Why There is No Peace Between Israelis and Palestinians

Israel’s fight for its people and its right to exist has not changed since the United Nations created the state in 1948. The Arab nations refused to recognize Israel then. Today Arabs still refuse recognition of Israel.

Here is the way Palestinians pour fuel on the fire.

From the Daily Beast:
Hamas Head Defiant in Speech
That’s the way to foster peace! The political head of Hamas, Khaled Meshal, addressed a crowd of thousands at the 25th anniversary of the Islamic group, saying that Israel would be wiped out through “resistance” or military might. In case that wasn’t clear, he added that an Islamic Palestinian state in Israel would not be conceived through negotiations. The speech, given in Gaza City, marks the first time Meshal has been back in Gaza in 45 years since his exile. Aside from the usual “we’ll never recognize Israel as a legitimate state” speech, he said that the ceasefire was a great military achievement for Hamas.

Read more at this New York Times report.

David Bancroft

Palestinian will hate Israelis Forever

A letter to the editor in the Los Angeles Daily News

Israel Defends Itself

Most of us were brought up to defend ourselves when someone threatens us. Israel is no different. This mighty country is surrounded by countries wanting to wipe it off the map. This will never happen. In the Six-Day War, Israel went to war and won. They won the war and the land. To keep peace, they gave back land that was rightfully theirs. It didn’t work. They’ve been attacked by hundreds of rockets aimed at the country by militants in the Gaza Strip. Israel needs to enter Gaza and seek out the missile installations and put them out of commission. Their enemies will try to supply them with
more weapons, but in the meantime, there will be peace. And maybe, just maybe, it will stick. One can only hope.

Ron Sellz, Chatsworth, California

Let’s be clear. The fight between Arabs and Israelis is not easily resolved. Each group has valid arguments supporting their positions and objectives. The battle of Israelis goes back to the years before there was a State of Israel. This small country is only the size of New Jersey. It was created from what was a British Mandate authorized after World War 1. The Arabs hate the idea of a Jewish State that was agreed to by the United Nations.

Without going through all the wars that Israel has fought, that country is still hated by its Arab neighbors and has been confronted by terrorists who have only one objective; destroy Israel at any cost and drive its citizens into the Mediterranean Sea. Hamas leader, Khaled Meshal, who has lived in exile in Syria, said today, “Get out of our land.” Another spokesperson said Zionists cannot control even one inch of Palestinian land. The objective of Hamas is the total destruction of Israel.

My question: How can you negotiate with an enemy who retains its objective of total destruction of your country? The answer is, You can’t. The negotiated truce is just a temporary situation. Hamas still maintains its objective.

I do not see a solution to the Israel Palestinian confrontation ever!

David Bancroft

Why the IOC will never memorialize the ’72 Munich massacre

Posted by David Bancroft

Why the IOC will never memorialize the ’72 Munich massacre

By Guri Weinberg

Published July 27, 2012

FoxNews.com

Recently, new information about the Munich Massacre at the 1972 Olympic Games was released by German police as a result of pressure from German investigative reporters. It was reported that the “Black September” terrorists were helped by a Nazi group in Germany to get fake IDs, weapons and access to the Olympic Village.

This was not too shocking, as the head of the IOC in 1972 was Avery Brundage, a Nazi sympathizer and anti-Semite. His protege, Juan Samaranch, eventually served the second longest IOC term as president, but his support of Nazis and the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco was kept a dirty secret. Most IOC members knew the truth but stayed silent because he organized a regal lifestyle for them — with money diverted from sport.

‘I want all of you to lose your jobs and be replaced by real Olympians who care about the athletes and believe in the Olympic charter.’

Another interesting fact is that Abu Iyad, one of the co-founders of the PLO, has said publicly that the reason “Black September” chose the 1972 Olympics as the stage for their hostage plot was because the PLO’s request to the IOC for inclusion of the Palestinian delegation at the Olympic Games was completely ignored. This snub from the IOC came at a time when tension was at a boiling point in the Middle East. Yet, having incited the PLO, the IOC denied the Israeli government’s request for security for the athletes.

