Hitler and Mussolini Walk into a Bar...
Monday, December 03, 2007
...and order an atom bomb straight up, Chavez on the side.
By the way, the bar is next door to that Naval Academy in Maryland.
U.S. Intelligence suddenly "uncovered" that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program four years ago, rendering Iran a non-threatening entity, one that can, therefore, be approached in terms of talks rather than military action.
This discovery, of course, was made in exchange for Chavez's loss of the referendum vote that would have made him Venezuela's leader for life by two lousy percentage points. (And don't tell me that's because Chavez's people don't know how to stuff ballot boxes the way Putin's army does.)
It's amazing what can be won and lost in a friendly game of poker at Annapolis. Suddenly, the two greatest up-and-coming dictators since Hitler and Mussolini are rendered non-threatening entities in the same day. We have truly achieved peace in our time.
Just ask Vladimir Putin. If you can get him to crack a smile, there's an extra twenty in the pot for you.
Labels: America, Annapolis, Chavez, Iran, Israel, Putin, Russia, Venezuela
posted by Shoshana @ 9:22 PM
Annapolis and... America Has Fallen
Sunday, December 02, 2007
Some good links:
Pajamas Media: Peace Fatigue: Israelis Watch Annapolis and Yawn
"For the first time, it looks like that the leaders attending a Middle East peace conference want – really, really want, truly, truly need this diplomatic process more than their people do," wrote another Yediot commentator, Sima Kadmon. "They certainly believe in it more than the millions of Middle East residents who sat there yesterday skeptically, if not indifferently in front of the television. As far as the Israeli and Palestinians are concerned its another fancy festival for leaders who are happy and relieved to get away from the burning realities in their countries for a couple of days. It's called escapism."Caroline Glick in the JPost: Column One: Apartheid, Not Peace
Evident everywhere, the discrimination against Israel received its starkest expression at the main assembly of the Annapolis conference on Tuesday. There, in accordance with Saudi demands, the Americans prohibited Israeli representatives from entering the hall through the same door as the Arabs.Israpundit: The US is Selling its Soul to the Islamic Devil
At the meeting of foreign ministers on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni called her Arab counterparts to task for their discriminatory treatment. "Why doesn't anyone want to shake my hand? Why doesn't anyone want to be seen speaking to me?" she asked pointedly.
...as far as Rice is concerned, the Palestinians are the innocent victims. They are the ones who are discriminated against and humiliated, not Livni, who was forced - by Rice - to enter the conference through the service entrance.
The United Arab Emirates, a tiny enclave of a half million natives and no rule of law has purchased significant chunks of American banks (including Citibank), ports, and airport facilities.Yesterday, it finally hit me: Why I'd been feeling so detached and out of it all week long. Even though I knew this had been coming for a long time, and I had prepared for it in a lot of ways, it was still a shock to my system to be required to let go of any vestige of my American identity. Gone. It's all gone now. Not by my choice, but by the choices of others. I cannot identify with a government or a people who seek to put Jerusalem on the carving table and Israel on the chopping block. Can't. Won't. I am a stranger in a strange land.
Kuwait, the country we saved from Saddam’s clutch, is deploying a war chest of $300 billion as its Neanderthal Parliament strives to reinstate flogging and decapitation and to annul the recently granted right of women to vote.
Qatar, the proprietor of the anti-Semitic, anti-American Al-Jazeera network, is piling up $300 billion, buying stakes in Europe’s third-largest stock market, the London Stock Exchange, and pumping money into Carnegie Mellon, Cornell Medical College, Texas A&M, and Virginia Commonwealth University.
And the mother of Islamofascism, Saudi Arabia, where 200 senior royals of the ruling family are playing with several billion each and buying up stakes in strategic companies such as Disney and Apple, and Citibank, too, and using the rest of the oil bonanza to fund madrassas, militant mosques, and theological institutes across America and Europe.
Is this how it felt to be Jewish in Europe in 1936? Is this what it felt like to read the newspaper and understand that my government leaders were taking glorious trips abroad, only to come back with false declarations of "peace in our time" while my cousins, brothers, and sisters were being shuffled around like sheep being readied for slaughter? Is this what it felt like to wonder, "Will I be next?" knowing that the question was not going to be answered with "yes" or "no" but simply, "when"?
