The DNC, Obama, and Filthy Collaborators Everywhere
Thursday, August 28, 2008
I suppose I should say something about the DNC. Okay, here goes: YUCK.
Victor Davis Hanson on Hussein Obama's acceptance speech @ National Review:
Let me get this straight: Obama goes to Europe, does a garish outdoor extravaganza before thousands, returns to find himself dubbed a publicity-seeking celebrity, analogous to Paris Hilton—and abruptly begins a tailspin in the polls. And now in reaction, at the greatest moment of his life, he transfers his acceptance speech to an open-air stadium to handle tens of thousands of frenzied fans, replete with Greek temple (Olympian Zeus or Parthenon?) as the backdrop stage, and outspoken rock stars?Hezbollah opens a regional office in Venezuela Latin American Jews beware....as Carl in Jerusalem writes,
Venezuela is also too close for comfort to the US. One can only hope that as Americans become aware of the gathering threat to their south, they will tighten entry into the United States to keep the terrorists out. Unfortunately, so far, there has been no sign of any tightening on America's borders.As for Joe "Proud to Serve Obama" Biden, apparently he's not too crazy about us Joos:
At Commentary, John Podhoretz posts an excerpt from a 1992 JPost article in which Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Joseph Biden threatened to cut off aid to Israel over 'settlements.' The confrontation between Biden and then-Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin occurred during the 1982 Operation Peace for Galilee (the 'First Lebanon War').The Excellent Ken Timmerman Outlines Biden's Own Iranian Connections over at Israpundit.
...During that committee hearing, at the height of the Lebanon War, Sen. John Biden (Delaware) had attacked Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria and threatened that if Israel did not immediately cease this activity, the US would have to cut economic aid to Israel.
When the senator raised his voice and banged twice on the table with his fist, Begin commented to him: “This desk is designed for writing, not for fists. Don’t threaten us with slashing aid. Do you think that because the US lends us money it is entitled to impose on us what we must do? We are grateful for the assistance we have received, but we are not to be threatened. I am a proud Jew. Three thousand years of culture are behind me, and you will not frighten me with threats. Take note: we do not want a single soldier of yours to die for us.”
Biden’s election campaigns “have been financed by Islamic charities of the Iranian regime based in California and by the Silicon Iran network,”And, Of course, More Proof of Obama's Arab-Muslim Funding Connections thanks to Carl in Jerusalem.
I'm reading Saul Bellow's book, To Jerusalem and Back. It's an account of the author's year in Jerusalem in the late 1970's. If you want to understand anything about why we are in the place we are in now, read this book. It is an excellent account of politics; communism versus liberal democracy; capitalism versus socialism; the West versus the East; the remarkable character makeup of Israel. If you want to understand who you are and where you stand, read this book. It may have been written over 30 years ago, but his points are as relative today as they were then. Read this book.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, completing a visit to the region today, has been pressing Israel to sign a document by the end of the year that would divide Jerusalem by offering the Palestinians a state in Israel’s capital city via Israpundit...
This world is absolutely insane. Were one to take a completely broad, pragmatic view of things, they would be forced to come to one concluding question that begins and ends not with "If" but "When?"
Labels: Biden, Condi Rice, DNC, Iran, Israel, Jerusalem, Obama
posted by Shoshana @ 9:29 PM
Israel, In: America, Out
Sunday, June 15, 2008
"Islamofascism: Saudi money buys a lot in Washington…." Investors Business Daily via Israpundit:
Islamofascism: Saudi money buys a lot in Washington, even an extension of a lease to an Islamic school that graduates terrorists and teaches its students it's OK to kill non-Muslims.Oh, the State Department, whose infamous wrangler is none other than Condi "No More Building Jewish Homes In Jerusalem" Rice. Nice.
A federal panel wants the Islamic Saudi Academy inside the Beltway shut down for promoting hate, something we've urged for years. But remarkably, this madrassa still has powerful backers — including the State Department.
