "dispute" between Jewish and Muslim clerics.

Not surprisingly, the Muslim "authority", the Waqf, blamed Israeli building work nearby for the problem; but an Israeli architect said construction by Arabs was making the wall unstable.

Folks, on 11/29/2001, engineering tests conducted by the Antiquities Authority on the southern wall of the Temple Mount proved conclusively that sections of the wall are in the intermediate stages of collapse, most likely due to Wakf construction work carried out in recent years.

Just above the southern wall lies Solomon's Stables, where the Wakf has carried out extensive construction work during the past five years, most significantly in 1996 when the area was converted into a mosque.

For over 30 years Israel has delegated almost all authority over the Temple Mount to the Waqf; by doing this, Israel showed her commitment to respect the rights of Muslims.

But Muslims don't respect non-Muslims, and they certainly don't respect Jews.

In 1996 the Waqf changed the accepted status quo that was kept for generations and converted two ancient underground Second Temple Period structures into a new large mosque. Both structures, known as Solomon’s stables and the Eastern Hulda Gate passageway, were never mosques before. The new mosque extends over an area of 1.5 acres, thus being the largest mosque in Israel, able to accommodate 10,000 people.

In November 1999, the Waqf opened what they called an “emergency exit” to the new mosque. Over 3 days and nights the exit has expanded into a gaping hole, 18,000 square feet in size, and up to 36 feet deep. Thousands of tons of the ancient fills from the site, subsequently found by Israeli archeologists to contain artifacts dating as early as the First Temple Period, were dumped into the Kidron Valley.

Since the creation of the gaping hole and up until now, without any archaeological supervision, thousands of square-meters of the ancient surface level of the Temple Mount are dug up by tractors, paved and announced as open mosques.

Moreover, in 1997 another ancient underground Second Temple Period structure, known as the Western Hulda Gate passageway, has been converted into another new mosque. Recently, in February and March of 2001, an ancient arched structure built against the Eastern Wall of the Temple Mount enclosure was razed by bulldozers in order to enlarge further the “emergency gate” of the new mosque at the Stables of Solomon.

Muslims have commited a serious act of irreparable vandalism and destruction carried out without supervision, while abrogating the law.

It is appaling that the law requiring the preservation of all holy places is brazenly ignored on the Temple Mount, the most holy place to more people than any other site around the world.

For years now, brutal destruction occurs along the eastern wall of the Temple Mount enclosure. Modern construction continues to destroy ancient structures of the Temple Mount. Tractors are continuing construction work without any archaeological supervision, and a large stone saw there works non-stop, cutting dozens of ancient stones into slabs used for the new paving and construction on the Temple Mount.

Click here to see pictures and photos of the destruction of our Holy Temple by the peaceful "Paleo-stinians".

February 15, 2004

Palestinians Teach Hatred of Jews in Many Ways

The Palestinian Authority goes to great lengths to promote hatred of Jews and Israelis and one of the ways is through hateful videos which are broadcast, often, for hours a day.

The latest example of the indoctrination of "Palestinians" to hate Jews and Israelis and to urge them to murder them, is now in a new hate video. In addition, the Palestinian Authority TV has taken the music of the Microsoft video game, Halo, and incorporated it into this same video.

This video, shown six or seven times a day since Nov. 30, depicts still pictures of Palestinian children then superimposes targets on them, as if Israeli soldiers are shooting them one by one.

Palestinian Media Watch says it contacted Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Wash., which said the use of Halo is unauthorized and is being used by PATV without its permission.

To see the video, click here and treat yourself to another self-portrait of "Palestinian" society.

February 14, 2004

Broadcaster Can't Call Hamas or Hizballah 'Terrorist Groups'

Broadcaster Can't Call Hamas or Hizballah 'Terrorist Groups'
Get a load of this:

Australia's national broadcaster has instructed its staff not to identify Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hizballah as terrorist organizations, because they have not been designated as such by the United Nations.

Perhaps that is because the United Nations is a cesspool for 23 Islamic theocracies, all hell bent on destroying Israel and her allies.

We also wonder if the Australian Broadcasting Corporation would have insisted on such revisionism if it were Hamas and Hizbollah who were responsible for the deadly explosion in Bali on October 12, 2002, that killed more than 180 people, including at least 20 Australians, instead of Al-qaeda.

Click here to read the rest of the article that details how the Australian Broadcasting Corporation is becoming another invertebrate in the war on terror.

Israel doesn't deserve brickbats

Israel doesn't deserve brickbats
The media are sullying Israel's character. Frequently criticizing Israeli actions and promoting an image of Israelis as Nazis, the media ignore all the good Israel does for the world. For more than 40 years, while still struggling for its own survival, Israel has been providing substantial humanitarian assistance to people worldwide.

Israel is a tiny country, about the size of Massachusetts, with a population of merely 6.3 million. Humanitarian efforts began only 10 years after Israel became an independent country, when it established the Center for International Cooperation (also known as MASHAV) in 1958.