In 1996, I, along with other Munich orphans and three of the widows, were invited for the first time to the Olympic Games in Atlanta. Before the Opening Ceremony, we met with Alex Gilady. Gilady has been a member of the IOC’s Radio and Television Commission since 1984 and has been the senior vice president of NBC Sports since 1996.

I have known Mr. Gilady since I was a kid; in fact, I grew up with his daughter. He had been supportive in the past regarding our plea for a moment of silence during the Opening Ceremonies, so we arrived with high hopes. Gilady informed us that a moment of silence was not possible because if the IOC had a moment of silence for the Israeli athletes, they would also have to do the same for the Palestinians who died at the Olympics in 1972.

My mother said, “But no Palestinian athletes died.”

Gilady responded, “Well, there were Palestinians who died at the 1972 Olympics.”

I heard one of the widows say to Gilady, “Are you equating the murder of my husband to the terrorists that killed him?”

Silence.

Then Ilana Romano burst out with a cry that has haunted me to this day. She screamed at Gilady, “How DARE you! You KNOW what they did to my husband! They let him lay there for hours, dying slowly, and then finished him off by castrating him and shoving it in his mouth, ALEX!”

I looked at Gilady’s face as he sat there, stone cold with no emotion. This man knew these athletes personally. This man led the Israeli media delegation at the 1972 Olympics and saw this atrocity first hand. This man saw my father’s dead, naked body thrown out front of the Olympic Village for all the world to see. Without a hint of empathy, Gilady excused himself from our meeting.

That’s when I understood that the IOC wasn’t turning us down because of their resistance to :politics.” Rather, it was due to the specific politics the IOC apparently still embraces. Based on its history of Nazi support, greed and the blood on their own hands for inciting the PLO, they would never support Israeli athletes.

Now, I have a message to all the members of the IOC. The torture inflicted by “Black September” on the 11 Israeli athletes and their families took 48 hours. Your torture of the families and the memories of those esteemed athletes has lasted 40 years. I am not satisfied with a moment of silence in every Opening Ceremony of the Summer Games. Now I want all of you to lose your jobs and be replaced by real Olympians who care about the athletes and believe in the Olympic charter.

The threat of the IOC coming after me does not scare me anymore. When you have no more dignity, you have nothing to lose. So, members of the IOC — my name is Guri Weinberg and I am the son of Moshe Weinberg, the wrestling coach murdered at the 1972 Olympics. And I am not going away.

Romney: You bet Jerusalem is the capital

For pro-Israel Democrats who continue to support Obama, this article should raise some thoughts.

What does it mean to those who attack Israel when this US administration refuses to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital? Will this keep Israel safe? Or does it embolden them in their continued rejection of a Jewish State of Israel? If Iran attacked Israel what would the US administration do?

Thanks for reading these columns, David Bancroft

From Lawrence White

Sent: Sunday, July 29, 2012 5:47 PM

Romney: You bet Jerusalem is the capital

Lawrence W. White

At a news briefing in the White House three days ago, Jay Carney, White House press secretary, was asked by a reporter:

” What city does this administration consider to be the capital of Israel, Jerusalem or Tel Aviv?”

Carney refused to answer, other than to say “Our position has not changed.” Other reporters pressed him for an answer, again with no response.

The next day, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) responded to Carney’s refusal to answer.

“For thousands of years, Jerusalem has been the eternal capital of the Jewish people, but this administration refuses to say if Jerusalem is the true capital,” Cantor said. “At a moment when Israel is facing so many perils, the United States should be standing by our ally, not quibbling or quarreling about its capital city.”

In 2008, then candidate Barack Obama told AIPAC that “Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided.” (Within 24 hours he backtracked on this statement).

Since taking office, the President, Vice President and the Secretary of State, all of whom had previously touted strong pro-Israel credentials, have made statements or taken actions detrimental to Israel’s security, as well as opposed any construction in Jewish neighborhoods of Jerusalem.

This should give pause to those who believe our President when he claims that, with respect to pro-Israel credentials, he has the best record of any President of the US. Never mind the repeated hostility shown to the Prime Minister of Israel by our President, never mind the fact that Secretary Clinton screamed at Benjamin Netanyahu over the telephone, something she has done to no other foreign leader, never mind that, in the words of Aaron Miller, “unlike his two predecessors — Bill Clinton and George W. Bush – he’s not in love with the idea of Israel.”

