Monday, March 31, 2008

Israel Update 3/31/08

QUICK READING LIST
- Israel’s true friends, Representatives Artur Davis and Eric Cantor, LA Times, 1/12/08: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/web/la-oew-cantor12jan12,1,4577405.story
- Israel is embracing the electric car on a wide scale, Steven Erlanger, International Herald Tribune, 1/21/08: http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/01/21/business/cars.php
- Watch also: http://www.jerusalemonline.com/specials18.asp
- A barrage against Israel, Robin Shepherd, Times (UK), 1/29/08:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article3278541.ece
“The critics [of Israel] had another field day yesterday. But their arguments are dishonest.”
- Sderot, the Israeli town under rocket attack, Carolynne Wheeler, Telegraph (UK), 2/3/08: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/01/wisrael201.xml
- Watch also: http://youtube.com/watch?v=GfvBGzMZcE8 and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDRynuIDWQw&NR=1 (a bit old but informative)
- Welcoming the world’s ills, Ronny Linder-Ganz, Haaretz, 2/14/08: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/952294.html
A five-year-old boy from a village in Kazakhstan, diagnosed with a severe blood disease, came to Israel for a bone marrow transplant at Rambam Medical Center in Haifa. A year later he returned to the village, healthy and speaking fluent Hebrew.
- Morbid Celebrations, Jonathan Schanzer, Weekly Standard, 3/10/08: http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/014/860nntcv.asp


ACTION ALERT: CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVES
The House of Representatives will vote this week on a bill (H.Res.185) addressing the issue of Jewish refugees from Muslim countries. The legislation, co-sponsored by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), states in part that "any resolutions relating to the issue of Middle East refugees, and which include a reference to the required resolution of the Palestinian refugee issue, must also include a similarly explicit reference to the resolution of the issue of Jewish, Christian, and other refugees from Arab countries." Please contact your Representatives to express your support for H.Res.185: https://secure2.convio.net/ajc/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&id=151&JServSessionIdr004=t23kd9ycy1.app13b
- For more info on the "forgotten" Jewish refugees, see: http://www.theforgottenrefugees.com/

TRIPS TO ISRAEL
For those who have been on a Birthright Israel trip, or who have never been to Israel at all, check out: http://jeconline.org/civicrm/event/info?reset=1&id=32
- See here for other programs in Israel: http://www.israelprograms.org/JewishAgency/English/Aliyah/Israel+Programs

QUOTE OF THE DAY: TOO MUCH BLAME ON ISRAEL
European commissioner for Justice Freedom and Security, Frano Frattini, criticized the incessant Qassam rocket fire on Israeli civilian population centers. . . . “There has been a large misunderstanding in recent years between Europe and Israel. And Israel is justified in its concerns. For too long, Europe has put too much blame on Israel for lack of peace with the Palestinians. We, as Europeans, should have understood Israel's concerns sooner.”
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3497543,00.html

Likewise, Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen said that the singling out of Israel for criticism in international forums was unfair. "It is not acceptable to focus on Israel time after time, while other countries like Sudan do not receive any reference whatsoever at the United Nations Human Rights Council and the UN General Assembly in New York," Verhagen said in an interview.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/947090.html

VIDEO AND TRANSCRIPT: UN-WATCH
Click here for a video and transcript of Hillel Neuer’s testimony at the UN, in which he gives an impassioned case against moral inversion: http://www.unwatch.org/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=bdKKISNqEmG&b=1313923&ct=4972179

CHARITY: HELPING DISABLED ISRAELI CHILDREN
In the spirit of giving charity on the holiday of Purim (last week), please consider donating to this charity, ALEH, Israel's largest and most advanced network of residential facilities for children with severe disabilities: http://www.aleh.org/index.asp

RESOURCE: TEACHING KIDS HATE
Take a look this report (with pictures) on the Palestinian ‘hate industry,’ where children are encouraged to kiss the corpses of terrorist “martyrs”: http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/eng/eng_n/hi_231207e.htm
- In contrast, see the “Teach Kids Peace” campaign: http://www.teachkidspeace.org/

