Does Abbas Use Israel's Innovations?

Nadene Goldfoot
The video below tells it all.  Israel is extremely innovative and has come up with all sorts of inventions that have helped the world, many of which are in the medical world as well as technologies that we have come to love and expect.

I am in awe of this teeny little state who is surrounded at least on 3 sides by enemies that have been trying to destroy them, from the Palestinians on the West side to Iran way in the East as well as Lebanon and Syria in the North.  Iran threatens with atomic bombs and Syria has chemical weapons. For the past 6 years they have also been continually bombed by the Palestinian Arab terrorists from Gaza as well, so the Southern Israeli population spends a lot of time in bomb shelters.  Besides the immediate dangers, there is also the UN who has managed to single out Israel as the one and only terrible country in the world, causing many to side with them.

To top it off, there are people who want to boycott, divest and sanction Israel's products in  destructive BDS movements.   They just want to punish Israel for trying to stay alive.  This is a situation for only the best of psychologists or sociologists to understand.  Anybody else would crumble under the stress Israelis live under, but for them they just keep inventing.

BDSers see everything Israel does as a crime, and in my opinion, twist facts as only the UN bias views things.  To these misinformed, hateful, judgemental  people, Israel has "denied Palestinians their fundamental rights of freedom, equality, and self-determination through ethnic cleansing, colonization, racial discrimination, and military occupation."

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, chief  of the Palestinian political group, Fatah and main negotiator has been refusing to sit down and talk to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for a long time, now.  Hillary Clinton only pressures  Netanyahu to do this but never Abbas, so Netanyahu just offered to release 124 Palestinian terrorist murderers from Israeli prisons in exchange for a meeting with Abbas. Of course, as usual, Abbas refused.  Did he want more of an offer?  Actually, he wants a settlement before he sits down to settle anything.  It's "give in to his wishes" and then he'll sit down, and that's the way it has been going on.  Netanyahu thinks that this is why people sit down and talk,  to decide on things together; some give and take on both sides of an issue.

This only brought on an attack against Israel by the Obama administration.  They are also angry now because Israel's Supreme Court, led by retired Supreme Court justice Edmond Levy, came out with the decree that their communities that go beyond the 1949 armistice lines are legal!  The findings were published this week and say that under international law, they are legal.  This is not new as it has been the position of Israel since 1967 and even since 1922.  Israel has held the right to sovereignty over Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem as well as all the land Israel took control over during the 1948-1949 War of Independence.

In the mandate that Britain held up till May 14, 1948, Britain was to facilitate settlement by Jews on the land, including state lands and wastelands not required for public purposes.  They were not to prohibit Jewish settlement and they did so  in every way possible.  They went against the requirement that they were to help Jewish settlement.   They took horrible action to prevent Jewish settlement, such as not letting Jews in the land in the late 30's who were escaping the Nazi persecution, even to the point of turning back shiploads of Jews needing their promised homeland, thereby causing their ultimate deaths. Then they went ahead and opened the land up to the Arabs, instead.

Israel is bucking a lot of negative pre-determined viewpoints about their state that say that their land, once said to be a nice piece, like a 9 X 12" sheetcake, shouldn't be any bigger than a postage stamp, and having shrunk to that size, should now give up more land called Judea, Samaria and East Jerusalem.  Actually, Jordan (Transjordan) was to be a part of Israel originally.  And I ask, just who has been the people who have been denied their fundamental rights of freedom?  Who has been racially or religiously discriminated against?  Who's still the scapegoat in this world?

Reference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iIoSesQB2U
http://www.bdsmovement.net/bdsintro
http://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com  (my latest posts on Britain, the mandate and events)
From Time Immemorial by Joan Peters
http://frontpagemag.com/2012/caroline-glick/obamas-spectacular-failure/

Swedish Muslim Possible Bomber of Israeli Bus in Bulgaria

Nadene Goldfoot
Mehdi Ghezali, 36 year old Stockholm, Swedish born Muslim welder  whose parents were Algerian and Finnish has been fingered as the suicide bomber of the Israeli tour bus in Bulgaria and a Hezbolla operative.  That wouldn't surprise me one bit as Malma, Sweden, is full of Muslims who hate Jews and have driven out many of them.  Jews had found safety in Sweden from the 2nd world war days and many had settled in Malma.

Sweden of course is denying that he is the bomber, but they can't find him.  Netanyahu is blaming Iran, who supports Hezbolla.  Iran is denying involvement in this Burgas attack which means nothing as they always deny involvement in Israeli assassinations.  For months they have been trying to mass murder Israelis in Thailand, India, Georgia, Kenya, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Cyprus..  This time 5 Israelis including a pregnant woman were blown to smithereens  as well as the Bulgarian tour guide and the bomber.  Some 30 were injured and flown back to Israel.  It's possible he didn't mean to be killed in the placing of the bomb on the bus.  DNA tests are being used for identification.

Ghezali had arrived in Bulgaria 5 weeks before the bombing and got to the airport by taxi.  Somebody else gave him the bomb.  That somebody must have known of the habits of Israel using the Bulgarian seaport as a tour place at this time of year, which tells me that someone at the resort may have been in on it.  Israelis have used the resort for high school graduates before they go into the service.

Ghezali had a fake American passport and a fake Michigan driver's license.  He has a wikipedia page showing past involvements and was held in Guantanamo Bay detainment camp in Cuba in 2002.  He attended a Muslim religious school and mosque in Britain before traveling to Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and Pakistan where he was captured.  Sweden had dropped all charges against him for criminal misconduct before his capture.

The authorities even have a video clip of him walking around before the blast at the Burgas International Airport.  He had a backpack, and was casually dressed wearing a baseball cap and had long dark hair and a slight mustache.

Israeli and Bulgarian officials are investigating the attack.  The FBI and CIA have joined them as well.  The police may have come to the conclusion that this man was the suicide bomber after reading his rap-sheet and knowing that he was seen in the airport just before the bombing and not found afterwards, do you think?

It has been brought to my attention that this attack on Israelis has not warranted enough interest in our local papers or TV to make the news, though it has been reported on the web.  Evidently Israelis can be murdered without much interest to the rest of the world, which is a shunda.  That Israelis cannot travel or vacation without fear outside of Israel is a terrible shame.  Of course the land most likely to be responsible is the one who has cursed and hated it the most:  Iran.  It's not a puzzlement to Israel but the obvious.  .

Resource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehdi_Ghezali
frontpagemag.com/2012/davidhornik/the-burgas-attack-irans-terror-war-against-israel/print/
news@israelnationalnews.com Arutz Sheva Bulgaria:  Iran-Financed Hizbullah Behind Terror Attack by Chana Ya'ar
http://www.examiner.com/article/israelis-accuse-hezbollah-of-attacking-bus-outside-bulgarian-airport

Israeli Bus bombed in Bulgaria: 6 Dead

Nadene Goldfoot
Bulgaria, on the coast of the Black Sea,  is a state that trades with Israel. It used to be a part of the Ottoman Empire also, and then later became a Communist state, now gone Democratic.   I remember loving the Bulgarian jam that I bought in Israel in the 1980's.  Not long ago Israelis could be tourists in Egypt, but I wouldn't recommend it today.  Since Israeli tourists can't visit its own neighbors,  Bulgaria was a destination for a trip.  154 Israeli tourists flew from Tel Aviv to the Burgas airport in Bulgaria and were aboard one of 7 Israeli tour buses by 5pm when it was bombed by terrorists.  They had been headed for a resort some 30 miles away.

Now 6 people are reported  killed and 32 injured with 3 in ICU when the bomb exploded Wednesday.  A suspicious package was found on the bus.  Dan Shenar, head of security at the Israeli Transportation Ministry had requested some increased security when they found it.

Israel has feared that Hezbollah would attack Israelis in connection with the 4th anniversary of the assassination of Imad Mughniyah, their military commander and have blamed Israel's Mossad.  There was a Hezbollah plot earlier uncovered.  Hezbollah may be from Lebanon, but they get their support from Syria and Iran.   Also, today was the anniversary of an attack 18 years ago in Buenos Aires when the Jewish Community Center was bombed, killing 85 people.

Resource: http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/18/world/europe/bulgaria-israel-blast/?hpt=hp_t2
http:;//www.jpost.com/LandedPages/PrintArticle.aspx?id=277989
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hezbollah
//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_AMIA_bombing

Plans on the Table-Do They Include Deep Throat?

Nadene Goldfoot
Deep Throat is a guided bomb-unit 28 (GBU-28) and weighs 5,000 pounds.  It is laser guided and was used in Operation Desert Storm to penetrate Iraqi underground command centers.  2 were dropped.

During former US President George W. Bush's administration (2001-2009) in 2005, the USA sold 100  bunker-penetrating bombs and refueling aircraft to Israel, possibly  thinking they would be used to strike Iran's nuclear facilities.  By 2006 Israel accelerated the request and finally 55 units were delivered in 2009 as the order had been deferred for 2 years.

