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Showing posts with label idf. Show all posts
Showing posts with label idf. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 01, 2017

Getting Encouragement From the Past on this Day of Destruction

Unfortunately, today, as I type, the community of Amona is being destroyed. The Israeli Judicial System adds another award of injustice to its already overflowing trophy case. We can only fervently beseech The Almighty and pray, "Return our judges as in the days of yore!"

We are, as it is written, a stiff-necked people, especially when it comes to Torah and Mitzvot. Settling the land of Israel is a mitzvah. This setback just means that we will redouble our efforts, receiving encouragement from the words of the prophet:

Thus saith the Lord GOD: In the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places shall be builded. And the land that was desolate shall be tilled, whereas it was a desolation in the sight of all that passed by. And they shall say: This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited. Then the nations that are left round about you shall know that I the LORD have builded the ruined places, and planted that which was desolate; I the LORD have spoken it, and I will do it. Thus saith the Lord GOD: I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them; I will increase them with men like a flock. As the flock for sacrifice, as the flock of Jerusalem in her appointed seasons, so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men; and they shall know that I am the LORD.'
We can also receive much encouragement from recent history. I invite you to view this clip. See how setbacks, even an incredibly awful one, can be followed by a great victory:

Wednesday, January 04, 2017

The Elor Azaria Verdict

Any and every society has to have a judicial system. It is even one of the Seven Noahide Commandments. A nation without a strong judicial system and a strong government is in big trouble:
Rabbi Chanina, deputy to the kohanim, would say: Pray for the integrity of the government; for were it not for the fear of its authority, a man would swallow his neighbor alive.
Unfortunately, sometimes the judicial system can be corrupted. Here in Israel, one cannot help but feel that the verdict of "guilty" in Elor Azaria's manslaughter case was a miscarriage of justice. As Education Minister Naftali Bennett noted:
“We need to say the truth. The trial was corrupted from the outset,” continued Bennett. “The harsh comments by political leaders even before the opening of the army’s investigation, the removal of the soldier himself from the investigation process, the critical media coverage surrounding the case (including Army Radio) caused Elor irreparable harm.”
The verdict was based on fake morality, as one would expect from judges that lack the fear of God. Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu of Tzfat had this to say about the verdict:
Judge Maya Heller and her colleagues must console themselves by saying that they at least acted according to their consciousness and morality when they see the chaos they have brought to the IDF.

Well, you should know that their verdict is, first and foremost, immoral, even if the judge read it for two and a half hours.

There is no morality in having mercy on enemies who come to kill our soldiers. There is no morality in breaking the spirits of the soldiers who risk their lives to protect us. How is it moral to give strength to a cruel and merciless enemy when there is nothing between us and ISIS except the strength of the IDF alone?

The Sages of Israel, who were a little bit smarter than you, said about morality and the excesses of self-righteousness: 'The great humility of Rabbi Zecharia ben Avkolos destroyed our home, burned our Temple, and exiled us from our land. The great humility which a rabbinic authority took upon himself in the middle of a battle against a foreign enemy caused the destruction of the nation and an exile which lasted thousands of years, the crucifixion of hundreds of thousands of Jews by Rome and the rape of hundreds of thousands of women. The Jews became prey for other peoples, being killed and robbed, for generations. Our Sages were wise men and all raised their objections to Rabbi Zecharia ben Avkolos, asking him to see the big picture as one might expect from a man of his status.

On this matter is is possible to say to Judge Maya Heller that her morality has broken the spirit of the soldiers. The heads of our attackers have been raised and the spirit of our enemies has been strengthened. There is no morality in a judgment which gives impetus to those who send boys and girls with numbers and knives. There is no morality in strengthening the killers and terrorists. There is no morality or self-righteousness which rests on the backs of the soldiers. They is no morality in trying to beautify hate. In the eyes of Ra'ed Saleh and his followers we all bake matzot with the blood of Palestinian Arab children. All of us. Even you, Judge Heller.

I pray that Elor will be pardoned for his "crime". He and his family have suffered enough. And may God return our judges as in the days of yore.

