Hebron Etzion
_______ Bloc Betar Jerusalem
/Kiryat \ _______ ______ _____________
/ Arba \ / Efrat \ / \ / \_______
___/ \____/ \__/ \____/ Maaleh Adumim
######### #### #### # Tekoa ______
# # # # # # # # _____ / \
# # # # # ### ##### / \ / \
# # # # # # # # # _/ \____/ \_
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"Rebuilding Jewish Life in Judea, Israel"
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JUDEA ELECTRONIC MAGAZINE Vol.10, No.2 Nisan-Iyar 5762/Mar-Apr 2002
***********************************************************************
Website: http://www.womeningreen.org/judea OUR 10TH YEAR!
Contents: WAR NOW
* War Now / Answer the Phone on the Sabbath / Jewish Heroes: Fighting
for Our Homes / The Myth of the Numbers on the Arms / To the IDF with
Love
* In Memoriam: Devorah Friedman of Efrat / Avi Sabag Of Otniel /
Parents Mourn Their Children - One Year since the Murder of Koby
Mandell and Yosef Ish-Ran of Tekoa: Yosef, Child Of Dreams - Rena Ish-
Ran / Why We Stay In Israel - Sherri Mandell / At the Washington Rally
for Israel - Rabbi Seth Mandell
* Rebuilding Jewish Life: Restoring a Jewish Neighborhood in Jerusalem
- 2002 / Breakthrough to Negohot
* Perspectives on the Arabs: Terror is Born of Hope, Not Despair / The
Palestinian Point of View / Stop Insulting the Arabs / Arabs Enjoy
Terrorist Attack Scene / Cause for Concern: The Islamic Movement in
Israel
**********************************************************************
WAR NOW
Normally on Seder night we have no idea of the news since we don't
turn on TV or radio during a religious holiday, but our daughter, a
veteran Magen David Adom (Israeli Red Cross) volunteer, had an MDA
beeper. It went off all night, telling us the story of the massacre at
the Seder in Netanya.
Life has gotten totally nutty, especially in Jerusalem, with
constant suicide bombings. There is only one answer - War Now. We
should have done this a year and a half ago, before hundreds of
innocent Jews were murdered and hundreds more maimed and crippled.
I have no doubt we'll win in the end, but that's no comfort. This
was all so unnecessary. We saw all this coming years ago and nobody
listened. We tried to get people's attention and were called fascists
for our efforts. For the past few years I've taken to muttering to
myself how the truth seems to be irrelevant. Stupid Jews, the "best and
the brightest," did this to us.
Now the Israeli center has moved right. According to _Maariv_, 55
percent of Israelis say they identify with the right; 17 percent with
the left. With a broad 75 percent consensus, Sharon is finally going to
war. The Israeli center is more than ready. Military units are getting
over 100 percent response to call-ups, as volunteers fly in from abroad
and those with exemptions for health or age report for duty. Israelis
are working together as I've never seen and have only read about.
Israeli civilians are flooding the reservists and regulars with food,
cellphone batteries, and underwear. Flags are flying.
The consensus in the media has switched about the need to defend
ourselves. Funny thing about timing. We shouted for 9 years that war
was coming and the center didn't listen. But then they finally blew
away enough Jews who did not live in the territories but in "Israel
proper." They attacked a Pesach Seder, the one thing that nearly every
Jew participates in, and the coin finally dropped, as Israelis say.
It seems that America at war doesn't have the heart to pressure
Israel at war. The dissonance is just too great. Suicide bombings hit
only 2 places in the world recently, America and Israel. It's obvious
to everyone here that we have to fight. As Sharon said to the
Americans: "You have interests, we have funerals."
Americans respect Israel when it stands up for itself and doesn't
act like a wimp. They want to believe in the superman Israelis of the
Six-Day War and Entebbe. And the rest of the world will never love us
no matter what we do.
-- M.A.
**********************************************************************
ANSWER THE PHONE ON THE SABBATH
Rabbi Menachem Fruman
The people of Israel, as we know, is at war with its enemies and we
in Tekoa are at the front line of the conflict. Thus, in every case
when a family receives a telephone call on the Sabbath, they must
answer the phone immediately because it may be a security announcement
that is connected to Pikuach Nefesh (breaking the rules of the Sabbath
is permitted to save your life) and the victory of Israel over its
enemies.
