Jewish Actress Mayim Bialik Draws Online Praise, Criticism for Posting Picture With IDF Cousin

Joshua Levitt
Jewish-American actress and parenting blogger Mayim Bialik drew praise and criticism online on Friday after posting a seemingly innocent photograph, showing her visiting her Israeli cousin’s son as a boy of 5 years old and then as a soldier of the Israel Defense Forces at 20.

Bialik is best known for her lead role in the 1990s NBC sitcom Blossom, as well as her current role as Amy Farrah Fowler on CBS’s The Big Bang Theory. But, as a mother of two sons, she has also become a parenting advocate with a large online following.

On blog Kveller, a website described as “a Jewish Twist on Parenting,” Bialik posted the photo on Thursday with the caption, “A very special  #ThrowbackThursday: Here’s me and my cousin’s son when he was 5 and now, 15 or so years later, as an Israeli soldier. Sweet!”

Abbas Denies His Authority to Make Cardinal Decisions for a Lasting Peace Agreement

Jonathan D. Halevi

• Mahmoud Abbas is not a serious partner for negotiating with Israel because he does not have the authority to make decisions for the Palestinian people. His rejection of any authority to make historic decisions regarding a political compromise closes the door to any stable, lasting solution for two states living in peace next to each other.

• Abbas outlined his positions on January 10, 2014, at a meeting in Ramallah, where he demanded full sovereignty in all the territory conquered by Israel from the Kingdom of Jordan and Egypt in the defensive war it fought in 1967 ("the '67 lands"), and especially in the area called "eastern Jerusalem," which includes the Old City, the Temple Mount, the Jewish Quarter, the Western Wall, and other Jewish historical sites. Without an Israeli withdrawal from eastern Jerusalem and all the Jewish holy sites located there, in the eyes of Abbas, there is no Palestinian leader who has the authority to sign a political agreement with Israel.

“A Rapidly Shifting World”

As most of you undoubtedly know, Ariel (Arik) Sharon, 85, former prime minister of Israel, passed away yesterday, after eight years in a comatose state following a stroke. 

 

Credit: channelnewsasia

 

In some quarters, the news is filled with laudatory articles about him.  For in his younger days he was a brilliant and fearless military commander whose strategies were critical in the victories in 1967 and 1973.  Subsequently, as a government minister, he fostered the building of communities in Judea and Samaria.

 

None of this can be taken away from him.  Nor would I wish to do that.

 

In Arab and related anti-Israel quarters there is obscene jubilation at his death, with the leveling of accusations against him that are absolutely not true.  He was not responsible for the massacre at Sabra and Shatila.  And, I hasten to point out, he did not initiate the Second Intifada by going onto Har Habayit.  That Palestinian Arab war against Israel begun in 2000 was not a spontaneous uprising of anger – it had been thoroughly pre-planned by Arafat, who was waiting for a pretext to begin.  It is important that this record be kept straight.  The anti-Zionist, anti-Jewish media saw him as a special target for vilification, so that he was represented – with outrageous injustice – as a monster. This cannot be allowed to stand.  Against such accusers I stand read to defend his record.

 

And yet... and yet...

Ariel Sharon: Warrior

theoptimisticconservative
 

In his milieu, in 1973.

The careers of the greatest warriors often remind us of the importance of statesmen with political principles and strategies.  It may be Ariel Sharon’s fate to serve, in part, as such a reminder.  But if we do not learn to know the world through the prism of his career, we will be shortchanging not only him, but ourselves.

Sharon was, as Caroline Glick says, larger than life.  Jeff Dunetz calls him “an enigma wrapped in a paradox,” which in some ways he was.  He was a leader whose maneuvers sometimes alarmed, even angered, his military superiors and his own people.  It is a serious question whether Israel would have survived to this day on her current, sustainable geopolitical basis, if she had not had Ariel Sharon fighting for her in 1956, 1967, and 1973.  It is an equally serious question whether his leadership helped or harmed Israel in 1982 and 2005.

The Truth about Eish Kodesh – Please Read and Repost!

I have not made any entries or updates to my personal Facebook page for several months, and was not planning on doing so. I am simply too busy, and anyone who wants to reach me can always do so by email or through the Temple Institute's Facebook page. But after what transpired this past week concerning the tiny community of Eish Kodesh, and in the face of the lies that are being perpetrated in the media, I cannot remain silent.Of even greater concern is the complacency and prejudice of the general public, even among those who identify ideologically with the settlement movement.

End of an era 'Sharon was no warmonger, he just put Israel first'

Ynet's senior military analyst Ron Ben Yishai speaks of Ariel Sharon, a military and political commander he knew, and says Sharon was not a warmonger, but rather Ben Gurion's true disciple, only interested in Israel's survival

Israel Opinion 

Ron Ben-Yishai is Ynet's senior military commentator. A veteran war correspondent, Ben-Yishai is best-known internationally for his contribution to the Oscar-nominated and Golden Globe-winning film Waltz with Bashir, which documents the experiences of Israeli soldiers during the first Lebanon War.


Ben-Yishai was the first Israeli journalist to cover the Sabra and Shatila massacre in Beirut, for which Ariel Sharon was forced to resign as Israel's defense minister.

