Friday, August 22, 2014

TIMELINE; Jews Living in Judea, Samaria and Other Places-Timeline- from 70 CE to Today

Nadene Goldfoot                                          
                                                                         
                                          Judaean Desert

1391-1271 BCE  from 70 sons, grandsons of Jacob to 611,30 Jews with Moses       
  1010 BCE-970 BCE  King David  of Israel , census of David: c 5,000,000 population
961 BCE to 920 BCE  King Solomon 
721 BCE: Assyrian attack on 10 northern Tribes of Israel, stolen away
597-586 BCE Babylonian Invasion 
          Babylonian exiles returning: 42,360  
167 BCE Revolt of Maccabees against Antiochus the Greek
165 BCE Rededication of Temple by Judas Maccabee (Hanukkah)  From 163 B.C.E. there is evidence of Jews in Rome.  They were probably slaves, Traders?  
139 BCE Jewish community in Rome, expulsed.  Jewish slaves later lived here.  
73 BCE-4 BCE Herod I, the Great, king of Judea appointed by Rome.  When he died, there were uprisings by the people so Roman General Publius Quinctilius Varus crucified 2,000 Jews to quell the uprisings.   
69 BCE:  Cleopatra:  Cleopatra was of Macedonian descent and not a native Egyptian. She was the second daughter of King Ptolemy XII and the last sovereign of her dynasty, which had been founded by Alexander’s general, Ptolemy, in 326 BC. She came to power in 51 BC, at the age of seventeen, and was married to her eldest brother, Ptolemy XIII. 
30 BCE  Herod the Great by Julius Caesar, crucifixions; 25,000 Jews till 70 CE.  
 5 BCE, in Bethlehem, Judea, Roman soldiers stationed in Jerusalem from Greece, Gaul and Syria were following Roman appointed King  Herod's orders to kill all male children under age 2.                                

 1 CE 1st century Abba Sikra zealot in Jerusalem during the revolt against the Romans, alias Ben Batiah.  nephew of R Johanan ben Zakkai, helped to escape from Jerusalem.    In the year 6 CE. there were Jews at Vienne, France and Gallia Celtica which would be today's " SwitzerlandFranceLuxembourg and the west bank of the Rhine in Germany.".   "The first settlements of Jews in Europe are obscure;  in the year 39 at Lugdunum (i.e. Lyon) which is Lyon, France started in the year 43.  
19 CE Jews again expulsed from Rome. 
29 CE Jesus was crucified during Pontius Pilate's rule; starting the narration of Christianity., About 25,000 Jews crucified by Herod till 70 CE.     
49-50 CE Jews again expulsed from Rome. 
60 CE-Nero ruling: 700,000 Jews in Judea, 1,500,000 Jews scattered in other places.  , 4,200,00 Jews in the world, most likely less.  
61-63 CE  Jeshua Ben Damna, high priest, appointed by Herod Agrippa II, displaced by Gamla and ensued a struggle, toward end of the siege of Jerusalem of 70 CE fled to the Romans with other members of the priestly families.
c.65 CE  In town of Pekiin, Rabbi Simeon ben Yohai and son Eleazar hid from Romans in a cave for 13 years.


70 CE Jerusalem burned down, Temple destroyed, Jews starved to death before, taken prisoners.   1st Academy (university to educate rabbis) founded set up by Johanan ben Zakkai at Jabneh in Judah, south of Jaffa, reestablished the Great Sanhedrin in Jabneh until 132 of Bar Kokhba's Revolt.  
70 CE families of 24 Cohenim moved to outside of Jerusalem, each family to a different town, where their descendants lived until 1948. One place was near Kiryat Ata, now Shfar Am, an Arab town.  It has an ancient synagogue.  Survivor interviewed by Sandi Zigelman.
                                                                       
  Arch of General Titus, soon to become emperor,  Menorah Relief; Romans taking away Menorah, other things from Jerusalem, taking 97,000 slaves from Judaea in 70 CE

66-73 CE Judaea which was a Roman Province had the first Jewish-Roman War.  The Sadducees and Pharisees fought against the Roman Empire.  The Jewish commanders and leaders were Ananus ben Ananus, Eliezar ben Hanania, Josef ben Matityahu, and Simon Bar Giora.  In the early stage the Roman guard had 3,000 against 10,000 under Ananus and 15,000 under Bar Giora.  The Romans Syrian Legion had 30,000 in Beth Horon while there were only 500 Adiabene warriors fighting for Judaea.  Eleazar had 20,000 Idumeans fighting.  6,000 were under John and 2,400 were under Eleazar, who were the radical factions.  Then the Romans brought out 5 Legions of 60,000 to 80,000 men at the Jerusalem siege.  Judaea had about 200 Sicarii fighting.  20,000 Roman soldiers were killed while 25,000 to 30,000 Judean rebels were killed and 10,000 radical factions.  In the end, 1.1 million Jewish militant and civilians were killed and 97,000 were enslaved and most likely taken to Rome. 


72 CE 12,000 Jews taken as slaves from Judah to Rome to build the Colosseum under Vespasian.  

Masada in 73 CE Herod's Palace, where 960 Jewish Sicarii (Jewish zealots armed with small daggers) had been living in refuge, committed suicide after 3 months of being sieged by Roman Legion led by Lucius Flavius Silva with 15,000 troops.  1 woman, 5 children escaped.  Story told by Josephus.

From 37  to 100 CE, the land of Judah had been occupied by the Romans as told by Flavius Josephus, a Jewish Historian who was captured by the Romans.  He was hired to write the history of their occupation in the Jewish land.  Individual Jews lived in France before 70 CE.   "The Romans destroyed the Jews' 2nd Temple in Jerusalem and took over the city in 70 CE.  They burned Jerusalem down and took away Jews as slaves for Rome while many others fled. Many  people of Judah had scattered to the 4 winds but  a number were able to remain in Judah.  Organized Jewish communities existed in France in the period of the Roman Empire.  Their position deteriorated with the growth of Christianity and its powers.

"As the siege of the capital, Jerusalem,  in the year 70 began on the day of the Passover sacrifice (V, 13, 7, VI, 9, 3), to which naturally many thousands of pilgrims had arrived from all parts of the country, the number of the besieged was very great. Among them were many from beyond the Euphrates and other foreign lands (Dio Cassius, 66. 4). 1,100,000 men perished during the siege, 97,000 were taken captive (VI, 9, 3); of these only 40,000 were preserved (8, 2), all citizens of Jerusalem (8, 2), the rest were sold for slaves, some sent into the mines in Egypt (9, 2), others distributed among the provinces for the circuses."and where did the 40,000 settle after having been allowed to go where they liked ?

Josephus mentions one of the four sons of the high priest Matthias , the high priests Joseph and Jesus, and three sons of the high priest Ishmael, four sons of a Matthias, and many other nobles who succeeded in escaping from the besieged capital to the Romans (VI, 2, 2). 

Many of the eminent citizens ran away to Titus (V, 13, 7) and told him the number of the poor who had died. Titus allowed these to retire to Gofna; there, he said, they should stay till his hands would be free from the war, when he would restore to them their property. Among the numerous deserters was the priest Jesus, son of Thebuthi , who surrendered many costly vessels of the Temple, as well as the curtains and the robe of the high priest. The treasurer of the Temple also fell into the hands of the Romans and was exceptionally pardoned in exchange for valuable stuff, priestly garments, and costly spices.

 Already, after Cestius's defeat in the year 66, many of the nobles had left Jerusalem as if it were a sinking ship; for instance, the two brothers Costobarus and Saul, along with Phillip, son of Jakimos, who had been a general of Agrippa's troops (II, 20, 1). 

After the entry of the Romans into Jerusalem,  Titus liberated all those Jews who had been thrown into prison by zealots (VI, 9.1); they also most probably belonged to the wealthy section of the population.   It may be assumed as almost certain that the members of both groups, of the priestly and of the lay nobility of Jerusalem, at the conclusion of the war received their landed property, and assisted the poor country of Judaea in recovering from its terrible downfall. 

Where they settled is nowhere indicated by Josephus; he lived in Rome and seemed to evince no interest in the state of his native country after the destruction. It is possible that, though owning land in Judaea, some of the nobles settled outside Judaea, as Josephus, who, in exchange for his fields near Jerusalem, received from Titus others in the plain, and was rewarded by Vespasian by additional property in Judaea 

115 CE Jews were expulsed from Cyprus
132-135 CE Hadrianic War:  Jewish General Bar Kochba's Revolt  when Jerusalem was liberated for a time, Roman emperor Hadrian rebuilt Jerusalem as a Roman colony, Aelia Capitolina and forbid Jews to approach it under pain of death.  Now Judah was renamed Palaestina by the Romans.There were about 200 towns and villages where Jews live in Beersheba-Arad Valley and 204 towns and villages in the Galilee.  580,000 Jews slain.