From the perspective of the Sabbath - the essence of violating
Shabbat by telephone is the light that comes on at the time of the
ringing. Therefore, anyone who has an old telephone with no light (but
in working condition) should use it for the Sabbath. But even a person
who has a telephone that lights must, as noted, answer it on the
Sabbath. It would be preferred to lift the receiver in a way different
from the usual way (for example, between your two last fingers), but
whoever is unable to do this should not hesitate to lift the receiver
of the telephone.
For the victory of Israel.
(Rabbi Fruman is the Rabbi of Tekoa; From _Teko-iton_, 14 March
2002, p. 1)
**********************************************************************
Jewish Heroes:
FIGHTING FOR OUR HOMES
David Wilder
A friend of mine, let's call him Avi (he would never forgive me if
I used his real name), is a multi-faceted person, with many interests,
talents and expertise. In the army he is a rabbi, or chaplain, as they
are called. In real life he is, among other things, a first-class
paramedic. When the call-up started, Avi received a phone call from one
of the soldiers in his unit. It was Friday afternoon, a few hours
before the beginning of Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath. "Avi, we're all
here, we've been called up." Despite the fact that he had not received
orders, without thinking about it, Avi packed a bag and left his family
for the base, joining the rest of the troops.
One might ask, what does a combat unit need with a rabbi, but Avi
doesn't restrict himself to spiritual tasks. Rather, he takes part in
all the unit's activities, never knowing a quiet moment.
It wasn't long before the unit received it's assignment: Jenin.
Jenin is the northernmost Samarian city today belonging to the
Palestinian Authority. It is also full of terrorists. Prior to the
beginning of the current "Defensive Shield" war, whenever Israel began
retaliating against the PA in response to terror attacks, the Arab
terrorists fleeing from the IDF would run north, reaching Jenin. As a
result the city filled up with more than its share of terrorists. Most
of the fleeing terrorists found shelter in the refugee camp, turning it
into one of the most dangerous areas in Samaria. Numerous terror
attacks against Israeli civilian targets initiated from Jenin. In order
to eliminate terror, a house-to-house battle in Jenin was imminent.
Avi, together with his unit, made their way to the city of terror.
Avi's commanders, learning that the unit's rabbi was also a paramedic,
asked him if he would be willing to participate in the unit's medical
team. Avi's response was immediate, "Yes, of course." Avi is forty
years old, married with a bunch of children, the oldest in the army and
the youngest in nursery school. Most of the people he serves with are
in their twenties or early thirties.
The battle for Jenin began. Avi was called to duty, "A soldier
wounded in the refugee camp." Avi quickly jumped into an APC – an
armored personnel carrier. Crowded in with a few other people, Avi
found himself in the middle of the battle. The APC's front entrance
slid open and Avi found himself inside the camp, gunfire all around.
Jumping out, he zigzagged from building to building, before finding the
wounded soldier, treating him, and getting him back to the IDF
encampment.
A short time later, again, an injured officer. This time Avi had to
run through a field, taking cover behind rocks, ducking down to avoid
terrorist gunfire. As he told me, "I kept thinking how easy it would be
to die here." When Avi and the IDF doctor reached their destination, it
was too late. The officer had died of his wounds. There was nothing
they could do but return the officer's body to the camp headquarters.
Avi came home for a few days, but made it clear, "I'm going back,"
he said. He doesn't have to, he didn't receive call-up orders. He
didn't have to participate as a paramedic during the battle – his army
job is as a rabbi. When I asked him why he had gone in the first place,
Avi said, "well, the whole unit was there, so I had to be there too."
Avi isn't the only hero of the Defensive Shield War. Avi told me of
others, who in everyday life sell insurance, drive taxis, teach in
school, who all showed up for duty, one minute a civilian, the next
minute a soldier, running through ankle-high mud, in the pouring rain,
eating battle rations, dodging bullets, not always successfully. No
complaints, no "why me?" – ordinary people, all of whom have one thing
in common. They all know and say (as Avi told me), "we are fighting for
our homes." This isn't Falkland or Vietnam, it is a war for our houses,
our yards, our families.
(From The Jewish Community of Hebron, April 8, 2002)
**********************************************************************
THE MYTH OF THE NUMBERS ON THE ARMS
Interview with Brig.-Gen. Yitzhak Gershon
Commander of the Judea and Samaria Division
Q: This week it was claimed that you [the IDF] wrote numbers on the
arms of Palestinian prisoners?