Are Oil Prices Being Manipulated to Help Obama? Bill Levinson via Israpundit:
Noting that bad economic conditions, and especially a recession, work against the party that currently holds the White House, it is possible to at least speculate that hostile foreign governments and/or other entities are manipulating oil prices to help Barack Obama. This April, Obama said something about $4/gallon gasoline when the price was still well below $3.50. How did he know that the price was going to exceed $4.00 by summer?Supreme Court Decision in Boumediene v. Bush Ted Belman, Israpundit
This decision by a 5 to 4 majority "found that the constitutionally guaranteed right of habeas corpus review applies to persons held in Guantanamo and to persons designated as enemy combatants on that territory."I've been doing a lot of thinking lately. For the past four years, I've been an avid blogger on two self-established forums: first, ConservaJew which was more political in nature, and now with The Unified Body, a blog that has taken on more of a spiritual nature, but is politically informed nonetheless. The majority of my blogging involves copying and pasting articles from other blogs and news sources and then taking a step back to analyze the big picture.
I've got to say that, after four years, the big picture ain't looking too good. At least, not in some ways. For America, the big picture looks increasingly grim, much like a Jackson Pollock schmear done late in life. For Israel, the big picture is somewhere between a Picasso blue and a bright Chagall, still farecht but nevertheless willing to allow a lot of light in to balance out the situation. In more simpler terms, or for those not artistically inclined, let me put it this way:
America has a candidate named Hussein running for President.
Israel is claiming to hold negotiations with Syria but building Jewish homes in Jerusalem and the West Bank anyway.
Adonai spoke through the prophet Zechariah, promising that Jerusalem would become "a cup that will stagger the surrounding peoples." In a way, this is already happening. Ever since the American government made it a priority to force Israel to give away the land, America has gone downhill-- and fast. The economy stinks. There are no jobs, hundreds of thousands of mortgages are in foreclosure, and the cost of commodities and oil are rapidly rising. Our government has signed away much of our national sovereignty, though NAFTA and through the Security & Prosperity Partnership-- a document that promises to unite Canada, Mexico & the US into a political trade union much like the EU. We have an apathetic generation who, overall, knows nothing of patriotism and is willing to support the election of a candidate who is cheered on by the Arab world-- aka, people bent on our destruction. America is staggering thanks to a generation's worth of poor choices and unG-dly decision making that put a series of anti-Israel politicians into key positions of power in our government. And now, the country is paying the price.
Israel, however, despite ongoing diplomatic and militant attacks from all sides is thriving. The Israeli GDP grew 5.4% in the first quarter, exceeding economists' expectations and the shekel is at an 11 year high against the dollar. Despite the seeming chaos surrounding Olmert's continued corruption expose, Shas has announced it will support dissolution, which will pave the way for early elections. Israeli politicians are already prepared, working together to form a new coalition titled the "Pro Land of Israel Parties" whose platform is this: "...in one sentence, the Land of Israel for the People of Israel according to the Torah of Israel, along with involvement in matters of education, social welfare, etc.". And let's not forget that the IDF is strong, and strongly against a nuclear-armed Iran-- they already made their statement in Syria last September; I don't think they'd mind CC'ing Iran on that memo.
And let's boil it down to Jerusalem:
Barack Obama makes hearty declarations about a unified Jerusalem at the AIPAC conference, only to "flip-flop" less than 24 hours later in the wake of Arab criticism by stating on CNN, "Obviously it is going to be up to the parties to negotiate a range of these issues, and Jerusalem will be part of those negotiations."
Israel, however, has a series of politicians forming coalitions and political parties based on maintaining a unified Jerusalem and a unified Israel. Perhaps they learned their lesson from Gush Katif. Or, perhaps, this is the beginning of the judgement hour, where Jerusalem will be the measuring stick by which all the nations on earth-- including the Jewish people--will be tested by G-d.
In any case, I am only left to wonder and led to believe that when the time comes for me to begin my next blogging venture the topic at hand will most likely be aliyah. The America that was a safe resting place for the Jewish people will soon be no more. Perhaps now is the hour when we are all being called back home.
Labels: aliyah, America, Israel, Jerusalem, Obama, Olmert, Zionism
posted by Shoshana @ 12:07 PM
YOM YERUSHALAYIM!!!
Sunday, June 01, 2008
We're in a season of holidays right now. Tonight begins Yom Yerushalayim, Jerusalem Day, the day we celebrate our victorious recapture of Jerusalem in 1967. In honor of the holiday, Treppenwitz has posted an interview with Moshe Rusnak, the commander of the Haganah forces in the Old City during the War of Independence in '48. Of course, we already know that Moshe Dayan opposed the capture of Jerusalem in '67; in fact, his opinion was one that led the Israeli government to surrender control of the Temple Mount back to the Arabs. However, in this interview, Rusnak details that, even then, the leadership of the nascent Israeli army never had any intention of reclaiming Jerusalem for the Jewish people.
