Please print and distribute! Shabbat Shalom
From: tzc@torzc.org <tzc@torzc.org>
Date: Thu, Dec 3, 2009 at 7:07 PM
Subject: TZC-Newsletter-Dec-4-09-PDF-Format
To:
Cc: "J. Winter" <cooljoe@torzc.org>
SHABAT SHALOM!
Shemittah, the Jewish Sabbatical year, brings security and blessing. The Torah says keeping this Mitzvah will prevent disaster and exile. Shemittah is Shabbat LaHashem. A taste of the World to Come. Learn about one womens quest for knowledge and rediscovery of this long lost Mitzvah according to the simple Torah reading of the text found in the beginning posts of this blog.
1751 Second Ave, New York, NY 10128
Tel: 212-828-2424; Fax: 212-828-1717; afsi@rcn.com; www.afsi.org
Contact: Helen Freedman, Executive Director
Dec. 3, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
AFSI APPLAUDS CALLS FOR END OF FREEZE
Likud leaders, Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz, Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya'alon, Minister Benny Begin, and Chairman of the Knesset Subcommittee for Judea and Samaria Affairs MK Zev Elkin, have all come out in opposition to the "draconian" manner in which the construction freeze in Judea and Samaria has been implemented.
Considering that PM Netanyahu maintains that "the decision does not apply to 2,500 units under construction, to 500 additional housing units we recently approved…", the Likud leaders are outraged by Defense Minister Barak's stop-work orders on all construction in Judea and Samaria, including all of the above.
It is interesting to note that Steinitz, Ya'alon, Begin and Elkin all voted for the freeze, believing that it would proceed as stipulated in the Cabinet decision. They apparently didn't anticipate that Barak would enforce it in the brutal manner that he has implemented.
In the face of this, Netanyahu maintains that he "has no choice" but to keep the freeze in place. Who has given him "no choice"? The Prime Minister of Israel must have the choice to preserve the land and the people of Israel in the best way possible. There can be "no choice" to destroy peoples' lives and livelihoods.
The Likud leaders should never have voted for the freeze. They must anticipate the aggressive and destructive manner in which the Defense Minister would implement the "permission" he received to destroy Jewish homes and lives, while turning a blind eye to rampant and illegal Arab building throughout the land of Israel. This Labor Minister does not belong in a Likud government.
Finally, one must question the purpose and meaning of a freeze when it obviously makes no difference in the supposed "peace process." The Arabs have already rejected it as inadequate in satisfying their demands. This meaningless action only does harm to Israel's legitimacy.
We commend those who are calling for a halt to the freeze, and urge PM Netanyahu and Likud to remember the party mandate to preserve the Land of Israel for the Jewish people.
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A new Palestinian city takes root - with JNF trees | |||||
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Hirui Amara excitedly held a bunch of pine seedlings and was quick to dip their soft roots in a bucket of water. Several seconds later he was next to an elderly man, and helped him plant one of the seedlings.
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JNF BETRAYS ITS JEWISH MANDATE
Arieh King, founder and head of the Israel Land Fund, has been battling with the JNF for years. He has documented the egregious abuse of the organization's mandate to collect money from Jewish people in order to buy and preserve land in the Land of Israel. King has documented proof of JNF land purchase and give-away to Arabs that has been going on with the knowledge and approval of the Israel Land Authority.
King asserts that during the years 2004-2009, more than 200 new apartments were built on JNF land in the area north of the Atarot airport, in Jerusalem. When one drives near that area today, a very visible sign reading AREA A – NO ISRAELIS (Jews) ALLOWED, can be seen, even though one is in Israel's capital city of Jerusalem. (Israel has been divided into areas A,B and C. A is solely Arab. B is under Israeli control, but open to Arab administration, and C is solely under Israeli control.) King also accuses the JNF of failure to protect Jewish land in Gush Etzion where three years ago, no effort was made to keep hundreds of acres inside the separation wall. Arabs are now using this land. In the Shoafat/JNF forest, near Pisgat Ze'ev, Jerusalem, Arabs have built 300 apartments between 1991-2009, with building continuing today.
King has written to the heads of JNF, pleading with them to stop JNF assistance in planting 3000 trees in the area of a new Arab city, RUWABI, scheduled to be built north of Ramallah. Instead, we read that "Michael Weinberg of the JNF acknowledges that there is a great deal of "professional pride in the project. We are helping in any way we can."
The reports on the project mention such names as Hirui Amara, who heads a JNF greenhouse at the Golani Junction, and Suhil Zaydan, one of the JNF's forestry managers. At the recent Zionist Congress an Israeli Arab was nominated to the KKL (Keren Kayemet L'Yisrael or JNF) General Assembly. Why is JNF, or KKL, hiring and working with Arabs when so many Jews are jobless? Wouldn't some of the expelled farmers from Gush Katif be people who would be expert in working with the land, and keeping it in Jewish hands?