A: "From the investigation that we made, it seems that this never
occurred. There was one such incident in the very distant past, but not
during our recent actions. The officer appointed to investigate the
incident checked all the units, in all their activities, and according
to his current unofficial data, the story is simply incorrect. It seems
to me that this is just another part of Palestinian propaganda, which
is the opposite of the truth that every detainee received food and
drink from us, and this stems exactly from the understanding that we do
not want to create more enemies for ourselves."
(From Maariv, Mussaf Shabbat, 15 Mar 02, p. 7)
**********************************************************************
TO THE IDF WITH LOVE
[The following is just one of scores of accounts of civilians
throughout Israel spontaneously assisting IDF reservists].
Thousands of army reservists were activated over the weekend, even
on the Sabbath. The suddenness of the call-up found the army without
sufficient food supplies, but the residents of Beit El came to the
rescue. Over 2,000 soldiers who were called to the army base outside
Beit El found that local residents had set up tables loaded with food
from their own holiday meals. In one synagogue, one local member got up
immediately after prayers and announced the situation, and within a
half-hour, children, women, and men were on their way with bags, pots,
and in some cases wagonloads of food.
One woman related that she went into her neighbor's home, told her
what was going on, and "the family simply got up in the middle of their
meal, took the pots from the stovetop, and brought them out to the
soldiers." One of the local supermarkets was opened for the cause as
well. One family was spotted on its way over with pots of freshly-
cooked food at 1:15 in the morning.
(Arutz7, http://www.israelnn.com - 31 March 2002)
**********************************************************************
IN MEMORIAM: DEVORAH FRIEDMAN OF EFRAT
On 5 March 2002, Devorah Friedman, 45, from Efrat, was killed and
her husband sustained serious wounds in a shooting attack as they were
driving toward Jerusalem on the Bethlehem bypass road near the village
of Husan.
**********************************************************************
IN MEMORIAM: AVI SABAG OF OTNIEL
On 24 March 2002, Avi Sabag, 24, of the Southern Hevron Hills
community of Otniel, was murdered by Palestinian terrorists. He was on
his way home from Jerusalem when Arabs laying in wait on the side of
the road ambushed his vehicle and opened fire with automatic weapons.
Sabag was wearing a bulletproof vest and a helmet, but a bullet struck
his neck and fatally wounded him. A former hesder yeshiva student and
an IDF combat medic, Avi Sabag was married six months ago.
(Arutz7 - 25 Mar 02)
**********************************************************************
Parents Mourn Their Children - One Year since the Murder of
Kobi Mandell and Yosef Ish-Ran of Tekoa:
YOSEF, CHILD OF DREAMS
Rena Ish-Ran
From Yosef Ish-Ran's diary:
I always wanted to be up in the sky
To float in the air
To close my eyes
And see my body
Who said that dreams can't come true?
(Under these words, Yosef drew a porcupine with the word "dreams"
inside the picture.)
Rena, Yosef's mother, writes to Yosef:
As time passed, it became clear to me that you belong to a world
that is all good.
A short time before the murderous hand harmed you, you asked me:
"Do you believe in life after death?" And I answered in all innocence:
"Of course, Yosef, with all my heart I believe in the next world." I
did not realise that you were testing me.
After your brutal murder, your sister Nohav found your diary. When
did you have time to write those lines?
You drew a porcupine with many quills and between the 14th and 15th
quill you drew an arrow pointing downwards. (Yosef was 14 years old
when he was murdered.) What were you going through in that period? --
and we didn't guess a thing.
Yosef, child of secrets and dreams, skilled on the computer, and
child of the wonders of nature. Our only request is that you be an
advocate for the people of Israel, for their unity, for the return to
health of the wounded, and for the comfort of those who mourn.
Ima (Mommy)
(From the Memorial Booklet for Yaakov and Yosef, Tekoa, 28 Apr 02)
* * *
WHY WE STAY IN ISRAEL
Sherri Mandell
It feels crazy to live in Israel right now. A few people are
leaving. I understand them. It's horrible to live with the violence,
and the attendant stress and anxiety. We Israelis are so vulnerable:
traveling in a car or bus, going to a cafe, even staying home. All have
been woven with terror. Every time of day and night, we know we are
targets.
