Open Links I've been reading.

Here are a whole bunch of open links I've been reading, thinking about blogging.

Video: Dore Gold explaining why the "Moslem Brotherhood" is a danger to us all.



From JawaReport, which comments:

A new Pew poll has found that a majority of all Egyptians identify with Islamic 'fundamentalists'.

This flies completely against Obama's recent statement that the "Muslim Brotherhood is one faction in Egypt. They don't have majority support in Egypt..."

Or maybe he was talking about different fundamentalists...

(hat-tip: Huff Watcher)

Palestinian Islamic court forcibly divorces West Bank couple after declaring them 'apostates'

For more than a year, a Palestinian couple belonging to an Islamic sect rejected by many mainstream Muslims endured insults from some of their neighbours and even death threats while struggling to maintain a quiet existence in this West Bank town.

As word spread about them, things got worse. A local Islamic court branded them apostates and dissolved their marriage. The couple, Mohammed and Samah Alawneh, now live in legal limbo.

Their plight demonstrates the tensions between a still largely conservative Palestinian society and a Western-backed government expected by the international community to ensure democratic freedoms. source

Abandoned Palestinian baby found in Jerusalem's Dome of the Rock

A few-weeks-old baby was found abandoned in the Dome of the Rock on Monday, a Muslim mosque located on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem.

The baby appeared to be in good health when police arrived upon the scene, and he has been put in the care of social services. Police have begun an investigation into the identity and whereabouts of the baby's parents. (source)

Video of Hamas rocket barely misses wedding in Southern Israel
(Goldstone seems to be ignoring the almost daily rocket attacks which have resumed...)




Rabbi Dr. Tendler determined that brain-stem death constitutes halachic death; "our rabbis don't have the necessary background to understand it."

"Scientific ignorance can be dangerous, especially when people with inadequate knowledge are faced with and decide upon questions that demand expertise.

So how is it that some rabbis, who are great Torah scholars but not necessarily medical experts, claim to overrule science in determining the moment of a person’s death, regarding questions of organ donation? A conference at the Bar-Ilan University on Tuesday, part of its Nitzozot study series, dealt with case studies in Jewish bioethical decision-making: brain-death and advanced genetic management.

In the early 1990, Rabbi Dr. Moshe D. Tendler – a biology professor and Jewish medical ethics expert at the Yeshiva University, and rosh yeshiva at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary – developed for the Rabbinical Council of America a health care proxy that determined that brain-stem death constituted halachic death. A few months ago, a special committee of the RCA, composed of members who do not have the scientific credentials of Tendler, backed away from its previous stance. (Worth reading it all at the JPost)

Nefesh BNefesh has to fire some of its staff.

Nefesh B'Nefesh, a nonprofit that helps North American and British Jews immigrate to Israel, fired 18 percent of its staff last week, or about 15 employees, Haaretz has learned.

But a spokeswoman insisted services to new and potential immigrants would be untouched by the cuts.

Revolting "scoop" on Chabad website that IDF conversions are all a "bluff".

Personally, I wish I had the time to translate this, and let people know what sort of a trash article this is. I have personally hosted people in the IDF conversion program, as has my community. The participants were serious people, and they took the program very seriously (and the program was serious as well). The planning for the Shabbat was impeccable, down to the explanation letter before the Shabbat, and the thank you and follow-up letters. Its unfortunate that some people bash the IDF conversion program out of political motivations.

More later.



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