Monday, September 26, 2016

Sunday, July 20, 2014

Contributing to the War Effort

How can you contribute to Israel's war against the Hamas, if you are not a soldier?

1) Pray - every prayer counts.

2) Take upon yourself to learn more Torah and perform more mitzvot.

3) Donate blood. The soldiers and the nation need it. I gave blood today.

4) Be an internet warrior. Counter the anti-Israel propganda spread by Arabs and other Jew-haters on the internet. Here are some sites that can help you:

Israel Defense Forces

Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Naftali Bennett

Honest Reporting

And of course there are many good blogs. Two which I find especially useful are The Elder of Zion and Israellycool.

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

The New Conscription Law

MK Ayelet Shaked presents the new conscription law, along with a history of why this law had to be legislated:

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Monday, March 10, 2014

Haredim and the Mitzvah to Serve in the IDF

Here is a discussion, based on halachic sources, on the mitzvah to serve in the Israeli Defense Force. A taste:
The mitzvah to enlist in the army is based on two great mitzvoth – haztalat Yisrael (saving Israel), and yishuv ha’aretz (settling the Land of Israel). It should be noted that seventeen mitzvoth from the Torah relate to the army, as listed by Rabbi Zevin in his book ‘L’Ohr Ha’Halakha’, where he thoroughly clarifies the mitzvah to enlist in the army. This issue was also expounded upon at length by Tzitz Eliezer, Rabbi Tzvi Yehudah HaKohen Kook in his book ‘L’Nityvote Yisrael’, and other gedolei Torah.

Sunday, March 02, 2014

I Protest!

The Hareidi newspaper HaModia has printed a scandalous article in which it disgraces Rabbi Eliezer Melamed Shlita, the Rosh Yeshiva and Rabbi of Har Bracha. In doing so they have disgraced themselves, for one who disgraces a Torah scholar earns the not so honorary title of "Apikorus". Yated Ne'eman, which I had hoped would be rehabilitated under Rabbi Steinman, is also up to its old disgraceful practices.

No, I will not be taking part in today's protest against the new conscription law that is being formulated. I would have liked to, but the Hareidi press ruined it for me.

For those of you who do go here is an interesting psak.

Monday, September 16, 2013

Huma Abedin's Next Step

Now that Anthony Weiner's political comeback bid has failed miserably, many are wondering what Huma Abedin's next step will be: will she continue to stand by her man. or will she throw him out like a rotten tomato?

The question is not new. I raised it two years ago when Weiner resigned from Congress on the heels of "Weinergate":

The truth is, according to Jewish law, Anthony Weiner and Huma Abedin are not married. A Jew cannot marry a non-Jew. Period. According to the Torah, their current lifestyle is a simple case of promiscuity, to put things mildly as possible.

My guess is that Huma and Tony are going to be parting ways in the near future. Huma thought that she married an up and coming Congressman who was on the way to becoming the Mayor of New York City. Now her "husband" has become a walking joke! Such an embarrassing situation is no doubt unbearable. Huma has little use for such a disgraced has-been. He's not President Bill Clinton. She will show him the door quicker than most people think.

Chances are that they would have broken up in a few years time anyway. As is well known, intermarriages are recipes for domestic strife and confused children. The Weiner-Abedin union is no exception. I wonder what baby Weiner will think when he/she hears the imam say that his/her father is "a descendant of apes and pigs"?

Well, two years have passed and my prediciton that Anthony and Huma would be "parting ways in the near future" was wrong.

At the beginning of the above snippet I mentioned that according to Jewish law Weiner and Abedin are not married. From the Torah point of view the two are involved in an illicit relationship, a relationship which is much worse that Carlos Danger's online escapades.

I wonder how Huma Abedin's family looks upon the couple. I remember back in the days when I still did reserve duty, I was on a border patrol together with a Bedouin scout. To my great dismay I had heard of Muslims marrying Jewish girls here in Israel. I had never heard of a case where a Muslim girl marries a Jew. I asked him out of curiousity if there is any chance that a Bedouin girl would marry a Jew. My Bedouin comrade-in-arms gave me a "perish the thought" kind of look and said that such a thing was absolutely forbidden.