One recent Friday night, we were awakened at 1 in the morning by
the loudspeaker in our community. The announcement said: "There is a
warning that there is a terrorist in Tekoa. Lock your windows and
doors, sleep with a gun, guard your children. Turn out all of the
lights."
We quickly turned off the lights even though we are Sabbath
observers. We locked the doors and windows. We put a chair in front of
the front door. Then the phone rang. Our neighbor was calling to make
sure that we had heard the warning.
The kids were scared, shaking. I told them that we would protect
them, take care of them. That they should try to go to sleep.
The kids fell to sleep, all of them in our bed. I prayed and then
slept fitfully, hoping that morning would soon be on its way. Around 3
a.m. the loudspeaker came on again. The warning was over. For now. But
as I told my children, it's rare that terrorists warn you.
They certainly didn't warn my son, Koby, 13, before they stoned him
and his friend Yosef to death, crushing their skulls so they were
unrecognizable. Koby and Yosef were hiking near our home in Tekoa. The
two boys wanted to know the canyon beyond our house like the backs of
their hands. They were killed for their love of the land. They were
killed for being Jews.
My friend was at a movie in Jerusalem on Saturday night, the night
of the massacre at the Moment Cafe when a terrorist killed 11 people.
The manager stopped the movie and told the patrons what had happened
and asked if they wanted the movie to continue. They didn't. They all
went home.
Why do people continue to stay here even though we are being
slaughtered by terrorists? Because many of us feel a deep sense of
connection here, to our country, our heritage, and to each other.
The sense of connection manifests itself in surprising ways. Today
I go to the makolet, the grocery store, and there is a man filling a
cardboard box with goodies to send to his son in the army. The man
picks out a bar of chocolate, plain milk chocolate. And the makolet
lady, Rena, says: "Your son doesn't like that kind of chocolate. Noam
likes crunchy chocolate."
Another story: My friend Ruth is at a kiosk buying a drink. A
little girl says shyly to the proprietor: "What can I get for 2
shekels?" He says, "nothing." Then he hands her a shekel. "But now you
have three. You can buy gum or a candy." Ruth fishes into her pocket.
"Now you have four."
Here there is a feeling of family. Here in the face of pain and
suffering, we don't feel alone. We feel that we are a net that is woven
together and though it is full of holes, it is strong enough to lift us
up. If we make a hole in the net, the net is weakened. Of course it can
be mended. But it will never be quite the same.
We don't want to make a hole in the net. We don't want to leave the
place where our son is buried. We don't want to leave the only place in
the world where time is measured by a Jewish calendar, where the
celebrations center on the Jewish holidays, where the language is the
language of the Bible. We don't want to leave the center of Jewish
history. Now we are part of that long, hard history. We are part of the
struggle of the Jewish people trying to live in their land. My son died
for being a Jew. I want to live as one.
(From http://www.projectonesoul.com/mandell.html, March 2002)
* * *
AT THE WASHINGTON RALLY FOR ISRAEL (APRIL 15, 2002)
Rabbi Seth Mandell
My son Koby Mandell, and his friend Yosef Ish-Ran, were in the 8th
grade when Palestinian terrorists murdered them in cold
blood -- when Palestinian murderers beat them to death with boulders
the size of bowling balls. Palestinian terrorists beat them so badly
that they had to have dental records to identify them.
These men mutilated my son and his friend after they looked them in
the eyes. They looked them in the eyes, and they knew what they were.
They were 13-year-old boys out on a hike 200 yards from their house.
Koby grew up 10 miles from here in Silver Spring, Maryland. He
had pictures on his wall of Cal Ripkin and Michael Jordan. There were
only three things he really liked to do in life: study the Torah and
the Talmud, play baseball, and play basketball.
The Talmud says that if you destroy one life, you destroy the
entire world. I know because my world was destroyed when they killed my
son. My family's world was destroyed when they killed my son. My
community was destroyed when they killed my son. This is true not only
for me and my family, this is true for every one of the families of the
460 people who have been killed in the last year and a half. My son
Koby was about number 65. It goes on and on.
The worst moment that I experience is on Friday night. I walk into
Shul and I see my son's friends. They shake hands with each other
and they laugh and they give each other "high fives," and I watch them.
And then I look at the seat next to me. That's Koby's seat -- and
Koby's not there. At that moment, I know more than any other that he's
not going to be there.