When Obama entered the White House,  he approved a string of Israeli requests to purchase advance armament.  Netanyahu requested the approval of the sale of advanced refueling aircraft as well as GBU-28 bunker-piercing bombs during a recent meeting with Leon Panetta in March 2012.  Obama instructed Panetta to work directly with Ehud Barak, Israel's Defense Minister, on the matter.  He indicated that they looked favorably on this request.

WikiLeaks exposed discussions about it about discussions in 2009 noting that it should be quiet to avoid allegations that the USG is helping Israel prepare for a strike against Iran.

The USA sold some to South Korea after North Korea had a practice bomb drill.  They were to be delivered sometime between 2010-2014.

Israel had on December 23, 2011 received bombs fused to prematurely detonate before penetration.  "According to the Jerusalem Post on December 23, 2011 the US Justice Department announced that it had reached a settlement with Kaman Corp. which allegedly substituted a fuse in four lots of fuses made for the bombs. Under the settlement, Kaman Corp. will pay the government $4.75 million. "  Kaman Corp is a USA corporation.  

Resource: http://www.npr.org/2011/09/24/140773755/u-s-sells-bunker-busters-to-israel
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/netanyahu-asked-panetta-to-approve-sale-of-bunker-busting-bombs-u-s-official-says-1.416900
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GBU-28
http://www.kaman.com/

Clinton's Greeting in the Middle East

Nadene Goldfoot
Egypt's military head, field Marshal Hussein Tantawi warned today  after Hillary Clinton left that he won't let the Muslim Brotherhood dominate Egypt, even though Hillary  had advised him to work with Egypt's elected Islamist leaders, so he wasn't very happy with her suggestions. He stated that "Egypt will never fall.  It belongs to all Egyptians and not to a certain group--the armed forces will not allow it."  The military has cut Morsi's powers and has taken over the job of writing a new constitution.

Egypt itself wasn't happy with her either,  boys holding placards showed they hated Israel just a little more than they hated her.  Her motorcade was hit with shoes, tomatoes and a few water bottles.  The people called out "Monika, Monika, remembering her husband's affair just to irk her.

While Egypt's liberals were for the Arab Spring, the liberals and Christians are now accusing Clinton and Obama with forcing the Muslim Brotherhood down Egypt's throat to curry favor with the Islamists.

With that greeting behind her,  Hillary then met with Prime Minister Binyamim Netanyahu in Jerusalem on the last leg of her trip abroad.  She was there to talk about Iran's nuclear power and the stalled peace process with Hamas and Fatah.

As usual, southern Israel at that moment was hit with a rocket at around 9:30pm.  An Israel News Daily article explained what happens is that first the scream of the Color Red rocket alert sounds.  15 seconds later a rocket explodes.  This time it was a short-range Qassam and it exploded somewhere in the western Negev.  Security personel have to go out to locate the site where it exploded.  Israelis must stay in their shelters for 10 minutes after its impact to make sure it's not being followed immediately by another which can happen.

An hour later, another attack did come, this time against the nearby city of Sderot, which is the closest to the Gaza Strip.  This rocket exploded in a field on the outskirts of the city.  Hillary should visit the southern part just to see what it's like and what the population endures from the terrorists.

Resource: Oregonian 7/16/12 page A3, In Egypt by AP
arutz sheva,, Rocket fire Aimed at southern Israel by Chana Ya'ar
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/157910
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/157915

Anti-Tank Missile Aimed at Farmers

Nadene Goldfoot
An Israeli air force  pilot killed one terrorist Thursday in response to the many attacks on southern Israel by Hamas terrorists this past week.  The attack happened east of Gaza City.

Earlier the IDF armored corps artillery forces attacked a Hamas terror cell  that operated within Gaza.  They were ready to launch an anti-tank missile at Israeli soldiers patrolling the security fence.

On Monday, Kibbutz Yad Mordechai was targeted  by an anti-tank missile along with sniper fire aimed at a group of farmers in a field and cars including a child's infant seat that was directly targeted.  A bullet hole pierced the back of the infant's seat.  Luckily, the 7 month old wasn't in it at the time.  The kibbutz, started in 1930 by Polish Jews, relocated to its present site a few miles south of Ashkelon in 1943.  It remembers its founders fighting the Nazis in the Warsaw Ghetto.  In 1948 they were attacked by Egypt.

Southern Israel has endured at least 300 strikes by Gazan terrorists so far this year.  This puts all of southern Israel in jeopardy as they never know where they will land.  .

Ashkelon, Portland's sister city, is the home of Barzalai Hospital where all people, both Israelis and Arabs can come for their wounds and find medical assistance.  They've had to go underground in order to continue helping people, and that means to dig down to a lower level for protection. The  Ashkelon Marina is well known in the yachting community as a center for International rallies and regattas.  It's famous marina is large enough for 600 ships and is located between two beaches.  

    

Resource: Arutz Sheva news@israelinationalnews.com Terrorist Dead in IAF Strike on Gaza by Chana Ya'ar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yad_Mordechai
http://www.ashkelon-marina.co.il/

Restaurant Hit in Southern Israel by Machine Gun Fire

Nadene Goldfoot
Southern Israel's Monday rocket attack also included machine gun fire that came from the Gaza Strip.  They hit two cars and a restaurant wall in a plaza.  No one was injured but that must have been a shock.  The terrorists must have moved their location of firing as usually they hit open fields with rockets.

Shells found were from an 0.5-caliber automatic machinegun, reports  Ynet News.  This brought out both soldiers and police to check out the area.  People in the restaurant were quite surprised, I'm sure.

This of course caused retaliation by the IAF who hit two Hamas centers in south Gaza overnight.  No injuries were reported.  Evidently from reports, the terrorists had fired a missile into the Eshkol region and were shooting at cars with the machine guns.  It is thought that they couldn't have seen the restaurant from their point, so that could have been wild shooting.


Resource: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4253338,00.html
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/gaza-rocket-hits-israel-army/972542/
http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n282669

What the Fight Between Jews and Arabs Is Really All About

Nadene Goldfoot
Actually, The modern effort to establish a national homeland for the Jewish people began in 1839 with the petition by Sir Moses Montefiore to Sa'id, Khedive of Egypt, for a Jewish homeland in the region of Palestine.


Finally, November 29, 1947 was the day the UN decided to recommend the partition of Palestine into an Arab and a Jewish state.  The Jewish state would be even smaller than what was later decided by Armistice Lines in 1949, after all the Arab nations had attacked the new-born Israel.   It was only a little more than half of western Palestine, about 15,000 square km or 6,000 square miles and that was including the semi-arid Negev Desert.  In contrast, Egypt has 386,000 sq miles. Today Israel amounts to 7,992 square miles.

 At the time there were already 7 Arab states in the same area:  Egypt, Iraq, Syria Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Transjordan.  The area of land they already had was 230 times larger than the planned Jewish state and had a population 60 times more than the Jews, who numbered about half a million, or pretty close to 600,000.

At this time the Arabs wanted the Jewish land as well.  This is what they fought the Jews about.  There were no "occupied territories" to fight about The Arabs were guaranteed their state out of the Jews' promised Jewish Homeland. There weren't any Arabs living in refugee camps.   In fact, their portion was 7/8 of all of Palestine on both sides of the Jordan River.  All 7 states would invade Israel.  It was a ratio of 7:1.

They even refused to recognize the Jewish claims to the land.  That hasn't changed as we saw on the Geraldo show last night that Palestinian legislator, Dr. Hanan Ashrami vehemently denied Jews any history to Jerusalem or the land at all.

Palestine was quite a large piece of land as known at the time of the British Mandate of 1918 at the end of World War I.  In the map above you can see the Dead Sea.  February 1919 Emir Faisal, the recognized Arab leader of his day was also  in the act of striving for  the creation of an Arab political independence in Syria where he was a king for a brief time and Iraq where he ruled for 40 years.  He signed a formal agreement with Dr. Chaim Weizmann for cooperation between the two over the projected Arab state and the projected reconstituted Jewish state of "Palestine"  Faisal saw the borders proposed as moderate and proper.  The Zionists included what became Mandatory Palestine on both banks of the Jordan as well as NW Galilee up to the Litany River, later included in S. Lebanon, part of the Golan Heights, later included in Syria and part of Sinai.  

What the League of Nations was establishing was separating the  "state of Palestine" from Syria. They had the mandate over the Ottoman Empire that had lost the World War I.  Britain saw that Palestine would control its own source of water power and irrigation on Mount Hermon in the east to the Jordan.  This was of great importance since the success of the new state would depend upon the possibilities of agricultural development. " The mandate formalised British rule in the southern part of Ottoman Syria from 1923–1948."


