Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Hearing for Teenaged Girl Imprisoned for Nearly Three Months by Hillel Fendel




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Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Resp of the Bd of Directors of the OU - needs to go a step further. Entitlement.

bs"d
 
The Response of the Board of Directors of the OU  (see below) is a step in the right direction but is clearly not going to work.
The OU as representative of Orthodox Jewry has never spoken with clarity regarding our entitlement to the entire Land of Israel and that this is  fundamental to our Jewish Heritage.  This entitlement goes hand in hand with observance of the commandments. The Land of Israel is the Promised Land and also the Holyland.  It is promised to the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and it's holiness is contingent on the observance of commandments.
The OU is a member of the JCPA which endorses a Two State solution and they are a member of the Conference of Presidents which represents Peace Now and other organizations that promote the Two State Solution. This  response below of the OU is equivalent to foolishly allowing a robber/murderer into your home, allow him to take over and then rebuke him for trashing it and for threatening you and then telling all the members of your household that they have permission to defend themselves. 
All one needs to do in such a situation is to clearly express entitlement to ones home and throw out the imposters once and for all thereby restoring peace into the home. 
What is our source of our entitlement?  It is our Holy Torah.
Sources in Tanach of our entitlement:
 
Bereishis/Genesis 13:15-18 ; 17:8 (HaShem to Avram - promise of land; to Avraham - new name and reiteration of promise of land)
 
The Covenant with Abraham is Breishis/Genesis 15:18-21. (extended boundaries, from the River of Egypt to the Eurphrates River, covers boundaries of 10 nations)
 
The Covenant to Isaac Breishis/Genesis 26:2-6.
 
The Covenant of Jacob is in Breishis/Genesis  28:13-16.
 
The Covenants and promises to the forefathers share three points. 1. Land is promised to them and to their children afterwards 2. The Nations of the world are blessed through them and 3. the children must keep the commandments in order to be worthy of the Land.

Shemos/Exodus 6:4,8 (HaShem to Moshe - reminder of promise to the Avot)
 
Isaiah 11:12; 49:12; 51:11 (Ingathering of exiles; return to Zion)

Amos 9:14,15 (Return from captivity - plant on to the land - never again to be uprooted)

Ezekiel 36:24, 36; 37:21( Gathering from all the lands to your own soil)
 
 
Breishis/Genesis 15:18-21. (extended boundaries, from the River of Egypt to the Eurphrates River, covers boundaries of 10 nations)

Bamidbar/Numbers 33:53; 34:13 (HaShem to Moshe - boundaries of Eretz Yisrael, the 7 nations)

Shemos/Exodus 19: 5-6  (The Nation of Israel will be a Kingdom of Priests and a holy nation)  
 
   
Statement of The Board of Directors of the OU in Support of Israeli Self-defence Actions in Gaza
March 04, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Board of Directors of the Orthodox Union has unanimously adopted this resolution.

Statement of the Board of Directors of the Orthodox Union:

WHEREAS, the Orthodox Union watches with horror the recent terrorist onslaughts against the State of Israel, with rocket and mortar fire into Sderot, and now Ashkelon. Nearly 200 rockets have fallen in the last few days alone, and since Hamas took over Gaza in an armed coup in June 2007, 1,018 rockets and 937 mortars have been launched, making Sderot and the Western Negev the front line against Arab terrorism; innocent civilians, including men, women and children face constant, unprovoked attacks, as terrorists indiscriminately target homes, schools, kindergartens and houses of worship; and the Orthodox Union is deeply concerned by the physical and psychological trauma and injuries endured and we mourn the death of innocents.

WHEREAS, Hamas is a vicious terrorist organization, committed to the destruction of the State of Israel. Hamas continues to indoctrinate children with hate in school textbooks and children's television programs; it refuses to recognize Israel's right to exist and continues to arm, train and fund terrorists; it remains a proxy of Iran and continues, most awfully, to hold IDF Corporal Gilad Shalit hostage, in violation of all basic rules of war and human decency.

WHEREAS, Israel has the sovereign right of self defense and the moral duty to protect innocent civilians from terror attack. Israel has done so admirably, with great restraint and making efforts to minimize civilian casualties on the Palestinian side while targeting terror masterminds and leaders in targeted strikes; yet, the international community, including the United Nations, the Arab League and the European Union, in whole or through member states, has criticized Israel's responses, and equated Israel's reaction and self defense with Hamas led terrorist attacks.