A little bit of research confirms what he said. It turns out that according to Islam, a Muslim man can take a Jewish or Christian wife, as long as the children are brought up as Muslims:

Muslim men are permitted by Islamic Law to marry up to four non-Muslim women who belong to other two Abrahamic religions i.e. Christians and Jews, provided that all of the children are ensured to be brought up as Muslims. The conversion of the wives to Islam is encouraged, but not obligatory, as their children will legally be Muslim regardless.
However, for Muslim women, things are different:
Islamic scholars generally forbid Muslim women from marrying non-Muslim men.
So by Islamic standards, the Weiner marriage is not valid. It seems that this union falls under the Islamic category of Zina, adultery or fornication, which is punishable by lashes. If Huma were to travel to Saudi Arabia without a diplomatic passport, she would probably come back with more stripes than a zebra.

So Huma Abedin, who professes to be a practicing Muslim, is living in a state of cognitive dissonance. Or is she?

Some people think that Anthony Weiner may have secretly converted to Islam:

Certainly the most likely scenario is that Weiner did convert to Islam, as Abedin’s mother, a professor in Saudi Arabia, would almost certainly have insisted that he do so. Weiner has made no public statement of this conversion, but since it would almost certainly have cost him politically if he had announced it, this silence is not any indication that he didn’t actually convert.
Others think that Huma Abedin was given special dispensation from Islamic clerics to marry the kafir Weiner in order to infiltrate the highest levels of the United States government:
Few Westerners are familiar with the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood revival of the doctrine of muruna, which literally means “stealth” or “flexibility.” It is far worse than taqiyya, since it sanctions all prohibitions that block Muslim interests, even blasphemous ones. . . . Consider the example of Huma Abedin, a practicing Muslim who married Jewish former Congressman Anthony Weiner. Qaradawi has used muruna to sanction such marriages.

What was once forbidden by Shariah — from major crimes like Muslims killing Muslims, to issues of interest banking that include alliances with infidels — was made “temporarily” kosher by muruna.

While I cannot prove that these theories are false, I would like to present another option. Huma Abedin merely does what she wants. It is that simple. She has subjugated her Saudi submission to her Philadelphia freedom. She is willing to fast during Ramadan but not to wear a hijab. She preferred marrying an American Jew to a Muslim from anywhere else on the planet. It's not a conspiracy nor a secret, just an issue of personal preference. As far as she is concerned, if the Qadi doen't like it, he can go drink water from the Indian Ocean, or should I say the Great Salt Lake. Whatever.

In any case the question remains: What will be Huma Abedin's next step? According to my theory, she will do whatever she perceives as being good for her. Is she better off being a single mother or sticking it out with a man who has brought her so much embarrassment, and who just happens to be the father of her son? Is Anthony Weiner an asset or a liability to her own political and/or career ambitions? Does she think that at 37 years old plus a child she can find somebody better? Who knows? Huma knows.

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Yom Kippur War - Israel fights for her life and wins

40 years have passed since the Yom Kippur War. We are here with God's help and the great bravery of our soldiers:

Monday, September 09, 2013

Bad Translation of the Day

The nice folks at ynet have turned the Day of Judgment into doomsday. Here is the original:
לי אין ספק שבמשפטו של עולם יש לי הרבה חובות והמשפט הארצי הקלוקל הזה רק מזכה אותי בדין של יום הדין
Ynet translated this as:
I have no doubt that this flawed trial is giving me a lot of points in doomsday court
They should have translated something like this: I have no doubt that in the (heavenly) tribunal (of my deeds in this) world I have many bad deeds and that this substandard earthly trial will be to my credit on the day of judgment ( Rosh HaShannah ).

Monday, August 26, 2013

Kalandia Rioter Previously Released in Shalit Deal

From INN:
Meanwhile, it has been revealed that one of the three terrorists killed in the early hours of this morning had been released in 2011, as part of the deal to free Gilad Shalit.

Another one of the casualties was also a known terrorist, according to the Israeli security service, Shin Bet.