 " It was recommended the the Jews be invited to return to Palestine and settle there, being assured by the Conference of all proper assistance in so doing that may be consistent with the protection of the personal (especially the religious) an the property rights of the non-Jewish population, and being further assured that it will be the policy of the League of Nations to recognize Palestine as a Jewish state as soon as it is a Jewish state in fact. "


The League of Nations Report said:  "It is right that Palestine should become a Jewish state, if the Jews, being given the full opportunity, make it such.  It was the cradle and home of their vital race, which has made large spiritual contributions to mankind, and is the only land in which they can hope to find a home of their own;  they being in this last respect unique among significant peoples."


Instead of following Emir Faisal's wishes which would have had a good outcome for all, the Arabs followed the advice of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and attacked the Jews instead.  The Grand Mufti was in cahoots with Germany.  " as shown in a memo written November 2, 1943 from Heinrich Himmler to an anti-Balfour Declaration meeting: 


"To the Grand Mufti:
  "The National Socialist Movement of Greater Germany has, since its beginning, inscribed upon its flag the fight against world Jewry.  It has, therefore, followed with particular sympathy the struggle of the freedom--loving Arabians, especially in Palestine, against the Jewish interlopers....." 


The British had compounded the Jewish efforts by doing everything in their power to keep them out of the area.  It was truly a miracle that Israel was pronounced a state as the British Mandate was up and they left on May 14, 1948.


Reference: http://www.colostate.edu/orgs/ESA/general.html
Book: Battleground, Fact and Fantasy in Palestine by Samuel Katz
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Israel
Book:  From Time Immemorial by Joan Peters
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Mandate_for_Palestine_(legal_instrument)

Original Borders of Israel 1271 BCE

Nadene Goldfoot
Moses lived from about 1391 BCE to 1271 BCE.  The Borders of Eretz Yisrael were dictated to Moses by G-d  as found in Numbers 33:52 to 34:21. " The land of Canaan is to fall to you as an inheritance. The fact remains that Moses never did get to enter Canaan but certainly was able to be knowledgeable about the geography through this communication. .

The  southern side shall be from the Wilderness of Zin at the side of Edom, 
Your southern border shall be from the edge of the Salt Sea to the east.  The border shall go around south of Maaleh-akrabbim, and shall pass toward Zin; and its outskirts shall be south of Kadesh-barnea; then it shall go out to Hazar-addar and pass to Azmon.  The border shall go around from Azmon to the stream of Egypt, and its outskirts shall be toward the Sea.

The western border:  It shall be for you the Great Sea and the district; this shall be for you the western border.

This shall be for you the northern border:  from the Great Sea you shall turn to Mount Hor.  From Mount Hor you shall turn to the approach to Harnath, and the outskirts of the border shall be toward Zedad.  The border shall go forth toward Zifron and its outskirts shall be Hazar-enan;


You shall draw yourselves as the eastern border from Hazar-enan to Shefam.  The border shall descend from Shefam to Riblah, east of Ain; the border shall descend and extend to the bank of the Kinnereth Sea to the east.  The border shall descend to the Jordan, and its outskirts shall be the Salt Sea;

 This shall be the Land for you,  according to its borders all around".  In the map above, the brown shaded areas were not yet taken by the time Joshua, the Israelite commander and successor of Moses,  died.  Moses had directed him to to lead the people in the conquest of Canaan.  Judah and Samaria are included inside the borders of Israel being they are on the West side of the Jordan River; thus the incorrect name of "West Bank," given to the area by the Jordanians.

Knowing the borders of Israel became important because of the many commandments that are to be followed only inside this land.  Notice that the border begins at the extreme southeast and goes from there to the west, then northward, eastward and finally, southward. to join the original starting point.  The Jews could not bring themselves to eliminate all the Canaanites.   The Northern shaded area with the Lebanon Mts. remained as Lebanon.  King Solomon was able to get Cedar trees from there to use in the Temple through trade and friendly relations.  .

Reference: Tanach, The Stone Edition; the Torah/Prophets/Writings; the 24 books of the bible by Rabbi Nosson Scherman by Mesorah Publications, ltd.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moses

Justice Edmond Levy Rules: ISRAEL HAS RIGHT TO LIVE IN JUDEA-SAMARIA

Nadene Goldfoot
Judge Levy is not the first legal expert to say that  Israel has,  according to international law,  the legal right to live and build in Judea and Samaria.  Eugene Rostow and Stephen Schwebel have also ruled that they are not breaking international law.  They just investigated their position once again and take the same stand as found earlier.

Israel, a land where justice has always been extremely important, from times of their very beginnings with Moses to the present,  revisited the their legal status once again to get a new read on it by retired Supreme Court Justice Edmond Levy.  He headed a committee that has been examining the legality of Jewish construction in Judea and Samaria and  declared on Tuesday that Israelis have a legal right to settle the region, a decision that Israel had already come to take after winning the 1967 war. 

 Israel was attacked in 1967 by surrounding states of Egypt, Jordan and Syria, who lost.  The UN has upheld a ruling that Israel is breaking international law of building in what they call the Palestinian territory citing the 4th Geneva Convention.  It should be mentioned that the UN is also top heavy with 48 Muslim majority countries who would rather get rid of Israel entirely and find fault with her at every possible moment.   In fact, Syria is up again to serve on the Human Rights Council of 2013 along with such countries as Pakistan and Venezuela.

Israel was promised by the mandate holder, England, in the Balfour Declaration to have a Jewish Homeland in Palestine.  The original decided piece was lopped off and 80% of it was offered to the Palestinian Arabs who rejected it and have continued to do so for 64 years!  This included Judea and Samaria.  Actually, they were being piggish in wanting Israel's piece as well and in my opinion, weren't after a state but after a way of getting rid of the Jews. At that time they had not voiced any claims of nationalism at all, being Arabs coming from many of the surrounding countries whereas the Jews were in dire need of a homeland and wanted their own homeland back once again after a 2,000 year wait for it.  To the Jews, the land was holy.

At the very least, Jews have this right to live in the lands that they control under the agreements with the Palestine Authority, he has stated.  The establishment of Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria, which the press calls "West Bank" is in itself, not illegal.

"The laws of "occupation" do not apply to the unique historic and legal circumstances surrounding Israel's decades-long presence in Judea and Samaria."

The report continued to say that the 4th Geneva convention's part addressing the protection of civilian persons in time of war-on the transfer of populations does not apply, and  wasn't intended to apply to communities such as those established by Israel in Judea and Samaria.

There were some criticisms for Israel in the report, though.  The problems were the dozens of new neighborhoods that had been erected without government authorization but not halted by the government, either, and without a link to the mother community.  Several had been built outside the legal jurisdiction allotted to the community .  The ruling is that they are to operate within the confines of the law and this must be enforced better in the future.  This situation is undoubtedly why Netanyahu had this committee formed.  

The committee gave recommendations to be followed.  Future problems of unauthorized communities will be dealt with from now on in a faster manner.  Rules are now clear and must be enforced.

Judge Levy, born in Iraq, was an active criminal lawyer.  He was appointed to the supreme court in 2001.

Resource: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=4945
http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/07/05/hillel-neuer-syria-is-heading-for-a-seat-on-un-human-rights-council/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Levy
http://israel-nadene.blogspot.com/2010/11/international-law-concerning-judea-and.html
http://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com/2012/06/part-ii-on-international-law-concerning.html

Are Jewish Towns and Cities Eating Away Palestinian Lands?

Nadene Goldfoot
What are the Palestinian lands that are being settled by Jews?  The Palestinian leadership had been offered their own state back in 1947 when Israel was offered theirs.  In fact, Israel was promised their own homeland way before that which was including the “West Bank” (Judea and Samaria) which had originally been the Jewish Homeland, but the Palestinians rejected their offer, and kept rejecting it in years thereafter.  The English had cut off 80% of what was to become Israel and it was instead offered to the Arabs.

The Jews did not come into the West Bank again until the 1967 Six Day War when Israel was attacked by Jordan, Egypt and Syria,  and surprising everyone, won the battle.  That meant that Israel had the opportunity to take back East Jerusalem and unite it with the rest of the city under one mayor.  They did not move anyone out in doing so.

No Palestinians were moved out of Judea and Samaria.  Jews did move there.  It so happens that many families had been living there before 1948, like in Hebron,  and were attacked, killed and forced to flee for their lives, so now Jews have moved back again.  If Palestine is ever created, they plan to have no Jews living there at all.

Israel does patrol Judea and Samaria to keep people safe, as the Palestinians are known to attack Jewish communities.

The Arabs refused to take their land   every time it was offered, therefore there is no Palestinian land as yet, or may never come about at this rate.  They refuse to sit down and discuss terms with Israel.  For 64 years the land has remained "Occupied Territory" of Judea and Samaria.    There is no reason why Jews cannot build homes there except that the world community refuses to accept this fact..  

For the sake of peace with the Arabs,Israel left the Sinai in 1979 and disbanded 18 settlements.  Israel left Gaza in 2005 and disbanded 21 settlements.  Israel left the area in Judea and Samaria in 2005 disbanding 4 settlements we deemed illegal.  Israel  turned over the area to the Palestinian Authority to govern all civil situations but maintains the right of security enforcement  there.