In other words, we have all the more reason to rejoice in our G-d for the miracles He continues to perform in our midst, despite our complete bull-headed unwillingness to listen to Him and fulfill our part of the Sinai bargain.
HaShem fights for His people. And that is why we celebrate the gift of Jerusalem.
***
2008 Election Note:
Man, I love Carl in Jerusalem.
Hannity and Colmes on Obama's connection with 'Palestinian' terrorist Rashid Khalidi
Rashid Khalidi is a 'respected' 'Palestinian' terrorist: a member of the PLO since the days it was officially labeled a terrorist organization, he is now a professor at Columbia University (where else?), holding the Edward Said chair in Arab studies. Said was also a member of the PLO.Sean Hannity is a pretty cool dude, too.
As it turns out, Khalidi and his wife Mona are also good friends of Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Hussein Obama.
Well, if all else fails, American Jews would be wise to rejoice in the fact that we still have Jerusalem to run to.
Labels: Israel, Jerusalem, Obama, Yom Yerushalayim, Zionism
posted by Shoshana @ 7:45 PM
LONG LIVE ISRAEL!
Saturday, May 10, 2008
This week was a momentous one in a number of ways.
We celebrated my Jewish father's birthday. His initials are V.E. because he was born on Victory in Europe day; oddly enough, I was the only one to know what V.E. Day was in my WW2 films class back in college. None of my peers--educated ones at that--knew what V.E. stood for.
Along with about 40 others, I took my turn to speak up and speak out against a proposed zoning ordinance during a public hearing with my city's commissioners. The proposed ordinance would have turned my 326 year old small town into a "smart growth transit village"-- a postmodern term for squishing as many people into as tiny a space as possible, in order to "save the wildlife" (and do G-d knows what else-- as a Jew, I despise ghetto mentality in any form for good reason). Penned by the local bunch of eco-nazis, the ordinance would have plowed over our history, character, and beauty for developers keen on building low income housing, multi-tiered parking garages, and hotels on wetlands. It was a classic case of the few and the powerful looking to make a profit off the weak and the uninformed, and looking to do so in a sneaky matter. When they realized that our small group had caught on and actually read the document, one city planner said, "Uh oh, the rats are out of the bag." (Not kidding.) Needless to say, our grass-roots efforts were nothing short of democracy at work; the public hearing was packed with people I didn't even know, speaking out against the ordinance. Fortunately (and fearfully) the commissioners heard us and responded to the public's outcry, tabling the ordinance for further re-write and review, with citizen input. I'm pretty sure this summer in town will be akin to the summer of Philadelphia, circa 1776. But, Thank G-d free speech still exists in this country, to some extent at least.
Most importantly, this week we celebrated Israel's 60th Birthday. We did so by investigating Olmert's gross corruption, witnessing John McCain (finally) publicly announce that Hamas supports Barack Obama, and watching as the Lebanese PM succumbed to Hizbullah terrorist demands and resigned.
This world is in a weird place. Even in my own small way, in my two minute speech to my commissioners and fellow citizens, I felt as if I were "raging against the dying of the light." We need a perspective change. We need to realize that, as Jews and as believers in Messiah, we are the light, and we aren't dying. Whether it is hearing people applaud when you speak the truth, or watching fireworks over Jerusalem, we need to be aware that we are the winners here-- that being Jewish means we align ourselves with G-d and, in doing so, WE ALWAYS WIN.
We're the winners here. We're the ones doing the right thing. And in that, I rejoice.
Last weekend I happened to pick up a Victorian print I'd had my eye on for a while. It's a close-up of three horses staring at you with the sea in the distance. I don't know why I like it-- I'm generally not into animals or animal prints-- but something about them spoke to me.
After doing a little research, I found out that the print is actually from a famous painting done for Queen Victoria by an artist and horse trainer named J.F. Herring. Ironically, the painting is titled "Pharaoh's Horses"-- hence the oceanic background; these are the horses leading the chariots on the chase after the Hebrews, about to be washed assunder by the waves of the Red Sea. Now, every time I look at them I can see clearly the fear in their eyes: being knowingly led by a cruel master into their demise, and not being able to do anything about it. These were the animals chasing after my ancestors (after me, after all of us really, since we are to feel that we have been personally freed from Egypt) yet the horses are the ones in fear, not us. Because we always win.