Specializing in the development of human resources, the center's mandate upholds the right of all people to live in dignity, free from poverty, with the right to food, security, health care, education, economic sustainability, gender equality, preservation of natural resources, child welfare and care for the aged. From soil cultivation programs in Kenya to computer education in Ethiopia, from medical programs in Jordan to seminars on cattle husbandry in India, Israel has helped alleviate hunger, disease and poverty in many developing countries.

In the '70s, Israel broadened its humanitarian aid agenda by granting safe haven to refugees and foreign nationals in distress such as 303 desperate Vietnamese refugees who now live side by side with Jewish-Israelis in Israel; 66 of the refugees escaped Vietnam in an ill-constructed boat and were rebuffed by four countries before being rescued by an Israeli ship. In 1993, Israel became the first country to grant refuge to Bosnian-Muslims displaced by the civil war in Yugoslavia. These refugees benefit from ongoing assistance and were granted full rights as Israeli citizens. During the conflict in Kosovo, Israel provided shelter to hundreds of displaced ethnic Albanians and Kosovo refugees.

Israel has provided humanitarian aid in the wake of natural disasters beyond its borders, helping disaster victims on almost every continent. In December 1988, an earthquake shook the Soviet Republic of Armenia, killing 30,000 people and leaving 50,000 homeless. Joining the international effort, Israel sent Israeli Defense Forces search and rescue and medical teams. They treated hundreds of patients and brought 61 Armenians to Haifa for special medical treatment. When a massive earthquake killed more than 15,000 people in Turkey in 1999, Israel set up a 120-bed field hospital and sent more than 100 tons of relief supplies and a 250-person search and rescue team to Turkey. The team saved 12 survivors and uncovered the bodies of 146 victims. Tireless efforts resulted in the miraculous rescue of a 3-year-old Turkish boy more than 130 hours after the earthquake struck.

Countries ravaged by war and terrorism have received aid from Israel. During the Yugoslavian civil war, the Rwandan civil war and the conflict in Kosovo, Israel not only granted safe haven to refugees but also sent humanitarian aid to the regions. More than 100 tons of medical aid, food and supplies were sent to Bosnia, Rwanda, Macedonia and Albania. During the Rwandan civil war, Israeli medical personnel treated 3,000 Rwandan refugees. Israel donated 80,000 measles vaccinations to the refugee camps and taught agricultural techniques and disease prevention to help resettle returning refugees. During the conflict in Kosovo, an Israeli field hospital offered the only available medical help to 30,000 refugees.

More than 140 countries have benefited from Israel's international humanitarian aid. Israelis assist the needy even while under constant threats to their security and an economic downturn. Israel has suffered seven wars and two intifadas since its independence 56 years ago and still views humanitarian aid as an integral part of its role in the international community.

Rather than being condemned, Israel should be praised. Instead of destroying, Israel is rebuilding. Instead of intentionally hurting, Israel is helping. Instead of fostering terror, Israel is providing hope.

The 'Right of Return' : Is it a valid demand, and how would it affect Middle-East peace?

The 'Right of Return' : Is it a valid demand, and how would it affect Middle-East peace?
Three years ago, President Clinton and Ehud Barak, then Prime Minister of Israel, made every effort to achieve final peace between Jews and Arabs. They offered the 'Palestinians' 97 per cent of the 'West Bank' and Gaza, the eastern part of Jerusalem as their capital, and $30 billion in refugee compensation. But Yasser Arafat did not accept this overly generous offer. He insisted on the 'right of return,' flooding Israel with as many as five million so-called 'refugees.' When this outrageous demand was not granted, he broke off negotiations and started his bloody intifida, the war against Israel, which by now has killed about 2,000 people on both sides and has left many thousands more wounded, many of them crippled for life.

What are the facts?

Who are the so-called 'refugees'? On the very day that Israel declared its independence, five Arab states invaded the nascent Jewish state. In fiery broadcasts and confident of victory, their leaders urged the Arabs to flee the war zone, so as not to impede the invading armies. Once victory was achieved and after all the Jews had been killed or had fled, the Arabs could return, reclaim their property and loot that of the Jews.

Things didn't turn out that way. About 600,000 Arabs followed the call of their leaders and became refugees. About 200,000 accepted the promises of the Israeli authorities that they would not be harmed and that they would become citizens of the new state, with the same rights as the Jews. Hardly any of the original refugees are still alive. But those who claim to be their descendants (who astonishingly number as many as five million), clamor to 'return' to Israel. With the single exception of Jordan, none of their Arab brethren have allowed them to settle in their countries and to become citizens. They have confined them to squalid refugee camps, supported by UNWRA (a dependency of the U.N. and financed mostly by the USA). Those refugee camps are seething hotbeds of hatred against Israel and are the sources for terrorists and suicide bombers.

