Gaza Rocket Attacks on Israel

7:22 AM Police and IDF Homefront command have ordered Be'er Sheva residents to move to secured areas (bomb shelters, etc) due to additional/possible imminent rocket attacks.

7:19 AM Due to the GRAD rocket attack on Be'er Sheva, all schools in the Be'er Sheva region are canceled, except for Ben-Gurion University.

6:22 AM Hamas launches GRAD rocket at Be'er Sheva, the capital of South-Central Israel. One moderately wounded. Indications of additional rocket launches continue...

12:43 AM Air Raid Sirens sound in Ashkelon and Ashdod, as Hamas rockets land in the Ashkelon area. No physical injuires or damage reported. Two treated shock in the Ashdod area.

Israeli Air Force retaliating and Palestinian Sources in Gaza report of a huge explosion in Gaza city.


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Where's Goldstone?

So civilians in Be'er Sheva are again being hit by Grad rockets from Gaza.

Where's Goldstone?

Someone call the New Israel Fund. They've got to go find him, so Goldstone can condemn Israel for any subsequent acts of self-defense.



To play "Where's Goldstone" just look for any signs of Israel defending itself. You'll find Goldstone in the picture. Don't waste your time looking when Gaza attacks Israel. Goldstone won't be there.


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Fasting made simple (How to lose your appetite)

Is it difficult for you to fast on the Jewish calendar fast days of the 17th of Tammuz or the 9th of Av?

We have a simple solution for you -- the following website is so nauseating, that after one look at it, I lost my appetite and it made fasting a snap.

"Ta'anit Tzedek - Jewish Fast for Gaza is an initiative that seeks to end the Jewish community's silence over Israel's collective punishment of Palestinians in Gaza.

Initiated by Rabbis Brant Rosen and Brian Walt, Ta'anit Tzedek began with a commitment by a minyan ("quorum") of rabbis to engage in a fast in order to support relief efforts, to call for a lifting of Israel's blockade of Gaza and to support all efforts toward a substantive resolution to this dire humanitarian crisis.

Ta'anit Tzedek is supported by a growing number of rabbis, interfaith leaders, and individuals from a variety of faith traditions. We invite all people of conscience to join us in this effort.

Ta'anit Tzedek is an ad-hoc initiative and is not affiliated with any specific organization or institution."

The "Rabbis" running this claim to not be affiliated with any specific organization, except many of them coincidentally happen to be local J-Street activists (not that it's surprising).

Don't worry, the authenticity of these Rabbis in not in question, except that the fast dates on their website...are wrong. "Upcoming Fast Days: Thursday July 15th"

Ooops.

The following tidbit on their website also made me puke and I'm sure the families of the 28 black South Africans who were sentenced to death when they appeared before Goldstone during the apartheid regime -- would agree.

Rabbis thank Judge Goldstone for upholding principles of justice, compassion and truth

Dear Judge Goldstone,

As rabbis from diverse traditions and locations, we want to extend our warmest mazel tov to you as an elder in our community upon the bar mitzvah of your grandson. Bar and Bat Mitzvah is a call to conscience, a call to be responsible for the welfare of others, a call to fulfill the covenant of peace and justice articulated in our tradition.

blah blah blah -- its all on their website.

So forget all those witch potions and herbal remedies to help you fast -- go to this website, lose your appetite, and you won't even notice the time passing by.

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Wiesel on Goldstone: "Crime against the Jewish people"

1986 Nobel Prize winner Elie Wiesel is joining the growing ranks of Jews who are disgusted by the Goldstone report.

First, More than 40 Nobel Prize winners from various countries have added their signatures to a full-page ad denouncing Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that is due to be published in The New York Times and International Herald Tribune in the next few days.

The ad, initiated by 1986 Nobel Prize winner Elie Wiesel, condemns Iran's severe human rights violations and warns that Iran's nuclear program is a danger to humanity.

Speaking to a Haaretz reporter, Wiesel then blasted Richard Goldstone and his slanderous, agenda-driven, propaganda report against the IDF in the Cast Lead operation, calling the report "a crime against the Jewish people."

source: Haaretz.

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Melbourne Cancels Fund-raising Speech for New Israel Fund

The Melbourne Jewish Community has canceled a speaking appearance of Naomi Chazan, the director of the controversial New Israel Fund, due to the support of the anti-Israel Goldstone report, by NIF-funded organizations.

The JPOST has the scoop:

In light of allegations contained in a report by the Zionist student organization Im Tirtzu, which accused the New Israel Fund of direct responsibility for the UN’s Goldstone Report on the IDF’s Gaza offensive last winter, The Jerusalem Post has learned that an invitation for NIF chairwoman Prof. Naomi Chazan to speak at a synagogue and Jewish community center in Melbourne, Australia, this month has been canceled.

According to a former member of the Melbourne Jewish community now living in Israel, Chazan had been invited to speak as part of a United Israel Appeal fund-raiser at Temple Beth Israel and the Beth Weizmann Community Center in Melbourne next weekend, but the allegations raised by the Im Tirtzu report had “sparked an enormous backlash” among community members there and the invitation had been rescinded.

While the NIF and its supporters have criticized Im Tirtzu’s report as “slanderous” and “an attack on freedom of speech in Israel,” it appeared on Tuesday that the uproar the report has generated in Israel had not yet subsided, and might in fact be spreading abroad.

“People were shocked when they learned about [the report],” the Melbourne Jewish community member, who asked to remain unnamed, told the Post. “From what I understand, there was a huge public upheaval with regards to Chazan’s visit after the report was made public.”