" From this time on, in spite of unimportant movements under Antoninus, Marcus Aurelius, and Severus, the Jews, reduced in numbers, destitute, and crushed, lost their preponderance in their own homeland. Jerusalem had become, under the name "Ælia Capitolina", a Roman colony and entirely pagan city. Jews were forbidden entrance on pain of death, except for the day of Tisha B'Av, see also Anti-Judaism in the Roman Empire. Yet despite the decree, there has been an almost continual Jewish presence in Jerusalem for 3,300 years, and 43 Jewish communities in Israel remained in the 6th century: 12 on the coast, in the Negev desert, and east of the Jordan, and 31 villages in Galilee (in the northern Land of Israel) and in the Jordan Valley. Yavne on the coastal plain, associated with Yochanan ben Zakai, was an important center of Rabbinic Judaism" :"After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, Rabban Yochanan Ben Zakkai moved the Sanhedrin to Yavne. It was 12.32 miles south of Jaffa.  Some scholars believe the so-called Council of Yavne met there. The Sanhedrin left Yavne for Usha in 80 CE and returned in 116 CE.

2nd Century CE  Seat of Sanhedrin under Rabbi Judah Ha-Nasi was Shepharam, in the Lower Galilee.  

"After the Bar Kochba Revolt of 132-135 AD the Romans engaged in mass executions and enslavement, and destroyed large numbers of Judaean towns, forbidding Jews from settling in Jerusalem or its environs (Dio Cassius, Roman History 69.12-14); there was no further Jewish government or overarching legal system thereafter in Judaea; this effectively turned the expatriate Jews of the Diaspora into a permanently exiled people with no national homeland. Restrictions (taxation, discrimination, social exclusions) further alienated and marginalized remaining Jews in the Negev and Galilee and favored the settlement of culturally pagan Syro-Phoenicians and others.[citation needed] It was at this time that Judaea became normatively known as Syria Palestina. The name reflected both the large scale killing[citation needed] of Jews during the suppression of the 2nd Jewish revolt, and a Roman policy, first pagan, then Christian, to alienate Jews from the Land of Israel and Judaea, ensuring that no Jewish temple, Jerusalem or state ever rose again."

139  Jews expelled from Rome.  
Jews were living in Germany from 100 to 1299 CE.

From 198 to 224 CE, the Parthian Empire collapsed which was largely populated by Israelites.  The empire, located on the Silk Road trade route between the Roman Empire in the Mediterranean Basin and the Han Empire of China, became a center of trade and commerce.
                                                                   
                                Central Asia 200-800 CE-Epicenter of Great Migration

From 200 to 800 CE was a great migration period with Central Asia as the epicenter where Jews were leaving and going into Europe.   Jews were found settling in Germany in the early 5th century which would be as early as the 400s CE and continuing to arrive there through the 10th century of 900s.  On 640, 721 and 873 Jews in the Byzantine Empire were forcibly converted to Christianity.  This was the Greek speaking Roman Empire with headquarters in Constantinople alias Istanbul.  It was later a part of the Ottoman Empire.

A decree of the emperors Theodosius II and Valentinian III, addressed to Amatius, prefect of Gaul (Gaul (LatinGallia) was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France,LuxembourgBelgium, most of Switzerland, parts of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of the Rhine (9 July 425), prohibited Jews and pagans from practicing law and from holding public offices ("militandi"), in order that Christians should not be in subjection to them, and thus be incited to change their faith. From the year 465 the Church took official cognizance of the Jews. Jews were found in Marseille in the sixth century
300  3 million Jews in world
335-427 Ashi, editor of the Babylonian Talmud, headed the academy of Sura which he re-established at Mata Mehasya.  which is in "Sasanian Babylonia."

570-632 Mohammad, started Islam, Jewish tribes were living in Medina, Arabia, converted many Jews.  

628 Jerusalem  Byzantine ruled Jerusalem with emperor Heraclius.
630 -632 Byzantine emperor Heraclius decreed that all Jews in empire must convert to Christianity.
638 Jerusalem Caliph Omar set up in Temple esplanade place of Muslim prayer

From 652 to 1016 CE the kingdom of Khazaria in the Caucasus Mountains thrived with King Bulan converting himself and his family of about 2,000 to Judaism after listening to the speeches of a Jew, a Christian and a Muslim tell him about their belief.  He chose the Jewish religion to replace his pagan one.  Khazaria was a refuge for many Jews who left more oppressive lands towards Jews.  So it was a mixture of religions sitting on the Silk Road and involved in much trading.
691 Dome of the Rock built by Muslim Umayyad caliph Abd-elMalik, now Jews allowed to return to Jerusalem.  
700 Jews were living in Lithuania. "Lithuanian Jews or Litvaks are Jews with roots in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania: (present-day LithuaniaBelarus,UkraineLatvia and the northeastern Suwałki region of Poland). 
722-723 Escaped from Byzantine Empire from Emperor Leo III, who forced Jews to adopt Christianity

742 to 814 CE:   Jews lived under Charlemagne who was crowned king of the Franks and of Italy in 768.    The community prospered under Charlemagne.  Charlemagne united most of Western Europe for the first time since the Roman Empire. His rule spurred the Carolingian Renaissance, a period of cultural and intellectual activity within the Catholic Church.  Aaron (Abu Aharon) Ben Samuel, Mystic and wonder-worker, left Baghdad about 870 and wandered through Italy, teaching Kabbalistic lore.  Pupil was Moses ben Kalonymos of Lucca, Italy who carried his teachings to Germany, regarded as father of Kabbalistic study in Europe.  
800s Lyons, France, Jewish settlement to Roman times, Agobard and Amulo, bishops of Lyons claimed that the Jews were excessively privileged by the king and that the market-day had been changed from Saturday to suit their convenience.    Both the French and German monarchies considered their kingdoms to be descendants of Charlemagne's empire.  From the 700s under the protection of Charlemagne and his house, Jewish merchants began to settle in France for purposes of trade, importing foreign luxuries and establishing new communities up the Rhone Valley and into Champagne.  By the 9th century,  southern France was the main center of the activity of the international traders, the Radanites.  
860  Forced conversion of Byzantine Jews by Emperor Basil I -end of century Jews couldn't hold public office, intermarry with Christians or own Christian slaves, forced to read bible in Greek and not in Hebrew, not to convert Christians on pain of death and property would be taken, couldn't testify for Christians during legal proceedings or build new synagogues-forcing the inferior status of byzantine Jews in comparison to Orthodox Christians. 
932  Byzantine emperor Romanus I Lecapenus persecuted Jews, tried to convert them to Christianity, so murdered hundreds of Jews and destroyed many synagogues.  Jews migrated to Khazaria from Muslim and Byzantine lands, Joseph , king of Khazars welcomed them to settle in Khazaria.  

1000s  Jew Street in Aachen, Germany. 
 Fatimids of 11th century built a 2nd mosque, El-Aksa, on Temple site.  
1034: First synagogue erected in Worms, Germany (oldest city in Germany)  established by the Celts, "Worms also played prominently into the Protestant Reformation in the early sixteenth century, the site of Martin Luther's stand before the 1521 Diet of Worms, and also the birthplace of the first Bibles of the Reformation, German and English."
1040:  Abiathar Ben Elijah Ha-Cohen, died in 1109, last Gaon in Eretz Yisrael.  Exiled after violent quarrel with Egyptian exilarch David ben Daniel.  work found in Cairo genizah, left at the time of the 1st Crusade, transferring the seat of the Gaonate to Syria.  
                                                                              

