Oh how misguided we are!

"Koshersalaami" has a very misguided view on Israel and the Arabs in his post: "What I believe about Israel"

He says the following:

"I do not believe that Israel has the right to territory on the West Bank outside of Jerusalem. The Palestinian population has been there for a long time, isn't going anywhere, and needs a place to live. Encroachments on this territory without some sort of compensation, preferably in land elsewhere, cannot be anything but an obstacle to peace. I believe that Jerusalem is the exception because the last time an Arab government controlled it, Jews were denied access to their (our) holiest site. Since Israel has controlled that part of Jerusalem, Muslims have worshipped at El Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock continuously."

Check out the post and the responses including mine) HERE

Obama Leaves Israel as 'Lone Ranger’ in Nuclear Iran

As if we couldn't see this coming...

(IsraelNN.com) Israel and the United States are heading towards a parting of the ways on how to deal with the threat of Iranian nuclear capability, according to an article published Tuesday in the Middle East Times.

Unlike his predecessor, U.S. President Barack Obama is unlikely to approve, let alone cooperate, with the targeted assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists carried out by Israel's international Mossad intelligence agency, wrote journalist Richard Sale

Similarly, Israel will likely now be forced to go it alone on its long-standing system of sabotaging efforts to stymie Iran's effort to purchase nuclear technology in the international arena.

The article also raised the possibility that the Obama administration might try to put the brakes on Israeli covert operations against the Iranian nuclear program.

Obama has said from the outset that he intends to reach out to the Iranians and work to re-establish ties with the Islamic Republic that have been frozen for close to 30 years.

Sales contends that the U.S. hopes to use Iran as a launching point for supply convoys to American and NATO troops that are fighting in Afghanistan.

The Iranians also allegedly provided the U.S. with excellent intelligence information that helped America in its war against the Taliban when it attacked the Afghanistan-based group right after the "9/11" terror attack on the U.S. in 2001. Iran is an enemy of the Taliban.

However, the chances that Israel would actually stop its efforts to prevent what is rapidly becoming an existential threat to the Jewish State are almost nil, according to Washington think tank director Pat Clawson.

"It would be implausible to call off all covert ops," said Clawson, who heads the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "If the U.S. pressures Israel, then the Israelis will simply stop talking to us about it."

Joint operations that were carried out together with U.S. intelligence agents against Iran's nuclear development activities under the Bush administration had "failed miserably," according to a former senior CIA official quoted in the article.

In fact, an American plan carried out in 2000 under the administration of former President Bill Clinton, husband of the current U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, was an equal debacle. Flawed plans for a nuclear bomb were covertly delivered to an Iranian official in Vienna by an American agent under a plan code-named "Operation Merlin." The Iranian scientists quickly spotted the flaws in the plans, however.

I have a sneaking suspicion that it may be time to pack our bags.

I love this.

Baruch HaShem! Tzahal is not the koach of Am Yisrael. Hashem Tzivaot is our strength.

LA Pro-Israel Demonstration - 1/11/09

I have video! Will post tonight once I get it transferred.

The Palestine that never was...

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism."

- Palestine Liberation Organization executive committee member Zahir Muhsein, 1977

Worth reposting. Read Joseph Farah's excellent article Palestinian People Do Not Exist

"Then We [Allah] said to the Israelites: 'Dwell in this land [the Land of Israel]. When the promise of the hereafter [End of Days] comes to be fulfilled, We [Allah] shall assemble you [the Israelites] all together [in the Land of Israel]."
- Qur'an, "Night Journey," chapter 17:100-104

From today's Wall Street Journal

The Jews Face a Double Standard

Why doesn't Israel have the same right to self-defense as other nations?

The world-wide protests against Israel's ground incursion into Gaza are so full of hatred that they leave me with the terrible feeling that these protests have little to do with the so-called disproportionality of the Israeli response to Hamas rockets, or the resulting civilian casualties.

My fear is that the rage we see in the protesters marching in the streets is far more profound and dangerous than we would like to believe. There are a great many people in the world who, even after Auschwitz, just can't bear the Jewish state having the same rights they so readily grant to other nations. These voices insist Israel must take risks they would never dare ask of any other nation-state -- risks that threaten its very survival -- because they don't believe Israel should exist in the first place.

Just look at the spate of attacks this week on Jews and Jewish institutions around the world: a car ramming into a synagogue in France; a Chabad menorah and Jewish-owned shops sprayed with swastikas in Belgium; a banner at an Australian rally demanding "clean the earth from dirty Zionists!"; demonstrators in the Netherlands chanting "Gas the Jews"; and in Florida, protestors demanding Jews "Go back to the ovens!"

How else can we explain the double-standard that is applied to the Gaza conflict, if not for a more insidious bias against the Jewish state?

Read the whole article HERE

You reap what you sow.

