7.TRAITOR SENATORS TOOK MONEY FROM IRAN LOBBY, BACK IRAN NUKES by Daniel Greenfield 8/25/15 FrontPageMag.com The Democrats are becoming a party of atom bomb spies.

Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, is a New York writer focusing on radical Islam.

Senator Markey has announced his support for the Iran deal that will let the terrorist regime inspect its own Parchin nuclear weapons research site, conduct uranium enrichment, build advanced centrifuges, buy ballistic missiles, fund terrorism and have a near zero breakout time to a nuclear bomb.

There was no surprise there.

Markey had topped the list of candidates supported by the Iran Lobby. And the Iranian American Political Action Committee (IAPAC) had maxed out its contributions to his campaign.

After more fake suspense, Al Franken, another IAPAC backed politician who also benefited from Iran Lobby money, came out for the nuke sellout.

Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the Iran Lobby’s third Dem senator, didn’t bother playing coy like her colleagues. She came out for the deal a while back even though she only got half the IAPAC cash that Franken and Markey received.

As did Senator Gillibrand, who had benefited from IAPAC money back when she first ran for senator and whose position on the deal should have come as no surprise.

The Iran Lobby had even tried, and failed, to turn Arizona Republican Jeff Flake. Iran Lobby cash had made the White House count on him as the Republican who would flip, but Flake came out against the deal. The Iran Lobby invested a good deal of time and money into Schumer, but that effort also failed.

Still these donations were only the tip of the Iran Lobby iceberg.

Gillibrand had also picked up money from the Iran Lobby’s Hassan Nemazee. Namazee was Hillary’s national campaign finance director who had raised a fortune for both her and Kerry before pleading guilty to a fraud scheme encompassing hundreds of millions of dollars. Nemazee had been an IAPAC trustee and had helped set up the organization.

Bill Clinton had nominated Hassan Nemazee as the US ambassador to Argentina when he had only been a citizen for two years. A spoilsport Senate didn’t allow Clinton to make a member of the Iran Lobby into a US ambassador, but Nemazee remained a steady presence on the Dem fundraising circuit.

Nemazee had donated to Gillibrand and had also kicked in money to help the Franken Recount Fund scour all the cemeteries for freshly dead votes, as well as to Barbara Boxer, who also came out for the Iran nuke deal. Boxer had also received money more directly from IAPAC.

In the House, the Democratic recipients of IAPAC money came out for the deal. Mike Honda, one of the biggest beneficiaries of the Iran Lobby backed the nuke sellout. As did Andre Carson, Gerry Connolly, Donna Edwards and Jackie Speier. The Iran Lobby was certainly getting its money’s worth.

But the Iran Lobby’s biggest wins weren’t Markey or Shaheen. The real victory had come long before when two of their biggest politicians, Joe Biden and John Kerry, had moved into prime positions in the administration. Not only IAPAC, but key Iran Lobby figures had been major donors to both men.

That list includes Housang Amirahmadi, the founder of the American Iranian Council, who had spoken of a campaign to “conquer Obama’s heart and mind” and had described himself as “the Iranian lobby in the United States.” It includes the Iranian Muslim Association of North America (IMAN) board members who had fundraised for Biden. And it includes the aforementioned Hassan Nemazee.

A member of Iran’s opposition had accused Biden’s campaigns of being “financed by Islamic charities of the Iranian regime based in California and by the Silicon Iran network.” Biden’s affinity for the terrorist regime in Tehran was so extreme that after 9/11 he had suggested, “Seems to me this would be a good time to send, no strings attached, a check for $200 million to Iran”.

Appeasement inflation has since raised that $200 million to at least $50 billion. But there are still no strings worth mentioning attached to the big check.

Questions about donations from the Iran Lobby had haunted Kerry’s campaign. Back then Kerry had been accused of supporting an agreement favorable to Iran. The parameters of that controversial proposal however were less generous than the one that Obama and Kerry are trying to sell now.

The hypothetical debates over the influence of the Iran Lobby have come to a very real conclusion.

Both of Obama’s secretaries of state were involved in Iran Lobby cash controversies, as was his vice president and his former secretary of defense. Obama was also the beneficiary of sizable donations from the Iran Lobby. Akbar Ghahary, the former co-founder of IAPAC, had donated and raised some $50,000 for Obama.