This was the seat of Rashi (1040-1105) and the Tosaphists.  Jews were being excluded from trade and handicrafts which drove them more and more into money-lending which in Northern France became their economic stand-by.  Rashi studied in the Rhineland which was Germany.  He died in Troyes, Champagne, France.  He earned his livelihood with his vineyard.  He was author of well known concise commentary on the bible.  He had 3 daughters; Jochaved, Miriam,  and Rachel.  
1060 Itzhak Tzarfarti died in Worms, Germany
1096 to 1254 CE  started the first of 7 Crusades.  Jews suffered during the Crusades in Eretz Yisrael and in Europe as well. 800 Jews murdered by crusaders and local mob.  
1099 Godfrey of Bouillon stormed Jerusalem as Crusader and it became the capital of the Latin Kingdom.   Jewish community in Jerusalem massacred by the Crusaders.  Jews and Muslims fought together against Crusaders.
1110-1165  Maimon Ben Joseph, scholar, father of Maimonides, of Cordova, Spain, author of an Arabic commentary on the Bible, left Spain in 1148 because of persecution, went to Fez, Egypt and wrote a book upholding the faith of those Jews who were forced to convert to Islam.  Settled in Egypt.  
1121:  300 Jews from France and England made aliyah to Palestine
1145: Abraham Ibn Ezra lived in Mantua, Italy, formerly capital of a duchy.  May have only had a few families then.  
1146- Jews of Spain forcibly converted to Christianity.  Jews were massacred in European towns by marauding Crusaders.     In this 11th-12th century era, the Jewish communities of Northern France were the most densely settled in Europe--if not in the world.  The Talmud was the main branch of study.  
1160 -1238  Eleazar ben Judah of Worms, (Eleazar Ben Judah Ben Kalonymos), alias Rabbi of Worms and Eleazar Rokea, born in Mainz, Franconia, Germany, died in Worms, Germany, Rabbi, mystic, Talmudist, codifier, wrote "book of the Pious", part of eminent Kalonymos family which gave medieval Germany many spiritual leaders and mystics, Kabbalist. 
1161 Jews in Granada, Spain, narrative of being Jews from tribes of Judah and Benjamin in Judaea.
1170 Middle Ages:  Benjamin of Tudelea said there were 1,049,565 Jews of which 100,000 lived in Persia and India, 100,000 in Arabia and 300,000 in the East he hadn't seen.  (500,000 in visited countries)=total 740,000
1175 Rashi Synagogue in Worms, Germany built
1182 Jews expulsed from royal dominions of France. 
1185 Aaron of Lincoln died, was an English financier, extended business to 25 English counties, many of nobility, property was confiscated by the Crown, took his money that was owed to him.  
1187 Ayyubid sultan Saladin retook Jerusalem for Islam, remaining in Muslim hands except for a  few years in 13th century.  
1200 1 million Jews in world, had lost 2 million
1200-1300  Aaron Ben Jacob Ha-Cohen, French talmudist, expulsed from France in 1306 with other Jews, went to Majorca, finished Jewish laws list there.  
Aaron Ben Joseph Ha-Levi, Spanish talmudic authority, studied under Nahmanides in Barcelona, Spain, famous teacher.  
1214-1414  a DNA bottleneck shows that Ashkenazis all come from only 350 Jews during this period.  Report earlier was that Jews came from only 4 women of different periods.  
1240s  Jews of Kiev, Ukraine  disrupted by the Mongol invasion, many escaped to other                                     regions, may have eventually returned
1267:  Nahmanides made aliyah to Palestine
1283-April 19 during PassoverJews murdered in Mainz-ritual blood libel accusations
1285-Oct. 23, 68 Jews murdered and 180 burned in synagogue -blood libel
1283-1287 Anti-Jewish riots from the Rhine, Germany, Jewish families emigrated to Israel
1290: Expulsion of 16,000 Jews from England.  
1306 Expulsion of the 100,000 Jews from France.
1300s to 1400s Mameluke Period, new building were erected, water supply improved.  
1322 Another expulsion of Jews from France
1349-60 Jews expelled from Hungary
1346 to 1353 Jew were accused of well poisoning during the Black Death period  which led to mass slaughter of German Jews and they fled in large numbers then to Poland.  
1355: 12,000 Jews massacred by the mob in Toledo, Spain.  
1391: Jews of Spain again forcibly converted to Christianity. 
1394 Another expulsion of Jews from France
1420 Jewish community destroyed in Toulouse, France
1421: Jews expelled from Austria
1484  Professing Jews were excluded from Andalusia 
1488:  Obadiah of Bertinoro made aliyah to Palestine
1492: Spanish Inquisition:  Expulsion of 180,000 -200,000 Jews from Spain, 50,000 converted                 to  Christianity who remain in Spain.  Pious immigrants from many lands returned to                   an almost extinct Jewish population in Judea.  , numbers were artificially restricted by                  the government.  Also expulsed from Sicily and Sardinia (Spanish possessions)
1495: Jews expelled from Lithuania
           Jews expelled from Grodno, Belarus
1497: Jews expelled from Sicily and Sardinia and Portugal, forced conversion otherwise.  
1498  Jews expulsed from Navarre
1502: All Jews  of Rhodes forcibly converted, expelled or taken into slavery
1503  Jews from Grodno, Belarus returned, spared from the Khmelnytsky massacres               in 1648.
1500's    Four Jewish communities left:  Frankfurt 2,000;  Worms 1,400;  Prague 10,000;        Vienna  3,000.  

1510 -1573  Solomon Ben Jehiel Luria, alias Maharshal, rabbi and codifier in Lithuania and Poland, finally in Lublin; 
1512 or 1525-1609 Jews expulsed from Provence,  Rabbi Jehuda Loew Ben Bezalel  "Maharal of Prague, Czechoslovakia/ Worms, Germany; genealogies trace him to Rashi; created the Golem.  Maharal was chief Rabbi of Prague (Moraynu HaReav Judah LOEW ben B'zalel.
1541 Jews expelled from kingdom of Naples.
1564:  Joseph Nasi from Italy made aliyah with his group
1534-1572 Isaac Ben Solomon Luria, alias "Ashkenazi,"   Judean kabbalist, born in Jerusalem, educated in Egypt, lived in Safed from 1570 , lived ascetic life, saintly character, identified ancient graves in Galilee, teacher
1541:  Jews expelled from the Kingdom of Naples.
1555  Aboab, family of Spanish origin, scholar and writer, born of Marrano parents, emigrated                 to Italy, reverted back to Judaism.
1569 Jews expelled from smaller centers of papal dominions in Italy and France.
1604-1657 Manasseh ben Israel, Dutch rabbi, born of Marrano parentage as Manoel Dias Soeiro, went to Amsterdam as child, was child prodigy, 18 years old became rabbi.  
1625  Jewish population in Judea brutally despoiled by the local pasha Muhammad ibn Farukh.
1630 -1703  Samuel Oppenheimer/Oppenheim, philanthropist and Court Jew, the first to settle in Vienna, Austria after the 1670 expulsion, was King Leopold the First's  agent and financier; helping to finance his wars with Turks and War of the Spanish succession; in 1697 was accused of conspiring to murder his rival and great friend, Samson Wertheimer and imprisoned until vindicated.  Liberally supported poor, Jewish scholars, and Judah Hasid's movement to settle in Palestine.   Jewish Ghetto in 1630.  
1635-1683   Abraham Abele of Gombin, Polish talmudist and rabbi of Kalish.                              
1645 Rabbi  David Ashkenazy died, who was the Rabbi in Lemberg, Poland.  Ancestor of the Gaon of Vilna.    1648-56:  100,000 Jews murdered in the Chmielnicki massacres in Poland
                                                                      

                    Rabbi Samson Wertheimer of which my family shares a few genes, or his brother, Moses.
1700: 1 million Jews in world,  hasn't changed since 1200.  
1700   1,500 Jews from eastern Europe made aliyah to Palestine via Rabbi Judah Hasid's call.  

1658- 1724   Rabbi Samson Wertheimer lived and died  in Vienna, Austria, but was born in Worms, Germany, King Leopold 's finance-Minister, entrusted with the financial secrets of the country, supplied much of the war material for the army with Spain.  Fought against those who told malicious lies about the Jewish people.   
c1660-c1746 Rabbi Yehiel Heilprin in Minsk, Russia.  Talmud scholar, Kabbalah, chief Rabbi of Minsk.  
1664-1736  David Oppenheim/Oppenheimer, Rabbi and bibliophiole, nephew of Samuel Oppenheimer, born in Worms, Germany, Rabbi in Nikolsburg and from 1702 in Prague, had library of books, kept them in Hanover because of censorship in Prague.  
1685: Hirsch Rothschild zur hinteren Pfanne died in Germany.  
1698  Joseph Ben Issachar Susskind Oppenheimer; endeavored to consolidate the duchy's finances and free its ruler from dependence on grants from the estates which aroused much opposition and after the duke died in 1737, he was accused of embezzling state finances hanged in Stuttgart for having sexual relations with Christian women, refused baptism; in novel Jew Suss by Lion Feuchtwanger.  
1700-1760 Baal Shem Tov, Israel Ben Eliezer, founder of Hasidism; European Jews numbered 1,360,000
1707 -1747, Italian Jewish Kabbalist and poet born and educated in  Padua, Italy thought of himself as forerunner of Messiah,  dabbled in the esoteric, mystical austerities. 
                                                                   
                                                             Gaon of Vilna, Lithuania 

1720 -1797   Rabbi Eliyahu ben Solomon, Gaon of Vilna
1727,  1739, 1742, 1747:  Jews expelled from Little Russia, 
1730   Iones "Jonah" Goldfus, Telsiai, Kaunas, Lithuania
1754-1800:  Solomon Maimon, philosopher, son of Lithuanian village inn-keeper, child prodigy, married at 14, father at 15, taught himself German, age 25 left for Germany, became a 
wandering begger.  went to Berlin, wrote, philosopher
1758  Rabbi Shlomo-Zalman  of Vilna died.  His wife was Treina and they were the parents of the Gaon of Vilna, Lithuania.  
1764  By 1764 there were about 750,000 Jews in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The worldwide Jewish population (comprising the Middle East and the rest of Europe) was estimated at 1.2 million.
1772 Poland-Lithuanian Commonwealth Jews =308,500.  World Jewish population=1,000,000. 
1780:  Jewish community organized in Manchester, England.  
1786:  Jewish Population: Prague=7,951;  
1790's Hasidim and followers of Vilna Gaon made aliyah to Palestine
19th Century:  2,000 European Jews converted to Christianity every year this century=222,000.    
 1800   2.5 million Jews in world
1800s  Samauel David Luzzatto, Italian scholar, professor at Padua Rabbinical College, Hebrew literature scholar.  Europeans returned brought about population revival going from 
3,000 Jews in 1838 to  50,000 Jews in 1910.  Abraham Ben Alexander Katz of Kalisk, died 
1809:President Reuven  Rivlin ancestor made aliyah to Jerusalem 
1810, Hasidic rabbi, studied under Elijah of Vilna , later joined Hasidic movement.  
1811:  Jewish Population:  Frankfurt=2,214
1825  3.25 million Jews in world
1838:  Entire Jewish community in Meshed, Persia, forcibly converted to Islam
1840  4.5 million Jews in world
1840  Damascus, Syria Blood Libel of Jews ; Jews of southern Russia lived 13 to a house
1843 Jewish Population:  Prague=5,646
1850: Madison, Wisconsin, USA had 17 Jewish families from Central europe living there.  They founded Congregation Shaare Shomayim in 1959.  
1850-1880:  20,000-30,000 Jews settled in Palestine
1855  New quarters built outside the Old City wall by Sir Moses Montefiore.
1856 Reform synagogue in Manchester, England built.  
1880  7.7 million Jews in world
1881:  End of 19th Century:  World population of Jews=6,200,000 of which Sephardic only 314,000.   
1882-1890:  750,000 Jews living in Russia forced to re-settle in the Pale of Settlement.
                                       Jerusalem was connected with Jaffa by a railway line; Aaron Aaronson, Romanian taken to Palestine , founder of Zikhron Yaakov, studied agronomy in France, worked in Metullah , was leader, advisor to Turkish commander Jemal Pasha, oranized underground intelligence service NILI.  
1890 Persecutions in Russia sent thousands of Russian Jews to Palestine.  
1891:  Jews expelled from Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia
1898  Herzl greeted German emperor William II who visited Jerusalem.
1900  10.7 million Jews in world
1904-1905:  World Population of Jews=10,932,777.  