The position of successive Israeli governments is that all authorized settlements are entirely legal and consistent with international law.In practice, Israel does not accept that the Fourth Geneva Convention applies de jure, but has stated that on humanitarian issues it will govern itself de facto by its provisions, without specifying which these are. The scholar and jurist Eugene Rostow has disputed the illegality of authorized settlements.

Under Israeli law, West Bank (Judea Samaria) settlements must meet specific criteria to be legal. In 2009, there were approximately 100 small communities that did not meet these criteria and are referred to as illegal outposts.

According to the Oslo accords of the 4th Geneva convention, both Israel and the Palestinian Arabs were barred from changing their status quo but both have built.  International law is listened to, but is not THE law of the land.

While 164 nations call the West Bank- Occupied Palestinian Territory, “the government of Israel holds that only territories captured in war from “an established and recognized sovereign” should be considered occupied territories.”  In my opinion, this would act as a deterrent for further attacks on a country.  They cannot just attack and get away with it without  paying the price.  This is what these 164 nations are trying to allow:  no penalty for attacking Israel in the 1967 War.

Resource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Bank
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_settlement

Who Has Ruled Palestine Since 70CE? How Did People Fare?

Nadene Goldfoot
Our "birth certificate" was validated by the promise of the Bible.  Eretz Yisrael was not called Palestine until 135 CE when Bar Kochba lost a 3 year battle with the Romans to regain Jerusalem.  There have been many foreign rulers in what was called Palestine, but Palestine was ruled, and not even occupied.  Transient people just came and went. No country owned it after the Jews were dispersed in 70 CE.  Large communities were re-established in Jerusalem and Tiberias by the Jews in the 9th century.  In the 11th century, Jewish communities grew in Rafah, Gaza, Ashkelon, Jaffa and Caesarea.  The land remained a crossroads of trade and empire-making. It remained trampled, unloved and untended  until the Jews' return, a wasteland for 2,000 years.    

70 CE -395 Destruction of Jerusalem by Romans, Romans and Byzantine Empire Ruled (Constantinople) :
135 CE:  Romans changed name to Palaestina (thought to be after long-vanished Philistines, Aegean people, enemies of Judah) Jerusalem changed to Aelia Capitolina. Jews became minority population,  Christians majority, languages used were Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic.   Constantinope had Emperor Justinian


395-636  The Period of Ignorance(of Islam) : Population lived in a few towns on trade routes, most were nomadic tribes, land barren, uninviting, superpowers did not come into land, had garrisons for defense against nomadic tribes.
570 CE Muhammad born in Saudi Arabia
 622-Mohammad created 1st Islamic government, died 632.  Campaigning, attacking for 11 years clear to Egypt.

1037-1194-Seljuks, Turkish-Persian Empire, ruled 1,505,798 sq miles, Sultans,

Seljuk,  founded the first major Muslim Turk dynasty...which extended in various forms -- right from Ghazni in Afghanistan to Anatolia (modern Turkey), for 500 years, hero of Seljuk Turks,  was thought to have been an officer in Khazaria army (Jewish royal family) , active from 985 to 1038 when died, descendants carried on, conquered to Baghdad, guardians of the declining  Abbasid caliphate..

636-1072 Arabs :   Arabs were on both sides of Jordan River; filastin (Palestine), Urdun (Jordan).  Built Ramla for an administrative centre.  Genealogy became important to determine money Muslim Arab received. Slowly Islamizations happened, Arabic used, immigration of Arab tribes from Arabia and Egypt, con't through 7th to 20th centuries.  Sabaeans and Nabataeans traders from Arabia.    Jewish communities grew.  

1072-1099 Seljuks, Confederacy of 9 Clans carried on the dynasty, Overlapping with Arabs

1099-1291 Crusaders' Rule massacred Muslim, Jews -Christians from Europe,  Land named Kingdom of Jerusalem 30,000 Crusaders entered Godfrey named king of Jerusalem,

1291-1516 Mamluk Rule; Cairo Slave successors, Egyptian rulers, 3 districts or Mamlaka:  :  Safad, Gaza and Damascus.  Used no name for land.  Destroyed most cities and villages along coastal plain to deter foreign invaders, remained empty.

1516-1917 Ottoman Rule; Turks,  land divided into administered districts, no name for land. 17ith, 18th centuries very bad oppression, marauding Beduin tribes, rival local alliances, villages reduced, population dwindled-19th century had no more than 250,000.  Middle of 19th century Jews and Arabs started to grow. 1914 population west of Jordan 680,000 (85,000 Jewish). Sultan Suleiman.

1918-1948 British Mandate through League of Nations at end of WWI.  name used-Palestine, mandate on both sides of Jordan till Eastern side given to Arabs for Transjordan.  May 14, 1948-birth of Israel.

Resource:   facts about Israel division of Information, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem
Middle East, Past and Present by Yahya Armajani, Thomas M. Ricks
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seljuk
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Seljuq_Empire

Why Iran Sneers at the Whole World

Nadene Goldfoot
Iran has made it plain that they are out to get Israel.  The only people drastically worried about their ability are the Israelis who feel that they will soon have the capabilities if not stopped in time. Continued meetings have not shaken Iran at all.

Iran already has enough uranium for 4 bombs with their 3% while the world is only worrying about them reaching the level of 20%.  Iran has plans to go beyond that level as they don't think anyone is really determined to stop them.  This came from a speech by Netanyahu to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee today.

Sanctions that started yesterday  are only cramping their style and not severe sanctions.

Iran has stockpiles of weapons in Gaza that can reach Tel Aviv.  The situation in Sinai is deteriorating in that since the elections "it has become an "arms depot and firing range for Hamas missiles."  This is why Israel is working on building a border fence in that region.

Netanyahu feels  that to be concerned about Iran's goals to "wipe Israel off the map" is not being obsessive, but  healthy as it is a great threat to the people of Israel.  His responsibility is to keep everyone there safe.

The picture is even grimmer coming from the IAEA, the International Atomic Energy Agency back in May 25, 2012.  They scientifically predict that Iran will have enough uranium up to speed to make 6 nuclear weapons by the end of the year and already have enough for 4 of them.  Between the Fordow and the Natanz plants, they have enriched uranium up to 3.5% or 5 times what was foreseen in 2009.

This is why Netanyahu has often spoken of a time period of the open window that doesn't stay open for long.

Resource:  http://jewishbubba.blogspot.com
http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=276013 by Lahav Harkov, Gil Hoffman
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/05/31/irans_growing_stockpile

Who'd Ever Take a Vacation to Palestine? What You'd Most Likely Find

Nadene Goldfoot

"The Report of the Palestine Royal Commission quotes an account of the Maritime Plain in 1913, the year my mother was born:

The road leading from Gaza to the north was only a summer track suitable for transport by camels and carts...no orange groves, orchards or vineyards were to be seen until one reached [the Jewish village of] Yabna [Yavne]....Houses were all of mud. No windows were anywhere to be seen....The ploughs used were of wood....The yields were very poor....The sanitary conditions in the village were horrible. Schools did not exist....The western part, towards the sea, was almost a desert....The villages in this area were few and thinly populated. Many ruins of villages were scattered over the area, as owing to the prevalence of malaria, many villages were deserted by their inhabitants."       

Lewis French, the British Director of Development in Palestine in 1931 wrote the following that simply would not make it in a travel magazine to induce visitors.  "We found it inhabited by fellahin who lived in mud hovels and suffered severely from the prevalent malaria...Large areas...were uncultivated....The fellahin, if not themselves cattle thieves, were always ready to harbor these and other criminals.  The individual plots....changed hands annually.  There was little public security, and the fellahin's lot was an alternation of pillage and blackmail by their neighbors, the Bedouin." Fellahins are peasants or agricultural laborers in Egypt, Syria and other Arab countries.   Bedouins are nomadic Arabs  of the Arabian, Syrian, or north African deserts.  


That's not much different from Mark Twain's description in 1867 when he took the ship on February 1st for an excursion to the Holy Land, Egypt, The Crimea, Greece and Intermediate points of interest from Brooklyn .  "If ever an oppressed race existed, it is this one we see fettered around us under the inhuman tyranny of the Ottoman Empire.  I wish Europe would let Russia annihilate Turkey a little-not much, but enough to make it difficult to find the place again without a divining -rod or a diving-bell.  The Syrians are very poor, and yet they are ground down by a system of taxation that would drive any other nation frantic.  Last year their taxes were heavy enough, in all conscience-but this year they have been increased by the addition of taxes that were forgiven them in times of famine in former years.  On top of this the Government has levied a tax of one-tenth of the whole proceeds of the land.  ...The plows these people use are simply a sharpened stick, such as Abraham plowed with, and they still winnow their wheat as he did-they pile it on the house-top, and then toss it by shovel-fulls into the air until the wind has blown all the chaff away.  They never invent anything, never learn anything."

