46 Rockets, Mortars Hit Hof Ashkelon Tuesday Night

Nadene Goldfoot
 Four border policemen  were injured, with the officer  seriously injured in a rocket attack on Ashkelon Tuesday night.  A kibbutz building had also been hit.  Southern Israel, including the Negav and Sderot were hit with 45 rockets between midnight and 10:30pm Tuesday night.  Most were the short range Kassam,rockets but 3  Grad Katyushas  were aimed at Netivot.  Hamas has taken responsibility saying they were trying to hit the army Zikim base and the rockets were their response to IAF strikes last night.

This has put hundreds of thousands of Israelis under siege and in bomb shelters.  The result is that the IAF struck 3 times on terror targets in Gaza in the last 24 hours which killed at least 6 terrorists.  One strike on Tuesday afternoon injured a man on a motorcycle.

Monday 2 terrorists had infiltrated and were in the Sinai area and have been identified as a Saudi citizen,  Abu Huthiyfa al-Rathali.  and an Egyptian,  Abu Salah al-Masri who belong to the group "Shura Council of the Mujahedeen at Al Quds.  They made a video showing them to be reading their wills before the attack.  The group said the attack was for the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Arab terrorists held in Israel's jail and Osama bin Laden.  They had managed to kill one Israeli before killing themselves.  

Earlier in the day, another strike hit a motorcycle and killed 2 Islamic Jihad terrorists, Mohammed Shabat and Ismail Odeh.  They were part of a squad of snipers working near the security fence in the northern Gaza Strip that had shot at an Israli farmer working near the fence last Thursday.

There was an explosion in Gaza City that killed a 2 yr old Palestinian girl on Tuesday evening, but Israel said there was no air raid from them in the area then. Update:6/20/12:   It's now found that a Palestinian rocket was the cause of the child's death.  

Hamas said they fired only 10 rockets after 3 Israeli air strikes killed 6 Palestinians.  This was said after Israel hit again over Deir al-Balah in central Gaza and injured the 2 men on a motorcycle.

The terrorists only see things as one-sided.  The Palestinian cabinet condemned "continuous Israeli escalation" and called for "international protection to the Palestinian people", but never mention the fact that they start the attacks and Israel acts in defense and also told them that they would retaliate if attacked.

Israel aid that their 3 air raids in the past 12 hours was not related to the border incident and that they had targeted militants planning or engaging in attacks on Israel.  Example is finding a terrorist squad handling an explosive device near the security fence in central Gaza.  They were trying to fire a rocket at Israel.

Resource: http://news.yahoo.com/two-gazans-killed-israeli-air-strike-085111010.html
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Controls/SendFriend.ashx?print=1&type=0&item=157032
http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=274471
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2012/06/19/Rockets-pound-southern-Israel/UPI-96881340126009/
Update: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=4755, up to 50 rockets 

Civilian Worker Killed by Terrorists Along Security Fence

Nadene Goldfoot
1500 Israeli workers are employed in adding on more fencing along the Egyptian-Israel Security Fence. It's going to run for 165 miles  from Eilat to the Gaza Strip and is planned to be finished by the end of the year.

 On Monday, 3 terrorists from the Sinai area crossed the border and stalked 2 vehicles used by defense contractors building the new border fence.  The terrorists used PRG rockets, explosives and artillery fire in the dune sector around Nahal Lavan and killed Said Phashpashe (Sa'ed Fachachte), 36 years old Arab Israeli who was one of the men in one of the vehicles.

IDF Golani soldiers, minutes away,  killed two of the terrorists.  One had an explosive device like some sort of bomb strapped on his body and it had exploded when shot.  The soldiers found AK -47 rifles, grenades, uniforms and munitions on the ground.

The surrounding area went on high alert which was not lifted till noontime.  The fear was that terrorists had infiltrated through the fencing.

The terrorist attack came about as soon as the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt claimed victory in their "elections."  Since 2011 when Mubarak lost power and control, Israel has been alarmed by the violations happening along the border and fear a lawlessness happening.

The need for the fence is now twofold: to keep out terrorists who are bent on killing and the influx of African migrants who have descended illegally in large numbers on Israel through Egypt's border.

Resource: http://www.ynetnews.com/Ext/Comp/ArticleLayout/CdaArticlePrintPreview/1,2506,L-4243734,00.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/18/us-israel-egypt-violence-idUSBRE85H0KT20120618

Grad Rocket Hits Southern Israel on Shabbat

Nadene Goldfoot
A 122 mm Grad rocket fell into an open desert of the Arava region in southern Israel on this Shabbat from terrorists who were most likely close to the Egyptian border around Sinai which Egypt has not been guarding as well as in the Mubarak period.  Of course Egypt denies it came from the Egyptian area.  It could have even come from Jordan, which Haaretz suggests, or even that Hamas terrorists managed to get very close to the Sinai area.

 50 rockets of this type made in China were found to be long distance and hit Israel on Decmeber 31, 2008, wounding 5 people. Russia also makes this type of Grad rocket as well as other countries.  The distance it can travel is at least 22 to 25  miles.  Update on 17th  is that the distance can be 50 km or 31.07 miles.   April of this year saw  3 Grads that were fired at Eilat from the same area.  For Oregonians, this is like a Grad rocket shot from Hillsboro and hitting Portland.

2001 saw rockets being shot into southern Israel from Gaza's Hamas terrorists.  Sderot, the closest city to Gaza is only 1.864 miles or 3 km away and was hit constantly.  More than 8,600 rockets have been shot into Israel from Gaza since then causing 28 deaths and several hundred wounded, not to mention the PTSD caused by the population.  By 2006 long range rockets such as this grad was reaching Ashkelon.

So far, this year of 2012 has seen 224 rockets and 28 mortars hit southern Israel from Gaza with the worst month being in March.

Resource:  http://news.yahoo.com/rocket-fired-southern-israel-nobody-hurt-army-103106310.html
http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=274039
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/16/us-israel-rocket-idUSBRE85F0G220120616
http://defense-update.com/newscast/1208/analysis/311208_palestinians_use_chineese_ws2e_extendedrange_rockets.html
http://articles.janes.com/articles/Janes-Ammunition-Handbook/122-mm-BM-21-Grad-series-rockets-Russian-Federation.html
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/grad-rocket-lands-in-southern-israel-source-unknown-1.436740
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_rocket_attacks_on_Israel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Palestinian_rocket_attacks_on_Israel,_2012
update: http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?ID=274126&R=R1

Syria, Israel's Northern Border-Neighbor and What's New For Assad

Nadene Goldfoot
The border road is dangerous.  Pvt. Dor Gan, 19 years old, was killed while patrolling along the Syrian border fence near Yonathan village.  Three soldiers were injured when their jeep turned over.

Syria has long-range rockets that can carry poison warheads to any part of Israel, stated Major General Yair Naveh when speaking in a ceremony to the IDF soldiers at a memorial for fallen soldiers of the Sultan Yakoub Battle with the Syrian army in 1982.  He said nothing has changed since then in the way Syrians act.

Mazraat al-Qubeir, Syria was found to be massacred and deserted said UN monitors.    Government forces had been here, and had either shot or stabbed 50-80 people including women and children.

The Sunni rebels are not all that nice, either.  Germans are reporting that 98 deaths in Sunni town of Houla on May 25 were caused by these rebels who massacred the Alawite and Shiite families.  It is said that they even filmed the dead and presented them as Sunni.

Switzerland has frozen Syrian bank deposits and banned Syrian government bonds in trade.  In other words, they have been blacklisted.  Never mind though, Russia is supplying them with arms.  They're not taking sides, Russia said.  It  must be just business deals.  Russia is still against using force on Syria and has called for an international conference with the permanent Secuity Council powers, the European Union and influential countries in the area like Iran  to talk about the Annan plan.

It seems that the US has been arming the Syrian rebels according to Serge Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister  in Tehran.  This was in reply to Hillary Clinton's charge that Moscow is sending helicopters to Syria for Assad.  

Barack Obama said on June 11th that the USA Navy and Air Force are ordered to get ready to have a limited air offensive against Syria.  They are to knock out the central regime and military command centers.

As I watched TV back in 1980-1985 in Israel, I remember seeing the Syrian army show off their prowess by staging the most horrible exhibit of their capabilities I've ever seen.  They were standing at attention and in unison, bit into snakes, and then into puppies, right on TV.  I was sick.  I think it was to scare the audience into not messing with them.  It was traumatic to view and I haven't forgotten the horror of it.  From that experience, I can believe anything about their inhumanity.  If it wasn't doctored filming, it certainly was believable in those days.

Resource: DEBKAfile
http://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com/2012/06/syria-israels-nasty-neighbor-just-hasnt.html

Has Egypt Had Human Rights?

