Friday, August 21, 2009

Rachel is crying for her children - Prayer Elul!

bs"d

Yasher Koach to Evelyn Haies and the RCRF for a living presence in Kever Rochel.  Thank you Chana for sending.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: chana sokol <chanatovasokol2000@yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, Aug 21, 2009 at 4:12 AM
Subject: from Chana Tova my Kever Rochel trip with lunch and Rabbi Leff & Prayer Elul
To: Robin Ticker <faigerayzel@gmail.com>




--- On Fri, 8/21/09, chana sokol <chanatovasokol2000@yahoo.com> wrote:

> From: chana sokol <chanatovasokol2000@yahoo.com>
> Subject: Ched: my Kever Rochel trip with lunch and Rabbi Leff and prayer Elul Rosh Chodesh
> To: "Chedva Katz" <chedkatz@yahoo.com>
> Date: Friday, August 21, 2009, 3:54 AM
> to Chedva
> with Love
> enjoy photos
> holy and some shocking--since Kever Rochel is a fort hidden ( see photo 134)
> under three story stone fences and gunproof glass and metal
> window coverings.  This is what the Israeli government
> builds so Arabs can have rule 3 three miles outside of
> Jerusalem.  Shocking.  Thank G-d ladies have
> pushed to keep Kever Rochel opened for 12 years, including
> Evelyn Hayes.  Rabbi Leff spoke in the Bas Mitzvah room
> of the building next door to Kever Rochel.  Bonnie
>  and I are in one photo.  Lee was
> there,too. 
>      Thursday we went with a group and
> had pre-ordered lunch brought in from Israel Center caterer. 
 There is no place to buy water,
> fruit, anything--the area once had many Bethlehem Arab
> stores with flourishing businesses from Jewish praying
> people.  Then Arafat lead the Arabs to new politics
> that Arabs should not deal with Jews.  The Arabs with
> these politics became unemployed and blamed the Jews, when
> Arafat was the leading source only.
>      What was stores is now high walls
> to keep gunshots by Arabs in Bethlehem from Jews visiting
> Kever Rochel.  the three story walls protect nothing,
> because outside the walls are new Arab 5 story buildings including a hotel above the fenced in walls of cement.  So the Arabs can
> and do shoot from that new height.  Good question: why
> didn't the Israeli government stop the new buildings going
> above the protective expensive wall?
>     Better question: why do police harrass Jews
> who want Jerusalem to be a holy city sanctifying the
> Sabbath?  Wouldn't it be just the point that Sabbath be
> protected and not Arabs and anti-Sabbath observers.
>     This is the cry of Rochel.  She cries
> over these injustices.
>     see photos!  and email and put on
> facebook these above important messages, if you can.
>
>
>      


     

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Selling Land to Non Jew against Torah! : Fw: Foreign Arab tycoons bought land in Galilee

bs"d

Selling Land to Non Jew against Torah!

How come there isn't an outcry about this in the Torah World? Heter Mechirah brings an outcry and it's just a symbolic selling. Yet actual selling Eretz Yisroel is met  with SILENCE??????