Ynet special: Ron Ben-Yishai speaks with Attila Somfalvi about Ariel Sharon's legacy

According to Ben-Yishai, Sharon's "legacy is firstly the survival of the Jewish nation, of the Jewish people in their own homeland; he is a true follower of Ben Gurion. When I say that Israel's survival was the only consideration I mean everything was secondary or third rate to this consideration."

U.S.-Israeli Prof. Slams MLA Conference as Assault on Academic Freedom (INTERVIEW)

Joshua Levitt 

An American-Israeli professor, addressing a counter-conference on the sidelines of a polemical Modern Language Association annual meeting in Chicago, on Thursday said the MLA resolution seeking to sanction Israel was an academic sham promoted by a hypocritical Arab ideologue who actually benefited from the embrace of multiculturalism by Israeli universities that the resolution aims to vilify.
In a revealing interview with The Algemeiner, Ilan Troen, Director of the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies at Brandeis University and Professor Emeritus at Israel’s Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, said the core accusation of the MLA resolution, which condemns Israel for restricting foreign scholars from visiting the Palestinian territories is “simply not true.”
Ironically, he said, the main voice behind the MLA resolution is Omar Barghouti, a founding committee member of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, who was born in Qatar, received a Masters in electrical engineering  from Columbia University, in New York, and graduate degree in Ethics from Tel Aviv University, where a petition, with 184,000 signatures, was presented to expel him for his work denigrating Israel. But the president of the school refused to do so, on the basis of academic freedom.

“The resolution is about not honoring rights of Palestinians to higher education, that Israel doesn’t permit people to come into the West bank or Gaza to teach, which is simply not true,” Prof. Troen said. ”This is a malicious, mendacious excuse to use a false issue to boycott Israel.”

“The fact is that Americans of all descents go to teach in Palestinian universities,” he said. “The resolution talks about the arbitrary inhibition of Americans of Palestinian descent to enter the West Bank or Gaza, which is simply not true and they present no evidence.”

Prof Troen gave the example of Haifa University, where 3,000 Arabs who grew up under the Palestinian Authority attend the school, a third of the undergraduate student body, with another 1,200 there doing graduate studies. Meanwhile, he said, there are some 3,000 academic programs to help them pass national matriculation, to be able to study at the university level.

At Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, where Prof. Troen served as Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences and as Director of the Ben-Gurion Research Institute and Archives, in Sede Boker, he said a program called Achva, meaning “solidarity” or “brotherhood” was created as “a place where Jews and Arabs could go to learn together.”

He said that among Arabs living under the PA or in Israel,  ”no group is engaged in supporting a boycott.”

“This is externally generated by people hostile to Israel as a state… not from the Arab population,” he said. “Even in the Future Vision documents written by Arab intellectuals, most of whom teach at Israeli universities, they argue about problems in Arab society, and not once do they call for a boycott of part of the system, but to enlarge opportunities to participate, not to eliminate them.”
He listed three major areas where Jews and Arabs work together in academia. In medicine, where 300 Arab doctors are working with Jews in joint research on issues “from cerebral palsy to cancer to drug abuse;” in desertification, where, Israeli academics are world leaders in arid zone irrigation, desalinization and solar power, and work on projects that include many Arabs from those living in the PA and in Israel, as well as Egyptians and Jordanians, and “none of them are interested in boycott;” and in working on new narratives, a more complex issue.
“Twenty years ago, academics from both sides tried to mitigate the conflict by sharing their narratives, to create a single unity narrative, but they found that each one holds their own truth, and marshals facts to support it,” said Prof. Troen. “Then the academics started work on parallel narratives, like in nature, ideas that do not meet, but each side learns the other person’s narrative, a way of engendering empathy that can lead to mutual understanding. And none want to boycott the other, that’s how important this is for those academics working together on these issues.”

“I think [supporters of the MLA resolution] all could learn a great deal from academics actually working together on essential scientific research, which has no limits, no borders, cannot be hijacked for political cause,” he said. “This is just another attempt to boycott Israel by a coterie of polemicists for the sake of political gains, who have gone to this huge organization which has allowed their hatred to slip through.”

He described those behind the resolution as a “travelling roadshow, who go from university to university, from association to association” to denigrate Israel. “This is antithetical to the spirit of academic freedom and a necessity for higher education to engage in unimpeded joint research across all borders.”
“I think it’s telling that 164 university presidents have signed statements that they do not support the ASA [American Studies Association] boycott of Israel, true academics do not want to see Israel become a pariah state,” he said.
Born in Boston, Prof. Troen made aliyah in 1975 before returning to lead the Brandeis program. His permanent home is in Omer, a community outside Beer-Sheva.

Ariel Sharon (1928-2014)

By TheTower.org Staff On January 11, 2014

Ariel Sharon – the 11th prime minister of Israel, and a man who dominated the Jewish state’s political scene first as a pertinacious force from the right and eventually as a heterodox diplomat who oversaw broad Israeli territorial concessions – died today, eight years after slipping into a coma in the aftermath of a massive stroke. He was 85.
Sharon’s decades-spanning career was marked by periods of deep controversy and widely acknowledged acclamation, and was book-ended by grave wounds acquired on the battlefield of the War of Independence and by political power secured via successive Israeli elections. His final political years, as prime minister from 2001 to 2006, will be remembered as ones marked by sweeping counter-terror operations followed by arguably even more sweeping peace gestures.

