Monday, June 29, 2009

Barak and Communities in Judea and Samaria

by Nadene Goldfoot
The USA has called for a freeze on any building planned for Israel, but Israel's government has its own decisions to make and decided to allow 50 new homes in Judea-Samaria to be built. There are plans for 1,450 houses, but nothing was said about those.

A few hours after this decision, Defense Minister Ehud Barak flew to the USA to talk to George Mitchell, something I'd hate to do. Israel's need is to relocate settlers from Migron to Adam, which lies north of Jerusalem. Adam is where the 1,450 homes are needed.

Obama is pressuring Israel to stop all building so that the "Palestinians" would join in peace talks needed to create a Palestinian state. Here we have Israel, already a state, experiencing a population growth with the need to build some homes for people who were removed from the neighborhood they had just recently built, deeming that other neighbood "illegal". They have to go somewhere.

I might add that most of Israel consists of apartment buildings. Individual homes are a rarity. I lived in a high apartment building in Safed, and was lucky enough to be invited to a couple of exceptional homes for a visit. One was dug out of some earthquake ruins and was beautiful. Another was more like an American home with a backyard belonging to a writer friend of ours. So the opportunity to actually have a home is very special.

There are 500,000 Israelis living in Judea and Samaria and East Jerusalem. There are over 1,000,000 Arabs living in the state of Israel. Arabs do not want any Israelis living in their so called future state. Obama looks like he's accepting this unfairness. Palestinians are insisting that Judea and Samaria Jewish neighborhoods are illegal. In my previous blog, I refute that. Obviously Israel also is refuting it by allowing building to take place. As I note, the Palestinians have not recognized Israel to this date, something a new neighbor should do to be neighborly.

Tensions are mounting now between the two different groups; Palestinians and Israelis. Palestinians are claiming that the Israelis raided the village of Asira al-Qiblya and fired guns at their windows, injuring two of them. In the news, the word "village" was used. Why is it that Palestinians are said to have villages and in many newspapers while the term "settlements" and "West Bank" is used instead of the name of villages or towns and Judea and Samaria. I believe these terms were chosen for their political usage. The Israelis said that the action began with a Palestinian arson attack on Yitzhar. While they were trying to put out the fire they were stoned by Palestinians and that an Israeli was hurt. Troops called in used rubber bullets, not real ones.

In Ramallah, Abbas said that he refuses to negotiate with Israel until they stop building. I say-I would refuse to negotiate with him until he accepts the reality of an Israel and deal with it! Abbas expects Israel to just accept their state being there and not put conditions on it as it is meaningless. I do not understand his logic at all. It's not computing other than the Arabs refuse to accept a Jewish state in their midst. And just how badly do they really need their own state? They don't plan on taking a first baby-step of accepting Israel's existence.

Being that Israel is a democracy, we have a group of Israelis called "Peace Now." They are protesting the construction activity planned for Adam. They're claiming that 2,500 homes are in the future plans and are even under construction already.

Reference: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090629/wl_nm/us_palestinians_israel_settlements_8

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Netanyahu and Palestine

by Nadene Goldfoot
One thing I've always been able to count on since 1948 is that the Arabs have refused all our offers of being able to create their own nation next door to us. Arafat refused so many times that it simply was amazing to me. We've offered them everything including the kitchen sink and they have refused doing so. We've moved out of land we were living in and it only led to another place they could stage rocket firings upon us.

I've become very jaded in my attitude wondering which will happen first; the Messiach's arrival or a change in the Arabs. Not Netanyahu. He remains hopeful. Maybe it's because he's the prime minister, younger, and I'm not. He is ready to talk to their government leaders without preconditions. He said it wasn't Israel that had preconditions but that they have been placed on Israel, something that has not happened to previous Israeli governments. This is another stone thrown at Israel by the Obama government, as far as I can see.
Netanyahu isn't even saying that the "Palestinians have to recognize Israel as a Jewish homeland before he will talk with them. He's hoping that after the talks they will, though. He's hoping that the talks will be like a reconciliation of two people who will emerge with dignity, respect, and cooperation-something that has never taken place yet.

Netanyahu also has a vision for regional peace. All of Israel does and has been praying for it since 1948. It's not fun to always be immersed in a war or constantly threatened. Imagine what it does to the people. They cannot let their guard down. Their family members are always doing a milueem, which is going into the army for at least a month every year of practice. No one in Israel wants to be a warrior, but have to be alert and ready at anytime.

Netanyahu rightly hopes that many Arab states need to change their attitude and get involved in the peace process and help out the Palestinians economically, and not just arm them with weapons to be used against Israel. They need to advance income producing projects like commerce, agriculture and tourism. Palestine has to be demilitarized. Two Arab states have signed a peace treaty with Israel like Egypt and Jordan, but others have not. It's a belligerent neighborhood that Israel finds itself.

Our biggest problem with Abbas and his followers is that they still refuse to recognize the legitimacy of Israel and that it is a declared Jewish state. They refuse to accept Israel's right to national self-determination. They refuse to accept Israel-period.

Then again, the Hamas group living in Gaza refuse to accept Abbas or Israel. How in the world can there be a state of Palestine when their total being is to destroy Israel? Well, like waiting since 1948 when I was a little girl, it may have to take the arrival of the Messiach to bring this about.

Right now Netanyahu is going through tremendous pressure from the USA, Europe and from the Arab states to give in to their demands and expectations which are not considering the welfare of Israel at all. The whole world is pressuring him and they have not placed themselves in Israel's shoes at all. He's a bright man and does not want to repeat what happened in Gaza to happen in the "so called West Bank which we call Judea and Samaria". He will expect some international guarantees, especially from the USA. This cannot be conducted like promises in a political race where promises suddenly are off the table once elected. They must be made honestly. Obama is the one pressuring Israel so much. Will he take the responsibility of these guarantees? If the Arabs truly believe in peace, they will guarantee their acceptance of Israel and desire to live in peace. I haven't been able to count on that for 60 years. Why is this different now?