Is the Palestinian “refugee” problem unique? Migrations of populations are nothing new in world history, especially after major wars. About 15 million Germans were (often brutally) expelled from what became western Poland, from what used to be East Prussia and from the Sudetenland. Millions of Muslims and Hindus, following bloody battles, migrated to India and to what became Pakistan. Other major migrations following the World Wars were those of the French from Algeria, Armenians, Turks, Greeks, Cypriots, Kurds and others. It is only the “Palestinians” who insist on being “repatriated.” But more to the point, Israel has absorbed over 600,000 Jews who were expelled from Arab countries and millions of others from all over the world. All of them are productive citizens of their new country.

Since the founding of Israel in 1948, the Arabs have waged unrelenting wars to defeat the Jewish state, but they have been unable to do so by military means. The destruction of Israel, however, remains a cornerstone of the PLO charter, which has never been rescinded. What the Arabs have failed to achieve by force of arms they are now determined to accomplish demographically, by flooding Israel with millions of “Palestinians.”

The “right of return” is the one concession that Israel can never grant and can never accept. The world must not forget that Israel was founded for one purpose only, namely to be the home of the Jewish people. Even today, more than twenty per cent of the population of Israel are Arabs, almost all of them hostile and a potential fifth column. Even if only a fraction of those who claim the “right of return” were indeed to come to Israel, the country would be swamped by Arabs, and Israel would cease to exist as a Jewish state.

According to the U.N., only those who “owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted in their home countries…” are considered “refugees.” For instance, the Cubans who fled Castro are considered refugees, but their children and grandchildren living in Miami are not. Only the “Palestinians” have been granted special status by the U.N., by which all of their descendants, for generations to come, are considered “refugees.” The purpose of this special status is to assist in the destruction of Israel. Israel is prepared to pay huge amounts in (unwarranted) compensation to those “refugees.” But under no circumstances will it ever or should it ever accept the “right of return.” What that would accomplish in one stroke would be the destruction of Israel as a Jewish state. Israel will never allow that to happen and the world should not request it either. The problem has to be solved by settling the “refugees” in any or all of the 22 Arab countries. Peace will never come about as long as the Arabs insist on the “right of return” — a “right” that can never and will never be granted.

Scientists Look for the Physics Behind a Miracle

A six-month study by a senior researcher at St. Petersburg's Institute of Oceanology and a Hamburg, Germany, based colleague seeks to explore and detail the physics behind the Biblical account of the Jews crossing the sea during the flight from slavery in Egypt.

The study, published in the Bulletin of the Russian Academy of Sciences and reported upon today in The Moscow Times, concluded that a reef running to the north side of the Red Sea could have been the "dry land" upon which the Jews crossed the sea, provided that a 30-meter-per-second wind blew across the sea all night. The cessation of the wind would then lead to the drowning of the pursuing Egyptian forces, trapped on the reef as the waters returned, as recorded in the Bible.

The Russia-based researcher, Naum Volziger, who specializes in flooding and tidal waves, told a Moscow Times reporter, "It would take the Jews - there were 600,000 of them - four hours to cross the seven-kilometer reef that runs from one coast to another. Then, in half an hour, the waters would come back."

Volzinger said he and Hamburg-based colleague Alexei Androsov studied the issue "strictly from Isaac Newton's point of view." However, the researcher did admit, "I am convinced that God rules the Earth through the laws of physics."

Another fence that must come down before Israel's

One very important wall that you might not know about, is the 20 meters high concrete wall that bounds the Vatican City in Rome, which was built with the purpose of keeping Italians out. It is a monstrousity that any tourist who visited - with the cost of a very expensive ticket - the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican Museums know well.

Let's include this fence among the list of "fences" which have to come down before Israel's.

Scapegoating the "settlers"

There were no settlers in Judea and Samaria and Gaza in 1967. There were none in 1956. Those Jews who lived there in 1947 and 1948, and were murdered or driven out by the Arabs, were not called "settlers," but rather Jews of Palestine living in Eretz Yisrael. Yet, even without the settlers, the Arabs tried to destroy the Jewish presence in the Holy Land, managed to kill Jews in whatever cruel ways they could. This was also true in the 1920s and 1930s. It did not take settlers to 'create a quarrel' between the Jews and their Arab neighbors. And it did not take settlers to induce the Arabs
to try to make all of Israel/Palestine Judenrein.

The settlers are not now, and have never been the real cause of Arab hostility to Israel, unless, that is, you regard every Jew in the Holy Land as a settler. In that case, it really is the settlers with whom the Arabs are not willing to live in peace, at all.

Despite this, the world media, under Arab propaganda instruction, see the settlers as the main obstacle to peace. And this despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of them live on land that no Arab lived on. In fact, many of those very left-wing Jews who also 'blame the settlers' do live on properties that Arabs once lived on; while the settlers live on state lands, which were never settled before.

Arab hatred of the settlers comes, I suspect, in part because they understand that the settlers share a certain value with them. The settlers value 'the land' and the Arabs value land above all. The settlers are their rivals in a way that Jews content to dwell in high-rises in the cities are not. The Arabs hate the settlers, because they consider them their real rivals in claims of possession of state lands, which no one really owns.