Nadene Goldfoot
The 1992 report from the USA State Department for Human rights said Egypt did not grant basic human rights to their citizens.  When my friend Marilyn from our Ulpan in Haifa visited the country as a tourist in 1980, she found it an unorganized country, unable to even have decent telephone service.  All the time the world governments have been shining a spotlight on Egypt's neighbor, Israel, while it should have given attention to Egypt in looking for violations.  But then, who cares if Egypt does anything wrong.  It's not newsworthy.

People in Egypt have not had any way to change the government.  Detention without due process is widespread and arbitrary.  Christians and women are discriminated against and Jews would be too, only there are few left.  Books and art pieces may be confiscated or banned by the various ministries.

Torture is said to be illegal, but evidence is that it is still practiced by the police and security officers.  Those doing the torturing are never punished.  They have used whipping and solitary confinement, restricting food, water and medical treatments.  Rape and sexual abuse happens to men and women.  They don't discriminate here.

In 1948 75,000 Jews lived in Egypt.  Between June and November 1948 there were bombs set off in the Jewish quarter killing more than 70 and wounding nearly 200.  In 1956 Egypt used the Sinai campaign as a pretext for expelling almost 25,000 Egyptian Jews and stealing their property.  About 1,000 Jews were then sent to prisons and detention camps.  November 23, 1956 was the signing of a proclamation declaring that "all Jews are Zionists and enemies of the state," and promised they would soon be expelled.  They could only take one suitcase and a small amount of worthless Egyptian money and forced to sign declarations "donating" their property to the government.

 Members of Jewish families were taken hostage to insure that those leaving would not say anything bad about the government.  War broke out in 1967 and Egyptians treated the remaining Jews like Nazis did, who also lived in Egypt.  In fact, the head of the Polish Gestapo, Nazi Leopold Gleim, once sentenced to death, was actually controlling the Egyptian secret police.  By 1979, the little remaining Jewish community established official contact with Israel.  By 1991, less than 200 Jews remained. I taught with a young Egyptian girl in 1980 in Safed who told me that only a few older people had remained there.  She was also teaching English.

Today the word is out that Egypt has lost control of the Sinai.  The Deputy chief of Egypt's largest party, the Muslim Brotherhood, has said that they will not recognize Israel's right to exist, the treaty is non-binding, and  will be put to a referendum.  A peace treaty had been signed between Egypt and Israel March 26, 1979 by Sadat and Begin, but on 2011 with the Arab Spring that brought a very cold atmosphere, the army had taken over Egypt and said the peace was not sacred.

Voting was going to take place but the court just dissolved Egypt's new parliament.  Everything was found to be wrong.  Back to the drawing board once more with the army again in power.    The Muslim Brotherhood is highly against democracy and is the main stumbling block for Egypt's democratic government.  Egypt's population of 79,089,650 as of 2011 is going to have to wait and Morsi, Brotherhood contender, cannot pull out of the race right now even though their parliament is dissolved and a Mubarak official gets to seek presidency.


Resource: http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?ID=273755&R=R1
Myths and Facts:  A concise record of the Arab-Israeli conflict by Mitchell Bard and Joel HImelfarb
http://news.yahoo.com/bedouin-tribesmen-police-clash-egypts-sinai-one-dead-205632882.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egypt%E2%80%93Israel_Peace_Treaty
http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/14/world/meast/egypt-ruling/index.html
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/story/2012-06-12/egypt-elections-president-runoff/55554884/1
Oregonian Newspaper, 6/15, 2012, page A14:Egypt's move to democracy dealt huge setback by court, by David D. Kirkpatrick, NY Times News service

Iran Lets Cat Out of the Bag About Nuclear Weapons

Nadene Goldfoot
A commentary written by Alireza Forghani that just came out Sunday "The necessity for the Islamic world to have the Atomic Bomb" lets the cat out of the bag about Iran's intentions for producing nuclear energy.  He is the former governor of Iran's Kish Province and an analyst for the Ayatollah Khamenei.  He thinks all Muslim majority countries should help them get the nuclear bomb to disrupt the dreams of America and Israel.  He says it is their right to have a nuclear bomb and that Israel would have been gone 30 years ago but has such a weapon, keeping it here.  Frankly, I don't think Saudi Arabia would be very excited over Iran having the A Bomb, or even Iraq, who fought a huge war with Iran in the 1980's.  

Forghani even laid out a legal case for the destruction of Israel and all Jewish people in February.  It of course played in Iran only, and calls for a pre-emptive strike on Israel.  Fars News was happy to run this piece because it is run by the Revolutionary Guards and express the views of the Islamic regime.

He notes that the USA and Pakistan have the bomb and that America is the main enemy of Iran.  The Syrians and Lebanese Muslims, he says, are worried about being attacked by the USA if they don't cooperate.  Of course it has nothing to do with their shooting down their own people.  


He goes on to rave about the Islamic republic being threatened by America and they know Iran will be attacked. and recalls the Cold War against Russia.  America's being in Iraq and Afghanistan gives him fuel to project hatred.

We now see the failure between Iran and 6 world power nations in negotiations.  Iran refuses to suspend their nuclear enrichment and won't let inspectors see certain suspected sites.  They threaten counterattack for any aggression.  More threats are made on the USA than Israel in this article.  I think they fear a combined attack and of course the USA has more weaponry in its arsenal.

Other websites as well are reporting that the International Atomic Energy Agency is reporting a disappointing outcome from Friday's meeting..  In fact, they have retreated from previous commitments they had already made. Even China asked them to compromise.   Another meeting is scheduled in Moscow for June 18th, which is this coming Monday.  If nothing is successful even with sanctions in place, a European Union Oil embargo will be enforced on July 1st.  Only Iran's foreign minister, Ali Akbar Salehi, is confident of the final outcome.

Resource: dailycaller.com/2012/06/10islamic-world-must-have-nuclear-weapons-says-iran?print=1
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nuclear-watchdog-talks-with-iran-on-nuclear-access-have-stalled/2012/06/08/gJQALdf7NV_story.html
http://www.voanews.com/content/iaea-begins-new-round-of-nuclear-talks-with-iran/1204863.html
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/06/13/iran-nuclear-salehi-idUKL5E8HDDDX20120613?feedType=RSS&feedName=rbssEnergyNews

What About the Palestinians? PA changes Rules of the Game

Nadene Goldfoot
On May 16th PA President Mahmoud Abbas announced to all that Arab Palestinians living in Lebanon, Egypt, Syria and Jordan or the other 132 countries he says they reside in, even those living in refugee camps in the planned Palestine state if still listed as refugees will not become citizens of the new state of Palestine.  No Jews of course, will be allowed to live there, either.  This was done through an op-ed to the New York Times.  Their first goal is to become members of the UN as a state in order to bring Israel to court and destroy them.

His plan is to keep the Palestinian Arabs  on the dole from UNRWA, which Americans and Europeans pay taxes to upkeep. They certainly don't want to miss out on that money.  

Why this change in understanding the goal of creating a Palestine?  The world has been misled.  They do not intend to be the saviors and take care of their own people.  It's not to end such a conflict between Israel and Fatah-Hamas.  Their main goal is to change the rules and be able to claim legally and politically something against Israel at the UN, human rights treaty bodies and the International Court of Justice.  This is their way of continuing their war against Israel.  Ambassador Abdullah Abdullah also stated that the Palestinians will not automatically become citizens.  He wants UNRWA to be responsible for refugees and would continue its work as usual.  A few of the American Senators are already planning to cut down on the refugee list as it has grown to something like 5 million since the inception.  They have included children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and so on.  

They don't want anyone to think that they would ever make any accommodations with the Zionists.  Statehood is just the means for the great final jihad and they are making it more efficient.  The major goal has never changed.  They are planning to wipe Israel off the face of the earth.  They keep denying the opportunity to make peace and thus establish a Palestine in order to achieve success and bring about another genocide against Jews.  To support a Palestinian state is supporting destruction of Israel and the genocide of its people, including the 1.4 million Arabs already living there.

Anyone for the continued existence of Israel has been called a Nazi or an extremist, somebody that shouldn't be listened to. All materials defending Israel might be labeled "Nazi" materials, no less.   Every time we've had some sort of affair going on at our Mittleman Jewish Community Center involving an Israeli program, we have passionate dissidents outside in the streets calling out nasty names to us.  Alan Dershowitz in his book  "The Case Against Israel's Enemies" has also had such experiences that were downright scary.  He saw: "passionate hatred, ecstatic hatred, orgasmic hatred.  It was beyond mere differences of opinion.  Phyllis Chesler describes the hatred she has seen as "eroticized."  "When Dershowitz looked into the faces of the protesters, he could imagine young Nazis in the 1930s in Hitler's Germany.  They had no doubt that they were right and he was pure evil for his support of the Jewish state."  I was not accepted into a Socialist meeting knocking Israel because I had sent them my post proving that Israel was not an apartheid state and that's what their meeting was going to cover.  I guess they didn't want to know what the word meant but enjoyed calling Israel such a nasty word.  I was barred.

