Hagee, Holocaust & Hebron
By Yossi Baumol
G-d certainly didn't "cause" the Holocaust. It was a group of horrid monsters headed by Hitler who caused it by exercising their free will in the worst imaginable way. In addition, it is difficult to bear hearing anyone confidently speak on behalf of Divine Providence.
Yet the fact is that an all powerful G-d did allow the Holocaust to happen. The fact is that others have spoken in His name just as confidently.
Many people have risen up to castigate Rev. John Hagee for saying that the reason Divine Providence allowed the Holocaust to happen was so that the Jews should go back to the
Would a Jew say such a thing?
Just by accident, let's take a look at "B'Chukotai" - the Torah portion read the week this story broke on the Huffington Post website. Rabbi Meir Simcha of D'vinsk wrote in 1925 on Leviticus (26:44): The Jew, in general, will forget from whence he came…He will think that
In his revived sermon from the 1990's, Rev. Hagee said that the passage in Jeremiah regarding fishermen and hunters refers to Herzl & Hitler. How far off is he from the following Jewish source? "For there are two ways to acquire an animal: call it and it follows after him, or strike a stick and it runs before him. And thus we have to ascend to the
Anyone else?
There are dozens of the most highly respected Talmudic scholars who concur with this view and they can be found in Chapter 2D of Rabbi Shlomo Aviner's book, "Shelo Yaalu B'Choma", translated into English by Rabbi Mordechai Friedfertig which is quoted at length at the end of this article.
The fact is that most of the Torah portion we read last week deals with this prediction. Despite the horrors of the Diaspora, the Torah promises us that we will not be totally destroyed while in exile: "And yet for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them: (Lev 26:44).
The source of our strength, the source of our protection lies in
***
Excerpts from Chapter 2D of Rabbi Shlomo Aviner's book, "Shelo Yaalu B'Choma", translated by Rabbi Mordechai Friedfertig
…3. And the great authorities of Israel already wrote that it is forbidden to remain in Exile when there are also evil decrees, they include the Rambam:[100] That those who abstain from this [ascending to the Land] they are "violators and cause others to sin," the Ralbag,[101] and the Magen Avraham:[102] that furthermore are "liable to the death penalty," and this is also implied from the words of the Ramban.[103]
4. And the great authorities of Israel similarly wrote that the purpose of the suffering of the Exile is to awaken us to ascend to the Land of Israel - and this is similarly in the Midrash[104] - they include the Chatam Sofer,[105] the author of the Arba'ah Turim[106] and Ha-Rav Mordechai Eliezer Weber, that this is the explanation of the talmudic statement "The Land of Israel comes through suffering that the suffering hints to us to awaken ourselves to return to the Land of Israel,"[107] and Rabbi Meir Shapira of Lublin.[108]
5. The great authorities of Israel wrote that the horrors of the Exile come upon us when we do not ascend to the Land of Israel, they include Ha-Rav Yaacov Tzvi Emden,[109] Ha-Rav Yehudah Alkalai[110] and similarly the Rokeach.[111]
6. The Shelah wrote that the goal of the fiery furnace is to clarify that this is a mitzvah to ascend to the
7. The great authorities already warned, that if we do not ascend on our own to the Land of Israel, the matter will come through horrors and destruction, they include Rabbi Simchah Bunem of Pshischa[113] that it is incumbent upon us to ascend to the Land of Israel on our own and not wait to be struck by a rod, and Rabbi Meir Simchah of Dvinsk[114] similarly wrote that Hashem will clarify by a blow of fury that Berlin is not Jerusalem. And the Netziv[115] and the Gra wrote that it is incumbent upon us to choose the path of the of the Revealed End of returning to Zion and then there would not have been a need for our Sages to warn us regarding a king whose decrees would be worse than Haman,[116] "and almost every day our Rabbi spoke to us in trembling and emotion that in Zion and Jerusalem there will be a refuge, do not delay the appointed time. Who can recount and who can describe the magnitude of concern of our Rabbi in his relating to us these types of matters in his holy spirit and tears in his eyes."[117] In the year 5693 (1933), ten years before the destruction of Europe, when the oppressors of the Jews, may their name be blotted out, rose to power, the Chafetz Chaim said that the remaining refugee camp would be in the Land of Israel.[118]
Our master Ha-Rav Kook wrote: "Come to the
8. And our Rabbi Ha-Rav Tzvi Yehudah wrote that the Holocaust is the divorce document with the Exile which appears together with our Redemption.[120]
Bibliography of quotes selected from Rabbi Aviner's book
100. At the end of Iggeret Kiddush Hashem (Edition of Mossad Ha-Rav Kook pg. 66) that it is forbidden to remain in the land there in which there are decrees, "But those who deceive themselves and say that they should stay in their place until the King Messiah comes to the Land of the West [and then they will] leave and go to Jerusalem - I do not know how this persecution will be nullified for them. Rather they are violators and cause others to sin."