Yunis Jahjouh, 22, was killed along with Rubeen Abed Fares and Jihad Aslan. He was 19 at the time of the "Shalit Deal," which saw more than 1,000 terrorists released from Israeli prisons.

Border Police had entered Kalandia to an individual for suspected terrorist activities. Over a thousand Palestinian Arabs started rioting, and throwing rocks and stones at the Israeli personnel.

The IDF force that was providing security for the arresting squad took action to extricate it, and when the forces felt actual danger to their lives, they opened fire at the attackers. The wanted man was arrested and taken to interrogation.
You can see a video of the Arabs rioting here.

Friday, August 16, 2013

Pollard Speaks Out

It is a painful read. Especially since it seems to me that he is correct:
• Israel is the only country in the world ever to voluntarily expel its own citizens from chunks of its homeland in order to hand over the land to its enemies.

• It is the only country in the world ever to voluntarily destroy the homes and businesses of its own citizens, leaving them with shattered lives and broken promises.

• Israel is the only country in the world ever to voluntarily dig up and transport the graves of its dead so that the land could be turned over to its enemies.

The State of Israel also holds unenviable world records for betraying those who serve the state, including the following:

• Israel is the only country in the world to restrain its military from rescuing a wounded soldier, for fear of provoking the enemy and risking its approval ratings with the world. The soldier, injured by enemy gunfire at a Jewish holy site, slowly bled to death needlessly while the IDF stood by and watched.

• Israel also remains the only country in the world ever to voluntarily cooperate in the prosecution of its own intelligence agent, refusing him sanctuary, turning over the documents to incriminate him, denying that the state knew him, and then allowing him to rot in a foreign prison for decades on end, cravenly forgoing its right to simple justice for the nation and for the agent.

• Additionally, Israel is still the only country in the world ever to violate its own system of justice by repeatedly releasing dangerous, unrepentant murderers and terrorists back into the civilian population with impunity. No other country in the world has ever done this! In summary, Israel has the dubious distinction of being the only country in the world so befuddled by moral ambiguity that it is willing to dishonor its dead, betray its bereaved, and disgrace its citizens for the sake of political expediency.

Read the entire article!

Tuesday, July 09, 2013

Har Bracha Yeshiva Regains Hesder Status

This is great news:
Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon decided Monday to renew the military's cooperation with the Har Bracha yeshiva located in Har Bracha, Samaria. The yeshiva will regain its “hesder” status, thus enabling its students to serve in the special hesder track that combines yeshiva study with army service.

It was the previous defense minister, Ehud Barak, who canceled the hesder arrangement because of statements by the yeshiva dean, Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, against soldiers' participation in the eviction of Jews from their homes.

The Har Bracha Yeshiva expressed its pleasure with the decision to reinstate it in the hesder track. The Hesder Yeshiva Federation also expressed its approval: “The minister's decision is a clear statement by the defense establishment against those who maliciously attack the hesder track.”

It pays to stick to one's principles!

Here are some things about this subject that I wrote way back when:

Jpost Lies

Barak Removes Har Bracha From Hesder Program

Rabbi Melamed: Standing Courageously for the Truth of Torah

Thursday, March 14, 2013

The New Israeli Draft Plan

INN has published details of the new draft plan as agreed upon by the three major partners in the new coaliton: Likud-Beiteinu, Yesh Atid, and HaBayit HaYehudi:
Sources in Bayit Yehudi said they had managed to alleviate some of the harsher strictures that Yesh Atid had sought in the agreement, and had even improved the standing of yeshivas in some ways. Among those accomplishments, party sources said, was the recognition by the state for the first time of the importance of Torah study.

The coalition agreement will read “the State of Israel recognizes the importance and centrality of Torah study as a central value of the Jewish people and the State of Israel.” Students who do receive exemptions will be receiving them as Torah students upholding these values, as opposed to receiving them for “academic excellence,” as Yesh Atid had sought to have them termed.

In addition, the draft of yeshiva students will begin at age 21, instead of age 18 – giving students an automatic deferment of three years. At that point, they will have to serve two years, like all other Israelis, as the coalition agreement calls for an eventual reduction of service for all Israelis to two years, instead of the current three years.