Therefore, if there is a Palestine created and it becomes a member of the UN, this will not end the conflict.  It will become a framework that will change the rules of the game and be in favor of kicking out the only Jewish state in the world in favor of a 49th  Muslim majority state which will benefit no Palestinian who has been in an refugee camp.  These people will never become citizens of their country.   Palestine will not be a democratic state like Israel for already we have known since it was spoken about that Jews living in the land would be removed as it is to be free of Jews.

Resource: http://frontpagemag.com/2011/09/26/palestinian-state-will-not-accept-palestinian-refugees/?utm_source=FrontPage+Magazine&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=262183d2a1-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN by David Meir-Levi
Book:  The Case Against Israel's Enemies-exposing Jimmy Carter and others who stand in the way of peace" by Alan Dershowitz

Knesset Headaches

Nadene Goldfoot
We tell the joke about the 2 Jews who find themselves stranded on a tiny island, and they build themselves 3 synagogues.  One for each and the other is the one neither one would attend.  It shows we are a stubborn people with our own minds and we do not follow very well.  We are individualistic. 


 Ben Gurion had gone into a restaurant and was told that before he entered he had to put on a tie.  They then told the manager that this was David Ben Gurion.
 " Oh, sir, let me introduce you to the president of the United States, Harry S. Truman." 
"How do you do"
"You are president of 47 million people?  I am Prime Minister of of 600,000 Presidents."  

In the midst of the threats coming out of Iran, that old ancient Persia updated is the fear of being liquidated through atomic warfare, perhaps with one single bomb like what happened to Hiroshima.  In this extreme crisis, we have an internal struggle going on as well.  The pressures on our government there are coming from the UN and mainly from the USA through them concerning the attacks from the Arabs in Gaza upon Israel, and their solution is to have peace talks.  Evidently this is going to have to lead to giving in to all Arab demands as they won't even sit down at the table to talk unless this is all done first before the sitting commences.  Again, the fear of losing Israel completely and being driven into the sea comes to mind.  The Knesset is under such great pressure that they have already had new elections to the satisfaction of the USA's Hillary Clinton.

To add misery to all our surrus, the media is always against Israel, which in turn colors the attitude of all those who watch.  Anti-Semitism is at a high all over the world, and Israel's position in it has done a 180 turnabout since 1967.  The media is not the kettleful of truthful facts, either, but a hodgepodge of misinformation that is filling people's minds up so much that they don't even bother to find facts themselves.  If they do, the source has to be invalid.

To add to our problems, we have the state of Israel divided between the Orthodox community and the rest.  David Wilder calls it "Zionism or Toynbeeism.  Like another old joke goes, a man is talking to two gentlemen and is trying to solve their disagreement.  To each he says, "You have a point and you also have a point."  I don't remember any ending.  I don't think there is any.  The Orthodox claim a valid point and so does the Knesset, who is the other side, the more secular one.  Frankly, at this point in time I think their plate is over brimming with problems to deal with.

Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak HaKohen Kook, Israel's first chief Rabbi explained that Israel is not just any old piece of land we chose for a country.  Israel has an intrinsic meaning connecting Jews with the knot of life and contains extraordinary qualities  making the people and the land, these 2 halves, a whole.  Toynbee thought of Jews and Judaism as an anachronism.  In other words, we are out of place, an error.  "The Zionist Jews are a fragment of a fossil of alien origin which has been embedded in the body of Western Christendom since its pre-natal days."  He didn't think much of us at all.  We are still here, however, and refer to ourselves as the Jewish people.  Our holy cites are Jerusalem and Hebron.

We have a problem in that Arabs are copying us and saying that land is now their land, like Tel Hebron.  Israeli leaders and their followers are helping people who say this without even checking for legal paperwork.  They have helped force Jews off their homeland, destroy their homes to appease those bringing pressure down.  We're talking about Jews forcing out Jews, basically in Judea and Samaria, not the IDF throwing out Palestinians.

Netanyahu has ordered the expulsion of Jews from the "Ulpana neighborhood in Beit El.  It was in the Oregonian today as well. He said he was most unhappy to have to do so.   He also ordered the same thing for the Machpela House in Hebron.  This seems to have come about after Netanyahu, Barak and others were told they could be tried as war-criminals by the Hague should Jews continue to live in these places.  That must be a part of the pressure they are under.  The report had gone to Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein.

7 years ago Gush Katif was destroyed by Israelis.  Jewish residents were expelled and the land abandoned to the Arabs.  30 some years ago Yamit and other Sinai communities were given up and its residents were expelled to appease the waiting Arab communities in the name of peace.  We left Gaza lock, stock and barrel for the sake of peace and only got war in its place.  If the Arabs had been smart, they would have done what the Egyptians did under Sadat and made peace at that time, but they've used Gaza as the place from which all rockets, missiles and mortars come from.  I would say that was a test that failed completely.

Some feel that the next to go will be Gvat Assaf and then Migron.  Barak only last week suggested abandoning all of Judea and Samaria.  That's a horror as this is the place of our history, and it is most special to those who are religious.  Every rock, every clod of dirt is precious to them.  We've got an awful lot of Jews living there.  Jews have given their lives and have waited for 2,000 years to return to their homeland, and now that they have returned, they are retching inside to have to give up the land others had shed blood over.

Mix all these problems presenting themselves with the fact that this time and place has been prophesied about in the Bible for both the Jews and the Christians with the Muslims adding their take on it as well.  It is the in gathering of all Jews once again in Israel.  This is not just an accident.  It is awesome.

I personally don't see it so black and white.  I think that the circumstances are that Israel cannot fight enemies and the rest of the world at the same time.  They're all ganging up on this tiny tiny state.  They are doing their best to maintain their Jewish values and ethics, keep their citizens alive and well, and be the fairest  of all to their enemies.  What's fair and righteous doesn't seem to work on this UN at all in standing up for Israel's rights.  Being most of their block is made up of Israel's enemies in the first place, Israel's voice is lost to the winds.  I'm not like Josephus calling for surrender.  I'm just saying that the Knesset is bending in this Sharav while trying to keep its roots in the ground.  It's waiting to be propped up by another force.

Reference: gerardrobins@sbcglobal.net:  David Wilder 6/8/2012
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Ben-Gurion
http://www.infoplease.com/year/1948.html

All Is Not Quiet on the Western Front

Nadene Goldfoot
The month of March saw terrorists from Gaza fire over 200 rockets into Israel over 4 days after terrorists Zuhir Musa Ahmed and Mahmoud Ahmed Mahmoud Hanani were killed.

Fire broke out in the Eshkol region in Southern Israel after it was hit by high trajectory firing into the Israeli territory.  IAF aircraft retaliated by striking 2 direct hits on  weapons storage sites  in northern and southern Gaza on yesterday.

Before, on Sunday the aircraft took out a terrorist tunnel with direct hits.  This came about in retaliation to being hit by a Qassam rocket in the south late Sunday night, exploding in the Eshkol Regional Council.

Friday morning another fight took place between IDF troops and a Gaza terrorist as they were trying to infiltrate the western Negev from Gaza which took the life of a young Golani Brigade soldier.

All this shooting was supposed to have been under a cease fire maintained by Egypt, but for the terrorist groups, only seems to mean that  they just do not fire barrages.  They shoot just as it suits them to remind Israelis that they can do it which disrupts the lives of those in Southern Israel.  How would you like to be the sitting ducks?

April showers brought 10 rockets fired at Israel in 9 separate attacks, two being launched from the Sinai in Egypt this time.  3 were Grad missiles aimed at Eilat on the Red Sea coast.  Some residences suffered from shock.  This happened on the 4th.  On the 8th 2 Qassam were fired into the Sdot Negev in the morning and a rocket was fired at Sderot in the evening.  The Color Red alarm sounded in the city once more.  Sderot has taken upteen hits.  On the 14th Fatah fired a rocket at night with CARE International detecting it coming from east of Jabalia which exploded prematurely.  They did it again the next day with Qassam rockets coming into the Sha'ar Hanegev and Ashkelon areas.  The 22nd, 23rd and 30th also had Qassam rockets fall into the areas.

May is supposed to bring flowers but the Ashkelon area only got another Qassam rocket and Israel decided to retaliate by hitting a tunnel in northern Gaza on the 1st.  Another Qassam rocket shot into Sdot Negev again on the 9th and that brings us to the 15th with a Qassam rocket fired in the morning into Sha'ar Hanegev area.

In this we see that Israel is the target of constant attacks.  Israel retaliates once in a while aiming at the cause, not the people.  Yet we are seen as the bad guys.  Go figure.  What kind of logic is this?  England is being very anti-Israel with many Brits supporting the Palestinian "liberation struggle against Israeli imperialism" as some see it.  This is the same British Empire who conquered and subjugated other countries, controlling over 1/4 of the world at one time where "the sun never set on the British Empire."  Queen Elizabeth II is into her "diamond jubilee" and has never visited Israel yet.