If anything should make us re-think who we are, whether we are Ashkenazis in New York or Mizrahim in Beer Sheva, it is the clear and undeniable truths brought forth by the events of Annapolis. America does not give a whit about Israel, period. Not only do they not care, the government of the United States has made it perfectly clear in both policy and lack of propriety, that Israel (read: "the Jeeeeewwwws") is the slave, not the light of the world. And, like a slave, we are the scapegoats and whipping boys of the so-called masters at hand, a.k.a. the Arab nations who are acquiring control of the western economy at a rapid rate.
Of course, at this point I could dive into the cliches of apocalypse-ready mystics, hell-bent on half-witted exegesis and the preaching of self-important clerics who use the Word of G-d to fatten their own bellies and line their own pockets. What never ceases to amaze me is the Messianic believer's ability to fall long and hard for those Hollywood-esque approaches to daily horror. Perhaps that is why one Israeli documentarian I once saw interviewed cringed at the sound of Israel being called "The Holy Land." It wasn't that he denied the uniqueness of the place as much as he understood how unrealistic such an ethreal title is for a State so visceral that its daily life is nothing less than an expression of the very real battles of this very real world. Believers in America like to think of Israel as a nation whose point and purpose was fulfilled and recorded in the ancient past. Now that they are on the cusp of facing the same daily struggles, perhaps it is time for those who proclaim faith in the Jewish Messiah to do more than pay lip service to the idea that blessing Israel is a "good thing." Maybe it is time for these believers to put their heart, and not just their tongues into the harvest.
And, speaking of hearts, perhaps now would be a good time for Jewish Americans to stop approaching their inherited culture as marketable kitsch. Seinfeld may finally be making Israel laugh but, in this country, we've already had more than our share of the fun. We have to live our identity proudly, not just throw money at it out of guilt, if we want to survive and if we want our nation to survive. "The Word is close to you. It is in your mouth, it is even in your hearts, therefore, you can do it!" Being Jewish isn't about costuming for or pandering to the crowds: Being Jewish is about being who you were made and called out to be.
Sadly, it will take a war of G-dly proportions for us as a people to accept and embrace this fact. Right now, we have no right to petition governments or protest treaties. We have no right to seek any outsider support, because there is none to be found. And we certainly have no right to demand from G-d answers of salvation that our government is ready to negotiate away for promises more vague than thin air.
In six days in 1967, our G-d gave our city back to us. He gave us that contentious mountain, with its offensive domes and concreted gates erected to prevent the happening of an event that the whole world, both Jew and gentile, know to be true: the return and reign of Messiah Yeshua. In six days in 1967, our G-d sent us one magnificent calling card that read, "I'm coming sooner-- sooner than anyone thinks, and I'm telling you about it first, because I want you to be there when I arrive." And what did we do with that calling card? We stuck it in a scrapbook, stuck the scrapbook in the attic, and now we're debating on throwing it out with the spring cleaning.
No, we have no right to do anything but fall on our face in humiliation for what we have done to Him and His promises. We are a horrible, stiff-necked people and we should be filled with shame.
At the same time, we should also understand our responsibility to Him, to make things right. There is nothing we can do to save ourselves now--except, that is, to trust in His salvation. That's it. Because we have disarmed ourselves and we have no one in this world to turn to. It doesn't get anymore Biblical than this. Don't believe me? Just read Psalm 2 or Isaiah 63, or Zechariah 9, or the entirety of Jeremiah for starters.
As for the Messianic Jewish people, we have a responsibility to:
Stand up and speak out against the crimes of Annapolis.
We must demand a unified Jerusalem in the hands of the nation of Israel.
We must demand an Israel that includes the territories of YESHA--Judea and Samaria--as well as the reclamation of Gush Katif, the Sinai penninsula, and the ceded lands of southern Lebanon, along with the retention of the Golan Heights.
We must decry the United States Government's gross attacks against our nation, our people, and our very selves.
And, most importantly of all, we must beg, with our faces to the ground, for the mercy and action of Messiah that we may be saved for the sake of His throne in Jerusalem.
The prophet Amos ends with a promise from HaShem that we would be uprooted no more. In this, the 60th anniversary year of our modern re-establishment I pray for all of my Jewish people: THIS YEAR, AND EVERY YEAR, IN THE UNIFIED JERUSALEM, ISRAEL!