And now, we have Mitt Romney visiting Israel. For him, there is no ambiguity as to the capital of Israel. Below is an article written by Jennifer Rubin, who writes for the Washington Post, describing the visit to Jerusalem by Mitt Romney.

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Romney: You bet Jerusalem is the capital

By Jennifer Rubin

Without specifically criticizing President Obama in his speech in Jerusalem, Mitt Romney delivered a blow to the Obama campaign’s frantic efforts to defend the president’s hostile stance toward the Jewish state simply by saying: “It is a deeply moving experience to be in Jerusalem, the capital of Israel.” The Obama administration can’t even say that much, a sign of how reflectively protective of the Palestinians’ sensibilities is this president. Of course, Jerusalem is the capital. It was declared so in 1948. The Knesset is there. The disposition of its borders is a matter for final status negotiation, but only an uninformed or virulently insensitive administration would be unable to distinguish the two.

In a bit of cleverness the Romney team sent out the text of the speech with this header: “Mitt Romney today delivered remarks to the Jerusalem Foundation in Jerusalem, Israel.” That is a deliberate dig at this administration. which has repeatedly put out documents suggesting that Jerusalem isn’t in Israel and has attempted to scrub from the White House Web site the reference to Israel’s capital.

Romney’s speech paid tribute to America’s historic relationship with Israel. (“Different as our paths have been, we see the same qualities in one another. Israel and America are in many respects reflections of one another.”)

It also was a forceful rebuke to Obama on a number of levels. First on Iran:

Over the years Iran has amassed a bloody and brutal record. It has seized embassies, targeted diplomats, and killed its own people. It supports the ruthless Assad regime in Syria. They have provided weapons that have killed American soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq. It has plotted to assassinate diplomats on American soil. It is Iran that is the leading state sponsor of terrorism and the most destabilizing nation in the world.

We have a solemn duty and a moral imperative to deny Iran’s leaders the means to follow through on their malevolent intentions.

We should stand with all who would join our effort to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran — and that includes Iranian dissidents. Do not erase from your memory the scenes from three years ago, when that regime brought death to its own people as they rose up. The threat we face does not come from the Iranian people, but from the regime that oppresses them.

Five years ago, at the Herzliya Conference, I stated my view that Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons capability presents an intolerable threat to Israel, to America, and to the world.

That threat has only become worse.

He also pushed back on Obama’s notion that because he’s been supportive of Israel with military assistance he can be credited with a good record on Israel:

I believe that the enduring alliance between the State of Israel and the United States of America is more than a strategic alliance: It is a force for good in the world. America’s support of Israel should make every American proud. We should not allow the inevitable complexities of modern geopolitics to obscure fundamental touchstones. No country or organization or individual should ever doubt this basic truth: A free and strong America will always stand with a free and strong Israel.

And standing by Israel does not mean with military and intelligence cooperation alone.

We cannot stand silent as those who seek to undermine Israel voice their criticisms. And we certainly should not join in that criticism. Diplomatic distance in public between our nations emboldens Israel’s adversaries.

And he delivered an implicit warning about Egypt:

After a year of upheaval and unrest, Egypt now has an Islamist president, chosen in a democratic election. Hopefully, this new government understands that one true measure of democracy is how those elected by the majority respect the rights of those in the minority. The international community must use its considerable influence to ensure that the new government honors the peace agreement with Israel that was signed by the government of Anwar Sadat.

As you know only too well, since Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, thousands of rockets have rained on Israeli homes and cities. I have walked on the streets of Sderot and honor the resolve of its people. And now, new attacks have been launched from the Sinai Peninsula.

It was a forceful and thoughtful address signaling how his own attitude with Israel differs from Obama. No wonder Democrats are frantic.

