Free Band Quotes At SimchaTree

Jewish Blogmeister has post introducing a new idea:

People get quotes for all sorts of items and services so why not a Jewish orchestra/band/DJ etc. for your affair. It matters not on the size or type of affair, Simchatree.com can help you find the best music for the best price, period. SimchaTree's slogan is "when bands compete you win" and I believe that's exactly what you'll find. It doesn't matter where your simcha is taking place since SimchTree.com is associated with the hottest bands across the USA as well as other countries. My friends tell me that they are hopeful that this service will take away the annoyance of having to search for quality music at an affordable price. If you plan on making a simcha I suggest you give it a whirl!

Check out Jewish Blogmeister and try it out.

Technorati Tag: Jewish Bands.

30 Ways You Can Help Jerusalem

The OU Jerusalem Task force has a list of 30 things to do to help Jerusalem. Check out "10 Ways You Can Help Jerusalem"--Part I, Part II and Part III (PDF format), including:

1. Recite “Ve-li-Yerushalayim Ircha” in the Shmoneh Esrei with special concentration.

2. Write an op-ed supporting a united Jerusalem with Jewish sovereignty, and send it to your local paper. See the IPA’s “Jerusalem Op-Ed Talking Points” for guidelines.

3. Plan a trip to Jerusalem. The OU has missions planned for January and Yom Ha’atzmaut. Visit www.ou.org/israelmissions or contact Allyson Gur-Aryeh at allysong@ou.org or 212-613-8124 for more information.

4. Encourage local Jewish establishments to get involved in Jerusalem undivided initiatives including letter writing campaigns, lectures, learning and prayers.

5. Pair up with a Jerusalem based charity for your next family simcha and make a
donation to it in honor of the occasion.

6. Arrange a lecture about Jerusalem in you shul or your home.

7. Say Tehillim about Jerusalem, including chapters 79, 122, 125, 126 and 137.

8. Increase your Torah study and dedicate your learning for the merit of Jerusalem.

9. Encourage your local day school to create a pen pal program with Jerusalem students.

10. Organize a fundraiser for needy families in Jerusalem.

Check out all 3 pages for a wide variety of ways to help Yerushalayim.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Jerusalem.

Netanyahu On The Folly Whose Name Is Annapolis

At a briefing of The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Benjamin Netanyahu talks about the mistake of the land for peace formula that forms the basis of the upcoming summit at Annapolis.

[Hat tip: One Jerusalem]

Technorati Tag: Israel and Annapolis and Netanyahu.

Haveil Havalim #139 Is Up!

A Mother In Israel this week is hosting Haveil Havalim #139. There are all kinds of posts in various categories, including Gender and Marriage, Battle for Beersheva, and Hebron--among others.

Take some time and look around.

Don't forget--you can submit entries to Haveil Havalim using the submission form at BlogCarnival,where you can also find past posts and future hosts.

You can email Soccer Dad (dhgerstman at hotmail dot com) if you'd like to host an upcoming edition.

Listed at the Truth Laid Bear Ubercarnival.

Technorati Tags: Blog carnivals, haveil havalim, Israel, Judaism.

Neither Democrats Nor Republicans Court Arab Arab-American Leadership

Apparently the Jewish vote is not the only vote that the Democratic Party is taking for granted:

None of the American leading presidential candidates whether Democrats or Republicans, showed up at the Arab American Institute national conference held this week in Detroit.

Some 600 Arab American leaders participated in the parley, considered to be the Arab equivalent of the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

Frontrunner Hillary Clinton did not disappoint--unless the Arab leadership was actually looking for specifics from the woman who kissed Suha Arafat:

The senior Democratic candidates made due with a recorded message. Senator Hillary Clinton did not mention the word "Palestine" or "Palestinian state," but made due with a general promise to renew the peace process with "an effort to grant peace and security to Israel and the Palestinians." Clinton said in a recording sent to the conference that the US under her leadership would be regularly involved in the US "in a way that will prevent violence and renew faith in America in the area."

Democrats seem to feel they have a lock on the Arab vote with vague promises and the war in Iraq--but what if Al Qaeda really is defeated and Iraq acquires a real measure of peace and stability by next year, what then? Would the Arab vote still be in the Democratic Party's back pocket? Unlike the Jewish vote, the Arab vote did go Republican before, back in 2000. Who's to say it cannot happen again? What would it take?