Ariel Sharon - A life in pictures

Sharon has died

 
Ynet reviews the key events in the life of one of Israel's greatest political and military leads. Ariel Sharon 1928-2014

Ynet

Published:  01.11.14, 14:31 / Israel News

Ariel Sharon 1928-2014

From general to political leader

General Sharon with then-Prime Minister Golda Meir in Sinai, Egypt. Yom Kippur War. 1973 (Photo: GPO)

Sharon with then-Defense Minister Moshe Dayan. West of Suez Canal. Yom Kippur War 1973. (Photo: Bamahane, Abraham Vered)

PLO official: "All Palestinians in Israeli prisons should be released. There should not be a single Palestinian detainee in an Israeli prison."

Including those who have murdered Israeli civilians in the past, and those who will do so in the future.
Remember: these are the "moderates." "Of course, Israel cannot be expected to negotiate with anyone who is dedicated to its destruction. But while I know you have had differences with the Palestinian Authority, I believe that you do have a true partner in President Abbas..." -- Barack Obama, March 21, 2013
"Recording: PLO official to IMRA: Israel must release anyone who attacks during the talks," by Aaron Lerner for IMRA, December 30, 2013:

Alfred Hitchcock's unseen Holocaust documentary to be screened

  http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/alfred-hitchcocks-unseen-holocaust-documentary-to-be-screened-9044945.html

 

The British Army Film Unit cameramen who shot the liberation of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945 used to joke about the reaction of Alfred Hitchcock to the horrific footage they filmed. When Hitchcock first saw the footage, the legendary British director was reportedly so traumatised that he stayed away from Pinewood Studios for a week. Hitchcock may have been the king of horror movies but he was utterly appalled by "the real thing".

 

In 1945, Hitchcock had been enlisted by his friend and patron Sidney Bernstein to help with a documentary on German wartime atrocities, based on the footage of the camps shot by British and Soviet film units. In the event, that documentary was never seen.

Israel and the death of pan-Arabism

January 10th, 2014
Caroline Glick

The so-called Arab Spring unleashed forces that have been dormant for a century. Like their counterparts throughout the region, Israel’s Arabic-speaking minorities are changing in profound ways. But our leaders fail to grasp the implications of what is happening.


Consider the Christian community.


Father Gabriel Nadaf, a Greek Orthodox priest from Nazareth, has become the symbol of this new period. Nadaf is the spiritual leader of an Israeli Christian movement calling for Israeli Christian youth to serve in the IDF. He is responsible for the 300 percent rise in Christian Arab enlistment in the IDF in the past year.


Nadaf does not hide his goal or his motivation. His seeks the full integration of Israel’s 130,000 Christians into Israeli society. He views military service as the key to that integration.


Nadaf is motivated to act by the massive persecution of Christians throughout the Arab world since the onset of the Arab revolutionary wave in December 2010.

Please, Don't Boycott Shiloh Industries

My Right Word

Please, don't boycott Shiloh Industries.

There are many reasons not to.

It's not nice.

It may be illegal.

More importantly, Shiloh Industries, Inc. 

is located in Valley City, Ohio, not in the Land of Israel, and Shiloh Industries is http://myrightword.blogspot.co.il/2014/01/please-dont-boycott-shiloh-industries.html

a leading supplier, providing lightweighting and noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) solutions to automotive, commercial vehicle and other industrial markets. Shiloh delivers these solutions through design, engineering and manufacturing of first operation blanks, engineered welded blanks, complex stampings, modular assemblies and highly engineered aluminum die casting and machined components serving the body-in-white, emission, powertrain, structural and seating needs of OEM and Tier 1 customers. The company has multiple locations across North America, including in Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee, Wisconsin and Mexico, and has approximately 1,770 employees.

It has nothing to do with "settlements" or "occupation".

Wait.  It does provide an occupation to some 1770 people.

And Ramzi Hermiz 

is president and CEO of the company and I am going to assume he's not Jewish.

The Arab League and peace, after 68 years

Alexander H. Joffe
The Times of Israel
January 9, 2014

http://www.meforum.org/3715/arab-league-peace

The disconnect between the past and the present in the Middle East is growing fast. Consider the anachronism called the Arab League.
In December, after an "emergency meeting" called by Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby declared that "not one" Israeli soldier could remain in the territory of Palestine. An Arab League report condemning American support for "Israeli security expansionist demands" was also cited in Middle Eastern news sources but made little impression in the West.

The statement made little impression on US Secretary of State John Kerry who was "grateful that the Arab League as a whole and Saudi Arabia individually will be significantly involved in helping build support for this effort." He also promised to update "our Arab League partners."

Update: After Mortars Fired from Gaza, Israel Air Force Targets Terrorists, Terror Site

  IDF Blog
January 9, 2014

After mortars were fired from Gaza at Israel, the IDF targeted terrorists during their final preparations to launch rockets toward Israel early Thursday morning. No damage or injuries were reported among the soldiers.

An Israel Air Force aircraft targeted a terror site in the southern Gaza Strip later in the morning. Direct hits were confirmed.

“This ongoing conflict that we are facing on a daily basis cannot be endured by Israeli civilians,” said Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, IDF Spokesman. ”It is the IDF’s obligation to operate to the best of its abilities to prevent such malicious terroristic intentions from terrorizing Israeli civilians and assaulting IDF soldiers. We will continue in our activities to deter all threats originating in the Gaza Strip.”