Obama’s ablest surrogate to the Jewish community, Dennis Ross, is conspicuously sitting out the election. (He couldn’t even bring himself to say in the present tense that he supports Obama’s Israel policy.) Those pro-Israel Democrats who vouched for Obama in 2008 are now desperate to concoct criticisms of Romney (see my exchange with Jeffrey Goldberg), even for the moving symbolism of visiting the Kotel (the wall of the Second Temple) on the day mourning its destruction, Tisha A’Bav. (Romney noted: “It was Menachem Begin who said this about the Ninth of the month of Av: ‘We remember that day,’ he said, ‘and now have the responsibility to make sure that never again will our independence be destroyed and never again will the Jew become homeless or defenseless.’ This, Prime Minister Begin added, “ ‘is the crux of the problems facing us in the future.’ ”)

That Romney would visit the site of the Second Temple’s destruction on the commemoration of its destruction, like going to Normandy cemeteries on D-Day, is a sign of great sensitivity. (Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu underlined this point by inviting him to break the fast on the mourning day at Bibi’s home).

Pro-Israel Democrats, like all supporters of the Jewish state, should be honest enough to acknowledge, as Aaron David Miller does, that Obama “is not in love with the idea of Israel.” He can’t even get along with its elected government. Romney, by contrast, is plainly an Israel-phile and already enjoys a close relationship with the prime minister. On this, Romney left little to the imagination.

Mormons in Israel

For those of you who do not read the Los Angeles Times this article will be of interest. I do not trust Mitt Romney because he has been a serial flip-flopper. There is hardly a position he took as governor of Massachusetts that he has not changed. If you can believe him, Romney says he would never criticize Israel and would be a steadfast ally to the Jewish state. You could call it politics but there does not appear to be any issue that is core to his beliefs. Still this article may give you pause to at least listen to his campaign.

Mormons in Israel

By Rafael Medoff

Mitt Romney’s trail to the Holy Land was blazed by a Utah missionary a century ago.

MITT ROMNEY’S visit to Israel will generate much speculation on the role Jewish voters will play in the U.S. presidential election. His visit may also spark discussion about Mormon-Jewish relations in the wake of the recent controversy over a Mormon temple that conducted posthumous baptism ceremonies for some Holocaust victims.

But another Mormon’s visit to Jerusalem, 99 years ago, deserves some of the spotlight too. Because that little-known visit ultimately had a decisive impact on Jewish history and America’s response to the Holocaust.

In 1913, 29-year-old Elbert Thomas and his wife, Edna, wrapped up their five-year stint in charge of a Mormon mission in J apan and prepared to return to their native utah. They decided to pay a short visit to Turkish-occupied Palestine on the way home.

The Holy Land figures prominently in Mormon theological tracts. Thomas was keenly aware of Mormon prophecies about an in- . gathering of the Jewish exiles and the rebirth of the Jewish homeland.

“We sat one evening on the Mount of Olives and overlooked Jerusalem,” he later recalled. “We read the poetry and the prophecy, the forebodings and the prayers, with hearts that reached up to God.” Under “stars the likes of which you see nowhere else in the world but on our own American desert, out where I grew up,” Thomas read the lengthy “Prayer of Dedication on the Mount of Olives” by Orson Hyde, an early Mormon leader and fervent Christian Zionist.

“Consecrate this land … for the gathering together of Judah’s scattered remnants … for the building up of Jerusalem again after it has been trodden down by the Gentiles so long,” Hyde had written in 1841. “Restore the kingdom unto Israel, raise up Jerusalem as its capital…. Let that nation or people who shall take an active part in behalf of Abraham’s children, and in the raising of Jerusalem, find favor in Thy sight. Let not their enemies prevail against them … but let the glory oflsrael overshadow them.”

The moment, the mood and the words moved Thomas to feel a deep spiritual connection to the Jewish people and to commit himself to becoming one of those who would “take an active part in behalf of Abraham’s children.” And three decades later, he was presented with an opportunity to do so.

In the 1940s, as a U.S. senator from utah, Thomas became deeply concerned about the plight of the Jews in Nazi Europe. He joined the Emergency Committee to Save the Jewish People of Europe, a lobbying group led by Jewish activist Peter Bergson. Thomas signed on to its full-page newspaper ads criticizing the Allies for abandoning European Jewry. He also cochaired Bergson’s 1943 conference on the rescue of Jews, which challenged the Roosevelt administration’s claim that nothing could be done to help the Jews except winning the war. Although a loyal Democrat and New Dealer, the Utah senator boldly broke ranks with President Franklin D. Roosevelt over the refugee issue.