It’s an unprecedented track record that has received very little notice. While the so-called “Israel Lobby” is constantly scrutinized, the fact that key foreign policy positions under Obama are controlled by political figures with troubling ties to an enemy of this country has gone mostly unreported by the mainstream media.

This culture of silence allowed the Iran Lobby to get away with taking out a full-page ad in the New York Times before the Netanyahu speech asking, “Will Congress side with our President or a Foreign Leader?”

Iran’s stooges had taken a break from lobbying for ballistic missiles to play American patriots.

Obama and his allies, Iranian and domestic, have accused opponents of his dirty Iran deal of making “common cause” with that same terror regime and of treason. The ugly truth is that he and his political accomplices were the traitors all along.

Democrats in favor of a deal that will let a terrorist regime go nuclear have taken money from lobbies for that regime. They have broken their oath by taking bribes from a regime whose leaders chant, “Death to America”. Their pretense of examining the deal is nothing more than a hollow charade.

This deal has come down from Iran Lobby influenced politicians like Kerry and is being waved through by members of Congress who have taken money from the Iran Lobby. That is treason plain and simple.

Despite what we are told about its “moderate” leaders, Iran considers itself to be in a state of war with us. Iran and its agents have repeatedly carried out attacks against American soldiers, abducted and tortured to death American officials and have even engaged in attacks on American naval vessels.

Aiding an enemy state in developing nuclear weapons is the worst form of treason imaginable. Helping put weapons of mass destruction in the hands of terrorists is the gravest of crimes.

The Democrats who have approved this deal are turning their party into a party of atom bomb spies.

Those politicians who have taken money from the Iran Lobby and are signing off on a deal that will let Iran go nuclear have engaged in the worst form of treason and committed the gravest of crimes. They must know that they will be held accountable. That when Iran detonates its first bomb, their names will be on it.

From: Steven Shamrak, Australia – ShamrakReport@gmail.com

8.Biblical Warning to the US Congress by Aaron Klein

Likening Iran to the biblical Haman, the main antagonist in the book of Esther who plotted to destroy the Jews of Persia, a coalition of more than 760 prominent rabbis in Israel and abroad has sent a letter to Congress urging lawmakers to oppose the “dangerous” nuclear agreement.

“Your vote on the agreement – by every legislator – will either facilitate a nuclear war or spare humanity of a nuclear war,” reads the letter.

The rabbinic leaders explain they prefer to steer away from politics; however,

“Over two thousand years ago, in ancient Persia – present day Iran – Jews faced a similar situation. An “ayatollah” by the name of Haman set a scheme in motion that would have annihilated the entire Jewish nation in a single day. Mordechai, the Jewish leader, turned to his niece Queen Esther, the wife of the Persian king and the highest ranking Jewish official at that time, and appealed to her to intervene on behalf of the Jewish people and ask the king to nullify the decree,” they write.

Esther hesitated, however, and claimed that her actions would not only fail to help, but would make matters worse. Mordechai retorted that this was her defining moment: “If you persist in keeping silent at a time like this, relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from somewhere else, but you will have forfeited this privilege. Who knows whether it was just for such a time as this that you attained your royal position,” the letter says.

The letter stands in contrast to another sent to Congress this week by 340 liberal U.S. rabbis, mostly from the reform and non-Orthodox streams of Judaism, who expressed support for the Iran nuclear deal and urged lawmakers to endorse it.

Food for Thought by Steven Shamrak

The arson attack at Duma has been attributed to “Jewish terrorists”, but there is still no conclusive proof of Jewish or Israeli involvement; meanwhile the Israeli government is arresting Zionists in Israel and PA is expending its terror squads! Israeli governments, Labor and Likud parties, never missed an opportunity to undermine and weaken the Zionist movement, using real or false accusations. They have never apologized to Zionist activists, but are very quick to apologize for any accusations made against Israel by international anti-Semites!

Iran will Inspect Its Own Nuclear Program

An unusual agreement between the UN&##39;s IAEA will allow Iran to inspect its own Parchin nuclear site, allegedly used to develop weapons. The investigation of the Parchin nuclear site by the International Atomic Energy Agency is linked to a broader probe of allegations that Iran has worked on atomic weapons. (A 24 days’ notice was not enough – now the ‘Ugly Nothing’ is making more ‘sweet’ deals with anti-Israel Iran !)