The scapegoating of the settlers is also the means by which the Israeli Left makes the conflict a 'rational' and 'solvable' one. In order to be balanced, in order to give justification to their vision of peace, the Israeli Left must find the Jewish bad guys. The settlers are given this role. The Israeli Left, because of this vision of 'balancing it out,' has made terrible mistakes of judgment, which have caused Israel many lives. The Left does not understand that the heart of the conflict has nothing whatever to do with the settlers, but has everything to do with the right of Jews to have a state of their own in the Holy Land.

The world too, in order to be fair, has to find a Jewish source of evil to balance against Arab evil, such as Palestinian suicide bombers. The settlers play that role. The absurdity of comparing people whose major crime is living in their ancestral homeland with terrorists, who deliberately kill Jews wherever they can, does not seem to deter Middle East pundits. They know if the settlers would only go away, real peace would be established.

The truth is that it is not because there are too many 'settlers,' but because the Jewish people failed to bring another two million people into Judea and Samaria we continue to hear demands to make these parts of the ancestral Jewish homeland free of a Jewish presence. The great shame and error is not that there are too many settlers, but that there are too few Jews in those parts of the land of Israel that are closest to us historically and religiously.

-- Originally published by Israel National News.

February 13, 2004

Rabbis OK Israeli police plan to use pig lard to ward off suicide bombers

Rabbis OK Israeli police plan to use pig lard to ward off suicide bombers
Muslim tradition holds that any Muslim who comes in contact with a pig before dying will be denied access to heaven.

Israeli police are considering using bags of pig lard in buses and other places to deter Muslim suicide bombers, Maariv reported today. The proposal received the Jerusalem rabbinate's approval.

"The prohibition of raising the pig is known," said the chairman of the rabbinical committee of the Yesha Council of Jewish Communities in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip. "But because we are dealing with pikuach nefesh, the saving of lives, it is permissible to have the animal."

The 3rd terrorist: Mideast tie to OKC bombing

The 3rd terrorist: Mideast tie to OKC bombing
Back in the Oct. 29, 2001 issue, under the byline of Paul Bedard, US News reported that a few top Defense officials believe Timothy McVeigh, executed for his role in the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building, was an Iraqi agent.

"Some dismiss it as being akin to Elvis sightings, but a few top Defense officials think Oklahoma City bomber Tim McVeigh was an Iraqi agent," Bedard writes. "The theory stems from a never-before-reported allegation that McVeigh had allegedly collected Iraqi telephone numbers. Why haven't we heard this before about the case of the executed McVeigh? Conspiracy theorists in the Pentagon think it's part of a cover-up."

Those unnamed Defense Department officials are not alone.

In November 2001, House impeachment counsel David Schippers told WorldNetDaily Radio host Geoff Metcalf's audience that he is convinced of a Mideast connection in the bombing. Schippers represents Jayna Davis, the former Oklahoma City television reporter who attempted to follow up the Mideast connection story until her bosses told her to let it go.

In March of 2001, Jayna Davis, formerly an investigative reporter for KFOR News, confirms extensive evidence (including at least 21 affidavits) exists that links Osama Bin Laden and Islamic terrorists to the funding and planning of the Oklahoma City bombing. She appeared on FOXNEWS O'Reily Factor on 3/20/01.

Now, backed by stunning evidence, Jayna Davis explains in detail the complete, and so far untold, story behind the failed investigation in The Third Terrorist: The Middle Eastern Connection to the Oklahoma City Bombing."

Last April, Davis' reporting on the Oklahoma City bombing was vindicated when the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed a lawsuit filed against her after finding "defendants did not recklessly disregard the truth" in reporting on an Iraqi soldier's alleged involvement in the bombing.

In an interview with WND in October 2001, attorney David Schippers, who prosecuted the House of Representatives' impeachment case against Bill Clinton, said his examination of the evidence Davis presented him was conclusive.

"I am thoroughly convinced that there was a dead-bang Middle Eastern connection in the Oklahoma City bombing," he said.

Folks, this is similar to the cover up of EgyptAir Flight 990. David Rising, Associated Press Writer, wrote that 'weeks after the last pile of debris from EgyptAir 990 was pulled from the sea, investigators say they are more convinced than ever of their original theory: The jet was crashed deliberately.....

...Investigators have said the cockpit voice recorder contained some utterance, perhaps a prayer, before the plane went into its fatal plunge. But Schiff said the flight and radar data alone make it clear someone forced the aircraft down Oct. 31 off the Massachusetts island of Nantucket, killing all 217 aboard....'

February 12, 2004

Disregarding Iraqi Jewish History - The media omit the reason for Iraqi Jewish emigration

HonestReporting.com | August 1, 2003

While the Palestinian and Israel Prime Ministers visit Washington to pursue high-level diplomatic discussions, a simple yet extraordinary humanitarian event occurred in the Mideast on Friday. Six elderly Iraqi Jews — remainders of what was once a vibrant and ancient community — were flown to safety in Israel, reuniting with long-lost family.