Happy Birthday, Israel. We always win!
Labels: American elections, Freedom, Israel Independence Day, Jerusalem, Jewish
posted by Shoshana @ 10:44 AM
This is Terrorism
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Today, my boss walks by the TV at work and stops. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, what's this? A bomb in Times Square?"
"Yeah, didn't you hear about that?" I answered. "A guy threw a bomb in the army recruitment office at 3 a.m. Nobody was hurt or killed."
"Oh, so this isn't any crazy Shiite thing. This is just one guy angry at another."
"Yeah. The crazy muslims usually feel the need to strap bombs to their chests and walk into crowded pizza parlors before blowing themselves up."
An hour later, I look up at the now-muted TV and see that a crazy muslim entered a Jerusalem yeshiva and opened fire on a number of students eating dinner after evening prayers. Seven dead, 35 wounded and counting. "That," I said, "is terrorism."
The Israel National News article Arab Terrorist Attacks Jerusalem's Merkaz HaRav Yeshiva: 8 Dead has powerful photographs from the scene. You need to see them. You need to bear witness.
Mercaz Harav hit by worst terror attack since April 2006 [JPost]: "The 8:45 p.m. shooting at Mercaz Harav Yeshiva in the Kiryat Moshe neighborhood broke a two-year lull in terror in the capital and sent students scurrying for cover from a hail of gunfire - a reported 500-600 bullets - that lasted for several minutes.
...
At Shaare Zedek Medical Center, which is only a few minutes' drive from the yeshiva, the most seriously wounded student - who had bullet holes in many parts of his body - was rushed to the operating room. Spokeswoman Shoham Ruvio said he looked about 18 years old. Two other wounded students were in moderate condition, while four were lightly wounded. The age of the wounded was estimated at 16 to 28.
...
The Mercaz Harav Yeshiva is considered the leading national-religious yeshiva in Israel, with hundreds of elite students. Among its thousands of graduates are leading public figures including senior rabbis and IDF officers. It was founded in 1924 by mandatory Palestine's first chief rabbi, Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak Hacohen Kook. Its longtime head, Rabbi Avraham Shapira, died in September 2007.
Rabbi David Stav, one of many prominent graduates of the yeshiva, which has produced the bulk of the spiritual leadership of religious Zionism in Israel, said that the attack had been directed at the heart of religious Zionism.
'Mercaz Harav is the flagship of the entire religious Zionist movement,' said Stav. 'The terrorist targeted a place that symbolizes love for the land of Israel, love for the people of Israel and love for the Torah. No Jewish soul can remain indifferent to the horrible thought that a despicable terrorist attacked a group of young men who were busy studying the holy Torah.'"
Commentary from the JPost An assault on the heart of Zionism by Calev Ben-David: "In striking the flagship institution of the religious Zionist movement, a Jerusalem landmark whose history is linked with the founding and fulfillment of the Jewish national home in the Land of Israel, the gunman aimed his weapon at the heart of the Zionist enterprise.
...
The grief and fury in particular of the religious-Zionist sector will be beyond measure at this violent desecration of the cradle of their movement. The current efforts by the government to reach an accommodation with the settler leadership on the removal of outposts will have been in vain for the time being, as any spirit of compromise will be buried with the victims of this atrocity." Read the whole thing. He believes negotiations of any kind will be halted, and Olmert will be one step from being ousted. Let's hope so. Let's hope that part of the Israeli response is the collapse of the coalition and an immediate demand for new elections.
Israel Matzav has a series of up-to-the-minute posts with links to Israeli TV coverage of the attack. Yitzack Dadon, a 40-year old yeshiva student and IDF Reservist, was able to get to the roof of the Yeshiva and shoot the attacker twice. He told the Israeli media: "Shimon Peres gave him the [Kalachnikov] that he used and now Olmert wants to give them more. We are walking around like blind people feeling their way in the dark." Apparently, the comment was edited out of later broadcasts.
Info on How to Help from Treppenwitz: At Least 8 Dead in Jerusalem Terror Attack with links to American Friends of Magen David Adom, Friends of Mercaz HaRav, and ZAKA USA
Amazing commentary from Israeli bloggers who blog in English:
What it feels like to be Israeli @ Aliyah: It's as easy as opening a bank account...