Nasrallah is Right – Israel Has “No Strategy”

In a televised speech on the anniversary of the end of the Second Lebanon War in 2006, Nasrallah declared “Israel admits it has no strategy that can defeat Hezbollah. Not from the air and not from the ground.” (Israel has forgotten the Zionist dream of Jewish people and has no clear national goal – how to defeat its enemies and how to reclaim Jewish land from Arab occupation)

Huckabee: West Bank is Part of Israel

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee includes Judea and Samaria, biblical name for the West Bank, as part of “all of Israel” during visit to Israel. Huckabee said he is visiting Israel to meet with officials to discuss the Obama administration’s nuclear agreement with Iran. (Is it a genuine support, or another US presidential candidate ‘in the search of Jewish money and votes’ fake visit, which will follow by change of tune after election? Obama also visited Israel before his first election.) [Gail Sez: Mike Huckabee is a genuine Christian Zionist. He’s been to Israel many times in supportive roles. His pro-Israel stance is honest, true & dependable as well as smart!]

Turkey Building Fence and Killing Refugees – Nobody Protests!

1) The Turkish military has started building a concrete wall along the border with Syria following a series (just a few) of attacks. The Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) is building the three meter (10 feet) high wall in the Reyhanli district of Hatay province. So far, Turkish military operation has focused mainly on Kurdish rebels (not ISIL), who have responded by tearing up a 2013 ceasefire and waging a bloody campaign against the security forces. 2) Three Syrians trying cross the border into Turkey have been killed by Turkish border guards. At least seven others were also injured by the troops near the Syrian border town of Tal Abyad in al-Raqqa.

Time is Running out for Attack on Nuclear Iran

A Russian diplomatic source corroborated an Iranian report that claimed Moscow will supply four batteries of S-300 surface-to-air missiles to the Islamic Republic. Russian President Vladimir Putin had been ready to deliver the S-300 system to Iran already in 2010, but then agreed to ban the sale under pressure from the US. Israel has also pushed Moscow not to send them to Iran.

Israel Sold Drones for Jordan to Fight ISIS

In its first arms sale to an Arab country, Israel has sold Jordan 12 advanced unmanned aerial vehicles of the Heron TP and Skylark types. They are urgently needed to beef up the counter-terrorism campaign against the ISIL.

US will not Release Hunger-striking Guantanamo Detainee

Lawyers from the US justice department have blocked a legal request, made on health grounds, to release a Guantanamo Bay detainee who weighs just 34kg after an eight-year hunger strike. Yemeni detainee Tariq Ba Odah, 36, has been force-fed by nasal tube since he stopped eating solid food in 2007. (But Israel has and still having problem with force-feeding!)

‘Palestine Refugees’ are Unappreciative Bastards

Senior members of Hamas have escalated their threats against UNRWA (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East), following UNRWA’s announcement that it will have to reduce its services (to already the fourth generation of professional refugees) due to a lack of funding. The organization is currently running on a deficit of $101 million. Mushir al-Masri called the decision “an open war against our people and our refugees, and a preparatory step towards removing the right of return to the homes… He further called for Islamic national forces and to Palestinians to come out in “revolution and rage against the decisions which hurt refugees.”

Traditional Anti-Semites in Iranian Deal Rush!

Britain reopened its embassy in Iran this weekend nearly four years after Iranian protesters stormed two British diplomatic compounds in Tehran in November 2011, smashing windows, torching a car and burning the British flag.

Iranian Terror Front on the Golan

Iranian-backed network fired, on Thursday Aug. 20, a salvo of four rockets from the Golan into upper Galilee and the Golan. This was an unusually long-range attack from within Syria, Iranian Al Qods and Hizballah officers were building a new terrorist network for mounting large-scale terrorist attacks on Israel from the Syrian border opposite the Golan. There are three radical terrorist movements’ staff in the new network.

Synagogue Arson – No International ‘Outrage’

Arsonists set fire to a small roadside synagogue in north-central Israel before dawn in Friday, but the fire was put out before it could consume holy books and tefillin (phylacteries). The synagogue is located next to a rest stop on Highway 6, and enables travellers to make a “pit stop” for praying and then continue to drive down the major thoroughfare.

Quote of the Week:

“The (Israeli) High Court has not only shortened the period of staying in Holot (detention of illegal migrants) to one year that will not create an incentive to leave the country, it is currently also postponing the implementation of the arrangement for infiltrators to leave Israel to countries that are not their countries of origin.” – Gilad Erdan, Internal Security Minister – It is well-known fact that Israeli justice system is infested by anti-Zionist self-haters, Labor party stooges!