(http://www.israelrally.org/transcript.doc)
**********************************************************************
Rebuilding Jewish Life:
RESTORING A JEWISH NEIGHBORHOOD IN JERUSALEM - 2002
The Homot Shalem association has purchased 20 homes in a
neighborhood opposite the Damascus Gate to Jerusalem's Old City and two
Jewish families have already moved in.
Hundreds of Jews of Georgian, Kurdish, and Iraqi dissent had lived
in the neighborhood, known today as Arab Musrara, from 1875 until the
Arab riots of 1929, when 19 of its Jewish residents were murdered and
subsequently buried in a mass grave on the Mount of Olives. The
remaining Jewish residents were expelled.
Ravit Biton, 25, who has a seven-month-old baby and has been living
there for the past seven months, said she came to the neighborhood for
ideological reasons, and relations with her Arab neighbors have been
cordial, especially with their upstairs Christian neighbor, Johnny, who
concurred.
(From Etgar Lefkovits, _Jerusalem Post_, 15 Apr 02, p. 2)
* * *
MK Rabbi Benny Elon, a prime mover of the project, explained some
of the background to Arutz-7:
"Many years ago, in 1875, a Jew named Reb Nissan Bek established a
Jewish neighborhood in this spot, and some years later, some Jews from
Georgia (Asia) built 100 homes opposite Damascus Gate. Two synagogues
used to stand on the spot that is now used as an Arab parking lot. Over
the past several years we have been able to redeem about a third of the
homes - dozens of homes are now in Jewish hands." He explained that
until now the work of redeeming the neighborhood was done quietly,
because of the dangers involved, but now "it is time to get more people
and resources involved....Just like in the Shimon HaTzaddik
neighborhood (see _Judea Magazine_ 6.6), which is once again becoming
Jewish, here, too, and elsewhere, the Arabs take the money and leave -
to Australia, Austria, etc. It is clear that we are more connected to
these lands than they are, and we have to encourage them to take the
money and go." For more information, contact
chaim@uvnehyerushalayim.org.
(From Arutz7 - 14 April 2002)
**********************************************************************
BREAKTHROUGH TO NEGOHOT
The new Jewish village of Negohot in the western Hebron Hills is
growing. The village became famous when its primary access road was
turned over to the Palestinian Authority in March 2000 (see _Judea
Magazine_ 8.2, 8.5). During the past year it was impossible for Jews to
travel eastward toward nearby places of work and study in Hebron and
Kiryat Arba. They could travel only westward, making an hours-long trek
via the coastal plain near Kiryat Gat.
Yet the village has doubled in population, today numbering 21
families. A new kindergarten has opened and agriculture is being
developed on the surrounding land. The first permanent houses are
nearing completion.
And now the circle has been completed...one month ago the army
agreed to assure daily protected travel eastward on the road connecting
Negohot to the rest of the Hebron Hills.
For information about visiting or joining Negohot, call 02-9605188.
* * *
SALUTING NEGOHOT
During my last stint of army reserve duty as a truck driver I came
to Negohot, situated on a hill just east of the Lachish region. With a
simple binoculars I could see the school in Kiryat Gat where my
children learned. The entire coastal plain lay below me from Tel Aviv
southward. It was good to know that these hills are held by the
wonderful families of Negohot and not the extremists of the PLO whose
rockets could hit any point between the "green line" and the "blue
line" - the sea. We here in Kiryat Gat salute you.
Yosef Gilad, Kiryat Gat (from Letter to _Haaretz_, 2 Shevat 5762)
(From "A Bit of Light," 17 Adar 5762, newsletter of the Orot
Movement, http://www.tora.co.il)
**********************************************************************
Perspectives on the Arabs:
TERROR IS BORN OF HOPE, NOT DESPAIR
Yaakov Hasdai researched the IDF's performance for the Agranat
Commission investigating Israel's failures in the Yom Kippur War.
Q: Do you accept the claim that it is impossible to defeat terror?
A: The interesting question here is if terror is born from despair
or from hope. Is it born from despair over poverty and shameful living
conditions or from the hope that it is possible to destroy Israeli
society?
Q: Do you have an answer to this question?
A: I asked myself, why did the first intifada break out in 1987?