The touching event was broadly covered by Western media, but when addressing the historical background of this story, the news outlets were remarkably vague:

-- Associated Press: "Iraq once had a community of 130,000 Jews, but about 120,000 made their way to Israel between 1949 and 1952, with smaller numbers of Jews leaving the country in subsequent years."

-- Reuters: "More than 129,000 Iraqi Jews immigrated to Israel after its establishment in 1948."

-- New York Times: "Friday's charter was believed to have been the first direct flight between the countries since an airlift in 1950- 51 that brought thousands of Iraqi Jews to Israel."

Absent from these reports is the reason why 99% of the Iraqi Jewish community departed following Israel's independence — they (like Jews in Syria, Libya, Egypt and other Arab nations) were systematically expelled by the Iraqi government. Iraqi legislation in 1948-51 first outlawed Zionist "behavior," then deprived Jews of their Iraqi nationality, access to education, and finally, of all their property. President Truman helped organize a massive airlift in 1951 to bring the desperate Iraqi Jewish community to Israel.

It is a glaring case of selective omission that these articles profile the remnants of the Iraqi Jewish community — yet fail to mention these key historic facts. The same media outlets that typically describe Palestinian refugees as having been "driven out" or "evicted" in 1948 are curiously silent when describing the genuine persecutory context of Jewish refugees.

Why Jews Fled the Arab Countries

Why Jews Fled the Arab Countries by Ya'akov Meron
Ya'akov Meron holds a doctorate in law from the Faculté de Droit de Paris and is an authority on Islamic law and the law of Arab countries. He was a member of the Israeli delegation to negotiate the peace treaty with Egypt and to solve the Taba issue.

In a key address before the Political Committee of the U.N. General Assembly on November 14, 1947, just five days before that body voted on the partition plan for Palestine, Heykal Pasha, an Egyptian delegate, made the following key statement in connection with that plan:
The United Nations . . . should not lose sight of the fact that the proposed solution might endanger a million Jews living in the Moslem countries. Partition of Palestine might create in those countries an anti-Semitism even more difficult to root out than the anti-Semitism which the Allies were trying to eradicate in Germany. . . If the United Nations decides to partition Palestine, it might be responsible for the massacre of a large number of Jews.
Heykal Pasha then elaborated on his threat:
A million Jews live in peace in Egypt [and other Muslim countries] and enjoy all rights of citizenship. They have no desire to emigrate to Palestine. However, if a Jewish State were established, nobody could prevent disorders. Riots would break out in Palestine, would spread through all the Arab states and might lead to a war between two races. 1

Heykal Pasha's thinly veiled threats of "grave disorders," "massacre," "riots," and "war between two races" did not at the time go unnoticed by Jews;2 for them, it had the same ring as the proposition made six years earlier by the Palestinian leader Hajj Amin al-Husayni to Hitler of a "final solution" for the Jews of Arab countries, including Palestine. [Smooth: Hajj Amin al-Husayni, also spelled Husseini, was originally appointed as the Mufti of Jerusalem by the British. It is interesting to note that in addition to hundreds of Jews who were killed by Arabs, some 3,000 Arabs died in this revolt at the hands of other Arabs and at the hands of the British. ] But the statement appears to have made no lasting impression, to the point that a historian of the Jews in Egypt has described Heykal Pasha as "a well-known liberal."3

Particularly noteworthy is that although Heykal Pasha spoke at the United Nations in his capacity as a representative of Egypt, he continuously mentioned the Jews "in other Muslim countries" and "all the Arab states," suggesting a level of coordination among the Arab governments.

1 U.N. General Assembly, Second Session, Official Records, Ad Hoc Committee on the Palestinian Question, Summary Records of Meetings, Lake Success, N.Y., Sept. 25-Nov. 15, 1947, p. 185. The original language of this statement is French, so we have altered the U.N's English translation to bring it into harmony with the equally official French text.
2 For example, Emile Najjar, the last president of the Egyptian Zionist Federation and a future Israeli diplomat, pointed out Heykal Pasha's remarks in a lecture delivered in Paris at the Centre d'Etudes de Politique Etrangére on Dec. 20, 1947.
3 Gurdron Krämer, "Aliyatah u-shki'atah shel Kehilat Kahir," Pe'amim, Spring 1981, pp. 28-30-34.


Read the rest of this excellent expose' of the persecution suffered by the Iraqi Jewish community here.

Iraqi Jews: a case of 'ethnic cleansing' - persecution began in 1930s and prevailed throughout Mideast

For more than 50 years, the plight of Palestinian refugees has remained at center stage of discussions of Middle East politics. The United Nations has passed dozens of resolutions deploring the status of refugees in that region and Arab representatives continue to insist on the Palestinians' "right of return" as a prerequisite to lasting peace between Arabs and Israelis.

Lost in this discussion, however, has been the memory of another flood of refugees created for the most part at the same time as the original Palestinian refugees left their home. This "forgotten exodus" of Jews from Arab lands involved just as many displaced people, and in some cases resulted in the virtual extinction of historic communities.