Israel Palestine: Who’s Indigenous?

Ryan Bellerose in Ryan
 

This is the first post by a new Israellycool contributor, Ryan Bellerose. He has been known to Israellycool for a while and we’re delighted to publish this important essay here.

I am a Métis from Paddle Prairie Metis settlement. My father, Mervin Bellerose, co-authored the Métis Settlements Act of 1989, which was passed by the Alberta legislature in 1990 and cemented our land rights. I founded Canadians For Accountability, a native rights advocacy group, and I am an organizer and participant in the Idle No More movement in Calgary. And I am a Zionist.

Indigenous status

To begin, let us acknowledge that there is no rule that a land can have only one indigenous people; it is not a zero sum game in which one group must be considered indigenous so that therefore another is not. However, there is a very clear guideline to being an indigenous people. It is somewhat complex but can be boiled down to the checklist below, as developed by anthropologist José R. Martínez-Cobo (former special rapporteur of the Sub-commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities for the United Nations).

This list was developed because indigenous rights are beginning to be respected across the planet. This recognition is incredibly important, so we as indigenous people cannot allow non-indigenous people to make false claims, which ultimately would harm our own rights. Israel is the world’s first modern indigenous state: the creation and declaration of the sovereign nation of Israel marks the first time in history that an indigenous people has managed to regain control of its ancestral lands and build a nation state. As such, this is incredibly important for indigenous people both to recognise and to support as a great example for our peoples to emulate.

Official translation of the full text of a Saudi-inspired peace plan adopted by the Arab summit in Beirut, 2002.

The Arab Peace Initiative

The Council of Arab States at the Summit Level at its 14th Ordinary Session,

Reaffirming the resolution taken in June 1996 at the Cairo Extra-Ordinary Arab Summit that a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East is the strategic option of the Arab countries, to be achieved in accordance with international legality, and which would require a comparable commitment on the part of the Israeli government,

Having listened to the statement made by his royal highness Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, crown prince of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in which his highness presented his initiative calling for full Israeli withdrawal from all the Arab territories occupied since June 1967, in implementation of Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, reaffirmed by the Madrid Conference of 1991 and the land-for-peace principle, and Israel's acceptance of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, in return for the establishment of normal relations in the context of a comprehensive peace with Israel,

Emanating from the conviction of the Arab countries that a military solution to the conflict will not achieve peace or provide security for the parties, the council:

“A Long Hard Struggle”

I’m encountering a lot of anger here in Israel, and the depression that often follows.  Pit-of-the-stomach anxiety, too.  How could it be otherwise?

 

Kerry took off on Monday but plans to be back very soon.  His “framework” is still not in place, and the rumors continue to fly.  Some of those rumors suggest that the framework might be verbal and not in written form at all.  This may be because he cannot put together a document that both parties would sign – which would be good news.

 

Netanyahu: "There is still no document and the Americans are not succeeding at obtaining agreements between the sides." 

 

