6.Lessons from France – Aliyah is the cornerstone of Zionism by Isi Leibler
January 19, 2015

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls courageously stated that “if 100,000 Jews leave, France will no longer be France. The French Republic will be judged a failure.” He said that he did not employ the term Islamophobia because it “is often used as a weapon by Islam’s apologists to silence their critics” & called on his nation to wage “a war against terrorism, against radical Islam, against everything that is aimed at breaking fraternity, freedom & solidarity.”

In a recent National Assembly speech reminiscent of Emile Zola’s “J’Accuse,” he passionately cried, “How can we accept that in France … where Jews were martyred 70 years ago, that cries of ‘death to the Jews’ can be heard in the streets? … How can we accept that French people can be murdered for being Jews? … How can we accept that in certain schools & colleges the Holocaust cannot be taught? … How can we accept that when a child is asked ‘who is your enemy?’ the response is ‘the Jew’?”

But alas, Valls’ noble remarks were not echoed by a single senior French government spokesman. On the contrary, President Francois Hollande, while conceding that the kosher supermarket murders were anti-Semitic acts, refused to even hint that this was an act motivated by Islamic radicalism. He mumbled about “obscurantist” forces & even insisted that “those who committed these acts have nothing to do with the Muslim religion” & that the “main victims” were Muslims.

More galling for French Jews was the absence of comparable national demonstrations of sympathy or solidarity concerning the anti-Semitic violence & murder suffered during the preceding two years & their unanswered appeals for increased security. The authorities were far more concerned with their attempts not to offend Muslims than with defending & protecting the besieged & victimized Jews.

Further evidence of this was reflected by the despicable manner in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was treated. Initially, Hollande had the gall to suggest that the Israeli leader, at the frontlines of the international struggle against Islamic terrorism, absent himself from the global leadership gathering because his presence would introduce the “divisive Israeli-Palestinian” issue. That he could make such a request to the head of the Jewish state in the wake of the brutal anti-Semitic carnage, was mind-boggling.

To make matters worse, when Netanyahu made his intentions clear that he was attending, the head of the French National Security Council responded that Israel would face dire consequences & immediately invited Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to demonstrate “even-handedness.” Hollande subsequently also displayed his feelings when he & his government delegation departed from the Grand Synagogue just prior to Netanyahu’s address.

Hollande welcomed the presence of the corrupt & duplicitous Abbas, who exemplifies the suppression of free speech which the demonstration was condemning. But more importantly, he personally endorses the very murderous anti-Semitic attacks that Hollande condemned. The French & the other European leaders are aware that Abbas formed a union (which failed) with the genocidal Hamas, which calls for the murder of all Jews. He incites vicious hatred against Israelis, pays salaries to murderers of innocent civilians, provides pensions for the families of suicide bombers, & glorifies the most barbaric terrorists. Hollande is aware that this abhorrent Holocaust-denier only recently sent a formal condolence note to the family of the terrorist who sought to murder Rabbi Yehuda Glick.

Also in attendance was Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who engaged in anti-Israeli diatribes, accusing Netanyahu of committing crimes comparable to the Paris terrorist attacks. His anti-Semitic president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a supporter of Hamas, who accuses Israel of being a rogue terrorist state & Netanyahu a mass murderer, stood side by side with Abbas the following day.

In this context, one must evaluate the future of French – & for that matter European – Jewry. Can French Jews feel assured that the stirring condemnation of anti-Semitism by Valls means that Jews will be more secure in the future? Hardly. Valls is a loner, unable to turn the tide.

But hatred of Israel has become endemic & the media will continue applying double standards against the Jewish state, which invariably intensifies anti-Semitism. Hollande & his left-wing supporters distinguish between terrorists who kill Frenchmen & those who kill Jews residing in Israel. French Muslims today represent a crucial pillar of support for the socialists, & no matter how they behave, Hollande will continue groveling to them.

The fact is that Jews are targeted & murdered because they are Jews & the community is increasingly surrounded by enemies, including homegrown killers with combat experience gained fighting for jihad in Syria & Iraq.

Major synagogues were even closed on Shabbat to avoid pogroms, which have previously taken place. The president of CRIF, the French Jewish community, Roger Cukierman, voiced appreciation that 10,000 French troops were being deployed to protect Jewish schools & institutions. But he pointed out that when schoolchildren need to be protected by army personnel with machine guns & parents fear for their children’s lives, such conditions inevitably spur aliyah.

Jews are terrified & often feel obliged to conceal their identity, assimilate, or, worse still, endorse the obscene manner in which their people are being treated. It is hardly the environment for Jews to live in or bring up children.

In this context, one must congratulate Netanyahu. His message to French Jews was enormously comforting, as could be seen by the enthusiastic response he received. His call to French Jews to make aliyah was mandatory for the head of a Zionist state & opinion polls show that over three-quarters of Israelis endorsed his involvement.