They Say Islam is Religion of ‘Peace’!

Surah 5:33-34 – Indeed, the penalty for those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger strive upon earth (to cause) corruption is none but that they be killed or crucified or that their hands and feet be cut off from opposite sides or that they be exiled from the land. That is for them a disgrace in this world: and for them in the Hereafter is a great punishment, (34) Except for those who return (repenting) before you apprehend them, And Know that Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.

Surah 4:89 – “…But if they turn away, then seize them and kill them wherever you find them and take not from among them any ally or helper.”

Surah 8:60 – “…Strike terror into the hearts of the enemies of God and your enemies…”

Surah 9:5 – “…When the sacred months (Ramadan?) are over slay the idolaters wherever you find them. Arrest them; besiege them; and lie in ambush everywhere for them…”

Surah 9:123 – “O you who have believed, fight those adjacent to you of the disbelievers and let them find in you harshness. And know that Allah is with the righteous.“

Surah 47:4 – “He called them to him and struck off their heads”

Surahs 47:4 – “When ye encounter the infidels, strike off their heads…”

(Some Muslim intellectual believes Islam was high-jacked by Islamists. “Islamism steals from Islam for its own totalitarian ambition,” said Dr. Qanta Ahmed, a Muslim intellectual. Is she right or it is just a ‘smoke screen’ to protect the ‘silent’ Islamic majority from angry reaction to the atrocities that have being committed by ISIS in the name of Allah, as it is prescribed by Koran?)

From: Cheryl Jacobs Lewin [cjlpr1@gmail.com]: Chicagoan Shayna Gould was one of the very badly injured…miraculously saved from death at Shaare Zedek in J’Lem. She is part of this lawsuit. They are all very disappointed with the judge’s ruling today.

Steven Emerson, Executive Director August 24, 2015 http://www.investigativeproject.org/4966/victims-attorney-disappointed-by-low-pa-bond The lead attorney for 10 American families who secured $655 million in civil damages against the Palestinian Authority (PA) for past terror support expressed disappointment Monday with a judge’s bond order. Kent Yalowitz, whose clients either lost loved ones or were injured in terror attacks either carried out or aided by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the PA, had asked for $30 million monthly payments to serve as bond while a jury’s February civil verdict is appealed. During a hearing Monday, U.S. District Judge George B. Daniels ordered the PA to deposit $10 million into an account within the next month. After that, the PA must deposit an additional $1 million per month. The money serves as a bond in the event the judgment is upheld after the PA’s appeal is resolved. The installments are so insignificant compared to the PA’s resources that Yalowitz likened the amount to a “rounding error.” But the judge acknowledged giving “serious consideration” to a statement submitted earlier this month by a deputy secretary of state urging Daniels to consider the PA’s precarious financial state in imposing a bond order. Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken raised the prospect that the PA could collapse under the weight of the payments, which “quot;would undermine several decades of U.S. foreign policy and add a new destabilizing factor to the region, compromising national security.’ The attacks took place between 2001 and 2004. The victims sued under the Anti-Terrorism Act, which includes provisions which tripled the jury’s $218.5 million damage award. The PA’s finances are not nearly so fragile, Yalowitz’s team argued. A payment plan supporting jailed terrorists and the families of PLO members killed during attacks remains in effect. That payment system was among the items jurors learned about during the trial, along with internal PA and PLO records with information about terror cells and their activities. Other records included handwritten notes from longtime PLO and PA leader Yasser Arafat approving those payments. The PA initially argued against any bond requirement pending appeals. The Investigative Project on Terrorism 202-363-8602 – main 202-966-5191 – fax Victims’ Attorney Disappointed by Low PA Bond Requirement

10.IDF Soldiers Foil Firebomb Attack Near Efrat Two Palestinian Arab terrorists were caught Sunday night before hurling firebombs at an IDF post. By: Hana Levi Julian JewishPress.com 8/24/15

Israeli soldiers and security personnel at the ‘Panorama’ military post, near Beit Jala, outside Jerusalem. Photo Credit: Hadas Parush / Flash 90

IDF soldiers stopped a terrorist attack in Judea on Sunday night on Highway 60, just outside of the Jewish community of Efrat, about five minutes south of Jerusalem.

Two Palestinian Authority Arabs were caught by the soldiers as they were preparing to hurl firebombs (Molotov cocktails) at an IDF outpost located outside the Jewish community.

The suspects were turned over to security forces for interrogation.

