Arlene Kushner
Before I talk about the obscenities, I would like to share news that might put a smile on your face:
Israeli marine scientists were astonished to discover the presence of a gray whole -- a mature male some 39 feet long and weighing roughly 20 tons -- in the Mediterranean off the coast of Herzliya. There have not been gray whales in this part of the world since the 18th century -- at which time pods here became extinct. Remaining gray whales live in the Pacific Ocean. Speculation is that this whale left the Pacific and entered the Atlantic via the Northwest passage, where reduction of ice made movement possible. The confused whale, instead of turning left into the California Gulf moved left at Gibralter and into the Mediterranean.
Scientists say it seems happy, and will be able to find food here as its eating preferences are flexible. There is speculation as to whether other whales might follow.
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Having alluded to California, I will segue right into the next subject, which also involves that state; the issue at hand is highly obscene and left me speechless last night.
Author David Horowitz -- who is founder of the Freedom Center and publishes Front Page Magazine -- routinely gives speeches on US campuses as part of his effort to expose the extreme left-wing and radical Islamic strains found there today.
The URL below provides a short video clip in which David, having finished giving a talk at the University of California at San Diego, was taking questions from the student audience. To my mind, even worse than what the Muslim student's opinions are, is the fact that she was not afraid to express them -- within the climate established on that campus she felt free to publicly espouse destruction of the Jews.
The climate? Of course it is not all students are filled with hate. But according to what this student says, the Muslim Student Association holds a Hitler Youth Week.
http://www.therightscoop.com/david-horowitz-exposes-muslim-hatred-in-one-question/
I mourn for America.
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But there is hope. Every time I see decent Americans fighting back, I know there is hope.
On June 6, 2010, at 12:00 noon, there will be a rally in NYC at Ground Zero -- organized by Stop Islamization of America (SIOA) -- protesting the plans to build a mosque at that site. Pam Geller of the AtlasShrugs blog is director of SIOA and hosting this event.
SIOA works to defend human rights, religious liberty, and the freedom of speech against Islamic supremacist intimidation.
What I have learned is that the unanimous approval extended by the Community Board for New York City’s financial district -- which I wrote about last -- was not just for a "simple" mosque of a couple of stories in height, but for the construction of a 13-story mosque and Islamic cultural center right across from Ground Zero, which they have dubbed Cordoba House.
This is a projected concept of the exterior.
Imagine the outrage of this looming over Ground Zero.
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Rally speakers will include Nonie Darwash, former Muslim from Egypt, who is courageous in speaking out, and Simon Deng, Christian Sudanese ex-slave, equally courageous in campaigning against Sudanese Muslims who destroy human rights. I am sure you will hear from Geller, and from Robert Spencer, the knowledgeable director of JihadWatch.org, who is associate director of SIOA and co-host of the event, as well as others.
According to the release about this rally, "...the planned mosque has clandestine funding sources. Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf is a radical Islamic wolf in sheep's clothing, a seductive practitioner of taqiyya (dissimulation for the purpose of furthering the interest of the Faith) who blames America for the terrorist attacks on 911. Shortly after 9/11 he said in a CNN interview: 'US policies were an accessory to the crime that happened.' Elsewhere he said: 'The US and the West must acknowledge the harm they have done to Muslims before terrorism can end.'"
There is every reason to believe that the radical Islamist hatred that fomented 9/11 would be espoused and disseminated within that mosque, were it to be built. Not only is this something to be fiercely fought on its own grounds, in this case there is the further issue of the insult to the memory of those killed in the Twin Towers, and the grief this would bring to those who mourn them.
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Edmund Burke first said it, I believe: "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing."
As strongly as I ever urged participation at a rally, I urge your participation. Numbers help to send the necessary message. Stand up and be counted, here and at every other possible opportunity.
A reader of mine, responding to my pessimism about America, wrote some months ago, "Don't despair, the posse is coming!" I was deeply saddened to learn last week that he died after a long fight against a chronic illness. His words stay with me: "The posse is coming." America can be saved. If good Americans care enough.