Maaleh Adumim Mayor Benny Kashriel, a member of the JNF board, describes the situation as something that has gone "haywire." He continues, "The country has gone crazy when it plants trees for the PA in Judea and Samaria at the same time that it forbids Jews to build. The system does not know who it is representing – us, the PA, or the Americans."
Diaspora Jews are urged to call JNF headquarters in NYC – 212-879-9300 to voice their indignation about the disgraceful betrayal of the JNF mandate. Ask for CEO Russell Robinson, or VP of Israel Relations Isaac Blachor. Tell them you will no longer contribute to JNF because of their scandalous behavior. Write letters to your local papers about the situation. Spread the information.
Those who are interested in getting more information about the issue are invited to contact Arieh King at kingshir@bezeqint.net or office@israellandfund.com. Tel: 972-2-622-3195. He will be happy to answer your questions and present you with the proof of his investigations into JNF abuses.
Dayan: DM Barak Mobilizing Reserves Against Jews
(IsraelNN.com) Yesha Council Chairman Danny Dayan told Israel National News on Tuesday that Defense Minister Ehud Barak has ordered the mobilization of an IDF reserve unit normally charged with handling emergency takeovers of local Arab cities in order to turn this unit against Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.
According to Dayan, "Netanyahu and Barak have crossed all red lines and have declared a real war against the Jews of Judea and Samaria."
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1751 Second Ave, New York, NY 10128
Tel: 212-828-2424; Fax: 212-828-1717; afsi@rcn.com; www.afsi.org
Contact: Helen Freedman, Executive Director
Dec. 2, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
APPEASING ARABS PITS JEWS VS. JEWS
Americans For a Safe Israel/AFSI condemns without reservation the unconscionable, inhumane, and dangerous decision on the part of PM Bibi Netanyahu to freeze construction in Jewish communities. It is very apparent that such appeasement of Israel's enemies can only serve to strengthen them, while it pits Israel's Jewish citizens against their own government. This can only lead to a dangerous weakening of the state of Israel. The utilization of the Israeli Air Force in fly-over inspections, along with the IDF, and special Yassam police units to accompany the inspectors in the communities, is reprehensible.
The enclosed report from Arutz Sheva, regarding resistance to the freeze orders, tells the tragic story.
1. Mayor Arrested, Police Violence in Freeze Clashes
by Hillel Fendel
More clashes and violence were the order of the day between construction freeze inspectors and residents in Jewish towns on Wednesday. The mayor of Beit Aryeh, Avi Naim, was both hurt and arrested, and police detained him even after an ambulance was called for him. Police finally allowed the ambulance to rush him to a hospital after the mayor asked his legal counsel to intervene.
The clashes took place when the inspectors, accompanied by army forces and special Yassam police units for protection, attempted to enter the towns to distribute stop-work orders. Mayor Naim was arrested when he tried, together with dozens of his townsmen, to prevent the inspectors from entering. The town's security officer was also hurt, and said he never had seen such police violence.
Residents said they were told that the inspectors had received instructions to use force and not to compromise.
Beit Aryeh is in the western Shomron just 25 kilometers (15 miles) east of Tel Aviv and is not defined as a religious community. It began in 1981 with 60 families, and together with nearby Ofarim, with which it shares a local municipality, now numbers 900 families and 4,000 people.
Clashes at Elon Moreh and Brachah
Similar clashes also broke out on Wednesday in Elon Moreh, deep in the heart of Samaria. Some 150 people came out in three groups to greet the inspectors, and reported "partial success." Some of the inspectors managed to give out stop-work orders, one resident told Arutz-7, but the others did not. Asked if there was violence, he said, "In one group, the forces used moderate violence…"
At nearby Har Brachah, residents blocked the access road – though freeze officials were not reported to be on their way in. Border Guardsmen chased the blockers and made some arrests, using violence. Nearby roads at the Brachah junction and Hawara were also blocked intermittently, and arrests were made.
War Hero's Home Frozen
Aryeh Rotmensh, father of First Sgt. Alon Rotmensh who received the Medal of Valor for rescuing fellow fighters under fire during a Second Lebanon War battle, told Arutz-7 that building on his son's house is being stopped by the new freeze orders. "How can it be that they stop such a hero who risked his life for the People of Israel from building his home?" his father asked.
Ministers Gilad Erdan (Environmental Affairs) and Eli Yishai (Interior) refused a request by the Defense Ministry to allocate inspectors to help the Civil Administration enforce the construction freeze in the Jewish settlement enterprise in Judea and Samaria.
The freeze inspectors were unsuccessful on Tuesday in their bid to enter the hard-core eastern Shomron communities: Elon Moreh, Itamar and Yitzhar. Clashes between residents and inspectors broke out in several places, including Kiryat Arba, Karnei Shomron and Revavah.