Labels: America, Annapolis, Israel, Jewish, Judaism, Messianic Judaism, Zionism
posted by Shoshana @ 7:38 PM
Jewish America: Beware
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
"Jewish university students forced to flee from campus" at York University in Toronto, Canada. View this headline in light of the short-term goals of the North American Union and the rhetorical question "Who's the Bigger Threat to America", and suddenly what's going on in France (and what has been going on for quite a while according to Ken Timmerman's excellently researched book Preachers of Hate) will be happening State-side sooner rather than later.
Jewish people of America-- in the age of the Internet, you can't say you haven't been warned.
More commentary on Annapolis to come... email your thoughts about the conference to: theunifiedbody AT yahoo DOT com
Labels: Annapolis, AntiSemitism, Canada, France, Israel, Jewish, Judaism
posted by Shoshana @ 8:24 PM
Annapolis and the Fall of America: Part II
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Carl in Jerusalem, AKA Israel Matzav is one of my top primary blog resources for getting the down-lo (yes, I said "down-lo"- what's the Hebrew equivalent?) on what's going on on the ground in Israel. Skimming through the past few days' worth of posts, I learned that a mass prayer rally at the Western Wall and demonstration outside of the Prime Minister's house in Jerusalem were being organized for tomorrow. However, the demonstration has been postponed due to inclement weather. Apparently, those organizing the demonstration are trying to promote some level of civil disobedience. Carl makes a few wise comments regarding the response of the Israeli justice system to civil disobedience (let's just say that palestinian bombers get a better reception) and I can't help but wonder if the organizers won't just lose interest before anything can be organized. After all, if they're willing to cancel because they don't want to get a little wet, how willing are they to get jail time for their beliefs?
Carl also has a great post with links to the J-blogosphere's own commentary on Annapolis. There's also another post with a link to a new mega-site dedicated to the unification of Jerusalem. So far, it's only in Hebrew, but I'd stay tuned.
In an absolutely awesome post titled Will Annapolis Matter? Carl discusses the opinions of former JPost editor Bret Stephen, as published in the Wall Street Journal. Carl concludes:
Fifty countries are to be invited to Annapolis. Unless forty-eight of them are named Micronesia, none of them other than the United States is likely to be a friend of Israel. Israel is going to be overwhelmed with enemies at the 'conference.' And with their legacy on the line, Condoleeza Rice and George Bush seem to be ready to abandon friendship in favor of history.[Emphasis mine.]His most recent post details a report from WorldNetDaily that Olmert has agreed to the "Right of Return" for "palestinian refugees." The report also notes:
That's why I believe Annapolis will matter and that's why I can't dismiss it as Secretary of State Rice's 'pointless fiasco,' however accurate that description might otherwise be.
Various media reports – denied by Olmert – claimed in recent weeks Israel would also evacuate sections of Jerusalem and would negotiate what are considered core Israeli-Palestinian issues – primarily the status of Jerusalem and the so-called return of refugees.Meanwhile, over at Israpundit, Ted Belman posts How I Learned to Love the Bomb in which he quotes from Aluff Benn's article in Ha'aretz, "Get Used to the Iranian Bomb." Benn writes,
Neither the U.S. nor Israel has a military option against Iran. Bombing the nuclear facilities would cause oil prices to skyrocket and would only strengthen the extremists in Tehran. In their view, Iran would respond by hitting the American soldiers stationed in Iraq and the oil facilities in the Gulf, and would begin terrorist operations in America.And Belman agrees,
That’s the way I see it also.Really, at this point, can coalescing even be considered an option, let alone a viable one? Wait, let me guess: Being a brave Jew means kvetching while Olmert coalesces for us, right?
No one is going to bomb Iran.
Israel should keep Judea and Samaria.
To Be Continued...