About the Author: Hana Levi Julian is a Middle East news analyst with a degree in Mass Communication and Journalism from Southern Connecticut State University. A past columnist with The Jewish Press and senior editor at Arutz 7, Ms. Julian has written for Babble.com, Chabad.org and other media outlets, in addition to her years working in broadcast journalism.

 IDF Soldiers Foil Firebomb Attack Near Efrat

***

11.Helping Jewish Souls or Harming Jewish Bodies

JewishIsrael is upset with Laurie Cardoza-Moore.
LC-M has made an amazing pro-Yesha film (the trailer) and I was present at its screening which does not use any missionary or proselytizing themes. She’s making another, an anti-BDS documentary (and I was interviewed for it). She has initiated successful moves in state legislatures to fight BDS. But she is Christian and that really upsets the JI people.
So, why is JI now upset about these pro-Israel, pro-Zionist, pro-Yesha activities of hers even if she is Christian?
Laurie heads this group, PJTN, which seeks to:

“educates media professionals, Christian leaders and Christians around the world about the biblical responsibilities to act against the “new anti-Semitism.”

Some very good Jews have lent their support to it. Isn’t it good that Christians are being asked to join a pro-Israel group that campaigns against the new anti-Semitism?
Laurie is also UN Special Envoy for the World Council of Independent Christian Churches (WCICC) and she addressed special forum at the UN Headquarters in New York last month.
And what really bothers JI is that
The approach being taken by Cardoza-Moore is decidedly theological and biblical in nature, with the Nostra Aetate document of 1965 taking center stage. For the past several months Cardoza-Moore has been urging the Vatican to resurrect Nostra Aetate as a tool to influence world churches and to fight anti-Semitism.

I know, you are scratching your heads, asking yourselves, so what is really really upsetting JI.
Let’s see how JI employs ‘guilt-by-association’:
It’s important that Jewish leadership take note of the messianic Christian angle, too. The WCICC, a main sponsor of the UN forum, has the International Alliance of Independent Messianic Congregations and S… listed as their top “direct” ministry”. An article on the PJTN site affirms that:
“The WCICC exists to unite independent Christian & Messianic Churches regarding their Biblical Inheritance and Responsibility, including a stand with our Jewish brethren and the State of Israel.”

But that isn’t enough. Here is JI’s main charge:

While every committed Jew can fully appreciate gentiles who take a moral stand with the State of Israel, Cardoza-Moore’s own stand comes with some extra heavy “biblical” baggage:
“The Bible is clear from Genesis to Revelation that God will keep His Covenant with His people, all Israel. The Apostle Paul confirms that truth in the book of Romans, Chapters 9 -11. Christians are grafted into that Covenant through Jesus. The Apostle Paul said in Galatians 3:29, “If you are in Christ, you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.” The promise Paul was referring to is the same promise God made to Abraham in Genesis, and then repeated it to Isaac and Jacob. Paul further stated in Ephesians 2:11-13, that we, Gentiles in the flesh, were once outside of the commonwealth of Israel, but because of Jesus’ shed blood, we have been brought into the commonwealth of Israel.”
It would appear that by laying joint claim to our covenant, Christians like Cardoza-Moore are indeed replacing the Jewish Covenant with their own Christian interpretation of it, thereby denying the Jewish people the uniqueness of Hashem’s eternal promise to them.

Are they, though, replacing?
JI assumes that this is replacement theology. Even if it is, if, that is, what we have here is the recognition that Jesus was … Jewish. What has all this to do with support for Israel — unless JI, besides its suspicions, has actual proof of Laurie engaged in, pardon my language, snatching Jewish souls? How far a net can JI toss (and no, I am not referring to John 21 or Luke 5) to denigrate proffered assistance? Is this truly a denial of God’s unique covenantal promise to the Jews or a recognition of the same?
I do know that Laurie and friends have not tried to convert me to Christiamity and would ask that if anyone does know of a case or cases to inform me of same. Until, then, I extend support and appreciation to Laurie for defending in an activist fashion the state of Israel and its Biblical inheritance – religious, spiritual, cultural, legal and geographical.
I would suggest to all of us to review the material, the ‘proofs’ and the perhaps untruths and weigh whether JI is helping Jewish souls – or not even that – or maybe harming Jewish bodies.