http://torahmitzion.myhsphere.biz/eng/resources/show.asp?id=185

ParshaOnline
Back to Parsha List 
Parshat Behar
"And the Land Will Not Be Sold Forever"
Rav Yisrael Shachor, Former Rosh Kollel, Chicago Kollel, 2003
 "And the Land will not be sold for ever, for the Land is mine since you are aliens and residents with me." (VaYikra 25:23) Here the Torah explains the principle of the returning of land to its owner during Yovel/the Jubilee Year. We do not have absolute ownership of our properties in Israel for the Land of Israel is the inheritance of G-d. We live in the land as aliens and transients. Therefore we do not have the right to sell a field of our inheritance for more than the Yovel.
The Baal Halachot Gedolot explains that there is no Scriptural prohibition in our verse and therefore he does not count it in his enumeration of the Taryag mitzvot since this verse only describes a negation and not a prohibition. That is to say that the Torah is elucidating the impossibility of selling the land for perpetuity. However there is no action that is prohibited by this verse. Even if someone attempts to sell his field forever, the sale is nullified at Yovel and the field returns to its owner.
Many Rishonim disagree. Rashi explains that the Torah is admonishing the buyer not to retain the field by force upon the arrival of Yovel.
The Rambam (Shmitta v'yovel 11,1) wrote that if a man sold his field for perpetuity, the sale is invalid. However, both the buyer and the seller have transgressed a negative commandment. It appears that this is similar to interest in that even though both parties agree, they are doing something that is in opposition to the will of G-d. (The Ramban in Sefer HaMitzvot quotes the Rambam who posits that it is possible to make a sale on condition that the buyer does not return the property at the Yovel, just as one may make a loan on condition the Shmitta  does not cancel the debt. However, in our text of the Rambam it is not found.)
The Ramban writes at length regarding this mitzva. In his commentary on the Torah he poses the following challenge to Rashi: If the prohibition is essentially on the buyer, the Torah should have written, "You shall not buy the land in perpetuity."?!  He attempts to reconcile this by saying that if the prohibition was on the seller, the Torah should have written "You shall not sell…" However,  "Shall not be sold" can apply to the buyer as well. In conclusion the Ramban agrees with the Rambam that there is a prohibition to execute any sale forever and the prohibition is either on the seller or on both parties.
In his gloss on the Sefer HaMitzvot (lavim, 227) the Ramban adds that if a person sells without any stipulation of time he will certainly not violate this prohibition. Only if one states explicitly that the sale is for perpetuity does he contravene this negative commandment. Nevertheless, the Ramban goes on to quote from the Sages that bring this verse in the context of the halacha that a non-Jew has no right of acquisition in the Land of Israel (Gittin 47a). Acc0rding to this the Ramban offers a new and surprising interpretation: The verse prohibits the sale of the Land of Israel to gentiles because they are not commanded to observe the mitzvot of Shmita and Yovel and, as such, the sale to a gentile would be forever!
The Ramban establishes a parallel between this mitzva and the prohibition of selling a Jew as a slave to a non-Jew in a way that he will not be released during Yovel that appears in our Parsha. The reason is "For unto me the people of Israel are servants." The Ramban concludes, "…but, we must be careful that our sale of the Land should be in such a way that it return to us no matter what, and we should not leave it in their hands forever. And the Torah gave a similar reason as the reason mentioned in regards to (selling) people… For in his Land, may His Name be exalted and blessed, we are all aliens and transients with Him and He does not desire to settle anyone else in the Land but us. It shall remain and return to us."
We can see from the Ramban that the essence of the Passukis to prohibit the transfer of the Land to "strange" hands. This corresponds perfectly with the words of the Ramban in his commentary on the Sefer HaMitzvot (Mitzva 4) that there is a positive commandment to inherit the Land and that we should not leave it in the hands of any of the nations of the world. (There the Ramban is addressing the national aspect of the mitzva and here the individual one. Accordingly, one should explain the necessity of this verse in spite of the existence of a different prohibition  "You shall not give the non-Jew any encampment in the Land.")
Another surprising explanation is found in the Netziv's HaaMek Davar. He, too, connects this verse to the prohibition of selling to a non-Jew, but in a completely different manner. By introduction, the Netziv lived in the period of the first glimmer of the redemption and the settlement of Israel. One of the questions that engaged the new settlers and the great rabbis of that time and stirred tremendous controversy was the issue of how to deal with Shmita. There were those who backed theHetter Mechira/"Sale of the Land" because of the extenuating circumstances and dire economic conditions in order to support the fledgling settlement. However, the Netziv was opposed specifically because of his great love  for the Land of Israel and his belief in the return to Zion only through meticulous performance of the mitzvot, especially the mitzvot of the Land. More over, the mitzva of Shmita was especially critical in his eyes since it is identified as a cause of Exile. He, therefore saw it as a holy responsibility to observe the Sabbatical year in all of its details and was among the great rabbis who contested the Hetter Mechira
In his commentary on this verse the Netziv saw the command to refrain from selling any part of the Land of Israel to a non-Jew at any time, not just during Shmita. According to his understanding the word, "Tzmitut",  is not about selling the land in perpetuity. Rather it connotes an "absolute" sale. The Torah already "divined" that there would be Jews who would attempt to circumscribe the laws of Shmita by selling their land to a gentile for the year of Shmitah. Therefore, the Torah comes and admonishes us that we do not have ownership of the Land during the Sabbatical year. How can we sell it to a gentile!?
We conclude with the words of the Sforno that the Land of Israel is the "Land of G-d" and is not included in  "And the land he gave to men."


