Inside the real Israel
We really like how this short video celebrates the Israeli spirit and all that this small nation has contributed to the world at large. Enjoy!
Comments (5) »Friday, December 2nd, 2011 at 1:06 PM | Stand for Israel
A fragile hope for democracy in Egypt
(Credit: LEVINE/SIPA/Newscom)
Even though too few of us actually participate in our democracy, Americans love the idea of voting – so much so that we tend to get misty-eyed when long-oppressed people finally go to the polls to select their leaders.
As Egyptians go to the polls today, we should react with more sobriety.
YNet reports that “the vote promises to be the fairest and cleanest in Egypt in living memory.” That’s a pretty low bar. You could run a Soviet-style election and it would still be cleaner and fairer than past Egyptian “elections.” In 2005, Hosni Mubarak garnered 88% of the “vote” against a “reformer” who was thrown in jail months before the voting. The Egyptian army also recently announced that foreign election monitors would be barred from the country, raising concerns about possible fraud.
The most recent polls showed that the Muslim Brotherhood – running with other Islamist allies under the Freedom and Justice Party banner – expect to do well, as do a handful of other parties. But most polls indicated a substantial number of undecided voters (more than 50% in some polls) and the imperfections inherent in polling in Egypt make meaningful data difficult to gather.
For now, we will sit and watch and hope that Egyptians make a good choice. We are happy that more of our fellow human beings have won the right to self-determination. We marvel at the long-stifled joy that comes with freedom. We wish the Egyptian people nothing but the best.
But democracy doesn’t just come about because an election is held. Real democracy requires supporting institutions such as an independent judiciary and generally accepted legal code, a free and vibrant press, social and religious organizations, and an educational system that takes seriously its responsibility to produce citizens capable of preserving and expanding liberty. Egypt doesn’t seem to have an abundance of any of those things.
Democracy also requires individuals rising to leadership whose top priority is the building of a free and just society. Looking…
Read More » Comments (5) »Monday, November 28th, 2011 at 1:45 PM | Rabbi Jonathan Greenberg
Continued violence and chaos grips Egypt
A protester looks on as riot policemen throw stones during clashes (PHOTO: Reuters)
After yesterday — the third straight day of violent protests in Egypt’s Tahrir Square, saw 30 killed and 1,200 wounded – Egypt’s entire interim government resigned:
Tens of thousands of people took to Cairo’s iconic Tahrir Square on Monday, many of them calling for a “millionman march” the following day. The rally was the latest link in a four-day effort that began Friday to protest the army’s continued grip on most aspects of Egyptian life.
Egyptians are set to elect a new parliament in a staggered vote that starts November 28, but presidential powers remain with the army until a presidential poll, which may not happen until late 2012 or early 2013. Protesters want a much swifter transition.
Egyptians are worried about violence impacting the upcoming elections – and many observers are concerned over the results of the voting.
Comments (2) »Analysts say Islamists could win 40 percent of parliamentary seats, with a big portion going to the Muslim Brotherhood, the most organized Islamist group. Islamists were by far the dominant group at Friday’s mass rally, which drew 50,000 people to Tahrir Square.
Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011 at 12:12 PM | Stand for Israel
Egyptian Islamic Jihad official on Christians: “I will exterminate them”
The ouster of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt has brought to the fore all sorts of unsavory characters, including Sheikh ‘Adel Shehato, an official in Egyptian Islamic Jihad who was freed from prison after Mubarak was forced from office. In a recent interview with an Egyptian newspaper (translated from Arabic by the good folks at MEMRI), Shehato had this to say about the possibility of peaceful coexistence between Muslims and Christians in post-Mubarak Egypt:
Interviewer: “Are you against blowing up churches?”
Shehato: “Yes and no. The Christian is free to worship his god in his church, but if the Christians make problems for the Muslims, I will exterminate them. I am guided by the shari’a, and it stipulates that they must pay the jizya tax while in a state of humiliation…”
Interviewer: “These positions of yours frighten us, as Egyptians.”
Shehato: “I will not act [in ways] that contradict my faith just in order to please the people… We say to the Christians, convert to Islam or pay the jizya, otherwise we will fight you. The shari’a is not based on [human] logic but on divine law. That is why we oppose universal, manmade constitutions.”
With people like Shehato jockeying for power in Egypt, the prospects for Egyptian democracy do not — to say the least — look bright. Pray for Christians in Egypt, and for all in the country who truly long for and work for a free, democratic state.
Comments (34) »Wednesday, August 31st, 2011 at 7:02 AM | David Kuner
Rights group–in turnabout–zings Hamas for claiming no war violations
A vocal international human rights group lashed out against Hamas on Thursday: Using critical language it normally reserves for Israel, Human Rights Watch strongly rejected claims made earlier this week by the Gaza-based terror group that it had investigated allegations in a UN report into last winter’s Gaza war and absolved Palestinian armed groups of any wrong-doing.
AFP reported:
“Hamas’s claim that rockets were intended to hit Israeli military targets and only accidentally harmed civilians is belied by the facts,” the New York-based group said.
HRW issued its statement after the Islamist rulers of the Gaza Strip said its investigations of allegations in a UN report on the Gaza war found that they and other Palestinian armed groups “struck military targets and avoided civilian targets.”
HRW pointed out that most of the rocket attacks on Israel hit civilian areas. “Civilians were the target,” the rights group said, adding that “deliberately targeting civilians is a war crime.”
On Wednesday, Hamas’s statement said:
“The committee worked around the clock to uncover the facts, despite the certainty that there were no violations of international humanitarian law or international human rights law that amount to war crimes,” said the committee head, Hamas justice minister Mohammed Faraj al-Ghul.
“The Palestinian government has on more than one occasion called on armed Palestinian groups to avoid targeting civilians,” said the report by Hamas, which has claimed scores of deadly suicide bombings against Israeli civilians.
“(The armed groups) struck military targets and avoided civilian targets, and any accusations related to this concern errant fire.”
HRW has come in for frequent criticism from pro-Israel advocates, who said that the organization–like many similar non-governmental groups–singles Israel out for harsh criticism without taking into account the larger context of the battles she faces, while allowing the terror groups she fights a complete pass. Further, they say, HRW and other groups take full advantage of Israel’s open society while never criticizing the fact that they can’t even safely enter the territories controlled by rogue regimes in Syria or elsewhere in the Arab world.
Late last year, HRW Founder Robert Bernstein added his voice–sadly–to HRW’s critics,…
Read More » Comments (0) »Friday, January 29th, 2010 at 10:39 AM | Stand For Israel
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