I have been actively working to support Israel and her sons as thy battle hard against the murderous terrorists of Gaza. One thing that I can't get past, however, is that none of this would be happening if the Israeli Government didn't relinquish our G-d given Land.

Gush Katif residents are homeless. We watched as the so-called "Palestinians" burned down the synagogue there. We sat by as Hamas took power. Are we really surprised at the outcome? Will there be no learning curve?

No dividing wall, land grab or peace plan will improve the situation. We are at war with a people whose blood lust is inhuman. They sacrifice their children, like the Canaanites of old, to a blood hungry god. Though this god is not called Molech, it is called "Jihad." Just as the nation of Israel had the moral, ethical and divine right to kill those who have no moral compass, no compassion; a people who are at their very core evil, so to do we have the obligation today to destroy our enemies.

No negotiations with terrorists. No ceasefire with terrorists. No concessions to terrorists.

I am ashamed.

Clearly high on crack, the US Ambassador to Israel wants Jews to move out of Jerusalem.

From One Jerusalem

US Ambassador to Israel Richard Jones suggested during a tour of overcrowded Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem on Monday that many Jews will just have to move out of the capital rather than expand into parts of the city claimed by the Palestinians.

Jones told said in an interview with The Jerusalem Post that Washington is growing increasingly displeased with Jewish housing projects on the eastern side of Jerusalem, which are certain to hinder efforts to conclude a peace deal along the lines of US President George W. Bush's vision for the region.

The American envoy said he is well aware of the lack of Jewish housing in Jerusalem, but in a remark betraying a lack of understanding regarding Jewish historical and spiritual connection to the city Jones concluded that "sometimes people do have to move to a different location. They cannot always stay close to their families."

He insisted that more important than the Jews' restoration to their biblical capital and heartland is Israel's implementation of commitments made as part of the US-driven Road Map peace process, even if unreciprocated by the Palestinians.

Jones ended the interview by all but justifying the Palestinian Authority's ongoing failure to meet its primary obligations to curb anti-Israel violence and incitement by stating that "it is not easy for either side to move ahead when they see the provocative behavior of the other side."

ed. I will concede that Jews must leave Jerusalem when the good Ambassador agrees to evacuating Americans from Indian, Mexican, Polynesian and Eskimo areas. Below is a map of the disputed territory:

Not a great comparison, I know. After all, we Jews are the indigenous population.

First-Temple Building Remains Found Near Temple Mount

(IsraelNN.com) The Israel Antiquities Authority announces the first time in the history of the archaeological research of Jerusalem that building remains from the First Temple period have been exposed so close to the Temple Mount – on the eastern slopes of the Upper City.

A rich layer of finds from the latter part of the First Temple period (8th-6th centuries B.C.E.) has been discovered in archaeological rescue excavations near the Western Wall plaza. The dig is being carried out in the northwestern part of the Western Wall plaza, near the staircase leading up towards the Jaffa Gate.

The Israel Antiquties Authority has been conducting the excavations for the past two years under the direction of archaeologists Shlomit Wexler-Bdoulah and Alexander Onn, in cooperation with the Western Wall Heritage Foundation. The remains of a magnificent colonnaded street [i.e., lined by columns] from the 2nd century C.E. were uncovered; the street appears on the mosaic Madaba map, and is referred to by the name Eastern Cardo. The level of the Eastern Cardo is paved with large heavy limestone pavers that were set directly atop the layer that dates to the end of the First Temple period. This Roman road thus “seals” beneath it the finds from the First Temple period, protecting them from being plundered in later periods.

The walls of the buildings found in the dig are preserved to a height of more than two meters.

Ring Seal Found, Inscribed with Owner's Name
Another impressive artifact found in the salvage excavations is a personal Hebrew seal made of a semi-precious stone that was apparently inlaid in a ring. The seal is elliptical and measures approximately 1 by 1.4 centimeters.

The seal's surface is divided into three strips separated by a double line: in the upper strip is a chain decoration comprising four pomegranates, and in the two bottom strips is the name of the owner of the seal, engraved in ancient Hebrew script. It reads: "[Belonging] to Netanyahu ben [son of] Yaush." Though each of the two names are not unfamiliar, no one with that name is known to scholars of the period.

A vast amount of pottery vessels was also discovered, among them three jar handles that bear similar stamped impressions. An inscription written in ancient Hebrew script is preserved on one these impressions, reading "Belonging] to the King of Hevron."

Arab MKs Lead Rock-Throwing Demo Against 'ZioNazis'

Insanity strikes again. How long can Israel tolerate enemies in its midst, let alone in its government?

(IsraelNN.com) Several thousand Arabs led by Arab nationalist Knesset members participated in a procession through the Israeli city of Umm el-Fahm near Megiddo Tuesday evening. The demonstration was held in protest of Israeli military operations in Gaza and involved incidents of rock throwing at Israeli cars.