1914-1917  World War I  population fell to 50,000, occupied by General Allenby, head of British                       army, British rule under Mandate, period of rapid growth.  
1914  August 1, Germany declared war on Russia,  Hebrew calendar was 9th of Av, day of mourning for Jews as Temple was destroyed on this date, Jewish national day of mourning. Stanley Goldfoot born in South Africa, lived there till age 18.  90,000 Jews living in Palestine.  
1917:  50,000 Jews living in Palestine
1923:  Norman Mailer US novelist of WWII, The Naked and the Dead.  
1925  14.9 million Jews in world 
1931:  190,000 Jews living in Palestine
1933  Stanley Goldfoot immigrated from South Africa to Palestine
1936-1938:   53,000 Jews immigrated to Palestine
1938:  Kristallnacht in Worms, Germany, Jewish quarter destroyed.
1939  16.7 million Jews in world  
1939-1945:  Holocaust; murder of 6 million Jews by Nazis and European collaborators
1941:  Jewish community in Baghdad, Iraq attacked by mobs; 180 dead
1946  10.8 million Jews in world (6 million massacred in Holocaust) 
1948 to today persecution of Jewish communities in Arab countries, mass expulsions 
1948, May 14th Establishing State of Israel.  650,000 Jews. 
1948-1967 Judea/Samaria ruled by Jordan who annexed it in 1950
1962  13.0 million Jews in world
1972  640,600 Muslim Arabs living in Judea/Samaria from British Mandate 
1975  14.2 million Jews in world
1990: Madison, Wisconsin, USA had 4,500 Jews with 3 synagogues.  
2012  Ariel, Judea/Samaria  Jewish population 18,638
2013  Judea-Samaria Jewish population now 375,000
2014  Israel has 6 million Jews; 330,000 live in neighborhoods of Jerusalem; Judea/Samaria has blocks with 5 villages,towns in Northern Samaria=2,646; 11 vt.of Ariel-Elkana Block=52,000; 4 vt. of Magleh Adumem Block=46,458; 4 vt. of Eastern Etzion = 5,492; 17vt.of Samaria which Itamar is=31.212; 1city of Betar Illit=47,311; 3vt of Kiryat Sefer Block=65,004; 27vt of Jordan Valley=7,432; 9vt of Gush Etzion=22,479; 16vt of Hevron Hill=15,851; 26vt of Binyamin Region=76,794.  

2023, October 7;  Israel attacked by Hamas; 1,400 killed; 240 kidnapped, held as hostages; Israel declared war.  
2023, November 29, 155 hostages still held by Hamas; 10 per day released since 11/26.  day 54.

"In 2006, a study by Doron Behar and Karl Skorecki of the Technion and Ramban Medical Center in Haifa, Israel demonstrated that the vast majority of Ashkenazi Jews, both men and women, have Middle Eastern ancestry.According to Nicholas Wades' 2010 Autosomal study Ashkenazi Jews share a common ancestry with other Jewish groups and Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews have roughly 30% European ancestry with the rest being Middle Eastern.According to Hammer, the Ashkenazi population expanded through a series of bottlenecks—events that squeeze a population down to small numbers—perhaps as it migrated from the Middle East after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD, to Italy, reaching the Rhine Valley in the 10th century."

"Another 2013 study, made by Doron M. Behar of the Rambam Health Care Campus in Israel and others, suggests that: "Cumulatively, our analyses point strongly to ancestry of Ashkenazi Jews primarily from European and Middle Eastern populations and not from populations in or near the Caucasus region. The combined set of approaches suggests that the observations of Ashkenazi proximity to European and Middle Eastern populations in population structure analyses reflect actual genetic proximity of Ashkenazi Jews to populations with predominantly European and Middle Eastern ancestry components, and lack of visible introgression from the region of the Khazar Khaganate—particularly among the northern Volga and North Caucasus populations—into the Ashkenazi community."

Resource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Germany
http://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2014/08/jewish-history-in-eretz-yisrael.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthian_Empire
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_France
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlemagne
http://www.lordsandladies.org/crusades-timeline.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Jerusalem_(AD_70)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masada
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worms,_Germany
http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/biblicalhistory/ss/ErasJewishHist_7.htm
http://books.google.com/books?id=U7-QeffdZh4C&pg=PA91&lpg=PA91&dq=Early+Judaean+towns&source=bl&ots=OOUDBIGTWx&sig=ax2Tj7CsG-IbKiJr9zQvr-MRSpA&hl=en&sa=X&ei=LXn3U9LgI-qoigKHq4GQCg&ved=0CFcQ6AEwCg#v=onepage&q=Early%20Judaean%20towns&f=false
http://www.adath-shalom.ca/buchler.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithuanian_Jews
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_diaspora  Excellent
http://israelempowered.nationbuilder.com/official_population_count_for_judea_and_samaria_dec_31_2013 Excellent!!!
http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/the-jewish-demographic-bomb-judea-and-samaria-up-4-3-in-2013/2014/02/25/
http://www.wnd.com/2014/08/why-israel-must-never-cede-judea-samaria/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariel_(city)
After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, Rabban Yochanan Ben Zakkai moved the Sanhedrin to Yavne. Some scholars believe the so-called Council of Yavne met there. The Sanhedrin left Yavne forUsha in 80 CE and returned in 116 CE.
The Source by James Mitchener
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
Facts About Israel, division of Information, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem
Jewish Encyclopedia (1906)
Killing Jesus by Bill O'Reilly & Martin Dugard
The Settlers by Meyer Levin; simon and Schuster Publishers, 1972
The Jews of Khazaria by Kevin Alan Brook
Updated 11/3/14 Historical Jewish Population comparisons, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_Jewish_population_comparisons 
*****Excellent Video on youtube:  The Mystery of the Jews https://www.youtube.com/embed/j6k1jHAYtbI#t=1226
http://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2015/04/jerusalem-in-judahs-judean-hills-of.html, tells about life after 70CE and the Academys that took over, Sanhedrin that was established, etc.
Finding Our Father, a guidebook to Jewish genealogy by Dan Rottenberg





Thursday, August 21, 2014

Hamas Leaders Taken Out

Nadene Goldfoot                                             
Hamas broke the 11th cease fire at 4:00pm on August 19, 2014 instead of waiting for the midnight time August 19-20.  They couldn't wait to bombard Israel with their long distance missiles that hit Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, Beer Sheva and other sites.  Over 200 rockets rained down on Israel in a short time.

Instead of hitting civilians, Israel decided to try to take out the leaders of Hamas' military wing.  They tried for the top Hamas commander, Mohammed Dief but got his wife and son instead.  The overnight strike done by Shin Bet and IDF  on 3 others were successful.
                                                                           
                                          Hamas on the move

1. Israel killed Raed al-Attar, 40, Rafah Division commander:  involved in the planning and commanded the operation to kidnap IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, most senior commander in al-Qassam Brigades; Hamas Division commander in southern Gaza, one of architects of the terror tunnel project in the south of the Strip; also aided other Hamas divisions with tunneling.  One of the founders of Hamas' elite Nukhba unit and was in charge of arms smuggling from the Sinai Peninsula; one of the closest people to Hamas' 2nd in command Ahmed Jabari, whose assassination by the IDF and Shin Bet in November 2012 served as the opening shot for Operation Pillar Defense; In charge of launching many Hamas terror cells who committed terror attacks in Sinai against Egyptian targets.  He was considered a natural replacement for Mohammad Deif as the head of Hamas' armed wing.

2. Mohammed  Abu Shmallah, 41, Southern Division commander: also involved in the planning of the operation of kidnapping Gilad Shalit; most senior commander in al-Qassam Brigades; was in charge of the Rafah and Khan Younis area.  He had survived previous assassination attempts.

3. Mohammed Barhoum, Rafah Division senior commander.  This death is not yet confirmed by Shin Bet.

The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigade reported that the 3 were killed 2:30am when a house was bombed in the Tel al-Sultan refugee camp west of Rafah in  southern Gaza.  7 other people were also killed and 25 others were wounded in the attack.

Resource: Video Facts

Sunday, July 06, 2014

Muhammad's Knowledge of Jews-But Palestinians Never Heard of Us

Nadene Goldfoot                                               Moses 



High-ranking PA figures claim that the Jews do not have religious or historical claims to the Holy Land.  

