Tuesday, November 29, 2016
B”sd
Gail Winston Winston@winstonglobal.org Gaza War Diary 1 Mon. Nov.28, 2016 Day 1081 1 1am
Dear Family & Friends,
It seems as if the “Fire Intifada” has cooled down. But, the Amona campaign is beginning to heat up. Please read my “Uprooting Amona” from Oct. 27, 2016 on my website: WinstonIsraelInsight.com. If we weaken our own communities by demolishing them, we set a vile example for those neighbors of ours to continue acting like barbarians who want to kill us…by Fire & by Knives & by Guns & by Car-Ramming….or whatever new implements of murder they devise. They teach their children to hate & kill Jews because they tell their children we stole their land…
But, we are not isolated. 19 different countries (including some recent, former enemies) sent fire-fighting planes & crews to help us combat their “Fire Intifada”.
We must fight back on all fronts, including our own people who want to destroy communities because someone claimed the land belonged to their Pals…with no proof! Where are their documents? Where are their land deeds? Our people have been living peacefully for 20 to 30 years in the homes they built for their growing families. Our government gave them infrastructure, roads, schools, water, sewage, electric, phone lines plus start-up monies. If that’s not support, what is? The date for their destruction is Chanukah, December 25th as well as another big holiday.
If we want & need the support & good wishes of the incoming President of the United States, our biggest ally, we must demonstrate our own courage to live on our own Land. We cannot expect him to be holier than we are.
It’s time to sleep now, & fight another day. Let me hear from you.
All the very best, Gail/Geula/Savta/Savta Raba x 2/Mom
Our Website: WinstonIsraelInsight.com
1.Rabbis urge: “Rise up & resist the evacuation!”
2.Dry Bones by Ya’acov Kirschen “Our Rebuilding vs.Their Flames of Hate”
3.“After the Flames Die Down” by Arlene Kushner
4.Jewish Home MK: Supreme Court not authorized to adjudicate Kotel
5.Moving US Embassy to Jerusalem: A Great Opportunity for New President
6.Best to Level With Trump Dr. Aaron Lerner
3. “After the Flames Die Down” by Arlene Kushner Nov. 28, 2016
Today I will focus on just one subject. For the fires that have raged here in Israel during the last several days have surely been uppermost in everyone’s mind.
Credit: Isabelmo
It began on Tuesday with a major fire in Zichron Yaakov, a community near the Mediterranean, on the south edge of the Carmel Mountains. Spreading through the night, it was battled by several teams of firefighters.
From there it spread – a fire first here, and then a fire there, most in the north of the country. There were fires in the hills near Jerusalem, with the small community of Beit Meir suffering major destruction.
Courtesy: Israel Police
The worst happened on Thursday into Friday in Haifa, with pockets of flame flaring: some 70,000 people were evacuated from their homes.
It was not quite the case, but there were cries that “Israel is on fire.” Surely it felt that way to those in the path of the flames. There were many dozens of fires – over a hundred according to at least one source. Some small and some major. Officials in Haifa spoke of a national emergency.
Today it is quiet, with flames in the main doused. Many people who had to flee at the height of the emergency have been able to return home (if there was a home to return to). Here and there a small flame ignites – I am assuming, by design – and is extinguished.
Precise information is difficult to acquire, as different sources provide different figures. Following is the best I have been able to acquire:
While – thank Heaven – no one has been killed, according to Magen David Adom, some 180 people have been injured, mostly from smoke inhalation.
Some 600-700 homes were damaged in the fires, with more than 400 reported as uninhabitable and 37 completely destroyed.
The Nature and Parks Authority reports that some 32,124 acres of natural forests and bushes have burned, much of it in Nature Preserve land in the Judean Hills. Reports are that it may take up to 30 years for some areas of forest to be restored. Wildlife – which is plentiful in these areas – has been hit hard. Certain animals – foxes, jackal, deer – managed to escape in some numbers; others such as snakes and turtles found it near impossible. It is difficult not to weep for this.
The effort expended in combating this emergency has been enormous. There were 2,000 firefighters and 450 Search and Rescue IDF soldiers marshaled in the effort, with 480 air missions, dumping water and flame retardant on the fires. Some 29 planes were involved, including the US Supertanker, the largest firefighting plane in the world.