Helping Jewish Souls or Harming Jewish Bodies

12.New town Harish harbors hopes of being more than another Pleasantville

Boosters of a planned city being built from scratch 45 minutes northeast of Tel Aviv insist it’s not just a bedroom community, but a grand social experiment in tolerance and sustainable living BY SIMONA WEINGLASS August 25, 2015

It’s not every day that a Haredi mayor, a professional young mother, a hip high-tech entrepreneur and a left-wing Knesset member all agree on something. But oddly enough, when it comes to the new Israeli city of Harish, these four Israelis share the same hope – that it will be a showcase for solving the country’s social ills.

“Harish will be a city of pluralism, sustainability and community,” says the city’s orthodox mayor Yitzhak Keshet, who was elected a year and a half ago by a two-thirds majority of the sleepy town’s current 1,000 residents, including Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox Jews, secular Israelis, former Soviet immigrants, Ethiopian immigrants and Arab residents.

A 45-minute drive north of Tel Aviv on Israel’s Route 6 and a 15-minute drive east of Caesarea, and abutting Israel’s security fence with the West Bank, an entire city is going up amid the rocky ocher soil. Cranes and bulldozers gleam in the summer heat, as they transform a slightly rundown backwater into a modern city expected to house 70,000 residents within five years and 100,000 within 10 years, on a par with mid-sized Israeli towns like Modiin and Rehovot.

The first few hundred residents are set to move in in November 2015.

Buildings nearing completion in Harish (Facebook)

Keshet says that starting in January, 500 families will arrive every three months, and the pace will grow as contractors complete their buildings.

Nobody knows for sure who these residents will be.

“Right now it’s 20 percent ultra-Orthodox, but it will end up about 10%,” says Keshet. ”About 35% will be national religious Jews and the rest of the residents will be secular.”

Keshet says he expects only a “handful” of non-Jewish or Arab residents to move in.

But Hemi Bar Or, an artist who has led many secular purchasing groups in the city, estimates that the town will only be 6-7% ultra-Orthodox.

Yitzhak Keshet (Facebook)

Keshet, a software engineer who became ultra-Orthodox in his 20s, saw his political career begin when he started to get involved in building schools for the children of ba’alei tshuva, or “returnees to the faith.”

“I realized that even though we wanted to observe Torah and mitzvot, we ba’alei tshuva still had a secular mentality. That’s why our kids needed special schools,” he told The Times of Israel.

Keshet, whose name means rainbow in Hebrew, says it is precisely his ability to straddle both worlds — religious and secular — that will enable him to relate to all the city’s residents.

Itzik Tayar, Harish’s education coordinator (Simona Weinglass)

Itzik Tayar, the town’s education coordinator, greets The Times of Israel in an old T-shirt and shorts. He has spent all day clearing rubble from school buildings before the start of the school year.

“We are building schools for the entire spectrum of the population. Either [the integration] will be successful or there will be Shabbat wars like in Jerusalem,” referring to the practice in some ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods in the capital, where roads are closed on the Jewish Sabbath and some residents throw stones at cars that attempt to pass through. Tayar laughs and then backtracks: “No, there won’t be.”

“Some Haredim bought here and were surprised because they thought the town would be totally ultra-Orthodox. Some decided to stay, while others are weighing their options. Some bought the apartments as an investment. It’s anyone’s guess who will actually come to live here.”

Interlocking

Miri Rahamim, the town’s absorption coordinator and spokesperson, explains that the town has been planned in such a way that no single group of residents can “ghettoize” themselves or cut themselves off from other residents of the city.

“These four buildings are ultra-Orthodox, and right next to them, these four are secular,” says Rahamim, pointing at a plan of the city on the wall.

She knows this because about 40% of those building apartments are purchasing groups — groups of like-minded people who purchase apartments in bulk at a discount. The other 60% of apartments are being constructed by private contractors and sold on an individual basis. In Harish’s first neighborhood, which contains 7,000 apartments, 5,000 have already been sold.

Miri Rahamim, spokeswoman for Harish, in her office (Simona Weinglass)

Rahamim said she and her husband bought in Harish three years ago, after their first child was born, and paid NIS 660,000 ($170,300) for a 4-bedroom apartment, a price unprecedented anywhere in Israel, let alone a 45-minute drive from Tel Aviv. She was so excited at the pioneering aspect of starting a new life in a brand new place that she started a Facebook group to meet other residents. Harish became such an obsession that the city council hired her to be their spokeswoman. Since Rahamim bought her apartment, it has jumped in value to NIS 1,000,000 ($258,000), even though it won’t be ready for another three years.

