Responding to an Israel-hater
A Soldier’s Mother responds to a hateful comment on her blog that asks, “How does it feel to live in a country [Israel] hated by millions of people all over the world … because of your country´s hatred, racism, war crimes and evil acts.”:
So how does it feel to accept who you are, where you live, and what your country must do to survive? How does it feel to finally be in control of your own destiny, to be free in your own land? To raise your children in the place where they belong? How does it feel to have sons and daughters who are proud of their country and choose to defend it…and more, have the option to choose life – for the first time in 2,000 years, and the power to make that option reality? Pretty darn good. Thanks for asking.
The entire response is worth your time. Read it all.
Comments (15) »Thursday, January 26th, 2012 at 10:02 AM | Stand for Israel
Anti-Israel Jewish fringe group *hearts* Ron Paul
Ron Paul on the campaign trail with members of the Neturei Karta group
Anyone who’s been to a pro-Israel event in New York, Washington, or Jerusalem is familiar with the Neturei Karta – a fringe sect within Judaism that believes the State of Israel is illegitimate because it was not established by the Messiah. To be fair, there are a number of ultra-Orthodox Jewish groups that are anti-Zionist for that reason. None of them, however, take the extreme positions that Neturei Karta takes – protesting against the Jewish State (which is how most pro-Israel Jews know them), parroting the outrageous and slanderous claims of Israel’s most frenzied opponents, serving in the Palestinian cabinet of Yasser Arafat, visiting with (and embracing!) Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Now they apparently have a preferred candidate for President of the United States: Texas Congressman Ron Paul.
No, there has been no official endorsement. And, of course, a candidate has no control over who endorses them. But, go to minute 49 of this video of Paul’s January 8 town hall meeting in New Hampshire. After the event, Paul is greeted briefly by Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss of the anti-Israel fringe group, who thanks Paul and tells him that Judaism is a religion which “should never be transformed into a nationalism.” Paul warmly replies, “Good advice, good advice.”
This is the latest in a series of questionable associations as articulated in this video by conservative evangelical leader Gary Bauer. Food for thought for friends of Israel voting in upcoming Republican primaries.
Comments (70) »Wednesday, January 11th, 2012 at 11:45 AM | Stand for Israel
Hamas says Gaza not “occupied”; U.N. disagrees
Gaza
Recently, Hamas “foreign minister” Mahmoud Zahar said what everyone with eyes has known since 2005: Israel no longer occupies the Gaza strip.
You’ll remember that, in summer of 2005, Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza in a controversial and wrenching event that witnessed the terrible images of Jewish soldiers removing Jewish residents from their homes – often by force. Whatever your position on that action, the result was obvious to anyone: Israel ceased to occupy Gaza.
Even senior members of Hamas get it. But the U.N. still doesn’t.
Comments (2) »Friday, January 6th, 2012 at 2:43 PM | Rabbi Jonathan Greenberg
High school curriculum spreads lies about Israel
The Arab World Studies Notebook
A Boston-area newspaper, the Newton Tab, recently reported that local parent Tony Pagliuso was horrified when his daughter, a freshman at Newton South High School, brought home an article on women in the Middle East that claims “Several hundred [Palestinian women] have been imprisoned, tortured, and killed by Israeli occupation forces since the latest uprising, ‘Intifada,’ in the Israeli occupied territories.”
The article, which was distributed to Pagliuso’s daughter’s class by her world history teacher, makes it sound like Israel arbitrarily imprisons innocent Palestinian women. What it fails to mention is that Palestinian women have been responsible for carrying out some of the most horrific terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians. For example, Dalal Mugrahbi, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization, carried out the 1978 coastal road massacre in which 38 civilians were murdered, including 13 children.
On top of this, the accusation that Israel tortures female prisoners is simply false. Palestinian female prisoners serving in Israeli jails enjoy full prisoner rights as stipulated by the Third Geneva Convention. In Israeli jails, Palestinian prisoners – male and female – are given decent living quarters, food, clothing, medical care, religious and physical activities, newspapers, phone calls, visits from friends and family, and a canteen where relatives and friends deposit money for their use inside the prison.
The article refuting these truths was taken from a controversial textbook called The Arab World Studies Notebook. In 2005, the American Jewish Committee (AJC) prompted many schools across the U.S. to ban the book from their high-school curriculum. In its critique, the AJC said that the book “is replete with factual errors, inaccuracies and misrepresentations about Middle East history.” The textbook goes so far as to suggest that “students repeat Arabic phrases that are confessions of belief and proposes that Muslim faith statements be transmitted to others,” concludes the AJC report. The textbook even makes the claim that Muslims discovered America prior to Columbus. Unbelievable!
This textbook is not about genuine learning — it’s a propaganda tool meant to shape…
Read More » Comments (4) »Thursday, December 22nd, 2011 at 12:11 PM | Amichai Farkas
Secret EU document aims to villify Israel
Israeli Arabs and Israeli Jews holding national flags (photo: Reuters)
A classified working paper produced by the European Union (EU), parts of which were obtained by Haaretz , suggests that the EU should consider Israel’s treatment of its Arab population a “core issue, not second tier to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
European diplomats involved in drafting the paper admitted that certain EU countries objected to some of its content. The Czech Republic, Poland, and the Netherlands opposed a number of the paper’s conclusions, including the suggestion that the EU file an official complaint every time the Israeli parliament passes a second reading of a bill which is seen as discriminatory against Israeli-Arabs.
The hypocrisy of the EU’s admonishment of Israel’s supposed discrimination against its Arab population is astonishing. Are they forgetting about the 2,000-year history of discrimination, persecution, and attempted annihilation of Europe’s minority Jewish population? And what about the EU’s own discriminatory practices against Europe’s Muslim population?
In a controversial referendum in 2009, out of concern about the rise of Islam’s influence in Europe, the Swiss voted to ban the construction of minarets (towers on mosques) in their country. Earlier this year, France became the first European country to enforce a ban on burqas. In France, a Muslim woman wearing a burqa in public could face a fine of 150 euros (nearly $200). Other EU countries considering a burqa ban include Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark, and Great Britain. And in 2010, the British parliament nixed plans to build Europe’s largest mosque, citing its size and location as the reason.
Interestingly, there are no burqa bans in Israel, and Israel has no policy of banning the construction of minarets. In the Jewish state, Arabs have the right to vote and elect leaders to the Knesset (Israeli parliament). Israeli-Arabs have their own political parties. Arabs have their own newspapers and enjoy full rights of citizenship, which include freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and of course, freedom of religion.
Before the EU embarks on a campaign to delegitimize Israel as a democratic state because of its supposed mistreatment…
Read More » Comments (5) »Wednesday, December 21st, 2011 at 1:25 PM | Amichai Farkas
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