On a Night Like This @ Blogs of Zion
They just announced on the news that the body count is up to 10 murdered, and Jerusalem is (of course) on high alert. What we need right now is another Ariel Sharon, pre-Gush Katif eviction: the Ariel Sharon that marched onto the Temple Mount and got in the terrorists' face and didn't budge.
It is seriously absurd that we can't even pray in peace in our own capitol. If we can't life in peace in Jerusalem, how can we expect to live safely anywhere else in the State, let alone the world?
Some more places to send your money, your prayers, and even yourself:
Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces
Mahal2000 Assisting non-Israelis who want to volunteer for the IDF
PizzaIDF Feed your soldiers!
Israel Service Organization [ISO] Entertain your soldiers!
IDF Surplus Store Wear your support!
Tonight, we mourn. Tomorrow night, we Shabbat. The next night-- [hopefully] we fight back.
Labels: IDF, Israel, Jerusalem, Merkaz HaRav, shooting, yeshiva
posted by Shoshana @ 7:01 PM
Balagan: Israeli Government v. American Jews
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Aauuugghhh.
First, I click on a link to Arutz Sheva to check out their minute-by-minute coverage of the Jerusalem Conference, only to see a picture of PM Olmert holding an umbrella over Abbas like he's some sort of man servant to the palestinian chairman. Then, I read Arlene Kushner's report from the Conference via Israpundit:
"We have to write down the principle of two states," [Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni] told us. Israel as a homeland for Jews, and Palestine as a homeland for Palestinians. If we don’t write this now and establish the principle, we might not have another chance. For we are facing people who want us gone.And these are the people governing our nation. Incredible.
Got it? She is so afraid of forces that would destroy us, that she's willing to accept what may be less than we are entitled to, just for the opportunity to get it in writing that Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish state. And she believes that if we are to do it, it must be "today," because another chance might not come.
Meanwhile, American Jewry continues to go through its own identity crisis of sorts. Abe Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League told the Knesset today that One-third of Americans believe that American Jews are more loyal to Israel than to the United States according to the latest research. "'This belief is so out of sync with everything else happening in America, with the fact that there's so much acceptance of Jews in all phases of life - academia, commerce, media, politics,' Foxman told The Jerusalem Post." Take a survey of the opinions expressed by the "accepted" Jewish Americans in academia, commerice, media, and politics, and I guarantee that you'll find the majority are left-wing in their views regarding America, and prefer to keep Israel out of the discussion completely. (Been there, done that, got the college ring and degree in television & film to prove it.) Foxman blames the poll results on the popularity of Walt & Mearsheimer's hack piece, "The Israel Lobby" and Jimmy "Peanuts" Carter's latest pro-pally tome. "MK Colette Avital (Labor)...told the Post that the figures indicated 'a failure to explain - I hate to use the word hasbara - that you can be loyal to both. In the US, people can live with several identities, such as Italian-Americans and African-Americans, and Jewish Americans should be seen in that context.'" How can you take on a hyphenated identity that is a total oxymoron? Can you honestly see anyone who truly identifies themself as a Jewish person identifying with a country that wants to divide Jerusalem and elect a guy named Hussein into the Presidency?
In a companion article in the JPost, Haviv Rettig writes, "Malcolm Hoenlein [Executive Vice Chairman, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations] has been telling everyone who will listen that something dangerous is happening among the American elite. A short version of his view holds that pro-Israel positions among American Jews are being delegitimized by being defined as "anti-American." ...Is support for what they see as the "Jewish interest" - supporting a safe haven outside America for their brethren worldwide - somehow against the interests of America?"
That question is easily answered in one word: No. However, the question is far more interesting in light of the fact that it illustrates the classic conundrum of "Jewish-American" identity: If 'Jews from around the world' need a safe-haven, and America is so great that the Jews here never plan to leave, why shouldn't the world's Jews seek their safe haven in America? If America is so safe, why should we bother supporting Israel?