Thomas played a key role in advancing a Bergson-initiated congressional resolution calling for creation of a government agency to rescue Jews from the Nazis. Sen. Tom Connally CD-Texas), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, initially blocked consideration of the resolution. But when Connally took ill one day, Thomas, as acting chair, quickly introduced the measure. It passed unanimously.

Meanwhile, senior aides to Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau Jr. had discovered that State Department officials had
been obstructing opportunities to rescue Jewish refugees. Morgenthau realized, as he told his staff, that the time had come to say to the president, “You have either got to move very fast, or the Congress of the United States will do it for you.” Armed with a devastating report prepared by his staff, and with congressional pressure mounting, Morgenthau went to FDR in JanuaryI944.

Roosevelt could read the writing on the wall. With just days to go before the full Senate would act on the resolution, Roosevelt preempted Thomas and the other congressional advocates of rescue by imilaterally creating the agency they were demanding: the War Refugee Board.

Although understaffed and underfunded, the board played a major role in saving more than 200,000 Jews during the final 15 months of the war. Among other things, the board’s agents persuaded a young Swede, Raoul Wallenberg, to go to German-occupied Budapest in 1944. There, with the board’s financial backing, he undertook his now-famous rescue mission. Thomas’ action in the Senate was an indispensable part of the chain of events that led to Wallenberg’s mission.

The Swedish government, together with Holocaust institutions and Jewish communities around the world, recently launched a yearlong series of events commemorating this summer’s 100th anniversary of Wallenberg’s birth. One hopes these celebrations will include appropriate mention ofthe role played by Americans such as Thomas in making Wallenberg’s work possible.

And as Romney retraces some of Thomas’ steps in Jerusalem, he will have special reason to feel proud of the role played by a fellow Mormon in helping to save Jewish lives.

RAFAEL MEDOFF is director of the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies and the coauthor with Sonja Schoepf Wentling of the new book “Herbert Hoover and the Jews: The Origins of the ‘Jewish Vote’ and Bipartisan Support for Israel.”

Israeli Draft Pits Secular Jews vs. Ultra-Orthodox

A central problem for the State of Israel is that it is a theocratic democracy. People can elect representatives, but religious leaders have a lot of power over what the government can do. How can Israel, a country that holds itself out as the one true democracy in the Middle East, allow a minority religious sect to dictate its rights and the rule of law for the entire nation?

This article was posted by the Associated Press on my home page. It has been abridged due to its length.

ARON HELLER

From Associated Press

July 07, 2012 3:09 PM EDT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Deep in the heart of Mea Shearim, a Jerusalem bastion of hardline ultra-Orthodox Jews, hundreds of bearded young men in black suits have their noses burrowed into books, immersed in biblical study and oblivious to their surroundings.

They are the creme de la creme of a cloistered community, the Harvard of the ultra-Orthodox world, who are expected neither to work for a living nor serve in the military with other Israelis.

The fight centers on whether ultra-Orthodox males should be drafted into the military along with other Jews, but it really is about a much deeper issue: the place of Judaism in the Jewish state.

The question has come to the fore as the government races to meet a Supreme Court-ordered deadline to revamp the nation’s draft law. In its current form, secular males must perform three years of compulsory service when they turn 18. Ultra-Orthodox men, like the young scholars at the Mir Yeshiva, have special exemptions that allow them to continue studying in their isolated enclaves while collecting government subsidies.

For their supporters, seminary students are preserving a tradition that has served as the very bedrock of Judaism for thousands of years.

“Jews need to study the Bible. That is what makes us unique as a people,” Yerach Tucker, a 30-year-old spokesman for the ultra-Orthodox community, said proudly as he guided a visitor through the Mir Yeshiva. “It is the essence of our lives.”

But polls show the vast majority of Israelis, who risk their lives and put their careers on hold while serving in the military, object strongly to the arrangement, and many see it as the essence of everything that is wrong with their country.

This resentment has fueled a broader high-decibel culture war.

“It is something so ethical, so basic, that we have all grown up upon: service, giving to the state. Everyone here has to give something to society because we are one society,” said Boaz Nol, a reserve officer who was among those planning a massive protest in Tel Aviv against the continued exemptions.

More than 10,000 reservists and their supporters turned out for the rally Saturday night, many of them carrying placards reading “everybody serves.”