The attacks on him for “embarrassing” the French were to be expected from the global & Israeli Bibi-hating media. Some Jewish critics were reminiscent of the pre-war Polish Jewish Bundists who opposed Zionism, calling on Jews to remain in Europe to fight for socialism. Today, they argue that Jews must stay in Europe to fight anti-Semitism & that aliyah would represent a victory for our enemies.

Some Diaspora Jewish officials resembled their counterparts prior to the Holocaust who condemned Jabotinsky’s calls to evacuate Europe as hysterical. A “leader,” Rabbi Menachem Margolin, director of the European Jewish Association, even condemned Netanyahu for his “Pavlovian calls for aliyah after every terror attack,” demanding that “Israel increase security” for European Jews, calling for Jews in Europe to be entitled to carry weapons to defend themselves.

President Reuven Rivlin was bitterly disappointing when he indirectly joined the chorus criticizing his prime minister by stating that aliyah must stem “from love, not fear of anti-Semitism.”

Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky also seemed to have lost the plot, saying, “We must not be seen encouraging aliyah as though we were dancing on blood & allying ourselves with the anti-Semites” & that we should only encourage “positive aliyah based on wishing to lead a Jewish life rather than calling on Jews to come because they felt unsafe.”

What extraordinary words to come from a heroic former Prisoner of Zion. If the chairman of the Jewish Agency does not call directly on Jews to make aliyah when living under such terrible conditions, the organization should be closed down.

Zionists do not seek to eliminate the Diaspora. Besides, we know that, short of mass exterminations, God forbid, the Jews of Europe are not all going to make aliyah overnight & Jewish communities will remain. Of course we prefer aliyah based on choice rather than last resort. But the writing has been on the wall for years. Those wishing for a full Jewish life & a desire to bring up proud Jewish children have no future in Europe.

Those with financial means or with professions that can be utilized in Israel should indeed pack their bags & come now, as the situation will only deteriorate. Those unable to make aliyah should at least encourage their children.

Instead of negating its historic role, the Jewish Agency should be at the head of the pack endorsing Netanyahu & promoting plans to enable all Jews, including those facing financial constraints, to consider aliyah as the means of resolving their current predicament.

Some anti-Netanyahu politicians, including the ubiquitous Tzipi Livni, accuse him of embarrassing & offending French & European leaders by calling for aliyah. Tough! Let them be embarrassed. Besides, they have already largely abandoned us. Our obligation as Zionists is to call on those who can to join us now. To equivocate over calling for a mass aliyah of Jews under terrible duress is bizarre & a repudiation of the Zionist DNA.

One need only observe the response of French Jews at a grass-roots level to see how appreciative they were of Netanyahu & his message. The very fact that the families decided to bury all four Jewish victims in Jerusalem is resounding proof. But we pray that we continue to welcome only living Jews from France to their historic homeland.

Isi Leibler’s website can be viewed at www.wordfromjerusalem.com.

He may be contacted at ileibler@leibler.com.

This column was originally published in the Jerusalem Post & Israel Hayom

FREEMAN CENTER BROADCAST JANUARY 20, 2014

For Zion’s sake I will not hold my peace & for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest.” Isaiah 62

FREEMAN CENTER FOR STRATEGIC STUDIES P.O. Box 35661 * Houston, Texas 77235-5661
* E-mail: bernards@sbcglobal.net OUR WEB SITE < www.freeman.org >

Dry Bones blog updates for bernards@sbcglobal.net 7. Dry Bones by Ya’acov Kirschen: “That’s Oil Folks!” According to CNN: Big energy companies aren’t the only ones losing out on the dramatic fall in oil prices. Banks are in the hot seat, too. “Hundreds of banks were forced to shut down in Texas when the state fell into a recession in 1986 during a steep decline in oil prices. That 1980s meltdown mirrors the current drop in prices that carried oil below $45 a barrel this week. Cheap credit helped fuel the U.S. shale boom, allowing countless energy companies to find oil in new places. Banks also capitalized on economic booms in oil-rich regions like Texas & North Dakota. It would only make sense for these same banks to feel some pain from oil’s downward spiral. Drilling projects that made sense at $100 may now be losing money, creating headaches for the lenders that financed the expansions. Some highly-leveraged shale companies may even go belly up due to the plunge in oil prices.”-more But maybe the oil prices are part of the new U.S. – Russian Cold War? According to this opinion piece in the Washington Post: Falling oil prices hit Venezuela, Iran & Russia hard “As oil prices continued to plunge last week, it was instructive to watch the disparate reactions of three governments whose whopping losses are likely to produce some of the biggest international stories of 2015. There was the panicked scrambling of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who skipped his own state of the union speech for a desperate world tour in search of loans or promises of $100?oil. He got neither, even as rumors flew back home about whether he would be allowed to stay in office on his return. There was the cool response of Vladi­mir Putin, whose ministers announced drastic cuts in government spending — except for defense. Russia’s proxy forces in eastern Ukraine meanwhile launched a new offensive.”-more -Dry Bones- Israel’s Political Comic Strip Since 1973

Dry Bones by Ya’acov Kirschen: “That’s Oil Folks!”