The crowd chanted "Israel, the mother of terror" and held a sign that read "Stop the Zionazi" in English. Additional slogans were "Rest, O martyr, we will complete the task," "Warm blessings to the rock children," as well as the standard "With blood and spirit, we will redeem Palestine." The participants held Syrian and PLO flags. Some of them covered their faces with keffiyehs, or traditional headdresses, in the manner of terrorist thugs.

Arab Knesset members from several factions spoke to the crowd and reviled Israel for what they called "the massacre in Gaza." The speakers also justified the rocket fire on Israel and insisted it was a reaction to Israeli actions.

Umm el-Fahm Mayor Sheikh Abd-el Rachman demanded that Mahmoud Abbas, chairman of the PA , and Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader in Gaza, stop fighting and join hands. He said that "resistance" (a code word for armed attacks) should continue alongside peace talks.

Towards the end of the rally, Arab youths threw rocks at passing Israeli vehicles on Highway 65. Police arrested two suspects.

No one was hurt in the rock-throwing incidents and no damage was caused..

An Arab source told Haaretz newspaper that the organizers had expected more people to take part in procession. "I would have expected twice as many people," he said. "Perhaps we have lost the momentum."

Arab MKs enjoy full rights as legislators yet regularly denounce Israel and side with its enemies. A former Knesset Member, Azni Bishara, fled from Israel after the intelligence services discovered he had held apparently treasonous contacts with Hizbullah during the Second Lebanon War. MK Ahmed Tibi is Deputy Speaker of the Knesset and has a large poster of PLO founder and terror master Yasser Arafat on the wall of his knesset office.

Kind of says it all.

This says it all.

Archaeologists Issue Urgent Warnings Against Temple Mount Dig

Top Israeli archaeologists held an emergency press conference on Thursday, warning that a Second Temple courtyard wall is in danger of being destroyed by the Arab excavations there.

Members of the Committee to Prevent the Destruction of Temple Mount Antiquities warned that other artifacts could also be endangered by the unsupervised dig.

Dr. Gavriel Barkai opened by saying, "A month and a half ago, the Muslim Waqf [religious trust] began digging a trench more than 400 meters [1,300 feet] long - the largest such work ever carried out on the Temple Mount... These are criminal acts that have no place in a cultured country."

"Some man-worked stones have been found in the trench, as well as remnants of a wall that according to all our estimations, are from a structure in one of the outer courtyards in the Holy Temple. Such important work is being done without the supervision of the Antiquities Authority."

Dr. Eilat Mazar, who has long been involved in the fight to preserve the Temple Mount from unsupervised digging, said she saw Israeli policemen observing but taking no action against the dig. "Irreversible destruction is going on there," she said.

The Committee has demanded that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (fax: 02-670-5475, or 9722-670-5475 from abroad), Jerusalem Affairs Minister Rafi Eitan (Pensioners), and the Antiquities Authority order the work stopped immediately. In addition, they demand that tractors not be allowed to work on the Mount at all, nor may any digging take place without appropriate archaeological supervision.

"The archaeological damage is many times worse," Mazar said, "in light of the fact that the ground level is only slightly above the original Temple Mount platform. And in fact, the bedrock has been uncovered in some places - meaning that earth that has been in place for many centuries, even possibly since the First Temple, has been removed."

"No other country in the world would allow such grave damage to its most precious archaeological treasures," Mazar said. The Committee is planning to file a complaint with the police, and is considering submitting an appeal to the Supreme Court.

Click HERE to see the video of the destruction and read the article.

Wow. LA Times almost gets it right.

Great Op-Ed piece in the LA Times today.

King Herod's return

How Israelis and Palestinians put their own spin on archeology to claim an ancestral homeland.

By Walter Reich, WALTER REICH is a professor of international affairs, ethics and human behavior at George Washington University, a senior scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and a former director of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

"For Israelis, such finds are seen as an emblem of the Jews' ancient and unbroken connection with the land, going back 3,500 years, that justifies the existence of Israel as a Jewish state. For Palestinians, they're seen as a way of legitimizing Israel — the creation of which turned many of them or their forebears into refugees — and are therefore often dismissed as myth or fantasy."

What I don't agree with is the last paragraph:

"Only when each side recognizes the historical right of the other to live in the region will it be possible to begin to talk about peace and a fair reckoning on Jerusalem. And only then will it be possible to put Herod's vengeful ghost back into his haunted archeological tomb."

If the Jewish "claim" to its historical, legal, moral, religious land is accepted, then the "palestinian" have no "historical right" to Jerusalem or any part of Eretz Yisrael.

Kal V'Chomer... if the Arab/Muslim world continues its refusal to acknowledge history and fact, then there is nothing to discuss. You can't draw people to the table of they refuse to admit that the table exists.