Events Continue To Undercut Fatah As Peace Partner

Not that Condoleezza Rice will notice.
But Michael Rubin has:

Fatah's Embrace of Islamism

Condoleezza Rice's peace plan rests on the idea that Fatah is a secular alternative to Hamas. But is such an assumption sound? The evidence suggests that Fatah's armed wings—the same groups which Rice proposes training and funding—now embrace radical Islam as much as Hamas terrorists do. But then again, if you want a "Hail Mary" initiative to cement your legacy, why let facts get in the way of diplomacy? Here.

In a nutshell, Fatah as gone from this

Armed struggle graphic art in 1970s spirit with the slogan: "Victory is ours."

to this:

A Fatah gunman in front of a banner including the Hawks' symbol and the Muslim profession of faith.

Read the whole thing.

Technorati Tag: Fatah.

One Jerusalem: End of Week Review--March 21, 2008

From an email:

Dear Friend of Jerusalem

Here are some of the leading headlines, from the all-new One Jerusalem Blog:

● McCain and Obama:  As Barak Obama is consumed with trying (and in our estimation failing) to answer the question of why he could faithfully attended a church which preached hatred of America, John McCain visited Israel and made news by what he said...(read more)

● These Are Peace Partners?:  The New York Times reported on a poll of Palestinians that showed 84% approved of the attack on the Jerusalem Yeshivah.75% say they oppose the peace process. Middle East Forum has published an excellent article on the Islamic core of...(read more)

● US Ambassador: Jews will just have to leave Jerusalem:  Cited in IsraelTodayUS Ambassador to Israel Richard Jones suggested during a tour of overcrowded Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem on Monday that many Jews will just have to move out of the capital rather than expand into parts of the city...(read more)

● Flashback :: Terror Attack on Yeshiva -- 1956:  Watch this moving 4-minute movie on the April 11, 1956 attack on a Chabad Yeshiva in Israel. We stand behind Chabad's response to terrorism -- Increased Strength and Growth....(read more)

Together we can win the fight to maintain a united Jerusalem!

The One Jerusalem Team

Technorati Tag: Israel.

Are YOU Attending The Online Rally At Together4Israel.org?

Go to Together4Israel.org now.
This online rally for Israel and Sderot started at 5:00pm (11:00 Israel time).

Technorati Tag: Israel.

Enjoy: The World Famous Story Of Purim

I last posted this 2 years ago.
If you have never read this before, you are in for a treat.
And if you have--it's time for chazarah.

THE WORLD FAMOUS STORY OF PURIM

by Meish Goldish

The story of Purim is an international tale.

King Achashverosh was Finnish with his disobedient wife Vashti.
"You Congo now!" he ordered her. After she had Ghana way, the king's
messengers went Roman the land to find a new queen. And India end,
the beautiful Esther won the crown.

Meanwhile, Mordechai sat outside the palace, where the Chile Haman would
Czech up on him daily.

"I Haiti you because you refuse to bow to me!" Haman scolded Mordechai.
"USA very stubborn man. You Jews are such Bahamas! If you keep his up,
Denmark my words! I will have all your people killed! Just Kuwait and
see, you Turkey! "

Mordechai went into mourning and tore his clothes-a custom known as Korea.
He urged Esther to plead with the king. The Jews fasted for three
days and grew very Hungary. Esther approached the king and asked,
'Kenya Belize come to a banquet I've prepared for you and Haman?"
At the feast, she invited her guests to a second banquet to eat Samoa.

The king asked, "Esther, why Jamaica big meal like this? Just tell me what
you want. Unto half my United Kingdom will I give you." Esther replied,
"Spain full for me to say this, but Haman is Russian to kill my people."

Haman's loud Wales could be heard as he carried Honduran this scene.
"Oman!" Haman cried bitterly. "Iraq my brains in an effort to destroy
the Jews. But that sneaky Mordechai - Egypt me! "

Haman and his ten sons were hanged and went immediately to the
Netherlands. And to Sweden the deal, the Jews were allowed to Polish
off the rest of their foes as well. "You lost your enemies and Uganda
friend," the king smiled.

And that is why the Purim story Israeli a miracle. God decided to China
light on His chosen people.

So now, let's celebrate! Forget all your Syria's business and just
be happy! Serb up some wine and Taiwan on! Happy Purim!!!

Technorati Tag: Purim.

