Moral Equivelancy: Is "Islamophobia" the equal to anti-Semitism?

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I'm a big fan of Phyllis Chesler. I first heard of her when my mother did a report in one of her classes (my Mom went back to finish college when I was in my teens). I knew her then as a feminist, but I'm not sure if I knew she was Jewish.

My next encounter with her was on a list about Women's Tefilla (Prayer) groups. The list is basically a Jewish feminist list and I read most of her posts with interest. In one post, she talked about her experiences in feminist (general feminist, not specifically Jewish feminist) circles, how she was applauded when she spoke about women's issues, but when she was asked how she felt about Israel, the only country in the Middle East that respects women (she supports Israel), she was booed off the stage.

I just read a wonderful article she wrote called Equating Anti-Semitism with 'Islamophobia' where she explains, quite deftly, how Anti-Semitism and 'Islamophobia' are two totally different phenomena.

Anti-Semitism is a long entrenched hatred based on nothing. Jews don't get up at conferences, on videos, in articles or in our places of worship and preach hatred and murder. We don't strap bombs to our bodies and blow ourselves up to kill people. We don't attempt to convert "non-believers" by guile or physical threats (in actuality, we only want converts who truly want to be Jewish and belief is not even the essence of Judaism; Deeds are. Non-Jews are just as capable of being righteous as Jews).

Adherents of Islam, however, DO attempt to convert "non-believers" by guile and physical threats. They demonize "non-believers", particularly Jews (who were targeted for conversion by Muhammed, who was so incensed when we wouldn't convert to his new religion en masse that he proceeded to murder Jews and demonize us and our existence), they target our children, our mothers and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers, our youth and our aged and all those in between. When demonizing Jews isn't enough, they demonize our only land, our religious, cultural, ethnic home. They rewrite our history, as has Abbas (see Sarah Honig's blog), our supposed "partner in peace".

Abbas has totally rewritten history. I was reading some of the excerpts and I felt as though I were a prisoner in George Orwell's book "1984" (If you haven't read "1984" I think you should. It's amazing how prophetic Orwell was). To start with, he has Abel killing Cain. Huh???? He claims "War began when Joseph the Dreamer emerged from his Egyptian pit leading the Hebrew slave-masters [how he could be a slave-master in a pit is beyond me, but I digress] with whom he stormed the tower that his uncle Esau the Pacifist [Esau was a pacifist? I must have missed that among all the hatred and war he was spreading] built in Babel [the last I checked, Esau's grandfather Abraham wasn't even born when the tower went up] so that he, Joseph the warmonger [it's amazing how he can take someone who saved a society by stockpiling food a "warmonger"], could enjoy that turret's shield and shade in the arms of Potiphar's wife [whose advances he spurned]." He also claims World War II began when Finland (of all countries) attacked Russia (another huge Huh????) and Liechtenstein invaded Germany (yes, "poor defenseless Nazi Germany" was attacked by that "big bully" Liechtenstein). He also says WWII ended with the "Elders of Zion" emerging from Europe's rubble (obviously, this holocaust denier wouldn't say the rubble of the concentration camps) and successfully planting their flag atop the Kremlin, the White House, the Chrysler Building and the moon (REALLY???? There are just no words to describe this nonsense), from there (the moon??) they descended on Mecca, Medina, Gaza and Al-Kuds (their name for Yerushalayim, since the world is theirs, they have to prove we have no connection to our own land, tiny as it is they don't even want us to have it). Really? If we did that, how come I didn't get my "cut"?

So, while anti-Semitism (that is, anti-Jewish sentiment, nowadays often masquerading as anti-Israel sentiment -- masked so well that often Jews themselves fall prey to it) is a pernicious, visceral hatred of a people who only want to live in peace, a people whose only desire (as a people) is to bring goodness and morality to the world, "Islamophobia" is a real fear, a fear of a people who (as a people) want to spread their hatred and draconian laws (known as Sharia) to the entire world, a people who learn from birth that "others" are evil, that women are second-class (and are beholding to their fathers or husbands or they bring disgrace upon their families), that it is ok to lie for their version of G-d. They threaten and kill those who oppose them, those who even say they are evil. They threaten and kill those who even criticize them. And people don't understand why we are afraid of them? Strangely enough, most people do not want to be murdered, tortured, imprisoned, forced to live as virtual slaves (as women do in these societies). And, with education that mirrors Abbas's version of history, the downtrodden of their own people are afraid of "others" too, and work hard to please their despotic leaders (who they think are protecting them from these "evil others").

Unfortunately, well-meaning, caring people can often get sucked into the void because they don't know (or don't want to know) where the true evil that is oppressing these people (and our world) is coming from. It is easier for them to believe the lie of "Zionist Occupation", the lie that puts the blame on the victim, couching the true villains (Islamist leadership) in an angelic aura and demonizing the "other".

I do see some promising signs. I see more Muslims, more non-Jews, and more people in general, coming out and casting the blame where it belongs. But the voices are few and they usually get drowned out by the "respected" anti-Israel voices of academe (like Columbia University and other Ivy League "brother" universities) and the media (like the New York Times). I pray G-d will help us all find a solution, a solution that helps good people stand up (and defeat) the evil. We won't win this war of propaganda by ignoring the enemy. Only shining a bare bulb on the lies and a limelight on the truth can we ever hope to vanquish our oppressors.