Credit: fbexternal
The SuperTanker, which Prime Minister Netanyahu explained is the only firefighting plane that can operate through the night, was not sent by Obama as a goodwill gesture to Israel. Netanyahu contacted the American company Global SuperTanker Services and arranged for the plane to be leased and brought here as quickly as possible. (Carl of the blog IsraelMatzav expressed the suspicion that Netanyahu did this for political reasons – to solidify the public view of US support for us during our crisis even as Obama remained silent.)
I believe the US did send a crew of firefighters. [Gail sez: I think they volunteered. ]
Requests went out to other nations seeking assistance, and a number responded: Egypt sent helicopters, and Jordan fire trucks. Greece, Cyprus, Azerbaijan, Croatia, Italy, Russia, France, and the Ukraine all sent planes, most accompanied by crews. I believe the UK, Bulgaria and Italy did, as well, and I may have missed yet others.
My understanding is that Turkey volunteered assistance without having been asked. A surprise, at least to me.
I read one statement by a Cyprian firefighter assuring us that they will always be here for us.
This support was very heartening. We are hardly alone.
In point of fact, the PA also sent assistance: eight fire trucks and 40 firefighters. But forgive my cynicism – I read this as a PR move. It was essential for Abbas to do this so as to look good; it was not an act of solidarity. It’s what do you do, when Arabs from the PA area are identified as arson suspects and you know the world is watching.
Netanyahu thanked Abbas for this assistance.
The big question is how this situation came about. We were in a particularly vulnerable situation, because winter rains had not yet begun (still haven’t, but are due to start soon) and everything was horrendously dry. What is more, during the period of the fires, there was heavy wind across Israel – a lethal situation for spreading fire.
And so, yes, some of it just “happened”: a cigarette tossed carelessly that caused a flare-up and then a spread of fire because of the wind; a bonfire unwisely located that did the same. Sparks from flames, caught in the wind, can “jump” to new locations.
But it was acknowledged early on that these fires were not all “innocent” occurrences. Very quickly it was recognized that arson was at work – hardly for the first time, but on a new and frightening scale. First estimates were that at least 50% of the fires had been deliberately started, although I’ve now seen estimates as high as 60% and as low as 30%. It’s still guesswork, as investigations are not complete. It has been determined that the Haifa fires, or a number of them, were arson. (Four fires ignited in Haifa at the same time – a clear indication of arson.)
Flammable materials have been discovered at the site of some fires, and in at least one case, in the possession of Palestinian Arabs driving in the area of Ramallah who had full canisters of gasoline, rags, gloves and lighters in their vehicle. Police also found smoldering tires at the site of a fire and caught Arabs throwing Molotov cocktails so as to spark fire.
IDF Spokesperson’s Unit
This arson has been identified by Israeli officials as terror.
In a Channel 2 interview, Minister of Public Security Gilad Erdan spoke of “a new kind of terror.” In the past, he said, there was incitement on social media that “encouraged people to go out and stab and car-ram” Israelis, now this same media “encourages them to go out and burn people alive, burn communities alive.”
http://www.timesofisrael.com/security-officials-arsonists-jumped-on-bandwagon-after-first-fires-but-this-is-no-new-intifada/
Prime Minister Netanyahu, for his part, declared that, “Every fire that was caused by arson, or incitement to arson, is terrorism by all accounts. And we will treat it as such.”
Chief of Police Roni Alsheich concurred: “If the fire was an arson, it is absolutely a terror attack.”
Credit:theJewishPress
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/220933
The reference by Netanyahu to “incitement to arson” and by Erdan to social media is enormously relevant: there has been widespread communication via social media in the Arab world that openly celebrates and encourages the arson.
The hashtag is #IsraelIsBurning and the venom is chilling:
https://sethfrantzman.com/2016/11/27/revealed-arabic-social-media-support-for-arson-in-israel/
What must be noted as well are the denials of the Arab members of the Knesset:
As swaths of Israel were in flames, the Arab Joint List was “pushing back on claims some or most of the fires were started by Arabs for nationalistic reasons.
“Speaking to Army Radio…Joint List chief MK Ayman Odeh expressed outrage at the suggestion that Arab arsonists were responsible for the fires in Haifa…
“’This reminds me of the anti-Semitism in Europe, like when they blamed Jews, saying they poisoned wells.’” http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/220797
Well, he can begin eating his words now.