The fact is that Muhammad recognized that Jews were "people of the book."  "The Book" was the Bible or Torah.  They were given a special status along with Christians; also people of the book, as Dhimmis.  They could not be killed, but had to pay a higher tax than the rest of the people, sort of like paying for "protexia, protection.  They had a lot of other abominable things heaved on their shoulders as well, things they couldn't do because of their inferior status.  Dhimmitude was like being a 2nd or 3rd class citizen.  

 Palestinian Arabs such as the PA  don't want to believe or have anyone else know the history of Jews in Palestine. Yet  Muslims have our prophets as their prophets.  They regard Moses as a prophet.  Where to they think they came from?  Do they realize that prophets were Jews?  
                                                                       

Our Torah ( 5 Books of Moses) and Tanach (Old Testament to Christians)  is our record as Jews of being in Palestine.and before it was dubbed "Palestine." Its ancient names were Israel and Judah.    It's a book filled with our genealogy and the geography of the land.  It's so interesting to everyone that they've even made movies about episodes.  It's graphic in descriptions and details.  This is our record of our history.  Yet they deny it.

How anyone can listen to such statements with a straight face is unbelievable or take them seriously.  Even archaeology has proved our existence there.  

In Albert's interview,  he discovered that the Muslims think that if they recognize Israel as a Jewish state,  it would mean accepting the end of their own history and ties and right to Palestine.  Of course!  They have created a myth about being there for 2,000 years, convincing other Muslims far and wide of this.  Such a rumor has traveled as far as Pakistan and Afghanistan, India and who knows where else.  Now they feel they can't lose face by admitting it was all make believe.  
                                                                        

                               King David of Israel (1010-970 BCE) 

Actually, the Palestinian history  in Israel really started with the return of Russian Jews and others around 1880 in the 1st Aliyah movement.  They came in droves after them looking for jobs as they heard they were building.  When asked, most said they were Syrians in those days.  They found some jobs in Tel Aviv.  

There were also some Jews there that had never left the land but had converted to Islam in order to survive in the Ottoman Empire, and possibly even earlier. They're part of the Palestinian Muslims of today.   Remnants of their history are being preserved by Israeli researchers who have discovered this.  One has but to examine the homes they live in to see the star of David and other mementos of Jews  having lived there long ago.  
                                                                         

                                        King Solomon

There were some Arabs  who had purchased land but never used it for much.  They in turn sold it to Jews at very high prices and left for better places such as Damascus or Cairo or even Paris.  

They need to find their own history and will if they dig deep enough and do some good research on census records and such.  They would find living in the neighboring states as part of their heritage and all the history that would go with that.  However,  there is no history of a Palestinian people.  They were not a people.  They are families that have been living in what was initially called Palestine by the Romans who chose that word as an eraser:  They wanted to erase the history of the Jews as well.  It was easier to break Jews with, like horses, to make them obey, to be slaves, to take away their spirit.  That's what the Romans did to people who had been strong.  They took away the name of their country and renamed it.  

Jews were also called Palestinians before the birth of Israel on May 14, 1948.  The land had been in the Ottoman Empire's hands up to WWI for 400 years.  They were on the side of the Germans during WWI, and lost the war, and by doing so, they lost their empire.  This is something that the Arabs do not want to accept, but then they fought on the British side.  Because of that, they were rewarded by the British who helped them enter Palestine illegally and didn't record it, and by giving them 80% of the Jewish Homeland that was set aside for the Jews to have when the British mandate came to its 30 year end.  
                                                                     
So when they insist that there were never a Jewish people, you'd better check first to see if they even know how to read.  They are denying Muhammad who knew Jews in Medina and who read aloud on the streets for all to hear the stories from the Torah.  According to their own Koran, he even flew there on his flying horse, Buraq,  before he died which was in 632 CE.  He never used the word-Jerusalem, though, but said he went to the farthest mosque.  However, the Koran is full of some insights of his relationship with Jews.  

So, aren't they besmirching Emir Feisal's good name who had agreed to the Jews returning to Palestine and building their state?  By denying that the Jews came from the Holy Land, aren't they in effect calling Muhammad a liar?  

Resource: Albert Benamou's "From an interview in Asharq al-Awsat of Palestinian Arab foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki: http://www.seder-olam.info/seder-olam-g48-sion.html
http://www.aawsat.net/2014/01/article55327533    interview of Riyad Al-Maliki
Joan Peters Book-From Time Immemorial
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buraq
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prophets_in_Islam


RETALIATION: Retaliation of 15 Year old Palestinian; Retaliation of Rockets From Gaza Starting Now? IS Leader Calling for Jihad

Nadene Goldfoot                                     

Retaliation of all the rockets being shot from Gaza into Israel is starting.  A warning was given of 48 hours from Israel.  That was up another 48 hours later or more, but   after Saturday's long distance rocket just barely missing Be'er Sheva, the IDF air force went in and hit targets where rockets are shot from at 3:16 am this morning.  No one was injured or hit but they did do damage.  Jerusalem is damaged, too, from all the rioting going on from the murder of the 15 year old. 

Israel took out 10 terror targets in Gaza. One target was a Fajr missile storage facility.  They destroyed a weapons making factory as well and a Hamas building and a tunnel.                                

Rioting and destruction has been going on in Jerusalem ever since a Muslim boy's burned body was found  right at the time of the burial of the 3 Jewish boys who were kidnapped, bound and shot.  The Muslim population were going crazy in anger, though we knew at the time that Hamas was responsible for the murders of the Israeli boys and the reaction of that came from the frantic police and IDF who were searching for them.  It took 2 weeks to find their half buried bodies outside of Hebron.  This caused a lot of Palestinians to be rounded up and taken in to be questioned, but the Israelis didn't become violent about it.  It was a pretty reasonable outcome considering that Hamas and even Fatah have been goading their people into taking such action.
                                                                             
But for the Israelis? They're not calling the murderers heroes or passing out candy like the Muslims had reacted to the death of the 3 Jewish teens.  The murderers will be prosecuted.   There is nothing in our teaching or programming that would cause anyone to be vindictive and take the law into their own hands to get even.  Yet, that is Israel's police conclusion.  They are holding 3 Jews, of which a few are minors.  They haven't been charged with the murder yet, as the investigation is still ongoing.  

I'm an addict of the USA's Law and Order.  I see crazy reasons on that program for killings and what the police have to go through to actually bring a person to court and get a conviction.  Each country has their own laws and ways of dealing with it.  In the USA one is innocent until proven guilty.  In England, one is guilty until proven innocent.  Israel follows the American way.  
                                                                                 
What I know is that if true, the guilty Jews were more than stupid.  We live by the Golden Rule; Don't do to others what you don't want others to do unto you.  Murder is one of the 10 Laws that we are not to commit.  Revenge is not allowed in our culture.  I don't like to see our people sink to the level of our opponents.  That's why we have rules of ethics and morals.
                                                                           
In the heat of the sadness of realizing that children, two 16 year olds and one 19 year old had been kidnapped right after their attendance of a school of which a 16 yr old was also an American, a Yeshiva, that would have turned them into rabbis, it's easy to see some young hotheads could have felt the need to retaliate. 

 All the country were in mourning.  The emotions and vibrations were electric at that time.  Anger was being held back, but not with whoever killed this Palestinian boy.  I still find it hard to believe that it was Jews who acted in revenge, but it's possible.  Law and Order shows people that nothing is impossible; even parents killing their own children.  We have a case of that right now being documented on TV of a father who cooked his baby in a hot enclosed car while he went to work.

That brings up the possibility still, that the parents are relatives of this Muslim boy are guilty of the crime because there have been several honor killings happening among the Muslim community of Israel, as it happens also in the USA.  The family is suspect, and the boy was possibly a homosexual boy.

I heard on CNN that Obama was complaining about the Muslim's death and that he was also an American! .  He wanted the killer or killers to be found ASAP.  Did he make that much noise when our 16 yr old American Jewish boy and his 2 Jewish classmates, also a 16 yr old and a 19 yr old, were kidnapped and killed?  The mothers of the 3 even went to plead at the United Nations and they received a cold shoulder and disbelief.  They weren't even taken seriously.  But oh my!  The Muslim death is really important!  All children killed out of any reason should be taken seriously.  It certainly is on Law and Order.  It is in Israel, that I know.  Is this how the Palestinians plan on making their state Judenrein, which they have warned?  "Our state will be Judenrein, Not one Jew shall live here!" Yada yada yada yada!!!" And that's essentially what Obama, Kerry and the EU agreed to when they nodded their heads.

It is said that there are no coincidences in life, yet here we have an American-Israeli 16 year old and an American-Palestinian 15 year old both killed and for why?  Both seem to have been killed in an act of revenge.  With the Jewish boy, that killing's revenge seems to be just the fact that Jews are living in their ancient homeland of Judea and Samaria.  What else?  The Palestinians were just recognized by Obama and the EU.  Out in Gaza the rockets were shooting right into southern Israel.  If anyone has a beef, it's the Israelis.

Abu Akr al Baghdadi was just seen on Fox News TV in Mosul giving a speech in a Mosque and calling for Jihad. (not confirmed as yet that it was indeed him-but if you ask me, he looked just like the photograph of him.) this is the month of Ramadan and everyone there listening must also have had a twinge of hunger.  They haven't been afraid of showing very graphic and bloody videos of their actions.  Yet I see it's hard for people in the Middle East to believe the Western reporting about him.