Cheapening English Words

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My best friend, Michelle Nevada told me about some students who attend traditionally black universities. They got fed up with people calling Israel an "Apartheid" State because this cheapens the word Apartheid, cheapens the experience the South African Blacks went through under the cruel minority White regimes of the late 20th Century (over 40 years).

Apartheid, by the way, isn't the only word that is being cheapened these days. Every anti-Israel bigot is saying that Israel is committing "Genocide" against the "Palestinian" people (by the way, from the early 20th century, possibly even earlier, until 1948, when Israeli statehood was declared by the United Nations, the "Palestinian" people were Jews living in "Palestine"). I submit to you readers that if Israel is trying to commit "Genocide" , which Webster's on line defines as, "the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group" Israel's been doing a really bad job of it (I saw this way of putting this as a comment on line to someone saying that "far too many Palestinians have been killed" though true numbers were missing -- I submit to you that the reason these figures are hard to come by but the number of people killed on the Israeli side are relatively easy to locate is that anti-Israel anti-Semites want to obfuscate the true numbers because the true numbers don't mesh with their bigoted tirades). The "Palestinian" population has grown over the years we've supposedly been "committing Genocide" possibly by as much as tenfold, but even by conservative estimates, at least 4-5 fold) whereas the Jewish population plummeted (by about 1/3) during the holocaust. And, I might add, Israel's supposedly been committing this horrible anti-Palestinian Genocide for 60 years, whereas the Nazis managed to decimate the Jewish population of Europe in 7 or so years. Do they really think that a country as technologically advanced as Israel wouldn't be able to accomplish what the Nazis did if they wanted to? (I might add, if we were trying to commit Genocide against the "Palestinian" people, why would we heal them in our hospitals, using precious time and supplies that could serve our own people. I also might add that countries like Haiti (post earthquake), Chile (miners incident) and Japan (post earthquake, tidal wave, nuclear meltdown, etc.) have all lauded Israel and how quickly Israel sent out humanitarian aid -- I don't recall any of them telling of aid from Egypt, Syria, oil-filthy-rich Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, etc.

I remember, in the days of the 6 day war and the Yom Kippur war all the political cartoons comparing Israel to David and the Arab countries to Goliath and how Israel winning those wars was comparable to David slaying Goliath. I think today's cartoon should be a huge David (representing the "underdog" 22 Arab/Muslim nations in the Middle East) and a tiny Goliath (representing the "evil" tiny little, struggling to survive against her enemies, nation of Israel). The way we're fighting these days, worrying too much about "political correctness" and public opinion (both home and abroad) and a sanitized militaristic proto-Arafat-in-a-suit and not enough about the survival of Israelis in general and Jews worldwide, "David" might defeat us.

Words are very important; they sway public opinion Israel is definitely losing the war of "public opinion". We need to stand up to the word-perverts. We need to reestablish the proper meaning of words, to make sure the world understands that the "Palestinian Authority" practices a prejudice and hatred far closer to both Apartheid and Genocide than does the multi-ethnic, multi-racial, multi-cultural, multi-religious Israel.

(Thank you to my Facebook friend Valerie for starting me on this by linking to Anna O'Leary and her "Israel is committing Genocide" tirade on Facebook)

Osama in the way they moved.....

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So Osama is dead. And, while I rarely am glad that someone is dead, in this case I am. Osama would have continued to spend his life killing people, whether actively or by encouraging and helping others kill. With his death, we have taken a step toward showing the terrorist world that we can and will defend ourselves. I find this gratifying and encouraging. It is important for us to continue fighting these terrorists; we must continue to whittle away at Al Qaida and other terrorist organizations.

What I don't really understand through all this is the people who think that by killing Bin Laden we are throwing fuel on the fire, that we are angering the terrorists into killing more people. Really? Do they really think that the terrorists aren't killing everyone they can? Do they really think that all the people in the world don't walk around with a target on their backs simply because they choose to live their lives in a free and open society. These people want to kill us all. They will kill as many people as they can with our without Bin Laden. The only way to get them to stop is to fight back. The only way we have a chance of continuing our way of life is to remove the impediment. If that means killing terrorist and their leaders, then that's what we need to do. And we can't back off from our fight because if we do, freedom of choice in any shape manner or form will disappear from this country and our world. This is what the Islamists want. This is their goal. They are not builders, the are destroyers. And, unless we attack, unless we take on our enemies, unless we defend our citizens and friends and guests those destroyers will destroy us and our lifestyle.

Always remember, though, that the only thing that we can do that will make them kill more people is to allow it to happen. The only way we can change what they do is to actively prevent them from reaching their targets. We need to remain vigilant and we need to clearly show the terrorists and the Islamists that we won't allow them to take away the freedom our founding fathers and mothers fought hard for. We need to be worthy of that heritage and fight tyranny in any form. And that includes fighting terrorism.