This is an interview from July 10, 2003 where Carole Basri, adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and author of a case study of the "ethnic cleansing" of Iraqi Jews, spoke with Vincent Carroll, editor of the editorial pages at the Rocky Mountain News.

Carroll: Why do you say there was an ethnic cleansing of Jews from Iraq?

Basri: It was an ethnic cleansing because out of 150,000 Jews who lived in Iraq in 1948 about 35 to 39 Jews remain. Through various kinds of persecution under the color of law all these people have left.

Carroll: It began in the 1930s?

Basri: Yes, there was a lot of playing out of European politics in the Middle East then. You had the British and French there and you had the counterweight of the Germans, who had been allies of the Ottoman Empire at the close of World War I. So in 1933, with the coming of Hitler, the German Embassy became stocked with advocates of Nazi ideology, in particular the German ambassador. Iraq promulgated anti-Jewish laws as early as 1934. By 1939 there was a pro-Nazi curriculum in the schools in Iraq, also pro-Nazi youth groups. The German Embassy bought one of the newspapers so they could make sure the propaganda circulated. So you have this whole confluence of things finally leading to the pro- Nazi uprising in 1941 of Rashid Ali. It goes on for several months before it's put down by the British, but there's a pogrom against the
Jews, and they kill a couple hundred Jews and thousands are injured and much property destroyed.

Later, in 1947 with the partition of Palestine, there again is a flurry of anti-Jewish laws and these laws deal with restrictions on attending the university, sale of land and the ability to teach your children. There were also restrictions on travel.

Carroll: Isn't this the period when Jews were banned from certain professions?

Basri: Exactly. So now you've got a population that's captive; they can't travel, they can't properly operate their businesses. They are losing their ability to function. Even sanitation to Jewish areas is cut off so that they have to resort to private sanitation.

There had been a Jewish press, but that was repressed as well. In March 1950 the Iraqi Parliament passed an Ordinance for the Cancellation of Iraqi Nationality for Jews. It required that Jews of their own free will and choice divest themselves of citizenship. In fact, because they couldn't travel and couldn't practice a profession, what ended up
happening is that almost 120,000 Jews did register to leave. And 10,000 Jews ended up actually escaping. So you had all these people who felt they really couldn't live in Iraq any more. They didn't leave of their free will. It was coercion.

Carroll: I take it that some Jews did not sign up for this revocation of citizenship. What did that imply for them?

Basri: You could stay on but no one knew what it meant since you couldn't go to a university, practice a profession, take money out of the bank, and so on. You were going to probably be forced out of working for the government too because Jews were thrown out of government positions between 1947 and 1950.

Carroll: But if you did sign, you had crossed the Rubicon. You were committed in some fashion to leaving, right?

Basri: You lost your passport. But you hadn't lost your money, I mean the bank accounts were still there; your property was still there. But that's the next piece of legislation. On March 10, 1951, the Iraqi Parliament in an extraordinary session passed a law depriving all stateless Jews of their property. The Jews who had signed up had not realized that they were also going to be destitute. They thought they just had a one-way ticket out of the country. But now they lost all of their property, meaning they became homeless in their own country. At that time there was talk among the diplomatic corps of setting up concentration camps.

Carroll: They were saved by an airlift. How was that organized?

Basri: President Truman organized it. Israel in 1948 had 650,000 people. By 1951, three years later, it had 1,350,000 people. At first the Israelis basically said, we cannot absorb all these (Iraqi) people, and not only that, we don't have the money to even bring them here. They said if the Iraqi Jews could come with their money, because it was a wealthy community, fine, let them come, if they can't come with their money, we don't want them. But when the Israelis realized the dire straits these people were in then they concluded they would just have to take them in. And Truman said he would help at least to get the airlift going. The Israelis in fact put restrictions on Moroccan Jewish immigration in that period - unless they had a job waiting and money, they weren't going to be allowed in - because the situation with the Iraqi Jews was so desperate.

Carroll: Although the vast majority of Jews left Iraq, the persecutions didn't stop. There was a rather gruesome public hanging in 1969, for example.

Basri: Nine Jews were hung in the public square. Actually, Saddam Hussein was behind that hanging. In 1968 there was a coup by the Baathists, with al-Bakr, who is the uncle of Saddam Hussein, installed as president. He tells Saddam to put together a security force that was similar to the Gestapo and to start the torture chambers. As the first group of victims he picks the Jews; they were the most defenseless. At this point, the Jews were not allowed to have telephones in their homes or offices, and they were not permitted to travel more than three- quarters of a mile from their home - there were 3,500 Jewish people left at that point, and this was after the 1967 Six Day War.

Yet in a community under that kind of repression they were charged with being American spies. So under this situation Saddam brought to trial nine Jews, who are hung in the public square. Now what this does for Saddam is it gives him a way to test out how much repression he can allow in the country and whether anyone will speak out. He also hung a few other people, who were not Jewish. But there was an outcry after this incident, as well as after some hangings in August 1969 of Jews in Basra. After that, the Arab world said "We're looking barbaric to the world, we can't do this anymore." So then Saddam had his agents pull people who were Jewish off the streets and they were never seen again.