"Twain continues.  Palestine is only from 40 to 60 miles wide.  The State of Missouri could be split into 3 Palestines, and there would then be enough material left for part of another-possibly a whole one".  From Dan to Beersheba must be a trying trip a without railroad, he mused.... He spoke of the Bedouins and said he thought "these chaps would sell their younger brothers if they had a chance...They attacked our camp last night, and I bear them no good will.  Here a man rides a donkey (pigmy jackasses) and carries the child, and the woman walks.  The customs have not changed since Joseph and Mary's time.  ..We found water but no shade.  then they found a tree but no water.

So who was going to change their life for the better?  People who were not sympathetic to Jews returning to Palestine were the very ones who believed that the Jews could improve the condition of these Palestinian Arab.  Dawood Barakat, editor of the Egyptian paper Al-Ahram, in 1922 wrote:  "It is absolutely necessary that an entente (international understanding providing for a common course of action) be made between the Zionists and Arabs, because the war of words can only do evil.  The Zionists are necessary for the country:  The money which they will bring, their knowledge and intelligence, and the industriousness which characterizes them will contribute without doubt to the regeneration of the country."

That was  also the initial philosophy of the Zionists who moved to Palestine in the 1880's to build a country.  It cannot be said better.  There were those Arabs that also believed it and were counting on it as well.  But they were not living in a vacuum and the overseers, the British,  the French and the greedy disbelievers had other ideas.  

Resource:  Myths and Facts a concise record of the Arab-Isreli conflict by Mitchell G. Bard PhD and Joel Himelfarb
The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2000/467/chrncls.htm , article, picture of Barakat
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/Arabs_in_Palestine.html

Prime Minister Shamir Died

sNadene Goldfoot
Prime Minister  "Yitzhak Yzernitzky" Shamir b: October 15, 1915 in Ruzinoy, Poland, Israel's 7th, PM,  passed away Saturday  "Shabbat" at age 96 years 8 months 15 days.  For the past 10 years he has suffered from Alzheimer's disease. He has been in a coma during this period as well.  The funeral will be on Monday.

President Shimon Peres said in a statement that "Yitzhak Shamir was a brave warrior for Israel, before and after its inception.  He was a great patriot and his contribution will be forever etched in our chronicles.  He was loyal to his beliefs and he served his country with the utmost dedication for decades.  May he rest in peace.

 He started his life's work as an underground leader in Palestine and became Israel's Prime Minister.  He immigrated to Palestine from Warsaw at age 22 where he had been studying law. After reaching Palestine he enrolled in the Hebrew University and then  joined the Irgun Tzevai Leumi  or known as Etzel in 1937.  It was an offshoot of the Haganah, a  Zionist paramilitary group  which started in 1931 and continued till the birth of Israel in 1948. It turned out to be the political predecessor to the Likud party that Shamir belonged to.
  
However, Shamir left the group in 1940  for the Lohmei Herut Israel (Lehi)  or the Stern Group (Fighters for the Freedom of Israel) of which he became one of the 3 heads. This is the group my cousin, Stanley Goldfoot b: 1914 belonged to and had been the Chief of Intelligence.  They held to the belief that Britain must be fought notwithstanding the war effort against the Germans.  Shamir was its operational commander.  They had about 300 members. " Lehi split from the Irgun in 1940.   Stern declared that he incorporated elements of both the left and the right."  Twice the British tried to arrest Shamir but he escaped, as they were arresting many Jewish men, including Goldfoot who was imprisoned.   Shamir had been deported to Eritrea ( on Horn of Africa between Sudan and Ethiopia) and had escaped that place. He found asylum in France in 1947 and returned to Palestine in 1948 to continue as head of Stern Group (Lehi)  until Israel's birth May 14, 1948.  The group did see the British as the most evil of all their enemies.  

From 1955-56 he worked for the Mossad (Israeli Secret Service).  From 1973 he served in the Knesset as a Herut member, serving as speaker in 1977-80 and foreign minister from 1980.

In 1983 he succeeded Menahem Begin as prime minister.  The 1984 elections led to a stalemate and an agreement was reached between Shamir's Likud party and Shimon Peres' Labor party for a government of National Unity with rotation between the two men.

1984-86 Shamir was the Prime Minister.  After the 1988 elections he continued being the head of the National Unity government.  The Labor party left the government in 1990 when he led a right wing-religious coalition which was involved with the peace talks with the Arabs.  Shamir must have been frustrated with those talks like we are today, as he then believed in the expansion of Jewish life in the Administered Territories.

He will be remembered also for giving the green light to Major Hadad of the Christian Militia in 1982, when the Major's men went into Lebanon to clean out the PLO terrorists who had been hammering the northern border of Israel-Lebanon where Hadad and his men patrolled.  Major Hadad was a good friend of Israel and took his R&R in the army hospital in Haifa.  Then men took advantage of the situation and it was not a good scene.  This put Shamir in a bad light for having allowed the deaths of the PLOs.  My feeling was that he had no idea of what they could do, trusting in Hadad, who I can't believe realized it, either.

Resource:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irgun
Arutz Sheva news@israelnationalnews.com  Netanyahu eulogizes shamir on "The Arabs Are The Same Arabs" by Chana Ya'ar
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
http://www.jta.org/news/article/2012/07/01/3099566/former-israeli-prime-minister-yitzhak-shamir-dies
Also read http://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com to see the British attitude in Palestine and understand where the Jewish fighters were coming from-1st two posts that come up.  .

First Hand Account: Letter From Ashkelon - Conditions in Barzilai Hospital

I OFTEN WONDER……………

21st June 2012
Rhoda Goodman
Lea Malul
Forwarded to me from Golda

I often wonder how people in New York would feel if residents of New Jersey were lobbing rockets into their city every day?  Well, going on our experience here in Ashkelon, they wouldn’t like it very much.  Last night at 2 o’clock the siren sounded and, woken from sleep, we rushed into the ‘safe’ room in our house.  The challenge is that most of Ashkelon’s population do not have such facilities and have to make their way to communal shelters.  A small problem being that we only have about 20 seconds after the siren sounds before the missiles land.  No time really, none at all.

During the middle of the night there were four rockets and, thank the Lord, they were shot down by the Iron Dome Israeli defense system.  We counted the explosions before we crawled back to sleep.  In all, more than 150 missiles have been fired at Ashkelon from Gaza in the last two days.  Two days when the people of Ashkelon have once again been thoroughly traumatized, the children particularly, and even our pets show signs of strain.

Particularly difficult is being outside the home.  To some extent, you feel protected in the safe room.  However, in the past, a missile pierced the roof of one of Ashkelon’s main malls, seriously injuring a doctor and the patient she was treating in her surgery on the top floor of the mall.  Given circumstances such as these, we are not entirely at ease even within our designated ‘safe’ areas.  On the other hand, driving around the city is a whole other story.  When the traffic lights turn red you will them to change.  Who wants to be stuck at a traffic light when the siren wails?  What do you do?  You feel an idiot lying down in the middle of the road, but lying down is what you should do.  Driving along, you are constantly looking for south facing walls.  Why south facing?  Well, Gaza is situated 6 miles to the south of Ashkelon and, in the event of a rocket attack, you would want to find such a wall to crouch behind.

Our children are now on holiday but they cannot go out.  They cannot go to the beach to play or visit friends or go to the mall.  They hear only sirens and explosions.  Barzilai, Ashkelon’s local hospital, serves over  .  Even whilst our doctors are treating injured and traumatized civilians and military personnel in our emergency room, they too are anxious about the safety of their own families.  Ashkelon is not a big city and the missiles that are fired at us indiscriminately fall on residential areas, on schools and, yes, on our hospital too.  For this reason Barzilai is rapidly completing a program of fortification of many of the vulnerable areas of the hospital, such as the maternity delivery suite and the children’s wards.  Leading up to and during the war three and a half years ago, 80% of the hospital was closed down because of the bombardment.  At a time when the local population desperately needed Barzilai, the hospital could not function because the safety of patients was compromised.

However, despite the numerous rockets that have landed in the grounds of Barzilai hospital since Israel vacated Gaza in 2007, Barzilai’s physicians treat everyone who comes to the hospital for help.  Unknown and unacknowledged outside of Israel and strange as it may sound, many of the doctors who work in Israeli hospitals are Palestinians and, among their patients, are Palestinians too.  This situation is replicated at Barzilai where, amongst the patients we treat, are Palestinians who are unable to be adequately cared for in Gaza.  Yes, we even treat the very people who are launching rockets at us.  

We just want to live in peace with our Palestinian neighbours.  We are not politicans,  just ordinary people going about their lives trying to make a living and have some good times with family and friends before we die.  We would just like to die later rather than sooner.

Rhoda Goodman with Lea Malul

The Epic That Is Israel

The Epic of Jews in the Promised Land goes back 3,700 years.  