101. That after there was a famine in the Land, our forefather Avraham decided on his own that this is the will of The Holy One, Blessed be He, that he should descend to Egypt even though the Divine command was to settle in the Land (To'aliyot Ha-Ralbag, Parashat Lech Lecha, Bereshit 12:10). And all the more so to abandon the Exile and to ascend to the Land (Em Ha-Banim Semeichah pp. 160-161).
102. "That if there are harsh decrees in the Land of Israel one should sacrifice his life for settling the Land which is not the case of one who dwells outside of the Land in a place of decrees, he is liable to the death penalty if he does not go to another country" (Zait Ra'anan on Yalkut Shemoni Yitro 292. Em Ha-Banim Semeichah pp. 106-107).
103. Who wrote that The Holy One, Blessed be He, promised us that we would sit in tranquility and with ample livelihood in the Exile (Parashat Ki Tavo, Devarim 28:38), and if so, when the non-Jews take all of the benefits of life from us, it is as if The Holy One, Blessed be He, is saying: "I pulled my hand away from you from further promising your settlement in the Exile, but you should arise and come to your mother's chest" (Em Ha-Banim Semeichah pp. 160, 239).
104. For The Holy One, Blessed be He, brought distress upon Machlon and Kilyon for approximately ten years in order to warn them to return to the
105. For the force of the distress is to bring us to the
106. "Any time that the sounds, cries and screams of the harsh decrees are heard, God forbid, every person's heart should burn to build the
107. The introduction of the book "Erech Dal" on Arachin. Em Ha-Banim Semeichah pp. 161, 231. And ibid., that the purpose of this bitter Exile is to awaken us for the
108. "Now I know why you are against ascending and building the Land, since any time that you eat 'lichtiga fish' ['fish of light' which Chasidim eat at Seudah Shelishit while it is still day] the
109. "Do not consider remaining rooted outside the Land...this was the sin of our forefathers...and it is what kept us in our bitter Exile because not only one person arose upon us to destroy us but in each and every generation...and we were persecuted ruthlessly...as it seems to us when we were in tranquility outside of Israel that we found the Land of Israel [on] a different level, therefore all of the tragedies come upon us when Israel was dwelling in the Land of Spain and other lands..." (Siddur Beit Yaacov, introduction, 13). "And if only this sin had been in our hands...in my view it is the closest reason, revealed, powerful and strong, for all of the horrible, great and unprecedented persecutions, which astonishes the mind, which we have experienced in Exile" (ibid.). And see below footnote 178.
110. "Since
111. For the persecutions of
112. Shelah volume 3, chelek Torah Shebichtav, 11:2 (Em Ha-Banim Semeichah pg. 330).
113. For there are two ways to acquire an animal: call it and it follows after him, or strike a stick and it runs before him. And thus we have to ascend to the
114. "...and the Jew...will think that Berlin is Jerusalem...then a stormy and rushing wind will come, it will uproot us from its trunk..." (Meshech Chochmah Bechukotai pg. 192). "A stormy wind will arise, and spread out its many waves, and destroy, lay waste, ruin, wash away without mercy" (pg. 191).
115. For during the three days of darkness all those who did not want to leave Egypt died, "And all of this is incumbent upon us to remember that also at this time that many of Israel refuse the future Redemption [occurring] quickly in our days, but The Holy One, Blessed be He, will rule over us with a strong hand" (Haggadah of Pesach on the verse "And Hashem brought us out...with a strong hand").
