Report: Israelis Killed In Shooting Allegedly Shopped, Dined First
On a more serious note… there’s this report.
And then, this!
I, for one, do put the blame squarely on the political leadership currently in power (but not for the reasons claimed by MSNBC and their ilk). I shudder to think of how the Heavenly Court will rule, when they each stand begging for mercy, soaked up to their armpits in the blood of their brothers and sisters.
When I was a kid we often spent Sundays visiting my paternal grandparents. My grandfather had a huge collection of books and several subscriptions to magazines like The National Geographic, going back decades.
One day I spied a set of magazines that were very different from the others. It was called “The Cross and The Flag. The Publisher was one Gerald L.K. Smith.
The original mailing label was to someone whose name I had never heard. “From a former client of your grandfather.” I was told. Not one more word was said about it.
America has largely been free of the most vicious forms of Jew Hatred so common in “Christian” Europe for at least sixteen hundred years, and in the Islamic world, since the days of Mohammad. Mostly confined to exclusion from business, political and social circles, from time to time, or the occasional lynching, the unique character of America, as an idea, has tended to suppress such drives.
But America is made up of people. And, people have cultural baggage. And tribal jealousies. And the ingrained tendency to scapegoat.
But of all these frailties, Jew Hatred has a remarkable tenacity to span time, distance, language, religion (or lack thereof) nearly any other cultural or historic parameter. You don’t even need Jews in your midst to loathe them! It lies there, just under the surface. Like a nest of cockroaches. Until it bursts forth in a frenzy.
It is no secret that the moral paragons of our political leadership have shamelessly stolen our freedoms and run up a tab that is breathtaking in scope. They (and by our acquiescence, we) simply refuse to address this squarely. Nobody wants to be first. Most of us know that it will end very ugly. The more we stall, the uglier still will be the reckoning.
But then, there is that ancient excuse. The always-effective scapegoat resting on the shelf. Even here. Waiting. Waiting to be grasped and swung with ecstatic abandon into a human face.
So, with that in mind, I refer you to a thought provoking article by commentator, Vic Rosenthal, from his Abu Yehuda weblog, entitled, “America Crosses the Line“. Be sure to follow his links, especially those to Ms. Shrode’s Facebook page and the comments. Sobering.
Yesterday was the 28th of Iyar, the day on the Hebrew calendar celebrating Jerusalem Day. One of the results of the Six-Day war, another attempt to wipe Israel and her Jews from the face of the earth. After the Arab attack on the new state of Israel Jerusalem had been divided. Access to holy sites under Jordan was non-existent for Jews.
Upon its capture by the Arab Legion, the Jewish Quarter of the Old City was destroyed and its residents expelled. Fifty-eight synagogues–some hundreds of years old–were destroyed, their contents looted and desecrated. Some Jewish religious sites were turned into chicken coops or animal stalls. The Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives, where Jews had been burying their dead for over 2500 years, was ransacked; graves were desecrated; thousands of tombstones were smashed and used as building material, paving stones or for latrines in Arab Legion army camps. The Intercontinental Hotel was built on top of the cemetery and graves were demolished to make way for a highway to the hotel. The Western Wall became a slum area.
In direct contravention of the 1949 armistice agreements, Jordan did not permit Jews access to their holy sites or to the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives.
Before the start of the war, Israel sent a message to King Hussein (not barry) of Jordan, that it would not attack Jerusalem or the West Bank if Jordan stayed out of the fight. Jordan believing the false reports from Egypt couldn’t wait to join to be part of the pack ripping Israel to pieces. The result was the reunification of Jerusalem.
Jews once again had control of the holy sites, the strong voice of Motta Gur rang out
“We’re sitting right now on the ridge and we’re seeing the Old City. Shortly we’re going to go in to the Old City of Jerusalem, that all generations have dreamed about. We will be the first to enter the Old City…” and shortly afterwards, “The Temple Mount is in our hands! I repeat, the Temple Mount is in our hands!”
And about 15 minutes later Moshe Dayan gave it….ok, I’ll stop.
But to me, it seems G-d took this attack on Israel and turned it around for good. A miracle. That leads to other miracles. Because of the 1967 victory, people like me can take photos like this last week.
I can place a piece of paper in the Kotel with prayers on it. Prayers that include TZP, her team and her members and readers. Prayers that G-d will bless you all, abundantly.
I will not be shot by a Jordanian sniper from a state created by the Palestine Mandate by Great Britain in 1923, which achieved it’s independence in 1946, only two years before Israel. Despite the Falestinian Authority wanting to gain control of the Western Wall as well.
Yes, I believe in miracles.