Orthodox Jews Unite In Response To Merkaz HaRav Attack

“The attack struck a special chord with Orthodox Jews in the way that an earlier attack on a Tel Aviv disco resonated with more secular or youthful observers.”

WHEN MANY ARE ONE

Rabbi Avi Shafran


Some outsiders regard the Orthodox Jewish world as monolithic, but those of us within the community know well that quite the opposite is the case. Few religious communities are as diverse.

The Orthodox universe hosts a multiplicity of approaches to a multiplicity of issues: the inherent value of secular education, what goes by the name of “Jewish religious pluralism,” the theological significance of the State of Israel, the proper degree of separating the sexes, the application of the concept of “daas Torah” – to name a few.

Sometimes the differences in approach can appear quite prominent and, indeed, people who take their Judaism seriously can only be expected to feel strongly about issues important to them.

And so the various Orthodox bubbles, although they occasionally collide gently (as bubbles are wont to do), generally just float about independently. There are times, though, when the bubbles all merge, when distinctions simply disappear. The horrific attack on the Mercaz Harav yeshiva was one.

The March 6 murder of eight boys and wounding of ten others in a prominent yeshivabrought tears to the eyes of all feeling Jews, of course. And the victims of every terrorist attack on any Jews are kedoshim, holy martyrs, a term that our enemies have perversely pinned on those among them who seek to spill innocent blood.

But the recent massacre brought particular anguish to the Orthodox community, as the victims were so deeply dedicated to Torah study – and engaged in it – when they were martyred. As the New York Sun put it the next day: “The attack struck a special chord with Orthodox Jews in the way that an earlier attack on a Tel Aviv disco resonated with more secular or youthful observers.”

That the yeshiva was prominently associated with the “Religious Zionist” movement was of no interest; the sorrow swept over us all.

Heartrending reports and editorial eulogies for the murdered youths appeared in the Haredi press both in Israel and America. Haredi roshei yeshiva and communal leaders sent their personal condolences to the families of those so cruelly cut down in their prime, and wishes for a refuah shleima to the wounded. The Belzer Rebbe, who rarely leaves his house, attended one of the funerals and later visited the wounded at Shaare Tzedek Hospital. Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum, who leads one wing of the Satmar chassidus, synonymous with theological anti-Zionism, wrote that “Yerushalayim is weeping over the fact that Jewish boys were… murdered in such a terrible way… the entire Jewish People weeps over such a bitter tragedy.”

Here in the United States, Torah Umesorah, the National Society of Hebrew Day Schools, whose rabbinical board consists of Haredi roshei yeshiva, asked the principals of the hundreds of schools it services to have their students recite Tehillim and study Torah in memory of those killed, and in the merit of a full recovery for those who were wounded. Also suggested was that principals have students send condolence letters to the families of the murdered, and good wishes to the injured; and that special memorial services be held.

Haredi rabbis and roshei yeshiva spoke publicly, with visible anguish, to their flocks and students about the depth of the tragedy and the pure-hearted dedication to Torah of those who were murdered.

No, differences in approach and theological outlook didn’t, and don’t, disappear.

Sometimes, though, they just don’t make a difference.

© 2008 AM ECHAD RESOURCES

[Rabbi Shafran is director of public affairs for Agudath Israel of America.]

Technorati Tag: Israel.

Time For Israel To Deal With Inaccurate Journalists

With Israel having cut off Al Jazeera, Noah Pollak suggests that Israel extend this new-found policy:

For Israel, which probably is the most media-saturated country in the world, the relentless procession of false stories in recent years has done real damage to the country’s image abroad, and to its morale at home. Mohammed al-Dura, Jenin, the June 2006 Gaza beach explosion, the Qana bombing during the Lebanon war, the Gaza “blackout” this winter — these are just a few examples of crises created for Israel by journalists who are either staggeringly credulous (or incredibly cynical) in their willingness to promulgate a sensational story.

The main reason Israel should never expel journalists, say government and military officials when one broaches the matter, is because Israel would be consumed by international outrage over such supposedly fascistic tactics. I’ve always been skeptical of this claim: journalists, in my experience, are far more concerned with their own careers and notoriety than they are with defending the supposedly inviolable principles of their profession (for which many reporters operating in Israel don’t have much regard in the first place). My sense of things is that, especially among foreign correspondents, maintaining access is the preeminent interest.

The argument that Israel cannot afford to alienate journalists runs contrary to the fact that it certainly has not hurt the Palestinian to have have threatened, kidnapped, and even converted journalists covering the Palestinian territories.