Labels: Annapolis, Christian Zionism, Israel, Jerusalem, Judaism, Messianic Judaism
posted by Shoshana @ 8:12 PM
Annapolis and the Fall of America: Part I
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
We know where Annapolis is taking us to, namely; Auschwitz borders, expulsion and deportation of 200,000 Jews and the division of Jerusalem with the Holy Basin under the control of the Muslims. Need we know more?-Ted Belman, Annapolis will bring death and destruction. Israpundit 14 Nov 2007
The United States government is in the process of organizing a Middle East "Peace Conference" to be held at the end of November in Annapolis, MD. Of course, Ted Belman and the fine folks at Israpundit have been following the press and providing analysis on the prospective event. To give you an accurate timeline of current events surrounding the Annapolis conference, I summarize mainly from Israpundit's excellent archive:
Oct. 16: Israpundit quotes David Bedein of The Bulletin who writes,
A week ago, in an attempt to show maximum flexibility during the forthcoming negotiations in Annapolis, Md., two senior Israeli cabinet ministers - Haim Ramon and Avigdor Lieberman - declared that they would be willing to cede Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem, Israel’s capital, to the sovereign control of a future independent Palestinian state. “Ceding Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem” does not sit well with many Israelis and conjures up images of what Jerusalem endured from 1949 until 1967, when the city of Jerusalem was divided between Israel and Jordan. In West Jerusalem, on the Israeli side of the divide, people from all religions could visit and reside. In East Jerusalem, on the Jordanian side, no Jew was allowed.Oct. 27: Israpundit publishes the press release,
...WITH DOUBTS ABOUT SUCCESS IN ANNAPOLIS, A SEPARATE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFERENCE WILL CONVENE TWO WEEKS EARLIER
With almost every media outlet in the Middle East expressing doubt the scheduled Middle East summit on November 26th will bear any fruit, public relations advisors to the Israeli, American and Palestinian leadership have suddenly orchestrated a high profile meeting with more than eighty senior Israeli, American and Palestinian leaders to discuss politics, security, communications and economics.
This gathering will take part in a forum that will take place at Saban Center for Middle East Policy Center between November 3rd and November 5th.
The Saban Center is directed by former US ambassador to Israel, Martin Indyk.
...On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced his intention to attend the November 3rd parlay and it was announced that the Middle East Quartet envoy, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair would be the main speaker on the official opening evening. The forum has scheduled plenary sessions on the Saudi Initiative, the Iranian nuclear threat, the role of the intelligence community and the democratization policies advocated by the USA and other democratic governments in the West.
Jewish Leaders Initiate International Effort to Keep the Jewish Capital Secure, Intact and UnitedOct. 29: Israpundit quotes David Bedein of The Bulletin who writes:
NEW YORK, NY (October 24, 2007) - We are proud to announce today the formation and launch of The Coordinating Council on Jerusalem, for the purpose of uniting American Jewish organizations on behalf of a secure and unified Jerusalem. Rabbi Pesach Lerner, Executive Vice President of the National Council of Young Israel, founded the initiative as a united public front of Jewish American organizations towards the principle of keeping Jerusalem united. It has been endorsed by hundreds of Jewish leaders in the Diaspora and Israel.
Recently, in preparation for next month's Annapolis summit with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, ministers of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s government put forth their view that Jerusalem was negotiable and opened the door to concessions of parts of Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount, world Judaism's holiest and most revered site. Following his ministers' remarks, Olmert himself questioned the value of maintaining Jewish sovereignty over certain Jerusalem neighborhoods. As a result, Jewish leaders around the world are coalescing around a simple bottom-line position: World Jewry opposes Israeli negotiations which would include any discussion of ceding sovereignty over part or all of Jerusalem. ...
The Coordinating Council on Jerusalem, currently in formation, includes Americans for a Safe Israel, Association for Jewish Outreach Programs, Emunah of America, Hineni, Jerusalem Reclamation Project, National Conference of Synagogue Youth, National Council of Young Israel, One Israel Fund, Poalei Agudath Israel of America, Rabbinic Alliance to Save Jerusalem, Rabbinical Alliance of America, Rabbinical Council of America, Religious Zionists of America, Russian Jewish Community Foundation, Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations (OU), Unity Coalition for Israel, Young Israel Council of Rabbis, and Zionist Organization of America.
Jerusalem - Yesterday, following the weekly Israel government cabinet meeting, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert dispatched cabinet secretary Oved Yehezkel and his official spokesman Yaakov Galanati to brief the press about the steps that will lead to the Annapolis Middle East Summit on Nov. 26.Nov. 6: Israpundit cited David Brooks, in a New York Times op/ed, What is Condi Doing? analyzing:
Mr. Olmert's spokespeople emphasized that the Israeli government did not expect to reach any agreement with the Palestinians at the summit and that that the 'only thing that would happen there would be declarations,' adding that 'Israel will announce its recognition of a Palestinian Arab national state alongside an Israeli Jewish national state, with Israel formally accepting the road map.'