Anyone with half a brain cell could take one wink at America today and comprehend that the question above is ironically rhetorical. Yet, for many loyal, patriotic American Jews, the duality of supporting a safe-haven for international Jews while maintaining squatter's rights on your own American turf has never hit home. I have heard American Jews proudly declare that Israel wouldn't exist without Jewish American money, and I have been to Seders where the older generation sings "G-d Bless America" instead of "L'Shanah Haba B'Yerushalayim" without blinking an eye. What? Is Israel for those "other Jews" whose ancestors weren't smart enough to get out when the getting was good? Why is Israel okay for the rest of the world's wandering Jews? What, just because we've managed to finally get accepted into Harvard Law, or pass a joke about being a shanda on premium cable, or scored a seat on Wall Street, we're suddenly supposed to feel "at home"? At least the most ultra-Orthodox anti-Israel protestors are willing to accept the idea that they'll return to Israel once Moshiach arrives. When will the successful American Jews head home-- when they're forced into early retirement by the kids who think that the be-all and end-all of being Jewish involves reading HEEB on Friday nights before going out to party?
The article ends with a sharp inference comparing today's anti-Israel American elite with the fascists of the 1930s, another ironic twist considering that most American elites of the 1930s were just as anti-Semitic as their modern day counterparts. Thanks to the anti-Jewishness of the 1930s, FDR's Administration of Elites (see Whittaker Chambers' Witness) put the kabosh on any anti-Nazi messages being sent out by "Jewish Hollywood" (thanks to the ripe anti-Semite Joe Kennedy, who warned Jewish studio owners that if they didn't quit inserting anti-Nazi messages into their films, the gentile population would "blame the Jews" for "getting them into the war"--see An Empire of their Own by Neal Gabler) and effectively aided and abetted Hitler in the mass murder of six million European Jews (see The Abandonment of the Jews by David S. Wyman and The War Against the Jews by Lucy Dawidowicz) by implementing a strict immigration quota in the 1930s and doing absolutely NOTHING when presented with clear and precise information regarding the activities going on in concentration camps across Europe. If that was the effect of elitist American thinking then, what of today?
I recently spoke with an Israeli who told me real estate in Israel is on the rise. Along with an increasing western European Jewish immigrant population, many American Jews are beginning to buy second homes in Israel, "just in case." I wonder how many of those Jewish Americans had parents who walked around with JNF tin tzedekah cans at Pesach and mortgaged their homes during the Six Day War. I wonder, would they be pleased or horrified at the realization that their investment was paying off a lot closer to home than they ever thought.
The Israeli government operates on fear. American Jews operate on confusion. I am a Jew born in America who believes fervently in a whole and united Israel with a whole and united capitol of Jerusalem, even if that means calling negotiations a joke and fighting for it. And, perhaps, in all the logical sense of my commentary I am the greatest engima of all.
Labels: identity, Israel, Jerusalem, Jewish, Jewish American
posted by Shoshana @ 7:09 PM
This Just In
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
In The Real World: More than 2,000 people lined the walls of Old Jerusalem this week. In honor of President Bush's first visit to Israel, the 2,000 demonstrators carried Israeli flags and signs reading: "BUSH READ YOUR BIBLE: ISRAEL BELONGS TO THE JEWS" and "JERUSALEM = JEWISH".
In the Messianic Times: A three-quarter page article on Chalutzim Academy childhood sweethearts who got married after college.
Commentary/Opinion: The level of self-inolvement exhibited by the Messianic community is dangerously pathetic.
This has been the latest edition of This Just In....Stay tuned for more breaking news as it cracks....
Labels: Bush, Israel, Jerusalem, Messianic Judaism, Messianic Times, Zionism
posted by Shoshana @ 8:50 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
Jerusalem United or House Divided?
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
"Save Jerusalem" Emergency Coalition Forms [Israel National News]
An unprecedented coalition of American Jewish groups has formed on short notice to ensure that united Jerusalem remains Jewish.What is the Messianic Jewish community in America doing to ensure that Jerusalem remains the undivided capital of the State of Israel/the Jewish people?
Among the member organizations are the National Council of Young Israel, the Orthodox Union, the Rabbinical Council of America, Emunah Women of America, AFSI, Hineni, AJOP (Outreach), NCSY, Poalei Agudath Israel of America, ZOA, and more. More organizations are set to join in the coming days.
The formation of the coalition marks the first time since the establishment of the State of Israel that a significant group of American Jewish organizations has united in opposition to Israeli government policy...
Labels: Israel, Jerusalem, Jewish, Messianic Jewish, Zionism
posted by Shoshana @ 5:48 PM