Technorati Tag: Arab Americans and Democratic Party.

Fatah Commemorates Balfour Declaration

Most of Israel's young people don't know what the Balfour Declaration is all about, but leave it to Fatah--Israel's peace partners--to commemorate the 90th anniversary:

A wing of the Fatah organization, headed by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, stated Thursday that it has begun an escalation in attacks on Israeli towns in the Negev. The terrorist group already claimed it was behind a barrage of rockets from Gaza that struck Sderot and its environs earlier in the day.
Brigades spokesmen called upon the residents of the city of Sderot to leave their homes.

Fatah, through its Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades arm, said that the Thursday rocket fire was part of an planned series of hundreds of rocket attacks the group has dubbed "Gaza Autumn." In their announcement of the operation, Brigades spokesmen called upon the residents of the city of Sderot to leave their homes and warned that Fatah will continue to bombard Israeli communities in the Negev.

The group said the attacks would be a response to "the evil Balfour declaration," which was issued 90 years ago this Friday.

Annapolis, here we come!

Technorati Tag: Balfour Declaration and Fatah.

Hillary vs. Hillary vs. Hillary vs. Hillary

An ad from the John Edwards campaign.

Not that politicians don't do this all the time, but it's rare to see it caught so well.

[Hat tip: Powerline]

Technorati Tag: Hillary Clinton.

Natan Sharansky and Democracy

The latest interview with Natan Sharansky covers, of course, democracy in the Middle East:

...The war in Iraq and the rise of Hamas in the Palestinian territories, aided by the ballot box, are Exhibits A and B in the case against the Bush Doctrine and its contention that democracy can put down roots in Arab soil.

Mr. Sharansky considers these cases immaterial. "What's happening today in Iraq has nothing to do with the question whether promoting democracy is a good idea, or whether people in Iraq want to live in freedom." The Iraqis' refusal to defend Saddam Hussein and courage in voting for a new constitution and parliament settled that argument for Mr. Sharansky. Iraq's Kurds, Sunnis and Shiites are, he says, engaged in a different, no less ferocious struggle over "identity"--his current obsession, and the subject of his next book.

The victory of Hamas in last year's Palestinian elections is widely considered a defeat for the Bush Doctrine. Mr. Sharansky recalls seeing friends at the White House the day of the vote. "They said, 'Oh, it's the first time, it's a good experiment.' And I said, 'I fully disagree. It's a terrible experiment!' Now of course they come back and say, 'You see, you want to promote democracy and you get Hamas.'"

As he argued in his bestselling book, the West confuses the ballot box with democracy. "The election has to be at the end of the process of building free society," he says. "If there is no free and democratic society, elections can never be free and democratic." [emphasis added]

More than that, the West also confuses talking with Abbas with real diplomacy and good faith negotiations.

[Hat tip: Instapundit]

Technorati Tag: Natan Sharansky.

Denmark's Anti-Semitism Is 'Outlandish'

If you are a scholar and want to get attention, write about the Israel Lobby.
If you are an Ex-President and no one is paying attention, write a book about Israeli Apartheid.
And if you are Denmark and trying to rework your image after the Mohammed Cartoons, what do you do?

Eric Trager writes:

the public diplomacy tactic it will employ tonight in Cairo reeks of hypocrisy. In a bid to shift the negative attention away from Denmark, the Danish Embassy will be hosting the band Outlandish, whose lyrics prominently emphasize anti-Israel themes.

This is a Danish, not an Egyptian, group. Here is how the Danish Embassy describes them:

We live in times when political positions are becoming polarized and cultures are considered fenced-in entities that cannot be united. The world is often viewed through a faulty prism that divides “us” from “them.” That’s why it is such a tension-breaker when someone takes the time and uses their talent to remind us that we are all human beings. That the blood running through your veins is not significantly different from the blood that flows through your neighbor’s body, even though you may not share the same social status, political views, religious conviction or hail from the same latitude or longitude. This is where Outlandish enters the picture.

...And no matter how many differences there are in the world, the humble human being will be heartened, entertained and educated by listening to Outlandish.

Apparently Outlandish has decided to remind only some of us that we are human beings. After all, nothing is as heartening, entertaining, and educational as putting irrational hatred to music. Trager describes the songs:

In "Look Into My Eyes," for example, Outlandish refers to Israel's existence as "terror . . . 57 years so cruel," and ultimately blames the United States: "Americans do ya realize/That the taxes that u pay/Feed the forces that traumatize/My every living day." The music video is particularly noteworthy, depicting an elementary school class play in which a Palestinian Little Red Riding Hood overcomes an Israeli Big Bad Wolf. In "Try Not to Cry," meanwhile, Outlandish compares Israel to "the Crusaders and Mongols," declaring "I throw stones like David before me." On YouTube, one of their fan-made music videos heavily demonizing Israel has been viewed over a million times.

Here is Look into My Eyes (lyrics):


Here is Try Not To Cry (lyrics):


It isn't hard to see why these songs are so popular--and why YouTube does not remove them.

Technorati Tag: Outlandish and Denmark and Anti-Semitism.

The Wakf Indicted (UPDATED)

Seems like taking legal action to stand up for the rights of Jews in Israel is becoming popular--this from Arlene Kushner's web site:

Acting as a group, represented by Shurat HaDin - Israel Law Center, 150 Israeli citizens, have initiated an unprecedented criminal prosecution of the Wakf leaders in Jerusalem. Filed today in Jerusalem District Court by means of a seldom utilized section of the criminal code, the indictment charges that the Wakf has engaged in the deliberate destruction of ancient Jewish relics on the Temple Mount.

The Wakf has brought in heavy equipment for purposes of "renovations" on the Mount, and Israeli archeologists have discovered trashed Jewish artifacts in the earth that was discarded. (I recently wrote about this.)

If convicted, the Wakf officials would serve years in prison.

IMRA has fuller details.

Apparently this kind of private lawsuit is the first of its kind in Israel. It comes at the same time as a petition signed by MK's to preserve the Jewish right to Hebron.

UPDATE: The idea behind the suit against the Wakf may have come from this:

ISRAELI TOUR GUIDES SUE PA AND PLO
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 15, 2003

Forty two members of the Israeli Tour Guides' Association will file
a civil action against the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the
Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in the Jerusalem District
Court this morning. The law suit alleges that since the outbreak of
the current Intifada in September 2000, the PA and the PLO have
instituted an official policy of encouraging and providing material
resources for terror attacks against Israeli civilians. As a result
of the security crisis, tourists stopped visiting Israel and the
once thriving tourism industry has lost more than 50% of its annual
revenues.

The law suit is being represented by Shurat HaDin Director Nitsana
Darshan-Leitner.

The forty two plaintiffs are tour guides, representing cities from
all across Israel, who were barely able to earn 20% of their yearly
income as a result of the decline in tourism. In the wake of the
current Intifada, tour operators and organizations that normally
travel to Israel began to cancel their planned visits. The court
papers contend that the PA and PLO are liable for the atmosphere of
fear which scared off potential tourists and demand that they
compensate the Israeli tour guides for their lost income.

In the wake of the Palestinian terrorist campaign, most foreign
nations issued traveler advisories warning their citizens not to
visit Israel. Even the few tourists who decided to visit the Jewish
State, were deterred by the continuous terror attacks from traveling
to many parts of the country. Thus, the tour guides found that
there was no longer any market for their services.

The civil action is the first of its kind being brought by Israeli
workers whose economic welfare has been ruined by the suicide
bombings and shootings being perpetrated by the Palestinian
leadership.

"For the past thirty three months the Palestinian Authority has
engaged in an official campaign to kill and maim Israeli civilians
and destroy our economy through its violence," stated
Darshan-Leitner, "The tour guides' law suit will prove that the
Palestinian leadership intentionally targeted our tourism industry
and perpetrated terror attacks with the goal of intimidating
foreign travelers from visiting."

Both suits are being brought by Nitsana Darshan-Leitner.
Both are being called "the first of its kind"- the current one is a private lawsuit; the previous one was a civil lawsuit.

Is there a difference?

More importantly--what are the chances of the Wakf lawsuit being more successful than the previous one?

Technorati Tag: Israel and Shurat HaDin and Wakf.