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A number of groups -- ACT for America, ZStreet, etc. -- are supporting this rally. If you can get your organization to sign on, that would also be wonderful.
You can contact Pam Geller and Robert Spencer by e-mail via this page: http://sioaonline.com/?page_id=153
The URL for the SIOA website is: http://sioaonline.com
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Today, my friends, I concede a point on which I have held out. Many of you have written, challenging me to deal with Obama's motivation. Until now I have declined, saying it's complex, and all that I can monitor are his words and acts, and the effects they have. But now...
The news has broken that the Obama administration is cutting the funding for Homeland Security in New York City. Yup, in the city where the Twin Towers came down, and where there have been at least 11 terror attempts since, most recently two weeks ago in Times Square. A 27% cut is projected for mass transit security and 25% for port security. Additionally, Obama wants to eliminate a $30 million program called "Securing our Cities," that would create a ring of radiation detectors around the city to monitor for nuclear and dirty bombs. He has even redeployed the Coast Guard's Maritime and Security Team from New York to Boston Harbor.
"For the administration to announce these cuts two weeks after the attempted Times Square bombing shows they just don’t get it and are not doing right by New York City on anti-terrorism funding," Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said.
Rep. Pete King (R-LI), the ranking Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, said the cuts were "dangerous and unconscionable."
"The threat against New York City, the top target of al-Qaeda, is increasing, not decreasing."
This doesn't feel like poor judgment, or an innocent error. This feels like calculated malice on the part of the man who throws around trillions without thinking twice but is not interested in protecting New York City.
(Once again, for this tip, I thank Reisa S.)
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Still the rumors persist -- concerning what Netanyahu has promised Obama with regard to no building in Jerusalem over the Green Line. Can't say for sure that none of these rumors are true, but neither can I stand behind them as if they are fact. I can only report on the unease, the suspicion, that is in the air.
What I have determined as fact is that construction of housing is going on in Har Homa, that once-controversial Jewish neighborhood in the south-east of Jerusalem way past the Green Line. I qualify by noting that it is likely that the permits and bureaucratic paperwork that provided the go-ahead for this construction were all in place before the recent controversy. None-the-less, it has not been halted, as construction that had prior approval was halted in Judea and Samaria once that freeze went into effect.
And so, we now wait to see if anything new will be approved.
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MK Aryeh Eldad (Ihud Leumi -- National Union) wrote a piece in yesterday's JPost that touches on this issue. Eldad is a medical doctor by training and experience. He says that he recognizes post-traumatic syndrome when he sees it, and that after his first meeting with Obama, Netanyahu exhibited symptoms of that syndrome; he was in a state of shock.
On his own, argues Eldad, Netanyahu would succumb to the pressure coming from Washington. But, thankfully, he is also confronting pressure from the opposite side:
"...there is pressure, and it will grow stronger...A few months ago, a 'Lobby for the Land of Israel' was established in the Knesset. It is led by a Likud Knesset member, in fact the chairman of the governing coalition, Zev Elkin, and by me...with the opposition in the Knesset. Forty-one members of Knesset, government ministers and deputy ministers joined this lobby whose goals are to stem the leftward tide, to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria, to prevent the dilution of Jewish settlements and to strengthen such settlement. Within this lobby are represented the National Union, Jewish Home, Shas, Israel Beitenu, Likud and even Kadima parties."
Says Eldad:
"Obama’s error is that of a proud novice in foreign policy: he has stretched out his hand towards Jerusalem.
"The Israeli slanderers of the extremist left, who run to report to the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv every time a house is built in Judea and Samaria, misled him. J Street misled him. Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod misled him. Obama figured, if there are Jews who support giving half of Jerusalem to the Arabs, it shouldn’t be a problem to force Netanyahu to go along.
"But Netanyahu can be beaten down only when there is no counter pressure. In this case, Netanyahu is not operating in a vacuum."
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-EdContributors/Article.aspx?id=175298
Three cheers for Aryeh Eldad and the Lobby. This, too, is standing up: in this case, against the evil that Obama intends for us in Jerusalem.