The Supreme Court earlier this year ruled the draft exemptions illegal and gave the government until Aug. 1 to figure out a new, fairer system. That is proving far more difficult than expected.

Benjamin Netanyahu’s largest governing partner, the centrist Kadima Party, is now threatening to quit the government, just two months after joining the coalition with the goal of reforming the draft. Netanyahu has vowed to find a compromise.

Dan Halutz, a former Israeli military chief turned Kadima politician, visited the reservists’ protest tent in Tel Aviv Saturday and announced that he was leaving the party.

A glimpse into the world of the ultra-Orthodox shows just how intractable the issue has become. The draft exemptions date back to the time of Israel’s independence in 1948, when founding father David Ben-Gurion exempted 400 exemplary seminary students to help rebuild great schools of Jewish learning destroyed in the Holocaust, when 6 million Jews were murdered.

As ultra-Orthodox parties became power brokers, the numbers mounted. Ultra-Orthodox officials now estimate there are about 100,000 full-time Torah learners of draft age. The heavy emphasis on religious study, begun early on in a separate system of elementary schools, has pushed many ultra-Orthodox men to shun the work world, relying on welfare as they spend their days immersed in holy texts. The ultra-Orthodox make up about 10 percent of Israel’s 8 million citizens.

Steep unemployment, believed to hover around 50 percent, coupled with a high birthrate has fueled deep poverty in the ultra-Orthodox sector. Experts say if these trends continue, Israel’s long-term economic prospects are in danger.

Leaders speak proudly of centuries-old traditions of prayer and learning that they believe has allowed the Jewish people to survive such tragedies as the Spanish Inquisition, European pogroms and the Holocaust.

Ultra-Orthodox leaders insist they will never be forced to serve in the military.

For decades, a string of secular-led Israeli governments have maintained the status quo, either because of their dependence on ultra-Orthodox political kingmakers or out of fear of an angry backlash from a sector that hasn’t hesitated to block roads, clash with police or mobilize tens of thousands of activists into the streets when ordered by their rabbis.

With the clock ticking, Netanyahu now faces a near-impossible task as he tries to satisfy the demands of the secular masses, the Supreme Court and various coalition partners all while preventing sectarian unrest.

Before the parliamentary committee collapse, ultra-Orthodox parties boycotted the panel.

A day after Netanyahu disbanded the committee, its chairman nonetheless released his recommendations. Among the proposals: that no more than 20 percent of ultra-Orthodox males, roughly 1,500 people a year, be granted exemptions, while others be permitted to defer service for no more than five years. A national service option was also introduced for those who didn’t fit into the military.

The details of the debate have dominated political discussion in Israel, handing Netanyahu his biggest challenge yet since he formed a 94-member coalition in early May. His office says he will meet quietly with political leaders in the coming days in order to formulate a fair draft law.

Unlike other Israelis, who mark graduations, military promotions, and professional accomplishments, the ultra-Orthodox only celebrate study. Later this month, for instance, thousands of believers are scheduled to pack a basketball arena to mark the completion of a full study of the Talmud — a seven-year odyssey in which 2,700 pages of rabbinical debates over Jewish law are meticulously dissected at a pace of one page a day.

Many ultra-Orthodox sects aren’t even Zionist and refuse to recognize Israel as a Jewish state until the coming of the Messiah. Some tiny extreme sects even side with the Palestinians and Israel’s archenemy Iran.

Most object to change on much simpler grounds. In Hebrew, the ultra-Orthodox are known as “Haredim,” or “those who fear” God. But it’s not death they fear in the military — it’s immersion in what they see as a secular and hedonistic society.

“The main reason that we can’t serve is that the military simply doesn’t suit us. The military is a secular melting pot,” said Chaim Walder, a well-known ultra-Orthodox author and activist.

It’s not clear how much the military even wants Haredi conscripts. While it formally calls for everyone to serve, military officials acknowledge it will be extremely difficult to incorporate them into the army.

Many Haredi men lack basic skills, like rudimentary math, because their independent school systems barely teach them. Their aversion to direct contact with women would require segregation and could undercut the military’s record of giving female soldiers equal opportunities.

Insubordination could also grow if ultra-Orthodox men found themselves forced to choose between religious beliefs and commanders’ orders.