Senator Barack Obama flew into Israel vowing that if he became President he would work towards ending the Israel-Palestine conflict "from the minute he was sworn into office."  He didn't let on that he meant he would work to push Israel back to indefensible lines from 1967 which would mean untold amounts of Israeli lives to be lost. No, it's not popular to be supportive of Israel, but we are anyway.  They're the ones getting attacked and shelled and why?  For existing.

Resource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Palestinian_rocket_attacks_on_Israel,_2012
Arutz Sheva news@israelnationalnews.com IAF Hits Weapons Storage Sites in Gaza by Elad Benari 

The First Zionist: Judah Ha-Levi of 1135 CE

Nadene Goldfoot
Judah Ha-Levi's ancestors were forced to leave the kingdom of Judah in 70 CE when their city, Jerusalem, fell to the Romans. He was born in Toledo, Spain in 1075 CE,  1005 years later.  At that time Spain was both Christian and Moslem, chiefly in Cordova.   Toledo had a Jewish community dating back to Roman times which the city council was trying to extirpate (wipe out).  The shock of it all was that the Jews were the ones who brought in the Arabs to the city in the first place.  Jewish rights were taken away and then guaranteed after the Christian reconquest in 1085 and became a very important community when Judaism was suppressed by the Almohades in Moslem Spain in 1146-47.   He became a physician of an honorable profession, even in those days.  In his later years he felt it necessary to go back to his homeland, which was now called "Palestine."

Lucky man, he journeyed back during the period of the 2nd Crusade as he had set out between 1135 and 1140 and reached Egypt, staying there for 6 months.  He wound up dying in Alexandria in 1141 at age 66 instead of reaching the Holy Land, unfortunately.  It was not an easy thing to reach in those days.

During this 12th Century the serious political developments in Spain were of Christians and Moslems fighting desperately for suzerainty (overlordship), with the Jews, and he wound up suffering from both groups.  It affected his sensitive mind, dodging all people there.  He became very religious himself while having a negative attitude towards philosophy and earthly pleasures.

He was a writer, and his songs of Zion "Zionides" express Israel's yearning for its ruined homeland.  He wrote "Ha-Kukzari (The Khazar) and managed to write it in Arabic before he left Spain.  It is concerned with the problem of the Jewish fate and exile and deals with the many problems and their solution.  He is the one who wrote about the   king of the Khazars who listens to a rabbi, a Christian and a Moslem scholar and an Aristotelian philosopher with the result of accepting Judaism for himself and his royal household.

Judah felt that the Jewish people were the heart of all nations and felt their pain and bore their sicknesses.  The sufferings of Exile cleansed them of their sins and prepared them for their restoration to their homeland, after which they will bring the world salvation.  This redemption is dependent on the will of the people and is brought nearer by settling in the Holy Land.  His writing of "The Kuzari,  was a great influence among Jewish readers and is regarded as one of the classics of Judaism.  Little did he realize that this was just the beginning of the exile while all the time all would be yearning to return to Eretz Yisrael.  It would take till 1882-1903 for the return of the 1st Aliyah to start the ball rolling again for the exiles to return to those who had been left to hold down the fort.

Judah had the right idea since there were horrible massacres of Jews in Toledo in 1391 which claimed many victims and left behind large numbers of converts.  It became a center of the Marranos (Jews pretending to be Christians) , who were attacked and massacred again in 1449 and 1467 and later became the seat of the Inquisitional tribunal after Jews were expulsed in 1492.

Reference:  The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
The Jewish Kingdom of Kuzar by Rabbi Zelig Shachnowitz
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliyah

Gaza Fence Stops Another Kidnapping

Nadene Goldfoot
Terrorists keep shooting at Israel while Hillary Clinton at the same time asks for the Palestinian Authority and Israel to resume peace negotiations.  Someone had better tell these terrorists to take a break.  It would be nice to see some goodwill gestures for a change instead of this constant terrorism if ever peace can be taken seriously.  .

Ahmed Abu Nasser, 22,  was part of a terror squad in Gaza ready to fire into Israel and scored a direct hit. In the ensuing attack, 4 people were killed and 4 wounded. The terror squad had fired mortars into the Eshkol Regional council area.

These terrorists had been sent out to kidnap an Israeli soldier, and actually succeeded in grabbing one, but that's as far as he got.  . This is deduced also because the slain terrorist had used night vision equipment in his early morning attack, showing his intentions.  He was breaking through the Gaza fence, put up to save lives.   In the attack, a 21 year old IDF soldier was killed who came from Ashkelon, our Portland's sister city, the one with the major hospital serving all people, Palestinian and Israeli who need it.  During a thick fog, the terrorist had  opened fire, killing Moshiashvili, causing the other IDF to open fire and kill the terrorist.  Two young kids who should have been going to college, and this is how the young spend some of their time in Israel and Gaza.

The Islamic Jihad terror organization has an armed Al-Quds wing, and they admitted it was this wing who was responsible for the attack.  The IDF holds Hamas responsible as it is they who rule Gaza.  Just like Sharon was held responsible for the Christian Militia who went into Lebanon, Hamas must take the responsibility.

Arutz Sheva news@israelnationalnews.com by Gabe Kahn; IDF Retaliates After Deadly Kidnapping Attempt, Mortar Fire

PA Singers Denying Israel's Existence

Nadene Goldfoot
What are the chances of the Palestinians to ever recognize Israel as a legal state in their midst?  Very little.  With Hamas having a doctrine similar to the Muslim Brotherhood saying that they do not recognize Israel and Fatah joining up with Hamas, it looks like it'll never happen.

There was a time when Fatah's PA said they did recognize Israel's right to exist, but they have changed their policy several times.  In a recent program where PA officials along with Mahmoud Abbas sat and listened to a presentation that has been going on for 27 times in the past year.  In it "The Palestinian singer declares that "my land" and "our coast" span from Rosh Hanikra in Israel's north to Rafah in the Gaza Strip in the south, and from Haifa on Israel's western coast to Beit Shean on Israel's eastern border.

So what they're doing is declaring that all of Israel is theirs.  They're pretty much "in your face" about it.  This is the one condition that Israel has said that is so important.  If they can't accept Israel, how can Israel accept a Palestinian state next door to them who will have the means by which to shell them even further?  The situation is ridiculous to keep insisting upon.  .

Mark Langfan, New York attorney has done a marvelous job of showing a map of Israel with overlays showing just what could happen if it ever came about.  He has presented Israel's case before the Knesset and the American Congress to show visually what many cannot conceive of happening.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=n9gQUVuEZjQ 
http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=709&fld_id=709&doc_id=4775
http://www.palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=6914 from Itamar Marcus, Nan Jacques Zilberdik , PA TV song denying Israel's existence

Turkey's Bellicose Attitude Towards Israel

Nadene Goldfoot
Instead of doing things to get back into a peaceful state with Israel, Turkey has done the opposite.  An Istanbul court allowed  an indictment Monday against 4 Israeli military men for involvement in the raid on their Turkish boat that was breaching Israel's naval blockade of Gaza back in May 2010.  They were breaking the law knowing full well what Israel would be doing and they're suing.

Israel's soldiers had to act in self defense.  They did not board the ship with intentions to kill people aboard, only to check out what they were carrying to make sure it was not arms for the Palestinians.  Even a UN report since then has found that Israel's naval blockade was legal and appropriate.

What had happened was that on May 31, 2010 (note the date) the Turkish boat, Mavi Marmar with 40 activists entered the waters at their own risk. They were part of a fleet of 6 boats.   They had among them some very hardcore armed men who used iron bars and knives against the 13 Israeli naval commandos.  The outcome was that 9 Turks were killed some others were wounded.  10 of the 13 commandos were injured seriously in the fracas.  The other boats were peaceful, allowed the checking and that was it.

Erdogan has decided to kill the relationship between Israel and Turkey anyway using this as an excuse. They took on this bellicose attitude by sending out the ship in the first place knowing it would cause a problem.   The strange thing is that his stance has not ended the trade going on between the two countries amounting to nearly $4 billion a year.  Diplomats are frozen out from breaking bread with each other but not the merchants.

Reference:  New York Times via daily alert.: Turkish court Indicts 4 Israeli Military Leaders by Isabel Kershner
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaza_flotilla_raid

Turkey's Opportunistic Plan Involving Israel

Nadene Goldfoot
Turkey, which was once the Ottoman Empire, had been friends with Israel, but since the growth of the Muslim Brotherhood has been leaning towards their brothers.  Their Prime Minister,  Recep Tayyip Erdogan,  told former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger that he planned to burn bridges with Israel to get in better favor with the Islamic world but didn't reveal when that would happen.  Their Turkish newspaper also revealed  that Turkey doesn't get along with Israel and the United States.

This is a sad note because Turkey has been the first place Israelis head for who are on vacation.  They've made good tourists.  Turkey was the first Muslim majority country to recognize Israel in March 1949.  You have to give them credit.  At that time it must have been a hard decision to follow the lead of the USA.  The USA has many Turkish Jews who immigrated here and who might be interested in their family roots on vacation as well.  It has that aura of the mystique that is so alluring and is fairly close by.