Netanyahu took a big step towards peace as Israel has done many times. He's using the word "state". He also intends to honor the road map, but then Bush also added guarantees onto that that haven't been met, and the wordage is not understood as having the same meaning by both Israel and the USA. (Read my blog article before this ). I wonder if he feels like me in that the Palestinians will exhibit the same old-same old attitude of rejection. They have yet to bend to anything that would spell out peace. Their response to Netanyahus speech has been most negative. I'm not surprised. Again-it's the same old same old attitude as usual.

I've had nightmares of Israel being surrounded by two Palestinian states; Gaza and the "West Bank". Gaza hasn't stopped firing upon Israel yet, and people in the West Bank have managed to get their licks in at Israel many times in ruthless terrorist attacks. Well, why should I be worried. Looking at past history, it'll be the day when they accept anything said by Israel to make peace.

Reference: http://www.theisraelproject.org/atf/cf/%7B84dc5887-741e-4056-8d91-a389164bc94e%7D/PRESS_CONFERENCE_WITH_MARK_REGEV_15.6.09.PDF

Friday, June 26, 2009

Obama and International Law Concerning Israel

by Nadene Goldfoot
Unlike past presidents, Obama is demanding tht Israel prevent its citizens from building onto their homes and communities in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria which is something we all do at one time or another to our own homes in the states. Sometimes there is a need for an additional rumpus room or bedroom when we can't afford to buy another home. We try to improve on what we have.

Obama goes along with Arab philosophy by calling "settlements" illigitimate. Joining him in this chorus are Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the Middle East envoy of Obama, George Mitchell, who never liked Israel to begin with from what I've noted in the past.

Obama says that Israel "has obligations under the road map." Let's look at that map.

Israel has never taken a legal obligation to ban such building. Israel never signed an agreement that describes any Jewish community as "illegal." Ariel Sharon's chief of staff Dov Weisglass and Bush's deputy adviser Elliott Abrams both stated that Sharon's decision to curtail Jewish building in Judea and Samaria was based on explicit understandings with Bush's administration describing Jewish building that they would maintain for the duration of the peace process. There were agreements and the prime minister of Israel relied on them.." The road map was approved as a cabinet decision-not an international agreement. The Netanyahu government is under no legality to follow it. It can even abrogate Israel's accepting the document by calling for another vote. The road map lacks the seal of international law. It was not adopted as an internationally binding document under Chapter Vii of the UN charter. Israel has no international legal obligation to end Jewish construction in Judea and Samaria or Jerusalem.

Israel is on board for the 1976 International Convention for Civil and Political Rights, which prohibits all forms of discrimination against people on the basis of religion and nationality. The USA signed that one, too. According to that, Israel would be most discriminating if it followed the dictates of Obama, so by international law would not even be able to push such a law that is against the law. The road map is calling for a breach of international law!

What bothers me is that here we have a group of people who will not accept Israel's state of being and will not recognize Israel, and yet so many are on board to punish Israel and reward the bullies. What kind of world is this? Here we also have Iran, who has threatened Israel repeatedly with death and destruction, doing this to their own people and yet our administration has been reticent about saying anything to upset their regime. I note that they are not shy about demanding something from Israel that is completely wrong and unfair and only serves to reward the people who want to see the demise of Israel. All I can say on retrospect is that our Democrats certainly have changed course in mid-stream. I seem to remember a lot of promises pouring out of Clinton and Obama when pleading for votes. Of course, I never believed a word. Politicians. They're becoming more and more like snake-oil salesmen.

Reference: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1245924931885&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Former President Nixon and His Lovely Comments About Jews

Nadene Goldfoot

Today at 12:45 just after lunchtime, I turned on KGW and heard this being said by Nixon. It was from a newly released tape. I didn't get to catch why they were playing this, and was horrified at what he was saying.


ON JEWS AND ANTI-SEMITISM

Anti-Semitism is stronger than we think. You know, it’s unfortunate. But this has happened to the Jews. It happened in Spain, it happened in Germany, it’s happening — and now it’s going to happen in America if these people don’t start behaving. ... It may be they have a death wish. You know that’s been the problem with our Jewish friends for centuries.
— Nixon in a Feb. 21, 1973, phone
conversation with the evangelist Billy Graham, discussing Jewish-American opposition to evangelical outreach efforts.


Well-according to Nixon we'd better start behaving!!!We've had this problem for centuries.
The bad thing, and we can say that every president has probably been anti-Semitic, is the timing right now on top of CNN's timing. This is the 3rd president to find fault with Jews/Israelis, and they've had to chastise us. It's a bad thing for the public to hear as it just vilifies us and convinces anti-Semites that they're right. It also shows me that anti-Semitism is so deep in our culture, that we are fighting the hole in the dike with our finger and the hole is again growing. Nixon was a Quaker, and look how he feels. Yikes.

According to these tapes, he was speaking about the Jews' opposition to being converted by the likes of Billy Graham. " Nixon worried that Jewish leaders were stirring up anti-Semitic sentiment in their opposition to evangelical Christianity efforts, like Campus Crusade."

Reference: http://www.thefrisky.com/post/246-nixons-extreme-racism-revealed-in-newly-released-tapes/

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

CNN's Lying About Israel

by Nadene Goldfoot
While watching CNN’s Iranian coverage Sunday night June 21st, the reporters started talking about how American presidents have in the past needed to confront friendly countries they disagreed with. They immediately brought up Israel in 1982 and stated that Israel slaughtered the Lebanese, and that Reagan had to tell Begin to stop and he did.

Five minutes or less later they brought up Israel again with the same subject of presidential interjections saying that Isael slaughtered the Gazans, and was told to stop by the American president. All this was in reference to Obama’s lack of wanting to interfere with Iran’s political situation right now.