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: joe <hannajaffa@rogers.com>
Date: Mon, Aug 17, 2009 at 10:31 AM
Subject: Fw: Foreign Arab tycoons bought land in Galilee
To: Robin Ticker <faigerayzel@gmail.com>



----- Original Message ----- From: "joe" <hannajaffa@rogers.com>
To: "Shurat HaDin-Israel Law Center" <info@israellawcenter.org>
Sent: Monday, August 17, 2009 10:25 AM
Subject: Fw: Foreign Arab tycoons bought land in Galilee


You have to do something to prevent this from happening.

Sent: Saturday, August 15, 2009 2:37 PM
Subject: Foreign Arab tycoons bought land in Galilee
[Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA:  Supporters of Netanyahu's initiative note that
the sale of publicly owned land to foreign elements via third parties would
be prevented under the program by the recording of a permanent  warning note
in the Lands Registry records for each parcel in the program requiring the
approval of a Government authority for the transfer of ownership of the
parcel to a foreigner.]

'Arab tycoons bought land in Galilee'
JPost.com Staff , THE JERUSALEM POST Aug. 15, 2009
http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=45207

Wealthy individuals from Arab states that do not have diplomatic relations
with Israel have recently procured hundreds of dunams of private
agricultural land in the Galilee, Israel Radio reported on Saturday.
Farmers in the Galilee tried to unite in an effort to thwart the sale, which
was reportedly funded by tycoons from the Persian Gulf, but did not succeed
in raising sufficient funds to buy the land from its owners, who were forced
to sell after suffering from financial problems.

The Israel Lands Administration (ILA) told the radio station that it could
not interfere with the transaction since the lands are privately-owned and
not state property.

Agriculture Minister Shalom Simhon (Labor) said in response to the report
that the issue was not his responsibility.

Meretz party head and former agriculture minister Haim Oron said that the
incident proves that the supporters of the Israel Lands Administration
reform plan were misguided.

Kadima MK Nachman Shai issued a press release saying that what everyone has
feared finally happened, and "Israeli lands are being sold to the highest
bidder."

"The Israel Land Authorities reform is a loophole calling out to the robber,
and it will attract, as expected, Arab investors from abroad, who will
eventually gain control over significant pieces of land in Israel," Shai
wrote in a statement.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has argued that the fact that 93% of land
in Israel is public-owned abets obstructionist bureaucracy and that
unsnarling red-tape is in everyone's interest.

Rebecca Anna Stoil contributed to this report

--------------------------------------------
IMRA - Independent Media Review and Analysis
Website: www.imra.org.il

--------------------------------------------



Chicago Rally, Excellent Newsletter from UCI: Huckabee, Obama submission to Islam, Netanyahu softening on resistance to Obama's demand for settlement freeze etc.

bs"d

Rally in Chicago to speak out against Pali State and the expulsion of Jews from a Torah Perspective!
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/169655.

The Torah is the Jewish Common Denominator.  If you are the Agudah, the Council of Young Israel Rabbis, the Orthodox Union of Jewish Congregations, Lubavitch Headquarters please make a Torah statement as per our entitlement to the Land of Israel and our right ot settle all parts of Israel and against the settlement freeze.  Supporting Netanyahu's position isn't necessarily supporting Torah. Netanyahu is a politician and it's hard for him to stand up to Obama's pressure. But Torah is Torah and Jews are waiting for their Rabbis to SPEAK  OUT!.  Contact Yosef Rabin so that he can read a Torah Statement from Rabbanim at Friday's Rally in Chicago backed by the Religious Zionist of Chicago!  He would love additional  voices of support. 

The Eretz Yisrael Committee of Chicago can be contacted at: 773-885-9889 or emailed at eyisrael1@gmail.com  We hope that the Torah message of this rally will be covered in the Media undistorted! 

If you are a print media source please use the following newsletter  from UCI as material for your paper. Also please contact Agudah, Young Israel, OU and Lubavitch Headquarters and get a statement of clarity of their position regarding freezing of Settlements. 