The reduction in service for all will be possible as a result of the extra manpower the army will have with the inclusion of hareidi yeshiva students. The army will significantly increase the number of Nachal Hareidi units to accommodate the new recruits. A wide-ranging plan for the drafting of women that Lapid had sought was also shelved, Bayit Yehudi said.

Yeshiva students who refuse to appear for military service will not be criminally charged, as had been planned. Instead they will be subject to economic sanctions, losing virtually all government support. Party officials said that this aspect of the agreement would avoid the “doomsday” scenarios hareidi political leaders portrayed of jack-booted military police marching into yeshiva study halls and pulling students away from their Talmud folios. No arrests will be made in yeshivas, the deal specifies.

The number of students who will be exempted for Torah study will be 1,800, far more than the 400 Lapid had suggested. The plan will take effect only in 2017, and students who are beyond enlistment age up until that time will not be “grandfathered” into the arrangement.

The article does not tell us if the plan has anything to say about the drafting of Arabs. Neither does it inform us of what will be the status of the various Hesder programs under this plan. Is the 1,800 exemptions per student-year, or is it the grand total? (I think that it is the grand total.) How will it be decided who gets these exemptions? Can you imagine what kind of Hareidi infighting this could cause?

If this plan goes into effect, what will the reaction of the ultra-Orthodox? Since the plan apparently does not talk about drafting Arabs, I imagine that the Hareidim will take their case to the High Court of Justice, saying that the plan is discriminatory. I do not expect the court to help them, because drafting Hareidim has been on the secular agenda for so long. They will resort to their regular legal newspeak to sanction the law.

It is obvious that many Hareidim will forgo government benefits in order to avoid army service and to continue the way of life that they are accustomed to. What's more, since this is being done against their will of the Hareidi rabbis, many of special programs that exist today that are geared towards the ultra-Orthodox, such as “Bina B'Yarok”, may be shunned.

I also suspect that there are those who will choose to live abroad. The land of Israel is acquired through affliction, and not everybody is ready to pay the price.

Monday, February 18, 2013

Good News For ultra-Orthodox Soldiers

If the State of Israel wants ultra-Orthodox Jews in the army, this is what needs to be done:
For years, the treatment of hareidi-religious soldiers in the Israeli army has been based on oral agreements and yet-to-be-signed orders, orders which were subject to abuse in certain divisions. But on Sunday, IDF officials finally signed a written order outlining in full the mandatory procedures for accommodating hareidi-religious soldiers.

Special conditions have been extended to soldiers from religious units such as Nahal and Shachar, in which high standards of kashrut are maintained, Shabbat is strictly observed and there is complete separation between male and female soldiers.

However, these conditions were based on oral agreements, which meant that soldiers had nowhere to turn to when they felt these conditions were not being met. Soldiers voiced frustration that because the agreements were not binding, some commanders refused to follow them as promised.

Eliyahu Lax, Chairman of the Organization for the Religious Soldier, has made repeated calls for official guidelines and has claimed that public promises to make army service more religious-friendly do not always materialize and that the lack of a written standard regarding the treatment of hareidi-religious soldiers in the army makes the situation even more complicated.

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Lt. Col. Shalom Eisner Has Been Vindicated!

This is the video that made a lot of noise here in Israel:

As you can see, our armed soldiers are running away from a stone-throwing mob. Why are the soldiers running away?

Soldiers serving in Judea and Samaria claimed that the army is "tying their hands" by issuing constrictive rules of engagement, and that "we must be given tools with which to respond to those who act out violently."

According to other soldiers, "We fall back because we aren't authorized to use the crowd-dispersal tools at our disposal, to avoid igniting the entire area and because there are cameras around."

All this brings some tough talk from our politicians:
Deputy Prime Minister Eli Yishai sent a letter to Cabinet Secretary Zvi Hauser requesting that the Security Cabinet discuss the matter. Yishai wrote, "The conclusion of these events without casualties is a miracle, but we must not count on this in the future."

Yishai added, "In my opinion, IDF troops must make maximal use of their weapons if they feel their lives are in danger, and they must know they will receive the utmost support and understanding from all the relevant bodies if that is what they have to do."