http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=14573

 

~~~~~~~~~~

 

According to Israel National News yesterday:

“Governmental sources report that US Secretary of State John Kerry is behind the European boycott threats on Israeli products and companies operating in Judea, Samaria, eastern Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.
“The EU published its guidelines last July, boycotting Israeli companies operating over the 1949 Armistice lines.

Report: Kerry is Behind European Boycotts

Govt. sources reveal that Kerry is responsible for EU boycott threats, keeps them in check during talks, ready to escalate if talks fail.
By Ari Yashar, INN
Governmental sources report that US Secretary of State John Kerry is behind theEuropean boycott threats on Israeli products and companies operating in Judea, Samaria, eastern Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.
The EU published its guidelines last July, boycotting Israeli companies operating over the 1949 Armistice lines.
At the moment, Kerry is making sure the threats stay in check, but as soon as the peace talks fail he intends to open the floodgates and spur on full-blown international boycotts on Israel, reports Galei Tzahal (IDF Radio).
Palestinian Authority (PA) officials reported last September that Kerry was putting pressure on the EU to delay boycotts so as to give him an opportunity to push Israel into peace talks. That report also appears to support the new revelations regarding Kerry’s manipulation of anti-Israel boycotts.

Opinion: A deadlier strain of Al-Qaeda

Faeq Muneef

One of the obstacles in the fight against epidemic viruses is the evolution of newer, more virulent strains which emerge after medical science has begun to make progress in lessening the initial impact. These strains sometimes carry mutations that make traditional vaccines ineffective.

The newly-emerging Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is a mutant strain of Al-Qaeda, one that has developed to such an extent that it threatens everyone and everything around it. The videos which ISIS members have uploaded online presage the beginnings of an even fiercer form of criminality than we have ever seen before. These are individuals not only totally accustomed to committing abhorrent acts violence which disgust ordinary people—decapitation, the mutilating of corpses—they are also happy to boast about them, filming their awful crimes and broadcasting them online like trophies for all to see. They incline towards bloodshed in a manner that reveals a truly sadistic nature, though they claim to be seeking to restore the rights of individuals and to champion the cause of Islam and Muslims.

Juan Cole remains a lying idiot

Elder of Ziyon

The lying, fifth rate academic Juan Cole is at it again, with a spectacularly stupid post called "Recognizing Israel as a Jewish State is like saying the US is a White State."

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is adding a fifth demand to his negotiations with US Secretary of State John Kerry and Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas: That the Palestinians recognize Israel as a “Jewish state.”

As I've noted, this is not a new demand, and it was originally created by Olmert and Livni, not Netanyahu. But, hey, Juan Cole is an "expert," right?

Now comes the straw man arguments:

PA leader: Stages plan to eliminate Israel is basis of PA policy

Abbas Zaki, close associate of Mahmoud Abbas, says a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders is only first stage in the PA’s program because “the inspiring idea cannot be achieved all at once. [Rather] in stages”
http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=10494

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

Senior Palestinian official Abbas Zaki posted on his Facebook page an interview he gave to Syrian TV in which he said the PA will only agree to a treaty with Israel if the Palestinian state is established on the 1967 lines. However, he stressed that ’67 lines would only be the beginning. After that, the Palestinians will continue with the stages plan:

“Even the most extreme among us, Hamas, or the fighting forces, want a state within the ’67 borders. Afterward, we [will] have something to say, because the inspiring idea cannot be achieved all at once. [Rather] in stages.”

Click to view

In an interview on Al-Jazeera TV in 2011, Zaki also mentioned this PA stages plan and referred to “the inspiring idea,” explaining that it means the end of Israel. He said that Mahmoud Abbas shares the goal of eliminating Israel in stages, but that the PA says it only wants a state along the 1967 borders because it is unacceptable politically to say you want to destroy Israel:

It’s Hard Taking Mick Out of the Diaspora

My Right Word


Mick Davis is chairman of the Board of Trustees of the U.K.’s Jewish Leadership Council and rich (a potential bonus he was asked to waive last year was worth £11m and this report indicates he was to receive: £9.6m a year on offer for staying at Xstrata for three years but this item has it that he “misjudged the corporate climate in a dispute over executive pay which resulted in him leaving with a £15m pay off.”).

He is now claiming that “Rejecting two states means endangering Israel - and the Diaspora”.  He previously wrote about “Defending Israel with one hand tied behind our back” and that “Without Israel's support for the 2-state solution, Diaspora Jews are crippled in the fight against BDS and delegitimization”.  He’s a Diaspora Man, alright.  

“Where Are We Going?”

The installation of a new computer has – incredibly – slowed down my writing for about a week.  Learning new systems can be a challenge. As many of you already know, it was necessary for me to check with readers for whom I had multiple addresses, as the new system has no default for addresses.  I think I’ve covered all bases, but if you are receiving this at an address that is different from the one I had been using for sending you my posts, please, let me know.

 

~~~~~~~~~~

 

The date I have written here is 2014, and I am pleased that I remembered.

 

With all honesty, this was the major change that “the new year” represented for me.  But I have no desire to be insensitive: And so, I thank all who wrote to wish me a good new year, and extend the same wishes to all of you.  Mostly, however, I extend these wishes on a personal level: may each of you have health, loving family and friends, satisfying work, secure income.

Why Is There Really No Palestinian State: The 1-State Solution

Barry Rubin 

The following is an extract from Barry Rubin and Wolfgang G. Schwanitz, Nazis, Islamists, and the Making of the Modern Middle East (Yale University Press, forthcoming February 2014).

JERRY: Well here’s your chance to try the opposite. Instead of tuna salad and being intimidated by women, chicken salad and going right up to them.

GEORGE: Yeah, I should do the opposite, I should.

 JERRY: If every instinct you have is wrong, then the opposite would have to be right.

GEORGE: Yes, I will do the opposite. I used to sit here and do nothing, and regret it for the rest of the day, so now I will do the opposite, and I will do something! – Seinfeld “The Opposite”

In 1939 a World War loomed in Europe. The British–which ruled Palestine as a mandate–were desperate to soothe Arab views and keep them on their side during the impending war. It did not care what the Jewish Zionists said; it was going to dictate- as the Americans want to today- the parameters of a peace agreement. Note the similarity to today, but with Iran in the place of Germany. Here is now why its diplomacy will not work. The Arab states had rejected the British concessions, hence the foreign minister Ramsay MacDonald embarked on another round of concessions to them.

Secretary of State, John Kerry's, Proposal Assessed

Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger, "Second Thought: US-Israel Initiative”
"Israel Hayom”, January 4, 2014, http://bit.ly/Kq550P
 
The value of Secretary John Kerry's assessments and proposed peace agreement, which would reduce Israel to a 9-15 mile waistline (the pre-1967 lines), in the increasingly raging Middle East, is consistent with Kerry's track record.

Kerry's Syrian Track Record

Until the eruption of the civil war in Syria, Kerry was a member of a tiny group of US Senators – along with Chuck Hagel and Hillary Clinton – who believed that Bashar Assad was a generous, constructive leader, a reformer and a man of his word. Kerry was a frequent flyer to Damascus, dining with Assad and his wife at the Naranj restaurant in central Damascus.  Following a motorcycle ride with Bashar al-Assad, he returned to Washington referring to Bashar as "my dear friend.” 