Rav Yaakov Perlow, Noveminsker Rav shlita
Rosh Agudath Yisroel of America
Agudath Yisroel of America
42 Broadway Suite 1400 New York, NY 10004
Tel 212-797-9000 Fax: (212) 254-1600
cc: Chaim Dovid Zwiebel Executive Vice President of Government and Public Affairs

Rabbi Pesach Lerner shlita
Executive Vice President of the National Council of Young Israel
The Council of Young Israel Rabbis USA: - CYIR,
111 John Street, Suite 450, New York, New York 10038
Tel: 212-929-1525 Fax: 212-727-9526

Rabbi Weill shlita Exec VP
Mr. David Olivestone shlita
Director of Communications and Planning
The Orthodox Union
11 Broadway,
New York, NY 10004
Tel:: (212) 563-4000 ♦ Fax: (212) 564-9058

Rabbi Krinsky shlita
Chabad Headquarters
770 Eastern Parkway
Brooklyn, NY 11213
Tel: 718 774.4000 / fax 718 774.2718

Please ask them if they really support a demilitarized Palestinian State knowing fully well that a Sovereign State must have some sort of military and can not be demilitarized.  Netanyahu is a master politician and depends on the political game of rhetoric to appease the Obama Administration and the Palestinians know it. .  Netanyahu is focusing on nuclear Iran.  However, Netanyahu is creating facts on the ground that is anything but benign and Obama is grateful to him. . 

National Union: Katz vs. Netanyahu, Ben-Ari vs. Ministers - A painful rebuke to Netanyahu and his administration for persecuting Jews in Judea and Samaria

(Side note to the Jewish Week: Yasher Koach to Jewish Week Editorial entitled "Mary Robinson, Poor Choice" and for the excellent piece by Jonathan Mark, Associate Editor, Media Watch entitled "Rush to Judgment - Tel Aviv's gay murder reveals anti-Orthodox hatred.")

UCI is spreading the right message!  Excellent material!

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: UCI <voices@israelunitycoalition.org>
Date: Tue, Aug 18, 2009 at 9:06 PM
Subject: Today`s News Summaries
To: faigerayzel@gmail.com


Unity Coalition for Israel
Editor's Note: Tuesday August 18, 2009
 
   
      We are presenting the "Middle East Showdown" today. Beginning with Governor Huckabee and US Republicans in Israel (articles 1-3) and ending with Pres. Obama in Egypt (article 5).

Governor Mike Huckabee
(UCI VIDEO) makes a clear case against the "Two State Solution."

Republicans speak strongly in support of Israel - Orthodox Jews question Two State presuppositions
(VIDEO) IsraelNN.com captures Republicans in Israel

MER

Jerusalem Online - Your Link to Israeljol

     

Contents: (summaries below)
  1. Huckabee: 2-state solution `unrealistic`, Jerusalem Post, Josiah Ryan and Herb Keinon
  2. Israel`s Peculiar Position and the Obama Huckabee Middle East Showdown, LA Times and UCI, Eric Hoffer and UCI Editor
  3. Huckabee Supports Jewish Growth in Maaleh Adumim, IsraelNN.com, Hillel Fendel
  4. Obama`s State Department Submits to Islam, AmericanThinker.com, Pamela Geller
  5. Obama terms Netanyahu`s de facto freeze Movement in the Right Direction, IMRA.org, IMRA Staff
  6. Palestine problem hopeless, but not serious, Asia Times Online, David P Goldman

Huckabee: 2-state solution `unrealistic`
Josiah Ryan and Herb Keinon


Jerusalem Post, August 18, 2009

Former US presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee said Tuesday there is no room for a Palestinian state "in the middle of the Jewish homeland" and that Israel should be able to build settlements wherever it wants.

Huckabee`s opposition to a Palestinian state puts him at odds with the accepted wisdom of both Democrats and Republicans - and to some degree even with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has come out in favor of a demilitarized Palestinian state.

Speaking to a small group of foreign reporters in Jerusalem, Huckabee, seen as a possible Republican presidential candidate in 2012, said the international community should consider establishing a Palestinian state some place else.

"The question is should the Palestinians have a place to call their own? Yes, I have no problem with that. Should it be in the middle of the Jewish homeland? That`s what I think has to be honestly assessed as virtually unrealistic," he said.

The politician, a Southern Baptist preacher and a two-time former governor of Arkansas, praised Israel for giving Muslims access to Jerusalem`s Dome of the Rock - also the site of the ancient Jewish temples - even though the presence of a mosque there "could be considered an affront."