As I write, there are roughly 30 Arabs being held, either for suspicion of involvement in arson, or arrested because they were caught in the act. There are likely many more out there. The majority are from the PA areas of Judea and Samaria, but there is a substantial minority of Israeli Arabs. That Israeli Arabs were involved puts a lie to the claim by the Arab MKs that they would never do that because it is their land. We see how they love the land.
Chief Alscheich made this observation (emphasis added): “It’s obvious that in areas where the Palestinian Arabs have a lot of control, it’s very easy to throw a Molotov cocktail at the neighboring Jewish town and be down with it. It’s harder for a Palestinian Arab to cross over the Green Line, but it’s not that hard. At the end of the day, there are innumerable illegals here, so you really have the whole spectrum…A significant number of those arrested, however, were Arabs with Israeli citizenship, but those fires were not set in Judea and Samaria.(i.e., the Israeli Arabs set fires inside of the Green Line, where they live).” While there was speedy recognition at official levels that arson was involved, many officials, at the same time, were quick to vociferously deny that we are facing a “fire intifada,” that is, arson attacks that will be on-going – a “replacement” for or adjunct to the knifing intifada.
My own opinion is that any possibility that this might be brewing must be quelled by swift and strong action now. And so we are in a “wait and see” mode.
Investigations are still on-going. Various actions are under discussion. There is talk of destroying the homes of arsonists, and taking the citizenship away from Israeli Arabs who set fires. A law is being proposed that would define arson (and incitement to arson) as terrorism, with penalties imposed as would be for other forms of terrorism.
There should be no mollycoddling, no going soft. And so I end for today, hoping to revert to my usual format next time.
But we do have good news. First the Dry Bones cartoon on this subject, which so splendidly expresses our resilience and our courage in the face of difficulties. It is the heart of our story.
And then the wise and inspiring words of a Holocaust survivor who lost her home in the fire and yet maintains positive perspective: https://unitedwithisrael.org/watch-holocaust-survivor-remains-optimistic-after-home-burned-down/ This attitude is what Dry Bones is referring to. She represents the best of who we are.
© 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 and 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
“After the Flames Die Down” by Arlene Kushner Nov. 28, 2016
4.Jewish Home MK: Supreme Court Not Authorized to Adjudicate Kotel
MK Bezalel Smotrich (Jewish Home) wrote a letter to Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, requesting the government explain to the Supreme Court that the court has no authority to rule on issues regarding the status of the Kotel (Western Wall).
The decision to allocate an “egalitarian” prayer space at the Kotel, changing the longstanding customs at the Kotel, has stirred much controversy. Halakha mandates separate prayer spaces for both men and women and forbids women from reading from the Torah with a blessing during prayer services. The Kotel customs do not allow Torah Scrolls in the women’s section.
MK Smotrich writes letter to Attorney General, asks government to tell Supreme Court to leave Western Wall alone. By Shlomo Pyotrovsky 27/11/16
MK Bezalel Smotrich (Jewish Home) wrote a letter to Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, requesting the government explain to the Supreme Court that the court has no authority to rule on issues regarding the status of the Kotel (Western Wall).
The decision to allocate an “egalitarian” prayer space at the Kotel, changing the longstanding customs at the Kotel, has stirred much controversy. Halakha mandates separate prayer spaces for both men and women and forbids women from reading from the Torah with a blessing during prayer services. The Kotel customs do not allow Torah Scrolls in the women’s section.
MK Bezalel Smotrich – Hillel Meir
The Women of the Wall’s supporters tried to claim that the Kotel had mixed gender praying before it fell under Jordanian control in 1948 and that the Rabbinate added stringencies when it was liberated in 1967. However there is incontrovertible proof that gender separation at the Kotel was the norm except for when the Turks or British did not allow a separation partition.
In his letter, Smotrich referred to the laws made at the beginning of the British Mandate period, before the State of Israel even existed. These laws are still in effect, and the courts still reference them when deciding cases.
“This law was made at the beginning of the previous century and dealt with questions that have a religious nature and the rules for praying at holy sites. It decreed that because of the national and international sensitivities involved, these issues are not the province of the courts. Instead, there needs to be a solution reached by the government,” Smotrich said.