I about fell out of my chair, and me home from the hospital after only six days after having open heart surgery. I could not believe what CNN was telling the world; twice relating how we slaughtered people!

I was in Israel starting in 1980, living in Safed from 1981 to the end of 1985, and remember the Lebanon War very well. Safed is in the Northern Galilee and was very close to the Lebanon border. In fact, my favorite department store was in Kiriat Shimona, which was north of us and they drove to many times. I had been to the "Good Neighbor Fence."

That’s not what happened at all, of course. We do not go around slaughtering people. What happened was that Lebanon was made up of a minority of Christians and a majority of Muslims. The Christians were led by a Major Hadad who patrolled the border of Israel and Lebanon, and he was considered our very good friend. In fact, Major Hadad would come to our hospital for R and R, and we had an agreement with him to take his family into Israel if G-d forbid anything happened to him.

Evidently the Palestinian Muslims had gone in and slaughtered the Christians at some point. Sharon was Defense Minister who apparently did not know that the Christian Falange had gone into Sabra and Shatilla camps to exact revenge on the detestable Palestinian Arab PLO slaughterers of the Lebanese Christians. Sharon was blamed for the attack and was fired by Menachem Begin. It was an eye for an eye attack of Lebanese against Lebanese.

Eventually Sharon was exonerated. It was the Christian militia who did the killings and not the Israelis. That didn’t seem to enter into CNN’s reporter’s verbage, though. To me it shows that CNN never did report the facts correctly in the first place or their reporters wouldn’t have said such things in the first place.

I was there living through the whole experience. When it started I was on a bus going down the hill from Safed headed for Haifa to go to the hospital, and was alone. I had fallen in Haifa while at the school where I lived (Ulpan) and had crushed my right elbow which also had broken the lower bone and was scheduled for a talk with the doctors about when they could take the six screws out of my arm that was holding me together. What I saw was Israeli tanks coming up the hill as we went down. Upon arriving at the hospital, I was told to go back home as fast as possible, that a war was starting and the doctors would be too busy to deal with me. They expected lots of wounded soldiers coming to their hospital. Here I was, a West Coast American, in the midst of my first Israeli war.

After arriving back in Safed, I checked out the bomb shelter in our apartment building. Almost everyone lived in apartments. Homes such as I left in Portland were unheard of. The bomb shelter couldn't take in dogs, and we had brought our German shepherd with us. She was my baby and I was not about to leave her in the apartment alone, so knew I wouldn't be in any bomb shelter. Luckily, we lived on the bottom floor anyway. I thought we might be safe.

My job became baking cakes for the soldiers to eat. All these eighteen year olds had to get to their posts, and did a lot of walking to them. Coffee and cake booths were set up so they could eat something. All these teenagers must have been experiencing sugar-highs. It was good, though. It gave me something to do so that I couldn't shake with fear. I was helping.

Being a teacher, I somehow knew instinctively that the school would need me. I reported to school the next school day (my day off) and found all the men teachers in the army, and that I truly was needed. I taught in the city's junior high, which was across the street from my building. The children were hysterical when they heard a helicopter landing at the hospital up the block from our building. All their family; uncles, brothers, fathers, and many women were in the army, and of course they feared for their lives. They'd huddle in corners while I taught English. One time I remember just stopping my lecture and looking at them. They looked back and said, "Keep talking, Nechama." I did. They needed to hear something familiar. So that's what I did during the Lebanon War. It's something that can't be forgotten.

What my 9th graders did was something amazing. They were needed in the hospital to speak English to the Lebanese or Arabic. They were translators. They told me that they saw things they shouldn't have at their age. They did see the need for English, though, as it was a language they used to speak to the Lebanese. After all, we took in anyone who was injured. Our students studied languages a lot. What was amazing to me was seeing the Arab kids helping the Jewish kids with Arabic studies and vice versa with their Hebrew studies. They all helped each other with English.

I saw units of men with white beards patrolling our streets. They were men left behind to protect us. Women stepped in and took over their husband's jobs. Of course we also had many women teachers in our building, and the Vice Principal was a woman who took over for the principal who had to report into the army. You just didn't see hardly any men on the streets. We were a city of women and children.

As for the Gazan war, CNN never remarked that Israel had been under attack for eight years and it was its citizens who were under missle attack. They never reported that finally Israel said, "Enough", and told the world many times that they wouldn’t take the attacks anymore, no matter what Condoleeza kept saying, and that the Gazans would have to stop or suffer the consequences. The Gazans were warned and did not stop. Israel did everything they could to lessen the harm to the Palestinian citizens, even putting their own lives in harm’s way many times. Nothing was mentioned of this-only that Israel slaughtered them. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

I’m saddened to see such an international TV station play such a heavy role in discriminating against Israel, and that its reporters have done such a sloppy job. They seem to have no idea of the terrible consequences that can happen when so many people hear these horrid lies about Israel. After all, it takes very little for so many people to turn against Jews; even today. As for CNN-I now have more reason to watch Fox News, and have lost a lot of respect for CNN's reporting skills.

Stanley Goldfoot- and the Temple Mount Group-2009

Nadene Goldfoot
My 3rd cousin, Stanley Goldfoot of Jerusalem, belonged to the organization of the Temple Mount. It continues to grow though he is now deceased, and he would be pleased to find this article on my blog. Stanley wrote the most stirring "Letter to the World" about Jerusalem, and I have never seen its equal. I also have that in my blog somewhere.

Be'esrat HaShemWith the help of G-d  THE TEMPLE MOUNT FAITHFUL MOVEMENT HELD ON "JERUSALEM DAY" THE MOST EXCITING EVENT IN ISRAEL SINCE THE DESTRUCTION OF THE HOLY TEMPLE IN 70 CE:THE CORNERSTONE FOR THE THIRD TEMPLE WEIGHING 13 TONS WAS CARRIED BY THE TEMPLE MOUNT AND LAND OF ISRAEL FAITHFUL MOVEMENT ON HER "JERUSALEM DAY" MARCH, 27 IYAR 5769, 21 MAY 2009.

The Cornerstone for the Third Temple, weighing 13 tons, that the Temple Mount Faithful Movement prepared to be laid on the Temple Mount and start the process of the building of the Third Temple, was carried by the Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement as they marched from Ammunition Hill to the Temple Mount on "Jerusalem Day", 27 Iyar 5769 (21 May 2009). The holy Cornerstone was driven from Ammunition Hill to Jaffa Gate and along the western walls of the Old City to the downtown streets of Jerusalem and was presented to the people of Israel and to the entire world for the first time since the destruction of the Holy Temple in the year 70 CE

.We want to explain the important and exiting significance of "Jerusalem day" for Israel and even for all the world. Since 1967 Jerusalem Day has been celebrated as one of the most important holidays in Israel. This public holiday commemorates the liberation of the Temple Mount, the biblical city of Jerusalem, the City of David and the biblically significant areas of the Land of Israel: Judea, Samaria, Gaza, the Golan Heights and the Sinai Peninsula where G-d gave the Holy Torah to the Children of Israel.

 Sinai is the place where G-d anointed them to be His chosen people, to be a light to the nations, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. It was in the divine Six Days War of 1967 when G-d liberated all of these biblical areas and returned them to His People Israel. In the climax of all of this G-d returned the Holy Temple Mount in biblical Jerusalem to His People Israel to immediately rebuild His Holy Temple, to renew biblical worship and to begin a new Godly End time Era in the life of all Israel and the entire world.

 This is the day that the G-d and the people of Israel expected and desired for it one thousand eight hundred ninety seven years. The G-d of Israel appeared in this godly war, when Israel was attacked by her Arab enemies from all the sides, He commanded His Israeli forces exactly as He did in the biblical times and led them to the biggest victory in the history of Israel. End time prophecy became a reality and was fulfilled in six days.

This war was not an accident in the history of Israel. The G-d of Israel had a very clear intention, as a focus of His end time plans, to bring to pass the focus and the climax of His prophetic end time plans: to rebuild His end time Third Temple and to open a new godly moral time in the life of Israel and all the world exactly as He prophesied through His prophet Isaiah: "The word that Yesha'yahu the son of Amoz saw concerning Yehuda and Yerushalayim.

And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all the nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the G-d of Ya'aqov; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Ziyyon shall go forth Tora, and the word of the Lord from Yerushalayim. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall decide among many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." (Isaiah 2;1-4)

 It is important to explain the significance of the "Ammunition Hill" and why we decided to start out march to the Temple Mount at this important place. The "Ammunition Hill", located in northern Jerusalem, was one of the most heroic places during the Six Days War the Arab forces attacked Jerusalem. G-d fought with the Israeli Army as He promised in His prophetic Word (Zechariah 12:14). The intense fighting took place from bunker to bunker on this hill, where heroic Israeli soldiers sacrificed their lives in battle for the G-d of Israel, for the Holy City of Jerusalem and for the Holy Temple Mount. Ammunition Hill became the symbol of both Israeli heroism and the fighting of G-d together with His people Israel in fulfillment of His prophetic Word.

All of our plans as we reported them before "Jerusalem day" were fulfilled thanks to G-d completely and brought hope, encouragement and joy to Israel. We felt the presence of the G-d of Israel among us. He inspired deeply our spirits and hearts. We knew that we are doing G-d's Holy work for Israel and all the world. This special march was proceed from the "Ammunition Hill" and was led by a big truck, that drove the Holy Cornerstone that was decorated with Israeli flags, the Star of David and Temple flags. Silver trumpets that were reconstructed for future worship in the rebuilt Third Temple were blown along the way and in the gates of the biblical city of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. When the Cornerstone and the marchers arrived to Jaffa Gate in the Old City, the Cornerstone continued along the western walls of the Old City and then continued to the downtown streets of Jerusalem. It was a very exciting and joyful event when the cornerstone was presented to the people of Israel and the entire world for the first time in Jerusalem since the destruction of the Holy Temple of G-d in the year 70 CE.

 This great occasion was one of the most exciting and major events that Israel had experienced during this special end time age. The G-d of Israel appeared again to His people of Israel during this godly event and led them into complete redemption when His Holy Temple will be rebuild and He will again dwell among His people Israel and all the world in His Holy Temple on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem and He will resume leadership over all the earth from His Holy Temple in Jerusalem. With this godly inspiration the Temple Mount And The Land of Israel Faithful Movement came on this Holy day to the people of Israel and all the world to give them the godly end time direction that should lead their lives as G-d is expecting from every one of them.

On their way to the Temple Mount the marchers demonstrated in front of the United States consulate in Jerusalem against the pressure that is growing from president Barack Obama and His administration to divide the land of Israel and to establish a foreign terror Arab state inside the sovereign Land of Israel given by G-d in an eternal covenant only for His people Israel for a Holy purpose: to be a Holy nation, a kingdom of priests and a light to the nations (exodus 19;5-6) . They warned President Obama concerning his pressure to stop the Israeli settlements of the Land, to remove the settlements in Judea and Samaria and to divide Jerusalem the eternal Capital of the G-d and the people of Israel. 

They called-out to President Obama: 'Take your hands off the Land of the G-d and the people of Israel and off Jerusalem!' They warned President Obama to be careful of the divine judgment from the G-d of Israel as the Prophet Joel prophesied: "For behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring back the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down in the valley of Jehosophat, and will enter into judgment with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and have divided up my land." (Joel 4:2)

When the marchers of the Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement arrived to Jaffa Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem, they blew the silver trumpets, swear faithfulness to Jerusalem and danced with the flags Israel. The marchers then continued to march through the Old City and ascended to the Holy Temple Mount where they swore faithfulness with devotion and excitement to the godly anointing on the Faithful Movement to build the end time third Temple of G-d in our lifetime. They felt the presence of the G-d of Israel among them calling them to go to His people Israel and to all the world and to share with them His call to rebuild immediately His Holy Temple so that He will again dwell among His people Israel and all mankind.

This exciting and historical event will never be forgotten from the history of Israel and all the world. It opened a new era in the life of all of us and was actually the first step towards the rebuilding of the Temple in the lifetime of our generation.Everyone is called at this historical godly moment to actively join, come and stand together, and help the Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement to complete her major and historic godly campaign to build the Temple of G-d and to bring to pass all of G-d's end time prophetic expectations and plans for Israel and the entire world.
IN THE G-D OF ISRAEL WE TRUST!

The Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful MovementP.O. Box 18325, 4 Aliash Street, Jerusalem, IsraelTelephone: 02.625.1112 / FAX: 02.625.1113gershon@templemountfaithful.org

Forced to Concede a Birthright?

by Victor Sharpe
This article by my friend, Victor Sharpe, answers so many questions people may have that I had to add it to my blog. Nadene Goldfoot
"Let me tell you about land for peace."I remember once seeing a cartoon of a Native American chief looking wistfully towards the distant horizon where once his ancestral homeland lay. He was speaking to a stranger about the peace treaties he had made that were all dishonored by the Americans. The caption read: "Let me tell you about land for peace."With this in mind, and with the painful knowledge of Israel's past "land for peace" fiascos, I penned an article, recently published — March 29, 2009 — in American Thinker, called "First Two-State Solution is 87 Years Old," 

(http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/03/the_two_state_solution_is_87_y.html). To read it now, Click here. I felt it necessary to remind the world how, in 1922, the British Colonial Office headed by Winston Churchill had arbitrarily abrogated the promises made by Britain under the Balfour Declaration — of assisting the creation in Mandatory Palestine of a Jewish National Home. The British government broke its promise by tearing away all of the Mandate territory east of the River Jordan and giving it to the Arab Hashemite tribe. No Jews were allowed thereafter to live within the new Arab territory — Judenrein, Arab style.Now the Jewish state — ever obliged through international pressure to take risks by agreeing to "land for peace", but never, ever receiving peace — is faced with the relentless continuation of the plan to divide up again what remains of Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel, by tearing away its Biblical and ancestral homeland. This is the very Biblical heartland of Judea and Samaria known throughout the world by its Jordanian Arab name, the West Bank. Land for peace and the two-state solution combine in their deathly embrace to force Israel into agreeing to permit within its borders the creation of an Arab terror state to be called "Palestine", the 23rd Arab state.In my work as a freelance writer and author, I am constantly forced to battle both Israel-bashers in the media as well as Jews who are sadly willing to abandon their people's patrimony. They do so in the deluded belief that by giving away the land, a full and lasting peace with the Muslim Arabs will descend upon embattled Israel like manna from heaven. In Britain there is an apt word for such nonsense. It's called codswallop.It is necessary to retell the story of the redemption in June 1967, when Divine providence and Jewish patriotism combined to free Judea, Samaria, Gaza and the Golan Heights from alien occupation. But why must it be required to reiterate again and again that Israel did not capture land from another people? It always was the Jewish people's very own land; and it returned to its native people.How long must the people endure Israeli governments which turn a blind eye to the creation of new Arab facts springing up on Judean and Samarian soil as a house here and a villa there? How long must they wait before a nationalist and patriotic Israeli government emerges that withstands foreign pressures; never again sending its police and troops, like thieves in the night, to destroy Jewish villages (I never use the pejorative English word, "settlements") on that same Judean and Samarian land?Will Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu withstand such foreign pressure? Will he have learned the terrible lesson from his abandonment of Hevron, the city of Judaism's patriarchs and matriarchs, to the Muslim Arabs? Unless a miraculous change of heart occurs, I fear not.Nationalist and patriotic Israelis, along with Jewish and non-Jewish supporters in the Diaspora, may therefore see the new government, with its inclusion of Ehud "peace at any price" Barak as Defense Minister, continuing the lamentable policy of "land for peace"; whereby, Israel gives away its land but never receives peace, followed inevitably with the direst of all tragedies — a second "two-state solution".How long before the majority of politicians in the Knesset finally accept that Jews have returned to their ancestral and Biblical land, a land which presently stretches from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River - a mere 40 plus miles. How long before they realize that Israel must not be the only nation in the world perpetually forced to concede its homeland — the very special land given in eternal Covenant by the G-d of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, King of Israel, Creator of the Universe — invisible and indivisible.The threats are mounting against the Jewish state to an extent not seen since 1947. My own published book, Politicide: The attempted murder of the Jewish state, outlines the relentless march of the enemies of Eretz Yisrael. http://www.lulu.com/The manner in which Israel may yet prevail is to resist from a position of relative territorial strength. Hevron has already been lost to those Arabs who call themselves Palestinians (save for a tiny Jewish and embattled enclave in the holy city). The Arabs have no interest in Israel's survival; rather, the opposite.For the vast majority of Muslims, Palestinian Arabs in particular, the Koranic belief is that wherever the Muslim foot has trod triumphal in the name of Allah, that land forever remains Islamic and, if lost, must be reconquered. That is why the secular peace process and the so-called Two State Solution is a mirage in the Middle Eastern deserts. It is why Israel - even if it shrunk to one downtown square in Tel Aviv - will never be accepted by its Muslim neighbors who will war against it until it is no more. The Koranic verse is (Quran 2:191).The answer is therefore; no more concessions. Not one more inch for it avails nothing.Victor Sharpe is a freelance writer with articles and essays published in FrontPageMag. com, Townhall. com, Outpost, the Wall Street Journal, the London Daily Telegraph, American Thinker, Israel Alert, Jewish Review, The Jerusalem Connection and many other publications. He is also the author of "Politicide: The attempted murder of the Jewish State" and "The Blue Hour and Other Strange Tales."This article was published April 14, 2009 in Arutz-Sheva http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/8713_________________________End of Story___________________________ "First Two-State SolutionIn 1920, Great Britain was given the responsibility by the League of Nations to oversee the Mandate over the geographical territory known as Palestine with the express intention of reconstituting within its territory a Jewish National Home.The territory in question stretched from the Mediterranean Sea to the eastern boundary of Mandatory Palestine, which was a border that would separate it from what was to become the future state of Iraq.The League of Nations created a number of articles, which were in line with the original intent of the Balfour Declaration of November 29th, 1917. At the last minute, however, a new article was introduced by the British Colonial Office: article number 25.At first the sudden addition of this article was not a cause for alarm but gradually it became apparent that its inclusion directly enabled Great Britain in 1921 to tear away all the territory of geographical Palestine, east of the River Jordan, and give it to the Arab Hashemite family; the territory to become Trans-Jordan and led by the emir Abdullah.Britain presented this gift to Abdullah, the son of the Sherif of Mecca, as a consolation prize for its awarding of the Hedjaz territory and Arabia, which included Mecca, to the rival Saud family: That vast territory is now Saudi Arabia.British officials also claimed that the gift of Mandatory Palestine east of the Jordan River was in gratitude to the Hashemites for their contribution in helping defeat the Turks. However, even T.S. Lawrence later described in derisory terms the Hashemite role as "a side show of a side show."This was the first partition of Palestine and created a brand new entity 87 years ago covering some 35,000 square miles or nearly four-fifths of the geographical territory of Palestine. Immediately Jewish residence in the territory was forbidden and it became in effect judenrein — the German term for the ethnic cleansing of Jews from a territory.This betrayal by none other than Winston Churchill, the Colonial Secretary at the time, was a devastating blow to the Jewish and Zionist leadership, which now saw the promised Jewish homeland reduced to the remaining narrow territory between the Mediterranean Sea and the River Jordan — an area barely 50 miles at its widest.Shortly after, in 1923, the British and French colonial powers also divided up the northern part of the Palestine Mandate. Britain stripped away the Golan Heights (ancient biblical Bashan) and gave it to French occupied Syria.The Balfour Declaration issued by Lord Balfour, British Foreign Secretary, never envisaged that the Jordan River would be the eastern boundary of the reconstituted Jewish homeland. Indeed, the Zionist leadership had put forward in February 1919 its first submission that the eastern boundary would run well east of the Hedjaz railway. The incorporation of the railway would be an economically essential requirement for the Jewish community living east of the River Jordan as well as providing it with vital security.The squabbling by the French and British colonial powers over the final frontiers of the Palestine Mandate had earlier led the London Times to urge Paris to accept sensible and rational frontiers in both the north and east of Jewish Palestine. As early as September 19th, 1919 it had thundered in an editorial:"The Jordan will not do as the eastern frontier of Palestine ... Palestine must have a good military frontier east of Jordan ... Our duty as Mandatory is to make Jewish Palestine not a struggling state but one that is capable of vigorous and independent life ... "But Jewish aspirations inevitably were dashed as a new British Foreign Secretary, Lord Curzon, took the place of Lord Balfour. This new British official within weeks of succeeding Balfour made it clear that Britain was intent upon separating Transjordan from Palestine: the first two-state solution.The succeeding history of the remaining one fifth of the original territory promised to the Jewish people by Lord Balfour and the British government was one of continuing British betrayal as each successive Mandatory administration displayed pro-Arab and anti-Jewish policies.During its administration up until 1947, Britain severely restricted Jewish immigration and purchases of land while turning a blind eye to massive illegal Arab immigration into the territory from neighboring Arab states.Britain's sorry record of appeasement of the Arabs, at the expense of Jewish destiny in the remaining territory, culminated in the infamous 1939 White Paper, which limited Jewish immigration to just 75,000 souls for the next five years. This onerous and draconian policy, coming as it did on the eve of the outbreak of World War 2, was a death blow to millions of Jews attempting to flee extermination by Nazi Germany. Britain's mismanagement of the Mandate finally led to the United Nation's Partition Plan of 1947. The Jewish Agency reluctantly accepted this additional dismemberment of what was left in Mandatory Palestine of the promised Jewish National Home.They did this in order to provide a refuge for the surviving Jewish remnants of the Holocaust and for the growing numbers of Jewish refugees being driven out of their homes throughout the Arab world. In contrast, the Arab regimes rejected the Partition Plan. Then, as now, they worked against the existence of an independent Jewish state.Israel was officially re-born as a sovereign nation in 1948 and its 600,000 Jews fought to survive the massive Arab onslaught, which was intended to wipe out the Jewish state.In 1948, Trans-Jordan, renamed the Kingdom of Jordan since 1946, had joined the other Arab nations in invading the Jewish state, illegally annexing the Biblical and ancestral Jewish heartland of Judea and Samaria and renaming it the West Bank. Only Britain and Pakistan recognized the annexation.The war ended in tortuous armistice lines resulting in an Israeli border a mere nine miles wide at the most densely populated area, which stretched from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordanian occupied West Bank. Israel's late Foreign Minister, Abba Eban, described these dangerously vulnerable armistice lines as the Auschwitz borders.Nineteen years later the Arab states declared again their imminent intention to destroy Israel. In the June 1967 Six Day War Israel liberated Judea and Samaria from Jordan in a defensive war. Israel offered to give away the newly liberated West Bank to the Hashemite regime in Jordan and the Gaza Strip to its erstwhile Egyptian occupiers in return for a full and lasting peace. But the Arab League, meeting in Khartoum in August, 1967, delivered the infamous three No's: No peace with Israel, no negotiations with Israel, no recognition of Israel.It is within the narrow territory remaining for the Jewish state, if one includes Judea and Samaria, that the world now demands the establishment of yet another Arab state. Hamas controlled Gaza would be included in this future state to be called Palestine; a state which has never existed before by that name in all of recorded history — certainly not as an independent Arab state.Gaza has already been given to the Arabs and they have turned it into a terror base from which they have launched a lethal missile blitz against Israel numbering to date over 10,000 rockets.Israeli leaders should never have accepted even one missile fired from Gaza at its citizens in southern Israel. To let thousands fall with relative impunity for so many years led the world to believe that it was acceptable. After all, if Israel wasn't interested in safeguarding its own civilians, why then should the world be. It was accepted as business as usual.The Gaza War thus came as a surprise to the world community and, just as the Second Lebanon War, it was launched by Israeli leaders too late and ended too soon, leaving both Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon free to wreak future havoc upon the Jewish state.The disputed West Bank, which is the ancient biblical heartland of Israel, is now the territory U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, is pressuring Israel to give away to the Arabs who call themselves Palestinians. This is the present day so-called two-state solution and will dismember what is left of Israel and drive some 250,000 Jewish residents from their homes and farms. Why? Because just as in Jordan, Jews will not be permitted to live within Arab territory, while Arabs can remain free to live within Israel.It is instructive to remember that upon the granting of the Palestine Mandate to Great Britain, an eminent British celebrity and supporter of Zionism, Josiah Wedgwood, addressed a Jewish crowd of thousands at the Royal Albert Hall in London in which he urged the audience to stand up for Jewish rights in its homeland.According to the late Shmuel Katz in his groundbreaking biography of the great Zionist leader, Vladimir Ze'ev Jabotinsky, titled The Lone Wolf, Wedgwood said:"... This lesson I want the new Jewish nation to learn and to get by heart: Stand up for your rights. Let us have more of the spirit in the Jewish movement of my good and gallant friend Jabotinsky."Sadly, Israeli governments have become notoriously fearful of rejecting outright the deadly trap inherent in the so called two-state solution. Their muted responses have merely encouraged world leaders to repeatedly breathe new life into the discredited plan. The searing tragedy is that the two-state solution may presage for the Jewish people another Final Solution.Perhaps the Secretary of State prefers to remain oblivious to the stark fact that the Arabs, whom she embraces and who today call themselves Palestinians, are as committed as their parents and grandparents before them to destroy the Jewish state; whatever size or shape its borders. The fact is that this is not a dispute over borders; this is a religious war and the Arabs, so long as the overwhelming majority remain Muslim, will never accept the existence of a non-Muslim state in territory previously conquered in the name of Allah — whatever the size or shape of its borders.Only just recently, Muhammad Dahlan, speaking on behalf of Fatah and the Palestinian Authority, declared on PA TV that the PA will not recognize Israel — one of the primary demands made upon the Palestinian Arabs in the Oslo Peace Accords. Indeed, Dahlan admitted that the only reason they meet with Israelis at all is in order to continue receiving the immense flow of international funds.Is Ms. Clinton aware of this Arab charade? Or does she dismiss it and care not for the absence of a sincere and honest Palestinian Arab peace partner and the inevitable plight of the quarter of a million plus Jewish residents who will become displaced refugees by enacting the next two-state solution. Perhaps she cares little for the resulting takeover of Judea and Samaria by Hamas and the inevitable missile blitz that will be launched by the Palestinian Arabs upon the rest of Israel.Incidentally, what irony when the homes of Peace Now members living in Tel Aviv become daily targets of missiles launched from the very areas they campaign for their fellow Jews to be expelled from.One wonders if Secretary Clinton knows that eighty seven years ago an original two — state solution was enacted in infamy. If she does, it is unlikely that she cares — anymore than the rest of the Obama Administration or State Department cares.And what of those Jewish Americans who serve the Secretary and sadly will be in the forefront of destroying Jewish patrimony in the Land of Israel. Will they have a conscience or feel shame for the calamity they create? I think not.

Judaism in the World-Less than 1% of World Population

by Nadene Goldfoot
Israel is the only Jewish country in the Middle East and is fighting for its life, being threatened by Iran's president. It holds as of the 2006 population records 40.6% of the Jews in the world and barely has more Jews than the United States, which has 40.3%. The third country with the most Jews is France with only 3.8% of the Jewish world population, so you can see that most of us are either in Israel or the USA, with teeny pockets of Jews here and there.

Israel is also the only democracy in the Middle East, which is why the USA should be supportive. It's harder to be a democracy amongst Muslims who are gaining in their religious beliefs and seem to revert back to their 7th or 8th century beginnings than being a democracy amongst the freer European nations. Iran is a good example. This means that not only are the Muslims negating friendship to Israel because of their religion but also for their political beliefs. You know the old adage; don't talk about religion or politics with friends. This leaves very little to talk about with their neighbors.

This gives us something to think about, though. Israel holds half of our brothers. It's important for us to remember that they are our brothers and what happens to them can happen to us. That's one reason I'm continuing to work on fighting against lies that I come across about Israel that seem to permeate in the world. When I see things in the newspapers or hear on TV, as I just have this past week, I fight against it with all my knowledge and capabilities. People are not accusing us of poisoning the wells, anymore, but can think of the darndest things to say about us that simply are not true. I hope that everyone will start collecting facts and be ready to verbally defend Israel when you hear false accusations. We cannot remain silent and sluff it off.


 Remember what happened in the holocaust. There was too much silence and not enough said in defense. We are lucky to be living in such a free society, but we can't forget our responsibility for others. This is a part of our Judaism; looking out for our brothers, too.

Saturday, June 06, 2009

Israel: Driving Our Own Destiny

This is a piece just sent to me, and impresses me so much that I am keeping it here for others to read. This is how I also feel. Nadene
by Howard Teich - May 29, 2009Long Island Jewish World
Nadene Goldfoot
View article onlineThere is a bottom line, for now. Negotiations for a two state solution to the Israeli- Palestinian conflict have been nearly disastrous, and have led down a path that has failed to bring peace closer. While those who push for the solution are well meaning, it will not work now, and it’s time for American Jewish leaders to take their heads out of the sand and forcefully and loudly support a strong and effective future for Israel on its own terms.The Israeli population spoke in the last election, voicing the opinion that a two-state solution is off the table for the time being. Their message was that continuing policy initiatives of the past is not the way to go.Oslo has proven to be a false start. Retreating from southern Lebanon only set up a new front for anti-Israel terrorists. The withdrawal from Gush Katif created a strongly militant terrorist state in Gaza that refuses ever to recognize Israel, and in fact calls for its destruction. And let’s not forget earlier withdrawals from the entirety of the Sinai and parts of the Golan that Israel made in the name of peace. Israel has given back more territory than the size of its entire country today for the possibility of peace.In return, Israel has faced intifadas in its own country, wars in Lebanon and then in Gaza, the need to build a wall to thwart suicide killings in Israel by separating Israel proper from its homeland in Judea and Samaria, attacks on Jewish citizens in Judea and Samaria, and the threat of a new Iranian power.Additionally, the number of worldwide anti-Semitic incidents has risen, in direct correlation to Israel and the Islamic fundamentalist terrorists. Although money continues to flow into Palestinian territory, the people living there seem to be increasingly militant without developing economically or furthering peace.

Let’s get it straight. After 61 years as a state, Israel is facing the threat of extinction by 100 million Arabs who surround it, from the Palestinians on its borders to the Iranians thousands of miles away. The Arabs remain unwilling to let Israelis live in peace. Going back to 1947 and earlier, the Arabs used the term “Palestinian” to gain additional land from the Jewish people, and succeeded. We cannot let that happen again.The Land of Israel today is on the historic land of the Jewish people dating back to Moses and before. That land included Judea and Samaria as well as Jerusalem and Gaza, and in fact, a significant part of Lebanon and Syria. Through wars and extermination, the land of the Jewish people was reduced in size by foreign occupants, until it was re-established and recognized by the world community.Multiple wars later, the Jewish people continue to fight for their right to have a homeland. The Arabs refuse to recognize this reality, and continue to use force, and now diplomacy, world opinion and terrorism, to destroy Israel. Those are the facts on the ground. The Arab world’s attempts to thwart peace with the mission of ridding the Middle East of a Jewish civilization must be seen for what it is, and brought to an end.

So, yes it is time for a change. Certain principles guide my view. First, Israel should never again retreat from land it possesses. It has no obligation to do so. Of paramount importance, we must abide by the principle that Jews should be allowed to live any place in this world that they choose to live.How outrageous to think that a peace agreement is being proposed and discussed based on the idea of all-Arab territory, where Jews would not be able to live, whether it be Gaza, or Judea and Samaria, or even as it was with Yamit in the Sinai. I hope that we have learned never again to accept the word “judenrein” when it applies to our Jewish community.The second principle is that Israel cannot turn its enemies into friends through retreat, but only through strength. That was one of the earliest teachings of the great founders of Israel, such as Ben Gurion, and the lesson remains the same today. The threats posed by the Palestinians and other Arabs, as well as the Iranians’ words of destruction against the State of Israel, must be taken seriously.The third principle is that we must be proud of our Jewish heritage and our return to Israel. Perhaps the term “Greater Israel” is appropriate here. The original vision of Israel in the Bible encompassed the land West of the Jordan River, including our previous kingdoms of Judea and Samaria, the entirety of Jerusalem, and the land of Gaza. Israel has every right to exist in that land forever, and its claim is not secondary to that of the Palestinian Arabs. I reject the concept and the terminology that the lands are occupied territories.The fourth principle is the most clear for me. Israel can never enter into a peace agreement unless it can be convinced that it will both offer a real, long-term peace and negate the probability of enhancing the strength of Israel’s enemies.

We must remember certain facts. With the great wealth of the Arabs, and their vast resources of land, the Palestinian people could be guaranteed by their brethren Arabs an incredible future on their land if they so choose. Jordan was to be the Palestinian state, and they threw many of their Palestinian people out of their country. Maintaining the U.N. refugee camps has only continued the hardships of many of the Palestinian people. It is clear that the plight of the Palestinian people will not necessarily be resolved by an independent Palestinian state.Although I opposed the withdrawal from Gush Katif, it was done, and Gaza was set up for the Palestinians to demonstrate that they could establish a positive society on their own land. They did not, and the fact is that Hamas set out in Gaza under Iranian guidance to disrupt, if not destroy Israel. That cannot, must not and will not be.Until the day that the Palestinians accept Israel’s right to be a Jewish state, their leadership credentials remain clouded. There can be no peace with them, and no one should be pushing Israel into a peace that is no peace at all.It is time that American Jewry recognizes the realities on the ground, and stands firmly with Israel on them. We must be steadfast in our paramount interest that Israel’s right to determine its own future is non-negotiable.Rabbi J.B. Soloveitchik said with regard to the Holocaust, as I learned from the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s new Moriah Film, Against the Tide, “We must drive our own destiny, and transform fate into destiny during our life.” This must be the commitment of world Jewry today. We may not live in Israel, and yet, living in America, it is clear that we can do something they cannot do alone. We can proudly shout out with a clarion call that Israel exists, and is entitled to a secure future just like every country on Earth. We must convince the world.
Am Yisrael chai. (We the people of Israel live).

Howard Teich, a practicing attorney in New York, has held many leadership positions in the Jewish community. For comments, e-mail howardbteich@aol.com.