Click here for the complete article, or copy and paste this link into your web browser:
http://www.israelunitycoalition.org/news/article.php?id=4441


Israel`s Peculiar Position and the Obama Huckabee Middle East Showdown
Eric Hoffer and UCI Editor


LA Times and UCI, August 18, 2009

[UCI Editor`s Note: We are re-publishing this poignant piece by Eric Hoffer, published in the LA Times May 26th, 1968. We are contrasting Hoffer`s sparse but powerful words with the "showdown in the Middle East" taking place today between President Obama, and his efforts to push the Saudi Two State solution, and Governor Huckabee, with his whirlwind speaking tour in Israel. Consider the recent video edit of President Obama`s statements at this year`s AIPAC annual meeting by road90.com. http://www.road90.com/watch.php?id=sj5zoLVlvZ

Obama`s words of identification with and friendship toward Israel, spoken June 4th, were quickly rescinded June 5th, when Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas sternly rebuked the US President for uttering, "Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided." In an interview with CNN, when asked whether Palestinians had no future claim to the city, Obama backpedalled hard: "Well, obviously, it's going to be up to the parties to negotiate a range of these issues. And Jerusalem will be part of those negotiations."

Watch the video, read the article and stand for a united Jerusalem, whether Barack Obama will or not! We can perhaps place more hope in near Presidential hopeful, Huckabee, who stated today, "The question is should the Palestinians have a place to call their own? Yes, I have no problem with that. Should it be in the middle of the Jewish homeland? That`s what I think has to be honestly assessed as virtually unrealistic."]

ISRAEL`S PECULIAR POSITION
by Eric Hoffer (LA Times 5/26/68)

The Jews are a peculiar people: things permitted to any other nations are forbidden to the Jews.

Other nations are allowed to drive out thousands, even millions of people and there is no refugee problem. Russia did it, Poland and Czechoslovakia did it. Turkey threw out a million Greeks, and Algeria a million Frenchman. Indonesia threw out heaven knows how many Chinese and no one says a word about refugees. But in the case of Israel, the displaced Arabs have become eternal refugees. Everyone insists that Israel must take back every single one so that they can destroy the Jewish State..

Arnold Toynbee calls the displacement of the Arabs an atrocity greater than any committed by the Nazis. Other nations when victorious on the battlefield dictate peace terms. But when Israel is victorious, it must sue for peace.

Everyone expects the Jews to be the only real Christians in this world. Other nations, when they are defeated, survive and recover but should Israel be defeated it would be destroyed. Had Nasser triumphed last June [1967], he would have wiped Israel off the map, and no one would have lifted a finger to save the Jews.

Click here for the complete article, or copy and paste this link into your web browser:
http://www.israelunitycoalition.org/news/article.php?id=4445


Huckabee Supports Jewish Growth in Maaleh Adumim
Hillel Fendel


IsraelNN.com, August 18, 2009

Past and likely-future U.S. presidential candidate Mike Huckabee spent his second day on a private trip to Israel visiting Maaleh Adumim, Beit El and other Shomron (Samaria) towns. He began the day by visiting with Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat.

Expressing strong support for Israelis' right to live where they want without having to receive American permission, Huckabee expressed incredulity that either the Arabs or the Americans would expect the tens of thousands of Jews of Maaleh Adumim to leave. "Where would they go?" he asked.

Maaleh Adumim is a city just to the east of Jerusalem with nearly 40,000 residents. Huckabee visited the city this morning, and met briefly with Mayor Benny Kashriel. The two, accompanied by a delegation of supporters of the U.S.-based Jerusalem Reclamation Foundation and a group of reporters, stood atop a Maaleh Adumim mountain top and looked out at the barren Judean Mountains below – the site of the controversial and not-yet started E-1 housing project.

"As you can see," the mayor told the former governor, "the land is desolate, and we are not pushing out any Arabs from their homes. This is state-owned land, designated for the expansion of Maaleh Adumim by [the late Prime Ministe Yitzchak Rabin. Yet, no construction is going on – because the Americans don't agree."

"We need your help in convincing the U.S. government to stop pressuring us on this matter," Kashriel said to Huckabee. "We would like our children to be able to live next to us."

Huckabee Doesn`t Understand PA, US

"The Palestinians are asking you to leave this place?" Huckabee asked. "No, they are demanding it," Kashriel said, adding that the Americans "merely" want to stop further growth.