The costs would also be high: Drafting this community would require special arrangements, such as kitchens conforming to the strictest interpretation of Jewish dietary law and a large chunk of the day set aside for bible study. And as those who are married and with children are entitled to higher salaries — the military would face another financial burden.

Inclusion has been successful in some areas however. The army has designed a number of roles specifically for the needs of ultra-Orthodox soldiers, including a segregated infantry unit as well as computer, technology and intelligence units.

A military official involved in the effort said 85 percent of discharged ultra-Orthodox soldiers went on to find jobs in civilian life.

But altogether, the numbers remain small. Fewer than 1,300 conscripts participated in these programs over the past year, military figures show.

Some leading rabbis have ruled that those not cut out for intensive seminary life or those who were already married — and perhaps less susceptible to the lure of the secular world — could be eligible to serve or take part in a range of civil service options being considered.

“The only thing that is truly keeping us safe here is bible study,” Chaim Walder said. “We are protecting the country with our prayer. We are making sure that there is something here to protect.”
____

Follow Aron Heller at http://www.twitter.com/aronhellerap

Minute of Silence for the Munich 11 Petition

The International Olympic Committee and Jacques Rogge, President of the IOC, offered a resounding “NO” last week to Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon’s formal request for a minute of silence. Regardless, in little over a month, due to your support, The Minute of Silence petition is close to 50,000 signatures. The IOC is paying attention.

JCC Rockland on behalf of the Munich 11 families will not take “NO” for an answer. Fast and forward is the direction that JCC Rockland; Danny Ayalon; Ankie Spitzer/the Munich 11 families and all our dedicated supporters are taking.

Please continue to spread the word about our petition: https://www.change.org/petitions/jacques-rogge-minute-of-silence-at-the-2012-london-olympics.

Regardless of their Religious or political affiliations, these men deserve to be honored, respected and remembered in the Olympic Stadium. Signatures are flowing in from all over the world, recently large numbers from London as we get closer to the Olympic Games, and a blogger for The New York Post wrote today, May 23, 2012 “William and Kate, just one minute, please” asking Prince William and Kate, The Duchess of Cambridge to sign.

In response to the “NO” Danny Ayalon’s office has started a facebook page called Just One Minute and a created a new YouTube video. http://youtu.be/fQcMR0rojQs and https://www.facebook.com/#!/justoneminute.org.uk

We are asking the IOC to reconsider their decision. They have 65 days to change their minds. Please continue to forward the petition.

Thank you for your support.

David Bancroft

Echoes of 1967: Israel is preparing to act

An important commentary by Charles Krauthammer . If he is correct, Netanyahu has sent a message to Obama.

David Bancroft

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IN May 1967, in brazen violation of previous truce agreements, Egypt ordered U.N. peacekeepers out of the Sinai, marched 120,000 troops to the Israeli border, blockaded Eilat (Israel’s southern outlet to the world’s oceans), abruptly signed a military pact With Jordan and, together with Syria, pledged war for the final destruction of Israel.

May 1967 was Israel’s most fearful, desperate month. The country was surrounded and alone. Previous great-power guarantees proved worthless. A plan to test the blockade with a Western flotilla failed for lack of participants. Time was running out. Forced to protect against invasion by mass mobilization – and with a military consisting overwhelmingly of civilian reservists – life ground to a halt. The country was dying.

On June 5, Israel launched a pre-emptive strike on the Egyptian air force, then proceeded to lightning victories· on three fronts. The Six-Day War is legend, but less remembered is that on June 1, the nationalist opposition (Menachem Begin’s Likud precursor) was for the first time ever brought into the government, creating an emergency national-unity coalition.

Everyone understood why. You do not undertake a supremely risky pre-emptive war without the full participation of a broad coalition representing a national consensus.

Forty-five years later, in the middle of the night ·of May 7-8, 2012, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shocked his country by bringing the main opposition party, Kadima, into a national unity government. Shockking because just hours earlier, the Knesset was expediting a bill to call early elections in September.