8. Very Good News Israel! Israel’s Good News Newsletter to Jan. 18, 2015

In the 18th Jan 2015 edition of Israel’s good news, the highlights include:

· Two Israeli biotechs are at the forefront of a new method for destroying cancer cells.

· A 16-year-old Israeli girl has just started medical School.

· 65% of Israel’s Arabs say they are proud to be Israeli.

· An Israeli T-shirt monitors your heart.

· Drivers can see five times further with an Israeli night vision system.

· Israel has discovered another massive natural gas field.

· Two Israelis, who escaped Nazi Germany, celebrate the birth of their 100th great-grandchild.

· Last week’s JPost Israel Good News descriptive summary. Click here for “How lucky is Israel?”

· (fast-loading version, no adverts). Also on Jerusalem Post, IsraPundit & San Diego Jewish World.

· Click here to see the newsletter on Jewish Business News, IsraelSeen, Ruthfully Yours & United With Israel.

·

Page Down for more details on these & other good news stories from Israel.

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

Trial of new cancer antibody approved. Israel’s cCAM has received US FDA approval to commence trials of its CM-24 monoclonal antibody (mAb) for the treatment of various types of cancers. CM-24 targets CEACAM1, a novel immune checkpoint protein expressed on a variety of cancer cells.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/ ccam-biotherapeutics-receives- fda-approval-121500561.html

Israel & USA team up to fight cancer. Israeli biotech Compugen has enlisted John Hopkins University to help assess Compugen’s cancer immunotherapy candidates. These new treatments aim to counter the ability of tumors to highjack “immune checkpoints”, thereby blocking the immune system’s ability to destroy the tumor.

http://www.israel21c.org/news/ compugen-teams-with-johns- hopkins-university-on-immune- checkpoints/

Effective for detecting lingering cancer cells. (Thanks to Michelle) New York City’s NYU Langone Medical Center has praised MarginProbe from Israel’s Dune Medical, used by surgeons to identify & help them remove cancer cells on the margins of removed tumors. MarginProbe avoids the need for follow-up surgery.

http://communications.med.nyu. edu/media-relations/news/nyu- langone-medical-center- utilizing-new-technology- detect-lingering-cancer-cel

90% response to cancer vaccine. (Thanks to NoCamels.com) Julian Levy, CFO of Israel’s Vaxil Biotherapeutics speaks to NoCamels about Vaxil’s cancer vaccine, ImMucin, that boosts the immune system & prevents cancer returning. ImMucin triggers a response in about 90 percent of all types of cancer.

http://nocamels.com/2015/01/ new-vaccine-for-cancer/

US approve 360-degree colonoscope. (Thanks to Atid-EDI) Israel’s GI View has just received US FDA approval for its Aer-O-Scope colonoscope, for advanced detection of polyps that frequently develop into colon cancer. GI View is expected to start selling the product in the U.S. in early 2016.

http://www.giview.com/gi-view/ news.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=_EPA5UIK0xw

Spine surgery system wins two awards. (Thanks to Atid-EDI) Israel’s NLT-Spine has won a 2014 Spine Technology Award from US Magazine Orthopedics This Week, for its ARC Pedicle Screw System. The company also was included (for the second year running) in the list of Red Herring Global 100 winners.

http://ryortho.com/2014/11/ the-eleven-best-new-spine- technologies-for-2014/

http://www.nlt-spine.com/int/ news-2/

Med school at 16. If Israelis are exceptional people, then Maya Fishman is amazing. Only 16-years old, she has already started med school at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. She is on course to become the youngest doctor in the history of the State of Israel.

http://www.ynetnews.com/ articles/0,7340,L-4606194,00. html

What lurks in your lungs? (Thanks to Israel21c) Professor Elizabeth Fireman of Tel Aviv’s Sourasky Medical Center has developed a highly accurate bio-monitoring technique to detect dangerous particles inhaled by firefighters, factory workers, dental technicians & kids with asthma.

http://www.israel21c.org/ headlines/revolutionary- diagnostic-technique- identifies-what-lurks-in-your- lungs/

ISRAEL IS INCLUSIVE & GLOBAL

Kids can explore the world in 80 words. (Thanks to Atid-EDI) Tel Aviv’s Wiki-Kids has launched Wikids – apps with friendly text, images & sound, to help children discover the world independently. Each entry has around 80 words, with no adverts or links – all certified by the kidSAFE Seal Program & Momswithapps.

http://www.wiki-kids.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=bq3iJEqBTcY https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=OX-1e5dD- kc

