Israel Nabs the Murderers of the Fogel Family

INN:

Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) lifted a gag order on the investigation of the massacre at noon Sunday (5 a.m. EDT). The terrorists were indentified as Amjad Awad, 19, and Hakim Awad 18, residents of Awarta, an Arab village neighboring the Jewish community of Itamar, where the Fogel family lived.

The teenage terrorists, who are members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), were assisted by at least six others, four of them from Awad’s family.

It seems that the Awad family has a rich history of terrorism:

The father of one of the murderers of the Fogel family at Itamar had served in jail for terror, and an uncle involved in the 2002 terror attack on same community.

Two teenagers were arrested for the massacre of five members of the Fogel family. The father of high school student Hakim Mazen Awad was active in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorist organization and previously had been jailed in Israel.

Awad and Amjad Awad carried out the brutal murders at Itamar, the same community where Hakim Awad’s uncle was involved with the 2002 terrorist attack that killed five people. He was killed the following year in a clash with IDF forces.

After the murders of the Fogel family, another uncle of Awad, who also was a PLFP terrorist and had served a prison sentence for terror, enlisted other relatives to burn the attackers’ bloodstained clothes.

Passover, Jewish Identity and Freedom

Passover is the holiday of Jewish continuity and identity. The retelling and reliving of the Exodus from Egypt is a ritual that has been conducted annually by the Jewish people for over 3,300 years. It is deeply ingrained in our psyche and being. Perhaps this is an opportunity for us to ask ourselves how much we know about Torah, our nation and history. How is it that a Jew can be a well learned in many areas but completely in the dark with regards to Jewish learning? How can a Jew be an expert in cosmology or microbiology and be an ignoramous with regards to himself? How can one neglect his very essense and waste his time watching baseball/football/basketball games on television?

Passover is also the holiday of freedom. It's a good time for one to check how free he really is. Are we free to do what we really believe? Or do we alter our behavior because we are afraid what the neighbors/gentiles/co-workers/etc. will say? Are we enslaved to bad habits and/or character traits? Are we prisoners of physical desires or passions? It is time to break free of such shackles of bondage!

Click here for other Passover related posts.

If Moses Had Facebook

HH #312

Here!

Judge Goldstone and the Metzora

This coming Shabbat we will read about the purification of the Metzora. The Hebrew word Metzora is commonly translated as leper, and Tzara'at as leprosy. However, the affliction, as described in the Torah, seems to have nothing to do with leprosy.

Our sages taught us that one who engages in slander contracts tzara'at. They saw the word Metzora as an acronym: Motzi Shem Ra, a disparager.
How is such a person to be dealt with?:

45 And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and the hair of his head shall go loose, and he shall cover his upper lip, and shall cry: 'Unclean, unclean.' 46 All the days wherein the plague is in him he shall be unclean; he is unclean; he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his dwelling be.

He is sent outside of the city to dwell alone, where he will have nobody to socialize with except for others of his ilk. Then he will have time to comtemplate the damage that he caused and hopefully repent.

It is hard not to see the similarity between Judge Richard Goldstone and the Metzora. He has been ostracized by most of the Jewish community because of the outrageously defamatory "Goldstone Report". He was sent out of the camp, where he dwells with his supporters, a diverse collection of Jew-hating slanderers, the filthiest dregs of humanity.

Unfortunately, Goldstone remains "unclean". His so-called retraction of his libel is a vain exercise in disingenuousness:

We know a lot more today about what happened in the Gaza war of 2008-09 than we did when I chaired the fact-finding mission appointed by the U.N. Human Rights Council that produced what has come to be known as the Goldstone Report. If I had known then what I know now, the Goldstone Report would have been a different document.

Nonsense! He willingly took part in an openly impartial investigation by an openly biased group. This was not a problem of not knowing the facts; the problem was not wanting to know the facts. Judge Goldstone, who exactly are you trying to fool?

The damage has been done. Goldstone's half-hearted reconsideration of his "report" is far too little, far too late. Judge Goldstone will go down in imfamy, a paradigm of one that chased honor, only to have it flee from him.

Extra credit: Read this!

Machon Meir Interviews Bereaved Father of Ruth Fogel z"l

Listen to Rabbi Yehuda Ben Yishai:

Another Tsunami Video

This will put the fear of God in your heart:

My Non-Jewish Boyfriend

I am really happy that Aish HaTorah puts up articles like this about intermarriage. You can see from the comments that they generate that they really strike a chord. Here's a taste of the article:

“So, Dad, if our heritage is so special, and we have to be a light among the nations, and my entire future depends on it, why do I eat McDonalds, and why on earth don't we keep Shabbat?!”

More silence. This time, it was my father that spoke. “I don’t know. I guess I never thought that far,” he admitted, somewhat ashamed.

For the first time ever, I had stumped my brilliant lawyer father.