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman responded to the attack on the IDF soldiers, telling Israel Radio, "There is no way that Palestinian policemen can punch and slap soldiers and live to tell about it." Lieberman said that the IDF's current conduct is not keeping the peace but just incites violence. "When a soldier is surrounded by a raging mob and swinging Palestinian policemen, it's a provocation. The government and military brass need to back the troops."

Kadima Chairman Shaul Mofaz also commented on the video footage, saying, "The sight of IDF soldiers running away from stone throwers is detrimental to the IDF, its combat troops and to deterrence. We cannot accept images of fleeing soldiers."

I have no doubt that IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz's shameful treatment of Lt. Col. Shalom Eisner contributed quite a bit to the current situation where IDF commanders and soldiers are afraid of the cameras, and are unable to do their job. This is what I wrote back then:
Does Gantz realize how much encouragement he has given to the terror supporters? Does he realize how he has demoralized his troops?
Had the IDF and the Israeli government supported Lt. Col. Shalom Eisner back then, we would not be seeing soldiers fleeing from Arab mobs today.

Here is what Zvika Fogel, an IDF brigadier-general (res.) and former chief of staff, Southern Command, has to say:

Instead of trying to appease the cameras and the "foreign" journalists, it is preferable to inform any person with a rock in his hand or behaving violently that the IDF doesn't intend to employ the same means. The IDF will hurt whoever threatens its soldiers, citizens or borders, and will do so with the use of live fire, precise and several times more painful. The soldiers who protect us and allow us to live normal lives need to know they were sent to carry out an achievable, legal mission, and will receive backup for any act that doesn't deviate from the purity of arms, without regard to the purity of the camera.
Lt. Col. Shalom Eisner has been vindicated!

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Israeli Woman Thwarts Arab Terrorist From Gaza

This story, as far as I can tell, has been completely ignored by the large media outlets outside of Israel:
An Israeli mother in the small agricultural community of Sde Avraham managed to fight off an armed terrorist on Monday, saving herself and her young children from murder, Maariv/nrg reports.

Yael Matzpun was sleeping in a room with her four-year-old daughter and two-year-old son when she was awoken by heavy footsteps in the hall. She knew that her husband, an IDF officer, was not due at home.

“Suddenly I saw a terrorist in a kefiyyeh [head scarf] standing opposite me,” she told Maariv. “I decided that if I didn’t fight, he would murder me and my four children, there would be a massacre like in Itamar, where the Fogels and three of their children were murdered in their home.”

The terrorist turned on the light and said something in Arabic, she recalled. He had a knife in one hand and a metal pipe in the other. Suddenly he lunged at Yael, stabbing her in the face and shoulder.

What the terrorist did not know is that Yael is an athlete trained in Krav Maga, Israeli military hand-to-hand combat. She used her skills to drive him back and into the bathroom, and locked him in. At the same time, she pushed her young children to safety.

Once the terrorist was locked away, she called for help. IDF forces arrived only to see the terrorist escaping through a bathroom window. They gave chase and attempted to arrest him, but were forced to open fire when he refused to drop his weapons. The terrorist was killed.

“The terrorist fell into the wrong woman’s hands, from his point of view,” Yael’s father said. “Even when she was a young girl, she would hug me like a vice… After she learned Krav Maga she was always able to take down thugs.”

Sde Avraham is located in southern Israel, several kilometers from the Gaza security barrier.

And yes, the terrorist did come from Gaza:
Though the attempted murder of a resident of Moshav Sde Avraham by an infiltrator from the Gaza Strip on Monday morning remains under investigation by the IDF and Israel Police, new details have emerged about the incident that could have very easily ended in far more bloodshed.

On his way to Moshav Sde Avraham, the attacker somehow managed to cut through the electric security fence on the border with Gaza, and make his way by foot several kilometers to the Eshkol Region security fence and finally the fence of Sde Avraham, all without being detected.

I think that the IDF has to go back to the rules of engagement that existed prior to "Pillar of Cloud". They must prevent Arabs from Gaza from approaching the fence.