Hidden Jews

Throughout history, Jews were forced to convert. The ones in Spain called the Marranos, are a famous group who forced to convert to Christianity and yet many kept up their Jewish customs and traditions and then faced the murderous Spanish Inquisition.

Nissim Mossek has a very interesting video about Palestinians of Jewish origin. These Jews also remained hidden throughout the centuries after being forced to convert to Islam.




H/t: Israellycool

Am Yisrael Chai!

The Jewish nation of Israel is 61! Our hope has continued to sustain us. Am Yisrael Chai!

Radiant

Haveil Havalim 214: Radiant-Ziv Edition is up.

Speaking of radiance, Israel should be a beacon of light. Instead, the very name Israel is met with virulent hatred and no body seems to care about the facts of Israel. Gail linked to a post by Mort Zuckerman called the The Story You Aren't Hearing. It is in support of Israel but the commenters show a hatred of Israel that borders on the insane.

Have people lost their common sense? We need Israel more than ever. The growing anti-Semitism guised as anti-Zionism is reaching depths not seen since the 1930's. The choice is the same as then: Do you appease the haters or do you stand for what is right? The terrorists of Hamas and Fatah are not freedom fighters. They are cold-blooded terrorists whose mantra has been to wipe Israel of the face of the map. These terrorists are the haters and they are supported by Iran.

We have a chance to let radiance shine. Quit supporting terrorists. Quit making excuses for them. Their cause is not noble nor just. For 61 years, they could and should have formed their own state.

Walking Out

Durban II is going to have fewer attendees this year. More countries are making the same choice as the US, Canada, and Israel and not attending. The Netherlands, Germany, New Zealand, Sweden, and Australia are opting out this year. The first Durban conference on racism turned out to be a hate campaign against Israel. Durban II is on the same track.

Yom HaShoah begins tomorrow and Durban II chose to let Ahmadinejad speak:

Israeli leaders reacted with deep dismay to the presence of Mr. Ahmadinejad, who has called the Holocaust a myth and advocated the destruction of the Jewish state. In remarks at a cabinet meeting on Monday, the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “Six million of our brethren were massacred during the Holocaust. Sadly, not everyone learned the lesson.”

“While we gather to honor their memory, in Switzerland there will assemble a conference allegedly aimed against racism,” he said. “Its guest of honor is a racist Holocaust-denier who does not hide his intentions to wipe Israel off the face of the earth.”

Referring to Mr. Ahmadinejad’s role at the conference, Mr. Peres said Monday: “There must be a limit, even to the neutrality of Switzerland. Today is the day? This is the man to speak? This is the outlook for the future?”

Many delegates walked out. Is this enough? Why was he even allowed to speak to begin with? Why was he made a guest of honor?

While people are being hacked to death in the Congo, while the military dictatorship in Burma suppresses its people, while people are starving under the Communist dictatorship in North Korea, while those in the Darfur refugee camps are still being raped and murdered, the UN Human Rights Commission can seem only to censure one country: Israel.

Tomorrow, wear a blue Star of David in support of Israel.

Boycotting Israel Properly

Saw this at Jack's and wanted to share it:



And thanks Israel for helping out us Hurricane Katrina victims.

Permission Granted

Last night as the megillah of Esther was read, I was struck by the thought that the Jews in ancient had to be given permission to defend themselves. In many ways the scenario is being played out again in the world today. The Jewish nation of Israel is denounced on a regular basis for defending her people as any country would. The new rulers of Persia today, one in particular, Ahmadinejad, has consistently stated Israel will be wiped off the face of the earth. Iran is moving rapidly toward having nuclear weapons which are capable of destroying Israel. They now have rockets which can reach space so it not just Israel that is in danger.

The enemies of Israel are myriad. The United Nations seems to be merely an instrument for denouncing Israel at every turn. Foolish people hold signs in protest against Israel which state they are Hezbollah. Hezbollah may be helpful to some, but it can never be forgotten that it is a terrorist organization committed to the destruction of Israel. Hamas is the same. Hitler was able to improve the lives of many Germans. That little bit of good can never negate the evil which in he set in motion against the annihilation of the Jewish people.