THEREFORE, the Orthodox Union states its strongest support for Israel's right to defend itself against the terrorist campaign and to defend Israel's right to exist as a Jewish State in the historic homeland of the Jewish People and

RESOLVES

To support the brave people of Israel, notably those in Sderot, Ashkelon and the Western Negev;

To support the Israel Defense Forces and security personnel who risk their lives to defend innocent life;

To call upon the international community to support Israel in its fight for survival against Hamas and Arab-Islamic terrorism.


###




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VeHeishiv Lev Avos Al Banim, The Youth says UNITE or we won't vote for you!!

bs"d
 
 
These kids are absolutely right.  It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that if those that believe in our entitlement to Eretz Yisroel do not unite, then our very survival is at stake. Our vote is then useless.  What it takes is a willingness to leave ego on the side and unite on the common denominator which is our entitlement to Eretz Yisroel based on the Torah.  Paul Eidelberg suggested and independently, I too, came to the same conclusion which is to scout for someone that is well liked, capable and with no personal political ambitions to unite the wonderful leaders such as Uri Ariel, Paul Eidelberg, Effie Eitam, Aryeh Eldad, Benny Elon, Moshe Feiglin, Tzvi Handel, Yitzchok Levi, Baruch Merzl, Meir Porush, Tsafrir Ronen, etc. Let there be a Coalition of people from NRP, Likud, Achi, Manhigut, Tekuma, Moledet, HaTikvah, UTJ, Shas Chazit etc.  Let them unite as did Kadima under a common denominator.  Kadima united those that wanted to give away parts of Eretz Yisroel and was steeped in corruption and bribery charges, and attracted those that were greedy and power hungry .  Let this new group unite with a Torah foundation and attract individuals of high caliber and integrity, who have proven a love for the Land of Israel and a willingness to sacrifice and put their faith in Hashem rather than on foreign gov'ts and speak up and fight for what it right and true, whose policies are not dictated by PR but by our Jewish Heritage and who are willing to place their ego to the side for the common good.
 
High School Seniors Demand Unity Among Religious MKs
by Hillel Fendel

In light of the splintered national-religious Knesset factions, seniors from two yeshiva high schools have initiated an ultimatum: Unite, or it's likely we won't vote for you.

The petition was initiated by the seniors of two prestigious yeshiva high schools: Kfar HaRoeh near Hadera, Israel's first yeshiva high school, and Ulpanat Tzviyah in Herzliya for girls.

"We could be silent no longer," the petition states, "for the sake of the People of Israel... We demand that the [religious-Zionist] Knesset Members unite, or else we will seriously consider not voting for you in the next election."

The multi-faceted nature of the religious-Zionist political camp has long been an issue.  There is currently one religious-Zionist party in the Knesset - the National Union-National Religious Party (NU-NRP) - but it is comprised of four different factions: The NRP and the three parties that make up the National Union.  The party's four members are thus the following:
The goal of Achi is to unite the other parties into one, but has so far not succeeded in arousing the interest of the others.

• The NRP, the most senior member. Essentially the successor to the original Mizrachi party, it once boasted as many as 12 MKs on its own (in the 9th Knesset, from 1977 to 1981). It held a registration drive three years ago that garnered 70,000 members. It is headed by MK Zevulun Orlev; its other MKs are Eli Gabbai and Nissan Slomiansky.

• Tekumah, founded in 1998 by former MK Chanan Porat and others, and a long-time member of the National Union.  Its policy is largely determined by a board of three leading religious-Zionist rabbis. Its MKs today are Tzvi Hendel (formerly of the NRP) and Uri Ariel.

• Moledet, founded by the late Rehavam Ze'evi in time for the 1992 elections, when it won 3 Knesset seats - its best showing.  Comprising both religious and not religious members, its MKs are party leader Rabbi Benny Elon and Aryeh Eldad.

• Achi, whose MKs are Effie Eitam and Yitzchak Levy, both formerly of the NRP.  The goal of Achi is to unite the other parties into one, but has so far not succeeded in arousing the interest of the others.

Further muddling the picture are two other nationalist movements: The Manhigut Yehudit (Jewish Leadership) faction of the Likud, and HaTikvah. The former boasts roughly 10,000 members, a strong presence in the Likud Central Committee, and an expectation of 1-2 Knesset Members in the next Knesset.  HaTikvah, only a few months old, was created for what one of its founders, Dr. Ron Breiman, calls the "secular orange [right-wing] camp."  Among its supporters are MK Aryeh Eldad.

"In light of the especially difficult situation facing our beloved and only country," the students write, "we see the MKs of the NU-NRP as the right ones to lead the country to better times.  But this objective will certainly not be reached with divisions, arguments, and fights. We therefore call upon them to unite immediately.  They must decide, in whatever manner they choose, to choose their representatives and leaders.  The key to success is simple and clear: Unity, mutual respect, and consensus."

The union between the NRP and the National Union was achieved, after much toil and hard work to overcome significant differences between the various sides, just in time for the last national election. 

The students are scheduled to meet with some of the MKs in question; the date has been set for March 31.




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Rachelle Bronfman's experience in Sderot this past week. Nowhere to Run...

In a message dated 3/4/2008 12:51:47 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, israelkaplan@yahoo.com writes:
Rachelle Bronfman who had an active roll behind the scenes in the planning of the UJA Sderot emergency campaign flew to Israel a day after the event in Toronto.    This is what happened to her on the way to Sderot.  Nowhere to Run



http://www.aish.com/jewishissues/israeldiary/ http://www.aish.com/jewishissues/


Nowhere To Run One woman's experience of Israel's national nightmare.

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You've come to Passaic, New Jersey for a meeting in a community center. You sit down around the table with a dozen other people. Suddenly you hear an air raid siren. Terror grips everyone's face. They jump up and dart out of the room. They yell to you, "Run! We have 15 seconds!" You dash after them, towards a safe room at the end of the corridor. Crowded inside, the people hold their breath, waiting for the rocket to land. Total silence. Then an explosion.
All the people frantically dial their cell phones, trying to locate their family members. It isn't safe to go out yet, they tell you, because often these attacks come in pairs. After several nerve-racking minutes, people file out and return to their jobs. Your meeting proceeds quickly, tensely. Twenty minutes later, the air raid siren goes off again, and the whole scene is repeated.
Could you live like this?
Would you wonder: "Why should I have to?"
This scene is the daily reality for the 22,000 Jews who live in Sderot, a town in Israel's western Negev desert. One mile away is the Gaza Strip, controlled for the last year by the democratically elected terrorist organization Hamas.
TRYING TO IGNORE
Toronto resident Rachelle Bronfman came to Israel last October for a vacation. Leaving behind her husband and three children, she came for a ten-day "Women's Mission." She had been to Israel many times before, but this time she just wanted to have a good time, without getting involved in any of Israel's sticky issues.
Then her cell phone rang. The caller identified himself as Alon Davidi and asked if Rachelle could come and look at his project. She didn't want to get involved. "Just fax me," she tried to brush him off. Alon insisted that his project was too big to describe by fax. He persuaded Rachelle to meet him in Jerusalem.
"I knew there would be rocket attacks into Israel's borders, but I didn't want to deal with it."
Alon explained that he is the head of the Sderot Defense Council, a NGO he started to help his fellow residents in the embattled town deal with the traumas of their children and themselves. He opened up his laptop and starting showing Rachelle pictures of what's happening in Sderot: wrecked living rooms with rocket-pierced holes in the ceilings, elderly people crouching for cover, children with the panicked faces Rachelle had seen only in movie theaters during a horror film.
"I knew in the back of my mind," recalls Rachelle, "that when Israel pulled out of Gush Katif there would be rocket attacks into Israel's borders, but I didn't want to deal with it and I tried to ignore it. As I talked to this person who lives in Sderot about the people and damages, it was hard to ignore it. He asked if I would come to Sderot. I said, 'Okay, I'll come. I owe it to these people at least to go.'"
Rachelle asked other women in her group to join her. Seven women agreed to forego shopping that day and instead go to Sderot. Alon sent a minivan for them. A mere hour and a half after leaving Jerusalem, they had crossed the width of the country and were on the battlefront.
Alon took them around to see his projects, all geared to give a psychological respite from the 24/7 tension of living under intermittent barrages of rocket fire. "People are terrified to come out of their apartments," Rachelle explains, "so Alon organizes local programs for the children. He also takes them to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem for a day -- a day without having to worry for their lives. I decided then and there that I had to do something."
Rachelle returned to Toronto and organized, with help from the local UJA, a giant rally in support of Sderot. The rally, attended by 2500 people, featured a live hook up to Sderot, so people in Toronto could hear Sderot residents describing their trauma-filled lives. Keynote speaker Alan Dershowitz asserted that Sderot is one of the world's worst human rights disasters, as innocent people living within the internationally recognized borders of their own country are simply sitting ducks for enemy attacks.
Last Thursday Rachelle returned to Sderot to ascertain that the money she had raised was being properly used to alleviate the stress of the local residents. She arrived at 10 AM and went directly to a meeting at the community center. Suddenly the air raid siren went off. Fifteen seconds to get to safe shelter! Rachelle dashed after the others into the safe room.
"You have less than 15 seconds to get to safety. If you're walking in the street or taking a shower -- there's no place to go!"
"The worst part," recalls Rachelle, "was to see grown men with terror in their eyes. These are men who have served in the Israeli army. But they were terrified."
Every time Rachelle sat down for a meeting, the air raid siren shrieked again -- six times in less than four hours. "It was scary," she testifies. "You have less than 15 seconds to get to safety. If you're walking in the street, or driving in a car, or taking a shower -- there's no place to go! Then you hear the boom of the rocket exploding. And everyone dials their cell phones, desperately calling their children. Where are you? Are you safe? Looking at this scene, I couldn't believe it was real."
Finally someone told Rachelle that she had to leave -- it was too dangerous to stay in Sderot. Her hosts took her toward the minivan for her return to Jerusalem. Suddenly the siren went off. People glanced in all directions around the parking lot. Where to run? Someone located a shelter at the far corner. They ran as if their lives depended on it -- because they did.
This shelter was a concrete roof with two walls. Two sides were completely open for instant access to fleeing pedestrians. Rachelle was told to huddle down and put her arms over her head. If the rocket hit next to one of the open sides, the shrapnel would injure them all. She heard the rocket explode somewhere blocks away. They waited to make sure a second rocket was not on its way. Then they sprinted to the minivan.
Rachelle's hosts told her driver to drive very fast on the access road leading out of Sderot because there are no bomb shelters along that road. Rachelle and eight other people got in. The minivan careened out of town at top speed.
The driver floored it on the access road. Suddenly the siren went off. He screeched to a stop. Everyone leapt out of the vehicle and started to run. Rachelle glanced around. Only open fields. Nothing but dirt and rocks. There was no place to run. But she followed the others. Then someone shouted, "Drop down!" Rachelle dived down into the dirt, her hands a flimsy protection for her head. "I'm going to die here," she thought, shaking, as the faces of her family flashed before her. It was the most terrifying experience of her life.
It was the most terrifying experience of her life. And it's what these people live with every day, 24 hours a day.
The rocket exploded nearby, but not near enough to injure them. "That's when it hit me, what these people live with every day, 24 hours a day."
SURREAL REALITY
Israel evacuated Gaza in July, 2005, uprooting 9,000 Jews from the flourishing communities they had built there over two generations. The logic of the withdrawal, supported by a majority of Israelis and insisted upon by the world, was that once the settlements, the supposed "obstacle to peace," were destroyed, the Palestinians would direct their energies to building up their own state within their own borders. When Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was asked what Israel would do if the Palestinians instead launched rockets over the border fence into Israel, he replied that the Israeli response would be swift and emphatic, and that the world would stand behind Israel in its legitimate steps to defend itself.
In the two and a half years since every last Israeli civilian and soldier left Gaza, the Palestinians have launched over 2053 Kassam rockets into communities on Israel's side of the international border. They have killed 12 people and wounded over a hundred. In the last two weeks, a ten-year-old boy lost his leg to a rocket attack and another youth almost lost his hand. Last Wednesday, Roni Yihye, a 47-year-old father of four from Moshav Bitcha, was killed by a Kassam rocket while attending classes at Sapir College.
No country in the world would put up with even one such attack on its territory. Can you imagine the United States sustaining a rocket attack on Passaic and not going to war? Can you imagine England sustaining a rocket attack on Brighton and "practicing restraint"?
Rather than "swift and emphatic," Israel's response has been half-hearted and restrained. Air strikes have targeted the rocket launch areas, as well as terrorist cells and their leaders. Yet even such limited counterattacks have elicited international ire. Can you imagine Switzerland condemning the United States and England for their aerial bombardments of German cities during WWII? Of course not!
How's this for a jaunt into the surreal?
  • Months ago, the government of Israel declared Hamas-controlled Gaza "an enemy entity." Yet Israel -- along with Egypt -- continues to supply this "enemy entity" with 70% of its electric power.
  • Israel supplies Gaza with gasoline for the vehicles that it uses to take Kassam rockets to their launch sites to be used to attack Israel.
  • When Israel stopped supplying 1% (according to the BBC) of Gaza's electricity, the world denounced the move as a "humanitarian crisis."
  • The UN Security Council has never condemned the attacks on Israel's sovereign territory. But this weekend, following Israel's stepped-up air and ground reprisals, the Security Council, meeting in emergency session, prepared a statement calling for an end to all violence in the Gaza area, both rocket attacks and Israel's military reprisals, thus equating the Palestinians' attacks and the Israeli defensive efforts.
Some 4,000 residents of Sderot have already fled the city. Rachelle Bronfman was asked why the 22,000 remaining residents don't also move to a safer city. She replied, "Most of them are too poor. Their apartments are worthless. But even if they had the money, where would they go? Eventually all of Israel will be within range of missiles from Gaza in the South, Hizbullah in the North and the PLO-held territories in the heartland."
Her words were strangely prophetic. Last Thursday, eight long-range Grad missiles from Gaza hit Ashkelon, Israel's port city of 100,000 residents. The Grad missiles originated in Iran and were smuggled into Gaza through the porous border with Egypt.
Soon there will be no place to run for any Israeli.
Photo credit: Yossi Shitrit
Published: Sunday,



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IZZY KAPLAN
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Monday, March 03, 2008

Fwd: Pidion Shvuim Alert. Tzviza Sariel 18 yrs ol, 3 months high security prison

bs"d
 
Call the Israeli Embassy at  202-364-5500
 
March 2, 2008

Pidion Shvuim Alert:

Tzvia Sariel
Age: 18
Whereabouts: in Neve Tirza prison for three months
Charge: refusing to cooperate with police

    Tzvia Sariel has been in prison for three months without formal charges.
Her crime: She refuses to cooperate with police who arrested her at a
protest in her community of Elon Moreh in northern Samaria.
    The facts are quite simple. In December 2007, the army and police forced
Elon Moreh to allow Arabs to pick olives in the Jewish community. Tzvia and
two of her friends tried to stop the Arabs, and the girls were immediately
arrested. None of the Arabs were injured.
    Tzvia, disenchanted with the lack of civil rights to Jews who live in
Judea and Samaria, refused to identify herself. Still, she was forced to
give her fingerprints. Then, she was thrown into solitary confinement in a
cell without heat in the middle of the winter. She was also denied full
visitation rights and until recently, telephone rights. Authorities said she
would stay in prison indefinitely. Despite all this, she still refuses to
cooperate.
    On Feb. 27, Tzvia was brought to court where witnesses failed to
identify her as the girl accused of pushing three Arabs. Still, Kfar
Saba Magistrate Navah Bechor sent Tzvia back to jail until the next hearing
on March 5.
    The treatment of Tzvia is not exceptional. Since 2005, when the Israeli
government planned the expulsion of the nearly 10,000 Jews from the Gaza
Strip and northern Samaria, authorities drafted regulations that reserved
special penalties for Jewish protesters. More than 800 indictments, many of
them involving minors, were issued against those who protested the
government destruction of Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza
Strip.
    When residents of Sderot blocked the Tel Aviv highway in February in
anger over the government's refusal to stop Hamas missile gunners, police
stood by respectfully. When Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria,
protesting the government's expulsion policy, tried to do the same, they
were beaten and thrown into prison.
    It is clear that Tzvia has been denied her civil rights, and we ask you
to help free her immediately. As a first step, we request that you
telephone -- rather than e-mail -- the Israeli Embassy at  202-364-5500 or the Israeli
consulate nearest you and demand to know why Tzvia is still in prison.
    Do not argue with the embassy or consulate staffers.. Instead, say that
as a devout supporter of Israel, you have been defending the Jewish state
from criticism by pro-Arabs who accuse Israel of violating human rights.
Therefore, you are shocked to hear about Tzvia's ordeal. You do not
understand why she is in prison and demand that she be released immediately.
    Stress, that as an American citizen, you realize that you cannot expect
any response or explanation from the Israeli government. But as an American
citizen, you can ask the State Department to investigate what you feel is
clearly a human rights violation. Stay calm, but be very clear in your
message.
    Believe me, our message to the Israeli government is
something that we draft with great reluctance. Unfortunately, the Olmert
government, with an approval rating of near zero, has refused any
accountability to the Israeli people and fears only the Bush administration.
The mere threat that we will ask the administration or Congress for answers
regarding Tzvia or any other Jew imprisoned for protesting Olmert's drive to
destroy Jewish life in Judea and Samaria could bring swift results.
    If you agree with this, please act quickly. What could be more important
than winning the release of a Jewish child imprisoned for loving her country
and people?

With Love of Israel,
Datya Itzhaki




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