Jerusalem opens center to empower new mothers. The Jerusalem Municipality is opening a community center to address the ongoing needs of women during & after pregnancy. It will offer career counseling to assist mothers on maternity leave to successfully renter the workforce.

http://www.jpost.com/ landedpages/printarticle.aspx? id=386083

Lalli the lamb gets a new chance of life. Lalli the lamb was born with deformed legs & unable to walk. Thanks to Israeli ingenuity & physiotherapy, she is getting along just fine. (Video has English subtitles)

http://www.mako.co.il/news- israel/local-q1_2015/Article- b6e3c6d6fd4aa41004.htm

Arabs proud to be Israeli. (Thanks to Evelyn Gordon) In a recent survey, 65 percent of Arab citizens said they were either “quite” or “very” proud to be Israeli in 2014, up from 50 percent the previous year. The majority had faith in the Supreme Court, Israeli police & in the IDF.

https://www. commentarymagazine.com/2015/ 01/08/65-percent-israeli- arabs-say-theyre-proud- israeli/

Israel’s top rescue missions – Leadership & saving lives. An inspirational presentation by Brigadier General Professor Yitshak Kreiss describing the medical rescue missions undertaken by Israel’s army in recent years. Leadership, medicine & the personal dilemmas faced when dealing with humanitarian emergencies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=ismeUdKx6vw

Journey to the Start-up Nation. During January, students from seven US Jewish day schools will participate in the first “CIJE-Tech: Journey to the Start-Up Nation” STEM Education Israel Trip. It will prepare students to innovate, problem solve & leverage their skills in 21st century Science, Tech, Engineering & Math.

http://www.jewishlinkbc.com/ index.php?option=com_content& view=article&id=6311

Chicago reaches out to Israel for water’s sake. The University of Chicago has sought out Israel’s Ben-Gurion University to help tackle water scarcity. In laboratories in Chicago & the Israeli desert, scientists are crafting radical new approaches that may one day rejuvenate the world’s water-starved regions.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/ news/ct-u-of-c-israel-water- scarcity-global-cities-0104- 20150102-story.html#page=1

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Next generation of flash storage – simply faster. (Thanks to Atid-EDI) Israel’s Kaminario has set new performance records for flash storage. It also boasts reliability, scalability & cost/performance figures that its competitors can only dream of. Kaminario easily raised $53million in funds to fuel global expansion.

http://kaminario.com/blog/ press-releases/kaminario- secures-53-million-funding/

https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=HiAB0QZcpFo

Scottish Water likes Israeli recycling technology. Israel’s Applied CleanTech has successfully completed its first UK pilot project of its new recycling technology for wastewater at Scottish Water. The system produces a useful material called Recyllose from sewage while reducing maintenance & power costs.

http://www.scottishwater.co. uk/about-us/media-centre/ latest-news/05012015- recyllose-act

A shirt that monitors your heart. Israeli startup HealthWatch Technologies has developed a washable T-shirt that can read a patient’s heart rate, blood pressure, cardiac irregularities, & other vital signs that could be the key to preventing heart attacks. All data can be transmitted instantly to your cardiologist, as speed is essential.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/ israeli-ecg-t-shirt-monitors- hearts-saves-lives/https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v= IJvzTWNOlzk http://www. personal-healthwatch.com

Smart low-energy hotels. Israeli startup Phoebus Energy is to install smart systems in the Fattal chain’s nine Israeli hotels. The systems will cut the chain’s heating & air-conditioning costs by 50-75%, amounting to NIS 40 million over the coming decade. The lower energy consumption will also benefit the environment.

http://www.globes.co.il/en/ article-phoebus-to-cut-fattal- hotels-energy-bill-1000994487

https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=kHg_Hln7XFc

Bell Labs (Israel) has big plans. The opening of Bell Labs in Israel provides an avenue for Israeli PhD graduates to pursue research careers in Israel. Director of the new branch, Danny Raz, was until recently a professor in the Department of Computer Science at Israel’s Technion.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/ bell-labs-head-hopes-to-turn- brain-drain-into-gain/

Would a solar panel work for you? It can cost up to $4,000 for a survey to check whether a solar panel on your roof could generate sufficient solar energy to justify installation. Israel’s SolView uses Google Earth & its automated rooftop scanning technology to do that instantly.

http://www.greenprophet.com/ 2014/12/solviews-targeting- solar-energy-rooftop- potential-on-a-massive-scale/

Safer night driving. (Thanks to Israel21c) Israeli startup BrightWay Vision has developed “BrightEye” – a unique night-vision system that gives drivers a clear, panoramic view of the road. The system uses active-gated imaging to project images up to 250 meters ahead (5 times further than headlights) onto the driver’s screen.