The invitation to bring Chazan to Melbourne had been extended by the Union of Progressive Judaism – the Australian equivalent of the Reform Movement – which is one of 51 organizations that belong to the Zionist Council of Victoria.

According to ZCV President Dr. Danny Lamm, news of the report, and the Hebrew copy of it found on Im Tirtzu’s Web site, had generated angry responses throughout the Melbourne Jewish community and the decision was made to withdraw Chazan’s invite.

“The activities of the NIF are anathema to Zionist groups such as ours, and frankly, we’re just not interested in having anything to with it,” Dr. Lamm told the Post by telephone from Melbourne on Tuesday.

“It’s not new to me, or many of us, that the NIF has supported groups that have damaged Israel and will continue to do damage to Israel, but others were surprised by this,” he added.

Lamm made it clear that the Zionist Council of Victoria represented all branches of Jewish political and religious affiliation, “from Likud to Meretz” and that they would “never bar anybody from the left just as they wouldn’t bar anyone from the right.

“But the sort of stuff the NIF supports is so far removed from the community here,” Lamm added, saying “it was decided that Chazan’s public appearances be canceled.”

Kudos the the Jews Down Under!

And why does the NIF call the Im Tritzu report slanderous? They have yet to deny any of the allegations, and just repeatedly use the smokescreen mantra; "its slander by the fascist Im Tirtzu organization."

When you criticize the IDF, its "civil rights". If you criticize the NIF, you're a fascist.

NIF: Thanks for clearing that up!

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Follow the Money

Honestly, one learns something new every day.

For instance, 2 weeks ago I commiserated with Naomi Chazan on the unusual police treatment some Left-wing protesters received (unusual for Left wingers), in protests that friends and co-ideologists of Chazan are involved with.

Last week, I became aware that these protests are far more sinister than I initially understood and there is plenty of indication that they are all organized (including the ones in Jerusalem) by the same groups of people, and in my opinion, are part of an organized Intifada being led by the Israeli left, and so I retracted and apologized.

Lurker found enough overt statements and claims of responsibility by these various radical left NGOs (claiming that they were heavily involved with and behind the multiple protests from Bi’ilin to Jerusalem) to make that assessment quite credible.

Fellow blogger, Purple Parrot strongly disagreed with Lurker’s research (and if I understand her correctly, she claims that all these NGO are all just jumping on the Sheikh Jarrach bandwagon), and during the back and forth she happened to mention the organization “New Israel Fund” (NIF).

As I just mentioned on my blog, some MKs, including Center-Left MKs want the NIF investigated, as apparently the NIF may have funded most of the NGOs that testified to Goldstone against Israel. Of course the Far-Left MKs are upset by the calls for the investigation against the NIF.

Now here is where it gets interesting.

Purple Parrot mentioned the “smear campaign” being mounted against “decent, hardworking NGOs (such as the disgusting one now being mounted against the NIF)”.

I’m sure most of these NGOs attacking Israel are very hard working, but decent?

But going back to the NIF, my whole interest in this began with Naomi Chazan’s article.

Now, I’m sure most Leftists knew this already, but since I don’t normally follow Leftwing politics, I wasn’t aware of it until today.

Naomi Chazan is the President of the New Israel Fund.

Most of the NGOs testifying against Israel to Goldstone receive funding from the New Israel Fund.

The obvious question is, how many of the NGOs involved in Ni’ilin, Bi’ilin, Sheikh Jarrach are also funded by New Israel Fund? Because that certainly makes her article even more suspect in my eyes. Some definitely do (such as ACRI – mentioned in the Chazan article), but it would certainly be interesting (but not surprising) to find out if most, if not all, of them receive money from the NIF.

Now much of the information that was revealed about NIF funding the various groups testifying against Israel came from an organization called Im Tirtzu – a student organization who are pro-Israel, and some came from the investigative efforts of NGO monitor.

The NIF consider themselves a ‘big tent organization’. They apparently don’t get their hands dirty. They outsource. It’s amazing how many organizations the NIF is apparently providing funding for that most people would consider anti-Israeli, such as organizations that call for divestment from Israel, or have ideologies that are in opposition to the concept of a Jewish-democratic state.

The NIF is of course hitting back. According to the JPost, they are responding by calling anyone who criticizes the NIF and Chazan as being part of a “smear campaign” (where did I just read that?), though not apparently denying or refuting (to the best of my knowledge) the various claims being publicized about them.

What Im Tirtzu and NGO monitor also uncovered is that Richard Goldstone sits as a board member of 3 (count them, three) organizations that traditionally accuse Israel of various war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Now what is also interesting is that all 3 organizations are funded by the Ford Foundation.

But do you know what other organization is funded by the Ford Foundation?

If you’ve read this far, then it wouldn’t surprise you to learn that it’s… wait for it… the New Israel Fund.

Read more here on all that.


(It’s also interesting to note that George Soros, through his Open Society Institute also donates to the New Israel Fund and to projects run by the NGOs funded by the NIF.)

So what’s the point you may ask?

I was just thinking of other money networks that exist for the purpose of destroying Israel, and the parallels here are just giving me the shivers.


Anyway, the accusations are apparently serious enough to worry about, that a Knesset subcommittee (under the Law and Justice Committee) will be specifically investigating the New Israel Fund - where their money is coming from, and just as importantly, where it’s going to.

I am sure the NIF will be given a chance to defend themselves against the specific accusations, and I am sure their defense will need to be a bit stronger than it a “smear campaign” against a big tent organization.

It certainly is amazing that so much that is going on here all seem to be interconnected through the same central hubs and individuals.

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