Nadene Goldfoot
Not many states have been created because of a directive from the Bible, but Israel was. In his last years as a leader Moses (born 1400 BCE)  had entered Canaan and with the younger generation fought the Amorites, Moabites, Midianites and Bashan who were in what would be Transjordan.   Joshua, of the tribe of Ephraim and the 600,000 entered the Promised Land when Moses could no longer continue on the 40 year Exodus trek, dying at age120. Joshua captured what would be most of the the Land of Israel.   Jews, given monotheism and the laws to be a Holy nation and a model for others by him,  settled and cities grew.

Jerusalem was the capital of Israel sitting in the center of the Judean Mountains.  Joshua's conquest was 1320 BCE and the king of Jerusalem was Adoni-Zedek who was defeated,  but the city remained as an independent town  between the tribal areas of Benjamin and Judah.  King David captured it in 1010 BCE, dealing leniently with the Jebusites while adding to the city.  It became the religious center of Israel and the capital of his empire that reached from the Red Sea to the Euphrates.  Solomon, his son, (970-930 BCE) enlarged the city.  He built the Temple.  Jerusalem remained the capital of Judah and of the Davidic dynasty.

After the destruction of the 2nd Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE by the Romans, many of the wealthier Jews of leadership were taken away as slaves, but still many remained.  Their national language of Hebrew continued.  They maintained their own unique civilization with their special laws.  Large communities were reestablished in Jerusalem and Tiberias by the 9th century.

 In the 11th Century, Jewish communities grew in Rafah, Gaza, Ashkelon, Jaffa and Caesarea.  However, along came the Crusaders starting in 1096-9 bringing war led by Christian rulers to take back Palestine from the Moslems and massacred many Jews. In their zeal they slaughtered Jews in N. France and in the Rhineland, Prague and Salonica, capturing Jerusalem in 1099. During the 12th century  of 1147 the 2nd Crusade began again, .A 3rd Crusade of 1189-92 brought in England who attacked Jews in York, England. 1320 saw another attack in France and Spain. Though dangerous to live anywhere, it seems that Palestine was the safest place to be in those days.  Jews were not safe outside of their own land.    


  The Palestine communities rebounded in the 13th and 14th centuries.  Many rabbis and Jewish pioneers immigrated to Jerusalem and the Galilee.  Famous rabbis started communities Safed, Jerusalem and other places during the next 300 years.  

By the early 19th century, before the birth of the modern Zionist movement, more than 10,000 Jews lived in what is today-Israel.  We've had 78 years of nation-building which began in 1870.  The end goal was the reestablishment of the Jewish state which came to fruition May 14, 1948.

The Balfour Declaration was the promise of the Jewish Homeland through the British who had the mandate after the World War I in 1917.  This was the international clincher to be a nation again among nations. 

                                                             Ashkelon 2012

The League of Nations Mandate gave Britain the responsibility to carry out the decisions to fullfill the Balfour Declaration, but they managed to give away most of the land to the Arabs and saved but a sliver for the Homeland.

The UN partition resolution  of 1947 was accepted by the Jews and rejected by the Arabs that would have given the Arabs most of the land for a state of their own.  Already a huge chunk of the land had been given over to Arabs who created Transjordan-called Jordan today. Israel was announced as a state May 14, 1948 and the next day was attacked by all the surrounding Arabs.   Israel was admitted  to the UN in 1949.

Resource: Myths and Facts by Mitchell G. Bard and Joel Himelfarb
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
http://www.jewfaq.org/moshe.htm  Judaism 101
http://www.jnf.org/assets/pdf/gibborim_timeline.pdf

Missiles and Rockets Not Stopping the Alumim Kibbutz Wedding

Nadene Goldfoot
The worst of the latest attacks on Southern Israel was only 6 days ago on Wednesday when Hamas and other terrorists fired 69 missiles and rockets into southern Israel.  Last Tuesday 47 were shot into Israel.  36 missiles and rockets rained into Israel during the following 3 days.   What is happening with a barrage of missile attacks such as this is a follow-up of  quick but restrained IDF retaliatation.  Then there is some "relative calm" of an "un-honored ceasefire."  In larger towns that have a warning siren of incoming rockets, the population has but only 15 seconds to scurry to a shelter.

 Hamas rockets   stopped a wedding at Kibbutz Alumim located in the NW Negev desert in the Sdot Negev area. which has fields that lie next to the security fence of Gaza and is 3 miles from Gaza.  This is an agricultural  kibbutz, as many along the fence are.  You can often hear rocket fire here.  During all this rocket firing of last the 650 guests and wedding party were forced to move the wedding from the kibbutz to a wedding hall in Petach Tikvah just a few hours before the wedding, which is  only 7 miles from Tel Aviv.  The managers of the wedding hall said "This is the fastest flash wedding we have ever had here."

Caterers and guests were directed to the new address and the wedding went on as planned.  The couple took some wedding pictures in front of the Iron Dome battery, which is supposed to take out all incoming missiles aimed at Be'er Sheva and Ashkelon.  At least they couldn't hear rocket explosions from their new location.

This modern orthodox  kibbutz population has  90 families with 375 members of which 135 are children and of which 20% are from the United Kingdom.  400 people live here.  It was started in 1966 as a border settlement with Egypt by Bnei Akiva youth movement members.  The land had belonged to an orthodox Jewish group who had purchased it.  The kibbutz also has a kosher guest house located in their lovely gardens of the kibbutz and has a kosher Bed and Breakfast facility.  It also has its own synagogue, library, spacious dining hall and swimming pool.  The residents live in little stucco houses and the weather is like Palm Springs.  It's probably a lot like Kibbutz Degania Alef that I had visited in 1982.

Resource: Arutz Sheva news@israelnationalnews.com, "Ceasefire War" continues with Rocket Attack on Kibbutz , Kassam Rockets fail to Silence Wedding Bells, both by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu,
http://www.alumim.co.il/viewStaticPage.aspx?pageID=41
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alumim
http://www.innsite.com/inns/A005459.html
http://jeffinisrael.wordpress.com/2006/07/01/kibbutz-alumim/
http://www.jewishagency.org/JewishAgency/English/Jewish+Education/Compelling+Content/Eye+on+Israel/Places+in+Israel

No Let-Up of Rockets Raining in Israel During Putin's Visit

Nadene Goldfoot
Terrorists attacked the farming communities of the Eshkol Regional Council which is made up of 31 communities along the border of the Gaza Strip  with 2 mortar shells last night. When the siren goes off warning of an incoming rocket, the people have 15 seconds to get to cover, hopefully a bomb shelter.  The siren doesn't always go off.  So far, 6 rockets have come and the siren didn't work.

 The rocket explosions  leave  people in shock.  One missile scored a direct hit on a home last week.  a mother and her child just got to a bomb shelter before the rocket exploded.  Dozens of children just got on their bus at a bus stop when a missile hit the area where they were waiting.

Tazpit News Agency's Anat Silverman reported that people are always thinking of where you could take cover at the sound of the next siren.  It's very stressful, and causes a feeling of pressure on your mind and body.  Not all people have bomb shelters.  Parents are lying on top of their children when the siren goes off if they have none.

While news reports that these missiles explode "harmlessly" in open areas, they neglect that the effect causes people to be hospitalized for shock and trauma, and that minor injuries are not even reported.  For instance, Tazpit reported that a kibbutz farmer, Max Yadgar of Kibbutz Nir Oz was plowing his fields a few hundred feet from the security fence (Israel's area is very tiny) when terrorists shot at him, breaking the glass around the cab of the tractor which cut his face.  He had to hide behind of the big wheel of the tractor for protection and wait for the IDF troops to come.  Max felt he needed to take  a few days off to recover from the shock.

During this time, Russia's President Vladimir Putin is visiting Israel.    He is scheduled to attend the unveiling of a Red Army World War II Victory Monument in Netanya Monday.  More than half a million Jewish soldiers fought with the Red Army in WWII against the Nazis.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proposed the idea of the monument to President Putin two years ago during his visit to Moscow. Putin complied and promised to come to Israel for the inauguration ceremony.Putin in 2005 was the first Russian president to visit Israel, and this time around he will make a high-profile trip to Bethlehem and to Jordan.


Noam Bedein, son of my old friend David Bedein,  is the director of Sderot Media Center and told of Sderot being under rocket fire weekly for decades.  He said that the weapons and rockets come from Iran and Libya and are smuggled into Gaza.  As long as this smuggling goes on, he figures that southern Israel will be under fire from all the rockets, mortars and missiles.  Sderot is less than a mile from the border and are first under attack, usually.  

Resource: news@israelnationalnews.com Sounds of War Everywhere in Western Negev by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu and Putin to Attend Unveiling of Red Army Monument in Israel
http://sderotmedia.org.il/bin/content.cgi?ID=908&q=3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Nz2WZU7x-sY

Oregonian Newspaper Finally Recognizes Attack on Israel

Nadene Goldfoot
After finding reports of 150 rockets that have hit southern Israel this week alone of which 30 rockets and mortar shells had hit on Saturday, the Oregonian Sunday newspaper finally came out with a tiny article, "Militants, Israelis exchange attacks" this morning on the bottom right hand corner of page A10.