Sivan Rahav Meir Interviews Tamar Fogel

Tamar Fogel, the 12-year-old girl from the Jewish settlement of Itamar who discovered the murders of her parents and three siblings when she came home last Friday night from her youth movement, speaks with Israel's Channel 2 during her shiva for her family:

Gene Simmons and Signs of Redemption in the Land of Israel

One of my favorite Haftarot, perhaps my favorite, is the haftara for Parashat Parah, which we read last Shabbat. Here's the whole thing in English (Ezekiel 36: 16-38):

16 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying: 17 'Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their way and by their doings; their way before Me was as the uncleanness of a woman in her impurity. 18 Wherefore I poured out My fury upon them for the blood which they had shed upon the land, and because they had defiled it with their idols; 19 and I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries; according to their way and according to their doings I judged them. 20 And when they came unto the nations, whither they came, they profaned My holy name; in that men said of them: These are the people of the LORD, and are gone forth out of His land. 21 But I had pity for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations, whither they came. {P}

22 Therefore say unto the house of Israel: Thus saith the Lord GOD: I do not this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for My holy name, which ye have profaned among the nations, whither ye came. 23 And I will sanctify My great name, which hath been profaned among the nations, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the nations shall know that I am the LORD, saith the Lord GOD, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. 24 For I will take you from among the nations, and gather you out of all the countries, and will bring you into your own land. 25 And I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean; from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. 26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put My spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep Mine ordinances, and do them. 28 And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be My people, and I will be your God. 29 And I will save you from all your uncleannesses; and I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you. 30 And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that ye may receive no more the reproach of famine among the nations. 31 Then shall ye remember your evil ways, and your doings that were not good; and ye shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations. 32 Not for your sake do I this, saith the Lord GOD, be it known unto you; be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel. {S} 33 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. 34 And the land that was desolate shall be tilled, whereas it was a desolation in the sight of all that passed by. 35 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. 36 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. {S} 37 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. 38 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.' {P}

To sum things up: The nation of Israel sinned and God scatters us among the nations. However, this causes a desecration of God's name. The nations see the Jews among them, and they misinterpret this as God lacking the ability to save His nation and land(see Rashi). Therefore, in order to sanctify His name, God brings us back to the land of Israel. Has not this prophecy been fulfilled in our time?

However that is not all! God purifies us and gives us a new heart to keep His commandments. This is also in the process of being fulfilled! Little by little, it is happening before our eyes! If you don't believe me, maybe you will believe rocker Gene Simmons. He visited Israel recently and this is what he had to say:

“One thing that’s striking is that I never remember seeing so many yarmulkes here. It’s all of a sudden teeming with hassidim – hassidim, but I don’t believe ’em,’ said Simmons, like a rapper. “I’m used to Israel as a secular place where people just are Israelis.

I much prefer it as a modern, not-so-archaic-looking place.”

Well Gene(or should I call you by your real name, Chaim), like it or not, that's the way things are. God is giving us a new heart, and we are coming back to our roots. The Teshuvah revolution is underway. Chaim, it's time to return home!

Japs and Jews

Yaak asked, "Did the 10 Lost Tribes Make Their Way to Japan?"

A commenter named Moriah
left a link to the following video, which is quite interesting:

Purim and Responding to the Itamar Massacre

Here's a great article. I particularly liked the following:

Suddenly my mind screeched to a halt. I realized that all efforts to make sense out of this Jew-hater’s canard missed the basic point: Causes A, B, and C do not result in Jew-hatred. Rather Jew-hatred is the cause, and the result is the distorted, often baseless, and even absurd accusations that the Jews are guilty of this or that crime.

Amateur Video of Tsunami in Noda, Japan

The pictures say it all:

Glenn Beck on the Itamar Massacre

Very well put:

Kissinger Calls For Pollard's Release

Here is the text of Henry K.'s letter to President Obama:

March 3, 2011

The Honorable Barack Obama
President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

I would have written this letter sooner but for a long trip abroad, from which I have just returned. While I was gone, I gave much thought to the question of clemency for Jonathan Pollard. At first I felt I did not have enough information to render a reasoned and just opinion. But having talked with George Shultz and read the statements of former CIA Director Woolsey, former Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman DeConcini, former Defense Secretary Weinberger, former Attorney General Mukasey and others whose judgments and first-hand knowledge I respect, I find their unanimous support for clemency compelling.

I believe justice would be served by commuting the remainder of Pollard’s sentence of life imprisonment.