Smotrich also said, “This regulation emphasizes the sensitive nature of holy sites, which are inherently different than other places.”
The letter continues to say that in the current cases regarding norms for prayer at the Kotel, the Israeli Rabbinate needed to be given independent jurisdiction, as this is a halakhic, not a legal issue and since its stance is based on considerations that are different from those of the government officials.
He added that the government had not consulted with the Rabbinate even though the government is obligated to do so by the British Mandate law regarding holy sites, and the court had sat without having the Rabbinate represented independently at hearings regarding the Kotel.
“It is unthinkable that the Israeli Rabbinate will be forced to be represented by the Attorney General,” he concluded, “when their opinion on the matter differs from that of the government.”.
Jewish Home MK: Supreme Court not authorized to adjudicate Kotel
5.Moving US Embassy to Jerusalem: Great Opportunity for New President 11/22/16
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem would be a good example of the kind of policy change that President-Elect Donald Trump has said is needed in Washington. More importantly, this action could mark a new US strategy for pursuing Israeli-Palestinian peace: Telling the truth.
The US State Department, which has always opposed moving the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, understands very well that any peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians will leave at least western Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and part of sovereign Israel. So why will the State Department nevertheless advise President-Elect Donald Trump not to fulfill his promise to move the embassy?
Moving the embassy to Israel’s actual capital would provoke Arab anger at the US and lead to protests that might turn violent. The foreign policy establishment wishes to prevent this result and protect America’s status as an “honest broker.” It therefore continues to insist that because Jerusalem’s ultimate status can only be determined by agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, and that it would be wrong for the US to “prejudge” the outcome by acting on the truth that Israel’s capital is Jerusalem.
This is a perfect example of the kind of politically-correct establishment pettifogging that Trump campaigned against. Moving the embassy to Jerusalem is a low-cost action that he could take as soon as he is inaugurated, and one of the easiest and quickest changes in policy that he could implement. The new US consulate in Jerusalem was built with security features that would be needed for an embassy, so the move could be started almost immediately, without any prejudice to the Palestinian claim to eastern Jerusalem.
The State Department’s insistence on the diplomatic fiction that none of Jerusalem is part of Israel helps preserve the Palestinian hope that, someday, Israel will be forced to give up its capital and will be destroyed as the independent, democratic Jewish state.
That Palestinian hope is the main obstacle to peace. The Palestinians can only make peace when their community – and perhaps the Arab world of which it is a part – comes to understand that international pressure will never force Israel to acquiesce in its own destruction. One of the best ways the US can demonstrate that it will never consent to the Palestinian destruction of Israel is for Washington to stop ignoring blatant Palestinian lies that work against peace.
There is another way that an American truth-telling strategy could encourage peace. Palestinian leadership now tells its people – and most of them believe – that compromise with Israel would be immoral because Israel is a colonial invader that stole Palestinian land by force. By that argument, Israel has no moral claim to any of the land, and any concession to it would be dishonorable.
But Israel is descended from Jewish kingdoms that ruled parts of the land for centuries in ancient times. It too has a traditional base for moral claims to the territory (in addition to legal claims from the League of Nations mandate). If the Palestinians recognized this truth, they would see that compromise between the two groups, each of which has valid claims to the land, could be an honorable way to end the dispute and not a cowardly yielding to force.
To undermine this moral basis for compromise with Israel, Palestinian leadership flatly denies any ancient Jewish connection to the land. They claim, for example, that there never was a Jewish temple on the Temple Mount from which Jesus could have chased the money-changers. Yet their own history belies this claim. In 1929, the Supreme Moslem Council in Jerusalem, in its guide to the Mount, wrote: “[The Temple Mount’s] identity with the site of Solomon’s Temple is beyond dispute.”
The US may not be able to induce the Palestinian Authority to stop inciting its constituents and teaching its children to hate Israel. But there are ways in which the US can expose and eventually defeat Palestinian lies that work against peace; ways that do not require getting agreement from anyone.
Exploring these new approaches would constitute a striking change in diplomatic direction. There are many examples of the West rejecting truth on behalf of the Palestinians and their Arab supporters. For example, some Western countries went along with the recent denial by UNESCO of any ancient Jewish connection to the land of Israel. The US politely ignores the Palestinian lie that there was never a Jewish temple on the Temple Mount.