In September 2009, Kerry opined that "Syria is an essential player in bringing peace and stability to the region,” while Assad was conducting hate-education, repressing his opposition, hosting and arming terrorist outfits like Hezbollah, cozying up to Iran, and facilitating the infiltration of Jihadists into Iraq to kill US soldiers. WikiLeaks disclosed that on February, 2010, Kerry told Qatari leaders that the Golan Heights should be returned to Syria and that a Palestinian capital should be established in East Jerusalem.  "We know that for the Palestinians the control of Al-Aqsa mosque and the establishment of their capital in East Jerusalem are not negotiable.”

Hostage priest released by jihadists denies being freed for "compassion": "They have no compassion for anyone"

They were just working from the dictates of the Qur'an and Islamic law: "When you meet the unbelievers, smite their necks, then, when you have made wide slaughter among them, tie fast the bonds; then set them free, either by grace or ransom, till the war lays down its loads." -- Qur'an 47:4
"As for the captives, the amir [ruler] has the choice of taking the most beneficial action of four possibilities: the first to put them to death by cutting their necks; the second, to enslave them and apply the laws of slavery regarding their sale and manumission; the third, to ransom them in exchange for goods or prisoners; and fourth, to show favor to them and pardon them. Allah, may he be exalted, says, 'When you encounter those [infidels] who deny [the Truth=Islam] then strike [their] necks' (Qur'an sura 47, verse 4)" — Abu’l-Hasan al-Mawardi, al-Ahkam as-Sultaniyyah (The Laws of Islamic Governance), trans. by Dr. Asadullah Yate, (London), Ta-Ha Publishers Ltd., 1996, p. 192.
This reads like a machine translation, but it gives you the idea. "Headlines: Nigeria: Father Georges denies being released by 'compassion,'" from Racers Republic, January 2 (thanks to TRACTerrorism.org; spelling and grammar as in the original):

Leader of French Jewish Group Has a Plan for Countering Anti-Semitism: Downplaying Zionism

Amid rising anxiety, CRIF President Roger Cukierman tells journalists his group shouldn’t be seen as an annex to the Israeli embassy

By Nidra Poller|January 3, 2014

In mid-December, France’s President François Hollande held a reception at the Elysée palace in honor of the 70th anniversary of the CRIF, as the umbrella organization of French Jews is known. Hollande, whose delivery is often wooden and halting, was unusually at ease with his guests and made sure to note in his remarks that he was celebrating “by extension, all the Jews in France.”

The abiding impression of President Hollande’s substantial address ^[1]—close to 20 minutes—was that the république of diversity could not ask for a better element than the Jews. At a time when thorny issues of immigration and integration of the growing Muslim population threaten to disturb the peace in France, Hollande expressed appreciation for a community that is both an integral part of the history of France—the CRIF, he noted, was created in 1943, during the Nazi occupation, alongside the Conseil National de la Résistance—and, by virtue of the tens of thousands of North African Jews who arrived in France in the 1960s, a model of integration. Hollande also renewed his public promises to combat the rising tide of anti-Semitism that plagues Jews in France today, and he spoke about his November state visit to Israel, describing the country as a refuge. “Your attachment to Israel is normal,” he said. “You don’t have to apologize for it.”
And yet that appears to be what the president of the CRIF, Roger Cukierman, is doing. At a private luncheon with a handful of journalists one week before the anniversary celebration, Cukierman—a banker—outlined a “new look” for the organization, which he previously headed for two terms, starting in 2001. During the six-year hiatus between the end of his last term, in 2007, and his re-election this past spring, he said ^[2], the CRIF has come to be seen “an annex to the Israeli embassy … an association of right-wing fascists notorious for their unconditional support of the Israeli government.” That image, he went on, “does not correspond to reality.”

Difficulties ahead

Dan Margalit

As expected, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry began his latest mission on Thursday with praise for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. The key part of his statement at Thursday's press conference was that the issues are known (to the point of exhaustion), and soon tough decisions will need to be made. Kerry's current trip to the region represents the opening of a new chapter, as the secretary of state tries to extend negotiations and make substantive progress on painful issues.

It is likely that some of the difficulties will be exposed before Kerry departs on Monday. Both sides are continuing their preparations. Netanyahu's sharp criticism of Abbas in front of Kerry was an opening shot.

With Kerry in town, Netanyahu calls out Palestinian incitement

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry meets with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem • Netanyahu: Israel is prepared to make a historic peace deal, but we must have a Palestinian partner who's equally prepared • Kerry: Tough decisions ahead.

Shlomo Cesana, News Agencies and Israel Hayom Staff

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, Thursday | Photo credit: GPO

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry returned to the Middle East on Thursday as he continue efforts to reach a "framework agreement" between Israel and the Palestinians. After landing at Ben-Gurion Internation Airport, Kerry went to Jerusalem, where he met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Kerry was set to met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on Friday.

In a joint press conference with Netanyahu on Thursday, Kerry said the goal of his latest trip was "to narrow the differences on a framework that will provide the agreed guidelines for permanent status negotiations."

"This will take time and it will take compromise from both sides, but an agreed framework would be a significant breakthrough," Kerry said. "It would address all of the core issues. It would create the fixed, defined parameters by which the parties would then know where they are going and what the end result can be. It would address all of the core issues that we have been addressing since day one, including borders, security, refugees, Jerusalem, mutual recognition, and the end of conflict and of all claims."

It’s going to get bad fast between Israel and the US (and my comments)‏

Chana G

I have been saying this for some time and there is not a word in the following article that does not spell out the truth. The situation is heartbreaking- also to Americans in Israel who grew up in the US and love the country. 