116. Kol Ha-Tur chapter 4 #3.
117. Kol Ha-Tur end of chapter 5. And similarly "And there will be a refugee in
118. As it is written (Ovadiah 1:17) "And there will be a refugee on
119. "Keriyot Gedolot - Le-Eretz Yisrael." And Ha-Rav of Onsdorf said [in Yiddish]: Woe, I see that God forbid the Jews can not remain here, in these countries, and they will be forced to flee. There will be nowhere to flee. Why do they not see to build the settlement in the
120. "Hashem's hand extends over us, from the midst of bloodshed, fiery furnaces, agony of suffering, kindling of fires, sacrificing of souls, which with the taking of land of the Exile and the removal of the Divine Presence from it, also brings us by our forelock, and places us in the heights of our theater of operations" (Le-Netivot Yisrael pg. [61] 81). "And the extension of Hashem's hand over us in a pouring out of His anger, to remove us from the impurities of the lands of the Nations and the dispersions of our Exiles in the midst of their darkness...in the annihilation of a third of our body and its choice part" (ibid. pg. [94] 123). "The dreadful chapter of the Divine dissection in the body of the Nation with the annihilation of our six million, an important part, in a way of lifting us to our place" (ibid. pg. [110] 147). "The departure from the desert of the Nations...with the inconceivable horrible and dreadful dissection-severance of hundred of thousands, may the remembrance of the holy ones be a blessing, may Hashem revenge their blood, and cause to enter for the settlement of the Land" (ibid. pg. [134] 179). "The ingathering of our exiles and entrance of our scattered to the Place of our Life, with their horrible uprooting of the dispersions and the scattering" (ibid. pg. [182] 247). "With the completion of the collapse of the land of the Exile from under our feet...with the fulfillment of the word of Hashem that 'Among these Nations we will not find tranquility and our feet will not find rest'..." (ibid. pg. [52] 69). "The storm of severance of the body of the Entirety of Israel from the deserts of the Nations" (ibid. pg. [80] 105). "The complete actual arising, of the announcement that 'Among these Nations we will not find tranquility,' came with taking the portion of the land from our presence there" (ibid. pg. [61] 80). "In the essence of the full collapse, the complete uprooting, the final severance, for all of the Community of Israel's agony of upheaval from its reality among the Nations and their lands, of its bodies and its souls, of its adults and its youths, of its possession and its culture, of its physical and its spiritual, of its holy and its profane - it is the appearance of the light of life and the revival of the Nation of Holiness and the splendor of its eternity" (ibid. pg. [102-103] 135).
These are not obscure references (at least to the "trained ear"). With respect to Jeremiah 16, perhaps it will suffice to note a story told on April 30, 2008 (on Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day) in the pages of the Jerusalem Post, written by Naphtali Lau-Lavie, a former Israeli diplomat, who was among the last Jews of Buchenwald lined up at the gate of the camp on April 10, 1945 when American soldiers arrived:
Recently, while searching in the Yad Vashem archives, I came across the testimony of a survivor from Treblinka, who later immigrated to
"In the early morning [on October 21, 1942] we arrived at Treblinka on the transport from our ghetto. On the ramp the selection process had begun. Together with a group of youngsters, I was taken from the crowd and pushed aside. We stood and watched the groups being led in the direction of the gas chambers.
"Suddenly, we heard the familiar, strong voice of our rabbi. He was standing in the midst of the Jews of his community reciting the confessional viduy prayer, said when Jews know they are about to be martyred. The rabbi said a verse, and his "congregation" repeated it after him, verse by verse." . . .
The Jews described were from the city of
My father's life was taken at Treblinka after he said the viduy. . . . At our last meeting, as . . . we were standing on the doorstep, he recited from Jeremiah 16:6-7: "Both the great and the small shall die in this land; they shall not be buried; neither shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them; neither shall men break bread for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead; neither shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother."
Then he stopped for a while, looked straight into my eyes, and continued, again from Jeremiah, 13:16: "And there is hope for thy future, saith the Lord, And thy children shall return to their own border."
Next he addressed me directly: "If you manage to get out of here, go and return to the Land from which we were expelled, because only there will the Jewish people be itself and become strong enough to prevent such tragedies."