Articles Articulating a Positive Position

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I just read a very good article, well written with points backed up by actual cases. Islam Needs to Prove It's a Religion of Peace. I have been saying for years that I can't understand why people are not only ignoring the peril but actively encouraging the evil-doers to continue while discouraging (and, often actively suppressing) the truth and the brave people who come forward.

I do have one comment about the article, though. The article states, "... How come human rights groups in the West seem to be the only ones protesting against the crimes of radical Muslims?" -- my objection to this statement is that I haven't really seen ANY human rights organization criticizing Muslim extremists (though they are overly "generous" with their criticism of Israel). They seem to ignore extreme human rights violations within the Muslim world while putting the US and Israel under a microscope, searching for things to criticize.

I feel better, though, whenever I see other people (whether they are/were Muslims or grew up in countries where they were persecuted for not being Muslim) bravely standing up to the apologists and the Islamists. Is it Racist to Criticize Islam? is a list of people who either are or were Muslim or were persecuted by Islamists in some form who are coming out against Islamist terror and suppression. I salute all these freedom fighters. I stand with them in their quest for liberty and openness, tolerance and productively, building homes and building bridges.

We need to be vigilant. We need to stand up to the evil. We need to stand up for our freedom. We need to stand up for our lives. We need to stand up for our very existence.

The Gaza Stripped

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I just read a very interesting article, Red Cross: No humanitarian crisis in Gaza , which pointed out that even Hamas admits that no one is starving in Gaza. So the thing that is very clear from this is that the only reason people are focusing in on Gaza is that they WANT to believe that Israel is evil and that Israel is causing all sorts of horrors to the people of the world.

The other side of the coin is this: even if you feel the overwhelming need to hate Israel and blame Jews for all the evil in the world, by focusing in on the lie of an economically depressed and persecuted Gazan population you are doing a disservice not only to yourself (by giving aid and comfort to your own enemy, even if only in a verbal way) but you are doing a major disservice to the people of the world who are truly economically depressed and truly persecuted (oftentimes by the self-same enemy that vexes us all but deflects the blame onto Israel). By putting Israel under the microscope, we are ignoring the entire worldwide "laboratory".

I heard from a friend that a gentleman from the Sudan stood up to the United Nations and chastised them for constantly condemning Israel while ignoring the atrocities that the people of the Darfur endure on a regular basis. This is exactly the sort of thing that happens when the world focuses in on a people who think the world revolves around them, that they have a sense of entitlement as a people.

For all of you out there who think that you are being altruistic by supporting the poor downtrodden Palestinians living in squalor in Gaza and the West Bank check out this video about the crisis.

Would that, with my little blog, I could get people to realize the damage they are doing to themselves, the truly needy of the world and freedom loving people everywhere. That bastion of moderation in the Middle East, the country that just got their "despotic" leader to step down, recently arrested and jailed this brave young blogger.

How can we continue to support these people to the detriment of the world? Why can't people see the truth? Is it as simple as anti-Jewish sentiment blinding them to the dangers? Or is it something else?

I wish I knew what it was and I wish I knew how to get the world to see the truth.

Facebook Intifada

For some bizarre reason I have yet to figure out, Facebook is refusing to take down the page called "The Third Intifada" despite it's clear violation of Facebook's own policies against hate speech and threats. And, for an even more bizarre reason, certain hateful people seem to be under the impression that we have no right to complain about this. We have no right to complain that Facebook is violating its own rulebook by allowing (nay, encouraging) them to stay. We have no right to complain that there is a site up on Facebook advocating our murder, slaughter, genocide.

Some day, all the phony liberals should take one of those hate-filled diatribes and substitute any other ethnic, religious or uniquely distinct group for "Jews" or "Israel" or "Israelis" or the ubiquitous "Settlers" (as though the people living in Judea and Samaria, over the "green line" are somehow less than human because of where they choose to live in their own land) and tell me if you think that any respectable newspaper would print it -- particularly those bastions of "Truth, Justice and the Saudi Arabian way", the New York Times.

In any case, when my friend "Michelle Nevada" put up a blog entry about the whole Facebook being the home of the Third Intifada, she got tons of hate comments. I felt the need to add a comment:

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It's amazing how full of hate people can be -- so full of hate, they don't even see that they are criticizing (understatement) the people who are good to them and supporting (read: lionizing) the people who will kill them.

I really wish all the haters of the world would boycott Facebook (and anything else that we Jews and the people of Israel have introduced/brought to the world). But they never will because they can lie to too many people, use their anti-Jewish gut to turn them into murderers.

Why don't all you Israel-bashing, Murder loving, "Liberals" (not true liberals, my word has been co-opted by haters) just admit it -- what you really want is for all Jews to disappear from the earth. The problem (for you, anyway) is that G-d, the owner, ruler, creator of the world will never allow that to happen. Read your history, uneducated ones. Hitler wasn't the first who tried. Every generation sees a new "Haman" -- someone (or some many) dedicated to killing us. Thank G-d we have G-d on our side.