 Anyone who thinks that we are happy about Obama's failure as a president is judging for personal reasons -whatever they may be. 

 One did not have to be an expert to predict failure which has been greater than many of us anticipated.  We who could see what was ahead were castigated for daring to say anything against the candidate - as though our warnings would be responsible for his lack of success.  The whole world was 'snookered' into believing that his words would be magically translated into a perfect reality; for his oratorical eloquence he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize without having accomplished anything!

 In 2008 people in the States wrote to me with all kinds of reasons as to why they would vote for Obama.  They cited their lifelong voting pattern as Democrats/ the candidate was opposed to war/ his overwhelming promises of hope and change - transparency and bringing people together/ and the fact that it was time for the US to have a black president. Many Jews were impressed by the number of their own who were tapped for the new administration and were sure that this was translated into support for Israel. 

 Little consideration was given to the important issues such as suitability for such a unique position in both  background, ideology, and experience - all of which should have been the deciding factors. Most significantly required was an understanding of that which had made the U.S such a great country - with a Constitution that brought change through Amendments - evolution - not revolution.  The United States had earned its reputation as an international leader of the free world.

 Now, with abysmal domestic and international fiascos, Obama is in desperate need of a legacy and is looking to an imposed Middle East peace agreement for this purpose. Notwithstanding his past interference in the region and the consistently resulting failure of his actions, the President is once again ignoring the realities and is about to engage in yet another venture that will culminate in further destabilization; he is willing to weaken the only democracy in a region infested with radical Islam. Should he succeed in any measure, the ultimate result will be a conflict that will engulf the region and spread to the West. 

If the American president has not learned from and admitted his mistakes, we must hope that PM Netanyahu  will not permit a failed foreign leader to dictate to a sovereign state and  the only bright light in a dark region.  Israel's light is not for sale!!

Chana

in beloved Jerusalem

EU-funded NGO for youth on PA TV: Israelis in Jerusalem are "crows and rats"

"Jerusalem will never recognize

any language other than Arabic

and any nationality other than Palestinian"

EU and World Bank fund the producer of this program

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

During an episode of the program Sights of Jerusalem broadcast in October, official Palestinian Authority TV dehumanized Israelis and Jews as crows and rats. In addition, the program denied Jewish history and the Jewish connection to Jerusalem, calling Israelis "foreigners."

The PA TV broadcast spoke about "crows" while showing visuals of religious Jews, and stated that "the rats are armed" while showing visuals of Israeli soldiers:

"The crows pass by and caw (visual of Jews) and the rats are armed (visual of Israeli soldiers). But we know that the gates will smile only when we enter them... Jerusalem will never accept any language other than Arabic and any nationality other than Palestinian, no matter how much the flags of the foreigners fly in its sky."

Click to view

Bayit Yehudi Cannot Remain Silent Over Rabbi Druckman

Isi Leibler
January 2, 2014
http://wordfromjerusalem.com/?p=4928

Rabbi Chaim Druckman, one of the most prominent Rabbis within the national religious movement, has responded to Rabbi Mordechai Elon’s conviction on charges of sexually assaulting minors, by employing him as a teacher in the Or Etzion Yeshiva where he serves as the Rosh Yeshiva. This has sent shockwaves through the religious Zionist community. It also poses a serious challenge to the Bayit Yehudi political party.

Naftali Bennet, the head of Bayit Yehudi, ran on a platform which highlighted religious reform. A charismatic personality, he communicates well with secular Israelis and has even succeeded in projecting himself as a trendy liberal. But until now, either from inability or unwillingness, he has failed to confront the tough issues of religious reform.

Op-Ed: A Terrorist's Dream Come True

Arab terrorists chose their enemy wisely, says the writer, who chose a novel way to describe what he perceives as Israel's mistakes. Freeing terrorist murderers is only part of the larger picture.

Gil Solomon

The writer is a retired finance manager and author.

Choosing Jews as the enemy is a terrorist's dream come true. 

If you are a terrorist facing Israel, you can fire rockets by the thousands and if  you do receive a response, you know it will end prematurely and inconclusively. You face an Israeli enemy which, during a war, gives advance notice through flyers and phone calls to apartment residents that this or that building is being targeted, thereby giving what they call "uninvolved" civilians and yourselves enough time to escape with your lives.

In contrast, about a year ago, a US drone targeted a well known terrorist in Pakistan and even after confirming the man's wife and extended family were present, went ahead, killing the terrorist and nine of those present with him. Not a peep from anyone. (No country on the face of the earth goes anywhere near the extent Israel does in trying to avoid civilian casualties, but what benefit has it gained in world opinion from dong that?)

If you are a terrorist facing Israel, you can fabricate stories of a supposed massacre (e.g. in Jenin), knowing full well that nothing occurred, but that it will cast dispersions on an enemy which foolishly states that it will investigate the claim, thereby implying that there may be something to the story. If you are a terrorist, you know that your Israeli enemy has not a clue how to counter the Hasbara war you are waging against them - and doesn't even know that Hasbara is a war.

Really, where's the 'cancer'?

Nadav Shragai

It's good that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas decided on Tuesday to join the ranks of those fighting against "settlement cancer." Much to Israel's embarrassment, the radical Jewish Left -- including Peace Now director Yariv Oppenheimer, attorney Talia Sasson and their clique -- readily accepted Abbas' racist prognosis on the conflict.