Only in this crazy world is there a group of people (Palestinian terrorists) who consistently bomb their neighbor(Israel) putting over one million people in jeopardy and seeking bomb shelters with wildly shot rockets, mortars, and missiles and then complain and threaten when they are shot back at after much waiting and hoping that they would stop and don't.  In this crazy world, they, the bullies, are thought of as the underdog while the one they are picking on is seen as the power-house.

The Egyptian official in Ramallah has been trying to broker a cease fire between the terrorists and Israel but the terrorists say that they will stop if Israel will stop.  This is a round robin affair; terrorists cannot seem to stop more than a few days then start in again, and finally Israel cannot abide it anymore and retaliates and then are in trouble for doing so by the UN, the terrorists, whoever is against them.

Our Americana newspaper reports that Hamas has stayed out of confrontation for about the past 3 years and say that other factions have launched cross-border attacks.  From my sources, these other factions are just the militant arms of Hamas.  Hamas is in control and is the instigator no matter what.  Israel puts the onus on Hamas.

The newspaper then went on to say that the militant Hamas rulers threatened to escalate fighting Saturday after Israeli air strikes killed several gunmen.  What do they expect Israel to do?  Be sitting pigeons forever? A rocket from Gaza wounded one person and damaged an elementary school in southern Israel.  Luckily, no one was killed, but you can figure that many are suffering from PTSD, which happens after every incursion of rockets.

The paper wrote that "the two sides periodically clash, "  as if this is a game of Red Rover, Red Rover, send Bobby right over.  It's pretty much one-sided with Israel taking an awful lot of bombing until they get one lick in by air.  At that they aim for the cause of the bombing and try to take out the rocket launchers.

They did mention that this was the most serious in months and was started by a "little known al-Qaida-inspired Palestinian militant group (note that they have dropped the word terrorist-they're militants now-even though having rockets fall in and around your home is terrorizing)  but has extended to drag in Hamas.

Drag in Hamas!  You can bet your buttons that they tell their "militant arm" to get going and keep the pressure up.  So this is how newspapers soften the true facts of what's really going on.  I do wonder if the reporter for AP ever went into southern Israel to get first hand accounts this week.  Ashkelon would be a nice city to report from.

Reference:  Oregonian Newspaper page  A10, 6/24, 2012  Associated Press, reported from Jerusalem

.  

Israel's Loftiest Goals Met By War: 1947

Nadene Goldfoot
Israel stated their goals of the new state clearly on May14, 1948 in their Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel.  "The state of Israel will be open for Jewish immigration and for the in-gathering of the exiles.  It was created by idealists with a Utopia in mind.  After all, here they were establishing a country with the principals of Judaism at the heart of it in a modern age.

 They did their very best.  This was at a time that many Jews were living in refugee camps, survivors of the Holocaust with no country to go to, except the hope of Israel.  Remember the book, EXODUS by Leon Uris?  In 1947 the British forced the ship Exodus 1947, carrying 4,500 Holocaust survivors headed for Palestine, to return to Germany

In 1945:  "With few possibilities for emigration, tens of thousands of homeless Holocaust survivors migrated westward to other European territories liberated by the western Allies. There they were housed in hundreds of refugee centers and displaced persons (DP) camps such as Bergen-Belsen in Germany. The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) and the occupying armies of the United States, Great Britain, and France administered these camps."

It will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants.  
It will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel.
 It will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all the inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex. 
 It will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture.  It will safeguard the holy places of all religions and
It will be faithful to the principles of the charter of the United Nations."

November 29, 1947 was the date the UN voted to establish the Jewish state and was about 2 years after the end of World War 2 when 6 million Jews had been slaughtered by the Nazi regime.  They wanted to  divide the land originally planned to go to the Jewish Homeland into 2 sections; one for the Jews and the other for the Arabs which the Arabs refused. This was because the Arabs had raised the riot act when they realized it was all going to go to the Jews.  and they now wanted it all for themselves.    The next day the Arabs attacked the Jews in the land and war was on.  The United States was the first under Harry Truman to recognize Israel, born on May 14, 1948, the date the British mandate was up.  It was accepted by the United Nations.  However, the Arabs continued to fight against the new state and the war continued for another year, known as "The War of Independence."  It wasn't over until 1949 with an Armistice Agreement referred to as the "Green Line."  

May 14, 1948 was the date the British Mandate was up and they left the country.  Jews were on their own to defend their newly reclaimed land.   The population of Jews was 650,000 that May. We had the right number to start off with.  Most were living in Tel Aviv, Haifa and Jerusalem.  It is remembered that Moses left Egypt with 600,000.  At the birth in 1948 many Jews were forced out of the Arab homes and immigrated to Israel. .  By December  1952 we had 1,629,500.  By the 1972 census there were 3,164,000 Jews in Eretz Israel.    Today we have about 6,500,000 Jews living in Israel.  1.4 million Arabs also call Israel home and are citizens.  The Druze and Circassians even serve in the IDF at their insistence. Otherwise, Arabs are not required to serve.   

In another section of the declaration, it said that " We appeal to the Jewish people throughout the Diaspora to rally round the Jews of Eretz-Israel in the tasks of immigration and upbuilding and to stand by them in the great struggle for the realization of the age-old dream--"The Redemption of Israel."  Placing our trust in the Almighty, we affix our signatures to this proclamation...in the city of Tel Aviv, on this Sabbath eve, May 14, 1948.  38 people signed this including David Ben Gurion, Golda Myserson (Meier), and David Zvi Pinkas.

To redeem means to buy back,  to repurchase, to get or win back, to liberate by payment; ransom, to free by force, to change for the better, reform, repair, restore, reclaim, to make good, to offset the bad effect of to make worthwhile, rescue, and that the Jews did.  They bought land legally from Arab landowners many times over, and these landowners weren't living on the land anymore.  They had found greener pastures in France and other countries abroad to enjoy their life.

Amos the Prophet had stated: Amos 9:14-15
I will bring back my exiled people Israel; they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them,” says the Lord your God.

Another section states: "  After being forcibly exiled from their land (in 70 CE) , the people kept faith with it throughout their dispersion and never ceased to pray and hope for their return to it and for the restoration in it of their political freedom......This right was recognized in the Balfour Declaration of the 2nd November 1917, and re-affirmed in the Mandate of the League of Nations...gave international sanction to the historic connection between the Jewish people and Eretz Israel and to the right of the Jewish people to rebuild its national home."   Israel did whatever they had to in establishing the homeland once more.  It was all legal.  It was on ancient, forgotten, neglected, unwanted land.  They have done what Amos prophesied.

Resource: Facts About Israel, Published by the Division of Information, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem
http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Peace+Process/Guide+to+the+Peace+Process/Declaration+of+Establishment+of+State+of+Israel.htm
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005129
Webster's 7th New Collegiate dictionary
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948_Arab%E2%80%93Israeli_War
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/Dec_of_Indep.html
http://www.watchmanbiblestudy.com/Articles/1948PropheciesFulfilled.htm

130+ Rockets in 5 Days Affecting One Million Israelis: Effect is Striking Gaza

Nadene Goldfoot
130 Rockets have fallen into Southern Gaza since Monday putting one million Israelis on hold in bomb cellars if they have one nearby or available.  Not all people  have them available.

The Israeli Ambassador Ron Proser complained to the UN's Ban Ki- moon.  He mentioned that Israel cooperates with the UN allowing material and humanitarian aid into Gaza yet weapons keep flowing into Gaza and rockets keep firing into Israel.   "“How long will you continue to be silent?” wrote Prosor. “Ten days, ten rockets, and not one condemnation.”“The Red Alert siren in Israel’s southern towns should raise red flags in the Security Council. The Council must act, and do so immediately,” he demanded.

Egypt's brokered cease fire only lasted for a few days, as if to give terrorists time to reload and refuel, because they started shooting rockets Friday night again.  This time the IAF made 2 flights into the coastal territory and hit rocket launching terrorist cells.  They caught one getting ready to strike one on Israel and killed a terrorist from the al Qaida Salafist Islamist group and wounded two others at the al-Bureij refugee camp in the center of Gaza.

Then the terrorists fired 5 rockets into Israel within 2 hours Friday night in retaliation.  A 5th rocket was fired at Ashkelon's area which caused the IAF to strike a 2nd time in Gaza.  They had a direct hit on a motorcycle, wounding 4 Palestinians, one seriously, who later died.  This was the 10th terrorist death since Monday.  One minute later and a 6th rocket hit in the Ashkelon coast area again.

The terrorists' brilliant comments were that they would stop firing rockets when Israel stops strifing their bombing squads.  I think that's about the same as saying that when pigs fly, they will stop.