Rahamim says that all streets in Harish will be open to traffic on Shabbat. Will the ultra-Orthodox population will feel comfortable with this? Keshet, the ultra-Orthodox mayor, replies: “This is a very open population, Sephardic, Chabad-Lubavitch, Breslav, mostly not the kind of people who live in Mea Shearim.”

In fact, he says, all the ultra-Orthodox schools in Harish will adopt a state-approved core curriculum with math, science and English studies. This is not the norm in many ultra-Orthodox communities across the country.

Asked if there will be non-kosher cafes or cafes that are open on Shabbat — an issue that has rocked other cities with side-by-side secular and religious populations — Keshet replied: “I won’t prevent it. Whatever the city council decides.”

The battle over Harish

Harish started life as a kibbutz in the 1980s. It never took off, and was abandoned by its residents in the early 1990s. The government then sold apartments there to career army officers, but most never actually came to settle in Harish.

In 2007, Shas housing minister Ariel Atias decided to build an ultra-Orthodox city of 100,000 people in Harish. But secular residents of the town, led by Hemi Bar Or, petitioned the High Court of Justice, saying that they would be unable to continue to live in their town if it became all-Haredi. The High Court decided that the town would be open to all residents of Israel. The tenders were opened to the entire population, says Rahamim, but 12 bids were disqualified due to price collusion.

Dov Khenin, the only Jewish Knesset member on the Joint (Arab) List, took up battle alongside the secular residents. “I met an amazing group of people when we were struggling over opening up the city to everyone, religious and secular, Jew and Arab. This is an opportunity to build a new and improved city in Israel,” he enthused.

Khenin says that while Jews and Arabs often live in separate communities, there is no law separating them, merely personal preference or discrimination on the part of sellers and renters.

“Arabs in Israel have their own housing crisis,” says Khenin, “I hope some will come to live in Harish.”

According to Miri Rahamim, as soon as the tenders were announced, Bar Or, an artist by profession, started looking for people to join his purchasing groups. He tapped into young Israelis whose consciousness had been raised by the social justice protests of 2011 and were looking for an affordable place to live. He also found buyers among the cycling enthusiasts who bike through the nearby forests on weekends. From there, according to Rahamim, word spread through Facebook and social networks.

“Harish is an opportunity that comes along once in a few decades,” says Rahamim, “to build a city from scratch. There’s this desire to build something great.”

A smart city

Erez Mizrahi is a high-tech entrepreneur and the mayor’s consultant on smart cities. He heads a start-up, Challengy, that exports “smart city” technology to cities around the world, including Nice, France, and several cities in the UK.

“We take a city and turn it into a lab. We then take 10 start-ups every six months and deploy their technologies throughout the city. “[Jerusalem Mayor] Nir Barkat called me. Herzliya is also interested, but I sat with Keshet and saw he is open to new things and there is opportunity here.”

Erez Mizrahi in Harish (Simona Weinglass)

Mizrahi, the son of British parents who grew up in Burma and later immigrated to Israel, says he s trying to persuade his wife to buy an apartment in Harish.

One of Mizrahi’s ideas that the mayor has agreed to implement is for Harish to own its own fiber optic cable.

“What’s happening in [most places in] Israel is that fiber optic cable is the property of big companies; we want it to belong to the residents,” Mizrahi says.

The city can then create services on top of the fiber optic cable, like its own telephone and Internet service. Mizrahi would also like to see Harish produce its own electricity, as opposed to buying it from the monopolistic Israel Electric Corporation.

“We could use natural gas, wind turbines or solar power. The residents won’t have to deal with the Electric Corporation and will pay 30 percent less for electricity. We could even sell electricity to the Electric Corporation. They’re always looking for new production sources.”

Mizrahi says the city will have full WiFi coverage, as well as LED street lamps with sensors and even smart trash cans that collect information about what is going on in the city and how to make it more efficient. Trash cans will communicate with trucks over the Internet when they need to be emptied while camera-equipped lampposts will deter crime.

(New apartments under construction in Harish (Facebook)

“But Harish has no money, so I’d like to build Harish as a start-up. We’d get outside investors to invest in the business model of services that until now were the property of big corporations,” Mizrahi explains.

Why not make it a cooperative?

Mizrahi jumps out of his seat. “That’s a great idea. Making people responsible for the economy of their own city — it could be a showcase for the world.”

