America's Arab Allies?

Look at the company that America is keeping.

Here is a story I came across at the Kuwait Times about the Kuwaiti Interior Minister's announcement that unaccompanied women will not be granted visas to visit the country.

Note the headline, which indicates how Kuwait's government views women who travel by themselves.

This of course speaks for itself, and says a great deal about the kind of regimes that Washington is backing throughout the Arab world.

But don't expect to read about this in the mainstream liberal media in the West - after all, most journalists are too busy focusing on Israel's alleged mistreatment of the Palestinians to take notice of how America's Arab allies treat half of their own citizenry.

The Delusions of the Left

With all due respect to Mr. Olmert, repeatedly banging one's head against the wall of Palestinian obstructionism in the hopes of making peace, even as more and more blood pours forth with each blow, hardly seems to qualify as rational behavior
This past Monday, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told a Knesset Committee that anyone who believes in the idea of "Greater Israel" is a "delusional fantasist".
But in reality, as I argue in the column below, the true "delusional fantasists" are those who persist in clinging to the false hope of forging an even falser peace after 15 years of ongoing Palestinian violence, terror and obstructionism.
Believing in the right of the Jewish people to the entire Land of Israel is neither delusional nor fantasy. It has been the basis of our faith, and the core of our national dream, for the past 2,000 years, and over the past six decades we have seen it begin to come to pass.
And soon enough, the promise of "Greater Israel" will yet come true.

The real "delusional fantasists"

By Michael Freund

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a slight problem on our hands. This coming Sunday night marks the start of Yom Yerushalayim, the annual celebration of Jerusalem's liberation during the heroic 1967 Six-Day War.

Normally speaking, it is a day filled with cheer. Special prayers are recited in synagogues around the world, marches, ceremonies and commemorations are held, and crowds of visitors flock to the Old City to stroll through its narrow streets, caress the gentle stones of the Western Wall, and savor the holiness in the air.

But here's the glitch: just how exactly are we supposed to rejoice over Jerusalem's reunification this year when the Israeli government is now actively seeking to divide it?

It almost seems like throwing a large wedding anniversary party in the middle of divorce proceedings.

Sure, the negotiations with the Palestinians may or may not be getting anywhere, depending on the latest spin being circulated in the media. And the current governing coalition, along with its policy of concessions, might in any event be gone before we know it.

But all that is beside the point.

The very fact that Jerusalem is on the table just 41 years after its miraculous emancipation from the shackles of foreign control cannot help but cast a menacing shadow over the festivities.

And yet, oddly enough, despite the uncertainty hanging over the fate of our capital, I intend to whoop it up and revel fully in the spirit of the day. And you should too.

Here's why: the jig is up for the Left and its supporters.

TRY AS they might to let the air out of the balloons, those in favor of tearing apart Jerusalem cannot, and will not, succeed. They and their ideological fellow-travelers are running out of steam, and they long ago ran out of political vision and courage, so it is only a matter of time before their outmoded policies become a thing of the past.

Point of fact: for the past 15 years, ever since the signing of the Oslo Accords, various Israeli leaders have been coaxing and cajoling, pleading and pressing, and even begging and beseeching the Palestinians to make peace with us. And all they have to show for it is a string of failures and half-a-dozen worthless agreements, topped off by a steady stream of Kassam rockets now raining down on Sderot and the Negev.

And yet, that doesn't seem to stop the proponents of retreat from hurling invective at those of us who refuse to buy into their forlorn worldview.

"Delusional fantasists." That is how Prime Minister Ehud Olmert referred to those who believe in the vision of Greater Israel when he appeared before the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Monday.

"Only fantasists," he said, "can believe that in this day and age, and in the current situation, it is still possible to cling to the vision of 'Greater Israel.' "

But who is really being delusional here? Is it Israel's Right, which has warned from the start about the dangers of appeasing Palestinian terror, or those who persist in clinging to a false hope of forging an even falser peace?

With all due respect to Mr. Olmert, repeatedly banging one's head against the wall of Palestinian obstructionism in the hopes of making peace, even as more and more blood pours forth with each blow, hardly seems to qualify as rational behavior or intelligent policy-making.

If anyone is delusional, it is those who still think that dividing the land of Israel will appease the Palestinian appetite, and quench their thirst for dismantling the Jewish state once and for all.

Believing in the right of the Jewish people to the entire Land of Israel is neither delusional nor fantasy. It has been the basis of our faith, and the core of our national dream, for the past 2,000 years. It was a Divine promise to our ancestors, and it has propelled our people over the past century to climb out of exile and to continue to strive. And over the past six decades we have seen it begin to come to pass.

Herzl too was mocked in similar terms when he boldly predicted the establishment of a Jewish state. Back in 1897, the great Zionist thinker Ahad Ha'am wrote this about Herzl's vision: "only a fantasy bordering on madness can believe that so soon as the Jewish State is established millions of Jews will flock to it, and the land will afford them adequate sustenance."

GUESS WHAT? It happened. Just look around at what Israel has accomplished in the past 60 years.

So in the spirit of the day, I'm going to keep right on celebrating the return of Jerusalem to Jewish control, confident in the knowledge that those who raise a hand against her will not succeed.

And I take solace from a passage in the Talmud in Tractate Taanit (29a), which is well worth pondering as we mark Yom Yerushalayim. The Talmud there contains a description of how the two Temples in Jerusalem were destroyed, centuries apart, by the Babylonians and then by the Romans.

In both cases, when the attackers entered the Temple grounds, it occurred on a Sunday. Nevertheless, says the Talmud, the Levites on duty were singing the Song of the Day normally recited on Wednesdays.

Rabbi Nachman Kahane points out that Wednesday's song, which is Chapter 94 of the Book of Psalms, begins with the words, "O G-d of vengeance, L-rd, O G-d of vengeance, appear!"

The Levites, he explains, seeing that the Temple was about to fall into enemy hands, issued a last-minute plea to G-d to avenge its capture, hence they chose Wednesday's song.

But why specifically Wednesday?

Jump ahead nearly 2,000 years to the Six Day War, when Israeli soldiers ascended the Temple Mount and restored it to Jewish control. The day that took place was June 7, 1967 which was, of course, a… Wednesday. And so the historical circle was closed.

Go ahead, dismiss it all as a coincidence, if you wish.

But don't go calling it "fantasy." The promise of Greater Israel will yet come true. Just you wait and see.

--- from the May 28 Jerusalem Post

Look who's talking to Hamas....

Instead of talking to gangsters such as Hamas, Israel should be hunting them down and putting an end to the threat they pose to innocent life and limb.
Well, now it is official.

After months of media reports and speculation suggesting that the Israeli government was conducting talks with Hamas, along comes a senior cabinet member and confims it once and for all.

Speaking at a faction meeting of the ruling Kadima party, Vice Premier Haim Ramon acknowledged that the government is in fact holding talks with the terrorist group - even though this violates the terms of a cabinet decision proscribing such talks as long as Hamas refuses to renounce violence and recognize the Jewish state.

In a certain sense, I guess it should come as no surprise - after all, the government had little compunction making deals with Yasser Arafat, despite the rivers of innocent Jewish blood on his hands.

Nonetheless, Ramon's revelation is disheartening and even sickening. Hamas continues to fire rockets from Gaza at Israeli towns and cities, and remains inalterably committed to the Jewish state's destruction.

Instead of talking to gangsters such as Hamas, Israel should be hunting them down and putting an end to the threat they pose to innocent life and limb.

It is a sad indicator of just how much our current leadership has lost its way when it is willing to talk with Hamas terrorists, rather than eliminate them.

With a President Like This...

Why is the President of the State of Israel only in touch with his Jewishness as a result of external threats rather than internal conviction?
As the titular head of state, the president of Israel is meant to embody - or at least represent - the nation and its interests.

Sadly, as Israel turns 60, we can not claim to have such a leader in Shimon Peres.

In a revealing interview with Ha'aretz, Peres makes two statements that leave the reader shaking his head in complete and utter disbelief.

Speaking about the conflict with the Palestinians, Peres made the following pseudo-admission: "I believed the separation between the West Bank and Gaza would make things easier, not harder. I did not imagine that we would leave Gaza and they would fire Qassams from there; I did not imagine that Hamas would show so strongly in the elections."

He did not imagine it! This statement is utterly astonishing, if only because prior to the Gaza retreat, this is precisely the scenario that was forecast by both the Israeli right as well as the military. Day in and day out, the alarm was sounded, warning against the inevitable disastrous consequences of a unilateral withdrawal from the region, but neither Peres nor his cohorts on the Left was willing to listen. So it is not that Peres did not "imagine" how bad things would turn out - he simply did not want to accept reality.

And then there is this whopper, which interestingly enough, appears only in the Hebrew version of the interview and not in the English: Peres says that Hamas together with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad "return me to the Jew within me".

As nice as it is to hear that Peres may be drawing closer to his "inner Jew", the question that comes to mind is: why does it take the threat of destruction and annihilation to do this? Why is the President of the State of Israel only in touch with his Jewishness as a result of external threats rather than internal conviction?

And there, my friends, is the true root of Israel's current problems - a leadership that has grown so detached from its heritage that it takes the threat of Qassam rockets and possible nuclear annihilation to remind them of who they are.

As Israel enters its 61st year, let's hope and pray that we will soon be blessed with true Jewish leaders - men who are anchored in faith and confident in the justness of our cause.

A Reminder of the Fight for Jerusalem

the tiny Davidka shell uncovered this week serves as a timely reminder that once upon a time, the Jewish people were willing to fight for Jerusalem
There was something immensely symbolic in the discovery made by archaeologists this week in the Old City of Jerusalem.

While carrying out excavations in the Western Wall Plaza, researchers unearthed a 60-year old Davidka mortar shell dating back to Israel's 1948 War of Independence.

The Davidka was a homemade 3-inch shell developed by Jewish freedom fighters which was known more for the noise it made than any damage that it caused. But more importantly, it proved effective in scaring off invading Arab units during the Independence War, when Israel was vastly outnumbered in the struggle for its survival.

Now, just six decades later, the sovereign government of the State of Israel is negotiating away the future of Jerusalem, determined to divide the Holy City and turn over its eastern section to our foes.

But the tiny Davidka shell uncovered this week serves as a timely reminder that once upon a time, the Jewish people were willing to fight for Jerusalem, the city we longed for throughout our dispersion.

Maybe, just maybe, this unexpected find will spark within our leadership the spirit of old, the spirit that cries out: Jerusalem is ours, and we shall never abandon her!