Christians bolster Jews as settlement freeze ends

Monday, September 27, 2010 Ryan Jones

Hundreds of Christians from a dozen nations joined together with 3,000 Israelis on Sunday evening in the small Samarian Jewish community of Revava to mark the end of the self-imposed Jewish building freeze in the so-called West Bank.
The Christians were in Israel to participate in the annual International Christian Zionist Center (ICZC) Feast of Tabernacles celebration. The theme of this year’s feast was Genesis 22:17, where God promises Abraham that his “seed shall possess the gates of their enemies.”
ICZC Director Jan Willem van der Hoeven thought it fitting that his group demonstrate their belief in that passage by physically standing with the people of Israel as they reversed that fateful decision to suspend Jewish building in Judea and Samaria in accordance with US and Arab demands.
“We as Gentiles tell you, be strong and of courage to possess the land,” van der Hoeven stated in the central Samaria town of Ariel, just prior to the rally in nearby Revava.
In Revava, the Christians with their bright banners and national flags were swarmed by the Israeli and international media before mingling in amongst the thousands of faithful Israelis from around the country who had come to strengthen the Jews of Judea and Samaria.
The Israelis seemed surprised, though very grateful, to see these foreigners in this isolated place and for this occasion. Most greeted the Christians warmly and many applauded loudly as the flags of various nations were marched in.
Likud MK and deputy minister for development in the Negev and Galilee, Ayoub Kara, who is an Israeli Druze, addressed the crowd in a fiery Zionist speech before turning to the Christians and saying:
“I say to all the non-Jews who are here, I too am not a Jew, but in spirit I am most Jewish, I am most Zionist, and so are you! Good for you that you are here to support Israel.”
Rising Likud star MK Danny Danon, who organized the rally, also took time during his speech to directly address the Christians (in English), saying:
“We salute you. We know that you love Israel unconditionally.”
Danon asked the foreigners to take the message back to their countries that Israel respects them, but insists that its own democracy and historical rights must also be respected. He then apologized to the Jews of Judea and Samaria that they had been treated like “second class citizens” when they were told they could no longer build homes, schools or synagogues.
On Monday morning, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stuck to his promise to allow the building freeze to expire on time, despite heavy American pressure to extend it. However, building permits are expected to be issued much more sparingly so as not to rock the diplomatic boat too much.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has been saying every day for the past month that if any Jewish building resumes in the areas he claims for a future state, then the current US-brokered peace negotiations will be over. Washington has been pressing Netanyahu hard to not let that happen, and both US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have hinted in no uncertain terms that if the peace talks break down, Netanyahu will be blamed.
Danon sought to remind Netanyahu that similar threats were made more than 15 years ago by former US President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. They insisted that if Jewish “settlement activity” continued after the signing of the so-called “Oslo Accords,” it would cause an international crisis for which Israel would be blamed.
But, Danon noted, Israel went on building, and Washington and the nations made some noise, but there was no crisis, there was no regional war.
Van der Hoeven and the ICZC are urging the Israelis to at the very least return to a situation where Judea and Samaria are actually disputed territories. By implementing building freezes and signaling constantly that Judea and Samaria are, as the Arabs claim, occupied, Israel can only blame itself when the world refuses to accept that these are ancient Jewish lands, said van der Hoeven.
The ICZC’s short term solution is for Israel to insist, constantly and adamantly, that Judea and Samaria are Jewish lands, and if there needs to be a Jewish building freeze while the issue is hashed out, then the Arabs must also stop building.
To learn more about the ICZC, visit: www.israelmybeloved.com
source:http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=21941

Gaza-bound 'provocation' ship intercepted by Israel

A small yacht carrying nine Jewish activists from Israel and other countries was intercepted and commandeered by Israeli naval commandos as it entered the waters off the Gaza Strip on Tuesday morning.

The activists cooperated peacefully with the Israeli boarding team, and the ship was diverted without violence to the Israeli port of Ashdod.

That stood in stark contrast to the so-called “aid” ship the Mavi Marmara intercepted en route to Gaza on May 31, when boarding Israeli commandos were brutally attacked and ended up using deadly force to defend themselves. Critics tried to claim that the Israelis who boarded the Mavi Marmara were bent on violence from the beginning, a claim that was further discredited by Tuesday’s peaceful operation.