It’s interesting to me, the more I study and the more I ask the more questions I end up having.
For instance, Judea and Samaria or “occupied territories”? Since I truly believe words matter I decided to do a little investigating.
So what all is in Judea and Samaria that might sound familiar if only vaguely? Well, first you might want to know that while the place remain the same, the names get changed.
A quick but by no means comprehensive list:
Palestine as a term for Israel. This was given by the Emperor Hadrian in around 135 A.D. after he put down the second Jewish rebellion under Bar Kochba. He most likely chose it because it was close to the ancient enemies of Israel, the Philistines who no longer existed at this time. As a by the by, the original Philistines were not Arabic, they were Europeans, from the Adriatic sea next to Greece. There is no “p” in the Arabic language. Why would you call yourself something for which there is no letter?
Shechem, now called Nablus by Arabs, is where Avraham and Sarah first entered the land of Canaan. When Jacob returned to Isaac and Rebecca from his uncle’s house, he settled his family there. Joseph is buried in Shechem. His tomb has been burned and ransacked by the pieceful palestinians. Historically, Avraham traveled through Shechem on his way to Canaan and here offered his first sacrifice to G-d. After the conquest of Canaan, Joshua assembled the Israelites here and encouraged them to follow the Mosaic laws. During the period of the Judges, Abimelech was crowned king here.
Biblical Shechem was destroyed by the Assyrians in the 8th century BCE.
Lots of Jewish history there for a town called Nabulus by the Arabs.
Nazareth? Arab town now, and thanks to Arab MK s Jews don’t feel so welcome there, but the Mayor of Nazareth doesn’t appreciate their influence.
So now let’s take a look at Judea and Samaria, or as called by the left and the “falestinians” (no “P” remember) the “West Bank” or “occupied territories”. You can find a more complete list of towns with familiar names here if you’re interested.
What’s there? Ariel University, for one thing. A lovely university! It has beautiful grounds and very clever students. To get there you will need to go through a checkpoint, and coming out? Oh yes, the same.
Because some of the Arab inhabitants have a nasty hobby of trying to kill Jews. I guess stamp collecting isn’t big in Arab villages there. The grounds are lovely, the Professors I met were very nice. Our hostess, a Professor is a wonderful person. I very much enjoyed visiting with her. The grounds were spectacular and she gives credit to the amazing gardener and his staff. The university is attended by Arabs and Jews. If you speak fluent Hebrew and want to teach engineering, you should take a look as well. But the leftist press would have you believe that Israel is oppressing the pieceful falestinians. No, they own land as well.
The difference is, you don’t see Jews normally carrying out stabbing attacks, on the falestinians. And the cases where Jewish youth were blamed for fires? The fires turned out to have been set by Arabs, knowing the world’s media would be more than happy to play the home version of the game “blame Israel.” If you want an idea of the attacks that take place weekly in Judea and Samaria you can find it (for this week) at http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/en/article/21009 That so many of these attacks were planned and carried out by very young teenagers is terrifying. The women and children barry says we have no need to be afraid of a perfectly capable and willing to kill.
So the world and the UN tell us that the violence is the result of the pieceful falestinians frustration with the lack of “piece talks” and a “two state” solution. They don’t want a “two state” solution. They want a “one state” solution and that “one state” doesn’t involve a little thing called “Israel”. The Boycott, Divest and Sanction movement, BDS, or as I call it BS? Interesting origins.
As to being “occupied”, according to this article, when there are more Israeli troops present, not only does it decrease attacks, it protects civilian women from being stabbed in the doorway of their homes in front of their children. The reasons for this success might surprise you, it may not work for the reasons you think. Israel does take their “purity of arms” code very seriously. It’s an interview with six current IDF Colonels. The sad irony of this is that the world then condemns Israel for having more troops there and urges them to remove them. Even though it will cost more lives, falestinians as well as Jewish. So it’s not really about being safe or saving lives, is it?
Here’s the thing people don’t understand, when they use terms like “occupied territories” or “West Bank” it lends credence to the anti-Antisemitism. How so? Because the pieceful falestinians claim Jews don’t belong there. But it’s not really about “where” the Jews are, it’s the fact there are Jews. An example of this was the recent rape of a 20 year old mentally disabled Jewish girl by 3 Arabs, 2 of them from Shomron. They also spit and urinated on her while shouting anti-Antisemitism threats to her and her family if she told. How so sure it was these pieceful falestinians? One of them filmed it. But this occurred in Tel Aviv. One of the rapists said she didn’t belong in his land. While Jerusalem is the capitol of Israel, the direction challenged US government claims Tel Aviv is. So even in the poorest scenario, Jews don’t belong in the Jewish capitol on the one Jewish state?