As for the reference to Ezekiel 37, perhaps an even shorter explanation will suffice. Above the parking lot at Yad Vashem in
| A soldier from the strike forces assaulted a passerby on a Berlin street and repeatedly struck him with deadly blows. The victim started shouting: "Murder! Beating! Help!" A guard approached him and said: "I ask you not to talk too loudly about politics!" (August 2, 1935) | ||
 | ||
May 23, 2008
Pidion Shvuim Alert:
No. 12
Rivka Meirchik Sent To Jail For Another Month
Rivka Meirchik is the second young Jewish woman this year to languish in the Neve Tirza prison without trial after refusing to recognize the authority of the court and to cooperate with the prosecution.
Earlier this year, 18 year-old Tzvia Sariel spent over four months in Neve Tirza until she was released in March and all charges against her were dropped. [In January, seven teenage Jewish girls were released after being held for three weeks in Neve Tirza without trial. The 13 to 14 year-olds were also arrested for Jewish settlement activities and also refused to cooperate with authorities.]
On May 22, an Israeli judge sent Meirchik back to jail for another month after deeming her refusal to cooperate with authorities an ideological crime.
Rivka Meirchik, 29, an anti-government demonstrator who participated in Jewish settlement and was arrested almost two months ago, is being held until the end of judicial proceedings. She has refused to cooperate with authorities, including paying a release bond and agreeing to restrictive conditions.
"[For Meirchik] it's ideological," Kfar Saba Magistrate Clara Rejiniano said. "The law allows me to keep a person nine months. These are legal decisions which we must respect." Rejiniano, who ordered Meirchik remanded in custody until the end of judicial proceedings on April 21, scheduled the next hearing for June 19.
Ms. Meirchik was arrested on April 2 in the Jewish community of Shvut Ami after police ordered all Jews evacuated from the area. [Shvut Ami was one of the Jewish communities established after the expulsion of 10,000 Jews from Gush Katif and the northern Shomron in August 2005.]
Merichik was charged with trespassing, assaulting a police office and disobeying military orders after the area was proclaimed a closed military zone. For her part, she said that she was beaten by police.
She has since been held in the Neve Tirza prison after she refused to recognize the authority of the court, refused to cooperate with police prosecutor Shir Laufer and refused to accept court-imposed conditions for her release.
Meirchik, who appeared pail and frail, has also refused to be handcuffed or shackled with leg-irons with the result that prison authorities have refused to allow her out of her solitary confinement cell and have deprived her of phone and visitation rights. However, she is brought to court appearances manacled and on April 14, Kfar Saba Magistrate Nava Bechor ordered her held in leg-irons and handcuffs throughout the hearing. [Bechor is the same judge who ordered Tzvia Tsariel held for a fourth month in jail prior to her trial.]
During the May 22 hearing Rejiniano said she had no authority to release Meirchik, despite the prosecution's insistence on calling an expert witness to testify on the land claims by Arabs to Shvut Ami, located near the Jewish community of Kedumim, to prove the trespass offense.
Defense attorney Aviad Visoly asked that Meirchik be released from hearings as the cross-examination of the witness would be lengthy and Meirchik had already spent close to two months in prison.
"I reiterate my request to free the defendant from the hearing and all other hearings," Visoly said, "in view of the fact that the prosecution witness has brought 10 pages on testimony and will be questioned on every paragraph."
Attorney Rinat Levine from the military prosecutor's office presented the court with Jordanian maps and tax possession registration documents from 1933 and 1936 as evidence that the land is owned by Arabs.
The judge, visibly annoyed by prosecutor Nili Dayan for bringing the witness, nevertheless castigated Visoli for a political cross-examination.
"Who has sovereignty in Judea and Samaria according to international law?" Visoli asked Levine. "I will prove that according to international law that Israeli law is the law in Judea and Samaria."
The judge refused to allow Levine to answer the question.
"This is political," Rejiniano said as she addressed the prosecutor. "Do you understand what you have brought to this trial for an offense of trespassing?"
A second witness, border policeman Nasid Sayad, testified that Meirchik had assaulted him and resisted arrest while she was sitting on the ground.
Sayad, who said he bent down to touch Meirchik's bag, first said Meirchik bit him when she was sitting down and later testified that Meirchik also slapped him.
Visoli asked Sayad to demonstrate how a police office, over one meter tall, with a second police officer at his side, was slapped and bitten by a very slight young woman in a sitting position. Sayad refused to cooperate
with the defense's request.
Visoli said he will appeal to the Supreme Court to have Meirchik released immediately. He said that it isn't a crime under Israeli law not to recognize the authority of the court.
"It's shocking," Visoli said. "Her incarceration is illegal and so is keeping her in custody until the end of proceedings."
The major Israeli media, particularly the state-operated radio and television, did not mention a word of this travesty of justice. So, we must turn to you, lovers of Israel , who were so effective in the case of Tzvia
Sariel and who, thanks to your efforts was released from jail, and ask that you act to help defend Jewish rights in Israel .
As a first step, we request that you telephone -- rather than e-mail -- the Israeli Embassy or the Israeli consulate nearest you and demand to know why Rivka is still in prison. The embassy's phone number is 202-364-5500.
Stress, that as an American citizen, you can ask the State Department to investigate what you feel is clearly a human rights violation.
Now, we are asking you to call your member of Congress and raise the issue of Rivka Meirchik. We also ask you to call the State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor and inform them of Rivka and
demand an investigation. Tell the department officer you have also raised Rivka's case with your member of Congress. The State Department's main numbers are 202-647-4000 or 1-800-877-8339.
The Olmert government, with an approval rating of near zero, has refused any accountability to the Israeli people and fears only the Bush administration. Unless we act now, there will be many more Rivkas in jail.
If you agree with this, please act quickly. What could be more important than winning the release of a Jewish woman imprisoned for loving her country and people?
With Love of Israel,
Datya Itzhaki <pidionshvuim@yahoo.com>,
be well pesach
Dear Friends,
Please start your week with this pro-Israel video of Bob Dylan's amazingly song, Neighborhood Bully.
Please forward, especially to all your "peace-loving"( but only when it comes to Israel defending herself - they don't care that in South African refugees are being murderered in their beds) New -York -Times- worshipping friends.
Naomi
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=WlHlXHimo_g
Neighborhood Bully," 1983:
Well, the neighborhood bully, he's just one man,
His enemies say he's on their land.
They got him outnumbered about a million to one,
He got no place to escape to, no place to run.
He's the neighborhood bully.
The neighborhood bully just lives to survive,
He's criticized and condemned for being alive.
He's not supposed to fight back, he's supposed to have thick
skin,
He's supposed to lay down and die when his door is kicked in.
He's the neighborhood bully.
The neighborhood bully been driven out of every land,
He's wandered the earth an exiled man.
Seen his family scattered, his people hounded and torn,
He's always on trial for just being born.
He's the neighborhood bully.
Well, he knocked out a lynch mob, he was criticized,
Old women condemned him, said he should apologize.
Then he destroyed a bomb factory, nobody was glad.
The bombs were meant for him.
He was supposed to feel bad.
He's the neighborhood bully.
Well, the chances are against it and the odds are slim
That he'll live by the rules that the world makes for him,
'Cause there's a noose at his neck and a gun at his back
And a license to kill him is given out to every maniac.
He's the neighborhood bully.
He got no allies to really speak of.
What he gets he must pay for, he don't get it out of love.
He buys obsolete weapons and he won't be denied
But no one sends flesh and blood to fight by his side.
He's the neighborhood bully.
Well, he's surrounded by pacifists who all want peace,
They pray for it nightly that the bloodshed must cease.
Now, they wouldn't hurt a fly.
To hurt one they would weep.
They lay and they wait for this bully to fall asleep.
He's the neighborhood bully.
Every empire that's enslaved him is gone,
Egypt and Rome, even the great Babylon.
He's made a garden of paradise in the desert sand,
In bed with nobody, under no one's command.
He's the neighborhood bully.
Now his holiest books have been trampled upon,
No contract he signed was worth what it was written on.
He took the crumbs of the world and he turned it into wealth,
Took sickness and disease and he turned it into health.
He's the neighborhood bully.
What's anybody indebted to him for?
Nothin', they say.
He just likes to cause war.
Pride and prejudice and superstition indeed,
They wait for this bully like a dog waits to feed.
He's the neighborhood bully.
What has he done to wear so many scars?
Does he change the course of rivers?
Does he pollute the moon and stars?
Neighborhood bully, standing on the hill,
Running out the clock, time standing still,
Neighborhood bully.
--
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
For more articles,please visit my Web page at: http://www.NaomiRagen.com
To subscribe, send a blank message to NaomiRagen-on@mail-list.com
To unsubscribe, send a blank message to NaomiRagen-off@mail-list.com
To change your email address, send a message to NaomiRagen-change@mail-list.com
with your old address in the Subject: line
To contact the list owner, send your message to
NaomiRagen-list-owner@mail-list.com
mail-list.com 1302 Waugh Dr. #438 Houston, Texas 77019 USA
This message was launched into cyberspace to pashra@netvision.net.il
__________ NOD32 3128 (20080523) Information __________
This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system.
English & unsubscribe info -- see below
רוצה להימחק מרשימת התפוצה? ראה בסוף
can't read the Hebrew? Open the attachment
דחוף: נא לשלוח המלצות חנינה
לנשיא המדינה בעניין האחים חלמיש
למרבה הצער - כפי שאולי שמעתם ברדיו - השבוע נכנסו לכלא, על לא עוול בכפם, האחים חלמיש, חברי כיתת הכוננות של מעלה רחבעם (אחד מיישובי גוש עציון). הנ"ל ירו באוויר בעת התקהלות של ערבים עויינים, הערבים הגישו תלונה, ערעורים הוגשו בכל הערכאות - כרגיל ללא הועיל. כעת צריך לכתוב מייל לנשיא פרס ולשר המשפטים ולבקשם לחון בדחיפות את האחים דני (אב ל-2 תינוקות) ואיציק חלמיש.
לא אוהב לנסח לבד? העתק את המכתב לדוגמא שמופיע להלן.
אם אתה מנסח פנייה אישית, עוד יותר כל הכבוד, והנה ריכוז כל העובדות: אתר נענע: http://news.nana10.co.il/Article/?ArticleID=553560 אתר תנועת "שנית גמלא לא תיפול" (הסבר מפורט + מסמכים מקוריים): http://www.gamla.org.il/halamish.doc
מכתב לדוגמא:
"לנשיא המדינה ושר המשפטים, president@president.gov.il, sar@justice.gov.il,emip@justice.gov.il
דחוף מאד - המלצה לחנינה
רצוני להמליץ על טיפול דחוף במתן חנינה לאחים חלמיש, חברי כיתת כוננות מגוש עציון. עולות יותר מדי שאלות ציבוריות מקוממות ממשפטם:
1. האחים ירו באוויר במסגרת תפקידם ונשפטו ל-7 חודשי מאסר. כיצד יכולים חברי כיתת כוננות להגן על יישוביהם - אם מעמידים אותם לדין על פעולה כל כך מתונה שלא הזיקה לאיש?
2. האחים הגישו תלונה נגד ערבים שהתקהלו ואיימו עליהם, וכך גם הערבים - נגד האחים. מדוע רק תלונת הערבים נחקרה ואילו תלונת האחים - נגנזה ללא שום הסבר?
3. באחד המסמכים, משטרת ישראל סרבה לערוך בדיקות בליסטיות לנשק של האחים, כי הבדיקות הללו לא יועילו להשיג הרשעה . באיזה זכות המשטרה נמנעת מבדיקה בליסטית, רק משום שהבדיקה עתידה לנקות את הנאשם מכל אשם? האם המשטרה שואפת לברר את האמת - או להשיג הרשעות בלי קשר לעובדות?
4. המגמתיות של הפרקליטות נגד מתנחלים מזעזעת ונוגדת את עקרון השוויון. במשפט האחים חלמיש - כמו במשפטים אחרים של מתנחלים -- הפרקליטות שחררה אזהרה קודרת לפיה "הנאשמים מנהלים חיים בעלי אופי אידאולוגי מובהק שבא לידי ביטוי...במקום מושבם ובתפיסתם...הפוליטית". זהו מקרה קלאסי של אפלייה מפורשת ומוכחת נגד מתנחלים ונגד אנשי ימין. בנוסף - מאימתי "חיים בעלי אופי אידאולוגי" הם דבר רע, אדרבא חבל מאד שאורח חיים אידאולוגי הפך כה נדיר במדינת ישראל של היום!
5. מדוע בית המשפט דחה את עתירתם המובנת מאליה של האחים חלמיש, להישאר מחוץ לכלא עד אשר נשיא המדינה ידון בחנינתם? הרי בית הנשיא כבר הודיע שהוא שוקל את החנינה - אך דרושים לו מספר חודשים. באיזה זכות בית המשפט מונע בפועל מן האחים חלמיש את הזכות לחנינה (שהרי עד שהנשיא ידון בחנינה, כך קיווה כנראה בית המשפט, ממילא תעבור לה כל תקופת המאסר של האחים חלמיש...).
בברכת "צדק צדק תרדוף", (שם, ת.ז., מקום מגורים או מקצוע או כל פרט אחר)"
צעדת מחאה בל"ג בעומר (יום שישי 23.5.08) באיזור חוטף עזה
מפלגת התקווה יוזמת צעדת הזדהות עם תושבי אזור חוטף עזה, ביום ו' הקרוב, ל"ג בעומר.שעת ההתחלה 09:00 . משך צעידה משוער למשפחות – עד שעתיים. מסלול הצעדה: תחילה וסיום מהכניסה לקיבוץ בארי. בצעדה ישתתפו: ח"כ פרופ' אריה אלדד, יהואר גל ועוד. לפרטים: יהואר -0544206477.
ביום שישי ניסע למעלה רחבעם לחגוג ל"ג בעומר: :מתנפחים, מופע לילדים, מאהל אירוח ועוד.. בדרך נסייר בשדמה. האחים חלמיש גרים כזכור במעלה רחבעם שבגוש עציון. עכשיו העת לחזק את תושבי מעלה רחבעם. זו ההזדמנות שלכם להכיר קצת את מזרח גוש עציון- חבל ארץ נפלא. יוצאים בשיירת מכוניות בשעה 9:15 מהשער של אפרת דרום. לפרטים: 0505500834 0505777254 0505246770
מרעננה לשומרון: טיול יום שישי
30 למאי. 50 ש"ח לאדם. לפרטים: מייק גוטליב ממטה ארץ ישראל ברעננה (מארגן נהדר באחד המטות העירוניים הוותיקים בארץ). מסלול: חוות גלעד, הבית המפורסם של גואל הקרקעות האגדי משה זר, ועוד. 0547-655.278
HALAMISH BROTHERS HAVE BEEN INCARCERATED - WE TURN TO EMAILS ONCE AGAIN (THIS TIME FOR PRESIDENTIAL PARDON)
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/125774
Can you please use the details in that story (or the Hebrew language links used in our Hebrew version above – more detailed) to email urgently to Israel's President Peres and to the Justice Ministry using these 3 addresses:
president@president.gov.il,sar@justice.gov.il,emip@justice.gov.il
Here is an example email (you can probably write a better, more personal one yourself):
Attn Justice Ministry and President Peres,
Sirs:
I am writing to recommend that you grant clemency on an immediate basis to the two security team members from Gush Etzion, Danny and Itzik Halamish. Their trial was not a fair trial and it precisely these instances that the presidential prerogative of clemency is intended for:
a. The brothers shot in the air and received a 7 month prison term; how can security teams be expected to defend the local Jews from rampant Palestinian terrorism if even such a mild response earns security men a jail sentence?
b. The brothers and the group of Arabs involved filed police complaints against each other (as often happens); only the Arab complaint was investigated – why?
c. The police lab did not perform ballistics tests on the brothers' guns because they said, correctly, that the ballistics tests would not be useful in obtaining a conviction (i.e. would either be inconclusive, or would indicate innocence). Since when is a test NOT performed if it can prove that somebody is innocent?? Is the idea to convict everybody no matter what?
d. In this case and in others involving settlers, the State Prosecutor's office asked for a stiff sentence because the brothers "live an ideological life style as is evident from…where they live and from their …political outlook". Since when it is legitimate for a government office to urge a court to act prejudicially again a person because he happens to live in place x or be politically associated with party y? And what is wrong with an ideological life style?
e. The brothers properly asked the court to hold off on the actual jail sentence until such time as President Peres has completed his clemency review; President Peres's office having previously indicated that this would require several months. What possible reason can there be to deny this reasonable request? Why intentionally create a Kafkaesque situation in which the presidential pardon arrives after the brothers' jail sentence is long over?
In summary, immediate presidential pardon seems to be the only appropriate outcome here. Sincerely, (NAME)
Feel free to call the JUSTICE MINISTRY, Department of Pardons, to make sure your email was received:
telephone 972-2-646-6802/3/4 or fax 972-2-646-6813.
Mention that it would be good if they would get busy and deal with this matter right this week, since you know many people who are concerned about this case and feel it impacts on their own personal safety. If they snootily say they have other things more urgent, do not abandon your position. Repeat firmly that in YOUR opinion, they should deal with it NOW. If they repeat THEIR position, firmly repeat - you do not agree with them at all: you are convinced this is a landmark case that needs to be dealt with now. Show the Ministry that you are very clear in your mind about this.
LAG BAOMER - FRIDAY, 23-5-08
1. MARCH – APPROX 2 HOURS –TO PROTEST THE SDEROT FIASCO.
MK Prof. Aryeh Eldad organizing. Leaving from Kibbutz Beeri. 9 AM. 0544206477
2. CAR TRIP: EFRAT - TEKOA -- SHDEMA - Maaleh Rehavam
Leving Efrat's southern gate at 9:15am. Tekoa 9:30am. In order to get an idea of how many cars we will be, we urge you to email or sms Women in Green to tell them if you are joining us on the Efrat-Tekoa-Shdema-Maaleh Rehavam tour. Whoever cannot come please go straight to Maaleh Rehavam: inflatables, show for kids, tent, arts & crafts from 11:00am till 3:00pm. 0505500834-0505777254-0505246770
FRIDAY AFTER THAT -- GREAT TRIP FROM RAANANA TO SHOMRON
Courtesy of the one-and-only Michael Gottlieb, a great organizer from Raanana. The next English Guided SHOMRON DISCOVERY TOUR will take place on FRIDAY, May 30. An armored bus will leave Yad L'banim in Raanana 9 AM and return 3 PM. R/T fare - NIS 50 per person, advance reservation required (no obligation). Tour Plan: Chavat-Gilad outpost near Kedumim; Ramat-Gilad and Alonei Shilo, both within the boundaries of Karnei Shomron. Meet the legendary Moshe Zar; see sweeping views of Israel's center from his rooftop. Bring lunch and water. Slideshow of previous trip: http://www.slide.com/r/JnxijxmM0j8jo4ou7tmOF-BLV8EA_n4H Michael Gottlieb 0547-655.278, mbgahg@netvision.net.il
FORWARD TO ALL OF YOUR ENGLISH (BRITISH) FRIENDS - SOME BRITISH SCHOOLS USED TO TEACH LATIN!
The old Book: "ERETZ ISRAEL IN 1695" by Rinaldi must be translated from Latin to Hebrew and to English
If you or someone you know can help, please contact Haim Rabinovitch 03-561.5353, yoavi@yoavicpa.co.il OR Aviram Politi 0546-352.454, aviram.politi@gmail.com
DO YOU NEED TO FILL THE GAS TANK?
Please, stop purchasing petrol at 'Dor Alon' stations http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasite/pages/ShArtPE.jhtml?contrassID=2&itemNo=974033&sbSubContrassID=0&subContrassID=21
As well as http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/1,7340,L-3414309,00.html
SALUTE TO ISRAEL PARADE IN NEW YORK CITY
Remind your friends and family in New York
SUNDAY, June 1st, 2008 http://www.salutetoisrael.com/index.asp
רוצה להימחק מהרשימה? שלח דוא"ל ריק אל mattotarim-unsubscribe@eretz.org
to unsubscribe, pls send a blank email to: mattotarim-unsubscribe@eretz.org
קבלת את המייל הזה מחבר, רוצה להצטרף לרשימת התפוצה? שלח דוא"ל ריק אל mattotarim-subscribe@eretz.org
mattotarim-subscribe@eretz.org if you got this from a friend & would like to join our distribution list, send a blank email to
לתגובות או לרישום ידידים הגרים בחו"ל mattot.arim@gmail.com
Comments? Or: Want your friends in USA etc. to join our foreign list? Contact mattot.arim@gmail.com