The activists aboard Tuesday’s ship said they were trying to draw attention to what they called Israel’s “illegal” blockade of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. Israel saw it as nothing more than a provocation.

“It is an unfortunate fact that the Israeli Navy has to be distracted from its acts of preventing terror and weapons-smuggling to Israel’s enemies, and deal with this kind of provocation,” wrote the Israeli army spokesperson.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Andy David also called the ship “a politically motivated provocation,” and said the notion that it was bringing aid to Gaza was “ridiculous.”

The fact is that an enormous amount of aid enters Gaza on a daily basis via land border crossings in southern Israel. Enough food enters Gaza to almost feed everyone for free, but the sad truth is that most of it is stolen and then sold for high prices by Hamas.

And while a wide gap exists between the haves and have-nots in Gaza, it is little different than any other country in the region. Despite the distorted picture painted by mainstream media reports, Gaza has its fair share of luxury entertainment attractions, bustling marketplaces and a booming economy.

However, there is an embargo on the area, and severe travel restrictions as Israel does its best to deny the Gaza terrorists the materials they need to continue waging war.

But the world often ignores the reason for those measures, and that is the firing of thousands of rockets into neighboring southern Israel. Not only that, but the Palestinians of Gaza then elected the very terrorists who were firing the rockets to head their government.

As many have pointed out in regards to Gaza, when someone violently assaults another person, he or she forfeits certain freedoms.
source:http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=21947

NYT links Iran worm to bible

File named 'Myrtus', moniker for Esther, has experts believing Israel planted virus in Iran's computers

Dudi Cohen
Published: 09.30.10, 17:05 / Israel News

Computer specialists charged with examining the Stuxnet computer virus, which has reportedly infected Iranian nuclear infrastructure, have found that one of its files was named 'Myrtus', a moniker used to refer to Esther in the biblical book by her name.

A New York Times report published Thursday says another biblical clue found in the virus's code was the word 'guava', a fruit belonging to the Myrtus family. The report names as its source Ralph Langner, a German computer security consultant and the first to devise that the worm was a pointed cyber attack.

The word 'Myrtus' is most simply used as a name for a family of fruit, also used for religious purposes during the Sukkot holiday, but some computer analysts see it as a biblical clue linking Israel to the attempt at breaking into Iran's nuclear technology.

However other analysts see the clue as a red herring intended at focusing suspicion on Israel and thus removing it from other possible culprits.

So far both Israel and the US, both immediate suspects in any attack on Tehran's nuclear program, have kept silent on the matter, and experts say the mystery may never be solved.

“The Iranians are already paranoid about the fact that some of their scientists have defected and several of their secret nuclear sites have been revealed,” the Times quoted a former intelligence official as saying. “Whatever the origin and purpose of Stuxnet, it ramps up the psychological pressure.”

Though the virus has also infected China, India, and Indonesia, experts believe Iran was the main target. But the question of whether the file name is a sly play on words, a false clue, or simply a random selection of letters remains.
source:http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3962247,00.html

Palestinians building Jewish settlements

End of construction freeze felt not only by settlers. 'We are rivals but we need to make a living,' says Palestinian laborer

Akiva Novick
Published: 10.01.10, 07:27 / Israel Business

The end of the settlement construction freeze on Monday was felt not only by the settlers, but also their Palestinian neighbors. Hundreds of laborers flooded West Bank settlements as of the early morning hours and could be seen operating bulldozers. They agreed to build, but not to talk, due to fears of a Palestinian boycott of the settlements.

One of the workers, a Palestinian resident of the Jerusalem area who asked to remain anonymous, said "I just want to build. At the end of the day both sides need to make a living, and although we are rivals, the need to put food on the table overrides everything else. I have no problem building settlements; I have been doing it for twenty years."

"We want genuine and just peace, just like everyone else, but peace without income is worthless," he added. "I don't care if the settlements stay here. The most important thing is for us to live in peace, what's wrong with that? We don't believe the boycott on settlement goods will last. The workers cannot survive another extended period of just sitting at home without doing anything, which has been the case now for almost a year."

Most of the Palestinian construction workers at the construction sites refused to give an interview. They quietly and hesitantly said that the second phase of the boycott on settlements is to begin, which stipulates they will not be able to work for settlers.

"They are being threatened with five years in prison if they work for us after January 1," Shaul Goldstein, head of the Gush Etzion Regional Council said.

"It concerns us just as much as it concerns them. The real coexistence, after all, happens here, and the Palestinian Authority is trying to sabotage this. I am the one who wants peace and they just want war. This is the difference between us."

Goldstein said that the start of construction in the settlement of Neve Daniel was celebrated with a joint barbeque which included all 80 Palestinian construction workers and 40 Jews.
source:http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3961637,00.html

Cambridge, Mass. Hindu Yoga Accepted While Christian Symbols Are Taken Down

by Staff
September 30, 2010

MADISON, Wis., (christiansunite.com) -- The city of Cambridge, Massachusetts has pictures of yoga positions on parking ticket envelopes while Christian symbols are being taken down throughout the United States.

Forty thousand citations have been issued by Cambridge parking officers with yoga positions on the front of parking ticket envelopes. Instructions are given to show people how to do the yoga positions. Yoga is a 'symbol' of Hinduism.

Officials say the tickets are used to lead to a "peaceful exchange" between officers and the public. Cambridge officers hand out 340,000 parking tickets per year.

However, throughout the United States, Christian symbols are being removed from many public places. Schools, courthouses, and other public buildings have been forced to remove Christian symbols.

The ACLU and other atheist organizations have worked overtime to make sure Christian symbols are taken down. However, they are silent as yoga is propagated in our schools and public buildings, and now on parking tickets.

Yoga is a 'symbol' of Hinduism. Hindu leaders know this and they are pleased that yoga is making headway. Rajan Zed, Hindu statesmen, sent out a news release thanking Cambridge for their promotion of yoga.

Zed says "Yoga was based on a eightfold path to direct the practitioner from awareness of the external world to focus on the inner." Swami Vivekananda brought yoga to the United States in 1893. About 16 million Americans now do yoga.

Some say that Christians can practice yoga, however, yoga is a spiritual exercise. It goes beyond normal stretching.

ChristianInvestigator.com President Steve McConkey says, "Yoga, being a symbol of Hinduism, is pushed by some Christians without realizing yoga promotes Hinduism, spiritually and symbolically."

Steve McConkey is the President/Founder of 4 Winds Christian Athletics (4 WINDS), a worldwide track and field ministry which offers ChristianInvestigator.com. ChristianInvestigator.com is the first ever news-apologetics site offered by a sports ministry. The ChristianInvestigator.com site was started for athletes, but the vast number of readers are now non-athletes. Steve has been on hundreds of radio stations and in major newspapers throughout the world.

The furious insignificance of Hamas

...from blog of Son of Hamas.....

In Uncategorized on September 29, 2010 at 01:14

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,

Creeps in this petty pace from day to day

To the last syllable of recorded time,

And all our yesterdays have lighted fools

The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!

Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage

And then is heard no more: it is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing.

Macbeth, Act 5, scene 5

These words, written four centuries ago, describe Hamas and life in the Gaza Strip today.

People hear news from the Middle East, and they ask me, “Mosab, what is Hamas doing? Where are they going?” And I tell them that Hamas is doing nothing and going nowhere, because Hamas, for all its zealots and college graduates, is ignorant.

This doesn’t mean it’s not dangerous. But the most dangerous thing about Hamas is that it doesn’t know. It doesn’t know it’s going nowhere. It doesn’t know how to build anything more than a little clinic with only one doctor and insufficient medicine, which only gives it a humanitarian face, concealing its true identity.

It doesn’t know how to govern itself, much less a nation. It’s not that its members are uneducated; they’re just ignorant. They have no wisdom or common sense. They are unteachable, unreachable and unimpeachable, because their mind is made up and they will hear nothing except what comes out of their own mouths. Hamas believes it is right and the rest of the world is wrong. That it is righteous and everybody else is bad, because Allah said so.

When I was in the Israeli prison at Megiddo, Hamas behaved like a mini-regime, controlled by thugs and tyrants. The maj’d, its security wing, tortured men until they made up anything, denounced anyone to make the pain stop. And the maj’d were so stupid that they believed the confessions. I read those confessions. They were ridiculous, and virtually all of them were eventually disproved. I remember wondering what it would be like if Hamas ever gained control of the government in Palestine.

I don’t wonder anymore.

Nearly five years ago, they won the elections. When the international community refused to recognize the legitimacy of their victory, a furious Hamas soaked the streets with Fatah blood.

And what have they done with Gaza since then? Nothing. They have built no infrastructure and formed no government departments. They have not advanced Palestinian culture or improved Palestinian society. Prime Minister Ismail Haniya was responsible for the maj’d in prison, and he rules Gaza the same way today.

Everyone is gagged and crippled by fear. For my people in Gaza, Hamas police are like Hitler’s Wafen-SS, Mao’s Red Guard, the Kremlin’s KGB or Ceaucescu’s Securitate. Anyone can be kidnapped and tortured into confessing that they are collaborating with Israel.

In a recent news conference, Abu Abdallah Lafi, a Hamas internal security official, said, “we have arrested many,” including women, who he called “a real danger to the unity of the people and their resistance” against Israel. Hamas spokesman Ehab Al-Ghsain boasted that his people had obtained “serious confessions and uncovered many collaborators who stood behind assassinations of some leaders of resistance and implemented policies of the enemy’s intelligence service against our people.”

I promise you that all of these “serious confessions” were obtained by unrestricted torture. And the “collaborators” have absolutely nothing to do with the Shin Bet.

Al-Ghsain told reporters that these collaborators planted bombs at training camps and government offices and helped to coordinate IDF raids and assassinations. But I know from 10 years working in the highest levels of the Shin Bet that this is not how Israeli intelligence operates.

Hamas knows nothing of Israel. It does not know how to govern. It does not know how to create or build. It understands nothing about human rights. It knows only how to destroy. Hamas is a colony of hornets in a sack. And Gaza is the sack.

“Nothing is more terrible,” said German philosopher Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, “than ignorance in action.”

To be continued . . .

Assad to Ahmadinejad: Don't visit Lebanon

Kuwaiti newspaper al-Anbaa says Syrian president asked his Iranian counterpart to postpone planned trip to southern Lebanon, tone down his statements during visit so as not to harm country's security

Roee Nahmias
Published: 09.29.10, 14:14 / Israel News

The Iranian president's planned visit to southern Lebanon is raising fears in Syria of all places. According to reports, Syrian President Bashar Assad has suggested that his Iranian counterpart, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, postpone his trip as "this is not the right time."

Kuwaiti newspaper al-Anbaa on Wednesday quoted diplomatic sources as saying that Ahmadinejad's scheduled visit to Lebanon in about two weeks was raised during his latest meeting with Assad in Damascus, about 10 days ago.

According to the report, the Syrian leader asked the Iranian counterpart why he wanted to visit the region, in light of the exchange of diplomatic messages between the two countries.

The Iranian president explained that the visit was important due to the strategic significance of the Marjayoun area, adding that he viewed the entire area as Iran's border with Israel.

According to the same sources, the Syrian president replied that he believed the visit should not be held at this time. Assad expressed his hope that Ahmadinejad would tone down his statement during the visit, as the Israelis "feel insecure" and Lebanon's security was very important to Syria's security interests.

According to the report, at the end of the meeting the Iranian president promised to "seriously consider" the Syrian president's recommendations.
source:http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3961987,00.html

Buddhists assault Christian aid workers in India

by Staff
September 27, 2010

(christiansunite.com) - A visually impaired Christian and his friend have accused drunken Buddhists of abducting and assaulting them. The incident happened on September 1 in the town of Leh in the northern Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir.

The Christians had been distributing relief aid in the area where flooding and landslides destroyed hundreds of houses and killed around 200 people in early August.

The attackers, identified as members of the Ladakh Buddhist Association (LBA), abducted Ram Kumar Thapa, Stanzin Chosphel and his pregnant wife Putali Sherpa because of their Christian faith and beat the men, the victims said. According to the victims' complaints to the Jammu and Kashmir State Human Rights Commission, LBA members were upset that Thapa was preaching Christianity to displaced residents.

The assailants took Thapa to the LBA office at the Soma Monastery, where a Buddhist monk was also present, and beat him again. He was then moved to a room where he could hear the voice of his friend, Chosphel, with his wife. The attackers showed Thapa's bruised and bleeding face to Chosphel to warn him against continuing as a Christian. Chosphel confirmed that he and his wife were taken to the LBA office at the monastery.