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Israel Update 3/16/08

QUICK READING LIST
- Israel’s Winemaking Revolution, Stacy Perman, Business Week, 1/16/08: http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/jan2008/sb20080116_186026.htm?chan=smallbiz_smallbiz+index+page_top+small+business+stories
- Gazan hearts saved in Israel as conflict rages on, ReliefWeb, 1/17/08: http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/RMOI-7B2R9Z?OpenDocument
- See also: Save a Child’s Heart: http://www.saveachildsheart.com/home1.html
- U.N. could take lessons from Rambo, Bridget Johnson, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 1/29/08: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/349190_johnsonnline30.html
- Rocketing Towards War, Richard Cohen, Washington Post, 2/19/08: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/18/AR2008021801539.html
“In Europe and elsewhere, where activists are just plain dizzy from their own moral virtue, Israel is denounced for inflicting suffering on Gaza. But the protesters say nothing about the Qassams raining from the sky -- sometimes as many as 40 a day.”
- See also: The Sderot Calculus: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120398961080492299.html
- France Eyes New Israeli Ties, Jamey Keaten, AP, 3/11/08: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j0oWxr9M6MoGVDkADL6DscuS1lAAD8VBC5M00

NEWS: MASSACRE AT JERUSALEM YESHIVA
Last week, an Arab resident of East Jerusalem entered a Jewish school of religious education and murdered 8 students while they studied Bible in the library. Watch this moving, but graphic, video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1I4O0WSvevs&eurl=http://apps.facebook.com/superwall/view.php?src=se&id=803149936&owner_id=121729
- Contrast that one with this video of Palestinians celebrating the massacre: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMxPUzEBWDU. Even if you don’t understand Hebrew, the images of thousands of Palestinians cheering, handing out candy, and flashing victory signs should be repulse you.
- (See also: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1204546440616&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull)

SUPPORT THE TROOPS: SEND GIFTS
In honor of the upcoming Purim holiday, send “mishloach manot” gift packages to Israeli soldiers! Learn more: http://www.myownisrael.com/manot.php

QUOTE OF THE DAY: REJECTING JEWISH SOVEREIGNTY
PLO Executive Committee member Yasser Abed Rabbo: "It is only a Zionist party that deals with Israel as a Jewish state, and we did not request to be a member of the international Zionism movement."
Veteran Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said that the Palestinians would never formally recognize Israel as the Jewish state: "Israel can define itself however it sees fit; and if it wishes to call itself a Jewish state, so be it. But the Palestinians will never acknowledge Israel's Jewish identity."
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1195036610009&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter
Erekat stated further: "There is no country in the world where religious and national identities are intertwined.”
http://web.israelinsider.com/Articles/Diplomacy/12344.htm

Really? How about England, where Queen Elizabeth “is the Supreme Governor of the Church of England, and ... she appoints archbishops, bishops and deans of cathedrals on the advice of the Prime Minister"? (http://www.cofe.anglican.org/about/cofeorg/)
How about the Basic Law in Erekat’s own Palestinian Authority? Article 4 bluntly states: “Islam is the official religion in Palestine.” http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/world/palestbasic.htm
(Credit to Daniel Gordis for these sources: http://www.danielgordis.org/Site/Site_Dispatches.asp)

WEBSITE: PANORAMIC ISRAEL
Click on this link to view some unbelievable panoramic views of Jerusalem: http://www.israguide.com/panoramic.asp

RESOURCE: LEGALITY OF ISRAEL’S ACTIONS
Read this background paper on the legality, under international principles, of Israel’s self-defense actions in responding to Palestinian rocket-fire: http://www.mfa.gov.il/NR/rdonlyres/A1D75D9F-ED9E-4203-A024-AF8398997029/0/GazaProportionality.pdf
- See also: http://www.honestreporting.com/articles/45884734/critiques/new/Special_Report_Gaza_-_Israel_Responds_to_Hamass_Escalation.asp