Words matter, they can give credence to Anti-Semitic hatred. The Arabs that hate Israel, and by all means, not all of them do, are certainly aware of this. We need to be as well and not play unwittingly into their very bloody hands.
The fact that there are major CHURCH denominations that have jumped on the BDS/BS bandwagon is unbelievable to me. Perhaps they need to go back and see where some of the major events took place in the book they share with the Jews. And then they should remember after Saturday? Comes Sunday. Useful idiots.
As to why live there, just enjoy the views.
These two days are so very different, and they are always two days apart. It has been said, not originally by me however, that without the sorrow of the first, we would not have the joy of the second.
I like writing, I like it a lot. I love writing for Zelman’s Partisans, something I hope to do for a very long time. And I love being a partisan. I like words. I like them in English and in Hebrew and love learning new Hebrew words, something I work at every day.
That being said, there are no words I can ever give you, that I can write, that I think you will find as moving as the clip below. It is taken from a radio broadcast I listen to called Walter’s World. It is a clip from Richard Dimbleby on the liberation of Bergen-Belsen. The song at the end is HaTikvah, The Hope, The Israeli national anthem.
Listen, and you will understand why there is Yom Ha’Zikaron. Why there is the day that honors those that have fallen fighting for Israel, and honoring victims of terror that have fallen. They have been killed because they were Jewish, because they live in their land of Israel.
And again, I believe I can never give you any words to explain Yom Ha’Atzmaut, Israel Independence Day as well as Kippalive can. Besides, they sing much better than I do, and I’ve got a ton of felafel to fry for a BIG birthday party tonight. Our celebrant turns 68 years old.
ʿam yisraʾel ḥay!
עַם יִשְרָאֵל חַי
The people of Israel live!
Today is Yom Ha’Shoah, holocaust remembrance day. A few thoughts and some more information for you on Yom Ha’Shoah. This is quite a good little article.
1 Afterward Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.’” 2 But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.” 3 Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.” 4 But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people away from their work? Get back to your burdens.” Exodus 5:1-4 Shemot 5:1-4
Tomorrow begins Pesach.
The original Pesach began when G-d decided his children had suffered enough of living in a land different than that he allotted to them. G-d sent Moshe to those in power over them to let them go and worship him as he had instructed them.
Pharaoh said “NO, it would threaten the Al-Aqsa mosque”. Actually that’s crap. Pretty much the same crap that muslims have been saying violently for years now. Long since before Israel was re-established as a state.
A quick history lesson. The first Temple was built by King Solomon in 957 BC. It was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC. Construction on the Second Temple was authorized by Cyrus the Great and began in 538 BC. It was completed 23 years later under the reign of Darius the Great. See the Purim story for more on this little gem. It was destroyed again by the Romans in 70 AD.
Mohammed the founder of the religion of pieces known as Islam lived from 570 AD – 8 June 632 AD. Around 613 AD he started preaching Islam. The first two Al-Aqsa mosques were built in 705 AD and 780 AD. They were destroyed by earthquakes. The third and still standing was built in 1035 AD. It is the 3rd holiest site is islam, and interestingly, at least to me, is there are Arab scholars which say that the mosque located on the Temple Mount is NOT the Al-Aqsa talked of in the Koran, it is not in the right location.
So, just in time for Pesach, the anti-Israel, anti-Semitic UN branch, specializing in anti-Israel actions, known as UNESCO has released a new resolution. It denies Jewish connection to the Temple Mount. You know, the Temple that was constructed to replace the Tabernacle Moshe built in the desert? But it goes a lot further than that. It
refers to Israel as the “occupying power” at every mention and uses the Arabic al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram al-Sharif without ever calling it the Temple Mount, as it is known to Jews. The text does refer to the Western Wall Plaza but places it in quotation marks, after using the Arabic Al-Buraq Plaza.
And
The resolution accuses Israel of “planting Jewish fake graves in other spaces of the Muslim cemeteries” and of “the continued conversion of many Islamic and Byzantine remains into the so-called Jewish ritual baths or into Jewish prayer places.”
Currently on the Temple Mount, holiest site in Judaism and holy to Christians, THIRD holiest site to muslims (if it is the right mosque, debate on that) Jews and Christians are NOT allowed to pray, recite verses from our Tanakh/Bible or wear any religious or Israeli symbols on our clothing. The Israeli police, yes Israeli will arrest you in a heartbeat. Yours or anyone’s. The muslim waqos, (hmm, may have left an “f” out of that somewhere) make sure the screaming harridans can yell “allah hu akbar” at visitors and safely stash rocks and incendiary devices to throw in their sacred Al-Aqsa. Pretty much like most Synagogues and Southern Baptist Churches, right?