The fact that Abbas decided to jump on the "settlement cancer" bandwagon affords a golden opportunity to offer some insights into the settlements, insights which will perhaps reveal where the real cancer and toxic metastasis lie in the conflict.

You'd be surprised, but most settlers do not glorify land over humanity. They are not hard at work breeding martyrs. Their textbooks do not systematically advocate hatred of Arabs. Settlers neither deny the rights of Arabs to dozens of their own countries nor do they reject the rights of Muslims to Islamic countries.

Quiet diplomacy or public confrontation?

EVELYN GORDON  

Surprisingly, the latter may serve Israel better in both its key foreign policy challenges.

Over the coming months, two foreign-policy issues will predominate: the ongoing negotiations between Iran and the six powers over its nuclear program; and American efforts to broker an Israeli-Palestinian deal. In both cases, Israel has vital interests at stake, yet in both cases, these interests don't necessarily coincide with those of its American and European allies. This raises the question of how Israel can best protect its interests: through quiet diplomacy or public confrontation?

Among both Israel's chattering classes and American Jewry, the dominant view seems to be that quiet diplomacy would be best. And at first glance, this makes intuitive sense. Israel's alliance with the US is one of its greatest assets, so a public rupture with Washington could seriously undermine its diplomatic and military deterrence. And while Europe provides neither diplomatic nor military backing, it remains Israel's largest trading partner; hence an open rupture could undermine Israel's economic well-being.

ISRAEL, BE READY FOR JOHN KERRY

Jan Willem  van der Hoeven   As US Secretary of State John Kerry boards his plane for yet another flight to the Middle East, here are a few requests the Israel's government could have ready to make to its American guest. 1. Please convey to President Barack Obama, with all due respect, that unless Jonathan Pollard - who has not murdered even one American - is set free after his 26 years in prison, Israel will renege on its readiness to release Palestinian prisoners - most of who are cold-blooded killers, and have spent far less time in jail. 2. Please convey to Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who has stated his intention not to let one Israeli Jew live in his sought-after Palestine, that he needs to prepare to open the gates of his new state to all the Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel. For if the United States has nothing to say about Abbas' desire to have a judenrein Palestine, it will surely have nothing to say about Israel becoming a araberrein Jewish state. 3. Please make clear to the PA leadership - and the rest of the Arab world - that the Palestinian Muslim-inspired lie denying any historical Jewish connection to Jerusalem and its Temple Mount (where twice in history God's holy House stood for Israel, His people) - a falsehood whose purpose is to sever this city from Israel and the Jewish people - that this denial will deal a death blow to the present negotiations.

Syria's Dictatorship Anniversary‏

Barry Rubin

Incidentally, Syria's Ba'th dictatorship is celebrating its 50^th anniversary this year. The best Syrian analyst I can think of, a very honest guy, is Ammar Abdulhamid. I recently read an article he wrote and was struck by how sad the situation in Syria is. He wrote:

Re-legitimating the Assad regime today, after all it had done, will green light genocidal ventures elsewhere in the world. If world leaders are standing helpless in the face of one genocide today, what will they, I wonder, when they are faced with a dozen? The world witnessed similar conditions during the Cold War for sure, but this is supposed to be the post-Cold War Era, the Era of Never Again and R2P, an era where social media is creating deep links between average citizens and realities on the ground everywhere in the world. Allowing for a return of Cold-War-like realities and developments, or, to be more specific, allowing for the start of Cold War II, is a major step backward. It's a major setback, a major failure, and it will come with a hefty price tag for all.

In other words, he is predicting terrible continued bloodshed in Syria, and the even more depressing probability of more genocide, since the international community is powerless to help. The likelihood is that Syria will become an Iranian colony.

Yet there is a big hole in Abdulhamid's analysis; that of the fate of moderate Syrians, because for a moderate Syrian, the flip of the coin leads to an unavoidable outcome; heads they lose, tails they lose.

Obama To Give PA $440 Million in 2014

Ari Yashar, Arutz Sheva Staff

The US financial aid designated for the Palestinian Authority (PA) is set to grow considerably in 2014 to $440 million, up from $426 million in 2013. The aid aims to bail out the PA, which in June was revealed to owe $4.2 billion in internal and external debt.

Palestinian Liberation Organization's (PLO) representative in Washington DC, Maen Erekat, reported the figure, saying the transfer was already agreed upon by Congress, but will be influenced by progress in the peace talks with Israel. The PA recently declared the talks have failed, and threatened diplomatic action against Israel.

The financial aid reveals intentions of greater cooperation between the US and the PA.

Hamas rejects Egypt's labeling of Muslim Brotherhood as terror organization

By REUTERS

Gaza government reaffirms solidarity with ousted movement, rejects calls to sever connections with the Brotherhood.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh gestures during an interview with Reuters in Gaza City May 10, 2012. Photo: REUTERS

GAZA - The Palestinian group Hamas condemned on Tuesday Egypt's designation of the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group last week, reaffirming its solidarity with the ousted movement despite a crippling blockade imposed by Cairo.

Ismail Haniyeh, prime minister of the Hamas Gaza government, also snubbed calls by some rival Palestinian factions to sever its connections with the Brotherhood.