Where is the outrage?!

In the spring and early summer of 2005, the Settlers in Gush Katif/The Gaza Strip took their kids out of school and demonstrated against the "Disengagement."

The Israeli establishment went wild -- how dare these irresponsible parents take their children out of state-mandated school, and take them to political demonstrations? "It's abuse," they screamed, as Limor Livnat (then, Minister of Education) threatened parents who took their children out of school.

Newspapers clamored at us how terrible it was to bring children to demonstrations at the expense of school. How dare we call a strike and prevent our children from getting an education?

(fast forward to June 2006).

As the fruits of the Disengagement continue to rain down on the southern region of Israel surrounding the Gaza Strip, almost all their schools went on strike today in protest over the horrendous security situation. Every single parent kept their children home from school, and many went to a political protest in front of the Defense Minister Amir Peretz's home in Sederot.

Thousands of children were kept home by their parents for a political protest.

How come no one says anything?

Six-year-old Diana Rafaes, clutching her mother Alamaz's hand tightly, said "we went to school today, but they told is it was closed because a man was hurt in the Qassam attacks; so I went back home, and now I am with mom. When there's a Qassam run down from our apartment on the third floor to the second to hide until it's over."

Her mother Alama said, "The children are afraid; we all are. This is a terrible situation. You can't go to work in peace because there are hardly any jobs available; so you hold on and try to survive."

Mark Schneider, a local 12th grader, said "we haven't studied regularly for the past four years. I don't know how I managed to take the exams -- you sit down and suddenly, in the middle of a matriculation exam -- boom, a Qassam. And if there is no Qassam, you're always fearful that one may land at any given moment. It's simply terrible." (YNetnews)

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael

World Cup. Who Cares.

Don't get me wrong, I'm also not a big fan of the World Series, SuperBowl, NASCAR 500, Wimbledon, or the Galaxy 2000 International Ping-pong Championship.

Spectator sports bore me. Yes, I know, it's supposed to be a guy thing, going to a baseball game, getting those coveted box seats, filling in the scorecard, getting up for the seventh inning stretch, doing the wave...the cheer.

I've even done the wave at Pesach seder, but that's a different story.

I will play any sport -- I play Saturday night hockey very religiously, and would gladly play basketball, soccer, football, baseball, tennis... Not golf though. I'm just not a golf afficionado.

I came across the following opinion piece on the Jerusalem Post which agrees that the World Cup is over-rated, but with a slightly different take on it -- and now I feel even better!

From Tel Aviv to Timbuktu, football (Americans call it soccer) fans are ready for the World Cup that just kicked off in Germany. But despite the earnest attempts of many in the mainstream media to get us to care about it, most Americans don't.

Are we wrong? No.

Yes, I know, soccer is a great game and it seems as if more American kids are running around fields making futile efforts to play it than those honing their skills in our national pastime of baseball.

Given the relentless plugging this event is receiving in the American media, I wonder if the majority of us who could care less about the World Cup are starting to feel a little bit guilty about it.

Don't. Contrary to the trendy talk put about by many in our chattering classes, ignoring soccer is not a typical example of American chauvinism. Disliking the World Cup is not an indication of our small-mindedness, but of our humanism.

...

ONE SPECIFICALLY Jewish reason to ignore the World Cup is the way international soccer treats the State of Israel. Though Israelis are as fanatically interested in the outcome of this tournament as any other non-American population, the federation that governs the cup is as anti-Zionist as the United Nations.

The composition of the 32-team tournament varies every four years, based on a competition in which national teams contend against others in their region for the precious cup berths.

But the Israelis never get in because they are not allowed to compete against other teams in the Middle East. Arab nations won't play them. But rather than disqualify the Arab teams via forfeit, the lords of soccer force the Israelis to compete in the European section of the draw, where they are invariably outgunned by the great soccer powers of France, Italy, Spain and Germany.

Thus the talented Israelis will be home watching the games on TV this month while their counterparts from Saudi Arabia and Iran are in Germany.

Snobs. Anti-Semites. Sore-Losers.

Who cares.

I'd rather be playing sports...or blogging.



Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael

How the Torah was really passed down.

How the Torah was really passed down from Generation to Generation.

Forget the Mishna, Mesora and Continuous Revelation -- it's right here:



hattip: JR

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael

Rightwing Dog threatened by Israeli Police

Noted Israeli Right-wing activist, Itamar Ben-Gvir is suing the Israeli police for aiming a loaded weapon at his canine best friend, "Chompy."

