LA Times Un-Solves the "Jewish Problem"

The very fact that this type of debate is being conducted in our supposedly enlightened West is instructive...

The Los Angeles Times published on March 15 two Op-Eds about Zionism. One, by Judea Pearl, argues that anti-Zionism is hateful and a "dangerous threat to lives, historical justice and the prospects of peace in the Middle East." The other, by Ben Ehrenreich, argues that, "put simply, the problem is Zionism," and calles for an end to the Jewish state.

By hosting on its opinion pages this type of debate on Israel's existence, the Los Angeles Times unfairly applies a different standard to the Jewish people and Israel than it does to other nations and nation-states. It outrageously casts self-determination as something that perhaps should be taken away from the Jews. In doing so, the newspaper moves to un-solve the "Jewish problem" that, after thousands of years of persecution, pogroms and mass murder against the Jewish people (and after scores of years of struggle by early Zionists seeking an end to this oppression), was finally and all-too-belatedly solved with the realization of Jewish national rights in their ancestral homeland, Israel. read more

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Iran has “crossed the technological threshold,” Maj.-Gen. Amos Yadlin, head of Israeli Military Intelligence, told the Israeli cabinet this week. “Iran is continuing to amass hundreds of kilograms of low-enriched uranium, and it hopes to exploit the dialogue with the West and Washington to advance toward the production of an atomic bomb.” ...read more


Jimmy Carter’s Second Draft

Former President Jimmy Carter has clearly been chastened by the criticism of his last error-laden text, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid (Simon & Schuster, 2006). His follow up book, We Can Have Peace in the Holy Land: A Plan That Will Work (Simon & Schuster, 2009), is much more moderate in tone. Nevertheless, the text is still, in essence, an extended attempt to deceive its audience about issues of central importance to the Arab-Israeli conflict...read more


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The Syrian Fool’s Errand

By Bruce Thornton

FrontPageMagazine.com Tuesday, March 10, 2009

True to his campaign promise to restore diplomacy to its rightful place in American foreign policy, Barack Obama is initiating “discussions” with Syria intended to resolve a whole host of divisive issues, including Iran’s nuclear ambitions, the conflict with Israel, and the festering problem of the Palestinian Arabs. Presumably, Syria “wants to engage,” according to Martin S. Indyk, Clinton’s Middle East peace negotiator, though The New York Times story did not tell us why Syria should talk now. Nor are we told what boon we can offer that could change Syria’s behavior, which includes murdering Lebanese politicians, funding and supplying Hamas and Hizbollah, and helping jihadists make their way to Iraq.

The implication of this latest news is that the previous administration, filled with unilateralist, trigger-happy neocon cowboys, worsened the crisis in the Middle East by refusing to talk with countries like Syria. This bit of received wisdom, like most liberal dogma, is misleading at best. For decades, Israel and the United States have talked with Syria, all to no avail. As Bret Stephens documents in the latest Commentary, “when it comes to the Syria track, the U.S. and Israel have walked down this road before, again and again, almost always with disappointing results.” Stephens’ survey of these efforts reveals a stark truth: talks with Syria will fail because the whole premise of these talks, that Syria sincerely wants peace with Israel, is flawed, as the record of Syria’s previous negotiations––filled with escalating demands, calculated snubs and insults of U.S. and Israeli politicians, and arrogant dismissals of generous Israeli offers––confirms...read more


Article by Phyllis Chesler:

The Tide Turns: Jews and Christians Standing Together Against Anti-Semitism.


Melanie Phillips:

Note: Sizer is building a formidable reputation as an activist anti-semite.

Last weekend the Revd Stephen Sizer, vicar of Christ Church, Virginia Water appeared at an anti-Israel meeting with an Islamist called Ismail Patel. Patel has not only accused Israel of ‘genocide’ and ‘war crimes’ but considers Disney to be a Jewish plot and supports Hamas, Iran and Syria.

Sizer is a virulent opponent of Christian Zionism and of Israel, which he has said he hopes will disappear just as did the apartheid regime in South Africa. He has also applauded Iranian President Ahmadinejad for having ‘looked forward to the day when Zionism ceased to exist’.

Beware the new axis of evangelicals and Islamists


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Zec 12:3 "It will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will be severely injured. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it.


