February 23, 2013

Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger Based on Jewish Sages, February 21, 2013
http://bit.ly/12Wc7Bn

1.  “Purimfest 1946” were the last words of Julius Streicher, the Nazi propaganda chief, as he approached the hanging gallows (Newsweekmagazine, October 28, 1946, page 46).  On October 16, 1946 (Jewish year 5707), ten convicted Nazi war criminals were hanged in Nuremberg.  An 11^thNazi criminal, Hermann Goering, committed suicide in his cell. Julius Streicher’s library documented much interest in Purim and its relevance to enemies of the Jewish people.

According to the Scroll of Esther, King Ahasuerus allowed the Jews to defend themselves and hang Haman and his ten sons.  The Talmud (Megillah 16a) claims that Haman had an 11^th child, a daughter, who committed suicide following her father’s demise. (Read more…)

Using Documentary as Manipulation

By Roz Rothstein and Roberta Seid
The JPost

Dror Moreh’s documentary, The Gatekeepers, could have been a profound film.

Instead, Moreh uses his interviews with six former directors of Israel’s top security services to send a simplistic and deeply partisan political message: If Israel withdraws from the West Bank, terrorism will subside and peace will break out.

To promote this message, the documentary engages in intellectual dishonesty and omits critical context. While most Israelis know the wider context, the average viewer probably does not, and therefore is vulnerable to the filmmaker’s biased version of the facts.

Though the film tries to portray Israel’s antiterrorism policies as counterproductive and cruel, the interviews inadvertently tell a different story. The six directors are well-spoken, deeply thoughtful, and genuinely self-critical.
(Read more…)

by Khaled Abu Toameh, GATESTONE INSTITUTE

The Palestinian leadership is hoping that anti-US demonstrations and uprisings will scare Obama and force him to exert even more pressure on Israel.

There are many signs that the Palestinian Authority is seeking to escalate tensions in the West Bank ahead of US President Barack Obama’s visit to the region next month.

Although the Palestinian Authority probably does not want an all-out confrontation between Palestinians and Israelis at this stage, some Palestinian Authority officials in Ramallah believe that a “mini-intifada” would serve the Palestinians’ interests, especially on the eve of Obama’s visit.
(Read more…)

Not one word is said about the pact with Lapid. Thus it is dispensable. Bennett is prepared to accept Livni as Justice Minister though is not prepared to accept her as negotiator.. I think Bennett should reverse this. Finally Bennett is stressing getting the Hareidi into the workforce rather than the IDF. With that I agree. Please vote on the new poll in right hand column. Ted Belman

Bennett’s party reiterates objection to coalition deal giving Livni control over peace negotiations

Moran Azulay, YNET

The negotiation teams of the ruling Likud party and Naftali Bennett’s Habayit Hayehudi faction met Friday morning to discuss a proposal for a way to share the burden of army service by all, drafted on behalf of Likud by Professor Eugene Kandel, who heads the National Economics Council.

A joint statement released after the meeting the sides have not reached an agreement and the gaps were still wide.

By the end of the meeting, it was clear that if the Kandle outline remained as it is, Habayit Hayehudi would not be joining Netanyahu’s coalition.
(Read more…)

By MARTIN SHERMAN, JPOST

In the interests of full disclosure, I voted for Naftali Bennett’s party in the recent election. But I am beginning to wonder…

Have you thought what will happen if you succeed [in preventing the disengagement from Gaza]. Don’t you understand that if it happens we will disengage from you. We will say, “Your God is not our God, your land is not our Land.”Do you suppose we will simply give up what we see as our only chance for a normal life. Have you any idea how you will live in a country in which most of its inhabitants feel they have to sacrifice their lives – day after day, terror attack after terror attack – for you. – Yair Lapid, “To: The Opponents of disengagement,” June 24, 2005.

It [the disengagement] had nothing to do with the Palestinians, demography, the desire to make peace, the relative [fatigue] of the IDF, or any other explanation that was given. There was a totally different motivation behind the disengagement. The Israelis merely felt that the settlers should be taught a lesson in humility and perhaps in democracy, too. – Yair Lapid, “Things we couldn’t say during disengagement,” May 15, 2006.

Vote Bennett, get German?

After all, when I cast my ballot for Bennett, I didn’t realize that Yael German, former Meretz member, or Ofer Shelah, the decidedly left-wing former journalist, were of part of the deal. But this is precisely the situation that has been created by Bennett’s decision to march in lock-step on the issue of national service for the ultra-Orthodox with Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid list, in which German and Shelah are in the No. 3 and No. 6 slots, respectively.
(Read more…)