http://www.israel21c.org/ headlines/new-innovation-for- safer-night-driving/

https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=Z7dQ42UKfTs

Another “doggy” app. Following on the heels of “Dogiz”, “Oggii”, “Pawly”, “Swifto”, “KelevLand” & “DogTV”, we now have “Wooof” – a made-in-Israel app, providing a platform for dog owners to get together online, “trading” photos, recording dog walking routes & even alerting when a dog inspector is in the area.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/ social-networking-goes-to-the- dogs-with-israeli-app/

ECONOMY & BUSINESS

Israel discovers another major gas field. A new huge natural gas field has been discovered about 150 km off Israel’s coast. Seismic analysis suggests that the Royee field contains an estimated 3.2 trillion cubic feet of gas, making it Israel’s third largest after Leviathan & Tamar.

http://www.israelnationalnews. com/News/News.aspx/188639#. VLJyxskpqSo

Turning viewers into customers. (Thanks to Atid-EDI) Israel’s Viewbix turns a company’s youtube or vimeo videos into marketing applications. It integrates interactive features such as action buttons & email forms into the video itself, allowing potential customers to communicate directly. Viewbix has just raised $3million.

http://www.globes.co.il/en/ article-video-ad-co-viewbix- raises-3m-1000991442

https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=V8V64P6o4sQ

AOL invests in Technion research. AOL, the American Internet & media giant, will be investing $5million in a video research project at the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute. AOL’s R&D center in Israel specializes in developing innovation in the field of online video.

http://www.technion.ac.il/en/ 2014/11/aol-at-technion/

A healthy acquisition. Israel’s Frutarom Industries has bought Slovenia’s Vitiva for around $10million. Vitiva’s antioxidants, natural colors & botanical extracts will enhance Frutarom’s food, health & cosmetic business. It also brings in a cutting-edge plant, skilled personnel & impressive R&D capabilities.

http://www.globes.co.il/en/ article-frutarom-acquires- slovenian-plant-extracts-co- vitiva-1000995378

Another $8.3million for 11 projects. The Israel-US Binational Industrial Research & Development (BIRD) Foundation has approved $8.3 million in new funding for 11 projects involving US & Israeli companies. The Israeli firms include BrainsGate, MobileOCT, ThetaRay, Orgenesis & Softwheel (from previous newsletters).

http://www.israel21c.org/news/ bird-invests-8-3-million-in- 11-new-rd-projects/

http://www.birdf.com/? CategoryID=427&ArticleID=471

Kodak wants to buy Israeli startups. Jeff Clarke, the new CEO of venerable camera-maker Kodak, is in Israel looking to acquire tech startups that can help rebuild his company as a leader in digital printing.

http://www.thetower.org/1498- kodak-ceo-in-israel-looking- to-buy-startups/

CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT & SPORT

Hebrew Bibles reunited after 350 years. When filmmaker Micha Shagrir donated a 1667 Hebrew Bible to Haifa University, staff discovered a Bible written by the same person already on the library’s shelves. An Egyptian Armenian gave Shagrir his Bible in gratitude for his film about the Armenian genocide.

http://www.ynetnews.com/ articles/0,7340,L-4606143,00. html

Israeli short film ‘Aya’ gets Oscar nomination. The 40-minute Israeli film “Aya” has been included in the final list of nominations for an Oscar in the category of “Best Live Action Short”. Aya follows the encounter between an Israeli woman driver & a Scandinavian musician who gets into the wrong car at the airport.

http://www.ynetnews.com/ articles/0,7340,L-4615600,00. html

English soccer club appoints Israeli coach. (Thanks to Hazel) English Championship Soccer League side Charlton Athletic has appointed Israeli Guy Luzon as their new head coach. Luzon was previously coach at top Belgian soccer club Standard Liege.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/ football/30777728

THE JEWISH STATE

Archeology points to King David. Archeologists have discovered clay seals in Israel dating from the 10th century BCE – the biblical dating of the kingdoms of David & Solomon. The find is evidence of a national government at a time when many scholars previously believed that there were only backwater chieftains.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/ ancient-clay-seals-may-shed- new-light-on-king-david/

“This is your land”. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Taglit-Birthright Israel’s 15th anniversary event said to the youngsters, “In Israel, every Jew can say, ‘I am a Jew, Je suis Juif,’ out loud & proudly, without fear. Come to Israel. Come visit Israel. Come stay in Israel. Come make aliyah to Israel. This is your land.”

http://www.jns.org/news- briefs/2015/1/15/taglit- birthright-israel-celebrates- 15th-anniversary#.VLfE5SvF8z4=

100 great-grandchildren. Israelis Michael (92) & Marion (90) Mittwoch have just celebrated the birth of a new great-grandchild – their 100th. After escaping Nazi Germany, the Mittwochs immigrated to Israel where they became the first couple to be married at Kibbutz Lavi. All children & grandchildren live in Israel.