Resource:  /news/arrest.html
http://www.jewishpress.com/news/israel/idf/israel-finally-attacking-gaza/2014/07/06/
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/innocent-until-proven-guilty-not-under-the-eus-justice-system-8931215.html
http://www.un.org/pubs/cyberschoolbus/globalatlas/11sp.htm  Israel's system innocent and guilty

Thursday, July 03, 2014

Recent Attacks On Israel

Nadene Goldfoot                                            

Three teen-aged Jewish boys, Eyal Yifra 19, Gilad Shaar 16, and Naftali Fraenkel 16,  were kidnapped, bound and shot dead by Hamas.  Their bodies were found half-buried two weeks after they were kidnapped on Thursday, June 12th after school.  Celebrations have been going on with Hamas over the kidnapping and people have been handing out candies in their joy.  Palestinian TV is full of programs of hatred for Israelis and Hamas encourages the continued attacking should come from Fatah also.  Evidently it did with this horrendous killing.  The night before a barrage of rockets rained down on southern Israel from Hamas and continued into the next morning on June 29th and 30th.  The rockets have been continuing.
                                                                     

                                                                                 
At the same time, suddenly a Palestinian teen boy, Mohammed Abu Khdeir of east Jerusalem,  was found dead and of course the Israelis were blamed for this.  His body was found burned and hard to identify.   The line was that it was done in retaliation and riots have been going on in a frenzy against Israelis in Jerusalem.  More likely, the boy was killed by his own family in another of the honor killings in the Palestinian culture because rumor has it that he was a homosexual.  His pictures showed a  very thin-looking boy.  I note that the Palestinians' rioting is accompanied with the exact description in their news of a "celebration by the Israelis over this."  Hamas has congratulated the kidnapping.  Is it not a wonder then that they were the instigators if not the culprits?   I have seen nothing in the Israeli news of this, only the sorrow felt before with all of Israel praying in large groups for their safe return, the family's sorrow and the resolve to remain committed to Israel.  Every time something happens, the Palestinian news always copies for themselves what they have caused in the Israelis.  They try to turn the tide and make-believe that they are the victims instead of the aggressors.  It's been in Judaism since the Exodus of Moses and the Israelites that we are not to be happy when the enemy dies, as they are also children of G-d.  I cannot picture any of our IDF cheering over the death of this boy.  Immediately they would know the complication that would be caused from such an event, too.  No, this is all hear-say to instigate the Palestinians to riot.  
                                                                           
In March  2014 between the 12th and 14th, 60 rockets fell. This was before, during and after Purim.   
Today, June 27, 2014:  A total of 6 rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip, with the remaining 4 landing in open territory.
Update: 6/28: In center of Gaza were underground rocket launchers, Israel hit them, retaliation from Hamas of 5 to 6  rockets hitting Sderot, causing fire in industrial section.
Update: 6/30  Gaza has fired 15 rockets into Israel last night and this morning.       
Update:   There have been near-daily rocket attacks, followed by Israeli reprisals. 
Update: 6/31  More than a dozen rockets fired from Gaza Strip slammed into Israel early Monday morning , following violent days in the south which have seen a rocket hit an Israeli factory and IDF retaliatory attacks kill at least one.  A factory in Sderot was hit and a man in it injured.  

                                                                       July
July 1
In the late night Gaza terrorists fired a rocket at Israel. The rocket landed in the open field in the Eshkol Regional Council. No injuries or damage are reported. In the morning 4 more rockets were fired. One fell in an open area in Sdot Negev. Another caused damage to several vehicles in the Eshkol Regional Council. A third rocket exploded in the area Hof Ashkelon Regional Council. No injuries were reported The fourth rocket caused a fire near a packaging factory in Eshkol. Though it looked like the fire were turned off, it has spread. Firefighting planes and additional squads try to stop the flames. So far no injuries are reported.   In the evening a salvo of mortar shells was launched at the Eshkol Regional Council area. No red alert in advance, but Explosions were heard. Security forces are inspecting the area. No reports of injuries or damages
July 2
Short after midnight two mortar shells exploded in open areas in the Eshkol Regional Council. No damage or injuries are reported. In the afternoon three mortar shells were fired at the same region. All exploded in open fields. No injuries or damage reported. Again four mortar shells were fired in the Eshkol Regional Council. No one was hurt, no damage reported. In the evening code red alarm was heard in the Ashkelon area. One rocket was intercepted by the Iron Dome Missile Defense System, one exploded in open field. Red alert siren blared in the Eshkol and Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Councils.   Minutes after 2 rockets landed in open areas around. Five rockets were launched on the Sdot Negev Regional Council, three were launched towards Ofakim. One was shot down by Iron Dome, the others hit open fields. No damages ore injuries were reported. A rocket was fired on Eshkol Regional Council. No damages, no injuries.
July 3
1 hour past midnight the colour red siren is heard in Sderot and Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Council.   One rocket exploded in Sderot. None was hurt, but structures got damaged.  "Terrorists in Gaza continue their relentless rocket fire upon Israel on Thursday as a Kassam rocket struck a building in Sderot Thursday morning that is being used as a summer day camp for children. The rocket thankfully did not explode as children were set to arrive minutes before the impact."
Fatah is following Hamas' lead with TV programs calling for the destruction of Israel.  Abbas is saying, Fatah heats up confrontational atmosphere:"Blood demands blood"Jerusalem, declare a revolution!"
Don't expect Abbas will try to cut ties with Hamas now, which is what Netanyahu has asked him to do.  They had united and they seem to be united with Gorilla glue.  

6/3/14 Another rocket fell on a home and one fell next to a pre-school in Israel

Resource: http://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-hamas-leadership-of-palestine_27.html
http://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2014/06/30/israeli-army-14-rockets-fired-at-israel-from-gaza
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4536060,00.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Palestinian_rocket_attacks_on_Israel,_2014
http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/17561/kassam-rocket-lands-childrens-summer-camp-following-iaf-strike/?utm_source=Breaking+Israel+News&utm_campaign=9e62bc6c10-BIN+Email&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b6d3627f72-9e62bc6c10-83518689
http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=11913
http://www.jerusalemonline.com/news/middle-east/israeli-palestinian-relations/the-body-of-the-murdered-palestinian-teenager-will-be-brought-to-rest-6241?utm_source=contactology&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DailyNewsletter

Friday, June 27, 2014

Irony That Famous Jewish General's Last Stand Now a PalestinianArab Village

Nadene Goldfoot                                                            
  
There  is an Arab village named Battir in what is now called Palestine-what used to be only last week, Judea and Samaria.  The name of the place is a Hebrew name; Beitar/Betar.  Here is where Bar Kochba, our general in 132 CE made his last stand against the Romans that lasted for 3 years until 135 when he was killed by them.  As Simcha said, it was comparable to the Alamo in Texas.  The Romans took 50 fortresses and 985 villages.  There were 580,000 Jewish casualties.  Many died of hunger and disease.

Back then Judaea had been occupied by the Romans.  The Jews kept on revolting, like Judah the Gallilean and Jesus of Nazareth ended up on a Roman cross along with tens of thousands more Jews.  Josephus, Jewish historian and writer, said they killed a million Jews on the crosses.  In 70 CE Jerusalem was destroyed.
                                                                         
Then in 73 CE the Masada fell to the Romans.  The Masada was  a refuge for Herod's family in 40 BCE when Antigonus Mattathias tried to besiege them there.  Later, Herod built his palace on this high rock of a mountain.  It is located only a mile from the Dead Sea.  It had become a Zealot fortress until 73 when the garrison of 960 under Eleazar  committed suicide after holding out against the Romans for 3 years.  They refused to be taken as slaves.The Romans then exiled the native Judeans they could catch and took their children for slaves and their women for prostitution.  They had left only the weak and the vulnerable, probably the old people.

Even so, some must have been in hiding because 62 years later after Jerusalem fell, they rose once again to join a final revolt with Bar Kokhba (Son of the Star) as leader.  His real name was Bar/Ben Kosiba Simeon and he was the nephew of Rabbi Eleazar of Modiin and of Davidic descent.  This general was fighting the Roman Hadrian who had an army of 35,000.  .  There are many thoughts as to why he revolted at this time.  It could be attributed to the Roman building going on of Jerusalem or the prohibition of circumcision.  They captured Jerusalem but probably didn't take a whole Roman legion.   .In the Torah is the prediction in Numbers 224:17 that a "star will come out of Jacob".  Most people interpret that as meaning the Messiah.  Basically, this was a title for a Messiah.  He held out against the Romans who were the greatest military power on earth  at this time.  He made them very angry, so angry that they renamed Judaea as Palaestina, the name of their enemies, the Philistines.  "The Jerusalem Talmud relates that the number of slain was so enormous, that the Romans "went on killing until their horses were submerged in blood to their nostrils." Hadrian had prohibited their burial, and it wasn't until his successor, Antoninus (Pius), that the dead were afforded a decent burial.

He and his warriors left a labyrinth of tunnels.  They hid below ground and came up for air and to fight.  The tunnels are "monuments to the longest liberation struggle in history, the Jewish struggle for the land of Israel.  Items have been found there of their presence; letters, the lulav leaves and citron for the Feast of the Tabernacles and such.   Coins have been found that were minted with the names Simeon and Eleazar the Priest.