I also think it's funny (that's ironic, not ha-ha) that the enemies of Israel feel the need to accuse Israel (falsely, I might add) of all the crimes that Israel's enemies actually do TO Israel. Israeli Babies are murdered (in their beds, in their strollers, in their cars), bombs are dropped, and all this to a country that treats the Palestinian sick and injured, gives Palestinians jobs they can't get in their own "territories", gives Palestinians money and food (since they grow precious little of it on their own).

BTW, if you are pro-women's rights and pro-gay rights, you're demonizing the only Middle East country that also supports those issues and lionizing the people who murder and torture women and gays (to mention a few groups).

Put that in your pipe and smoke it (as they used to say on "Laugh-In").

It' a Gas, Gas, Gas.....

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My friend "Michelle Nevada" told me a number of years ago that she knew someone who gotten a kit and converted his car to run on natural gas instead of petroleum based gasoline. His gas company installed a spigot on the side of his house and he used that to fill his car up with gas. The natural gas was not only cheaper than gasoline, it didn't need to be procured from politically corrupt and volatile governments. As Michelle said, the US is the Saudi Arabia of natural gas. In addition, Israel recently discovered natural gas.

Israel found this large quantity of natural gas near Haifa. I though about this for some time. For the US and Israel, both of whom rely heavily on foreign oil from volatile, largely anti-Israel and anti-US governments, natural gas seems to be the wave of the future.

It has seemed to me for many years that part of the "imbalance of power" that exists in the world today has to do with the economics of petroleum. Petroleum, however, besides being under the control, for the most part, of the aforementioned unstable regimes, and being highly toxic in its production (evidence the BP spill of recent memory) and use, should not be pursued by the US and Israel. I've always thought it would behoove Israel, with her concentration of great scientific brains, should expend some effort in developing a sustainably produced, non-toxic substitute for gasoline (a substitute that could immediately replace gasoline as a power source for automobiles.

However, given the above information, I think that, instead of working hard at developing electric cars, we should be working on developing cars that run off natural gas.

I would like to get people on board with this idea -- let me know what you think.

Cat Ballou and Israel

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One of my favorite movies growing up was "Cat Ballou" with Jane Fonda. I never thought about Jane Fonda's politics; I was very young and I loved the movie. And I still love the movie. I just recently watched it on video. And I enjoyed it as much this time as I had the dozens of previous times (probably none since the 1980s or so until this recent viewing).

I have discovered in my life that oftentimes when I reread something, or see a movie or TV show again, or re-experience something I've already experienced in the past, I discover something new. This was true during this viewing of "Cat Ballou".

For those of you who have never had the pleasure of seeing "Cat Ballou" (which Lee Marvin won an Oscar for), "Cat Ballou" takes place in the late 19th Century, when the trains are beginning to get popular. Catherine Ballou has just graduated college and is coming back home to her father. Frank Ballou owns a spread that the railroad is trying to buy. Since he won't sell, he's being harassed and, finally, shortly after Catherine comes home and hires three incompetents to protect him, he's murdered. The rest of the movie shows Cat Ballou, queen of her newly formed bandit gang, trying to find a way to avenge her father's death, and accidentally killing the head of the railroad. She is captured and sentenced to death.

One of the things I always liked about the movie was interludes narrated and punctuated the action with Nat King Cole (right before his death from lung cancer at 45 -- the movie was released after his death) and Stubby Kaye playing banjos and singing "The Ballad of Cat Ballou". In this ballad, the balladeers sing a song about Cat, but, though she was a young woman looking to protect her father and then avenge his death, the ballad portrays her as "evil through and through..."

This jumped out at me in a way it never did when I saw this movie in my tweens and teens. This, to me, represented Israel.

For those of us with consciences, we can't harm anyone without it bothering us. But one thing that makes harming anyone easier is demonizing them. The people of "Wolf City, Wyoming", where "Cat Ballou" takes place, needed to see her as a demon in order to be able to celebrate and revel in the "hanging of Cat Ballou..."

So, too, it is with Israel. In order for the world to condemn Israel's every move, every terrorist killed to protect someone, every Jewish "settler" murdered with knives, bombs and missiles, every home built for a family dispossessed by Arik Sharon's army from their homes in the freely destroyed and repopulated Gush Katif (known to the world as "Gaza"), every helping hand extended by Israel to places like Haiti, Chile and other countries needing medical or technological assistance people need to demonize Israel and "settlers". "Settlers", by the way, are just people, families, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, grandparents and grandchildren, who just want to live their lives in peace, just want to send their children to school, raise them to be good people.

It's easy to demonize Israel, people have been demonizing Jews for millennia. This is nothing new. It makes things nice and neat -- all it takes, people think, is for Israel to move out of Judea and Samaria (known throughout the world as the "West Bank") and suddenly, the world will be at peace.

Unfortunately, it's not that simple. What it takes for peace in the Middle East is for the hundreds of millions of Arab-Muslims to realize that their enemy isn't Israel, that demonizing and hating Jews isn't going to solve their life problems. Their problems are caused by leaders who want them to focus their negative energy on Israel and not on them, not on their lack of leadership ability, not on their corruption, not on their stealing from their own people. It will take a leader in Israel who is willing to fight, willing to protect Israel's people and guests from harm, willing to risk censure from our enemy nations, the nations who are also, by the way, the enemies of freedom worldwide, the enemies of women, of gays, of non-Muslims, of children.