"They dragged me into a room and gagged my mouth so I could not cry out as they beat me with rubber pipes and rods and fists continuously," Chosphel said. "All along they kept telling me to leave my wife and also renounce my faith in Christianity and return to Buddhism." The men released the couple at around 12:30 a.m. after giving them two days to leave Leh or convert to Buddhism, "or else they will chop my wife into pieces and kill me and also kill my family ... who are still practising Buddhists," stated Chosphel. (Source: Compass Direct)
source:http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion09702.shtml

Let Jews build homes

Op-ed: Razing of ‘unauthorized outposts’ unjust, raises questions about rule of law

Moshe Dann
Published: 09.29.10, 00:49 / Israel Opinion

Conventional wisdom says that “Israel promised (the US) to destroy all ‘unauthorized outposts,’ and, therefore, must fulfill its obligations.” If the government is looking for an excuse, this is a poor one.

The "promise" made in a letter in April, 2004 from Dov Weissglass, then chief of the Prime Minister's Bureau to National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, was submitted "on behalf of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon;" the letter was not signed by Sharon, nor was it affirmed by the cabinet. It was, simply, "diplomatic correspondence."

Moreover, the letter contains conditions. "The Israeli government believes that further steps by it, even if consistent with the Roadmap, cannot be taken absent the emergence of a Palestinian partner committed to peace, democratic reform, and the fight against terror."

Using this letter to justify destruction of Jewish "unauthorized outposts" raises serious questions:

Does Weissglass' letter obligate Israel to carry out its provisions while ignoring its conditions? Does this letter obligate future Israeli governments? Was the letter approved by the cabinet (since it mentions only the PM)? Why didn't Prime Minister Sharon sign it? Other than Weissglass' letter, there is no binding agreement to destroy Jewish "unauthorized outposts," destroy settlements, or prevent Jews from building anywhere in the Land of Israel.

Asked to respond, senior officials in the Prime Minister's Office avoided direct specific answers. "This government is committed to the rule of law, and abiding by the law is paramount to maintaining a civil society." They refused to elaborate.

This begs the questions and shifts the argument to Israeli law and, vaguely, "rule of law."

What, in fact, is Israeli law regarding settlement building, and how is it determined? If Arabs are entitled to acquire property rights by settlement, why can't Jews? Why do Israeli authorities refuse to give permission to develop new neighborhoods, hilltops and outposts? If the application of law discriminates against Jews, what's the meaning of "rule of law"?

What about impartiality?

And why does Defense Minister Ehud Barak unilaterally and arbitrarily refuse to authorize Jewish-owned buildings? Is that democracy?

The Supreme Court has demanded that "unauthorized outposts" built by Jews be destroyed immediately, but has given over 100,000 illegal Arab homes a pass. And what about the vast "unrecognized" illegal Bedouin villages throughout the Galilee and Negev that are still growing?

"Rule of law" means impartiality above all; it also must make reasonable common sense. Jewish homes in "unauthorized outposts" built on unoccupied, unclaimed land are examples of Zionist enterprise and idealism.

They offer inexpensive places to live. Most received tacit approval from government ministries, including the prime and defense ministers, which provided infrastructure and utilities. They tried to fulfill the necessary requirements. They are citizens and members of Israeli society. How does destroying them demonstrate justice and the "rule of law" when they are discriminated against? Why can't they be offered legal recognition?

If providing legal status to Jewish homes in "unauthorized outposts" provides more taxes and fees and serves the interests of the State, why not allow it? How is denying only Jews the right to build assert the "rule of law?"

If the Israeli government is afraid of American opposition, then what does that say about "rule of law?" And, if the "rule of law" is important, why should it be sacrificed on the altar of American opposition?

Focusing on outposts and Jewish building in new neighborhoods of Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria diverts attention from the real issues: the threat of a nuclear Iran, Pakistan/Afghanistan's disintegration, the danger from Hamas and Hezbollah, and ongoing terrorism from PA-controlled areas – to name only a few.

Where Jews can or can't live in the national homeland of the Jewish people hardly seems to be of such importance, unless, of course, the question is if they should have one at all.

But then, there are other, more ancient and sacred promises to keep.

The author, a former assistant professor of History, is a journalist living in Jerusalem.
source:http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3961496,00.html