The opportunity came by with the flotilla to Gaza of May 2010  in which 9 Turkish citizens on the ship were killed after attacking the IDF commandos who were trying to board it.  Israel was blamed, but Erdogan took advantage of the event quickly by cutting ties with both Israel and the USA and to expand their power.

All this came out in the wash with wikileaks.  It was in a leaked email from George Friedman, head of Stratfor, a security -analysis company.  I wonder what Kissinger did with this detail.  Though Jewish, he hasn't been known for any favors towards Israel.  You have to watch out for these fair-weather friends in politics.  Easy come-easy go.

However, trade is still an essential ingredient for two countries to make up from their differences.  This is still needed and is happening.  Erdogan demanded that Netanyahu apologize for the death of his civilians on board the fatal Marmara and the Knesset is against doing so as they were only protecting their lives and were under attack themselves. As I remember, Erdogan was instrumental in their participation, too.  Maybe it was part of his basic scheme uncovered here.   Oh where is Solomon when you need him?  We need a higher most impartial court to settle this one.  It's so similar to Israel asking for recognition from the Palestinians and not getting it.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/wikileaks-turkey-wanted-to-burn-bridges-with-israel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel%E2%80%93Turkey_relations
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alon-benmeir/turkey-and-israel-now-is_b_1532767.html

Knesset Shook Up: Kadima and Likud Join Hands in Israel

Nadene Goldfoot
It didn't take long for Kadima (to go forward)  to join up with Likud over the weekend to form a national unity government in Israel.  Elections will come about in 2013.  Mofaz, former IDF chief of staff and Defense Minister had been  opposed to Netanyahu.  He has replaced Tzippi Livni as head of Kadima.

Mofaz and Netanyahu are both concerned about their domestic issues such as a law excusing  the ultra-Orthodox to serve in military service.  If they introduce a universal draft, he will not lose too many votes for doing so as he'll have the 28 members of the Knesset of Kadima instead to work with.

They also plan on rejuvenating talks with the PA and promote social justice.  The Iranian threat to national security is the biggest issue facing them which could be the impetus to form a new government.  Both leaders seem to be in full agreement on "how to deal with the Iranian threat".

It was Yuval Diskin, former Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) chief and Meir Dagan, former head of Mossad, who are wary of Israel going alone to attack Iran by hitting their atomic weapon buildings.  So we have two slightly opposing opinions over the issue.  Ideally, if it must be done, they would like the USA to also participate.  After all, it is both of us that are threatened by Iran's atomic warfare plans.  If Israel goes down, the USA is next in line.

The window of opportunity is closing but the problem seems to be bigger than a little nation can tackle alone, like they have previously.    Now Netanyahu has the biggest coalition ever behind him.  I have no doubt that they will weigh this decision carefully.  They've been giving the world governments time to do their thing peacefully and stop the advance of Iran's maniacal mission.

Reference:  gerardrobins@sbcglobal.net: Israel's New National Unity government and the Iran Question by Yaakov Lappin 

Fences That Save Lives

Nadene Goldfoot                                                               

Like the poet, Robert Frost said, "Good fences make good neighbors."  Israel has been in the doghouse for having built fences, however.  There is an excellent reason for building them that other countries also in the act of building do not have.  It's to save the lives of Israelis from the many radicals that intend to kill them.  Not many countries have this reason for building their fences.  The "Good Neighbor Fence" between Israel and Lebanon has been there doing it's job.  I drove to it several times between 1980 and 1985.  That's when Major Hadad, head of the Christian militia of Lebanon and Israel were good friends and he helped to patrol the border.  His R &R time was spent in our army hospital many a time.
                                                                           

The United States is building fences along the border of Mexico to keep out illegal immigrants who have been taking advantage of the ease in gaining entrance.  There is no other way to prevent incursions into Israel other than shooting to kill.  This is a far better way.  I'm sure other countries would use death, it's so much cheaper.

There are checkpoints in Israel along the fences, some of which are cement.  Many explosive belts from suicide bombers were found.  This has cut down the attacks and the population feels much safer.  Usually schools have been a goal of these attackers.  They've had no hang-ups in who they kill inside Israel.
                                                                               

Jews actually have bad memories of being really fenced in, which the Palestinians are not.  The fences are not locking them in, just keeping the path closest to citizens blocked so it's not so easy to kill them.  Back in  Italy in about 1179 the Vatican issued the edict to keep Jews in ghettos, and they really were locked in at night.  Thus, this turned out to be the beginning of keeping us in one place.  If it wasn't for our strict kosher laws of cleanliness, we would have died out long ago.  Russia had the same idea which resulted to keeping Jews in "the Pale of Settlement."  We weren't allowed inside Russia proper without special conditions accompanied by special passes.  We never on any occasion wanted access to the rest of the world like other people had with the idea of killing anyone.  It was just normal reasons like business, touring, buying, and visiting that Jews would have liked to be able to do that was denied to them.
                                                                             

Israel border that is saving their lives;
up to keep out Palestinian terrorists

So don't lecture us on not treating people fairly!  Our whole religion involves such things.  We don't dwell on what happens to us when we are dead but when we are alive. Judaism is a religion of Life, L'Chaim!   The old adage, we'll treat you fairly and you treat us fairly  still exists.  The one thing we won't do is get down to the level of our adversaries, though.


Resource: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4227342,00.html
http://meria.idc.ac.il/journal/2000/issue3/jv4n3a2.html

King David Objects From Judah Revealed

Nadene Goldfoot
Imagine finding objects from the time of King David of Judah!  That's what's happened to Archaeology Prof. Yosef Garfinkel with the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.  They had digs at Khirbet Qeiyafa, which was a fortified city in Judah next to the Valley of Elah only 30 km from Jerusalem.  It lay near the Philistine city of Gath, which was the home of the giant, Goliath.  The city of Khirbet Qeiafa  was in existence between 1020 BCE to 980 BCE and had been violently destroyed.   They found pottery, stone and metal tools and many art and cult objects there.

In their finds were 3 large rooms that had been used as cultic shrines, dating the period they were from.  They were from before Solomon's Temple by 30 to 40 years. The tribes of Judah and most of Benjamin and Simeon lived in Judah.

King David of Israel (1000 BCE-960 BCE) was the youngest son of Jesse and was born in Bethlehem.  He had become the armor-bearer to King Saul, our first king and probably because of this had become best friends with Jonathan, the son of Saul.  He became a good fighter of the Philistines, and then married Saul's daughter, Michal.   He was buried in Jerusalem.

All this can be found in a new book out, "Footsteps of King David in the in the Valley of Elah", published by Yedioth Ahronoth.

Hebrew University, started in 1918 by Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, Martin Buber and Chaim Weizmann, was able to open in 1925.  It has been ranked 12th worldwide in biotechnology patent filings and commercial development.  Students from 65 countries have attended.

Resource: http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/History/Early+History+-+Archaeology/Cultic_shrines_time_King_David_8-May-2012.htm?DisplayMode=print

Abbas's Green Light for Terrorists

Nadene Goldfoot
I've always thought that that it was beshert that Fatah and Hamas could not agree on ruling in Gaza as both want the power. Both have security forces and would have to merge them, another problem.   David Meir-Levi gives us an update as to what is happening with all of Israel's neighbors and what they are doing.  It's quite alarming.  I'll just remark on Hamas and Fatah.  Be sure to read his insight.

Abbas's Fatah group who live in  Judea-Samaria or West Bank, formerly the PLO of Arafat's years, had been cooperating with Israel for the past 6 years fairly well, but now that they are talking about melding in with the terrorists of Hamas, are going bonkers.  Their PA police have decided not to cooperate and work with the IDF to prevent terrorism.  They are not arresting known terrorists there anymore.  Abbas has even resurrected "Arafat's old Palestinian revolving door policy for jailed terrorists"  Naturally, terrorists see this as the nod to resume their terrorism against Israel.

Abbas has been ruling illegally for 3 years with a term that expired in January 2009.  Arafat pulled the same trick.  He ruled unconstitutionally from 2000 to 2004 when he died from AIDS.  He calls himself a president, but acts like a tyrant in this way.

Abbas and Mesha'al met last year and again last week on the 2nd of May.  They seems to only connect when plotting to attack Israel, so that's what they may have been doing.  What a reason to unify!  Death of their neighbors.

Hamas, who had kicked Abbas out of Gaza in 2006, has refused to go along with Iran and support Bashar al-Assad of Syria and to not cooperate with their Muslim Brotherhood in Syria. This made Iran angry and they cut back on funding Hamas.  Hamas has also been losing their clout with other terrorists who are doing their own thing and not taking Hamas's orders. For instance, they have new mobile self-propelled rocket launchers smuggled in from Libya that they use against Israel.