His fall meant the end of Jewish independence for the next 2000 years.  Judea fell into desolation; its population was annihilated, and Jerusalem was turned into a heathen city, barred to Jews.  Today there is a Beitar soccer club in Israel.  UNESCO has dubbed it as a Historical Heritage Site for the Arabs who requested this.  They're not interested in Israel's history, however.  They just want to keep Israel's security barrier from running through the village lands.

The barrier is to keep out Palestinian terrorists out of populated Israeli areas.  It's there to stop suicide bombers from blowing up buses and restaurants as well as themselves, and to keep kidnappers from taking Jewish children.  The Palestinians see it as an infringement on their rights and want it all unfenced.

This just doesn't work, because when something awful happens, it's never condemned by the UN.  "It's the Israeli reaction to the terror that gets that Jew-hating institution going."  So Israel need this security as long as the situation hasn't changed.  

Resource: http://www.simchajtv.com/history-as-parody/  Excellent article
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betar_(fortress)
The New Standard Jewish encyclopedia

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Palestine Brings On the Third Intifada Against Israel

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                   

Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas Prime Minister from March 29, 2006 to June 2, 2014, declared on Monday, June 23rd that the 3rd Intifada against Israel has now begun.  Sounds like a declaration of war to me.
  1. This is the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, beginning in 1987.  Ismail is  actually saying that they will just continue fighting against Israel and have no intentions of being peaceful neighbors.  Israel hasn't "occupied" Gaza since they pulled out in 2005.  Judea and Samaria the original Jewish names for what Jordan renamed as "The West Bank" in their act to eliminate our history in the area, is also populated by Jews.  They have a right to be there as it all had been zoned off between Palestinian and Israel sites.  

Kerry neglected to say that when Gaza stopped shelling Israel, then recognition would be possible of a Palestine.  
  1.                                                                        
 This 51 year old father of 12 children  has been replaced in the new formation of Palestine by Rami Hamdallah. He is Palestine's new Prime Minister and a Fatah member, selected by Abbas.   He's been actively encouraging Palestinians to kidnap IDF soldiers.  Then he is sitting back and declaring that Israel's frantic searching is only increasing their willingness to resist.  To resist what?  Peace, evidently.  They're certainly not helping to search.  In fact, they are throwing stones at searchers and trying to prevent it from happening.
                                                                           
It actually started with the USA and the EU recognizing their state of Palestine and the unification of Fatah and Hamas as its people. The only clause given by the USA was that Obama would be watching their activities.   Evidently as soon as they were recognized, Hamas infiltrated into Judea and Samaria.  By doing this, they were set up to cause havoc against Israel which they have done.  While rockets have been raining on southern Israel from Gaza Hamas terrorists, others in Fatah-held Judea-Samaria kidnapped  only a few days later, 3 teen-aged boys on their way home from Yeshiva, a religious school.

To mess with Israel's children is a huge crime.  Israel knows all about kidnapping, having gone through this before with Gilad Shalit, a young  IDF soldier held over 5 years by terrorists.  Israel had to act quickly and hoped that Glad Shaar, 19, Eyal Yifrach, 16, and Naftali Frankel, 16 were still alive.  Their school was in Gush Etzion, south of Bethlehem.  They were hitchhiking home.  Within minutes of the kidnapping, one boy was able to send a text message that they had been kidnapped.  They evidently accepted a ride with terrorists unknowingly.

IDF and police went through towns and open areas in Judea and Samaria in what they called "Operation Brother's Keeper. They have searched around Hebron.   They found many Hamas members that were not there before the recognition of Palestine.
                                                                   
The Palestinians are enjoying the theater and are using it to their advantage.  They are actually celebrating the kidnapping.   They're handing out sweets.  Even Fatah students at Bir Zeit University near Ramallah handed out sweets in the act of celebrating.  Palestinian Arabs also celebrated wildly when they heard about the Twin Towers of 9/11.

  On the other hand, the PA Prime Minister Hahmoud Abbas sees this as a problem to his formation of Palestine and has been extolling the wrongness of the act to Netanyahu and the Israelis.  Netanyahu praised him for his remarks made in Saudi Arabia for saying that "There can be no alliance with the kidnappers of children."   Yet Abbas is the one who encourages such acts by his Fatah celebrations and TV programs.  He aids and abets such activity a lot, so really is to blame.  He does nothing to bring peace between the two peoples. By uniting with Hamas, he has signed onto their destructive and deplorable charter calling for the destruction of Israel.  Netanyahu asked him to abrogate the recent unity pact between  Fatah and Hamas. Dollars to donuts, he won't.  He's being very 2-faced, if you ask me.
                                                                         
Khaled Mashaal, Hamas political bureau chairman since 1996, seems to be in the dark about this kidnapping.  He probably wasn't the organizer and has been left out of the loop, because he said, "If it turns out that the kidnapping really happened, I welcome it."  Netanyahu commented that "Mashaal once again made it clear that Hamas remains committed to its war against Israel and its war against every Israeli citizen, and coincidentally, against every Jew around the world."  They did not discriminate the fact that one of the boys kidnapped has USA citizenship.

Resource: http://www.tlvfaces.com/hamas-chief-haniyeh-third-intifada-begun/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ismail_Haniyeh
http://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/Hamas-leader-Ismail-Haniyeh-encourages-abduction-of-Israeli-soldiers-348596
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/06/15/this-is-how-some-palestinians-are-celebrating-a-kidnapping/
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.600275
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rami_Hamdallah

Friday, June 20, 2014

Gazan Rocket Attacks Result in Israel Retaliation, Search Hebron for Kidnapped Teens

Nadene Goldfoot                                              
Last week on Saturday "Shabbat", June 14, 2014,  2 rockets were fired from Gaza at Israel  early in the evening and landed in the southern section of Hof Ashkelon Regional Council, where the main hospital is that services everyone including Gazans.  Like the old adage, they bite the hand that feeds them, in this situation, they bite the hand that can save their lives. That very morning another rocket had been fired which brought about the IDF hitting another armory and other targets in the southern Strip.  Again, another direct hit.

Israel answered the attacks by striking 6 targets later on Saturday evening with the 2nd attack on the coastal territory within the same 24 hours.  They hit 4 terrorist headquarters of which 3 were in the southern Strip and 1 was in the center.  They also hit 2 weapons storehouses (armories)  in the south. It was a  direct hit.
                                                                       
Mohammed Awar, an officer in the Hamas police,  was the terrorist responsible for the past rocket attacks against Israel over the last few years and in the last month. He was a Salafist, the most extreme of the Muslim religion and an extreme terrorist. They "deem unnecessary and un-Islamic other ideologies such as liberalism or humanism.  The group of Salafists,  Takfir wal-Hijra, who kidnapped and murdered an Egyptian ex-government minister in 1978, inspired some of "the tactics and methods" used by Al Qaeda.   It was Awar's  group that was behind the April 21 rocket strikes on Sderot and other towns within reach of the Hamas terrorists.    Israel targeted him while he was riding his motorcycle in the northern Strip and he died soon afterwards. Hamda Nasser, in his 20's, was injured.   Killed also accidentally along with him was a 7 year old boy, Ali Abed al-Latif Alawar.  This is the problem.  Usually the killers surround themselves with the innocent women and children.
                                                                         
This week should bring some news about the 3 teen agers who were kidnapped by Hamas living in the PA territory of Judea-Samaria.  Abbas is not happy about the act but can only blame himself for having all their energies go to hatred of Israelis and continued encouragement of this sort of thing.  Israel is furious and rounded up about 355 men hoping to find a lead.  It's important to give the terrorists a reason to not do this again to anyone, so are making life pretty miserable for them.  Israel has to find these children.  50 of those were arrested;  and  were some of the 1,027 prisoners freed by Israel in 2011 in the exchange deal to free Gilad Shalit, an IDF soldier who had been kidnapped.

Seconds after they were kidnapped, one had used his cell phone to report to the police that they had been kidnapped, but the police thought it was a prank.  Eyal Yifra 19, Gilad Shaar 16 and Naftali Fraenkel 16 were kidnapped late Thursday, June 12th.  Nothing has been heard since.

The kidnappers, Hamas terrorists,  are finding it might not have been worth the trouble, since now a Palestinian 16 year old who was participating in a riot in Judea in the village of Dura early Friday was shot by the IDF for throwing rocks.  An Israeli soldier was wounded by stone-throwing in Qalandiyah in Judah overnight on Thursday.   A 22 year old rioter was  injured by gunfire in a clash near Qalandiyah checkpoint against the IDF and later died in hospital.  The violence came with the search for the kidnapped children.  Searching was not made easy for those worried soldiers.

This is what happens from recognizing a Palestine made up of united Fatah and Hamas terrorists.  Hamas is stirring up Fatah and this has happened from it.  It has allowed Hamas to move into Judea and Samaria.  Instead of having peace in mind, they have war instead.

Resource: http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.598772, by Jack Khoury, June 15, 2014
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salafist_jihadism
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.600059

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Israeli Jews Fighting Western Anti-Semitism Along With The Muslim World

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                    

Before WWI was over, the West knew they would be ready to rule Palestine.  "In 1916, Britain and France concluded the Sykes–Picot Agreement, which proposed to divide the Middle East between them into spheres of influence, with "Palestine" as an international enclave."

On November 2, 1917 the Balfour Declaration in essence created the right of the Jews to regain Palestine as the Jewish Homeland because the allies had won WWI and the Ottoman Empire was beaten.  They had sided with the Germans.  It took 31 years for the Jews to be able to announce that Israel was accepted in the United Nations.