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Israel Update 3/2/08

QUICK READING LIST
- India: Reach out to Israel, Ramesh Thakur, Times (India), 12/13/07: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Editorial/Reach_out_to_Israel/articleshow/2617931.cms
- At Gaza’s Edge, Israelis Fear Rockets’ Whine, Steven Erlanger, NY Times, 1/9/08: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/09/world/middleeast/09israel.html?_r=2&scp=1&sq=gaza&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
- View also this video report of how Palestinian terrorists in Gaza use ‘Google Earth’ to launch rockets at Israeli targets: http://ws.collactive.com/points/point?id=WHxGEWMGoK3k
- Deep inside the plucky country, Gerg Sheridan, The Australian, 1/19/08: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23072242-7583,00.html
“Naturally the reporting [on Israel] is one-sided. But it is worse than that. It omits from the equation Israel and the Israelis, and all the countless enthralling and diverse aspects of Israeli politics and society.”
- Israeli duo of Ram, Erlich win Australian Open doubles title, Rami Hipsh, Haaretz, 1/26/08: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/948247.html
- See also: Israel's tennis player Peer makes history in Gulf: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080217/sp_wl_afp/tenniswtaqatisrpeeroly2016
- Israel isn't to blame for chaos around Egypt's wall, Jonathan Gurwitz, San Antonio Express-News, 2/5/08: http://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/stories/MYSA020608.02O.gurwitz.25d44c7.html
- Palestinian Christians live in constant fear, Father Raymond De Souza, National Post (Canada), 2/19/08: http://www.nationalpost.com/story-printer.html?id=317540
“The problem is not [the Palestinian Christians’] behaviour but, in the eyes of the violent Islamist jihadists, their very presence.”
- See also: Human Rights of Christians in Palestinian Society: http://jcpa.org/christian-persecution.htm

ACTION ALERT: CONDEMN ROCKET ATTACKS ON ISRAEL
Rep. Scott Garrett (R-NJ), Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY), and Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-NV) introduced a resolution (H.Res. 951) condemning the ongoing Palestinian rocket attacks against Israeli civilians and supporting Israel's sovereign right to defend itself against such attacks. Please write to your Representatives and urge them to support this resolution: http://www.aipac.org/694.asp#8609 (click on the “Email your Representative” link)
- For more info on the rocket attacks, see: http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-+Obstacle+to+Peace/Palestinian+terror+since+2000/Missile+fire+from+Gaza+on+Israeli+civilian+targets+Aug+2007.htm

PHOTO ESSAY: ISRAEL COVERED IN SNOW
Beautiful pictures of the Holy Land covered in snow: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/125106

QUOTE OF THE DAY: IRAN’S FEELINGS ABOUT ISRAEL
Unsurprisingly, they are not very fuzzy:
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on the West to acknowledge Israel's “imminent collapse.” Ahmadinejad further incited his listeners to “stop supporting the Zionists, as [their] regime reached its final stage . . . Accept that the life of Zionists will sooner or later come to an end.”
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/949628.html

Mohammad Ali Jafari, the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards: "In the near future, we will witness the destruction of Israel, the aggressor, this cancerous microbe Israel, at the able hands of the soldiers of the community of Hezbollah.”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080218/wl_mideast_afp/iranisraelpoliticssyrialebanon_080218115101

WEBSITE: ISRAEL AT 60
This May, Israel will be celebrating its 60th birthday! Check out this great website for fascinating facts (did you know Israel has more museums per capita than any other country in the world?), great videos, and more: http://www.israelcelebrates60.com/

VIDEO: HAMAS BUNNY THREATENS DENMARK
After newspapers in Denmark recently re-published cartoons of Mohammad, a rabbit on a Hamas children’s television program in Gaza threatened to kill Danes, bite them, and eat them up (see 3 minutes, 30 seconds in): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0U2ce-LmA4&feature=related