If the US consistently tells the truth about the ancient Jewish presence in Palestine, and publicly refuses to swallow the Palestinians’ false and anti-peace denials of history, the Palestinian leadership will not for long be able to keep the truth from their people, or at least from the large educated class.
The US has followed a policy of avoiding truths that are painful or embarrassing to the Arabs for at least 50 years. It hasn’t worked. Maybe it is time to try the strategy of telling the truth. Moving the US embassy to Jerusalem, in accordance with the long-standing congressional position, would be a good way for President Trump to make a start on a truth-telling strategy – as well as to fulfill a campaign promise.
Dr. Max Singer, a senior research associate at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, is co-founder of the Washington-based Hudson Institute.
Moving US Embassy to Jerusalem: A Great Opportunity for New President
6.Best to Level With Trump Dr. Aaron Lerner 11/25/16
Ever since the Israeli electorate rejected Oslo at the ballot box over 20 years ago Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s engaged in verbal and mental gymnastics to placate foreign leaders who adamantly insist that he pledge allegiance to the “two state solution”.
It’s been confusing. but we might not have had a choice.
With the election of Trump there is an opportunity to get out of the rut.
I recommend we level with Trump
#1. Fundamental problem with sovereign Palestinian state – not conditional.
There are all sorts of ostensibly well intentioned people with various schemes of arrangements and guarantees that they claim would make it possible to create a sovereign independent Palestinian state in our bedroom.
But we must never forget this simple truth: the moment that that sovereign, independent Palestinian state is actually formed in our bedroom, its sovereignty & independence is essentially unconditional.
They can rip the arrangements & guarantees they signed to shreds & they will still be a sovereign independent Palestinian state.
#2. Fundamental problem with almost sovereign Palestinian state – extraneous developments.
There are countless scenarios that may lead to a large hyper autonomous Palestinian state that shares a border with Jordan becoming a sovereign independent state.
#3. Where we CAN go
Prime Minister Sharon’s retreat from the Gaza Strip was indeed a colossal mistake. But it’s a fact. It’s created an opportunity by defusing the “demographic bomb”. With the Gazans out of the equation we enjoy the unprecedented advantage that we can retain a substantial Jewish majority for the foreseeable future even if we choose to annex all of Judea & Samaria.
Paradoxically, the more comprehensive our annexation, the less the opposition we will ultimately face. After all, many of the Palestinian leaders themselves have said that we Israelis have to choose between allowing them to be citizens of our state or citizens of a Palestinian state. How would the Palestinians react to annexation? They might march in the streets – but they would celebrate in their homes.
Stepwise program?
– First round of annexation includes the Jordan Valley & Jericho to land-lock whatever is left to potentially be a Palestinian state.
– Work & travel access into Israel for all Palestinians not in annexed areas (with the exception of specific individuals denied access by the security authorities).
– Freight rail line from Ashdod Port to terminal at Erez Crossing (the railroad already has right of way for the tracks) to give a jump start for Gaza by slashing the costs of importing & exporting from the Strip (integrated with a terminal inside Israel to slash the costs of moving freight between the Gaza Strip, Judea & Samaria as well as Jordan).
Weekly Commentary: Best to Level With Trump Dr. Aaron Lerner
7.ISRAEL IS UNDER FIRE & OUR LEADERS DO NOT RETURN FIRE.
FREEMAN CENTER BROADCAST – NOVEMBER 25, 2016
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 >
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Fire is fought with fire, and refraining from sending ANY fire-crew to Mohammedan towns and villages. Let them jump into the Jordan River to extinguish the flames.
Do I want them burnt? Yes! Just as the Nazis of Dresden and Hamburg. The only difference is the language they speak.
I want them to get what they would do & what they do to us, Exactly as Our Sages teach.
www.facebook.com/notes/???-?????/measure-for-measure-????-????-????/1063430750383659
Sergio HaDaR Tezza – ???’? ??? ??? – HaDaR Israel means Jewish Pride & Jewish Drive to Excellence. Neither right-wing nor left-wing: only Torah-wing ??
“Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.” By Barry Goldwater
ISRAEL IS UNDER FIRE & OUR LEADERS DO NOT RETURN FIRE
www.facebook.com/notes/???-?????/measure-for-measure-????-????-????/1063430750383659
8.Measure for Measure – ???? ???? ???? ??? ?????·thursday, Feb. 18, 2016: 76 Reads:
Our Torah, the source of Jewish Ethics, is based on the principle of “???? ???? ????”, that is measure for measure, to judge what is just or is not just.
That is also what the Torah Laws of war are, and what our behavior towards our enemies in general should be.
Some people erroneously think that the Jewish Way is NOT to “descend to their level”. Yet, nothing could be more false and distorted when dealing with enemies.
Our sages teach: ??? ?????? ???? ?????? – ?????: “?? ????? ???? ?????? -????? ?? ?, ?? ?; ??????? ?? ?; ???? ?? ?- that is, “If someone rises to kill you, PRECEDE HIM and kill him“, the original source is in the Babylonian Talmud, Berakhoth 58a, 62b, Sanhedrin 72a, Yoma 85b. In Psalms we read: ???????? ??????? ???? ????? ????? ????????? ??????? ?????? ????????: ???????? ????? ???? ?????? ?????????? ???? ???? ???????? ????????? ????????: –????? ??- That is “The righteous shall rejoice at the sight of vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the evildoer. Thus people will say: so there is a prize for the righteous, there is G-d judging the Earth“. To which Our Sages comment “Unavenged blood spilled by our enemies is a PROFANATION a DESECRATION of the Name of G-d, since it allows people to say: look at what happens to His People, there is no G-d” (Rabbi David Kimchi, there). A few Psalms further, 79, it is written: ???? | ???????? ????????? ?????? ?????????? ???????? ?????????? ??????????? ??????? ???? ????????? ???????????: ???????? ????????????? ???????????? ??? ?????? ?????????? ?????? ????????? ???????: -????? ??- that is” What will the nations say? Where is there G-d. Let the vengeance of your servants’ spilled blood be seen: give back to our neighbors seven times the offenses they have have given You, my Lord.” [by offending us]. Our Sages are also VERY CLEAR about WHO shall be the avenger, not just G-d, as someone ERRONEOUSLY teach, but US. Se for instance, one of many, ????? ?? ??? ???? ??? ????? ??????? – ???”?, ???? ????, ????? ??? ??, ? , that is “Go-d’s vengeance is the Children of Israel’s vengeance on the [enemy] nations (Rabbi Avraham Ben Ezra, Parashath Mattot, Leviticus 31:3].
The Torah allows in war things that are normally forbidden to us, BUT we are allowed to do them IF our enemies would do them or do them.
The best examples given by our sages are King David and King Salomon.
Torah forbids dismembering (????????) even to the Children of Noah, that is all of humanity. However, King David used to wear ON HIS BELT IN BATTLE foreskins of enemies he used to dismember to instill fear in them & pride in his soldiers. The FIRST thing he did after killing Goliath was to decapitate him.
Because he showed what a REAL JEWISH LEADER SHOULD DO (that is apply G-d’s own ethics without second thoughts, NOT his own ethics!), G-d granted him the Kingship through the Prophet Shemuel, kingship that was taken away by G-d through Shemuel from King Saul BECAUSE Shaul had applied his own morals & not G-d’s own Commandments in dealing with the ‘Amaleqites, and had – because of that – spared one of them and their animals.
King Salomon, the one known as “the man of peace”, when ONE Jewish woman was kidnapped by the enemies, did not offer to liberate enemy prisoners, as our pseudo-leaders do, but started sending dismembered enemies to the enemy villages and destroyed the responsible village and its inhabitants… The message was well understood, and the enemies did not dare to repeat the crime!
We should learn from Our Forefathers WHEN THEY WERE SOVEREIGN IN OUR LAND and were not worried about “what will the nations think”…!
We are EXPLICITLY taught that we must even BREAK THE SABBATH to go out armed when enemies JUST THREATEN US or come for straw. In the Gehmara (Eruvim daf 45, Baraita), IN FACT, is written: “Non Jews who come in hostility to Jewish cities…if they come to threaten lives we go out against them with weapons and we desecrate the Shabbat, and when they come close to the city, even if they didn’t come to threaten lives but only to take produce or even straw….to fight them we desecrate the Shabbat.“
And so the Rambam (Hilchot Shabbat) and the Shulchan Aruch have legislated. The RaM”A there adds “even if they didn’t come yet but they just intend to come.” Even in the Mishnah Brurah, as a comment to that, the following language is brought to clarify the source of the psak of the Rama “If voice is spread that they want to come, even if they didn’t come yet…since we do not “medaqdeqim“ [we do not bring legalistic arguments] on issues of piquach nefesh [danger for lives].”