Please, G-d, send us such a leader. Or give Bibi the strength to be that leader.

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Is Truth not Truth for All?

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I'm a Trekkie. I admit it. I love Star Trek

In the episode called, "For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky", the priestess Natira comes to her "Oracle" (the computer that runs the asteroid/spaceship she lives on) with the story that the Enterprise crew members have told her (that her "planet" is not a planet but a star ship) and the "Oracle" tells her this is "...their truth" to which she answers, "Is Truth not Truth for All?"

Natira's "Oracle" was trying to keep her from finding out the truth because reality goes against the "Oracle"'s programming and against its reality.

People who have the truth on their sides have nothing to fear from the truth -- they have no need to threaten people into believing their reality. People who have an agenda that requires them to lie don't want people to know the truth and that's why they have to threaten people into believing their "truth". This is true in politics; this is true in religion.

College campuses these days are hotbeds for anti-Semitism masquerading as anti-Israel righteous indignation. Our local university had a "candle light vigil" tonight, at a time that was difficult for Orthodox Jews to attend (it being less than an hour after Shabbat -- the Sabbath) for all the "victims" of Israeli "massacres". They even went so far as to call Israeli defense of her citizens and visitors and guests "ethnic cleansing" -- (I'm amazed that a group of people that is trying to destroy the Jewish state and the Jewish people, a group of people who belong to a group that makes up 1/6 of the world's population is accusing a another group of people who are part of a group that make up .2% (that's 1/500) of the world's population of "ethnic cleansing" -- just think of how this could logistically be accomplished -- have the Hutzpa (nerve, gall) to accuse Israel of "ethnic cleansing"!)

Despite this tactic of holding this "event" so close to the end of Shabbat, the event drew hundreds of counter protesters who, despite this event being held by an on-campus group that gets campus funding which ought to have made this event open to the public based on University rules, and despite their clear peacefulness, were denied entrance.

As I said, those with the truth on their side have nothing to fear from opposition (assuming peacefulness of the opposition) while those who are spreading lies (like fictional Israeli massacres) and ignoring all other horror on this planet perpetrated by their supposed victims (like homicide bombers who murder innocent babies, children, mothers, fathers, grandmothers, grandfathers, aunts, uncles, friends, etc. or missile launchers working their "craft" by lobbing bombs at population centers in S'derot) have much to fear from the truth. This is why peaceful counter protesters were denied admission.

So where does this leave us? For one thing, it's gratifying to know that the counter protesters outnumbered the original group. For another thing, we need to see if the University's administration will deal with this situation in an appropriate fashion (like removing this hate group's charter, for example). We will wait and see if we will continue to be proud of our University's response to these sorts of incidents or if their next request for funds will end up in our shredder.

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Not Guilty as Charged

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American Law, much of which was taken from English law which was taken from Christian law (and some influence from Pagan law, I believe) states that people are innocent until proven guilty. But it is really difficult to prove that you are innocent. How can you prove you didn't do something? This is why court cases don't find people "innocent", simply "not-guilty" (meaning the prosecution has not proven that you are guilty).

Oftentimes people who we know in our hearts are guilty "get off" because of some technicality, such as tainted evidence which was inadmissible in court or the jury didn't believe the key witness. So people, despite being raised with believing that people are innocent until proven guilty, often pre-judge or post-judge and feel that anyone accused of a heinous crime must, de facto, be guilty.

As a single human being, it is sometimes possible to prove you were innocent. You can prove you were someplace else when something happened, for example. But for larger groups, such as armies or governments or police forces, it's more difficult to prove they didn't do something they were accused of.

Israel is accused, on a daily basis, of heinous crimes against humanity. But how can Israel fight these bogus accusations? How can they prove they didn't do these things?

This brings us back to the point I made earlier. Since people are bombarded with photoshopped images or wrongly attributed pictures taken out of context (I recall one such picture that the new services picked up as an Israeli soldier beating up a Palestinian when in reality, the beaten up man, who was an American Jew, called the news services and said that this Israeli soldier was protecting him from a murderous Palestinian mob) they believe these pictures and the lies that go along with them. Hitler called this "The Big Lie" and the OSS, when reporting on Hitler's methods of operation, said,

"[Hitler's] primary rules were: never allow the public to cool off; never admit a fault or wrong; never concede that there may be some good in your enemy; never leave room for alternatives; never accept blame; concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong; people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it."

People who have grown up in open Western societies can't really get their heads around supposedly "unbiased" reporters lying, on a regular basis, and to our own detriment (allowing hate-mongering leaders and jihadist to gain a foothold in their war against the West and Western values). They choose to believe that Israel is the villain, that all the world's ills will be resolved if only Israel would give the Palestinians their own state in Gaza and Judea and Samaria (colloquially called "The West Bank").