Israel finds that  Fatah and Hamas are only two of many groups to cause concern lately.  The whole neighborhood is about to catch on fire, it seems.  This has caused Israel to raise their level of terror alerts and as usual, are prepared to protect their citizens from attack wherever it may come from.  We're all praying that it does not turn into a horrible nuclear war.  The Winds of War are starting to blow again, and I think the Arab Spring was the start of it all.  .

Resource:  frontpagemag.com/2012/05/08/winds-of-war/print
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatah%E2%80%93Hamas_conflict

The Very Cradle of Jewish Civilization: Judea and Samaria

Nadene Goldfoot
Judea and Samaria were the cradle of Jewish civilization and had an unfailing Jewish presence until the 1948 War when the many people living there were killed and about 10,000 survivors  were expelled by the Jordanians, who held rule illegally until the 1967 War with Israel.  Jordan  renamed the two states "West Bank."  , being they lay on the west side of the Jordan River.

The Kingdom of Judah, renamed Judea by the Romans,  had existed in 933 BCE when Eretz Yisrael was divided after King Solomon had died.  It was the southerly of the two.  The tribe of Judah and parts of Benjamin and Simeon lived there.  It was the poor and less important Kingdom with no access to the sea.  It did contain Jerusalem and the Temple, however and was able to keep Mosaic monotheism in a pure form.  Solomon's son, Rehoboam took over as King of Judah.  Samaria had been the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel, founded in 880 BCE by King Omri.  He was king of Israel from 887 to 876 BCE.  Omri had been Elah's general and directed the operations against the Philistine city of Gibbethon.  He was the founder of a dynasty.

The British actually were the last legal sovereign authority for Judea and Samaria.  Jordan and  had illegally held them  as well as Egypt illegally holding Gaza Strip between 1948 and 1967.  They remain unallocated portions of the British Mandate since no government formally replaced the Mandate's jurisdiction.  It's guidelines called for Jews to settle the area.  That's what they did from 1967 on.

Arabs wanted to hold onto these lands to attack Israel.  They kept launching attacks against Israel from the "Territories'" strategic locations.  UN Resolution 242 had planned for bilateral negotiations that would give Israel more secure borders and lead to greater regional stability.  When Israel pulled out of Gaza for the sake of making peace, the Arabs used it as a closer place to shoot their rockets, missiles and mortars into southern Israel.

Until 1988, the PLO continued to call for a Palestinian state to REPLACE Israel, not for a a separate state that would exist alongside it.  They still will not recognize Israel and the Muslim Brotherhood continues to push with their goal of replacement, not peace and coexistence.

80% of the Israeli settlers in Judea and Samaria live in communities close to the Green Line, which are suburbs of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.  The Jews have a right to settle the land.  It is a legal right assured by treaty and specifically protected by Article 80 of the U.N. Charter...."the Jewish right of settlement in the area is equivalent in every way to the right of the existing Palestinian population to live there" says Eugene Rostow, former U.S. Under Secretary of State, 1990.

Israelis had built communities after 1967 in undeveloped, uninhabited areas. Arabs have legitimate claims to ownership over some of the land.  Many are longtime inhabitants who felt they have no political rights and self-determination.  Israel  disputes their territorial claims and also has even stronger claims to the land.

Israel was forced to continue having a presence in Gaza and the West Bank from 1967 to 1993 because no Palestinian leader stepped up as a peace partner.  Blame International law and custom that required Israel to be the administrators.  They're just obeying the laws.  .  From 1993 to 2007 Israel gradually ended the "Occupation."  by turning civilian administration over to the newly created Palestininan Authority (PA) in 1994.

Did anyone complain when the Jordanians expelled our 10,000 Jews who were living there?  Why is it that the Jews get the short end of every stick?

Resource:  Israel 101 from StandWithUs
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

Muslim Brotherhood Instigating End of Peace: Israel and Jordan

Nadene Goldfoot
The Muslim Brotherhood is carrying out it's goals from their charter.  They are disrupting the peace between the Hashemite kingdom of Jordan and Israel.  On Friday they organized a rally to end the July 1994 peace treaty  that was signed by Shimon Peres and Jordan's PM, Abdelsalam al-Majali.  They now want to kick out Israel's ambassador.

 Getting to that peace treaty cost the USA 18.3 billion dollars which Abdelsalam declared was to bring an end to the age of wars and Peres had declared that the moment of peace had arrived.  Even Egypt had welcomed the agreement and Syria just played it cool by ignoring it.  As part of the agreement, Israel established a modern medical center in Amman.

 The Hezbollah of Lebanon obviously was unhappy about it and showed their anger by launching mortar and rocket attacks into the northern Galilee towns where I used to live just 20 minutes before the ceremony.  This had been a historical event of Israel;  signing a 2nd peace treaty with an Arab state.

Then they were able to open their borders by  building several border-crossings for tourists, merchants and workers to travel between.  Israeli tourists visited Jordan, enjoying Petra, a stone-carved Nabatean city which is famous.

Jordanians had been coming into Israel to work daily.  Since 1967, when Jordan attacked Israel along with all their friends and lost, resulting in losing the "West Bank" which they had held illegally since 1948, Israel maintained an OPEN BRIDGES policy with Jordan.  This allowed Arabs from Judea and Samaria to travel to neighboring Arab countries and continue to maintain family ties and for business and education.  Arabs from the West Bank were allowed since 1971 to visit Israel without permits.  Israel encouraged coexistence.

It hadn't been easy because between June 1967 and September 1970 the Jordanian army and Palestinian terrorists worked together to harass Israel.  They shelled Israeli villages in the Jordan Valley and terrorist groups were infiltrating and attacking Israelis.

In September 1970 Civil War occurred in Jordan when the Jordanian army crushed the Palestinian terrorist organization.  Jordan wound up becoming populated by many Palestinians with the King marrying one. They had their BLACK SEPTEMBER when the PLO  threatened to overthrow King Hussein.  Almost 3,400 Palestinians were killed  between the 16th and the 26th, 1970.  PLO members actually fled across the border to surrender to Israeli troops instead of Hussein's army.

Many feel that Jordan is Palestine being so many live there.  King Husayn had said that "there should be the separation of the West Bank from the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.  Likud, a major political party in Israel has said over and over that Jordan is Palestine.    

The rallies were in 7 cities where people burned Israeli and American flags and chanted, "death, death to Israel," and "the people want an end to Wadi Araba which is the Jordan-Israel peace treaty.

The Westernized King Abdullah II had recently appointed Fayez Tarrawneh as prime minister who was a man who served in this capacity briefly in the late 1990s and was a key figure in making peace with Israel.  He is a man who would still support the 1994 treaty and the people are rebelling now with the teachings  of the Muslim Brotherhood.

They are saying that this rational man is not respecting the Jordanian's wish to end all peace, calls the Muslim Brotherhood, a group our government mistakenly thinks is "moderate,"  This should be proof that they are radical and dangerous.

The Brotherhood's propaganda is that Israel has not followed through with obligations under the treaty like in water sharing.  They're noting Amman's custodianship over holy sites in Jerusalem and access to the Palestinian territories, meaning Jordanians wanting to gain free access into Judea, Samaria, maybe parts of the Golan and East Jerusalem.

Jordan, with  a population of 5,568,565 people of which 95% are Sunni Muslims, hopefully has strong leaders that can squelch such war mongers that are trying to end an 18 year old peace treaty.  The Muslim Brotherhood is doing the very same thing in Egypt by having Mubakak jailed after he and Sadat had kept them down and illegal.  Can people still say that they are moderate and harmless now?

Resource: http://www.timesofisrael.com/thousands-of-jordanians-call-for-end-to-peace-with-israel/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel%E2%80%93Jordan_Treaty_of_Peace
http://www.danielpipes.org/298/is-jordan-palestine
Facts about Israel, Division of Information, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem,  p 50-51
Myths and Facts: a concise record of the Arab-Israeli conflict b Mitchell Bard, Joel Himelfarb

Big Brou-ha Over Israel's Participation in NATO Summit

Nadene Goldfoot
Turkey has the chutzpah to object to Israel's being in the future NATO Summit in Chicago.  Is the USA's Secretary of State Hillary Clinton going to let the only reliable and capable ally in the region to be ostracized?  Their reasoning is that NATO-Israel relations can't be normal until Turkey-Israel relations are normalized.  The question I ask is, "How is that ever going to happen?"

This one member out of the 28 nation alliance is being controlling with no doubt an anti-Semitic bent.  Israel has so much to offer the group; insights on strategic developments such as instability in Syria, knowing more about  Iran and their atomic buildup to make nuclear weapons, etc.

Turkey also has said that Israel can't join until their Organization of Islamic Cooperation can also participate. I wonder if they have any idea about how to cooperate?  They were involved in invading Israel's waters with an illegal ship intending to bring who knows what into Gaza and wouldn't allow Israel to check out the ship.  Israel's intentions of checking out ships  was announced way earlier for all.  They screwed things up themselves with Israel and expect deference now from Israel like an apology, etc.   Turkey was a pain in the neck when they were known as the Ottoman Empire and they still are acting like spoiled children.