Huckabee had trouble understanding both positions: "If they want you to leave, where exactly do they expect you to go?! And if the Americans realize that you are not leaving, then why should your growth and job-creation and the like be stopped? You should remain and simply stop growing?!"

He stopped short of expressing all-out support for the E-1 project – some 3,000 housing units – but expressed support in general for Israel's right to build and grow in the disputed areas.

Huckabee later said he sees no reason why the Arab world needed yet another state.

Obama is Too Harsh on Israel

Asked his opinion of President Barack Obama's policy vis-à-vis Israel, Huckabee said, "We are all – both Republicans and Democrats – surprised at the new policies he has instituted, much harsher than previous administrations, and very different than his own campaign promises when he visited Israel. We simply do not know where he will end up."

Huckabee finished second to John McCain in the race for the Republican Party's nomination for presidential candidate in 2008. He is currently considered an early front-runner for the nomination for the 2012 elections.

From Maaleh Adumim, Huckabee traveled to Beit El, in the southern Shomron. None other than Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's brother-in-law, long-time Beit El resident Dr. Hagi Ben-Artzi, explained to the prominent visitor the historic significance of Beit El and the importance and vitality of the 6,000-strong Jewish community there.

"There are hundreds of places around the world named Beth El," Ben-Artzi told the visitors, "but you are now in the original Beit El, the inspiration for all the others..."

Click here for the complete article, or copy and paste this link into your web browser:
http://www.israelunitycoalition.org/news/article.php?id=4446


Obama`s State Department Submits to Islam
Pamela Geller


AmericanThinker.com, August 18, 2009

Here is but the latest act of submission to Islam by your State Department. A State Department cable has just been sent out with this announcement:

The Bureau of International Information Programs (IIP) has assembled a range of innovative and traditional tools to support Posts` outreach activities during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

Here, in contrast, is the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."


The State Department`s Ramadan programs are wide-ranging. "On August 10," the cable continues, "America.gov will publish a 'Multicultural Ramadan` feature. American Muslims trace their ancestry to more than 80 countries and the feature will highlight the richness of these various cultural traditions through the lens of Ramadan and Eid. Content will include essays by young Muslims who are part of Eboo Patel`s Interfaith Youth Core (IYC). Contact: Alexandra Abboud (AbboudAM@state.gov)."

There`s more! The Bureau of International Information Programs "will publish three articles for Ramadan 2009 addressing the concept of an Islam in America `brand`; advocacy (civic and political) of the Muslim American community; and community innovation/community building. The writer will contact Muslim American experts in each of these fields. These articles will be available on America.gov in English, Arabic, and Persian."

The main publication is Being Muslim In America: "Conceived as IIP`s flagship print publication on the rich and varied experiences of the nation`s growing Muslim population, this lavishly illustrated new book links the Muslim-American experience to those of other American racial, religious, and immigrant groups as they moved into the American 'mainstream.`"

Can you imagine every Embassy and consulate putting up a Menorah and having some Rabbis as speakers via a webcast?

Can you imagine if we had the Stations of the Cross put on the walls of all of our embassies, consulates, and other posts, as well as the many Department of State buildings across the country, including C Street?

Why aren`t priests, pastors, etc. invited during Christmas to give blessings or talk about Christianity in the United States?

Can you imagine if the Buddha were revered and we had some monks coming to do a meditation session with all of the officers of each embassy, consulate, etc.?

Can we get printed and distributed Hare Krishna posters for all of our posts, so as to reach massive audiences?

I mean, put it in reverse and see how crazy it is. Absolutely nuts.

Perhaps this is an initiative of President Barack Obama`s newly created Office for Outreach to the Ummah at State. In June Obama had the Secretary-General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, at the White House. Ihsanoglu urged Obama to appoint a U.S. ambassador to the Islamic world - and Obama immediately created a new State Department Office for Muslim Outreach, with a Muslim woman, Farah Pandith, serving as the new U.S. Special Representative for Muslim Outreach. In keeping with Obama`s U.S.-Muslim Engagement Project, a charter of dhimmitude, we are to be conditioned to respect Muslim immigrants and accept their culture.

