A Jew's view from the capital of Israel and the future site of the Third Temple, may it speedily be rebuilt.
Dana Strelinikov from Ma’alot in northern Israel won the Fencing World Cup for those under the age of 17 this week in Slovakia. Participants from 32 countries took part in the competition.I used to fence when I was in high school. At one point I was even the captain of the foil team. So I was curious to learn more about the competition. A Google search brought me here, which in turn brought me to rubaisport.com. And this is what I saw (click on the pic):
Stelinikov defeated representatives of the Czech Republic, Poland, Switzerland, and Hungary to take the gold. Two other participants from Israel came in the fifth and ninth places.
The web is a wonderful place, is it not?Rami Igra, former head of the Mossad's captive and MIA department who also attended the meeting, spoke of past prisoner exchange deals Israel has agreed to: "We need to keep a moral view for the long run. We have to envision those who may be killed because of the release to terrorists and not just the person held in Gaza right now."
Kavon's grandiose declarations of American patriotism are no excuse for dismissing an issue that strikes at the very heart of the American system of justice: equality before the law for all Americans. His patriotic breast-beating notwithstanding, there can be no excuse for distorting facts, changing history and ignorance of American law.
The US Constitution, Article 3, Section 3 defines the crime of treason as follows: "Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort." By repeatedly describing Jonathan as if he were a "traitor, his crime "treason" and his actions as "treasonous," Kavon is not only defaming Jonathan, he is implying that Israel is an enemy nation at war with the US, which is absurd.
I'm with you 110%, Cosmic.Tovya, Yishar Koach!
I read that article yesterday, and it really made me mad when I read it. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE America, but my loyalty is with Israel first... because I'm a JEW.
I'm a JEW first. I daven shacharis, mincha, and maariv everyday.. I'm shomer shabbos, I keep glatt kosher Why? Because I'm a Jew first.
America has been a wonderful country to me, and I thank G-d everyday for the blessings that my family came here prior to WWII, so we never had to experience the Shoah...
With that being said, there is only one Jewish nation in the world where I know I am always welcome, and that is Eretz Yisrael.
So, had I been Mr. Pollard, I would have done the same thing in a heart beat. [Here I disagree. He should not have passed classified material to anyone without receiving the permission of his superiors.] He did the right thing, and unfortunately, he embarrassed (and possibly implicated) a lot of Israeli and American politicians by providing information to the only truly loyal and dependable U.S. ally in the world.
Pollard isn't a traitor, he's a hero, and the shame of injustice hangs over the head of every U.S. president and Israeli prime minister who has failed to release him like he deserves.
And shame on the writer of this story for speaking so poorly about a man who loved his people enough to take the risk of saving Jewish lives. G-d bless Jonathan Pollard.
Legally, American Jews are Americans first. Their belief and identity as Jews is a private matter, one of free choice and volunteerism. The word "Jew" is not stamped on my passport. I have no legal status in America as a Jew. I am an American. As long as I remain an American citizen, my legal identity is that of my nation. If, for some reason, there were to be a conflict between my legal status as an American and my private status as a Jew and a Zionist, my loyalty as an American would come first. If I did not believe this, I might fall into Pollard's trap. Jonathan Pollard should have realized that as much as Israel and the US have in common in terms of long-term goals, the first allegiance of an American Jew is to America - not to the Jewish state.The truth is that we are Jews before we are Americans. We are Jews before we are Israelis. We are Jews from the day we born until 120 years. We are Jews 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We are Jews inside our homes and outside of them.
THE POLLARD AFFAIR should serve as a reminder to American Jews that, as Jews living in America, we are living lives not of dual loyalty but of dual identity. As far apart as is the chasm between Norman Podhoretz and Noam Chomsky in the realm of ideology, both men are legally Americans. The Satmar Hassid living in New Square and the Jewish atheist who eats bacon for breakfast on Yom Kippur in Los Angeles are each Americans. As an American, I have more in common with an American of African descent than I do with a Jew in Israel, even a Jew in Jerusalem who is from the same shtetl in Russia from whence my ancestors came.
"Did not Jonathan Pollard realize this when he was committing acts of treason against America?"The answer is:
Jonathan Pollard was never charged with treason. [Legally, treason is a charge that is only applicable when one spies for an enemy state in time of war.]The exile is our enemy.
Jonathan Pollard was indicted on only one charge: one count of passing classified information to an ally, without intent to harm the United States.
The election results allow the rightist bloc with Lieberman plus Shas, United Torah Judaism, the Jewish Home, and National Union to form a government. Yet I bet this is Bibi Netanyahu’s nightmare. As opposed to those who trust in God, Bibi, the man of the world, knows that the State of Israel’s existence – yes, existence! – depends on legitimacy on the part of the nations of the world, and a rightist government like the one he can form will be an ostracized and blacklisted one-time event.The guy just can't stand the thought of a government that represents the vast majority of the Jewish public. He points out that we are hated by the international public. First of all, so what? The international public is ill-informed, and eagerly eats up all of the myths that come out of Pallywood. I do not seek their approval. Secondly, it looks like the Kadima policy of destroying settlements and giving our homeland to our enemies didn't buy him the love he so desperately craves.