Carroll: You point out that there have been 101 U.N. resolutions involving the Palestinian refugees who came about at the creation of the state of Israel, but not a single U.N. resolution has mentioned specifically the refugee flood of Jews from Arab countries into Israel and elsewhere - some went to the United States, others to Canada and
Europe.

Basri: Out of almost 900,000 Jews who lived in the Arab world (before the creation of Israel), there are only about 5,000 remaining. The sort of things that happened in Iraq occurred elsewhere, leading to a general feeling among Jews that you couldn't raise your children properly and safely and so had to leave.

Carroll: There were other famous airlifts too - out of Yemen, for example.

Basri: Right. And you had people who were given one month to leave Egypt. It was a very dire situation because the resources in Israel were not that great. When the Iraqi Jews left, they went to live in 10 refugee camps for almost 12 years. Yet those people didn't keep a refugee mentality and I think that's a very important piece to this
whole picture, not to mention what it says about the human spirit. You can have very little if you to decide you're going to make something of yourself. So many of the Jewish refugees from Arab countries have never received any support from the U.N. or any of the relief agencies, and yet they have been incredibly successful as a group. I think it's unfair to the Palestinians that they were kept political refugees and that the U.N. defines them as generational refugees so that now you have millions of Palestinian refugees. You know, I would be considered a refugee because my parents came from Iraq.

Carroll: Israel never attempted to use them as political pawns in the fashion that the Palestinian refugees have been used.

Basri: They didn't and I think that was to the benefit of these people.

Carroll: Do Iraqi Jewish refugees share a basis for legal claims under international treaties?

Basri: There are certain remedies that can be pursued and I talk about some of those remedies. But to tell you the truth, I'm not sure what will come out of that. We're dealing with countries in the Middle East with negative gross domestic products for the past 10 years. I've had the privilege of knowing a number of people who had parents who were hung, who were tortured or whose husbands or brothers were hung, and they've had no sense of closure on this issue; they felt as if their culture was taken from them. They spoke Arabic when they got to Israel, but people didn't want to hear Arabic, they didn't want to talk about the Middle Eastern culture these refugees had left behind, with the music, food and all of the other things that were very important to them. So right now it's important to talk about the refugees in the context of what happened and what was lost.

Carroll: You've suggested a "truth and reconciliation" commission.

Basri: That's what I spend my time on, truth and reconciliation, because I believe that with more than 50 percent of Israelis made up of Jews from Arab countries we need to talk about what happened to these people. Without such talk, I don't think you can ask the Palestinians, who've also suffered, to understand that there are other people who suffered just as deeply, just as dramatically, and that this didn't happen in a period of war.

These people were living in these countries and had everything taken from them that made life beautiful and precious. They were part of a culture that went back 2,700 years. To me that's the issue. To talk about money in this context as if you're ever going to replace all of that, right now I don't think that makes sense.

February 10, 2004

Islamic prof says U.S. made world better

Islamic prof says U.S. made world better
Hello to new visitors and welcome.

While you all are here, please take the time to read the following story about an Islamic prof who says the U.S. made the world better.

Enjoy.

Mariah Carey meets Islam

Mariah Carey meets Islam
"To allow a western artist, especially Mariah Carey, who is well-know for her sexy clothing, to perform on Awal Muharram is disrespecting the sensitivities of Mulsims and can be seen as challening the status of Islam as Malaysia's official religion," said the letter. "We cannot accept such an immoral concert to be held on Awam Muharram or on any other days. ... It is not only an insult to Muslims but will encourage moral degradation especially among youths."

Malaysia is a Southeast Asian nation with about 25 million people – 60 percent of whom practice Islam.

February 09, 2004

New Web Site: Page by Page in Jewish History

Smooth Stone invites you to visit Page by Page in Jewish History, a site which publishes a daily edition of Jewish history according to the Hebrew date.

Page by Page in Jewish History aims to get ourselves in touch with who we are, by means of our history. Page by Page in Jewish History sends their daf to hundreds of people all over the world, by e-mail, either as an attachment or a regular e-mail. Page by Page in Jewish History publishes in English and Hebrew (different content), and emphasizes the unity of the Jewish people, as well as the tapestry of many different threads making up the whole.

Israel Advocacy Resource Guide

Celebrate 350: JEWISH LIFE IN AMERICA 1654-2004

Celebrate 350: JEWISH LIFE IN AMERICA 1654-2004
With a September 2004 launch, the national Jewish community will initiate a year-long series of programs marking 350 years of communal life in America.

Celebrate 350: Jewish Life in America 1654-2004 will coordinate this year-long celebration. As the hub of an extensive network of organizations and programs, Celebrate 350 provides resources, stimulates ideas, and links the many projects, programs, and enterprises marking the event.