http://www.ynetnews.com/ articles/0,7340,L-4615185,00. html

Ukrainian refugees land in Israel. Two hundred & twenty-six immigrants, 76 of which are children, landed in Israel on a special flight from Ukraine. They included dozens of families of refugees from eastern Ukraine who were made destitute as a result of the ongoing fighting, & were forced to leave their homes.

http://www.ynetnews.com/ articles/0,7340,L-4606620,00. html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ world/europe/fleeing-their- countrys-civil-war-ukrainian- jews-head-for-israel/2014/12/ 24/f79fb866-8619-11e4-b9b7- b8632ae73d25_story.html

A Zionist dream come true. Evelyn Gordon writes about some of the reasons that European Jews, despite all doors being open to them, are now choosing Israel to be their future home.

https://www. commentarymagazine.com/2015/ 01/07/zionist-dream-come-true/

“They will all come to Jerusalem”. Select full screen view to see this amazing video tour of the highway to Jerusalem. It shows the new road construction in context with the Biblical sites mentioned along the way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=Gxo6NJ65Amc

9. Senator Graham: US aid to Palestinians may be cut over ICC move

Ted Belman. In a similar vein to Graham, Canada’s FM Baird told Ya’alon “I think the Palestinian Authority has made a huge mistake [by joining the body] & crossed a red line.” They are right in accusing the PA of essentially violating the Oslo Accords but they are wrong in not attacking the ICC for accepting them (a non-state) & investigating the alleged crimes. Prior to this happening, all experts agreed that it wouldn’t happen because the Court only pursues major violations & even then only if non-signatories don’t conduct a competent investigation of its own. Neither criteria is satisfied here plus the PA doesn’t represent a state. Experts always said the ICC was a serious court & wouldn’t be politicized. The experts were wrong on all accounts. They forgot that anything goes when it comes to Israel.

Ranking US senator calls the Palestinian move a “bastardizing of the role of the ICC.”

JPOST

The Palestinians could lose annual US aid if they file a lawsuit against Israel at the International Criminal Court which they joined this month over American & Israeli protests, a senior US Republican senator said on Monday.

Lindsey Graham, part of a seven-member delegation of senators visiting Israel, Saudi Arabia & Qatar, said existing US legislation “would cut off aid to the Palestinians if they filed a complaint” against Israel.
At a news conference in Jerusalem, Graham called the Palestinian step “a bastardizing of the role of the ICC. I find it incredibly offensive.”

“We will push back strongly to register our displeasure. It is already part of our law that would require us to stop funding if they actually bring a case,” said Graham, of South Carolina.

US President Barack Obama’s Democratic administration has said it does not believe Palestine is a sovereign state & therefore does not qualify to be part of the ICC, but has not explicitly threatened to withhold aid.

Any cut in US funds could make it hard for the Palestinian self-rule authority in the West Bank & Gaza to survive. The US supplies more than $400 million annually to the Palestinian Authority. Israel has frozen a monthly transfer of some $120 million in tax revenues it collects for the Palestinians.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has confirmed the Palestinians will formally become a member of the ICC on April 1, after applying earlier this month.

With jurisdiction dating back to June 13, 2014, the court’s prosecutor could investigate the 50-day war between Israel & Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip in July & August 2014.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas applied to the court after losing a vote at the UN Security Council seeking a deadline for an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank.

Israel & the United States deplore Palestinian moves at the UN as unilateral steps that undermine diplomacy, which has made little progress in years & collapsed most recently in April.

Graham urged the Palestinians to re-evaluate ICC membership, saying he supported their aspirations for statehood but opposed joining the court as a “provocative step” against Israel.

UN, EU Think Oslo Accords Bind One Party Only – Israel By Evelyn Gordon, COMMENTARY

Between Friday’s announcement that the International Criminal Court has opened a “preliminary examination into the situation in Palestine” & Sunday’s airstrike that killed six Hezbollah operatives & an Iranian general, a seemingly minor Israel-related item at the United Nations Security Council last Thursday has been largely ignored. But it shouldn’t be, because it goes to the heart of what’s wrong with the world’s handling of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict: According to both the UN & the European Union, signed Israeli-Palestinian agreements are binding on one party only – Israel.

At Thursday’s Security Council briefing, Assistant Secretary-General Jens Anders Toyberg-Frandzen slammed Israel for freezing tax transfers to the Palestinian Authority, declaring that this was “contrary to Israel’s obligations under the Paris Protocol of the Oslo Accords.” The EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, Federica Mogherini, made an identical claim 10 days earlier.
Though the claim is probably false, let’s assume for a moment that it’s true. The fact remains that Israel’s alleged violation of its “obligations under … the Oslo Accords” was in response to far greater violations of the Palestinians’ obligations under those same accords. Yet far from meriting any equivalent condemnation by the UN or the EU, the Palestinian violations were actively supported by both parties.