What they either don't understand or choose not to accept is that Israel would be the appetizer. Israel would only whet their appetite for Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and, oh yes, the Americas. They have already made inroads in all these areas. Europe is starting to wake up to the dangers of bending over backwards to please the unpleasable. Non-Muslim Africans and the people of India already understand (though the Western world focuses so strongly on Israel that they ignore atrocities like Darfur and the Mumbai bombings).

So how can Israel prove its "innocence"? How can Israel prove to the world that it is not the villain, that the Palestinians are living in squalor because their own leaders choose to keep them there, choose to fill their minds with hatred and feelings of entitlement rather than teach them and build an infrastructure for them? We certainly can't prove it to people who don't want to believe it. Open your minds, see beneath the lies to the truth. You can start the wave of truth.

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Clear and Present Danger

ב"ה

According to Wikipedia, "In Schenck v. United States, [Oliver Wendall Holmes] famously declared that the First Amendment would not protect a person 'falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic.'"

This concept applies not only to freedom of speech, it applies to all our freedoms. The cherished choice that is freedom of religion is being assailed nowadays by a group who claims this freedom for themselves while denying it to others.

Just in case you don't know who I'm talking about, I'm talking about Muslims. I'm talking about the Muslims who follow the Quran religiously (pardon my pun), the ones who know that the mild, peaceful verses, the verses that talk about love,  have all been superseded by later verses, by Jihad and hatred, by Sharia law and desire for world domination.

For those of us who have studied history, this isn't surprising. Muhammed, who wrote the Quran (yes, the entire Quran, not just portions of it), had hoped, nay, had expected, that once he created his new little religion Jews would join him en masse. But he, like Martin Luther after him, didn't realize that Jews are not looking for another religion -- we have the one G-d started. We have the "real thing", not some person's idea of faith or lifestyle. We don't need an intermediary, we know we can speak directly to G-d.

When we didn't come running to Muhammed's new belief system, by the way, Muhammed  turned on us and became one of the most virulent anti-Semites (that's hater of Jews) in history.

This is the reason that it behooves us to fight the Islamization of our society. We need to keep our ears open not for what the Muslim leaders tell us in English. We need to check out places like Camera (Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America) and Honest Reporting and not The New York or LA Times. We need to be vigilant if we want to preserve what John Adams and George Washington, Ben Franklin and Stephen Hopkins, Samuel Adams and John Hancock fought long and hard to give to us. And if we forget that, we have only ourselves to blame.



Check out my other blogs:
Israel and it's Place in the World
Jewish Singles
Strong Jewish Women

Check out some of my squidoo lenses (articles):

Strong Biblical Women
Strong Biblical Women 2
Why Be Vegetarian
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 1
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 2
Why be Vegetarian?Rosh Hashana
Quick Vegan Cooking
Creating new recipes from old
Hanuka
About the Jewish Calendar
Witches and Morality
Math Hints 1 -- Adding Fractions
Presidents1: George Washington

In Memorium (and a Prayer for the Injured)

ב"ה

Yael Levine, whom I know from the internet, wrote this beautiful prayer for those injured during the fire today in the area of Haifa.

(Transliteration: Misheberakh Avoteinu Avraham Yitzhak v'Yaakov v'Imahoteinu Sara Rivka Rahael v'Lea Hu y'varekh yishmor v'yintzor et kol ha'petzuim b'sreifa b'Haifa u'b's'vivata v'yishlah lahem refua shleima min hashamayim l'hol evreihem u'l'hol gideihem. Melekh Malkhei HaMelakhim Ya'aleh lahem Marpei Arukha Marpei Hayyim Marpei Shalom va'ya'amideim al Buryam v'al m'khonam. HaKadosh Barukh Hu y'malei aleihem rahamim l'hazkam u'l'amtzam, Heim u'mishpehotam vivaser lahem v'lanu b'sorot tovot yeshuot v'nahamot [Shabbat Hi M'Lizok u'refua k'rova lavo] Hashta b'agala u'vizman kariv nomar amein.)

I will try to translate this, but I feel I won't do justice to the beautiful Hebrew:

May He Who Blessed our fathers Avraham Yitzhak and Yaakov and our mothers Sara Rivka Rahael and Lea He should bless and guard over and save all those attacked/injured in the fire in Haifa and its surroundings and [G-d] should send them a complete recovery from heaven to all their limbs and vessels (veins and arteries). May the king of kings raise up for them a complete cure, a cure of life, a cure of peace and they should be raised on a foundation of health. The Holy One Blessed be He should be full of mercy for them, should strengthen them, they and their families, and we should receive from them good news, news of salvation and comfort [for Shabbat: Shabbat calls out for a healing that comes soon] this year and in a close time and we should say "amein".


May G-d protect the people of the land of Israel, the land of Israel and the Nation of Israel. May Hashem bring justice for Israel and to the enemies of Israel and the free world.