Click here for the complete article, or copy and paste this link into your web browser:
http://www.israelunitycoalition.org/news/article.php?id=4442


Obama terms Netanyahu`s de facto freeze Movement in the Right Direction
IMRA Staff
MRA.org, August 18, 2009


Obama sees progress on Israeli settlements issue

After meeting Egyptian counterpart Mubarak, US president says freeze on construction starts in settlement blocs, east Jerusalem `movement in the
right direction`

News agencies Published: 08.18.09, 20:47 / Israel News
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3763917,00.html

US President Barack Obama said on Tuesday he saw encouraging signs of a
softening of Israel`s resistance to his call for a freeze on
settlement-building in the occupied West Bank.

Earlier on Tuesday, an Israeli government minister said no tenders had been
issued for new housing projects in Israeli settlements since Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu`s right-leaning government took office five months ago.
Netanyahu has rebuffed Obama`s push for a complete freeze, creating the most serious rift in US-Israeli relations in a decade.

"There has been movement in the right direction," Obama said when asked
about the latest development after talks with Egyptian President Hosni
Mubarak at the White House.

The two leaders, meeting for the third time in as many months, talked about
how to jump-start the stalled Middle East peace process, a top foreign
policy priority for Obama.

It was Mubarak`s first visit to the United States since 2004. He had stayed
away after falling out with former President George W. Bush over the
latter`s focus on promoting democracy in the Middle East and criticism of
human rights in Egypt.

Mubarak`s visit comes as the Obama administration has been pushing moderate
Arab states to take steps that could encourage Israel to freeze settlement
building on Palestinian territory.

Mubarak, however, said Arab states would only take a more active role in
supporting the peace process once Israelis and Palestinians began direct
negotiations.

Arab states have so far been cool to the idea of steps such as giving
overflight rights to Israeli civilian aircraft and allowing Israel to open
interest sections in foreign embassies in their capitals.

Click here for the complete article, or copy and paste this link into your web browser:
http://www.israelunitycoalition.org/news/article.php?id=4443


Palestine problem hopeless, but not serious
David P Goldman


Asia Times Online, August 17, 2009

"The situation for the Palestinian people is intolerable," declared United Sates President Barack Obama in his June 4 Cairo address. Really? Compared to what? Things are tough all over. The Palestinians are one of many groups displaced by the population exchanges that followed World War II, and the only ones whose great-grandchildren still have the legal status of refugees. Why are they still there? The simplest explanation is that they like it there, because they are much better off than people of similar capacities in other Arab countries.

The standard tables of gross domestic product (GDP) per capita show the West Bank and Gaza at US$1,700, just below Egypt`s $1,900 and significantly below Syria`s $2,250 and Jordan`s $3,000. GDP does not include foreign aid, however, which adds roughly 30% to spendable funds in the Palestinian territories. Most important, the denominator of the GDP per capita equation - the number of people - is far lower than official data indicate. According to an authoritative study by the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies [1], the West Bank and Gaza population in 2004 was only 2.5 million, rather than the 3.8 million claimed by the Palestinian authorities. The numbers are inflated to increase foreign aid.

Adjusting for the Begin-Sadat Center population count and adding in foreign aid, GDP per capita in the West Bank and Gaza comes to $3,380, much higher than in Egypt and significantly higher than in Syria or Jordan. Why should any Palestinian refugee resettle in a neighboring Arab country?

GDP per capita, moreover, does not reflect the spending power of ordinary people. Forty-four percent of Egyptians, for example, live on less than $2 a day, the United Nations estimates. The enormous state bureaucracy eats up a huge portion of national income. New immigrants to Egypt who do not have access to government jobs are likely to live far more poorly than per capita GDP would suggest.

Other data confirm that Palestinians enjoy a higher living standard than their Arab neighbors. A fail-safe gauge is life expectancy. The West Bank and Gaza show better numbers than most of the Muslim world:

Life Expectancy by Country in Years
Oman 75.6
Bahrain 75.6
West Bank and Gaza 73.4
Saudi Arabia 72.8
Jordan 72.5
Algeria 72.3
Turkey 71.8
Egypt 71.3
Morocco 71.2
Iran 71.0
Pakistan 65.5
Yemen 62.7
Sudan 58.6
Somalia 48.2
Source: United Nations

Literacy in the Palestinian Authority domain is 92.4%, equal to that of Singapore. That is far better than the 71.4% in Egypt, or 80.8% in Syria...

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