Resource: www.jpost.com/LandedPages/PrintArticle.aspx?id=274869
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/153650
http://www.timesofisrael.com/grad-that-hit-southern-israel-flew-further-than-any-previous-rocket-from-sinai/
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-06-20/hamas-links-ending-rocket-attacks-to-israeli-air-strikes

Ashkelon: Target of Terrorists Thursday Night

Nadene Goldfoot

Two rockets were aimed at Ashkelon by Hamas terrorists with one falling in an open area. It's only 8.1 miles from the Gaza border!   The other was stopped by the new Iron Dome missile defense system.  This happened as a truce was being talked about. The Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades told Egyptian officials who are trying to bring about a ceasefire that they were ready, but evidently didn't keep to their word.  They are Hamas terrorists.  Israel is very tiny and this brings it to mind just how tiny it is!  

Ashkelon is the sister-city of Portland, Oregon and Baltimore, Maryland.  It is home of the Barzilai Medical Center that serves both Israel and Gaza patients.  Usually it has been Sderot, a town less than a mile from the Gaza border that is hit constantly.  The rockets fired off today are reaching out further and further.

The history of Ashkelon goes back 5,000 years as an ancient port and is one of the oldest cities in the world..  It was mentioned in Egyptian writings back in the 19th Century BCE.  by the end of the 13th Century BCE it was conquered by the Philistines who arrived from the islands.   It was to go to the tribe of Dan, one of the 12 tribes, sons of Jacob.   The problem was that the Israelites couldn't conquer it from the Philistines.  Samson fought and caused them lots of damage in endless fighting, but was unable to overcome them.  King Saul in the 11th century BCE , first king of Israel, son of Kish and from the tribe of Benjamin  and his son  Jonathan fought the Philistines and destroyed their garrison in Geva, but were beaten in the valley.  Saul and his sons died on Mt. Gilboa.  After this David lamented, "Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Ashkelon, lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice." ( Samuel, 11:1, XX1.)


Jews lived here as a community in mishnaic and talmudic times of 220 CE and 500 CE, but it was considered outside the boundaries of Palestine.  The Jewish community survived its capture by the Crusaders in 1153.   It is important to note here that the Philistines have long died out as a country as well as the Canaanites and the Amorites, but that the Jews remain as an entity.

 The modern time starts with the liberation of Majdal, an Egyptian army base in 1948 by Israelis.  On November 5, 1948 the Israelis were on their way to lift the Egyptian siege of the Negev and they conquered Majdal.  It incorporates the former Arab town of Migdal and the Afridar section development by the South African Zionist Federation.

The Negev was the part given to the Jews in the dividing of half the land  which was promised by the English with the mandate  in the Balfour Declaration. It makes up 55% of the Jewish Homeland of 1948 and is a rocky desert.  The northern Negev was originally allotted to the tribe of Judah and the southern Negev to the tribe Shimon. It was a part of the kingdom of Judah.

Today over 116,000 people live in Ashkelon.  It's on the Mediterranean Coast 56 km or about 35 miles south of Tel Aviv  in an agricultural region connected to Israel by modern roads and trains that run the length of the country.

Like Portland, Oregon, it is a green, well-tended residential city with many gardens and woods with plentiful views, sites, but with lots of ancient splendor.  It's on the Sea Road which runs along the coast from Egypt to Syria.

For people living in Portland, Oregon, this means that if you are in Gresham, Wilsonville is  being bombed with rockets and is that close to you.  Another example is that if you are in Portland, Multnomah Falls is being bombed and probably can hear them land.  35 miles is not that far away.  Tel Aviv-Yafo has a population of 393,900 as of 2009, about the size of Portland, Oregon.

  As to the Gaza border, Ashkelon is the same distance as Beaverton, Oregon is to Portland.  The rockets don't have to travel very far to hit Ashkelon.   It is only 13 km or 8.1 miles north of the Gaza border.  Be sure to click on the map to enlarge and see Ashkelon just above the proposed bridge from Gaza to Judea-Samaria.

Resource:http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4245408,00.html
 http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Society_&_Culture/newpop.html
Facts from the Municipality of Ashkelon
New Standard Jewish Enclyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashkelon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sderot
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negev
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Izz_ad-Din_al-Qassam_Brigades

June 1982 War: First Hand Account: Why Israel Went Into Lebanon

Nadene Goldfoot
I, an American teacher from Oregon,  was  living in Safed, Israel  in the northern Galilee at the start of the Lebanon invasion.  My husband and I, with our German shepherd,  had moved to Safed after completing our education in the Ulpan in Haifa in 1980-1981, and then moved to Safed in August where I taught English in the junior high.

During Spring break one of the other students in my Ulpan class had visited Kiriat Shimona, which was north of Safed near the Lebanon border by the Good Neighbor Fence, and wound up the whole duration living in a bomb shelter along with others.  They were receiving so many attacks that they couldn't be out in the open.  On the way to Safed, we passed an apartment building where a rocket had fallen in its back yard just 2 weeks before.  That's when I started to get a little worried.

The PLO had made life in northern Israel intolerable by repeated shelling of Israeli towns a little closer than my city of Safed.  What I hadn't realized was that 15,000-18,000 PLO terrorists were camped out in many places in Lebanon.  5,000 to 6,000 were foreign mercenaries coming in from Libya, Iraq, India, Sri Lanka, Chad and Mozambique.  Our IDF had found enough light arms and other weapons to equip 5 brigades.  Their arsenal included mortars, Katyusha rockets and extensive anti-aircraft weapons.  They had brought in hundreds of T-34 tanks into the area.

Syria had permitted Lebanon to be a haven for the PLO and other terror groups.  They had brought surface-to-air missiles into Lebanon which created another danger for Israel.  Israel was being protected in part by Major Hadad of the Christian Militia whose soldiers patrolled the border.  He was a good friend.

Israel had struck and had commando raids but couldn't stop the growth of the PLO army and could not sit around and wait for more deadly attacks against defenseless citizens.  They had to act against the terrorists.

On June 15, 1982 I was on a bus going down to Haifa to the Rambam Hospital to check on my elbow.  I had fallen and crushed it and had broken the bone as well and it needed  to have the 7 screws taken out.  I noticed a lot of tanks going up the hill which I had never seen happen before, but couldn't get answers from the people on the bus due to my lack of speaking Hebrew well.   I got to the hospital and it was almost deserted which was very peculiar.  This place was usually as popular as a department store sale day. I found the doctor's office and saw all 3 doctors, one of which was from Michigan and looked just like Paul Newman,  who had done the operation.  They  told me they could not help me right now.  We were about to be in a war with Lebanon and they, being an army hospital, would be very busy setting a lot more bones.  I should go home immediately.  Maybe they could do the operation next summer.

I taught with Ned, an American teacher,  who lived in Carmiel, a more modern city nearby.  He was called up to serve in the army a week before at one o'clock in the morning and called me to tell me that he was home for the night and was okay.  Andy, the other English teacher was also home and okay.  Even our dog's vet was called up and was serving as a medic in the army in his period of milueem service.  With these other English teachers in the army, I wound up handling all the classes along with Margolite, the Russian "English" teacher with a very thick accent.  I had reported in at the school on my day off knowing that they would be needing me.  No one had to phone.  Anyway, I lived just across the street from the school.

Avram, who lived in Hatzor, had a birthday and while we were driving there we saw lots of IDF hitchhiking to get to their posts.  Everyone gave them lifts.  It was the patriotic thing to do.  Otherwise, I was at home baking cakes for soldiers who would grab a bite to eat with coffee at kiosks set up along the way.

At this point we had 170 men killed already.  Students in school were hysterical as they all had family members in the army.  Some of my 8th graders were used in the hospital to translate or just to help out, as we had the enemy in there as well and not all nurses or doctors could speak Arabic.  One of my students told me that they saw a lot of things that a 14 or 15 year old boy shouldn't have to see in the ward.  It was quite traumatic for him.

All we knew was that the PLO was finally run out and that it was time something had been done about it.  The UN had done nothing to help Israel while the North had lived in bomb shelters.  Everyone was very upset about the casualties on both sides, but even Lebanon was happy, especially Major Hadad, of the Christian Militia whose men had attacked the PLO.  Little did we know at the time just how they had done  which wasn't kosher.  I was glued to the radio for the short English reports we could hear and read every word in the Jerusalem Post, our English newspaper.  It finally came out that Sharon had allowed Hadad's men to take care of the PLO's, and they did so, as quietly as possible, most likely with knives in their tents.  Sharon received all the blame, being the General.

During the whole episode, the elevator in our building had broken down, and a soldier on leave blew our TV reception accidentally by cutting into a live wire, so we have problems just getting along.  It could have been much worse if our soldiers and Hadad's soldiers hadn't stopped the PLO, I now realize.

Resource: Myths and Facts, a concise record of the Arab-Israeli conflict by Mitchell G bard and Joel Himelfarb
Letters From Israel by Nadene Goldfoot