Check out my other blogs:
Israel and it's Place in the World
Jewish Singles
Strong Jewish Women

Check out some of my squidoo lenses (articles):

Strong Biblical Women
Strong Biblical Women 2
Why Be Vegetarian
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 1
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 2
Why be Vegetarian?
Rosh Hashana
Quick Vegan Cooking
Creating new recipes from old
Hanuka
About the Jewish Calendar
Witches and Morality
Math Hints 1 -- Adding Fractions
Presidents1: George Washington

Looking in the Right Place

ב"ה

I was reminded recently of a joke I heard when I was younger. Abie is walking home one night. As he gets near his home, he sees Jakie circling frantically around a street light, appearing to be looking for something. "Are you ok?" Abie asks Jakie. "Yes," answers Jakie, "I'm ok, but I lost my keys." Abie starts helping him to look, but after a short time, he doesn't see anything. "Are you sure you lost them here," Abie asks Jakie. "Oh, no," answers Jakie, standing up and pointing further down the block, "I dropped them over there." Abie looks puzzled. "So why are you looking here?" he asks Jakie. "Oh, it's too dark over there to see anything!"

I, too, am concerned about the "Palestinian" people. I am concerned that their leaders are stealing money and supplies sent in by Israel and many other countries and well-meaning organizations. I, too, am concerned about the children growing up, being fed nothing but lies and hatred, not being taught, as children around the world are, to eventually be able to support themselves financially.

But for the most part, most of the people in the Western world (for some bizarre reason) think that to help these people they need Israel to do something (maybe give up more of their tiny country, a country about the size of New Jersey and more densely populated that her surrounding enemies). They think, despite evidence to the contrary (as in Israel handed over Gush Katif (Israel's enclave in the Gaza Strip) to the "Palestinian" Authoritarian, uh, I mean Authority. Instead of turning it into a nice place for their people to live, Hamas turned the area into a missile launching pad. Hamas's goal is not to make a good life for their people; Hamas's goal is to destroy Israel (and the Western world).

What I truly don't understand is how people who care about other people; people who support women's rights, gay rights, human rights (in general), animals rights; people who want to help the downtrodden; people who support Western freedom and democracy, can support such a hate-mongering, such a selfish, such a despotic leadership. How can they support the oppression of others, the suppression of rights, the expression of the most virulent animosity, the antithesis of peace, love and understanding (catch that, Mr. Costello????).

What puzzles me the most is how people can support these people to their own detriment. How can they allow terror-mongering Islamists to populate their countries without reservation? How can they permit them to impose Sharia law in their countries that used to be devoted to freedom and equality?

We need to stop being like Jakie, looking for his keys where he knows they aren't. We have to look for the answer in the right place.

We have the capability of defeating them now, but if we continue to kowtow to them, it is like handing our countries over to them, handing our daughters and sisters (and ourselves) over to be raped. We need to fight NOW or be defeated tomorrow.

Check out my other blogs:

Jewish Sandwich
Jewish Singles
Strong Jewish Women
Everything Goes

Check out some of my squidoo lenses (articles):

Strong Biblical Women
Strong Biblical Women 2
Why Be Vegetarian
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 1
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 2
Why be Vegetarian?
Rosh Hashana
Quick Vegan Cooking
Creating new recipes from old
Hanuka
About the Jewish Calendar
Witches and Morality
Math Hints 1 -- Adding Fractions
Presidents1: George Washington

Double UN Good (it's Orwellian 1984 all over again)

ב"ה

The "Nations United against the US and Israel", with its headquarters on 1st Avenue in New York City has lost the few marbles it's had in recent years. It's not enough anymore for them to aim all their censure at Israel, ignoring all the countries who commit the most egregious human rights violations, including honor killings of women and gays, teaching and spreading hatred, murdering civilians and keeping their own people in squalor while lying to them about the source of their misery. It's not enough to delegitimize Israel, while their enemies run roughshod over the rights of free people all over the world. Now they feel the need to rewrite history and appoint the most flagrant Human Rights violator of the 21st Century (though I'm sure he thinks we're living in the dark ages), Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his "forward thinking" misogynists to the UN Commission on Women's Rights. Is that a huge joke, or what?

This is on top of UNESCO's decision to rewrite history. They have resolved to designate קבר רחל (Kever Rahael -- Rachel's Tomb) as a Mosque. That's right, one of the holiest Jewish sites in Israel. Written history includes many references to Kever Rahael and it is always referred to as Kever Rahael (or Rachel's Tomb) in Jewish, Christian, and even Muslim sources. And yet, the UN, in true Orwellian style, has determined that this isn't now nor has it ever been a Jewish holy site and that it is a Palestinian site, under Israeli occupation and we, of course, are keeping them from their "rightful" place there.

How long are we going to suffer the UN? How many more anti-Israel statements does the United Nations need to make before the United States and New York expel them from the East Side of Manhattan?

I finally understand why congress in the time of Woodrow Wilson didn't want the US to be part of the League of Nations. The problem with organizations like the UN is that, with one vote per country, the totalitarian regimes, the countries who violate human rights as a matter of course, are able to hijack the organization and use it as a rubber stamp to help legitimize their nefarious plans.

I vote to oust the United Nations from New York and the United States. Let the United (Terrorist) Nations set up shop in Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's backyard. And let them all condemn Israel to their hearts' content. And we can ignore them on a diplomatic level and spend our time preparing to take them on militarily.