Why did the high-flying Netanyahu call off elections he was sure to win(

Because for Israelis today, it is May 1967. “The dread is not quite as acute: The mood is not despair, just foreboding. Time is running out, but not quite as fast. War is not four days away, but it looms. Israelis today face the greatest threat to their existence – ‘apocalyptic .mullahs publicly pledged to Israel’s annihilation acquiring nuclear weapons – since May 1967. The world is again telling Israelis to do nothing as it looks for a way out. But if such a way is not found – as in 1967 – Israelis know they will once again have to defend themselves, by themselves.

Such a fateful decision demands a national consensus. By creating the largest coalition in nearly three decades, Netanyahu is establishing the political premise for a pre-emptive strike, should it come to that. The new government commands an astonishing 94 Knesset seats out of 120, described by one Israeli columnist as a “hundred tons of solid concrete.”

So much for the recent media hype about some great domestic resistance to Netanyahu’s hard line on Iran. Two notable retired intelligence figures were widely covered here for coming out against him. Little noted was that one had been passed over by Netanyahu to be the head of Mossad, while the other had been fired by Netanyahu as Mossad chief (hence the job opening). For centrist Kadima·(it pulled Israel out of Gaza) to join a Likud-led coalition whose defense minister is a former Labor prime minister (who once offered half of Jerusalem to Yasser Arafat) is the’ very definition of national unity – and refutes the popular “Israel is divided” meme, “Everyone is saying the same thing,” explained one Knesset member, “though there may be a difference of tone.”

To be sure, Netanyahu and Kadima’s Shaul Mofaz offered more prosaic reasons for their merger: national service laws, a new election law and negotiations with the Palestinians. But Netanyahu, the first Likud prime minister to recognize Palestinian statehood, did hot need Kadima for him to enter peace talks .. For two years he’s been waiting for Mahmoud Abbas to show up at the table. Abbas hasn’t. And won’t. Nothing will change on that front.

What does change is Israel’s position vis-a-vis Iran. The wall-to-wall coalition demonstrates Israel’s political readiness to attack, if necessary. (Its military readiness is not in doubt.)

Those counseling Israeli submission, resignation or just endless patience can no longer dismiss Israel’s tough stance as the work of irredeemable right-wingers. Not with a government now representing 78 percent of the country.

Netanyahu forfeited September elections that would have given him four more years in power. He chose instead to form a: national coalition that guarantees 18 months of stability – 18 months during which, if the world does not act to stop Iran, Israel will.

And it will not be the work of one man, one party or one ideological faction. As in 1967, it will be the work of a nation.

Charles Krauthammer is a columnist for the Washington Post. Readers may contact him via email atletters@!charleskrauthammer.com.

Jerusalem of Gold – Land Of Promise

Posting this video will most likely bring on a torrent of nasty comments. If you feel the urge just move on to another website.

David Bancroft

Yerushaliem

Israel’s Nuclear Deception – A Perfect Hoax

Remember the Trojan Horse and the inflatable tanks on the shores of England at the end of WWII. Israel’s nuclear war heads are in the same anthology.

Do a Google search and you will find that there is the perception that Israel has nuclear weapons. France did provide cooperation for some kind of nuclear development in the 1950s. There is a secret facility in a location called Dimona but United States officials have never actually seen what is located there. Apparently no one outside Israel has seen the inner workings of the site. One Googled site speculates “Israel could have thus produced enough plutonium for at least 100 nuclear weapons, but probably not significantly more than 200 weapons.”

However, the next time you read an article quoting an Israeli official or listen to an interview you will notice that they never claim to have any nuclear weapons. I just saw an interview by Erin Burnett of Benjamin Netanyahu and he avoided responding to her inquiries about Israel’s nuclear capabilities. In the April 2, 2012 issue of Time magazine “10 Questions” column the author asks President Simon Peres “Remind me, does Israel have nuclear weapons? ‘Look, Israel doesn’t intend to introduce nuclear weapons, but if people are afraid that we have them, why not? It’s a deterrent. I want to tell you a small story. Amr Moussa was the Foreign Minister of Egypt. One day he came to me and said, ‘Simon, we are such good friends. Take me to Dimona. Let me see what’s going on.’ I said, ‘Amr, are you crazy? I shall take you, and you’ll see there’s nothing there. You’ll stop being frightened, and then I should be out of my job.’ ”

Obviously Israel has perpetuated the perfect hoax. Most Jews even believe it!