Ok, I’ll stop. But the point is, Pesach began when the children were told to go and worship HaShem as he had commanded and the ruling powers tried to prevent it. Thousands of years later and what has changed? Moshe Dyan, you were an IDIOT!
But, there was a Pesach, and tomorrow night there will be a Pesach and I believe HaShem has still got a plan and has this covered. And so I will wish you Happy Passover, Pesach.
חג פסח שמח
Today, 73 years ago began the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. Some say it ended on May 16th, but there are other sources that say that it lasted on until fall. But the Jews in the ghetto held out longer than the nation of Poland.
The thing was, everything had been fine in Poland. Until it wasn’t.
As candidates debate how best to get America disarmed, this is worth remembering.
Not only were there precious few weapons available, most of the Jews in the ghetto didn’t know how to use them.
But I will leave you with something strong, proud and brave.
Zog nit kein mol- Jewish partisan song, but that’s Yiddish.
THIS, is Hebrew!
NEVER.AGAIN.
Yes, I do realize Purim was a week ago, but we still need a column on Purim, because, well Purim is amazing. It does seem like a fairy tale. Kings, beautiful orphan girls becoming a queen (without needing a glass slipper) and a evil toad Amalekite, fancy dress balls and lots of chocolate.
Two easy fun ways you can become familiar with Purim if you don’t know what the big deal is. A cartoon, cartoons are usually good.
OR your can see this very cool memegillah. It’s the story of Ester told in memes, like Facebook. I must say, the kitten ones are very cute, as are the squirrel ones. I thank Y.B. for steering me to this.
A couple of interesting points I learned from reading this year. When King Achashverosh commanded Queen Vashti to come to his six month long party celebrating that the temple would never be rebuilt, he didn’t just say, “Hey, it’s a happening party babe, come on over”. Nope, I just learned he commanded her to come wearing her royal crown. Nothing else, just the royal crown. I have sympathy for Vashti. Till I read further and find out she is the granddaughter of Nebuchadnezzar who had conquered Judea and destroyed the Holy Temple and convinced King Achashverkerchoo not to allow the Temple to be rebuilt. The party was to celebrate that the Temple would never be rebuilt. Sympathy for Vashti now =0.
Hamen, he was a decedent of the Amakalites. So there may be some historical reason behind evil Haman’s hatred of Mordachai. He initially offered King Achashverkerchoo money to be allowed to kill all the Jews. King Achashverkerchoo said “naw, good plan, you can do it for free”. The king is no hero.
The king can’t just “undo” his order to his kingdom to kill all the Jews and seize their property. No, that takes ANOTHER special memorandum. I chewed on that one. Without the government permission slip saying Jews were allowed to defend themselves they were just going to be slaughtered. Wow. Life was cheap to King Achashverkerchoo, at least Jewish life. The UN must be a descendant of King Achashverkerchoo because they don’t believe that self defense is a human right either.
So G-d worked through Mordachai and Esther to save the people because they were willing to do as he asked.
And the Temple? King Achashverkerchoo and Esther had a son, Daryavesh, (Darius). Daryavesh commanded the Temple be rebuilt. HAHAHAHA! Take that King Achashverkerchoo!
So that’s my reflections ON Purim.
But wait, there’s more.
In a recent newspaper column Hamass claimed murder of pieceful palestinians is part of Purim.
He added that the “settlers” celebrate their Jewish holidays by performing “horrible crimes of murder with the support of the occupation government and military commanders” and that there is a rabbinic “blessing” which “permits murdering and executing every Palestinian without discretion.”
The column tells us that the attacks in Ankara were committed by a terrorist that had followed the Israeli tourists from the time they left the hotel.
This column warns that Jews & Christians have been warned by Turkish police:
Jews and Christians are believed to be the target of the terror organization’s future terror attacks in the country. The warning comes just a week after three Israelis were murdered in a terror attack that took place in Istanbul, which was carried out by an ISIS terrorist.
And as we know now, there was a horrible bomb blast on Easter directed at children on a playground.
Antisemitism is on the rise in Europe and campuses across the US, often masquerading as Boycott Divest & Sanction.
Yes, the spirit of wicked Hamen is still alive and doing well, doing very well indeed.
A refection OF Purim I would say.
But it is a column about Purim, I don’t want to leave you on a down note. So think about your costume for next year, remember “They tried to kill us, we won, let’s eat. “ and enjoy this.