Check out my other blogs:

Jewish Sandwich
Jewish Singles
Strong Jewish Women
Everything Goes

Check out some of my squidoo lenses (articles):

Strong Biblical Women
Strong Biblical Women 2
Why Be Vegetarian
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 1
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 2
Why be Vegetarian?
Rosh Hashana
Quick Vegan Cooking
Creating new recipes from old
Hanuka
About the Jewish Calendar
Witches and Morality
Math Hints 1 -- Adding Fractions
Presidents1: George Washington

Dejection Day

ב"ה

When I was younger, I used to call the day after the first Monday in November "Dejection Day" because, quite often the candidate I wanted was defeated. But lately I have another reason.

I know I've said this before. But lately elections have seemed to me like a World Series between the Yankees and the Braves (my two least favorite teams). I have a choice between one group, who hates Israel, supports the Palestinians, and follows Barak Obama's agenda on the Middle East, which is delegitimizing Israel and legitimizing the Palestinian claim to the land that Jews have called "home" ever since the children of Israel were exiled by the Romans in 70 of the common era and another group who support Israel, but oftentimes they have an agenda, one that I have an issue with. Oftentimes, these people want to make abortion a crime, give tax breaks to the rich, destroy social security, medicare, welfare and other social programs.

Where I live, I don't have to worry too much -- my local representatives and senators are in a third group: one that supports Israel and doesn't have the conservative agenda. But I worry about the other representatives and senators from the rest of the country.

I continue to hope that there will be more people in the federal government who will support Israel and make sure those citizens who can't take care of themselves will be taken care of without putting undue financial pressure on the middle class.

Check out my other blogs:

Israel and it's Place in the World
Jewish Singles
Strong Jewish Women

Check out some of my squidoo lenses (articles):

Strong Biblical Women
Strong Biblical Women 2
Why Be Vegetarian
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 1
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 2
Why be Vegetarian?
Rosh Hashana
Quick Vegan Cooking
Creating new recipes from old
Hanuka
About the Jewish Calendar
Witches and Morality
Math Hints 1 -- Adding Fractions
Presidents1: George Washington

Why are we so concerned about the opinions of others?????

B"H

When I was very young, I really respected the United Nations. The original intention of the UN was noble -- to prevent world war. After two bloody world wars, this was an honorable aspiration.

But somewhere along the way the intention got hijacked by the totalitarian terrorist bloc and its sycophants. It is this group that has decided that there is nothing that either the United States or Israel can do that the members of this group will not only not agree with, there is nothing either country can do that they will even fail to condemn.

Toward this end, they ignore the evil done to Israel in the form of terrorism, murder, bombing of civilians, etc. They will criticize Israel's attempts to protect herself and her citizens (and, by extension, every Jew on the planet). They will chastise Israel for attempting to keep bombs out of Gaza, expecting Israel's government and military to just sit there like ducks in a Coney Island shooting game.

So when Turkey's new Islamist (yeah, yeah, so he says he's a moderate, but, to paraphrase a cliche, actions do speak louder than rhetoric. When a so-called "moderate" starts buddying up to the most notorious Holocaust-denying anti-Israel anti-Jewish leader on in the world, it's hard to imagine him as a "moderate". But, for all intents and purposes, what separates a "moderate" in the Arab/Islamist world from a "radical" is how out-in-the-open he is about his desire to destroy Israel and kill every Jew. By the way, what separates a "moderate" from a "reactionary" in Israel is whether or not he is willing to protect his land. The "reactionaries" are the ones who don't want to lie down and die. The "moderates" don't want to fight for their own survival.) leader decided that he had to "help the poor Palestinians" by sending "humanitarian aid", the Israelis, who are understandably skeptical, having been burned more than once by "humanitarian aid" hiding bombs or bombers or other methods designed to massacre as many  Israelis and guests of Israel as possible, ask the boats delivering this "humanitarian aid" to follow them to Ashdod, where Israeli officials could check the shipment and make sure there wasn't anything untoward in the shipment. That's when all hell breaks loose. The boats refuse, Israeli commandos board the boats (which is within their right by international law), "humanitarians" on the boats attack the Israeli commandos with metal rods, baseball bats and, oh, yes, knives. Of course, despite this, the commandos were criticized by the world press for attacking the attackers in an effort to defend themselves.

From my perspective, it would be best for Israel, her leaders and the entire Jewish population of the world (not to mention all the Gentiles who live in Israel, work in Israel, worship in the way they feel comfortable in Israel) to simply ignore public opinion, to ignore what the members of the United Nations say and concern themselves more with defending the homes and lives of their citizens. I've been waiting for Israel to realize that survival depends on defending our land. I hope that day comes before it's too late.

Check out my other blogs:

Israel and it's Place in the World
Jewish Singles
Strong Jewish Women

Check out some of my squidoo lenses (articles):

Strong Biblical Women
Strong Biblical Women 2
Why Be Vegetarian
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 1
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 2
Why be Vegetarian?Rosh Hashana
Quick Vegan Cooking
Creating new recipes from old
Hanuka
About the Jewish Calendar
Witches and Morality
Math Hints 1 -- Adding Fractions
Presidents1: George Washington