The American Jewish Committee has already asked our government to lift this sanction and not allow Israel to be ostracized from the group.  Considering that 75% of NATO's budget comes from the USA, one would think that the USA would have more than enough clout.

Obama has made it known that the big topic of the meeting is about Afghanistan. Russia's opposition to Missile Defense Plans is 2nd on the agenda, and last they are going to discuss their own future as so many of the European members come from countries short on money.   Fifty (50) countries will be represented and attending, from Iceland to Korea.

Resource: http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=8645678
Arutz Sheva news@israelnationalnews.com : Israeli Participation in Upcoming NATO Summit? by Rachel Hirshfeld

Stalemate Ending of Peace Talks While Gaza Exchanges Fire With Israel

Nadene Goldfoot
Supposedly, though  PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad was to meet with President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Netanyahu on the 17th , he did not attend.  Abbas had announced that he would, and seemed to be surprised that he didn't show up.

As it turned out, he wouldn't meet with Netanyahu.  Saeb Erekat, head of the PA negotiating team had told journalists just a few hours before the supposed meeting that he would be there, too.  Erkat had to stand in for Fayyad and was joined by Majed Faraj, PA general intelligence chief.

Netanyahu had his special envoy, Isaac Molho with him and the men talked for one hour 20 minutes.  The time was followed by a joint statement saying they both were committed to achieving peace.  Molho is to meet Abbas in Ramallah in the next 2 weeks and will bring an answer to a letter from the Palestinians about Israel's position on the borders of a future Palestinian state and security arrangements for Israel as part of any peace agreement.  It will no doubt include Israel's expectation that Palestinians recognize the State of Israel.

In the meantime, just 3 hours ago, the IDF and PA terrorists fired at each other on the Gaza border.  One was wounded.  The terrorists fired at the soldiers while they were near the security fence in central Gaza doing routine operational activities of clearing land in the early afternoon along the border.  .

The shooting damaged two armoured cars, so the Israelis answered back.  Israel's military keeps an exclusion zone inside the Gaza Strip along the border and regularly does this chore so that the land is safer and terrorists cannot hide in clumps.

On Tuesday evening, a rocket fired from Gaza and landed in Ashkelon.  This is what they had hoped to prevent.  Things like this that keep on happening.

Resource: http://news.yahoo.com/gaza-militant-killed-israeli-border-firefight-193154283.html

haaretz.com/misc/.../palestinian-delegation-delivers-peace-talks-demands-to-netanyahu-1.424905?trai

Israel's Protective Iron Dome or Kipat Barzel

Nadene Goldfoot

Brig. Gen. Danny Gold, head of Maf'at, decided that Israel needed a system of intercepting all the missiles.  By 2007 Israel commissioned developing the anti-missile Iron Dome.  They chose an Israeli contractor, Rafael. " The Israeli company, mPrest Systems, was put in charge of programming the core of Iron Dome's battle management system."

 They designed it to intercept and destroy short-range rockets and artillery shells fired from distances of 4 to 70 kilometers away.  The trajectory would be taking them to a populated area in all weather conditions.  This is Israel's defensive countermeasure to the rocket threat against Israel's civilian population on its northern and southern borders.   Within 4 years is was combat ready.  There was no system like this in the whole world.  The people involved felt like a start-up business.  This was a remarkably short period of time for a weapons system to be designed from scratch.

Funding for it came from the United States and Israel.   They have invested nearly a million into the Iron Dome, and are willing to invest more, now as long as the USA can get the development rights to the weapon system. Right now they have no right to the technology involved.

To fire at one missile, it costs $40,000.  It's expensive to use.  It was first used on 27 March 2011 near Beersheba.  By the 10 March 2011, it was successful in intercepting a Grad rocket launched from Gaza for the first time.  On 10 March, 2012, it shot down 90% of rockets launched from Gaza it fired at.  By April it had intercepted 93 rockets.  Maybe that's why we haven't heard of rockets landing near Southern Israel's towns.

Rockets which look like they're going to land in unpopulated areas are ignored.

Resource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Dome
news@israelnationalnews.com Arutz Sheva

Samarian-Judean Terrorism on the Rise on Highways

Nadene Goldfoot
Samaria, which is what some people call part of the West Bank, holds both Arabs and Jews.  Today an Israeli car drove near the Arab village of Duma on the highway NE of Ramallah and was stoned.  The windshield was smashed and the rock had blood on it from hitting the passenger.  The driver contacted the IDF immediately who are searching for the people who threw the rocks.  This is not the first attack in Samaria or Judea. 

Just January 31st an attack happened in Northern Samaria when a woman's car was stoned while driving and she was wounded while 2 other cars were damaged. 

By the middle of February3  women in Judea and Samaria were attacked in their cars by Palestinian Authority Arabs, dragged from their cars which were then stolen.  In retaliation, the Jewish residents of Kedumim blocked the PA Arab drivers from merging onto Route 55.  The attacks had been getting more violent and they wanted the government to protect drivers. 

An attack back in September 2011 on Asher Palmer from Kiryat Arba who was driving on Highway 60 ended in tragedy because he had his baby son, Yonatan in the car.  The rock attack caused Asher to lose control of the car and it crashed, killing the baby. 

The increased Arab rock attacks on the road in Judea and Samaria and in neighborhoods in Jerusalem seem to be the start of a Third Intifada. 

Resource: Arutz Sheva news@israelnationalnews.com
http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/woman-driving-in-samaria-injured-by-rock-thrower/2012/01/31/
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/152919

Ramban in Jerusalem and the Jews Who Lived There 1267-1967

Nadene Goldfoot
1,132 years after Bar Kochba's  last stand in Jerusalem, in 1267 CE, Rabbi Moses Ben Nahman "The Ramban" from Gerona, Spain  entered Jerusalem and saw what the overrunning of the Tartar hordes had done to this precious city.  Tartars were from the Genghis Khan and the Russian Empire who were moving eastward.  They were made up of people of Siberia, Turkestan, and Mongolia from across the Great Steppe to the Caspian Sea to the Ural Mountains.  In 1240 the Mongols had invaded Syria and were successful in 1260.  Some Mongols engaged in raids as far south as Jerusalem and Gaza.  They had taken Aleppo and Damascus in Syria.  They then invaded Hungary in 1285 and were again successful in 1300.  . 

Whole quarters were either ruined or empty, and there were only two people there that he could find, two brothers who were dyers by trade.  There in their home, 10 or more people were gathered from outside Jerusalem for the Sabbath and holiday prayers.  Rabbi Nahman, known as the Ramban, lived there as well.

The Ramban, one of the greatest Rabbis and greatest scholar, was horrified at the condition of the Holy Land and of Jerusalem, so wrote to his son for help in finding a good place to have a synagogue.and finally found a restorable hall.  He also encouraged outside Jewish communities to return and resettle in Jerusalem. He reminded people that the Bible said "We will not forsake the Land to others of the nations" from Numbers 33:53.   He himself stayed for a year, then moved to Acre, but his synagogue was the start of Jewish Quarter.

Most houses grew through the centuries and had chicken coops or kitchen shacks added.  Many walls looked like stony patchwork.  What would be a basement to us looked like caves, but the upper rooms were airy and beautiful.  People moved there from all over the world but most were from Samaria and the Galilee until the mid 1500's when the Sephardic influence became dominant.

During the 17th century a Jew converted to Islam after quarreling with his community leaders. He then built a mosque on his own plot and its minaret stands on the Street of the Jews.

In 1622, Rabbi Yeshayahu Ha-levi Horowitz came from Prague, a city today in Czech Republic but then a city of Bohemia.  In 1700 Rabbi Yehuda Hechassid and Rabbi Hayim Malach brought a large group from Russia and some settled.  Hechassid had made the first down-payment on the site and then died 5 days after his arrival.  When the community couldn't make the next payment the Moslems burned the small synagogue and imprisoned the Jewish leaders.  The Jews paid interest on the debt for 120 years until it was cancelled by order of Ibrahim Pasha.  In 1741 Rabbi Hayim Ben Attar came from Morocco to settle and was followed by a group of Italian families and immigrants from Egypt and Damascus. 

Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt took over Jerusalem in 1831, a liberal-minded and far-sighted man who had fought the Ottoman Empire.    At this time 40% of Jerusalem was still empty or in ruins.  He allowed Jewish and Christian immigration hoping to jolt Palestine out of the Dark Ages.  Churches and synagogues were then built. From 1852, the population more than doubled.  Jews were the largest single religious group at the time of the first census.  Jews started living outside the walls as well.