Maybe we can get PETA involved here as well?

The Small Claims Court in Jerusalem have summoned for a hearing Monday an unprecedented participant: Chompy, the dog of right-wing activists Itamar Ben-Gvir.

Chompy was summoned to attend a hearing over the civil suit his owner filed against two Samaria and Judea District policemen who he claims falsely arrested him and pointed a loaded gun at his dog. Ben-Gvir is suing the police for NIS 16,000 (roughly USD 3,600) in compensations.

According to Ben-Gvir, who filed the lawsuit about six months ago, on October 6, 2005, while he was walking his dog at the Givat Haavot neighborhood in Hebron, he encountered a local policeman. Chompy the dog started barking at the officer, and the man in response drew his gun at the canine and said, "if the dog doesn't stop barking, I'll shoot him and you."

Ben-Gvir claims he had asked the policeman to provide him with his personal details, but the officer refused to do so and left the scene. Some twenty minutes later, the lawsuit states, five policemen arrived at the extreme rightist's house and arrested him on suspicion he had threatened the officer, saying that "if someone hurts Chompy, I'll hurt you," and that he was walking his dog without a muzzle. (YNetnews)

I wonder if the headline was "Leftwing Dog" -- would I get lots of hatemail?




Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael

Update: Surrogate Mothers and Evolving Halacha

Continuing on my previous posting, here is more of the same, from an English language source, YNetnews

In pioneering ruling, Chief Rabbi Amar permits impoverished woman to use services of married surrogate mother in order to bring child into world.

Israel's Chief Rabbi Shlomo Moshe Amar allowed a poor woman that went through five abortions to use a married surrogate to carry her child. The current Jewish and Israeli laws do not permit married women to serve as surrogates, and officials in Amar's office said that his decision represents a huge breakthrough.

The formal Surrogates Law, which was passed in 1996, rules that only unmarried women can serve as surrogates in Israel. Since the law was first legislated, the surrogacy committee at the Health Ministry approved 250 cases.

According to Jewish law, the problem of surrogacy is even bigger, as the newborn child of a surrogate mother is considered a bastard.

However, a few months ago Rabbi Amar was faced with a complicated case: He was presented with a request from a woman who told him that she had undergone five abortions during 13 years of marriage.

The woman claimed that she does not have the NIS 50,000 (USD 12000) required for a surrogacy. She also claimed that she met a married woman who is willing to carry her child for her free of charge.

After contemplating the case at length, Amar sent a latter to the committee permitting the surrogacy. The halachic jsutification was that it is the fetus that is being inserted into the surrogate's body, not the sperm.

Amar's ruling stirred a row in the rabbinical world. Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu of Safed said in response that "this baby will live his life with a tag: 'Non-bastard according to Rabbi Amar'."

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael

Halacha on the Move! Chief Rabbi Allows Married Woman to be Embryo Surrogate.

In a landmark decision (I wonder what the RCA would have to say about this! Oh, never mind, JoeSettler already mediated a settlement between the RCA and the Chief Rabbinate on the issue of conversions) HaRav Amar, the Rishon L'Tzion Chief Rabbi of Israel, has ruled that a married woman can be a surrogate mother for the embryo of another man and woman.

This news story is so new, that it hasn't yet come out on any English website, but the links to the Hebrew postings are here and here.

Till now, Halachik authorities have ruled that a child born to a married surrogate mother (in which there is an embryo implanted from a different woman and fertilized by someone not the husband of the surrogate mother) is that of a mamzer -- a bastard.

In this case, a woman was married for 13 years, underwent 5 miscarriages and did not have the needed 50,000 dollars to pay for a surrogate mother -- till she found one who agreed to do it for free. Rav Amar claimed that since an embryo is being implanted in the surrogate mother's womb and not not sperm, there is no issue of mamzeirut.

Rabbis around Israel are demanding explanations from Rav Amar concerning his conclusion.

Never a dull moment...



Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael

American Student Genius released by Palestinian Terrorist Kidnappers

It's been a weekend roundup of winners. First, there was the love-struck teenage blogger from Michigan who travelled to Jordan to meet her 25 year old Palestinian blogger boyfriend from Jericho.

Then, when one wonders how to top that -- this comes hot on its heels:

An American exchange student at the Hebrew University, Benjamin Bright-Fishbein decided to wallow in some local culture in Shechem (Nablus) and experience the ambiance of a Palestinian coffee shop when he was rudely kidnapped by Palestinian terrorists.