Last week it was published that Iran and Israel are the two countries most hated by international public opinion. Now, the last thing Bibi Netanyahu needs is to compete with Ahmadinejad for top spot.
Tuesday's elections gave Kadima 28 mandates and Likud 27 (the balance of power can still shift once all the ballots are counted). It is clear that the two winners need to join forces in a national unity government. Together with Israel Beiteinu's 15 mandates - provided that party would accept a platform that ensures civil rights and equality for all Israelis, including Israeli Arabs - they can effortlessly and expeditiously form a ruling coalition and get down to the business of governing.The Post's attempt to present Kadima as a winner, when they received less that 25% of the vote, and when the entire Jewish leftist block received less 40% of the vote, is an offense to the intelligence of their readers. I can't stand the spinmasters!
Kadima leader Tzipi Livni, a resident of Tel Aviv, lost in most geographical areas of the country except for Gush Dan and Haifa. Kadima's strength in Tuesday's election came on the heels of the well-heeled of Tel Aviv and Herzliya, who also have been out of the range of Grad rockets.Read the rest!
Ichud Leumi MK Aryeh Eldad is reportedly en route to Umm El-Fahm in order to replace Baruch Marzel as the party's election booth monitor there.This is the same police that bends over backwards (no pun intended) to let homosexuals parade in Jerusalem.
In response to the police decision to block Marzel from entering the city and carrying out his duty, MK Eldad said: "The Israel Police, apparently at [Attorney General Menachem] Mazuz's instructions, surrendered this morning to the Arab terror of Israel's enemies from within. The State of Israel has announced openly that it surrenders to violence, blackmail and treachery from the Arab sector."
The Commander of the Police's Amakim Region, Brig-Gen.Zohar Dvir, met Land of Israel activist Baruch Marzel at Barka'I Junction on Highway 65 and handed him an official letter announcing he could not enter Umm El Fahm. Police said the decision was "based upon intelligence reports of a serious danger to the public safety and in order to make it possible to hold elections properly and without disorder."
Rabbi Noah Weinberg, the renowned founder and Dean of Yeshiva Aish HaTorah in Jerusalem, passed away Thursday morning in Jerusalem at the age of 78.Rabbi Weinberg was a great man who had a tremendous impact on the Jewish world. May his memory be a blessing.
I'm not quite sure who qualifies as a Hebrew Language "prominent" political blogger, but her posted results are similar to those of the equally detached Tel Aviv University poll last week that gave the radical left Meretz party, 27 seats. (Meretz doesn't even have 27 people on their Knesset list).By the way, Lisa has a followup to her previous article. It seems that some in the Israeli Left are sobering up, which is great news:
During the IDF cast lead operation, there were tiny, insulated groups from Tel Aviv that demonstrated against IDF "war crimes" in Gaza, demonstrated against the "war", continued to go to Yaalin to throw rocks against IDF troops as part of the weekly radical leftist and anarchist violent protests against the security fence -- and in general, demonstrated their complete and utter disconnection from reality and empathy for Israel's southern residents, who have been under rocket threat for years.
These people demonstrated in the luxury of a rocket-free Tel-Aviv. They had no gumption to demonstrate in Ashkelon or Sderot -- either for fear of getting hit by rockets, or for fear of getting politically lynched by furious residents.
Leftists can declare they own the media as much as they want, which is probably why they got so incensed this past summer that the "First International Jewish Blogger Convention" did not include anarchists, anti-Zionists or Muslims.
After years of voting for Meretz and for parties even further left on the spectrum, I have sobered up. There is not, and there never will be, peace between us and the Palestinians. I prefer to be the one holding the gun and not the one looking into the gaping jaws. In the social-economic field, too, we have absolutely no chance of being a social-democratic state.By the way do you know Why Diaspora Jews Love the Exile?
With this insight, I prefer a party with an economic orientation that takes care of my needs. Because that way, on election day I will be able to take a double dose of anti-nausea medication and vote Likud for the first time in my life.
Assuming the polls are accurate – and they have been quite consistent – Israeli voters are poised to elect a rightwing government in next week's elections. But if bloggers were representative of the mainstream, Israel's next government would probably be a Jewish-Arab coalition of socialists, social democrats and environmentalists.I am wondering where she gets her statistics from. What do you think?
The disparity between the polls and the blogosphere is quite remarkable – especially in Tel Aviv, Israel's liberal heartland, where the two parties vying for the votes of hipsters and leftist intellectuals are the Green Movement-Meimad, an environmentalist–religious partnership headed by a liberal rabbi; and Hadash, a Jewish-Arab socialist party.
Patsi will never forget what Ketzaleh said to him during those blood drenched moments of fire and smoke. He recalls: “We had no medic and few medical supplies, but we did our best to help the wounded, and especially Ketzaleh, who was literally cut in two except for a part of his pelvis which somehow held his body together. It was obvious that without a helicopter to evacuate him, his chances of survival were nil, so I requested the command post to send one. ‘Negative’, was the answer I received from the assistant division commander, Yaakov Even, later promoted to General. ‘The air force refuses to send one because you are too close to the battlefront,' they said. For me, this was a moment that was just too much to bear.”