According to Article 31(7) of the 1995 Oslo II agreement (formally titled the Interim Agreement on the West Bank & the Gaza Strip), “Neither side shall initiate or take any step that will change the status of the West Bank & the Gaza Strip pending the outcome of the permanent status negotiations.” This isn’t some trivial technicality; it constitutes the very heart of the Oslo Accords: that Israel & the Palestinians will resolve their differences through negotiations, not unilaterally.

Nevertheless, the Palestinians have grossly & repeatedly violated this clause, including by obtaining UN recognition as a nonmember observer state in 2012, applying to the Security Council for full UN membership last month & joining the ICC as a state party earlier this month. All these moves are aiming at unilaterally changing the status of the West Bank & Gaza from territories whose future will be determined through negotiations to territories belonging to a Palestinian state. Yet no UN or EU official has ever criticized these moves for violating Palestinian obligations under the Oslo Accords, & in fact, both the UN & the EU actively supported them.

It was the UN General Assembly that accepted “Palestine” as a nonmember observer state, with half the EU’s 28 members voting in favor & only one voting against. In last month’s Security Council bid, two of the council’s four EU members voted in favor & none voted against. & when “Palestine” applied to the ICC this month, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon immediately announced that it qualified for membership & would join on April 1, although technically, the court itself should make this decision, as it did when the Palestinians first tried to join in 2009.

In other words, both the UN & the EU think it’s fine for the Palestinians to ride roughshod over their core obligations under the Oslo Accords, but it’s unacceptable for Israel to violate even the most minor element of those accords. & Israel’s violation, if it existed at all, was indeed minor, since the Paris Protocol stipulates the existence of “procedures for the set-off of financial obligations between the two sides, including legal entities under their control or management.” In short, Israel has the legal right to withhold some of the billions of shekels the PA owes to state-owned Israeli entities like the Israel Electric Corporation, & it has always formally justified freezes of tax transfers under this clause. At most, it was guilty of violating the proper procedures for doing so.

All of the above leads to one obvious question: If the UN & EU are going to deem Israeli-Palestinian agreements binding on Israel in every particular but not binding on the Palestinians at all, why on earth would Israel ever sign another?

Senator Graham: US aid to Palestinians may be cut over ICC move

10. From Arlene Kushner akushner18@gmail.com “Without Recourse” January 19, 2015

It should be, even in our less than perfect world, that international courts were bastions of ethical judgment & impartiality. OK, maybe that’s expecting too much. Shall we say, just institutions that model some degree of ethical judgment & impartiality. But even this is expecting too much in today’s climate of severely distorted perceptions & values.

The court I have in mind, of course, is the International Criminal Court, which is just one more corrupt – & politically correct – international body. As today’s JPost editorial has it: the court is unable to “differentiate between good & bad.” Ah, yes.

On Friday, Court prosecutor Fatou Bensouda announced her decision to initiate a “preliminary probe” into alleged war crimes committed by Israel this past summer during the war in Gaza (Operation Protective Edge). This is to determine whether prosecution is appropriate.

In order to do this, she had to stretch credibility in several regards. First, she had to determine that, for purposes of the Court, the Palestinian Authority was a state. Never mind that the PA does not meet all the criteria of a state, the General Assembly – another upstanding institution – has accorded the PA status as an observer state. The ICC says that’s enough.

& then, she had to maintain the fiction that Gaza, which is controlled by Hamas – a terrorist organization, is part of that “Palestinian state.” This was necessary, because a state that accepts the ICC’s jurisdiction can only bring charges in crimes committed within its own borders.

Lastly, she had to overlook the fact that the IDF routinely does investigate charges regarding behavior in the field & pursues prosecution when this is deemed necessary. The IDF – the most moral army in the world – is, in fact, super-scrupulous in this regard. But the Court, you see, is only supposed to step in if such systems are not in place.

International lawyer Alan Baker continues to say this will come to nothing, & that we only serve Abbas’s purposes when we become agitated about this situation. So we will not be agitated.

Prime Minister Netanyahu called the Court decision “absurd,” which it is. The Prime Minister’s Office released a statement that said, in part:

“We see here something truly tragic. The lofty goals of the ICC are being turned upside-down. The court was founded to prevent a repeat of history’s worst crimes, foremost among them the genocide of six million Jews. Now the Palestinians are cynically manipulating the ICC to deny the Jewish state the right to defend itself against the very war crimes & the very terror that the court was established to prevent.” (Emphasis added)

http://www.pmo.gov.il/English/ MediaCenter/Spokesman/Pages/ spokehage170115.aspx

But the Court cannot be “manipulated” without its consent. Bensouda could have ruled that the PA was not a state. I see something very perverse in Palestinian Arab involvement with international organizations, which are prepared to voluntarily distort their essence or their mandates in an effort to be politically correct. The PA is such a very minor player in the scheme of world affairs. What gives it this power?