The group claiming responsibility was that of the Fatah-affiliated Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades. (Remember, Fatah are our FRIENDS...Hamas bad, Fatah good).

It appeared that his abductors agreed to release Fishbein because he was an American who did not hold Israeli citizenship.

Hailing from the Bronx, Benjamin Bright-Fishbein graduated Horace Mann High School in 2003, continuing on to Brown University, where he is majoring in Political Science and Anthropology. From August-December 2005, he studied at the American University in Cairo before moving across the Canal for another semester abroad, this one at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Bright-Fishbein also has an extensive background in theater and writing. During high school, he was heavily involved with his school's theater company as Technical Director. At Brown, he wrote opinion columns for the Brown Daily Herald as well as contributing to the "Brown Daily Squeal," a political blog on campus.

His interests include "acting, writing inflammatory columns in the midst of a homogenous political culture, and being the guy with the multi-tool at the exact right moment." (Jpost)

And to think, he almost won the prestigious Rachel Corrie medal of bravery.

Jerk.



Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael

Olmert's Kadima "USA" party rips off Texas Democratic Party's Website.

While Olmert is busy trying to make heads or tails of his uber-Disengagement plan, his party's American website is busy copy/pasting from the Texas Democratic Party's Website.

Kadima USA, the American branch of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's political party, featured on its official website policy summaries that match almost word-for-word detailed paragraphs on the same topics published on the Texas Democratic Party's website.

In many instances, the only differences between the Texas website and that of Kadima were the inclusion of the words "Kadima," "Jews" and "Israel" in the place of "Texas," "Democratic Party" and "America."

One Kadima USA representative would not comment on the organization's website and its likeness to the Texas Democratic Party's site , but he warned WorldNetDaily against printing a story on the subject.

"You are making enemies with the wrong people," said Solomon Vas Diaz, executive director of Kadima USA. [Jameel: Well then, I'm very glad to be posting this story here as well]

"This is rank and file plagiarism. Kadima USA copies the policy platform, and I mean literally copies it, from the website of President George Bush's opponents in his hometown of Texas," said New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind, D-Brooklyn, who first brought the website similarities to light.

Hikind said he thought something was "a little off" upon browsing the Kadima USA site.

"Things seemed very generic, almost like what should be descriptions of an American political party," said Hikind. (credit: YNetnews, unlike Qadima USA which only knows how to ripoff sites)

Mr. Solomon Vas Diaz, the executive director of Kadima USA knows how to plagiarize, and the Olmertesque threats of violence (of Amona fame) in him shine through in vibrant colors.

What a pity. Kadima could have stood for Truth, Justice, and the American Way.

Instead, we get the best of Israel's left-leaning party's director making violent threats against those who want to expose the truth...and ripping off someone else's website.

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael

From Michigan to Jericho -- Dangerous Young Love on the Blogosphere

As a responsible Jewish, Israeli parent, I will not let me daughter run after a guy named Jameel, even if he lives in the Muqata...or even Jericho.

Katherine Lester, a 16 year old honors student from Michigan ran away from her home on a trek towards Jericho in search of her 25 year old, Palestinian internet lover who she met on myspace.com. Taking a flight from JFK to Amman, Jordan, she hoped to make her way to Tel-Aviv, and from there to Jericho to meet her new internet friend.

Katherine, who is a little less than two weeks from turning 17, was last seen around home on Monday -- before she got into a cab with enough clothes for two weeks, a birth certificate and a passport authorities say she snookered her mom into getting for her.

On Thursday night, FBI agents found the Akron-Fairgrove High School honor roll student at the airport in Amman, Jordan -- a long, long way from the house on the gravel road next to Buddy's Small Engine Repair.

When agents found her, the 16-year-old was on her way to meet a 25-year-old man in Jericho, on the West Bank, authorities said. Or so that's what the man claimed to be when they met about three months ago via her page on MySpace, a hugely popular Internet social site.

Katherine returned home late Friday, with television news footage showing her waving as she walked across a tarmac at Bishop International Airport in Flint. She was taken to a private area to be reunited with her family.

"It's just a mess," her mother, Shawn Lester, said earlier Friday afternoon, outside her modest home in Michigan's Thumb. (Detroit Free Press)

Parents: Take Jameel's advice -- monitor your kid's computer activity! And locking up their passports isn't a bad idea either...

Shavua Tov.

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael