Hamas Objective Reiterated Again: : Destroy Israel

Nadene Goldfoot
At every chance Hamas has, Ismail Haniyeh  keeps saying that their goal is to eliminate Israel.  They may be connecting with Fatah and will go through the hoops of liberating Gaza, West Bank (Judea and Samaria) or Jerusalem, but they will work for their long term goal as well.  This was said at the 24th anniversary of Hamas's creation. 

I hope that by this time our government is paying attention.  It's not all hot air.  He means to work at it.  There is no peace in his heart that I can see.  The pressure should be off Israel to come to the table by now.  There is not much one can offer when the opposition just wants to murder you. 

Resource: http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/hamas-head-we-will-lead-intifada-after-intifada-until-we-liberate-palestine_614909.html

Chanukah is Over, and the Bombing Starts Up Again

Nadene Goldfoot
One million Israelis are exposed to the danger of being hit by missiles, mortars and rockets in southern Israel.  Wednesday a rocket was fired into the area that did not explode on impact.  That doesn't happpen very often. 

Thursday, when people were returning from Chanukah vacations, they were greeted by a Qassam rocket within 10 kilometers of being fired from Gaza that landed in a field without killing anyone.  However, it does cause PTSD.  People are alarmed by the sounds of the siren and from running to some kind of cover.  Not all people have access to bomb shelters in the area.  People never know what was fired or what the range might be.  All have to be prepared.  Hamas is held responsible for all firing emanating from Gaza. 

Reference:  Artuz Sheva : Afternoon naps shattered by Rocket Attack on southern Israel by Chana Ya'ar
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/151216
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Palestinian_rocket_attacks_on_Israel,_2011
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/151166

No Peace for Southern Israel

Nadene Goldfoot
The fight goes on.  On Thursday, the 22nd, 3 mortar shells were fired into southern Israel.  Wartime comes from Gaza and southern Israel suffers.  Israelis have only 12 seconds to get to a bomb shelter so they can't stray too far away.  One never knows when something can happen.  It has been quieter the past few days. 

This time Israel's air strike got a terrorist and from 3 to 10 were injured.  They aimed at a certain vehicle knowing the terrorists they were after were in it.  The Gazan terrorists even fired a kassam rocket but it fell short and landed in Gaza.  Israel had a 2nd strike, hitting a terrorist cell. This happened when they found out about a planned attack on the Israel-Egyptian border. 

The terrorist that was killed was a world Jihadist belonging to Saraya al-Quds wing of Hamas.  Another Hamas terrorist hit was one that had been firing high trajectory weapons into Israel. 

Resource: http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=251165
http://www.imemc.org/article/62733
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-strikes-gaza-strip-for-second-time-in-hours-idf-says-1.403962

Foreign Rulers of Palestine 70 to 1948 CE: 1878 Years

Nadene Goldfoot
Palestine, named by the Romans,  was ruled by foreign governments but never by the people that lived in it. 

Romans ruled from 70 CE to 395 and had changed the name to obliterate the Jewish identity of the land.  They are the ones who changed the name from Judaea to Palaestina for the long vanished Philistines, who were an aegean people.  Jerusalem's name was changed to Aelia Capitolina.  A large Jewish community was in the Galilee, on the coastal plain and in Judaea.  The Talmud was written in this period and there were more than 400 Jewish villages, etc.  The Mishnah was finished in the 2nd century and the Jerusalem Talmud finished between the 4th and 5th centuries. 

The Byzantines (Eastern Roman Empire)  took over from 395 to 636. Jews became a minority and Christians a majority with languages spoken of Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic.  Arabs then ruled from 636 to 1072 with Arabization and Islamization happening.  The majority of the population converted to Islam and spoke Arabic then.  Arab tribes immigrated mainly from Egypt and Arabia  which continued.  The Seljuk's (Turks) from 1072 to 1099.  The land had been divided by the Arabs into 2 military districts on both sides of the river Jordan.  One was called Filastin (Palestine) and the other Urdun (Jordan).  The Arabs built Ramla, the only town founded by them in the land.  It was an administrative center.  

The Christian Crusaders' ruled from 1099 to 1291 and named the land the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Their number never exceeded 30,000 and did not change the population's character.   Then the Mamluks (Rulers of Syria and Egypt) ruled from 1291 to 1516 and destroyed most of the cities and villages on the coast.  They were trying to deter foreign invasion.  It remained empty until Jews came back.  They divided the land into 3 separately administered districts or Mamlaka.  They were Safad, Gaza and Damascus.  They had no name for the land as a whole. 

Finally, the Ottoman Empire (Turkey)  took over from 1516 to 1917 an the land was also divided into administered districts of Sanjaks and Vilayets.  They also had no special name for the land as a whole.  That had really been unimportant anyway as there hadn't been hardly any Arabs living there anyway to call it by name.  There were only poor Jews who lived there near the synsagogues. They had brought insecurity and uncertainty and oppression.  Marauding Beduin tribes wandered about.  Villages were reduced by half between the 16th and 19th century.  By the 2nd half of the 19th Centery, both Arabs and Jews grew in number.  By 1914 the population was estimated at 680,000 of whom 85,000 were Jews. 

The British were given the Mandate after the WWI so ruled from 1918 to 1948, when Israel then was pronounced a state.  They renamed the land Palestine.  The mandate extended to both sides of the river Jordan.  In 1922, Britain partitioned the Mandated territory into Palestine which was west of the Jordan and Transjordan which was east of the Jordan.

Resource: Facts About Israel from Ministry for foreign Affairs, Jerusalem
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seljuk
http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Mamluk+dynasty
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_Empire

Creating Arab States from the Ottoman Empire

Nadene Goldfoot
The Sheikhs of Araby
The British had their problems getting their stories straight when they were given the mandate of the land of Palestine in 1918.  The Ottoman Empire, which was ruled by the Turks, had sided with the Axis or German side.  They lost in WWI.  The empire was by then bankrupt and in the hands of the allies who held mandates over the land.  The Arabs didn't like being in the Ottoman Empire under Turks anyway. 

Born in 1853 was a Sheikh, Sharif Hussein bin Ali, Emir of Mecca, a city in Saudi Arabia.  He held title to "King of the Arabs."  This leader was the great grandfather of the present day King Hussein, and was the leader of the Great Arab Revolt.  A Sheikh is an Arab chief.  In his case, his family had held this title from 1201CE to 1925.  He died in 1931.  This was at a time when Russian Jews were making aliyah to the land and developing kibbutzeem, draining swamps, planting Eucalyptus trees,  killing mosquitoes, tilling the land and fighting off raiders.  They had bought land from absent Arab land owners who were having a gay old time in Paris, no doubt. 

Abdullah and Faisal were his sons.  There was a great battle between the Turks and the Arabs.   The British made promises to the Arabs and promises to the Jews.  The promises were about the same piece of land.  This Hashemite family, descending from Muhammad,  secured Arab rule over Transjordan, Iraq and Arabia.

Faisal was the 3rd son of the King of the Arabs.  On January 3, 1919, he signed the Faisal-Weizmann Agreement for Arab-Jewish cooperation.  He knew about the Balfour Declaration as well.  He was the king of Syria in 1920 and then king of Iraq from 1921 to 1933.  He wanted a very large Arab state for himseslf including Iraq, Syria and the rest of the fertile Crescent.

Two weeks prior to signing the agreement, Faisal stated:

The two main branches of the Semitic family, Arabs and Jews, understand one another, and I hope that as a result of interchange of ideas at the Peace Conference, which will be guided by ideals of self-determination and nationality, each nation will make definite progress towards the realization of its aspirations. Arabs are not jealous of Zionist Jews, and intend to give them fair play and the Zionist Jews have assured the Nationalist Arabs of their intention to see that they too have fair play in their respective areas.

 Everything was predicated on the Arabs gaining their independence.  "The Arabs did not obtain their independence and the Faisal-Weizmann agreement survived only a few months."  It wasn't up to the Jews to give them this independence; it was the British. 
 
Though Weizmann argued in 1947 that Britain had given the Arab independence, they actually wanted more.  The catch was that Sharif Hussein formally endorsed the Balfour Declaration in the Treaty of Sèvres of 10 August 1920, along with the other Allied Powers, as King of Hedjaz.  The treaty was still binding.  The UN did not go along with it." 

Transjordan was created in 1922 and Jordan was created in 1946.
Iraq was created in 1958 and Lebanon in 1943.  Syria was under the French mandate and was created in April 1946.  Egypt has been Egypt forever, but also went through changes.  1954 saw a government.  Iran, which was Persia in bible days, had a government in 1953.  Israel was created May 1948. 

If the British had played their cards a little differently, Faisal and Weizmann could have been successful in their goals to bring these two semitic cousins together, but it was not to be.  Weizmann settled for the poorest portion of the original Jewish Homeland promised to the Jews and was rightfully  happy that he had something that had been lost to us.  Each Sheikh in this Hussein family wanted his own kingdom.  If one brother was promised land, the others wanted their fair share as well.  Our forefathers meant well.  Little could they imagine that we'd still be fighting over the right to have Israel after 63 years of their original declaration.  It's too bad that out of all those Sheikhs there isn't another like Faisal, who saw the good in the Jews coming home. 

Resource: http://www.kinghussein.gov.jo/sharif_hussein.html
http://www.kinghussein.gov.jo/his_arabrevolt.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faisal_I_of_Iraq

The Call to the Damned Peace Table

Nadene Goldfoot
"Just get to the damned table!"  Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said to Netanyahu threateningly.  Who does he think he is, General Vespasian? 

What's he threatening?  Punishment, like a general would say to his private?  Leon just got on the job and has no patience.  Look at how long Israel has been waiting for a decent partner at the peace table.  All the while Israel has to put up with mortars, rockets and missiles raining into their country that are trying to kill their citizens.  What does Panetta have to put up with?  Just Hillary Clinton and Obama.  Isn't that quite a difference? 

Leon Panetta visited Israel for the first time in October.  Now he thinks he knows everything.  He seems to have no idea why the Palestinians have not sat down at the table with Israel.  He must have forgotten Netanyahu's speech at the UN about this very thing and the fact that he begged the Palestinians in front of the whole UN to come to the table.  Ever since 1948 Israel has been asking these same people to talk of peace and stop making war, and to discuss having their own state.

They keep refusing because they don't want a piece of Israel.  They want the whole tiny country.  It's not in their plan to just add another 49th Muslim country to the world.  They want the pleasure of wiping Israel off the face of the earth.  It's not peace that they want to achieve.  It's the whole piece of land. Like Golda Meier once said, "We will achieve peace when the Arabs love their children more than they hate us."  The world is still waiting along with Israel.  It's their hatred that is invented as well in order to serve the powerful Arab rulers in keeping out a Jewish state.  There is no rational reason to hate Jews. 

I love how Begin answered Ambassador Lewis in a similar situation as seen below. 

"What kind of expression is this – "punishing Israel"? Are we a vassal state of yours? Are we a banana republic? Are we youths of fourteen who, if they don't behave properly, are slapped across the fingers? Let me tell you who this government is composed of. It is composed of people whose lives were spent in resistance, in fighting and in suffering. You will not frighten us with "punishments." He who threatens us will find us deaf to his threats. We are only prepared to listen to rational arguments. You have no right to "punish" Israel – and I protest at the very use of this term." Israeli Prime Minister, Menachem Begin to US ambassador Lewis in December 1981 after President Reagan attempted to punish Israel.

So, secretary Leon Panetta, you  can take on the job of telling the Palestinians to
"Just get to the damned table!"  I think Israel has tried enough times already. All our rational arguments are falling on deaf ears who are not being rational in the first place.  They realize all too clearly that  shelling us and threatening our citizens will only bring retaliation from the air.  They know this and they relish this fact.  We turned the other cheek for 6 long years and it did no good.  Can you come up with anything that is also just for Israel? 

 Now if it is Gingrich running the show in the next election, he's going to understand the whole state of affairs and won't be pressing Israel like this.  He'll be pressing the Palestinians-maybe.  After all, at least he realizes the facts that they are an "invented" people in the first place.  Maybe he'll tell them like the past Lebanese Arab-American reporter from Washington DC , Helen Thomas, said to us Jews: "Get the hell out of Palestine! They can go home-Poland, Germany, America."  That coming from an American reporter calling Israel "Palestine." 

In the Palestinian's case, they can go home to Sudan, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, as well as from Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Yemen, Libya, Morocco, Bosnia, the Caucasus, Turkmenistan, Kurdistan, India, Afghanistan and Balochistan.

Resource: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/12/02/panetta-laments-growing-israeli-isolation-in-region/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Thomas
Ambassador Yoram Ettinger http://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com/2011/12/true-facts-who-palestinians-are-by.html

Rockets and Mortars Rained into Israel-The Count

624 rockets and 392 mortar shells have been shot at Israel since Operation Cast Lead.  The shooting was supposed to stop.   Just since December 8th to the 10th, 18 rockets with the range of 25 miles and 11 mortars have hit southern Israel.  Ashdod would have been hit by a 122 mm Grad rocket but was stopped by the Iron Dome.  Unfortunately, it cannot get all of them.  It is the Palestinian Arabs who are violating the cease fire negotiations. 

With all this, our American government insists it must be Israel's fault that Abbas won't come to the table.  Who better than Israel would like some peace? 

http://http//www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-+Obstacle+to+Peace/Hamas+war+against+Israel/Palestinian_ceasefire_violations_since_end_Operation_Cast_Lead.htm

It's War-Not Neighborly Disagreements
Nadene Goldfoot
As much as we hate it, it's a war between Gaza terrorism and Israel.  Hamas terrorists won the vote with the people when the USA pressed for a democratic way of choosing sides, and Fatah's PLO group lost out to the more powerful and persuasive terrorists.  I say terrorists because that's what they are.  They don't wear uniforms.  It's not a state-run army, which makes it hard on Israeli soldiers to tell just who is who.   They prey on women and children as much as possible.  Just look at the school in Safed where they had attacked and killed students in 1974, the Ma'alot Massacre, just 6 years berfore I arrived in Israel to teach. 

Instead of just dropping bombs in populated areas helter skelter-like, Israel uses their intelligence gathering to do surgical strikes by their fighter pilots on the ringleaders.  This time Atzam Tzubhi Ismail Batash, age 43 and another of his group, Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, were struck down in their vehicle at a public garden near Gaza City.  Gaza reported that 5 bystanders were also wounded in the strike. That hasn't been confirmed as yet, but is possible.  Usually terrorists try to be in populated areas because that has been a detriment to these surgical strikes many times.  Each strike from the IDF has to be okayed first at their home base.  They do try their best to avoid collateral damage of killing innocent citizens. 

Batash was the senior operative in charge of many attacks on Israeli citizens of southern Israel.  It was known that their cell was  planning more.

Hamas and Fatah have both been told that anytime Israel is attacked will only bring retaliation on their people.  Six years had gone by from 2001 on to Operation Cast Lead without being able to retaliate.  The gloves are off now.  If they want to live in peace they have to be peaceful to Israel.  Their missiles are reaching farther out and can hit anyplace.  Only the security that Israel offers its citizens of bomb shelters keeps the death count down in Israel.  It doesn't count for the emotional trauma people live under.  The fear of even going to the bathroom takes over for children and adults, as they only have 12 seconds or less to get to a safer place.  It's like living under Russian roulette. 

All the Palestinian Authority had to do was to accept the fact that a Jewish state was created in 1948 and to respect the decision and work out peaceful plans  together with Israel.  This is the real world, and it didn't happen.  The Arabs could have had wonderful lives in comparison to what they have settled for.  When Golda Meier conversed with a high level Sheik, he was most happy that Jews were going to live in this neglected piece of land and make something of it to the benefit of all.  I guess he was just an enigma to the rest of his peers.
 
Resource: Arutz Sheva Newspaper

Fighting to Have and to Keep Our Land of Israel

Nadene Goldfoot
Britain held the mandate after WWI on Palestine, making promises to the Jews of a National Jewish Homeland and why not? Israel and Judea had been our homeland 2,000 years ago before the Romans put an end to Jerusalem  in 70 CE.   Bar Kokhba had made a last stand in 135 CE and lost.  The problem was that Britain also made promises to the few Arabs that were living there as well.


Regular Arab armies invaded in May 1948  minutes after Israel was declared a state They used rifles, grenades and homemade Stens. Jewish children fought with the men. Jordan’s Arab Legion invaded with a British commanded leader with artillery, tanks, and planes, but weren’t trained very well. Jews had an undying spirit that the Arabs lacked.

Israel had from 7,000 to 10,000 dead, more than one out of every 100 Jews living in Israel then. Arab toll was higher. We paid a high price to give birth to our state. 

In the 6 Day War of 1967 Israel lost about 800 dead out of a populaton of 2.5 million. Israel had learned how to protect its soldiers by then.
 
Today, with a population of 5.5 million Jews and 1.4 million Arabs,  we are still being attacked.  Gaza, an area we gave back, has become the site from which Hamas terrorists strike with mortars, rockets and missiles.  Even Lebanon has allowed terrorists to strike from the their northern border as well.   
 
Abba Eban, David Horowitz of the Jewish Agency and Jon Kimche, pro-Zionist British journalist  were able to have a meeting with Abdul  Rahman Azzam Pasha, moderate Arab nationalist in 1948. He was an Egyptian diplomat opposed to the partition of Palestine into two parts.  Azzam served as Secretary General of the Arab League from 1945 to 1952.   In the Savoy Hotel in Jerusalem, the men discussed a plan of a political arrangement, security guarantees and an economic program for joint development of the Middle East.  Abba Eban was excited about it wanting to make an effort to reach an agreement. 
 
Azzam cooly explained that the Arab world was not in a compromising mood, and that the plan was rational and logical, but the fate of nations is not decided by rational logic. 

He went on to explain," Nations never concede; they fight.  You won't get anything by peaceful means or compromise, and can get things by force of arms, perhaps.  We shall try to defeat you.  I'm not sure we can but we'll try as we drove out the Crusaders, but then we lost Spain and Persia.  It's too late to talk of peaceful solutions.  The conflict of interests among nations is not amenable to anything but an armed clash."

The decision was not taken with logic but with blind fatalism.  This is why we have had to keep on fighting.  Their attitude hasn't changed a bit.  As I see it, much of the world has also adapted a very illogical outlook as well.
 
Reference::  Book: Genesis 1948-The 1st Arab-Israeli War  by Dan Kurzman
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdul_Rahman_Hassan_Azzam

Israel Should Fight Rockets With Tennis Balls?

Nadene Goldfoot
Lebanon fired 4 rockets on Israel last week most likely by Hezb'allah, the Iranian proxy.  Israel provoked them by firing back.  The terrorists, being the bullies that they are, have screamed "NO FAIR"! 

Lebanon has actually filed a UN complaint on Monday saying that the tiny Jewish state can't respond with artillery shells, saying this is in violation of UNSC Resolution 1701.  They figure it's okay to fire on Israel, which is an act of war, but that Israel can never respond. 

Israel's self defense is a violation of Resolution 1701 and international law?  Lebanon's terrorists are trying to set a precedent in the UN that any response from Israel will be met with world condemnation.  It seemed to work with Goldstone, who finally changed his judgement,  so they're trying it again. " Under international law, Resolutions 1701 is at best a declarative statement of sentiment that lacks legal authority or enforcement power whatsoever . The recommendations spelled-out in the resolution can not be imposed on the parties concerned."

As for 1701, John Bolton was questioned and said that Hezb'Allah needs to be disarmed.  That was laid out and hasn't been accomplished.  Islamic supremacists have not met any of the conditions of 1701, so this is outrageous to attack Israel with impunity to get Israel to respond.  Their objective is to make Israel one big death camp, evidently. 

You know bullies. 
"No, Ma, who, me?  I didn't do it.  Aw, I just fired one little rocket into Israel.  Those meanies!  They fired 6 back at us!  They scared us!  Boo hoo!  You go get them, Ma."

 Bullies never seem to tell the truth.  They fired 4 and the IDF pounded the launch sites with artillery shells.  The UN force called for restraint from both sides.  An organization associated with al-Qaida claimed responsibility for firing the rockets.  Israel holds Lebanon's government responsible for the attacks and expects them to keep the peace. 

Resource:  Pamela Geller pamela@atlasshrugs.com

Energy Now  From Israel  Energy alternatives to Consider
Nadene Goldfoot
Watch the video below to learn about some new energy sources coming from Israel.  A pipeline bringing natural gas to Israel and Jordan has been attacked about 8 times now in the Sinai dominated by Egypt, so Israel is developing energy from other alternatives. 

They have more start-up companies than any other country, so have been working on this much needed power.  They have some new concepts on wind power and even in controlling the climate.  Hydro electricity from unconventional power sources from 2,500 years ago going back to a priest is one of them.

Clean energy is the goal coming from Israel.  Right now $300 billion dollars a year goes to oil to power the USA.  "These incredible advances in the field of alternative energy sources could help revolutionize the way Americans generate power."

Resource: http://unitedwithisrael.org/israel-powering-america/
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-28/egypt-halts-gas-flow-to-israel-jordan-after-pipeline-blast-2-.html

Muslim Brotherhood Goals
Nadene Goldfoot
Jihad is the Way by Mustafa Mashur, a former Muslim Brotherhood leader,  has been translated to tell us its ideology.  The Brotherhood says that Jihad should be waged against the "thieving gangs of Zion."  Mashur was the official leader of the Muslim Brotherhood from 1996 until he died in 2002.  I have a feeling that Sheik Yusuf al-Qaradawi, formerly of Egypt and now from Qatar might be today's leader.

Last week the Muslim Brotherhood party that won 40% of the votes last week stands for "Freedom and Justice" party.  The Salafists, another Islamist party, won 20%, so the Muslim fundamentalists have a sound majority of votes now.

The book goes on to say that "the problems of the Islamic world, such as Palestine, Afghanistan, Syria, Eritrea, and the Philippines, are problems of Islam and the Muslims, and they can be resolved neither by negotiation nor by recognizing the enemy's right to the Islamic land he stole.  Rather, the option is Jihad for Allah, and this is why Jihad is the way."

The Muslim world still does not want to accept the fact that Israel was created legally in the world in 1948 through the U.N., as well as the fact that people living there bought the land legally according to Ottoman Empire law as well from landowners.  Muslims came to this conclustion in 1967 after Israel won a war against all the Arab states who banned together to wipe her out, and lost.  Israel, as if by a miracle, had won against all odds against their massed force.  It was something the Muslims never expected to happen. 

President Obama was never nervous about the party taking over, even being they are so well organized.  His administration has made recent overtures to them, such as opening up a dialogue.  Previously, it was considered a shunned terrorist party by Bush. 

The author advised every Muslim, "Prepare yourself and train in the art of warfare.  You must learn the ways and manners and laws of war.  You must learn and embrace them and adhere to them, so that your Jihad will be the one accepted by Allah.  Not surprisingly, Mashur presched war against Israel.  "Honorable brothers have achieved Shahada (Martyrdom) on the soil of beloved Palestine during the years of 1947 and 1948 in their Jihad against the criminal, thieving gangs of Zion." 

Following in his steps is Sheik Yusuf al-Qaradawi with his fatwa against all Jews which is to kill us all.    He lashed out in a sermon on January 9, 2009 calling on G-d to "kill them, down to the very last one."

My question is how do our leaders deal with such people who have a one tract mind and refuse to face facts?  They live in denial.  They would rather die and inherit their 72 virgins than live in a peaceful world in which Jews are back to their original home. 

Resource
Arutz Sheva newspaper: Everything you need to know about Muslim Brotherhood by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
http://www.adl.org/main_Arab_World/al_Qaradawi_report_20041110.htm
http://www.adl.org/NR/exeres/788C5421-70E3-4E4D-BFF4-9BE14E4A2E58,DB7611A...  Sheik Yusuf al-Qaradawi:  Theologian of Terror from March 15, 2011

 A Doubting Thomas:   Prof.Thomas L. Thompson,
       Theologian on the "Old Testament" and His Doubts About Our History and Religion and           Our Archaology Finds
Nadene Goldfoot
Being involved with many problems affecting Israel, and being an Israeli citizen, I was amazed with a researcher who is writing books that are not in step with our Jewish beliefs about our land of Israel.  He, in turn, cannot understand why Israelis gave him a negative review.  He thinks he knows so much more about our religion and land than we do. 

Evidently Professor Thomas L. Thompson is not in any agreement with our Israel's past history.  He joins the Palestinians who have been busy trying to change our history as well, if not on purpose, in deed.  This professor, born in Detroit, Michigan, is now living in Copenhagan, Denmark with Danish citizenship, and from there gives opposing views of our Jewish history.  He is not Jewish, but a Professor of "The Old Testament "and is is a follower of the Copenhagen School of Theology.  He tries to connect or view side-by-side  the "Old Testament" and archaology, and to me he understands neither.    He is in a group of "scholars" that think that the bible's version of history is not supported by any archaeological evidence so far unearthed.  In fact, they even think that sites unearthed will undermine our Jewish history.  From what I've seen, it proves otherwise.  Some authors have written that recent archaeological discoveries appear to undermine Thompson's theories.  On such discovery is the Tel Dan Stele, found in northern Israel at Tel Dan uncovered in 1993.  He had written about it with his unusuaI interpretation   in one of his books published in 1999.  This form of publicity was in Aramaic, written by either the king of Damascus, Hazael, or one of his sons had incribed the words "Israel" and "House of David" and was telling about his conquest of this people.  I suggest he actually go to Israel and take a tour and learn about it.  It's authentic proof of our history. 

The poor professor was outraged when his book was reviewed by the Jerusalem Post by Magen Broshi, former director of the Israel Department of Antiquities, who gave it a negative review.  I would imagine!   I have a feeling that this man has never talked to a Rabbi about our Torah, and has not seen the discoveries in Israel.  No doubt he cannot read Hebrew as well. 

He states in a list of 10 facts of his in #8 that the history of Palestine and of its peoples is very different from the Bible's narratives, whatever political claims to the contrary may be.  An independent history of Judea during the Iron I and Iron II periods has little room for historicizing readings of the stories of I-II Samuel and I Kings.  So what does this mean?  That he is accepting the Egyptian versions?  What? 

I believe that our Torah (first five books of the "Bible") is a beautiful real-life history, with all the good and the bad included in it.  We didn't cover up King David's exploits with women, or change the number of Solomon's wives to make us look better.  That was a trick done in Egyptian history.  You won't read anything bad about their people there.  Anything they didn't like was erased, the hard way.  I'd like to tell Thompson that our soldiers have used our Tanakh "Bible" when out on the field fighting, and by searching in it found the path needed to move to another part of the land.  The geography in the bible works!  We know that Moses wrote down the 1st five books.  He was educated in Egypt, knew how to write and was with slaves that were not scribes, so he had to do it. Our belief is that G-d dictated it to him.  Believe that or not, I really don't care.  It is magnificent!  It is awesome!  How one man could come up with such thinking, and especially at that time, is more than awesome.  It's brilliant.   He was so exact.  Our version of Torah has been most carefully copied for 4,000 years by scribes.  If one error was made, the whole thing was thrown out and they started over.

The only thing I see is that Christians have not translated certain words properly when they used it for material for their printed "Old Testament."  If you really want to do good research, you must go to the Hebrew original versions and study with a Rabbi, like a Chabad Rabbi who is into education and may have more patience with you. 

The practical thing for this man is to have a discourse with archaeologists in Israel to learn anything.  I see in one source that he was prevented from being given a tenured position in any North American university because of a controversy provoked with the conservative American academia over his study :  The Historicity of the Patriarchal Narratives.  To me, that's a fantastic part, repleat with genealogy. Of course Moses wasn't alive in Abraham's day, but that was told to him and most likely also in our oral history.  Has he ever read the book about the Black fellow who went to Africa to find his family and came upon a whole tribe who could repeat their oral history?  It used to be quite a skill for ancient peoples.  Also, look at the shards with writing on them found in Ur, where Abraham and his family  originally came from.  There was a story of the flood, etc.  Things have been written down. 

In his 10th listing comments, "already by the Persian period, Judaism is marked by multiplicity in social, religious and regional organization and the term should not be used as if identifying either a specific religion or people." I am left flabbergasted!    What, we shouldn't use Judaism for our identification even though we come from different places?  Sorry, Bub, but whether we are Ashkenazi, Sephardi or Mizrachi or Berber, or through Khazar conversions, we count ourselves as Jews as we follow the precept of Moses.  You have so much to learn.  Even the people with Moses in Egypt on the Exodus were a multitude, a mixture, all sharing the slavery racket of the Egyptians and used by them  to build .  Abraham started us off by being monotheistic and we grew which also includes picking up people along the way. 

Now, if you really want to learn anything, get into the DNA of our Jewish people.  That can lead you to study about our paths and history.  That's what I'm into right now.  Get out of your chair in Denmark and do what so many of your people have done, visit Israel.  We're all deep into our history because of it. 

When living in Safed, Israel from 1980-1985, we had a friend, who was a recent educated tour guide, take us on a tour to practice his new skills.  We went to many ruins and had the first hand lecture of the history of the places.  There wasn't any place that didn't fit with the history that I was familiar with.  It was an enhancement.  When Israel learns something, like the recent mikvah dug out or about the Western Wall, they publicize it with alterations of time, periods etc.  They're after truth, just like we all are. 

Gosh, I hope Professor Thompson leaves his den and does some real research about our religion and home.  Whatever does he think when he says such things as "the biblical theology of monotheism has roots in the ideology of empire."  So that's what he thinks about believing in one G-d? 

Resource:  http://www.bibleinterp.com/articles/copenhagen.shtml
http://en.wikipeia.org/wiki/Thomas_L._Thompson
http://www.bibleinterp.com/articles/copenhagen.shtml
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100107183037.htm showing 10th Century BCE shard from King David's period with Hebrew writing, sent to my by Freddy Krupa

       Muslim Brotherhood Wins in Egypt

Nadene Goldfoot

I remember Obama thinking that there was nothing alarming if the Muslim Brotherhood would win in a democratic election in Egypt , and that would be so much better than Mubarak's leadership.  I didn't, knowing what they stood for.  Their creed is not of a nice peaceful religion like Christianity or Judaism, but of hatred for all Jews everywhere.  (Read Stand With Us- list on Muslim Brotherhood).  His father and step-father may have been Muslims, but he himself had to have not been appraised about the goals of this group-to destroy Israel and kill all Jews everywhere.  It isn't a lot of hot steam, either.  They believe it so much that there is a fatwa out on us. 