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Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch (Yisrael Beitenu) announced yesterday that illegal Arab houses in eastern Jerusalem that the court has ordered be taken down would soon be razed. There had been a delay in this action because of "diplomatic concerns."
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To clarify the picture a bit -- or perhaps, better, to give you a more realistic sense of how convoluted and highly politicized it all is -- I would like to provide a description of one such case:
The buildings in question in this case were constructed by one Ahmed Sheikh on land he owns in Silwan. Back in 2000, the Jerusalem Planning and Building Committee gave him permission to build one two-story structure on that land. In 2001, authorities realized that he had constructed one building of two-stories and had already laid the foundation for a second building. They issued a stop-work and demolition order. A hearing was scheduled and the municipality agreed to postpone execution of the order until after the hearing. In return, they secured a promise from Sheikh that he wouldn't continue building.
At some point, in the course of various legal delays, authorities discovered that Sheikh hadn't honored his promise to not continue building. This matter was bounced around from one court to the other, with Sheikh seeking postponements and cancellation of the orders.
In the course of all of this, the two buildings were completed, and occupied.
Ultimately, the court ordered that the demolition proceed. Deadline was set for May 2009 -- a year ago. Sheikh appealed again and the court turned him down.
But, a year later, this court-order demolition has not been effected. That's because the owner -- and undoubtedly the residents -- are Arab. It causes an international furor when we demolish illegal Arab housing; headlines lament the suffering of the expelled occupants. Many authorities here thus prefer to simply look the other way.
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Now, not far from the houses built by Sheikh is a seven-story residence called Beit Yehonatan, built for Jews. It too, was lacking certain permits because it was supposed to have fewer stories. The court ordered that it should be sealed up and the occupants evacuated, but this was not done. Certain legal authorities (the municipal attorney, for example) were most perturbed by this and demanded that the mayor take action. Sure, said Nir Barkat, I'll do it -- but then I'll take down the illegal Arab houses that are sitting in the area as well. That, these same authorities were not so eager to see happen. Barkat proceeded with his plans, but was stopped by Netanyahu because it was "too sensitive" an issue following the Ramat Shlomo "crisis."
Now, Aharonovitch says illegal Arab housing will be razed. I will celebrate if this happens, because it would mean we have an administration that is not running scared of what the world says (see more on this below).
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I fully expect that, if we really do raze those illegal Arab houses, we'll hear from Obama about how we are being obstructionist with regard to "peace." The fact that there is less than no regard for our due process of law within our democracy is as infuriating as anything else.
Also infuriating, however: Twice this past week, the message delivered on PA TV was that this land belongs only to the Arabs -- this has been reported by Palestinian Media Watch. On one occasion the narrator said we should go back to Europe and Ethiopia, "your original homeland." On another occasion the camera zeroed in on a map from which "Israel" had been erased.
But for all of Obama's talk about holding both parties responsible for obstructions to peace, and in spite of the talk about Abbas trying to prevent incitement (which we knew was a crock), I notice Obama has not seen fit to hold Abbas accountable.
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And then, lastly, Heaven help us, we have Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who called upon people to "act responsibly and avoid harsh or provocative statements on Jerusalem." He was concerned, you see, about "an attack by senior ministers in the Israeli government against US attempts to restart the peace process."
An attack by ministers against US attempts for peace? Well, he was referring, for example, to Interior Minister Eli Yishai (Shas), who said there will never be a freeze in Jerusalem: "We will build everywhere in Jerusalem, the eternal capital of our homeland, and this is my clarification to our allies and friends the Americans."
But Barak was worried: "These words hurt Israel's interests with the US and the entire world. They can present Israel as a peace objector and thus cause its global status to deteriorate."
Saying Jerusalem is ours means we object to peace? Expecting us to put US demands before our legitimate rights? These remarks are not only disgusting and the sign of a self-hating man, they are also dangerous for Israel.
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see my website www.ArlenefromIsrael.info
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