In conclusion, some other words of Our Sages: “He who is merciful with the cruel, will end-up being cruel to the merciful” – Kohelet Rabba 7:16
9.Please, not another peace process, Mr. Trump by Jack Engelhard
FREEMAN CENTER BROADCAST – NOVEMBER 24, 2016
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 >
Please, not another peace process, Mr. Trump
What is the model of an Arab state upon which Israel can put its trust? Where, to be blunt, do Arabs live in harmony even among their own? By Jack Engelhard, 24/11/16 05:59
Trump, Ivanka, & Jared Kushner – Reuters
Jack Engelhard’s classic international bestselling novel Indecent Proposal, which later became a worldwide hit movie, has been republished to meet readers’ demands. His other major works include Compulsive: A Novel, his award-winning post-Holocaust Montreal memoir Escape from Mount Moriah, plus Slot Attendant: A Novel About A Novelist. His website: www.jackengelhard.com
In the name of peace thousands of Israelis have been killed in their synagogues, homes, schools, buses, shopping malls, restaurants, roads, sidewalks and on the battlefield.
So it was no comfort to read in Arutz Sheva that Donald Trump would “love” to be the one to “make peace” between the Israelis and the Palestinians Arabs.
Besides the fact that he is (incoming) President & I am not, we share one particular virtue – instinct.
Or call it a horseplayer’s hunch. Mr. Trump went into it on a hunch and I backed him (and will continue to do so) on a hunch. We both won.
“That’s the ultimate deal,” Trump told The Wall Street Journal. “As a deal maker, I’d like to do the deal that can’t be made, and do it for humanity’s sake.”
He reiterated that today for The New York Times.
Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, is said to be perfect for the job. We trust our President-elect on this.
Plus, Trump’s instincts seem to be right on target through his choice of Nikki Haley to be our UN Ambassador.
But this…to wish for peace between the two sides is sweet as an idea, but can be bitter as judgment.
Trump’s heart is in the right place. But I turn rather to his instinct, his hunch, as to whether thousands of years of hatred can be settled by a “deal.”
When I hear the word peace, I hear sirens…
For them the deal has always been a caliphate and to cleanse out wherever they go anything that it Jewish or Christian.
Most recently it was the Temple Mount that they rhetorically cleansed for themselves.
When I hear the word peace, I hear sirens, as it was back then for me in Jerusalem’s Ben Yehuda Street when a blast killed dozens of Israelis for the fact that to Muslim Palestinian terrorists peace means intifada. That is their word for killing spree, or any excuse to murder Israelis – so often in the name of peace.
In that name, nearly all the leaders of the world have taken a turn at “bringing both sides together.”
Translated this means that the Arabs need to do nothing except sit back and watch Israel give away miles of Jewish/Biblical territory.
So goes the plan – or peace process – that is designed to cut Israel in half for the pleasure of a “Palestinian State.”
Of these who cannot control the urge to make peace, few consider that one: Israel is no “hot spot.” What’s the urgency?
Israelis continue to suffer from daily attacks from the hands of Muslim terrorists. But then, we have Chicago, and no one’s rushing here with a plan.
Two – what is the model of such a state upon which Israel can put its trust? Where, to be blunt, do Arabs live in harmony even among their own?
Yemen? Libya? Syria? Iraq? Gaza was already a peace process and it failed miserably.
But the dreamers keep coming and hardly a week goes by without France or the EU or the UN or our own State Department up and at ‘em with another try.
They all figure to have the magic touch.
Geraldo Rivera, who keeps finding work, even at Fox, was thrilled and excited to reveal that Gen. James Mattis “supports the two-state solution.” Mattis is reportedly in line for Trump’s secretary of defense. He may be a good man but if that’s his plan it’s a nasty plan.
So is anything with the word “peace.” (The word now makes me cringe.)