Who not earlier? After all, this was 20 years after 1967. The
conclusion is simple: as long as the leading generation was the one
that remembered 1948 and 1967, they respected us. In 1987 the leading
generation was the one that saw the Yom Kippur War and Lebanon. This
generation felt no respect toward us. The terror is influenced in great
measure by the way they perceive us.
(From Amnon Lord, _Makor Rishon_ Diyukon, 22 Mar 02, pp. 23-25
**********************************************************************
THE PALESTINIAN POINT OF VIEW
Interview with Maj.-Gen. Ya'akov Amidror
Maj.-Gen Ya'akov Amidror, former head of the Research and
Assessment Department of the IDF Intelligence Branch, recently retired
after 36 years in the IDF.
Q: Is there a chance peace can be reached with Palestinian
Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat?
A: The fact is, Arafat has never, not once, given orders to his
security forces to eliminate the terror organizations, and this tells
me that he has never seriously intended to fulfill the Oslo Accords.
Q: Is the IDF entrance into Area A correct?
A: It is impossible to operate against terror if there is a place
for terrorists to flee to, and then organize themselves and stage
attacks. There is no choice but to harm the PA because, to my great
regret, they are giving terror sanctuary.
From the Palestinians' point of view, they thought in terms of an
agreement with Israel as a step toward the continuation of the
conflict. We have to prevent this, and it can only be done if the other
side understands it can't get anything by force. At the moment they
don't understand this.
Q: Is the openness and aggressiveness of the local media weakening
our national strength?
A: It gives our enemies hope because the other side believed that
what the media says gives the true measure of Israel's strength. And
this causes us damage. It plants hopes in the other side that give it
the desire to carry on.
(From Arieh O'Sullivan, _Jerusalem Post_, 29 Mar 02, p. B2)
**********************************************************************
STOP INSULTING THE ARABS
Rabbi Ben Tzion Krasnianski
Do Jews Belong in Israel?
Oslo is an arrogant and wholesale dismissal of our Arabic cousins.
The Arabs have a serious argument. At Camp David they cited to former
President Clinton the famous biblical story of the two mothers arguing
over the baby and King Solomon's brilliant verdict. They argued that
the very fact that Israel was willing to divide or even negotiate
Jerusalem, while the Arabs were not, proved that the Israelis were not
the true "mothers."
The Arabs view Jews, especially European Jews, as a foreign
implant, as outsiders who have colonized and occupied native Arab land.
All the most reasonable and logical arguments in the world and all the
UN resolutions combined will not change for them the simple fact that
Jews don't belong in Israel. According to the Arabs, all of Israel is
one big settlement and all Israelis are settlers occupying the land of
millions of displaced Arabs. This is the fundamental truth that lies at
the heart of this long conflict. The Arabs are a spirited people who
respect truth and will not be browbeaten into submission.
Israel to date has not formulated a coherent response to this
apparently just argument. Why, even G-d takes this argument seriously
enough to add an entire book to the Bible for the sole purpose of
refuting this argument. Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, the revered 11th
century French rabbi) opens his commentary on the very first words of
the Torah with a question. Why does the Torah begin with the account of
creation, when it should have begun with the first commandment given to
the Jewish people as a newborn nation during the Exodus? In essence,
the entire book of Genesis doesn't belong in the Torah.
He replies that G-d wanted to provide the Jewish people with a
response to the international allegation that Jews stole the land of
Israel from the Canaanites. The Torah begins with the story of creation
to teach us that the entire universe, the heavens as well as the earth,
belongs to G-d; therefore, he may do with it as he pleases. The only
reason G-d included the book of Genesis is to tell us that he has
decided to give his Holy Land to the children of Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob as an eternal inheritance. Interestingly, Rashi wrote his
commentary during the First Crusade period when the Christians were
battling with the Muslims over the Land of Israel.
It's not by human might that Jews came to Israel, but by Divine
right. Neither political prowess nor military power brought us to
Israel, rather by Divine grace. Indeed, ever since Joshua conquered the
land from the Canaanites over 3,300 years ago, there has never been an
independent nation in Israel other than that of the Jews. Whenever
Israel was bereft of Jews, the land shriveled up, becoming barren,
inhospitable, and filled with malaria-infested swamps. Although we were
exiled from our homeland, only our bodies were sent into exile, not our
souls. For thousands of years now and up until this very day, Jews all
over the world turn three times a day towards Jerusalem to pray.