It's not really about Israel and the Palestinians; it's about Iran. Rice is constructing a coalition of the losing. There is a feeling among Arab and Israeli leaders that an Iran-Syria-Hezbollah-Hamas alliance is on the march. The nations that resist that alliance are in retreat. The peace process is an occasion to gather the "moderate" states and to construct what Martin Indyk of the Brookings Institution's Saban Center calls an anti-Iran counter-alliance.Nov. 11: Israpundit quotes Yisrael Medad, who writes:
...I do think someone erred in affixing the signatures of the two Chief Rabbis of Israel to the document of the "Council of Religious Institutions of the Holy Land".Nov. 12: Israpundit quotes Israel National News in reporting,
...As we know, Secretary of State Rice encouraged the organizers to have their conference now to dovetail (no pun intended) with Annapolis. The document aids her in her efforts to wrest Jerusalem and more from Israel. That's the first reason the Rabbis should have stayed clear.
A dozen Jewish organizations have united to hold a "summit" calling for Jewish sovereignty over all of the Land of Israel, meeting on the same day as the Annapolis summit. The title:Nov. 13: Israel National News reports,
Sovereignty for the Jewish Nation Over the State of the Land of Israel.
..."Recognizing that the Jewish Nation does not have a representative body," the formative statement begins, "and greatly fearing that the government in Israel is undermining the fundamental interests of Jewish existence (based on its declarations and actions in anticipation of the Annapolis summit), we - many right-wing movements and organizations - have united together to convene a counter-summit. Our goal is to emphasize what we stand 'for,' not 'against.'"
...The idea of the alternative summit, the organizers say, is to "establish the first-stage organizational and conceptual skeleton that will promote a congress to represent the entire nation, including hareidim, during the course of Nissan (April 2008)."
Among the initiating organizations are: Manhigut Yehudit (Jewish Leadership), Land of Israel Task Force, Cities of Israel, the Temple Institute, and the Sanhedrin. Also participating are Mateh Tzafon, Task Force to Save the Land of Israel, Women in Green, Nahalal Forum, and Honenu.
Rabbis who have lent their support include Kiryat Arba/Hevron Chief Rabbi Dov Lior, Sanhedrin President Rabbi Adin Steinzaltz, Rabbi Shalom Dov Wolpe of Chabad, Rabbi Yoel Schwartz, Rabbi Yisrael Ariel and more.
Participating public figures include Yoram Ettinger, Prof. Paul Eidelberg, Dr. Yossi Ben-Aharon, Prof. Gabi Barkai, Prof. Hillel Weiss, Atty. Aviad Visuly, Prof. Aryeh Zaritsky, Architect Gideon Charlop, Nadia Matar, Shmuel Medad, Dr. Uri Milstein, Aryeh Stav, Moshe Feiglin, Ronen Tzafrir, and many more.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice claimed Tuesday evening that a majority of Israel citizens are willing to give up Judea and Samaria in exchange for peace with Palestinian Authority Arabs.Nov. 14: Israpundit cites a Ha'aretz article that reads,
Rice expressed optimism that progress would be made at the upcoming Mideast summit to be held in Annapolis in her speech to the annual General Assembly of the United Jewish Communities in Nashville, Tennessee. Most Arab states no longer deny Israel's existence, she said, but rather, what might be the price of peace. She added that most Israelis believe establishment of a PA state will be to Israel's advantage.
The Knesset plenum passed in a preliminary vote Wednesday a bill that would make it far more difficult to divide Jerusalem in the context of a peace agreement with the Palestinians.The board is set, and the players are cautiously making their moves.
54 MKs voted in favor of the bill, with 24 against. The Knesset holds preliminary votes on private bills, presented by individual MKs. Before being enacted into law, however, the bill must still be approved in committee and then pass three more plenum votes.
The bill, which was authored by Likud faction whip Gideon Sa’ar and 25 other rightist and religious MKs, would require the support of 80 MKs for any changes to the Basic Law: Jerusalem.
...The timing of the bill is also significant, and is designed to warn the government that it cannot make concessions on the capital a few weeks before the U.S.-sponsored Middle East peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland.
More to come...
Labels: America, Annapolis, Israel, Judaism, Zionism
posted by Shoshana @ 7:26 PM