The commemoration dates itself from the landing in New Amsterdam (today's New York City) in 1654 of a small group of Jews from Recife, Brazil. Fleeing persecution and seeking refuge, this first boatload was the vanguard of millions of Jews to follow. The story of Jews in America is a unique and noteworthy chapter in Jewish history. It is a grand, gritty, and
complex narrative well worth recalling, and the 350th anniversary provides the perfect context for doing so.

A national calendar of activities has been created to track the outpouring of activities scheduled during the program year. Links to resources and participating organizations are included as well. A Celebrate 350 logo indicates that programs undertaken locally are part of the national effort and are listed on the Celebrate 350 website calendar.

A century ago, and again 50 years ago, the Jewish community mounted an array of activities to reflect upon its experience in America. On each occasion, Jews noted the integral relationship between American freedom and Jewish continuity. But in a larger sense, the Jewish experience in America - with its commitment to the values of freedom, opportunity, religious
liberty, equality, and pluralism - is the story of America and American ideals as well. Therefore, all Americans are invited to join in Celebrate 350: Jewish Life in America 1654-2004.

Did you know?

Did you know that Al Qaeda only masquerades as an Islamic authority?

February 08, 2004

Muslims endangering Temple remains

Muslims endangering Temple remains?
A videotape shot secretly at Jerusalem's Temple Mount by a disguised Jew shows apparent disregard for ancient artifacts by Muslims who control the area.

According to the Jerusalem Post, which obtained a copy of the video, ancient boulders are strewn near heaps of garbage. Two tractors are shown by piles of new stone slabs. The Muslim Wakf, or Islamic Trust, oversees the Temple Mount area.

Did you hear the outrage against the Muslim Wakf for destroying the holiest site in Judaism, by the international community?

We didn't.

Islamic rappers' message of terror

Islamic rappers' message of terror
It's rap, jihad-style. A music video with blood-curdling images, fronted by a young British Muslim rapper brandishing a gun and a Koran is the latest hit in radical Islamic circles.

The rap song is called 'Dirty Kuffar' - Arabic for dirty non-believer - and it praises Osama bin Laden and the attack on the World Trade Centre in New York. The video has recently been posted on the British website run by the Islamic extremist Mohammed al-Massari, the UK-based Saudi Arabian dissident who has lived in Britain since 1994. Al-Massari claims that the video has been selling in large quantities at mosques to the younger generation and is in heavy demand overseas.

The rapper fronting the video calls himself Sheikh Terra and the Soul Salah Crew - a take on the rap group So Solid Crew. 'Salah' is Arabic for faith. The video might at first be mistaken for an Ali G spoof, but the violent images quickly reveal it is no joke.

The song starts with images of US marines in Iraq cheering as one of them shoots a wounded Iraqi lying on the floor. At the end of the video, it features shots of the hijacked planes flying into the Twin Towers with sounds of the rappers laughing. There is then a list of 56 countries they claim have been the 'victims of American aggression' since 1945.

The four-minute rap is essentially a repeated diatribe against the 'dirty non-believers' Tony Blair and George Bush, urging listeners to 'throw them on the fire'.

One of the most brutal images shows a jihadist fighter in Chechnya riddling a captured Russian soldier with a Kalashnikov. Another image labels Pakistan president General Pervez Musharraf a traitor and shows photographs of Colin Powell and Condeleezza Rice with the words 'still slaves' superimposed across their bodies.

Labour MP Andrew Dismore said he was 'disgusted' by the video and is to refer it to the Home Office and ask the police to investigate if any offence has been committed.

Dismore said: 'These extremist are using music and video to prey on young and impressionable Muslim boys in order to attract them to their brand of lunacy and entice them to commit acts of terror. It is inexcusable.'

The website on which the video was originally posted is run by the Committee for the Defence of Legitimate Rights in Saudi Arabia, a group run by al-Massari who came to Britain in 1994 after being imprisoned by the Saudi regime.

He said: 'A boy came to me and showed me the video and I thought the content was good, although I am no expert on rap. I thought it was an excellent attempt to use modern methods to get a message across.'

Al-Massari did not see a problem in using Western music and MTV-like images to sell a message of jihad. He said that it was an effective way of attracting young Muslims who had been put off by other Islamic sects such as the Taliban, which banned music and dancing. 'I do not know of any young Muslim who has not either seen or got this video. It is selling everywhere. Everyone I meet at the mosque is asking for it.' Al-Massari denied that the messages in the video incited Muslims to take part in terrorist attacks against the West. He said: 'I believe the lyrics are only metaphorical. It is not like this is a fatwa.'

In November 2002, al-Massari circulated a 4,000-word message allegedly from Osama bin Laden. In 2001, al-Massari was granted permanent residence in Britain, five years after Michael Howard, then Conservative Home Secretary, tried to deport him.

Excerpt from 'Dirty Kuffar'
Peace to Hamas and the Hizbollah
OBL [bin-Laden] pulled me like a shiny star
Like the way we destroyed them two towers ha-ha
The minister Tony Blair, there my dirty Kuffar
The one Mr Bush, there my dirty Kuffar...
Throw them on the fire.

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