Respectfully yours,
Henry A. Kissinger

Check out Kissinger's biography at Wikipedia. Here is something that I never new about him:

Kissinger underwent basic training at Camp Croft in Spartanburg, South Carolina, where he was naturalized upon arrival. The Army sent him to study engineering at Lafayette College, Pennsylvania, but the program was canceled, and Kissinger was reassigned to the 84th Infantry Division. There, he made the acquaintance of Fritz Kraemer, a fellow emigrant from Germany who despite the age difference, noted Kissinger's fluency in German and his intellect, arranged for him to be assigned to the military intelligence section of the division. Kissinger saw combat with the division, and volunteered for hazardous intelligence duties during the Battle of the Bulge.[11]

During the American advance into Germany, Kissinger was assigned to de-Nazify the city of Krefeld, owing to a lack of German speakers on the division's intelligence staff. Kissinger relied on his knowledge of German society to remove the obvious Nazis and restore a working civilian administration, a task he accomplished in 8 days.[12] Kissinger was then reassigned to the Counter Intelligence Corps, with the rank of Sergeant. He was given charge of a team in Hanover assigned to tracking down Gestapo officers and other saboteurs, for which he was awarded the Bronze Star.[13] In June 1945, Kissinger was made commandant of a CIC detachment in the Bergstraße district of Hesse, with responsibility for de-Nazification of the district. Although he possessed absolute authority and powers of arrest, Kissinger took care to avoid abuses against the local population by his command.[14]

In 1946, Kissinger was reassigned to teach at the European Command Intelligence School at Camp King, continuing to serve in this role as a civilian employee following his separation from the Army.[15][16]

He was a fighter, not just an academia geek.

HH #307

Be sure to check out this week's Jblogosphere wrap-up:

Peace Now's Nightmare

Video: Jewish Farmer Protects His Well From Leftist Thieves

Read more about this here.

Jewish Boycott of Bank Leumi Pending?

From INN:

Bank Leumi, the main creditor of Jewish neighborhood Nof Tzion’s developers, has rejected an offer by Rami Levy and a partner to pay off its debts – and as a result, an Arab takeover again threatens the seamline Jerusalem area. Rabbis threaten a local boycott of Bank Leumi, and American Jews threaten a boycott abroad.

In light of the Bank Leumi rejection, Palestinian Authority semi-resident Bashir Al-Masri, represented by the same lawyer who advised Ariel Sharon during the Disengagement, Dov Weisglass, has redoubled his efforts to buy the lands of Nof Tzion.

Located to the east of Talpiyot and south of the Old City, the neighborhood was originally planned as a luxury project for wealthy apartment-seekers from abroad. When this did not pan out, the project was saved by the religious-Zionist public, for which its strategic spot, in terms of both Jewish-Arab demographics and a panoramic view of the Temple Mount and the Old City, increased its attractiveness. Thus, a new religious-Zionist neighborhood arose in eastern Jerusalem.

The first phase of the project was completed several years ago, and much has been written about the 90 families' satisfaction with their new neighbors and surroundings. However, they are now greatly apprehensive that if the project falls into Arab hands, the 180 planned units of Stages II and III of the project will not only not be built, but also that their own homes will become an unsafe and unviable Jewish enclave surrounded by Arab homes.

They have therefore threatened to take Bank Leumi – the guarantor of the project – and the Digal development company to court for backing down on their much-touted plans to ensure that the project is for the national-religious public.

Bank Leumi has rejected Levy’s offer, saying that it prefers to break up Digal altogether and sell its assets – including the land of Nof Tzion – to the highest bidder. This once again leaves the field open to Al-Masri. Al-Masri has also taken another step, seeking to buy out the shares of Digal.

A letter of intent to boycott Bank Leumi has already been signed by top rabbis in the religious-Zionist camp.

Rabbis Shmuel Eliyahu, Elyakim Levanon, Yehoshua Shapira, Zalman Melamed, David Druckman, Dov Lior, Yaakov Yosef and others issued a call to Bank Leumi customers to withdraw their monies if the project is sold to Al-Masri. The rabbis call on Bank Leumi to “support and accept the offer by Jewish interests to purchase the neighborhood lands and to save it from Bashir Al-Masri, who does not hide his intentions to build on Nof Tzion an Arab outpost in Jerusalem.”

Globes has reported in the past that if Bank Leumi would enable the sale of the Nof Tzion project to Al-Masri, it would be likely to face a widespread boycott in the United States. Several apartment owners in the project wrote to Bank Leumi as follows: “I have been involved in this project ever since it was presented to the public some eight years ago, and I am in contact with many of its American investors. These people have power and are very influential in their communities. We were under the impression that Bank Leumi would never work against the People of Israel - but we are now quickly concluding that this is not true. It appears that Bank Leumi is taking part in an act of treachery in allowing secret deals that will lead to the sale of Nof Tzion properties to Arab interests.”

Well, if Bank Leumi goes ahead with this treachery I will certainly close my account there.

Additional food for thought: the name "al-Masri" means "the Egyptian" in Arabic.

HH #305

This week's edition of Haveil Havalim is here.