"At the Peace Conference in 1919, Emir Faisal, speaking on behalf of King Hussein, asked for Arab independence, or at minimum the right to pick the mandatory.  In the end, he recommended an Arab state under a British mandate. The World Zionist Organization also asked for a British mandate, and asserted the 'historic title of the Jewish people to Palestine'"

Why did it take so long?  England was given the mandate to rule Palestine for 25 years. It was confirmed on England on July 24, 1922.   It started on September 29,  1923 and ended May 14, 1948 at midnight.  That's when the Jews were able to announce the birth of the Jewish state on May 14, 1948.

During the 25 years of waiting to have their own state once again and  being homeless for the past 1,847 years, WWII emerged.  The main victims of this war were the Jews.  Jews are followers of Moses, the people of the "Old Testament."  Since the New  Testament for Gentiles replaced the "Old", the Jews became those repulsed despicable people.  Religion certainly is strange.

Six million Jews were slaughtered in Germany's plan to exterminate them all in the whole world before the allies again won the war.  What they did to deserve being slaughtered was that they were different.  They were not of everyone else's religion. They wouldn't convert.   In Germany they had been residents there since 70 CE or even before when Jerusalem was attacked by the Romans.  They had a long history of being good patriotic citizens even though  they had been  attacked by the Gentile Germans on occasion.  Many had reacted from these attacks by moving into other countries.  They worked their way into the Pale of Settlement held by Russia.  The Nazis of WWII were able to reach all the Jews of Europe and tried to get the ones in Africa before they were stopped.  In 6 years, 6 million civilian  Jews were slaughtered.

WWII ended on May 5, 1945.  Three (3) years separated the end of the war and the birth of Israel.  A whole generation had gone by since it was decided that a Jewish Homeland should be created.  The generation that lived during  the Holocaust must have realized that the waiting period  caused the death of 6 million innocent people.  They could have been saved if they had been allowed to enter Palestine, but the British stopped them from entering.  They even turned back shiploads of Jews who were so close to freedom.  Not the Arabs, though.  They aided and abetted their entrance.  Could be their strong anti-Semitism  of a few thousand years was guiding their decisions?

England's history with Jews is shameful. Jews lived in England since Roman times, and were noticed as Jews in 1070.   Jews lived in Jerusalem after its attack in 70 CE, but along came the Crusaders led by England in 1099 and massacred their Jewish community.  By 1290 King Edward of  England expelled any Jews from   living there. Jews couldn't return until Oliver Cromwell in 1656 changed that, though there were a few Sephardic Jews there in 1655. Cromwell died 2 years later after the Jewish admission.     In their defense, there isn't a country that didn't treat Jews in the same manner.  England was just earlier than most in being so anti-Semitic.  Cyprus, the Byzantine Empire and  Germany preceded England in their anti-Semitic acts.  France and Spain were close behind, following England.  England was without Jews for 366 years, from the Middle Ages to the Age of Enlightenment.    300,000 Jews were living in England  about 10 years ago, but the 2011 census counted 263,346.

During those 25 years of holding the Palestine mandate, England turned their heads when Arabs were entering Palestine illegally.  The whole world had been suffering from anti-Semitism since the time the Jews lost Jerusalem, anyway because of their own religious reasons.  It wasn't until 1967 when Israel was attacked unmercifully by all their neighbors in a take-over and the massive combined armies lost the battle.  Suddenly the Jews were heroes being they were then the underdogs.  Like a soccer game upset, the little state of Israel overcame all the odds and were the winners.  Their popularity didn't last long and anti-Semitism settled back into the hearts of the world again.  Oh-they are the Jews!

We all know what the Muslim world is doing to drive out Jews from Israel.  Does the western world see how they are in cahoots with such a goal?  Take Amnesty International, supposedly a group promoting universal human-rights principals- evidently for all except for Jews.  Being the most influential NGO in the world,  they're silent when it comes to Jews' rights.  Jewish civilians, young children included, have been severely injured from stone-throwing Palestinians, stabbing attacks, and have been killed in shootings.  Israelis are consistently dehumanized and demonized by Muslims.  

They're first to enter the political scene against Israel.  April 2002, an Amnesty official on BBC confirmed IDF massacre in Jenin, which never took place.  It was a blood libel that continues to be propagated.  In 2009, they were participating in the Goldstone Report which was filled with many false indictments against Israel after Operation Cast Lead in Gaza.  They are obsessed against Israel.  Israel of late has been peppered by petrol bombs but Amnesty International says they pose little or no threat to the lives of the IDF.

 How about the BDS Movement?   .  It was started by Palestinians on July 9, 2005 and is still continuing.  It's a Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel that is trying to attack Israel's economic growth and development which a state needs to exist.  Almost all American universities as well as European ones are on the bandwagon against Israel on this.

I have news for you all.  Israel's Jews aren't going anywhere.  They've been there, done that in being homeless, something that lasted 2,000 years.  They know what you all are like.  They have faith in their religious belief in that it promotes goodness, something they really have seen very little of in the rest of the world.  They know they're onto a good thing.  Their ancestors told them so, and they see that they were right.  Somebody has to be the light of the world even though the world is throwing a lot of water on their light in trying to put it out.  Like the Burning Bush that radiated without fire, the Jews continue to radiate their goodness in an evil world.  If anti-Semites would only take their blinders off, they might see it.

Resource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Mandate_for_Palestine_(legal_instrument)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balfour_Declaration
Facts About Israel 1973, Division of information, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem.
Book: "From Time Immemorial"  by Joan Peters
Magazine:  The Jerusalem Report, April 7, 2014, Political theater of the absurd by Prof. Gerald M. Steinberg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boycott,_Divestment_and_Sanctions
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_England
http://www.olivercromwell.org/jews.htm
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/15/jews-new-sense-of-identity

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Happenings In Our Crazy World This Week (June 17, 2014)

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                                        

                    The kidnapping of 3 Jewish school boys by Hamas Terrorists

The biggest disappointment happened last week in Athens when a proclamatiion was adopted by EU foreign ministers and their Arab colleagues.  It was one-sided and said that "it hails the Fatah-Hamas union and praised the Palestinians committed to DEMOCRACY and HUMAN RIGHTS.   Yet Hamas continued to shell Israel more than usual.  The declaration included harsh criticism of Israel.  Seems they can practice terrorism such as shooting  and terrorist acts of kidnapping, and that's okay.                                    
                                                                             
         Judea-Samaria and Gaza  in red, Israel in yellow.  One can see the katusha rocket range from "Palestine."  This week it's still hitting southern Israel from Gaza.  

ISIS, IRAQ  and  IRAN
The USA had  meetings with Iran about Iraq, the state they had a war with in 1980 that lasted for 8 years. Iraq and Iran  had fought so long and hard that the war was down to children fighting.   They met on Monday in Geneva, Switzerland about the ongoing nuclear negotiations and discussed the crisis in Iraq.  They discussed how ISIS threatens many countries in the region, including Iran.   (TIME).
                                                                         
                          ISIS now 35 miles from Baghdad, Iraq

Israel is against such an unparallelled meeting.  Yuval Steinitz, the Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister, said Iran should not be helped to extend it's sway in Iraq.  Tehran would then have more control in Syria, where the Iranians back President Assad.  They'd get their foot in the door in Lebanan, where they have their Hizbullah allies.  This would wind up softening the American positions on the issue of the Iranian nuclear issue more than they already are, just what Iran would love.  It would be that the USA and Iran would be on the same side of supporting the government of Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki.

It may be that both are rooting for Maliki, but each has their own different reasons.  ISIS, the branch of al-Qaeda, is the enemy in this case, and is the worst Shi'a group in history.  For a group that started with little finances, they fixed that by robbing a big bank in Iraq, so that now they are loaded.  Right now ISIS is about 35 miles away from Damascus, supposedly a well-fortified city.

                                               KIDNAPPING OF 3 ISRAELI TEENAGERS
Two (2) months ago, PA's Abbas asked that Palestine be included in 15 international conventions.  One was the 1989 UN convention on the Rights of the Child...and Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in Armed Conflict.  At the same time they are responsible for the kidnapping of 3 Jewish teenagers by Hamas.

Israel holds the PA responsible for this act.  Hamas terrorists took the boys, of who one holds dual citizenship- USA and Israel.  The terrorists were staying in Judah which is under PA control.  Israel is holding many people in the act of searching for them.  Israel said that the 3 boys' lives are in danger and they will have to move in anyway possible to get information as to where they are to rescue them.  The clock is ticking.  Netanyahu promised that those who try to attack Israeli citizens like this will be hit for doing so.

He asks that the international community condemn this abduction and support Israel's legitimate acts of self-defense.  All the while Israel has been attacked by rockets from Gaza during this period from Hamas.  When a state is under attack by a terrorist group, it is a far more serious situation than if some gang of thieves kidnaps someone for financial gain.

                                                    RANDOM ACTS OF HOSTILITY
Three (3) Palestinians tried to break through the security perimeter of Kochav Yaakov in Judea-Samaria late Monday night and IDF soldiers shot at them, injuring one.  The others got away.

Two (2) firebombs were thrown at the Beit Orot Yeshiva on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem which set off a  fire , but it was small.          

Resource:  www.dailyalert.org
Time
Reuters
BBC News
Prime Minister's Office-Israel
Times of Israel
Wall Street Journal