The State Department, I must note, said, “We do not believe that Palestine is a state & therefore we do not believe that it is eligible to join the ICC.”

Actually, I shouldn’t say, as I did above, that we are “without recourse.” This is true with regard to the international institutions where we might have expected some modicum of support. But we certainly have recourse to our own sense of good & bad, and, most importantly, to the judgment of Heaven.

There are, as well, nations that are with us. I note in particular Canada – Canadian Foreign Minister Stephen Baird has just been here, lending words of support.

He told Netanyahu: “Canada doesn’t stand behind Israel; we stand shoulder-to-shoulder with it…The great struggle of our generation is terrorism & far too often the State of Israel & the Jewish people around the world are on the front lines of that struggle.” (Emphasis added)

http://www.jewishpress.com/ news/breaking-news/canadian- foreign-minister-baird- shoulder-to-shoulder-with- israel/2015/01/19/

Can we clone him? On his visit to Ramallah on Sunday, Arabs pelted his car with eggs because of his pro-Israel stance.

Credit: Miriam Alster/ Flash 90

Missiles fired from two helicopters struck at targets in the Syrian Golan yesterday, taking out either five or six members of Hezbollah. Israel never officially acknowledges involvement in such attacks, but I would say that here we have an instance of our relying on our own resources with excellent judgment.

Among those killed was Jihad Mughniyeh, son of Imad Mughniyeh, former Hezbollah operations chief whom we dispatched some time ago. According to western intelligence sources, Jihad was head of a large-scale terrorist cell, with direct links to Iran, that had attacked Israel in the past.

But there is more: According to various reports, also killed were six members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, including General Mohammad Allahdadi, formerly head of a Revolutionary Guard brigade. The Iranians & the members of Hezbollah were part of one convoy.

http://www.jpost.com/Arab- Israeli-Conflict/Report-Six- Iranians-killed-in-Israeli- strike-in-Syria-including- Revolutionary-Guards-general- 388210

The coming together of so many high level Hezbollah & Iranian fighters at one time, near the Israeli border, strongly suggests that a major operation was imminent. It might have included rockets, infiltrations into Israel, border bombings, anti-tank fire & more. Just days ago, Hezbollah head Hassan Nasrallah threatened attacks on Israel.

The attack that smoothly took out Hezbollah & Iranian high level personnel suggests superb Israeli intelligence & an operation that was pinpoint.

As I see it, this not only eliminated an immediate danger (it was essential, given the intelligence!), it enhanced our deterrence power – always a good thing. They know we are watching, & that we act in our own best interest with great skill.

There is no doubt about the fact that there was a message here for Iran, as well as for Hezbollah.

But the question now is what sort of retaliation we are likely to see. It is considered unlikely that there will be a major attack that would escalate into war to our north. But there is certainly a heightened risk of terror attacks – whether we are looking at infiltration into the north of Israel with attempts at kidnapping IDF soldiers, or attacking Israelis elsewhere in the world, as has been done before.

Whatever might be ahead, our forces are on high alert in the north now, with leaves cancelled & an Iron Dome installation moved northward.

Maj.-Gen. (res.) Eyal Ben Reuven, in a press briefing arranged via The Israel Project, outlined the sensitive situation that Israel now faces: Should, for example, an Israeli soldier be killed by Hezbollah, or should rockets be launched against civilians in our north, this would invite retaliation that might generate a significant escalation in fighting.

The situation of Hezbollah, operating in the Golan, directly across Israel’s border to the north, is exceedingly complex. This area is no longer directly controlled by Assad. Hezbollah, said General Ben Reuven, prefers acting against Israel from this theater rather than from its home base in Lebanon. The Lebanese are not always happy with Hezbollah because of the violence unleashed on its population in response to Hezbollah actions. However, Hezbollah still has a primary goal of supporting Assad, & does not want to invite an Israeli attack inside Syria that might result in weakening him.

Right now, with some 200,000 Syrians dead in the civil war, there seems to be a standoff, with neither side achieving victory.

I end – for now – with a good news story that is both moving & astounding:

Michael Mittwoch, 92, & his wife Marion, 90, fled the Nazis in Germany. They came to Israel, where they participated in the founding of Kibbutz Lavi in the north.

Now they have just celebrated the birth of their 100th (this is not a typo) great-grandchild.

Credit: Elad Gershgoren

http://www.ynetnews.com/ articles/0,7340,L-4615185,00. html

This is not just a wonderfully uplifting story, it demonstrates something: We are a people who move past adversity to life, a testament to hope.

© Arlene Kushner. This material is produced by Arlene Kushner, functioning as an independent journalist. Permission is granted for it to be reproduced only with proper attribution. If it is reproduced & emphasis is added, the fact that it has been added must be noted. See my website at www.arlenefromisrael.info Contact Arlene at akushner18@gmail.com