 By 1870's the Jewish Quarter looked so much better.  The great domes of the Hurva and Tifereet-Israel Synagogues rose high above roofs and cupolas.  The German Square was an absorption center for immigrant families built with contributions from German and Dutch communities.  Nearby was the great Sephardic Yeshiva, Porat Yosef, and hospitals.  Homes and apartments were built.  The Jewish Quarter sent out their own caravanserai-Khan Khalili twice a week to Hebron and once a week to Safed and Tiberias. 

In 1886, the Synagogue of the Ramban was expropriated by ruling Turks.  Synagogues were not allowed to be higher than the nearest mosque.  At this time two new synagogues were built; the Synagogue of the Prophet Elijah was one.

This renewed start continued until May 28, 1948 when the Old City was taken over by Jordan. Then the Arabs systematically destroyed the Quarter and desecrated Jewish holy places both in and around this walled city. It had once occupied one fifth of the old city. The two main streets were Habad and Street of the Jews.  By 1948, 2500 Jews lived in the Old City including students . Some  Arab families moved into  Jewish homes.  Then the invading Arab armies took over.

After the June 1967 Six Day War Israelis returned to the Jewish Quarter of the Old City and they saw that Jordan left a broken and jagged walls of the Hurva Synaogue that had been rebuilt in 1854 and then  halted once more by order of the Sultan until Sir Moses Montefiore  renewed permission.  It was finally completed in 1864 and named the Hurva "the Ruin" in memory of its burned first structure. 

Resource:Jewish Digest December 1975, Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem by Gabriella Rosenthal condensed from Israel Magazine and then again by me. 
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tartary
http://www.ou.org/about/judaism/rabbis/ramban.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czech_Republic
https://www.google.com/search?q=girona+spain&sourceid=ie7&rls=com.microsoft:en-US&ie=utf8&oe=utf8
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibrahim_Pasha_of_Egypt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_Empire
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_invasions_of_Syria

Mental Health Problem? UN Human Rights Meshugana When They Praise Iran

Nadene Goldfoot
On Monday, the same day that a motorcycle killer shot a Rabbi and his two children and another little girl at close range at a Jewish school in Toulouse, France, the UN's Human Rights had a debate where the Syrian ambassador told his audience that it was Israelis who were behind the ongoing violence in Syria!  Nobody gasped to show disapproval.  They seems to all be in agreement.  Would Syria lie? 

Also, delegates from Cuba, Syria, Belarus, Zimbabwe, Venezuela and other places praised the Iranian government's human rights record!  Iran is guilty of all sorts of abuses and just last year had the highest number of executions of any country in the world  from crimes like homosexuality,  to  being a member of the Baha'i faith.  A few countries' delegates did condemn Syria and Iran for other matters.  The Baha'i faith has moved its center to Haifa, Israel, where it resides in peace. 

They also heaped praise on Gaddafi's regime's human rights record.  Libya was held guilty from rebel forces, Armed forces and NATO of practicing rape, extrajudicial killings, racism, misconduct and bombing civilians.  It seems that eventually all involved were guilty of human rights violations.  Yet they are now praised by this august body of thinkers. 

Do these people actually believe what they are saying or is it all smacking up to Iran who is the main  provider of Syria's weaponry.  They sit in the council chamber with a painted ceiling that is a work of art that the UN says cost $23 million, that probably came mostly from the USA.  It could have fed starving children in Africa.  At the very entrance to the chamber is a statue of Maat, goddess of truth and justice given by Egypt's Mubarak, and another that reads, A statue of Nemesis, goddess of justice, given by the Syrian government.  Now we know why they kicked these statues out of their country.  It seems they're powerless anyway, as all gods and goddesses are, ever since Abraham broke them up in his father's shop and came into an era of common sense. 

Resource: http://blog.unwatch.org/index.php/2012/03/20/un-watch-summit-of-human-rights-hereoes/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_violations_in_the_Libyan_civil_war
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XV2qZtB8W3c Baha'i in Iran at UN

Kassam Rocket Hits Israel Monday

Nadene Goldfoot
The rockets are falling again from the terrorists, showing that the cease fire has ended between Gaza and Israel.  One kassam rocket fell in the Western Negev Monday morning in a rural area.  This time it didn't hit a building or a person. 

At the same time, the chutzpah of the terrorists is at an all time high with Ismail al-Ashqar speaking to the UN Human rights council on Monday morning.  He has publically called for Hamas to kidnap Israeli soldiers, which is a war crime.  Also, he calls for a Jihad to liberate Jerusalem from the "dirt of Zionist occupation."  The Human Rights Council, made up of 47 states, includes such stand up countries as China, Saudi Arabia and Cuba, who know just how to treat  people.  I wonder  whose ethics they follow? 

Hamas fires rockets at the homes of innocent Israeli civilians yet is received with open arms by the UN who are always denouncing Israel.  If this isn't a mass mental illness, what is? 

Resource:  Arutz Sheva
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4204561,00.html

Why Are Jews Back in Israel Once Again?

We were scattered.  There has always been a reason people have used to hate us, but here we are.  We didn't disappear like all the other nations have.  Am Yisrael  chi.  The people of Israel live.  Please watch the video for an excellent explanation and overview. 
Reference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ydwxy9yqhzM#

New Escalation of 40 Rockets (80) (90+)(100)(120) From Gaza Thursday and Friday: Worse since October

Nadene Goldfoot
The Popular Resistance committees (PRC)  terrorists were planning attacks in the Sinai along the boarder between Israel and Egypt.  Israel Air Force hit the vehicle involved killing their commander Zuheir al Qaisi,  Ahmad Hanini and 6 others on Friday. They had been planning a major attack on Israeli targets.   Two mortar shells were fired at Israel from Hamas causing an explosion in the open fields. 

This brought about a rocket barrage from Gaza of 40 rockets into Southern Israel. In return, the IDF hit terror targets in Gaza.  It continued from Thursday throught Friday.  Since then the number has gone to 80 and now 90 plus rockets, one of which was a 25 mile long range rocket that Israel's Iron Dome stopped. 

Abu Attiya threatened retaliation.  These PRC terrorists called it a grave escalation.  You see, according to their rules, they can attack but don't want to be attacked in return.  They have continued to fire rockets at Israel, yet now that Israel retaliated but good, we see the Arab League screaming and condemning the "Gaza massacre."   So far the air strikes from Israel have killed 15 terrorists. 
The attack continued March 9th and 10th amounting to 80 (90+) rockets shot, mainly into Beersheba and the Eshkal region of Southern Israel.  The terrorists used mobile Grad launchers smuggled in from Libya. 

Reference:  http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=261146
http://www.jpost.com/
http://www.debka.com/ March 9, 10; Palestinians fire mobile Grad launcher smuggled from Libya; count up to 80 rockets.
http://news.yahoo.com/israel-kills-more-gaza-gunmen-rockets-fired-israel-103107234.html
http://news.yahoo.com/arab-league-condemns-gaza-massacre-170856103.html
http://news.yahoo.com/israeli-air-strikes-kill-12-gaza-043900441.html
3/11/12 Fox TV News

Those Terrible Israeli Doctors; Such Chutzpah !

Nadene Goldfoot
The Israeli doctors have a lot of nerve.  PA Health Minister Fathi Abu Mughli and director Ahmed Bitawi also are pretty nervy.  They all toured the Palestine Medical Compound in Ramallah causing an Arab protest.  Ramallah, only 6 miles north of Jerusalem,  used to be a Christian city but is now mostly all Muslim and serves as the capital of Fatah's PA with about 25,500 population. 

How dare they all visit!  Doctors and nurses in the compound were instructed to meet these 3 Israeli doctors!  It amounts to fraternizing with the enemy, they seemed to think, and complained that it was a form of normalizsation with Israel which they are opposed to. 

Against the doctors' visit was Fatah's Dr. Mutasem Muhaisen who described the idea to host the Israeli team of doctors as "irresponsible.  It was an offense to the memory of Palestinian martyrs who died in clashes with IDF soldiers over the past 20 years, he complained.  The accusation was made that the doctors weren't doctors but IDF officers and soldiers.  Abu Mughli knew the truth that they were in fact, simply doctors.  Mughli also reminded people that patients were being transferred to Israeli hospitals on a regular basis.  Probably they are sent to Ashkelon's hospital. 

Mughli also stated that the PA was ready to provide medical services to Israelis, and at least he isn't against meeting with Israeli doctors.  Bitawi also said that this was a part of coooperation between Israelis and Palestinianss in the medical field and that for doctors this is not a political issue but a humanitarian mission. 

However, back in the Gaza Strip, Basem Naim, Minister of Health in the Hamas government, had a fit and claimed it was part of security coordination between Israel and the PA (Fatah).  I can see that Hamas and Fatah are getting along just fine. 

Small steps.  Just a few doctors were amiable to fraternizing with Israeli doctors, but it's a start in the right direction.  Now, if only they could work on the killers who keep shooting at Israelis.  That would be a giant step for mankind.  I guess it depends on their goals; help patients to live and be well or to kill Israelis.  I see what most want.

Resource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramallah
http://www.jpost.com/ Diplomacy & Politics