Not Guilty as Charged

ב"ה

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.

Check out my other blogs:
Jewish Sandwich
Jewish Singles
Strong Jewish Women
New To Judaism 101

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

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