On the Nature of Truth
Truth is like pregnancy: Just as there's no partial pregnancy,
there's no partial truth. The conflict boils down to the fundamental
question: Do Jews belong in Israel or not? If Jews don't belong there
and are not allowed to settle in Hebron, Bethlehem and in Gaza, then
surely Jews don't belong in Tel Aviv and Jaffa. In that case, we truly
are a bunch of thieves, crooks, usurpers, and bandits of the worst
kind. If, however, Israel belongs to the Jewish people, then every Jew
has the right and the privilege to live freely in his homeland. Jews
are guests in the "royal palace" and we neither own nor control the
land. We neither have the right nor the unprecedented chutzpah and
audacity to give away our Host's dining room and to negotiate away his
bedroom.
The Arabs and the international community are waiting to hear how
Jews will respond to this critical question. The moment of truth has
arrived. As long as Jews are terrified to proclaim the simple truth
that Israel is our home and it's not negotiable, there will never be
peace in the Holy Land. It's time to tell the truth that a "Palestinian
State" will never happen, not in G-d's lifetime. No one is doing the
Arabs any favors by cruelly fueling false hopes that will only lead to
frustration and greater disillusionment.
(Rabbi Krasnianski is Director of Chabad Lubavitch of the Upper East
Side of Manhattan; from Arutz7, 8 Mar 02)
**********************************************************************
ARABS ENJOY TERRORIST ATTACK SCENE
Israeli television broadcast scenes of a sharp dispute that broke
out between Health Minister Nissim Dahan (Shas) and Maaleh I'ron Mayor
Muhammad Jabarin. It occurred at the site of the deadly terrorist
attack that killed seven Jewish bus passengers, where local Israeli-
Arab residents seemed to be rather happy about the tragic results of
the attack. Minister Dahan explained to Arutz-7 what happened there:
"I arrived on the scene of the attack and received a briefing from
the commander of the rescue forces. He told me that only Magen David
Adom personnel and some passersby took part, but that the local [Arab]
residents did not help. This did not particularly upset me, since I
know that not everyone knows first-aid - although in my experience,
I've seen that everyone tries to give a hand and chip in. But then he
added that the Arabs were standing alongside the road and laughing at
the rescue workers… Then I saw the mayor being interviewed and yelling
that he wants peace and the IDF officers should stop their incitement.
This was already too much. I invited him to come across the street with
me and see for himself what his own citizens were doing, and give them
a message of peace, instead of yelling on the national media against an
IDF officer...but he refused to come."
"How do you see this war ending?" he was asked, and responded, "If
it was up to me, I'd end this war tomorrow." How? "By showing more
aggressiveness and less mercy. It's true that a fundamental Jewish
trait is that we are 'merciful ones, children of merciful ones,' but we
have to fight this war the way wars are fought. We always try to treat
the other side humanely, but the fact is that they are wild animals."
(From Arutz 7, 21 March 02)
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CAUSE FOR CONCERN: THE ISLAMIC MOVEMENT IN ISRAEL
Ben Caspit
Security Services veteran Hezi Callo presented disturbing data in a
talk in January 2002 on the Islamic movement as it spreads among
Israel's Arabs.
The data documented the increase in "number and quality" of the
involvement of Israeli Arabs in terrorist attacks, and on the
radicalization of the Islamic movement, described as "a hothouse for
terror."
A comprehensive survey indicated that 48% of Israeli Arabs agreed
that "Israel has no right to exist as a Jewish Zionist state" (compared
to 35% in 1995), and more than 15% agree that "Israel has no right to
exist as a state."
The ideology of the movement, as explained by Callo, is to change
the face of Arab society in Israel, to implement Islamic law in all
areas of life, to establish an Islamic state that will eventually join
the overall Islamic entity, to reject the existence of any infidel
(non-Muslim) state within the Islamic region that includes Palestine,
and therefore to reject the existence of the State of Israel.
The survey shows that this movement is part of the world Islamic
movement and the Muslim Brothers. Callo also presented harsh statements
by its leaders, even harsher statements from its publications, and
additional worrisome facts.
The Security Services recommend declaring the Islamic movement
illegal, or at least parts of it. Until the movement is made illegal,
it will be difficult to counter its activities and wage real war
against it.
(From _Maariv_ Shabbat, 1 Feb 02, p. 9)
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