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Against the backdrop of even worse news about Iran’s inching toward nuclearization, the news about Iran’s vanguard on the southwestern border of Israel—Hamas—also isn’t good.
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I agree with the hmm, Lori!

Exclusive from Joel Rosenberg

On Monday night, something remarkable is going to take place in the capital of Syria. More than 1,100 senior Syrian government officials, journalists, business leaders and religious leaders — Muslim, Catholic and evangelical Christian — will attend the gala premiere of a major motion picture entitled Damascus, written, produced and directed by entirely Arab Christians. The film, part documentary and part narrative drama, tells the story of how Saul of Tarsus — one of the first prominent persecutors of Christ-followers in the Holy Land — himself became a follower of Jesus during a miraculous encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus and eventually became known as the Apostle Paul, going on to write much of the New Testament....

EXCLUSIVE: CURIOUS DEVELOPMENT IN SYRIA

Action Alert -- Help Support Pro-Israel Legislation!

A word from Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein at International Fellowship of Christians and Jews:

Dear Friend of Israel,

We have all heard the saying, “The road to ruin is paved with good intentions.” The message is clear. While good intentions may provide the starting point for our efforts, they mean little – and can, in fact, have an opposite effect – if they are not translated into positive deeds.

Today I want to tell you about one organization, founded with a noble purpose, that has strayed far from that original purpose – and tell you what you can do to help set it back on its proper path.

In 1949, the United Nations formed the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). The original purpose of this agency was to provide emergency aid to the few hundred thousand Arab refugees who had fled their homes or been displaced in 1948 due the ongoing war waged by Arab nations upon the newly-formed state of Israel.

Sixty years later, UNRWA’s reach and budget has expanded exponentially. Unlike every other instance of refugee relief, in this case care of all descendants of the original refugees is also provided by UNRWA. Today the agency provides for more than 4 million people, both those living in refugee camps in the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria, and those who live in established communities but are nonetheless considered “refugees” by UNRWA’s definition.

While its stated purpose is humanitarian, UNRWA has evolved into an organization that many say perpetuates, rather than eases, the plight of Palestinian refugees and the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict in general. For instance, UNRWA often plays an indirect role in supporting Hamas and other terrorist organizations. Hamas members have been found on the agency’s payroll, a fact that did not seem to bother UNRWA Commissioner-General in 2004 Peter Hansen, when he told a reporter, “I am sure that there are Hamas members on the UNRWA payroll and I don't see that as a crime.” More recently, the agency revealed that it has no screening system in place to exclude members of terrorist groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad from working in its schools.

A couple of high-profile cases have brought to the world’s attention the connection between Hamas and various other terror groups and UNRWA. It was revealed recently that Awad Al-Qiq, chief rocket-maker for the Islamic Jihad terror group, worked as a science instructor at an UNRWA school in Gaza. Said Siyam, a senior Hamas leader targeted and killed by an Israeli air strike during last month’s Gaza war, was on the UNRWA payroll for years, also working as a teacher. These are only two of the most glaring examples.

And if terrorists are the teachers, what is being taught in UNRWA-funded schools? It has been found that textbooks used in UNRWA schools often reinforce a point of view that is deeply hostile to Israel. One book obtained by Israeli officials at an UNRWA school glorified terrorists and anyone who died during armed struggle with Israel as “martyrs.”

To address this problem, a bi-partisan group of Congressmen, lead by Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and Steve Rothman (D-N.J.), are reviving a bill (H. Con. Res. 29) they originally proposed several years ago. This bill would require that UNRWA operate in compliance with existing U.S. laws to ensure that no American taxpayer dollars are being directed to terrorists or to further terrorist propaganda. In addition, it would call on UNRWA to publish online copies of all the education material used in its schools, and urge the agency to adopt strict screening procedures to ensure that no terrorists are included among UNRWA staff.

Let’s challenge UNRWA to make sure that its good intentions truly ease suffering and further the cause of peace in the Middle East. Join the fight for fairness for Israel by responding to our Action Alert and urging your Congressman to support this bill that calls on UNRWA to reform. And, after you have done so, please help us spread the word on this important legislation by forwarding the alert to your friends. Thank you, my friends, for making your voice heard!

With prayers for shalom, peace,

Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein