Dershowitz: 'Rule of Law Must Adapt to Terrorism' agrees with Halachic ruling

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There is a Halachic ruling that seems to agree with  Prof. Dershowitz's rulings:  In a news article in The Jewish Word Wednesday, March 12, 2008, by Shir Oriansky it stated that Rabbis from the political right headed by Rabbi Dov Lior, the chief Rabbi of KIryat Arva; Rabbi Yaakov Yosef, the eldest son of Shas leader  Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef, and Rabbi Gedalia Axelrod of Haifa ruled that one can fire at a civilian population if Jewish communities are being fired at from that location.

 

I was impressed with Dr. Dershowitz's clarity regarding the necessity to redefine the laws of a war on terrorism.  see Arutz7 article below

 

On the other hand, Dershowitz is sadly mistaken about his support for an economically viable Palestinian democratic state, with good health care, education, opportunity, and freedom for the Palestinian people. Here he shows his lack of knowledge of the Bible and G-d's Covenant to the Nation of Israel and His promise to the forefathers the exclusive right to the Land of Israel for the Nation of Israel.  The people of Israel in turn must adhere to the Commandments relevant to the Land of Israel such as Shemitttah, Leket Shikcha, Peah etc.  No democratic Palestinian entity or any other authority has that mandate or inclination or obligation to observe these commandments.  The Land of Israel is called the Promised Land, promised to the Nation of Israel and a Holy Land, since the sanctity of the Land will permeate the entire world with the observances of the commandments specific to the Land. 

 

So while it is praiseworthy to love our fellow humanity and desire for them health, economic prosperity education and opportunity, giving then our Land is not going to accomplish anything.  It's analogous to sharing a precious violin with one that despises music or giving it away to one that wishes to encase it in a prestigious museum.  If you truly want to share music, then the virtuoso violinist must assert his rights to the violin and others must support him.   As for bemoaning our lack of connection to Israel, the best way to combat that is to reconnect to the Torah which is our source to our connection to the Land.

 

Dershowitz: 'Rule of Law Must Adapt to Terrorism'

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/125586#replies

 

by Hillel Fendel

Prof. Alan Dershowitz, visiting in Israel, says 'rule of law' must adapt itself to fight the terror threat. He bemoans American Jewry's lack of connection with Israel, and calls on U.S. Jews to visit Israel.

Dershowitz, the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard University and an outspoken advocate for Israel in books, articles, lectures and debates, has set two goals for his current visit to Israel: He's here to show support for the residents of Sderot and Ashkelon, and to teach classes and give lectures on how to fight the war against terrorism within a revamped rule of law.
The rules currently favor the terrorists over the democracies, and the rules have to change.

Speaking with IsraelNationalRadio's Yishai Fleisher, Dershowitz said, "I will be teaching how the rule of law has to change, to adapt to the new realities of suicide terrorists who use human shields and thus place democracies in a difficult situation. They take advantage of our higher morality, forcing democracies to choose between doing nothing or inevitably killing civilians.  The rules currently favor the terrorists over the democracies, and the rules have to change."

On-Line Rally for Sderot
Dershowitz said he will be participating in a large American Jewish Congress conference this week at which these issues will be discussed. "Some of the world's most important and influential jurists will be there, such as Irwin Kotler, who was Attorney General and Minister of Justice in Canada, former Israeli Supreme Court justices, and Americans as well.  It will be an interesting attempt to redefine jurisprudence."

Prof. Dershowitz will also be visiting Sderot later this week, taking part in what organizers expect will be the largest-ever on-line rally.  The rally will begin at 5 PM New York time (11 PM in Israel) this Thursday night, at www.togetherforisrael.org, and will switch back and forth between Israel, New York, Los Angeles and other sites around the world.  Those involved, including Dershowitz, are hoping to have a million people click and sign on during the rally.

A Target on His Back
"I'll be under the rockets in Sderot myself, with a big target on my back," Dershowitz said, "just like all the other citizens of Sderot. I want to feel what it's like to be in Sderot and Ashkelon at these times, with the terrorists playing Russian rocket roulette with the lives of Israeli citizens.  Israel should adopt a zero tolerance policy for rockets. I have written that every rocket that flies from Gaza into Israel is a violation of UN Charter Article 51 - an armed attack giving Israel the full and complete right to proportional self-defense."

"Why must it be proportional?" Fleisher interjected, to which Dershowitz responded, "Proportional doesn't mean equating lives; it just means that if they fire a rifle at you, you can't nuke them.  It also doesn't mean that for every life taken, you can take one life, as the international community absurdly believes. It simply means that you don't react totally out of proportion, and neither do you look at the actual damage caused, but rather, you look at the risks of an attack. If each rocket can potentially kill 100 people, then just because they missed, it doesn't remove the risk that had been there. Israel doesn't have to wait until inevitably a rocket hits a school bus or a kindergarten or an ambulance; it can look at the risks, not just the actual consequences."

Though he supports a strong Israeli response against terrorism, he is not politically right-wing.  Dershowitz has stated that his book The Case for Israel "is a pro-Palestinian as well as pro-Israel book, because it favors an economically viable Palestinian democratic state, with good health care, education, opportunity, and freedom for the Palestinian people."

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Bulletin Mar 17 2008 Palestinian Media Watch PA celebrates "wedding"

 

Bulletin Mar 17 2008 Palestinian Media Watch   PA celebrates "wedding" of murderer of Yeshiva students by Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook   The official Palestinian Authority daily newspaper describes the murderer of eight yeshiva students in Jerusalem as a "groom" and his burial as his "wedding celebration." The story in Mahmoud Abbas's Al Hayat Al Jadida goes on to evoke the neighborhood Jabal Mukbar's "week of anticipation... preparing themselves for the wedding procession."   The term "wedding" is the expression commonly used in PA society, and in PA schoolbooks as well, to describe the death of Shahids - Martyrs for Allah. According to Islamic tradition, they will wed the 72 Dark- Eyed Maidens (Virgins) of Paradise.   The article then reports the "shocking news" for the "thousands who were waiting" that the Israeli Army had decided to force a pre-dawn burial to prevent community celebrations of the murders and the murderer. It bemoans the fact "that the groom was buried in the [early] morning without a celebration and without a wedding procession."   However, the PA daily vows that the wedding celebrations will continue:   "The wedding will not end this way... it will last three consecutive days in which [the town] al-Sawahra will welcome all of those who come to congratulate the groom and will hang his portrait embracing the nation's flags."   Seeing the Martyr's death as a wedding can be found throughout Palestinian society. Some examples:   New Palestinian Schoolbook: "... I will not cry during this wedding, as our Arabness does not want us to cry over the Shahids." [Arabic Language and the Science of Language, grade 12, p. 13 (2006)]   Mother of two killed terrorists, called "Shahids": "We do not encourage our sons to die. We encourage them to Shahada [Martyrdom] for the homeland, for Allah.  We don't say to the mothers of the Shahids: "We come to comfort you," rather we say: "We come to bless you on your son's wedding, on your son's Shahada. Congratulations to you on the Shahada." For us, the mourning is [a joyous] wedding.  We give out drinks, we give out sweets.  Praise to Allah, our mourning is a wedding."[PATV, Nov. 17, 2004]    The PMW bulletin of Dec. 20, 2007, has numerous video examples of the "Maidens of Paradise" reward promised to Islamic martyrs, including a video that has been running on PATV for eight years, depicting a Shahid being greeted in Paradise by the virgins.   The following is from the PA official daily, Al Hayat Al Jadida:   Headline: "Jerusalem groom, Abu-Dahim, [the murderer of 8 in the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva] leaves without his wedding procession   "The residents of the town Jabal Mukbar, were surprised by the sounds of loudspeakers blasting from the [mosque] minarets announcing that the Jerusalem groom, the Shahid, [Islamic Martyr] Ala'a Abu-Dahim [murderer of the 8 Yeshiva students] has gone without their participation in his wedding procession.   An entire week of anticipation, a house of mourning whose sanctity was violated, and soldiers deployed on every street, their military weapons infuriating everyone ... nonetheless [the town of Jabl] al-Mukbar did not tire of the wait and kept its promise to the groom.   Every day, these past seven days, everyone was in a state of anticipation... preparing themselves for the wedding procession. At five o'clock in the morning the loudspeakers of the mosque minarets announced the shocking news to the thousands who were waiting, that the groom was buried in the morning without a celebration and without a wedding procession... frowning faces...expressing their sorrow for having been denied [the right] to participate in the groom's procession and to accompany him to the town's cemetery...   The occupation soldiers sneaked in hours before dawn and lead several adults to the cemetery, while preventing the rest of those who were present despite the darkness of the night, from participating, even preventing the press from participating... They wanted a quiet wedding without music, thinking that way Jerusalem would forget its groom... But the wedding will not end this way... it will last three consecutive days in which [the town] al-Sawahra will welcome all of those who come to congratulate the groom and will hang his portrait embracing the nation's flags."    - Al Hayat-Al Jadida, March14, 2008 To support the work of PMW, donate by credit card, check or wire   VISIT PMW VIDEO ARCHIVES Incitement of children to Shahada Teaching hatred with music Children as combatants in PA ideology Denying Israel's right to exist Hamas in its own words Support for terrorism Understanding Shahada Mothers joy at sons' Shahada Hatred of America and the West Holocaust denial Clarifying history Arab world TV Contact Palestinian Media Watch:   p:+972 2 625 4140 e: pmw@pmw.org.il f: +972 2 624 2803 w: www.pmw.org.il

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Belze Rebbe and Gerrer Rebbe, Nosei Ol Chaveiro Share in the pain of Mercaz Hara

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Thank you Batya Meidad of Shiloh for this post!

http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2008/03/signs-of-hope-ii.html

 

Signs of Hope -- II

The Belzer Rebbe [L] and the Gerer Rebbe [R]

Last Thursday night, sometime after the tragedy at Yeshivat Mercaz HaRav, the Gerer Rebbe Shlita came to visit the Belzer Rebbe, to wish him Mazel Tov upon the Bar Mitzva of his grandson, which was celebrated last week. A warm, friendly conversation turned to the Beit Yisrael, one of the previous Gerer Rebbes, whose yahrzeit [anniversay of his passing] was upcoming [this past] Motzaei Shabbat. Towards the end of the conversation, the Belzer Rebbe asked the Gerer if he was going to be spending Shabbat in Yerushalayim with his Chassidim, in honor of the special Shabbat [called by Chassidim, "Shabbat yahrzeit"].
"No," he answered. "How can I spend Shabbat as usual, when eight young men were killed while at the Gemara [learning]?" (Another version has it that the Rebbe said, "How can I be responsible for thousands of people, after such an occurrence?")
It turns out that the Belzer Rebbe had not as yet known what had happened, and thus the bitter news was conveyed to him by the Gerer Rebbe.
Their conversation ended right after that.

***

Before we continue on with the Belzer Rebbe, let us consider what happened to the Gerer Rebbe and his Chassidim. The Shabbat following the attack at Mercaz HaRav was a very special one: Shabbat-Rosh Chodesh-Parshat Shekalim-[one of the four special Shabbatot in this Purim-Pesach season]-Chazak [the latter, completion of the Book of Exodus]. In addition, Motzaei Shabbat was the yahrzeit of the Beit Yisrael, as mentioned.
Many young Gerer Chassidim, who learn in yeshivot throughout Israel, had already come to Yerushalayim in anticipation of this special Shabbat. On Thursday afternoon, the Rebbe joined the throngs of his Chassidim for the afternoon Mincha prayers at the Gerer center in Yerushalayim.
But at night, after his meeting with the Belzer Rebbe, the Gerer Rebbe informed his attendant that was returning to Bnei Brak for Shabbat. He also cancelled the traditional visit to the Har HaZeitim [Mount of Olives] gravesite of the Beit Yisrael which was scheduled for Sunday.

***

After hearing the news from the Gerer Rebbe, the Belzer Rebbe stopped taking any visitors, and locked himself in his room for two full hours - to daven [pray] and say Tehillim. Thousands of Belzer Chassidim had been visiting Yerushalayim last week for the Bar Mitzva. Many of them had return flights to chutz la'aretz that night - but the Rebbe did not allow anyone to come in.
On Friday morning, the Rebbe did not attend Shacharit [morning] services with his Chassidim, and his entire schedule was altered. He attended the funeral at Mercaz HaRav, along with a large group of Belzer Chassidim.
For many years, it is a known fact that many talmidim of Yeshivat Mercaz HaRav attended the Belzer Tishes [special Shabbat meals with the Rebbe], which used to be held on Rechov Agrippas near the Yeshiva. But even now that the Tish is held in Kiryat Belz, they still come. At least one of the young men who was killed had attended the Rebbe's Tish within the last two weeks.

***

The Belzer Rebbe Shlita visited Shaarei Tzedek Hospital on Sunday, to visit the young men who remain hospitalized from gunshot wounds. The Rebbe arrived with his son, and first stopped in at the Intensive Care Unit - where one young man remains in grave condition. The Rebbe sat next to the bed, and spoke with the patient's father - giving him much needed Chizuk [encouragement] in these devastating times. The Rebbe said he would pray for the young man's speedy recovery. In the course of the conversation, the father noted that he had learned with the Rebbe when they were boys in Tel-Aviv.


The Rebbe then went to another young man - who is recovering from his wounds - and sat with him for a while. The young man related the entire incident that transpired on that dreadful Thursday night. The Rebbe then also gave this young man words of Chizuk to help him pull through.
These are the only two young men which are still in Shaarei Tzedek Hospital - as some others were discharged that morning.
Additionally, it has been learned that there will be an evening of Hespedim [eulogies] in Yeshivat Mercaz HaRav at the end of the week of Shiva [mourning], and the Rebbe is scheduled to attend.

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Fwd: Bush to push Israel, PA for progress before his May visit

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Please call OU, Agudath Yisroel of America, Chabad headquarters, and all mainstream established Jewish Organizations that have Public Affairs offices in Washington DC that the ROADMAP is a BADMAP!  Let your voice be heard once and for all by CONDELEEZA RICE! 

As Israeli radio show host Tamar Yonah writes in her blog, "Two States = The End of Israel."

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/3#2653

 

 

 Thank you rosewalk@concentric.net for forwarding

 

 

Bush to push Israel, PA for progress before his May visit
By Barak Ravid

Haaretz Last update - 07:11 16/03/2008
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/964680.html

Washington is likely to pressure Israel and the Palestinian Authority to
make significant diplomatic progress before U.S. President George W. Bush
visits the region in May, a senior American official predicted.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is expected to return here in about
10 days, her second visit this month. She will urge both parties to fulfill
their obligations under the road map peace plan and advance on final-status
talks.

"The president's visit in May is intended to take action and achieve
results, and therefore, the administration is interested in seeing some
progress on the Palestinian issue," the U.S. official said. "Bush does not
intend to act like a lame duck, so something has to happen on the ground by
the time of the president's visit."

The State Department is considering various steps that could be taken to
demonstrate progress. In particular, it would like Israel to start
evacuating illegal settlement outposts, which Bush deems very important. The
U.S. has been disappointed by Israel's inaction and its refrain of "we are
still negotiating with the settlers."

Another option is moving parts of the separation fence from the West Bank to
the Green Line.

Yet another is enacting a law to compensate settlers who leave the West Bank
voluntarily. The American official said that while the U.S. is not
intervening in this matter, it believes such a law would demonstrate
Israel's seriousness about a two-state solution.

"The U.S. does want to force any steps on Israel; rather, it wants Israel to
decide for itself what it can do," he said.

Yesterday, Rice lambasted both Israel and the PA.

"Frankly, not nearly enough has happened to demonstrate that the Israelis
and the Palestinians fully understand ... that without following road map
obligations and without improvements on the ground, it's very hard to
sustain this process," she told reporters en route to Chile. "There is a lot
of room for improvement on both sides."

The senior American official said, "The current Israeli approach to daily
Palestinian life strengthens Hamas in Gaza." The administration is working
to address Israel's security concerns, he added, but Israel must also do its
part.

"You can't eat security, you also need an economy," he said. "For this to
happen, Israel has to enable things to happen."

On Friday, a tripartite committee to monitor implementation of the road map
held its first meeting in Jerusalem. The meeting, chaired by U.S. General
William Fraser, was attended by PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and Defense
Ministry official Amos Gilad. The PA slammed Defense Minister Ehud Barak for
sending a subordinate in his place.

Fraser said he would work with both sides on a plan to implement their road
map obligations: for the PA, fighting terror; for Israel, freezing
settlements, evacuating outposts and removing roadblocks. He said fulfilling
these obligations would take a year or two.

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Mishmeret Yesha: Yeshivas Need Rapid Response Teams

 

 

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Forwarded Message:

Subj: Mishmeret Yesha: Yeshivas Need Rapid Response Teams  Date: 3/16/2008 10:25:48 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time From: israelkaplan@yahoo.com To: israelkaplan@yahoo.com Sent from the Internet (Details)

 

Dear List

 

For close to the past 12 years we have been raising funds for Misnomered Yesha in order to better equip the Yishuvim against terrorist attacks.  Many of the more than 140 communities covering the expanse of Yehuda V'shomron who accepted training and no charge equipment were successful in reducing the numbers of serious casualties and injuries.   Those that chose not to be concerned with the threat of Arab terrorism have ultimately regretted not paying attention.   Yisrael Danziger has provided to a great service to Eretz Yisrael and we are glad to see that it is finally being recognized.  When he comes to Toronto or New York for help remember this name, Mishmeret Yesha/ Yisrael Danziger.

 

 

'Yeshivas Need Rapid Response Teams'

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1205420700903&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

by Matthew Wagner

Jerusalem Post March 16, 2008

In the wake of the terrorist shooting at Jerusalem's Mercaz Harav Yeshiva on March 6, a leading rabbi and high-ranking IDF officer called this week on all post-high school educational institutions to train rapid response teams capable of defending against future attacks.

Rabbi Col. (res.) Moshe Hager-Lau, chairman of the Premilitary Religious Academies and Assistant Divisional Commander of Reserve Forces in Judea and Samaria, sent a letter to a list of Torah institutions requesting that they beef up their security. "The attack on Mercaz Harav was proof that terrorists are targeting the 'atomic core' of religious Zionism," Hager-Lau wrote.

"I detect a definite trend," added the rabbi, who goes everywhere with an M-16 rifle slung over his shoulder. "The latest attack was on Mercaz Harav. But there was an attack just two months ago at the Mekor Haim Yeshiva [in Gush Etzion], and before that there were attacks on Atzmona [in Gush Katif] and Otniel [in the South Hebron Hills]."

Hager-Lau, who heads the Premilitary Academy in Yatir, south of Hebron, said that in counterterrorism, the first 10 minutes – the minimum amount of time it takes for the IDF to respond – were critical. "In the Mercaz Harav attack, the whole thing was over after about 10 minutes. The hope is to reduce the time it takes to respond by training an armed group of men who are present at all times on the yeshiva premises."