80% of the Egyptians voted in the first round of their new parliamentary elections and voted them in.  I might add that many Egyptians do not read or write.  They had to depend on pictures in order to vote.  Therefore, they are not as informed as our people who can but probably don't vet the candidates they are voting for very well. Unfortunaely, their reputation is that they have been the best organized of all the parties.   The political front group is called "The Democratic Alliance for Egypt."  They won at least 45% of the vote with another 20-25% for the Islamic Bloc, arm of the Salafists, who have created several parties.  One is the Hizb al-Noor.    The Salafists practice a puritanical form of Islam alien to Egypt.  Both parties have the same Islamist ideology with hatred of Israel and the USA,  and we Americans have been shelling out how many billions to them?  

Simon Wiesenthal's Center brings out that the Muslim Brotherhood is an enemy of democracy and peace.  They have an obsession of anti-Jewish conspiracy theories.  I believe it is them that even claims that a recent shark was Jewish, and I'm talking about the kind that swims in oceans with fins.   The Brotherhood is not democratic at all.  Look at how they treat women and their Coptic Christian minority. 

The Muslim Brotherhood is Egypt's Moderate party!  Heaven help them and us.  The Salafists, coming in 2nd with lots of power are the autocrats.  "All the while, Salafists will inject Egypt’s public space with a Saudi form of rigid, outdated, and intolerant Islam." from Husain at CNN. 

simon wiesenthal Center enewsletter@wiesenthal.com What the Muslim Brotherhood's Victory in Egypt Means:  New SVVC Report
http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2011/11/16/husain-the-rise-of-intolerant-salafists-in-egypt/
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=49315
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/150167#.TtSdYGHbyjR  12/2/11

PA in Denial   Israel Has World-Given Right to Exist
Nadene Goldfoot
A Palestinian Authority (PA) ambassador to India, Adli Sadeq,  was quoted as explaining that they know Israel exists, but they reject their right to exist.  I say that due to the fact that they were accepted as a state through the U.N. and were declared a state in May 1948, they are the same as any other declared state in the world.  If the PA can't understand this legal act, they are in denial.

 It's not only Hamas but Fatah both feel this way.  The Palestinians don't want to accept the fact that the Ottoman Empire was on the wrong side by going along with Germany, and the Axis lost the First World War and the Second World War.  England was given the responsiblity to manage "Palestine" and agreed in the creation of the Jewish Homeland.  Even one of their Sheiks thought it was a tremendous idea and was in favor of it.  The land was a waste of sand and mosquito filled swamps.  There was no country of Palestine; it was simply the name of the region.  It was fallow, dormant, unwanted land that had once been two  Jewish countries called Judea and Israel. From the time they were destroyed and people were carted off as slaves in 70 CE to 1948, not much had changed except for the re-development of the Jewish towns from  the 1800's from returning Jews.  Mark Twain gave a lovely accounting of his trip through the land in the 1800's as to how undeveloped and undesirable it was. 

We Jews were getting tired of anti-semitism and being kicked around the world after almost 2,000 years and had always prayed to return to Jerusalem.  We had our leaders working with the English right early on to let us have a Jewish Homeland, a much needed refuge, in our old stomping grounds where we were destined to be according to G-d.  See, our family was led out of Ur, which is in Iraq, in order to establish a Jewish Homeland by G-d in the first place. 

The PA doesn't believe we have a right to exist, doesn't respect us, and by feeling this way is avoiding making a decent life for their people. All the men do is sit around and make and shoot bombs.   All they have to do is to read some history and they will find out that they have been so wrong.  We Israelis/Jews know they feel this way. We're still trying to live with them.  We're not occupiers.  We're owners.  We were here 5,000 years ago, before we wandered into Egypt because of a drought and became slaves for 400 years.  We came back and are back.  Get used to it and get a life.  Also, by the way, I believe that India is a friend of Israel.  The hate-spewing ambassador is wasting his time.  Mumbai (Bombay) bombing was a good example of the PA love token. 

For not recognizing us and treating us like the plague, the PA is sure dependant on Israel.  They do not have electricity or many needed things without us yet they bite the hand that feeds them.  Is Abbas just recognizing this fact?  It's better to get along with your neighbor than kill him, for you may need him someday.  The PA has set up an example of how to treat them.  Only our Judaism keeps us from following suit. 

Resource: PMW Bulletin  pmw@palwatch.org.  PA Official: " Israel never had any shred of a right to exist!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl-80McB_HM&feature=youtu.be