Mizrahi says he invited the CEO of Gvahim, a nonprofit that helps professional new immigrants find jobs, to Harish.

“There are immigrants from France who come here for an internship. They can’t find themselves in Israel and go back. Here, they can have both community and an internship. We’ll help them put down roots in Israel for the long term.”

Mizrahi says he is also pressuring the Office of the Chief Scientist to build its last start-up incubator in Harish.

“We need jobs here. Harish shouldn’t just be about affordable housing but an affordable life, a more worthwhile life.”

When asked whether he is on board with all of Mizrahi’s plans, the mayor says the idea of producing its own electricity is something the city will consider down the line. “For right now it’s too complicated.”

Keshet says he likes Mizrahi’s idea for a local currency.

“We’re looking into it. Maybe if you buy something here you’ll get a coupon to buy something else inside the city. So the money circulates locally.”

Keshet says that he wants to see lots of small businesses thrive in Harish. While he has already signed on the Rami Levy supermarket chain as well as Super-Pharm, he says he plans to give tax incentives to mom-and-pop businesses.

A sense of place?

Harish has been compared to Modiin, an Israeli town that was planned from scratch in the early 1990s.

“I looked at the plans for Harish,” says Dror Gershon, who heads Merhav, the Movement for Israeli Urbanism. Merhav describes its agenda as “people-oriented planning that prevents deterioration and atrophy of cities and promoting sustainable local development that enhances opportunities.”

Gershon told The Times of Israel he is not impressed with Harish.

“There’s nothing new here. It’s totally suburban.”

He singles out for opprobrium the plan for Harish’s main boulevard, which will be 60 meters wide with an island in the middle lined with bike paths, benches and small cafes.

“Sixty meters is not a boulevard, it’s a highway.”

According to Gershon, the urban fabric requires narrow streets. If the streets are too wide, anything else you do, however well intentioned, is window dressing.

Haim Kehat of the Mansfeld-Kehat architecture firm planned the city at the behest of the Housing Ministry. He concedes to The Times of Israel that the city’s main boulevard is very wide, but says he had to design it that way to accommodate public transport as well as a possible future light rail line.

“If you look further inside the city, the streets are different.”

Kehat was born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1944 and grew up on a kibbutz.

“My mother used to say to me, ‘You’ve never seen a real city.’ She described how in Budapest she would walk out of her house to the opera.’”

“Our goal in Harish was to build a mixed-use city, a place that encourages walking as opposed to using a car.”

Gershon concurs that car dependence is the bane of street life and cites Modiin as an example of planning gone terribly wrong.

“Modiin is a suburb, it’s nothing but sleeping units. There’s almost no commerce. It lacks almost everything that happens in a city. “

But don’t a lot of people like Modi’in?

“Some people enjoy living in a suburb, and for them, it’s great. But you have to have two cars, enslave yourself to a mortgage and spend hours on the road to get to work. You have to be your kids’ chauffeur and drive them from place to place. And the kids get fat.”

Kehat says he, too, dislikes suburbia and that there is a new consensus in professional planning circles on the need to go back to a more urban style of planning, “with public squares and streets that are real streets.”

“I take the train throughout Israel and look out the window. The planning is a mess — high-rises in the middle of the countryside and low-rise buildings where you’d expect a city. There is no center.”

Kehat cites the older parts of Tel Aviv, Hadar Hacarmel in Haifa and the older parts of Netanya as places with particular charm. Harish will be like those places, he says.

“The plan was to create more than just a suburb.”

The fact that Harish was originally designed as an ultra-Orthodox city, says Kehat, made urbanism a natural choice.

“You can’t build high-rises because Haredim won’t ride in an elevator on Shabbat.”

Haredim tend to have large families, which also meant he had to plan a city with lots of walking and public transportation.

“An ultra-Orthodox mother can’t pile 6-7 kids into a car and drop each one off at their school.”

For the same reason, many shops in Harish will be located on the street underneath apartments, as opposed to in malls.

“A mother with a small shop can’t be that far away from her kids.”

In Harish, every house is no more than a five-minute walk from a school, park, playground and grocery store, says Kehat. There are speed bumps at most intersections, as well as 17 kilometers (10 miles) of bike paths snaking through the city and lots of green space.

The goal, says Kehat, is nothing less than for Harish’s streets to be alive.

“That is the dream. The potential is there. But cities take time to ripen, trees take time to grow. In 20 years, you can go there and see what happened.”

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