Part of the proposed security policy would include a limitation on employing Arabs, since both Palestinians and Israeli Arabs could potentially be terrorists or terrorist collaborators.

According to the family of Ala Abu Dhaim, the terrorist who killed eight Mercaz Harav students and wounded nine, the yeshiva had employed Abu Dhaim as a driver. However, yeshiva head Rabbi Ya'acov Shapira denied that Abu Dhaim was a yeshiva employee. Hager-Lau said that while he would prefer a Jewish-only entry policy to religious institutions, banning Arab labor entirely was unfeasible. "If I have to choose between the ideal of Jewish labor only and continuing to build at a quick pace, I'd prefer to keep the building going," he said.

He said that in an attempt to reduce the chances of a worker having ties to a terrorist group, entry to the yeshiva for Palestinians would be limited to people aged 40 or over who were well-known.

A leading haredi spiritual leader and halachic authority ruled this week that due to the potential danger to Jewish life, it was forbidden to hire Arab workers, according to Yom Chadash, a new ultra-orthodox daily. Rabbi Haim Kanyevsky told yeshiva administrators, "We are war with them [Arabs]," therefore "according to Jewish law it is prohibited to hire them," according to Yom Chadash.

Yeshiva administrators, after the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva attack, asked Kanyevsky whether they should fire their Arab employees. Kanyevsky, who expressed surprise that Arab workers were preferred to Jews, asked, "Are there no Jews who can work and earn a living from the same work?" He said that under normal circumstances it was always preferable to hire Jews rather than Arabs, unless there was a significant difference in cost. But in the present situation, due to the danger to Jewish life, there was a prohibition against hiring Arabs, he said.

Kanyevsky's ruling is likely to result in a mass firing of Arab employees at hundreds of haredi yeshivot across the country. Haim Kanyevsky is the son of Rabbi Yaakov Yisrael Kanyevsky ("the Steipler"), the son-in-law of Rabbi Yosef Sholom Eliashiv, a leading rabbinical authority in Jerusalem, and a nephew of Rabbi Avraham Yeshayahu Karelitz, a leading Torah scholar known as the "Chazon Ish." Haim Kanyevsky is known to refrain from engaging in politics.

Thousands of people visit him rabbi every year, seeking Torah-oriented advice on various topics. In the West Bank, every male Israeli over the age of 18 is obligated by law to acquiesce to a demand by their home settlement to perform guard duty. Known as "Bar Shmira," the legal obligation permits young men to carry arms before they serve in the army.

The IDF provides M-16 rifles and ammunition to authorized rapid response teams in the West Bank under an understanding that maintaining a local defensive force is the best way to ensure security in Jewish settlements. Inside the Green Line, young men who had completed army service would participate in the rapid response team training, said Hager-Lau. In addition to teams armed with IDF-supplied M-16s, there would also be teams armed with handguns.

Participants would be trained to track, locate and neutralize terrorist infiltrators operating in urban settings where the majority of the population is friendly.

Hager-Lau asked MISHMERET YESHA, an organization that has trained more than 100 rapid response teams throughout Judea and Samaria, to help train the yeshiva students. ISRAEL DANZIGER, head of operations at Mishmeret Yesha, said he had been asked by Hager-Lau to put together a general plan for educational institutions that would improve their preparedness to deal with terrorist infiltrations.

Danziger said the plan included an early-warning system; drills that would teach every settlement resident where to go in case of an attack; coordinating and practicing communications between emergency organizations and residents; and conducting periodic mock attacks.

However, one of Mishmeret Yesha's central security demands is a no-Arab policy. "We don't want to have anything to do with any organization that employs Arabs," said Danziger. "There is no sense in training a rapid response team in a settlement or an institution where you have a bunch of Arabs walking around gathering information."

 

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IZZY KAPLAN

416 824 2858

416 256 2858

Check out my new blog http://israelonisrael.blogspot.com

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