This voter who voted for Trump and keeps writing in his behalf, trusts that through instinct Trump will be suspicious of that word “peace” as part of any deal.
First, before anything else, generations of Palestinian Arabs will have to un-learn all the hatred that’s been taught them in the classrooms.
That will take more than the eight years during which Americans pray for Trump’s well-being and success in office. That rates an amen.
As for Liberal soreheads who say Trump did not win the popular vote and so has no mandate, hear this: He won. That is a mandate, period.
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New York-based bestselling American novelist Jack Engelhard writes a regular column for Arutz Sheva. New from the novelist: “News Anchor Sweetheart,” a novelist’s version of Fox News and Megyn Kelly. Engelhard is the author of the international bestseller “Indecent Proposal.” He is the recipient of the Ben Hecht Award for Literary Excellence. Website: www.jackengelhard.com
Please, not another peace process, Mr. Trump
10.’Time to confront Arab sexual terrorism against Jewish girls’
Yisrael Beytenu MK demands committee confront issue of ‘sexual terrorism’ against Jewish women – even if Arab committee chair objects. By Gil Ronen, 27/11/16 18:59
Yulia Malinovsky – Spokesperson
MK Yulia Malinovsky (Yisrael Beytenu) has called for the Committee on the Status of Women and Gender Equality to address the phenomenon of sexual assaults and harassment of Jewish women in mixed cities.
A number of MKs have joined Malinovsky’s petition, including Bezalel Smotrich (Jewish Home), Anat Berko (Likud), Eli Cohen (Kulanu), and Rabbi Michael Michaeli (Shas).
Despite the obvious relevance of the subject to the committee, Malinovsky says fellow MKs have warned her that the effort is unlikely to gain traction there and have advised her to try other committees.
While the Committee on the Status of Women would normally be concerned with such a phenomenon, says, Malinovsky, the committee’s current chair, Aida Touma-Sliman (Joint List) is widely expected to oppose any discussion on the subject.
Nevertheless, Malinovsky says she will not be deterred by the Arab MK’s opposition.
“If we’re talking about women’s rights and sexual harassment, the natural place to deal with the issue is in this committee, regardless of who chairs the committee.”
According to Malinovsky the number of women reporting harassment and assaults in mixed cities has spiked recently, yet little to nothing has been done to deal with the troubling trend.
“The girls are helpless, they’re getting no assistance.”
“No one really deals with the issue, ignoring them because it’s not politically correct to talk about it.”
The Yisrael Beytenu MK says she and her staff have met with between 20 and 30 women who shared their own stories of sexual assault and harassment.
“When we started to talk to these women, we saw that this was a pattern repeating itself in Upper Nazareth, Ramleh-Lod, and Jerusalem. They [the Arab attackers] tried to catch them in the dark; one tried to steal a woman’s dog so they could shove her into a car; [in another case] they spit on a female soldier in Upper Nazareth; at the entrances to buildings they try to grope [women] in all kinds of intimate places.”
“I’m unambiguous in calling this ‘sexual terrorism’,” Malinovsky said. “Sexual terrorism by Arab men against Jewish women, because it’s safe to say they don’t act like this towards their own women. Towards Jewish girls it’s okay [they feel]. There are more and more calls for help, it’s just being repeated over and over again. So I reached the conclusion that this needs to be addressed. I know that there will be opposition. Everyone loves to talk about sexual harassment and women’s rights, but then there are issues that we like to avoid, and pretend that they don’t exist – but they do exist.”
The police, Malinovsky says, not only fail to address the problem, they work to conceal its prevanlence.
“When you try to get figures from the police, somehow they don’t exist. I have the feeling they’re just trying to hide the numbers, because it’s unpleasant to talk about. We love to conceal things in our society, as if sexual harassment only happens between CEOs and their subordinates. That we talk about.”
“They would never, ever do any of this to their own women. I asked [Druze] MK Hamad Amar (Yisrael Beytenu) if this happens [in the Druze sector]. He said to me ‘Are you crazy? If someone would do that, they’d be dead within an hour.’”
The Knesset presidium will rule on Malinovsky’s request on Monday. If granted, it would oblige the committee to hold a hearing on the matter within 10 days, regardless of any objections by chairwoman Touma-Sliman.
‘Time to confront Arab sexual terrorism against Jewish girls’