I'm currently reading The Shoah in Ukraine History. In the chapter regarding Romania and Tranisitria, I was struck by something. The leader of Romania expelled all the Jews living in Besserabia and Moldavia to Transnistra. When he started implementing plans to transfer the Jews in Translyvania, he was stopped by a few things. First President Roosevelt sent a letter and the Greek and Roman churches intervened. The head rabbi sent a letter in protest. By this time, the Germans were losing along the Russian front. It is speculated that Romania's leader had an eye on the future and wanted to ensure Romania would have some brownie points. Romania didn't send any of it's Jews to the death camps. MOst of those who were sent to Transnistra did not die by bullets. Nor were they sent to gas chambers. They died slowly of starvation and of being forced to work as slave laborers. They were crammed into an area that could not support such a large population. Disease took a large toll.

As I was reading this particular segment in the book, I asked myself several questions. Did Roosevelt ever demand Hitler quit deporting Jews? Why wasn't there a greater world outcry when Hitler passed the Nuremberg laws and when Jewish synagogues, homes, and businesses were going up in flames? Why wasn't there a greater outcry when Jews were being murdered on German streets?

I ask myself these same questions today when I read of the attacks against Jewish schools and synagogues around the world. I ask myself these questions when Israel is the only condemned by the United Nations Human Rights Commission. I ask myself these questions when I see the vile protest held against Israel. I ask myself these questions when I see idiots compare Israel to Nazi Germany.

The thing is, for the first time in 2,000 years Jews no longer need to ask permission to defend themselves. Since Israel's creation, Jews have come home. Israel has brought home those Jews whose lives were imperiled in Arab countries. It defends itself against terrorists who are filled with bloodlust. The terrorists of Hamas, Hezbollah, and other groups do not shout death to Israel. They shout death to Yihud, in other words, Jews.

Wear a Blue Star

Sometime in the late Medieval period, Jews in Iraq were forced to wear a yellow badge. Nazi Germany forced Jews to wear a yellow star. These yellow badges were meant to humiliate Jews.

Today, Israel is the only country bashed by the United Nations Human Rights Commission. Never mind what is happening in Burma, China, North Korea, Sudan, Egypt, and other countries. Israel is the sole whipping boy of the United Nations.

A World Conference against Racism is to be held again in Durban South Africa. The previous one held in 2001 proved to be another event in which Israel was the sole country to criticized. This year's proves to be going the same route. Only three countries have pulled out of this anti-Semitic feeding frenzy: Canada, the United States, and Israel.

In the face of this obsession, who today stands with the Jewish people? Who amongst the leaders of today is prepared to wear the Jewish star? At the UN Human Rights Council, there is one state which votes consistently against the anti-Zionists - Canada. To take an example, the Human Rights Council in January 2009, at one of its many special sessions directed against Israel, passed a typical Israel bashing resolution, this time about Gaza. The vote was 33 in favour, 13 abstentions, and only one opposed. That one was Canada.

The World Conference against Racism held in Durban South Africa in September 2001 in a concluding document which was supposed to be about racism instead criticised one country alone, Israel. The Durban review conference, scheduled for April this year in Geneva, bears all the hallmarks of repeating that travesty. There are only two states besides Israel which have pulled out of the Review conference to avoid participating in and legitimizing that echo of Durban 2001, Canada and the United States. Canada left first, in February 2008, even before Israel did. The United States just announced it was pulling out a few days ago.

THIS CANADIAN record has drawn the attention of the world's anti-Zionist states. When the Canadian human rights record came up for consideration at a Human Rights Council working group in February under the Universal Periodic Review, Algeria, Syria and Iran tore into Canada for its refusal to kowtow to the anti-Zionist agenda.

During World War II, there are legends about two leaders who sided with the Jewish people:

Two urban legends about the yellow star are commonly told. In one, French Vichy officials during World War II gave Moroccan authorities yellow stars for the Jews of Morocco to wear. King Mohammad V asked for a dozen more, explaining that he wanted them so that he and his family could wear them.

In another, the Nazi German occupying forces in Denmark issued a decree that all Danish Jews must wear a yellow armband with the star of David. King Christian in response answered that he would wear the first star of David and expected every other Dane to do the same.

Both leaders did support their Jewish communities, but not necessarily in the way the stories depict. The first story is contested. The second story is false. But both are constantly retold because they state a fundamental truth, the importance of leadership in combating prejudice.

Wear a blue Star of David in support of Israel. Post one on your web-site.



The Star of David is a symbol anyone should be proud to wear. It symbolizes our struggle for religious freedom, the very right to live, and justice.

Retribution?

I'm almost convinced that all the criticism and charges that Israel has become Nazi-like with it's actions to defend it's people from terrorists attacks have to do with a fear of retribution. For 2,000 years, Jews have been crucified by Romans, murdered by Christians and Muslims in pogroms across Europe and the Middle East. Since 1948 and the founding of Israel, Jews have guns and we are able to defend ourselves!


The Volokh Conspiracy writes about a 'play' called Seven Jewish Children:

""Seven Jewish Children": This, new short play opened in London recently, and it's hard to articulate how depraved it is without suggesting you first read the full dialogue. The essential "plot," if you can call it that, is to show how Israeli Jews, deranged by their suffering in the Holocaust, gradually turn into alter-egos of the Nazis.

Perhaps the writer of the 'play'(more like an anti-Semitic screed) took inspiration from those German bishops who compared Israel's treatment of Palestinians to the ghettos German Nazis created. Or perhaps it was from all those anti-Israel protesters who proudly hold up signs equating Israel with Nazi Germany. Or perhaps it was from Jimmy Carter calling Israel an apartheid state.

The thing is, Israel does everything in it's power to avoid Palestinian civilian deaths when military action has to be taken against terrorists. Israel puts its soldiers in danger in order to avoid civilian casualties. Contrast that with the actions of Palestinian terrorists whose rockets are aimed at kindergartens, malls, and hospitals.

The first blood-libel against Jews was made in 1144 in England. The play, if you can it that, is just the latest blood-libel.

Tikvah(Hope)-Let Us Continue Living

Never Again?

Every time Israel does something to defend itself, people around the world screech and protest against the 'Nazi Zionists'. Iran now has the capability to launch into space. Iran has made repeated threats to wipe Israel off the face of the map and has been busily trying to build a nuclear arsenal.

There are around 6 million Jews living in Israel. That is the same number murdered by Hitler's Nazis. After World War II and when the death camps were finally opened and the atrocities, the ash piles, the mountains of clothes, the skeletal frames on those who survived were exposed, the world said "Never again". And yet, we are almost in the same situation as in 1939. Hitler made his threats to exterminate the Jews and nothing was done.

Country after country closed their doors to those Jews who desperately tried to escape from Hitler's menace in Europe. World leaders and most everyone could not conceive that Hitler would implement his 'Final Solution'.

Iran is gathering their final components for their 'Final Solution'. Iran would have no compunction using nuclear weapons against Israel even if it meant millions of Palestinians would be killed as well. Iran could care less if Jerusalem was destroyed. Iran's leadership has threatened all those living in Israel. Iran has held 'conferences' denying the Holocaust. They scream kill the Jews.

Never again?

Existence

After World War II and even before World War II, many countries came into existence. There's Jordan, Pakistan, Kuwait, Israel, and others. Of all these countries, only the existence of Israel seems to be in danger. When Pakistan was created, millions upon millions of refugees were created. Heck, there were still millions of refugees after World War II.

Why should the existence of Israel even be questioned? Radical Islamic terrorists wreak their waves of death upon those in India because of Kashmir and yet no one questions the validity of Pakistan. Why is Israel signaled out?

In his post, David asks What's Wrong With This Statement:

In a statement marking international Holocaust Day, Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht said, "Belgium continues its unwavering support for the existence of the state of Israel." ]

Read the rest of David's post and then ask yourself why statements supporting the existence of Israel have to be made.

Interesting Links

New way to study Torah

Thanks to Allah

The Rangel Rule

Israellycool keeps the updates coming

Human Rights

Liraz Madmony, a 23 year old student from Sderot Israel addressed the UN Human Rights Commission.

Are human rights for some, but not others?

The constant assault on Sderot has destroyed our ability to lead a normal life. The warning before each attack gives us only 15 seconds to run for shelter. Fifteen seconds that will decide, life or death.

Mr. President, who will protect our right to life? My family does not have a bomb shelter, so we run to the most protected room, which is the shower.

There is one attack I will never forget. We heard the siren at seven in the morning. We ran to the shower. The rockets fell next to my house. My little brother, who was 14, went to see if anyone needed help. He found a man whose legs were blown off, and a woman blown to pieces.

My youngest brother is six. The rockets have been falling for eight years. He knows no other reality.

Perhaps the biggest problem with the Human Rights Commission is that member states which have of the most horrendous human rights violations are allowed to sit on it. When thousands of people are being massacred in Congo and the only state being censured is Israel, there is clearly a problem. When people are imprisoned in China so their organs can be harvested and the only state being censured is Israel, there is clearly a problem. When Kim Il Jong of North Korea can blatantly allow his civilian population to starve and the only state being censured is Israel, there is clearly a problem. When the people of Burma await world reaction for their freedom and the only state being censured is Israel, there is clearly a problem.

Like Liraz asks, are there human rights for some but not others?

Crisis

Since the beginning of December, I've been living through a personal crisis, the details of which I cannot go into. It has affected every aspect of my life from taking photos to blogging. This past Sunday, I felt the old stirrings of the black wall of depression. The emptiness I felt was like looking into a bottomless abyss, with no light.

I forced myself to go take photos. The day matched my mood. It was raining. grey, and cold. The dark pit lifted and is almost all gone today.

I haven't had the opportunity to post about the crisis Israel is going through. When I come into work, I begin checking all those I read who are in Israel to make sure they are okay. I read in the news about the synagogues in Europe and in the United States being attacked with Molotov cocktails and those that have been vandalized.

If protests against Israel are merely to show disagreement, why are synagogues being attacked?

All Are Targets

Hamas, Hezbollah, and other terrorist groups just want to murder. They do not care nor have any moral compunctions if Israeli schools are hit. In fact, they rejoice! Today, some terrorist group in Lebanon launched Katyusha toward Israel. It hit a senior citizens home. Jameel has photos of the damage. I'm sure Jimmy Carter will call the terrorist action "defensive", much like he called the tunnels Hamas dug to smuggle in weapons "defensive".

The world has gone insane. From the UN to European leaders, all expect Israel to ask her people to just take rocket fire from whatever terrorist group decides to fire.

Old people should be able to live out their years in peace. School kids shouldn't have to learn the nearest routes to bomb shelters. Moms and Dads shouldn't have to read bed-time stories to their children in bomb shelters.

I care about the Palestinian children who go through this as well. I'm outraged that these precious children are being used as human shields by Hamas. I'm outraged that civilians are routinely used as human shields by terrorist groups like Hamas, Hezbollah, and let's not kid ourselves, Fatah. I'm outraged that the UN has not sought to end the plight of Palestinian "refugees" by not dismantling UNRWA.

I'm outraged that some church groups would prefer to talk to "charities" such as Hamas and Hezbollah and make the decision to divest from Israel. I want peace in Israel. I want the Palestinians to live better lives(Gazans have better living conditions than many Egyptians). Peace will not be achieved by criticizing Israel as the sole problem. If people really wanted peace, they would condemn the terrorists instead of trying to justify them.

It Is Time

From news reports about Israel's defensive Operation Cast Lead, the same ole scenario is being played out. The terrorists hide behind the civilian population and use schools and even hospitals to fire rockets. They used the UNRWA schools and the UN defends them!! It is long past time for UNRWA to be disbanded. It's goal is supposed to be helping Palestinian refugees resettle. It is also deceptive for the UN changed the definition of refugee for Palestinians alone. UNRWA is perpetuating the problem and Palestinian refugees since 1948 have been cynically used by Arab governments and is now being used by Hamas and the Palestinian Authority.

Yet Hamas is not the only Palestinian group at fault. In 2005, shortly after the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, I met with the chief of staff to the chairman of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas. My question to him: Now that we have uprooted thousands of Jews and empowered Gazans to be masters of their own fate, can we hope that within a year's time there will be fewer refugees in the camps? "Absolutely not," he said. "The refugees will be relocated only in the context of the final status [agreement]. How can we move them if we do not know where they will live? Maybe they will live in Israel."

In withdrawing from Gaza, Israel made painful concessions for peace by forcibly removing Jews from their homes. And yet even the Palestinian Authority, the most moderate among Palestinian political groups, would not consider easing their own people's plight in the wake of Israel's compromise. This is because the suffering of the refugees is essential to their broader political struggle.

How does the West respond to the obvious exploitation of Palestinian refugees? Soon after my meeting with Mr. Abbas's chief of staff, I met with the ambassador of one of the West's most enlightened countries. I asked: Why are the Palestinians not willing to help their own refugees? "I can understand them," he answered. "After all, they don't want the refugee problem to be taken off the agenda."

This reflexive "understanding" for the Palestinian leaders' abuse of their own people is the heart of the problem. For decades, the international community has actively assisted in building the terrorists' unique system of control -- over where Palestinians live and in what conditions, and over what they think -- by allowing terrorists to turn the refugee camps into the center of the Palestinian war machine. Instead of working to relieve the refugees' misery, the United Nations has dedicated an entire agency, UNRWA, to perpetuating it. For the rest of the world's refugees, the U.N. works tirelessly to improve their conditions, to relocate them, and to help them rebuild their lives as quickly as possible. With the Palestinians, the U.N. does exactly the opposite, granting refugee status to the great-grandchildren of people displaced in 1948, doing nothing to dismantle the camps, and acting as facilitators for the terrorists' goal of grinding an entire civilian population under their thumb. Nowhere on earth do terrorists get so much help from the Free World.

It is long past time for UNRWA to be disbanded. It is long past time for European and other countries to blindly stop the billions in aid money to the Palestinian Authority until all terror activity has stopped.

Not Turning the Other Cheek

I finished reading Jewish Literacy by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin this past Shabbat. It gives a brief outline of topics ranging from the Torah to the prayers we say during services. The section on antisemitism had a quote by Sigmund Freud. In it, he surmised that antisemitism exists because Jews are the moral conscience of the world. It is for this reason many hate us.

It caught my attention because I had been thinking about antisemitism for months and had come to the conclusion it was because we do serve as a moral compass. From the way we eat to the way we bury our dead and everything in between helps us to remember to love our neighbors. If we are to show compassion to the animals that are slaughtered for our food, how much more compassion should be shown to our selves and others?

Acts of loving-kindness are supposed to be at the center of our lives. We see this in action even as Israel once again finds it necessary to defend itself. While seeking out targets of the Hamas military infrastructure, leaflets are dropped to the civilian population letting them know to get out of the way. While tanks were being lined up before the start of the ground-offensive, trucks at other parts were loaded up with food, water, and medicine to be dispersed to the civilians in Gaza.

While Israel tries to warn the civilians in Gaza, the murdering terrorists in Gaza aim their Qassams, GRADs, and other missiles at Israeli schools, businesses, hospitals, and shopping malls. The terrorists don't care who they hit.

While we are commanded to acts of loving-kindness, we are also commanded to not stand by while another's blood is being spilled, to kill those who would kill you, and to seek justice.

Lebanon killed far more Palestinians couple of years ago and was very brutal in its actions against the Palestinian terrorists in refugee camps. They cut off water and electricity to the refugee camps, and yet there was no wide-spread condemnation of Lebanon.

And yet, Israel after finally doing something about the rockets aimed at its citizens for over ten years, is condemned by the UN and so many others. Israel is a sovereign nation and has the right to protect its citizens from cut-throat murderers. Hamas is a murderous band who takes joy in the slaughter of children. To try to defend them, as some newspaper columnists have done, because they may provide some social services should be morally repugnant to any decent mensch.

The only reason I can come up with the vitriolic hate against Israel is antisemitism. Hitler called Jews a cancer and now many say Israel is a cancer, some even stoop so low as to say Israel is as atrocious as Hitler. Iran has openly stated it will wipe Israel off the face of the earth. The Palestinian Authority says it wants peace with Israel and yet its maps do not show Israel, only Palestine from the River to the Sea. The United Nations uses the same flag when it holds its Palestinian Solidarity day, the same day when Israel accepted the UN terms and the Arab world swore to drive all the Jews into the sea.

Israel has made mistakes. Most Palestinians, like Israelis, want to live in peace. Peace will never be achieved as long as there are those who defend or try to justify the tactics of terrorists like Hamas. It is surprising and a hopeful sign that many countries such as Egypt place the blame on Hamas for the fighting now going on. This needs to be done on a consistent basis and then peace can be reached.

Let's Pretend

Shomer

Huddled

We in south Mississippi can relate to huddling with our families when hurricanes threaten. We have a least two days to prepare and make everything safe and secure for our homes and families. Imagine what it would be like if we only had 60 seconds or even 10 seconds to prepare for something that could kill us, our family members, our homes, or our businesses.

People in Sderot have about 10 seconds to seek shelter when the bomb sirens sound. Ten seconds to find a child that may have been playing outside, 10 seconds to shelter kids at school, 10 seconds to leave your car to find a bomb shelter, 10 seconds to choose which children will go in your home's bomb shelter and which ones will have to remain outside: This is what the people of Sderot have had to contend with for over 5 years.

Now, in Beersheba, the longest range yet of any Hamas bombs, the sirens are sounding. Those in Beersheba have a little bit more time, about 60 seconds.

Those extra seconds don't really mean much when it is your family in danger or when you are at work.