By the same token, some of the responsibility for the bad press rests with the Israel government. There has been the tendency,--as in the Al-Dura case--for Israel to jump the gun and take responsibility before themselves checking the facts.

But if it should happen that Israel does in fact decide on a new policy of kicking out journalists who have "done real damage to the country’s image abroad, and to its morale at home" and "are far more concerned with their own careers and notoriety than they are with defending the supposedly inviolable principles of their profession"--could the next step be to kick out Olmert?

Just asking.

Technorati Tag: Israel.

56 Purim YouTube Videos

Jacob Richman has a list of Purim YouTube Videos on his website.

In an email he gives a partial list:

• Shlock Rock Purim 1991
• Megilat Esther Play in Israel
• Atlanta Purim Parade
• Adloyada Montreal
• Bais Purim Shpiel Trailers
• Efrat Purim Shpiel Husband Gemach
• Hebrew Sesame Street - Purim
• Purim Homintaschen vs. Hannukah Latke debate
• The Mendy Report: Purim Controversy
• Haman Song: a Purim rap
• There Was A Rasha
• Purim in Mexico City
• Purim party Zagreb, Croatia
• Dave Epstein Band - Al Hanisim

Check it out.

Technorati Tag: Purim.

The Real Lesson To Be Learned From Eliot Spitzer

Schadenfreude is not a Mitzvah.

GOVERNING OURSELVES

Rabbi Avi Shafran

The “steamroller,” we all know, was steamrolled. Although those whom Eliot Spitzer focused on flattening were New York State wrongdoers, he ended up being mangled by misdeeds of his own. And thereby became an object of derision and ridicule – the single greatest generator of schadenfreude since the Wicked Witch’s demise evoked the Munchkins’ delight.

From a Jewish perspective, should we be jumping on the badmouth bandwagon?

One rabbi I know feels we should. Speaking publicly, he called the former governor an “evil man,” noting the irony of how his fall from a high peak of honor and power to ignominy came about through activity of a sort he had himself prosecuted others for doing, and stopping just short (I think) of equating him with the Purim villain Haman.

Succumbing to desires can indeed yield evil things. However, as Bruriah, the renowned wife of the Talmudic sage Rabbi Meir, taught us, it is important sometimes to distinguish between sinner and sin (Tractate Brachos, 10a). Most of us succumb, at least on occasion, to illicit personal desires – if only the desire to gossip, to react with anger, to waste time. As I told my wife and some family members, if I weren’t such a “baal taava” – a hedonist – I would be a good 20 pounds lighter.

My wife (whose cooking and baking are part of the problem) responded that, well, there are succumbed-to desires and there are succumbed-to desires; they are not all the same. And, of course, she is right (as usual). And moral violations, in particular, do indeed entail evil.

But there is some relativity here, as there is in all crimes of passion. Who can really know just what it must be like to be a well-heeled, famous, ambitious man in a position of power, trotting the globe (or at least the coast) collecting kudos – enriched with currency but bereft of Jewish religious values like the ideal the rabbis of the Talmud call “the fear of sin”?

Those same rabbis, interestingly, in Tractate Berachos, 32a, use the parable of a man who pampered his son, “hung a coin purse on his neck, and stationed him at the entrance of a brothel.”

“What,” they asked, “can the son do so as not to sin?” Or, as we might put it: “Well, what exactly do you expect?”

To be sure, Mr. Spitzer is no boy; he is a grown man and was a public official. Much more was rightfully expected of him. After all, we must all learn to control, not be controlled by, our desires – to, so to speak, govern ourselves.

Still and all, though, the Talmud elsewhere exhorts us not “to judge another until one has stood in his place.” And so, if there is any lesson to be mined from the tawdry tale of Mr. Spitzer’s fall from grace, I think it may lie less in his sin than in the reaction to it. “In the downfall of your enemy,” King Solomon admonishes, “do not rejoice” (Proverbs, 24:17). Even someone who has earned one’s enmity does not deserve to be gloated over when he has fallen. A recognition of the irony of the former governor’s political demise is certainly proper. And feelings of disappointment, even of disgust, are not out of place. But the derisive glee that arose and crashed like a tidal wave, is not so very far from a sin itself.

I find the act of a second rabbi I know to be more in line with the Jewish religious tradition. This rabbi took the time to pen Mr. Spitzer a short personal note. It conveyed the sentiment that great people, even Biblical figures, had sinned, some even in ways that, at least in some way, were a failure of moral fortitude. Those people, the writer added, were in no way barred from repentance, and the greatest among them indeed came, as a result of their falls, to change their lives for the better.

© 2008 AM ECHAD RESOURCES

[Rabbi Shafran is director of public affairs for Agudath Israel of America.]

Technorati Tag: Eliot Spitzer.

McCain At The Wailing Wall: Two Messages (Updated)

Here is Republican Senator John McCain with Senator Joseph Lieberman:
According to the caption on this picture at The Chicago Tribune, McCain is leaving a message--a prayer--at the Wailing Wall, as is customary.

Jennifer Rubin notes a second message, that McCain is contrasting himself with his Democratic opponents on how to view US obligations:

The dichotomy he would like us to see is this: he is a man who knows who are friends are, understands the stakes if we do not take our responsibilities seriously and refuses to play to the polls; his opponents, he contends, to varying degrees (either due to lack of political courage or lack of clear-sightedness) refuse to fess up with the American people about the stakes in Iraq and the type of adversaries we face around the world.

In contrast, Barack Obama speaks as though the dangers in the world are largely of our making and the “hard” thing is to “talk to our enemies.” For him what matters is to go and be seen by those who despise us.

Rubin notes that considering how the pressure from Europe and the media, talking with the likes of Iran and Syria really is not so hard at all.

What really is hard is to stick by our friends and allies in the face of international pressure (or even when your personal “mentor” is vilifying them in public) and see through unpopular commitments.

One could argue that though he successfully did that in the short term, in the long run President Bush has failed significantly in this regard. Then again, politicians tend to avoid unpopular commitments and positions. Israel is the kind of unpopular commitment that plays well when you are running for office, but whose shine fades away in the arena of international politics.

You have to give credit to McCain for sticking with the US commitment in Iraq.
His commitment to Israel is still unclear.

Update: Lisa Schiffren works along similar lines when she writes about McCain's visit to Sderot:

McCain's visit is as concrete a demonstration as a presidential candidate can possibly make that he will not abandon Israel, and will respect Israel's security needs. Of course many presidents begin that way, and end up pressuring Israel to betray it's needs for evanescent gains in peace. John McCain made solid statements about the unlikelihood of any peace deal soon. While peace is surely the goal, as those rockets demonstrate, there is a long way till Israel and her hardline neighbors get to a place where serious negotiations are possible. Critics are always happy to to dismiss this kind of trip as grandstanding, photo-ops, and cynical manipulation. To be sure, there is some of that. But candidates choose what photo-ops they want, where they want to stand, and what messages they are sending. McCain gets high marks for this trip.

There might actually be some novelty there--a presidential candidate who admits that peace between Israel and the Palestinian Arabs really isn't just around the corner. Israel can face up to that--the truth of that has been driven home to them many times, but the Palestinian Arabs will not face the facts. They have been spoiled by the attention and pandering of the UN as well as the money lavished on them by Europe. They have been convinced that a state of their own is just coming to them.

Who is going to tell them how it really is?

Technorati Tag: Israel and John McCain.

Noah Feldman Is In The New York Times Again

Sultan Knish has an in-depth post on Noah Feldman, who last year claimed he and his girlfriend were cut out of picture of a school reunion because she is not Jewish, and now is back again in The Times, waxing poetic on Islamic law.

One wonders if Feldman thinks that Sharia law is any more accepting of intermarriage than the Halacha.

Feldman claims that the Archbishop of Canterbury thought:

it might be a good idea to consider allowing Islamic and Orthodox Jewish courts to handle marriage and divorce.

Nice touch that: mentioning Islamic and Jewish courts in the same breath--as if the question was the broad issue of addressing the concerns of all religions. The truth is that the issue is not addressing general religious concerns, but rather how to appease Muslims in particular:

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said today that the adoption of Islamic Sharia law in Britain is “unavoidable.” Williams told the BBC that the UK has to "face up to the fact" that some of its citizens do not relate to the British legal system.

Feldman writes about Sharia that "no legal system has ever had worse press."
You would think that Mr. Feldman had ever heard of the accusation that Jews are required to kill Christian children to use their blood for baking matzah.

Feldman's article is absurd.
Read Sultan Knish's post to get a sense of just how far.

Technorati Tag: Noah Feldman and Sharia.