A week ago Second Amendment firebrand Ted Nugent posted an appalling graphic on his Facebook page, showing a dozen of America’s most famous gun grabbers with Israeli flags superimposed on their photos. The implication was clear – an obvious, disgusting claim that some kind of vast Jewish conspiracy was behind gun control efforts in the United States.
Fans of Ted’s music and his Second Amendment supporters were understandably upset. Was Ted implying that Jews were somehow responsible for the demise of our freedoms? Was he an anti-Semite? Is Ted prejudiced in some way against Jews? Has Ted become a liability to the gun rights movement?
Fast and furious calls for the NRA to cut ties with Ted. The National Review Online called Nugent a disgrace to the gun rights movement. The usual suspects – everyone from the Huffington Post to Mother Jones to the Southern Poverty Law Center to Media Matters – screeched about Ted’s alleged anti-Semitism. Even Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership – the organization from which this group sprang – immediately jumped into action to condemn Ted for his alleged Jew hatred.
You know what these reactionary outrageatrons didn’t do? No one in the mainstream media or any major gun rights organizations contacted Ted Nugent for a comment. They didn’t try to find out what was going on. They just assumed that a longtime friend and supporter of our freedoms, who never had an anti-Semitic bone in his body all of a sudden became a Jew hater, and they tripped all over themselves to condemn him.
You know how I know this? Because on behalf of the Zelman Partisans, I spent time on the phone with Ted Nugent – quite a bit of time – discussing this issue, and he told me so. “It’s not like my contact information is hard to find,” he told me. But no one called him to get a statement or to find out what was up.
“I can’t believe that knowing my history, knowing how much I love freedom, and how much I’ve fought to protect it, that no one thought to call me!” he said.
Now, what I’m about to tell you is not an excuse for the use of the graphic in any way. The graphic was originally found in 2013 on an anti-Semitic site called “the Jewish Problem” (and no, I’m not linking to that fascist crap – find it yourselves if you’re curious), according to a TinEye search I did when I first saw the Facebook post. There’s no doubt about what this thing is. Ted used it. There’s no way around it.
Ted is known for some pretty outrageous comments and his blunter than blunt delivery. He’s got energy and fire, and he doesn’t have a whole lot of time for political correctness. But the one thing he has never been is a racist or a bigot, so what happened? Why did a steadfast friend of freedom – regardless of color, race, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation – all of a sudden turn into an anti-Semitic jerk?
The answer is: he did NOT.
How do I know? Again, I asked him. Ted and I chatted on the phone first, texted, and then I asked him some questions via email. Apparently, that’s something every reactionary jackass who rushed to condemn him failed to do.
I simply asked, ” What happened? How did you wind up using this thing?”
“Can I say oy vey?” He replied. “I sincerely apologize for my irresponsible re-posting of such a nasty and offensive meme. In my rush between songwriting jams and musical recording frenzy, all I saw was the images of people dedicated to disarm us, I made no connection whatsoever to any religious affiliation. Everyone knows deep down that at 67 years of age I didn’t suddenly become anti-Semitic. That’s patently ridiculous, and those who rushed to such a mistaken condemning judgement should re-examine the system by which such equally irresponsible knee-jerk judgments are made.”
And you know what? Given his decades of commitment to freedom for every single person, regardless of race, color, or anything else, alarm bells should have gone off when Ted posted something so out of character. I was surprised to hear that no one, other than the Zelman Partisans (and one regional writer who put us in touch with Nugent), had made an attempt to contact him about the issue, and I asked him how he felt about supposed Second Amendment allies not bothering to contact him and clear the air.
“In a world of soulless political correctness and the dishonesty and denial that goes with it, I was not at all that surprised,” he told me. “The real tragedy is how many who claim to be on the side of freedom so viciously attacked me with zero effort to communicate with me directly as you so honorably did. For that I thank and salute you.”
I will say that as a former disc jockey for the American Forces Network, I blushed a bit at that. But you know what? That’s just good journalism, and I’m glad we got the chance to clear the air.
Ted Nugent’s real message that got lost in the outrage about the badly thought out use of that graphic? It was about Jewish people needing to defend their rights and freedoms, so that the horror of the Holocaust never happens again.
NEVER AGAIN! Plain and simple, the same powerful uniting message against freedom haters and gun banners that I have dedicated my entire adult life to in 1000s of concerts, numerous books, 1000s of articles, blogs, media interviews and constant speaking presentations. Period.
Oh, and our offer to Ted? He took us up on it. We’re sending him a Zelman Partisans membership packet, plus the yarmulke we promised, and he said he would wear the yarmulke on TV!
