Oy. Another Only in Israel Sign

This sign appears in the Maccabi Health clinic in Goshen (Kiryat Motzkin, Haifa area)...



I'd rather not translate it -- practice your Hebrew :)

(I'll put it in the comments if requested)

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael

Alternative Peace Solutions

Muqata Reader "Jerry" asked a very pointed (though valid) question:

"If the Jordanians would not treat the holy sites entrusted to them properly (albeit not as improperly as pre-1967 because we do have a peace deal with them and presumably there would be some Israeli recourse)- yet a deal that included their sovereignty would bring about true peace between Israel and the Palestinians, would you not approve of such a deal? Is that too big a price to pay if there can truly be peace?"

My answer: Honestly? No. Not even for a promise of real peace. Why? We didn't fight for the existence of Israel to be dhimmi under the protectorate of the Arab world. If I would be willing to disown Jerusalem, I might as well accept the Uganda plan...or live in New Zealand.

Unfortunately, the world believes that the only "just" way for Israel to arrive at a peaceful solution is through territorial abandonment.

Heading off Olmert at the pass, MK Benny Elon is proposing an alternative peace plan; not based on relinquishing what little of a homeland we have left, not based on negotiating with terrorists, and not based an providing endless cash handouts to corrupt mafiosos who terrorize their own local population.

You may find it unrealistic, but since when has "practical" ever been a requirement for a peace deal with the Arabs? The right of Israel to "Hot Pursuit after Palestinian Terrorists" ensured in the Oslo Accords was never practical; even Yossi Beilin said that. Access to Kever Rachel, Kever Yosef, and the Shalom Al Yisrael shul in Yericho are not "practical", yet that never stopped Israel's leaders from including "impractical" details like those.

So MK Benny Elon has his plan:

"The political discourse in Israel consists of old-fashioned concepts and mistakes," Elon said. "The assumptions are that in order to achieve peace, we must relinquish territory; that the Palestinians are a partner; and that Israel is prohibited from dealing with the refugee problem. These conceptions have failed and brought us to the place we are today: No peace, terror, Hamas controls Gaza and is threatening to seize control of Judea and Samaria. We must reexamine all the underlying assumptions that brought us to this current situation, and think differently, 'outside the box.'"

According to the initiative, the West Bank would remain under Israeli sovereignty, but Palestinians would become Jordanian citizens. The plan is based on three main principles: the rehabilitation of refugees and the dismantling of the refugee camps; strategic cooperation with Jordan; and Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank.

Including important issues like humanitarian relief for Palestinians and the dismantling of virulently the anti-Israel, anti-refugee solution organization like the United Nations Relief and Works Agency are important solutions that address the real issues.

Elon said Israel must strive to find a humanitarian solution to the Palestinian refugee problem instead of a political one. He proposed dismantling the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, an organization that he said "perpetuated the refugee problem" and collaborated with the Palestinians to use the refugee issue as a political tool against Israel. Refugees would then be offered permanent housing, citizenship and generous rehabilitation grants.

He cited surveys carried out among the Palestinians that testified that 30 to 50 percent of them were interested in a humanitarian solution in other countries. He said that Jordan and other moderate Arab countries had an interest in cooperating with Israel in implementing such a plan, because of the nuclearization of Iran, the Shi'ite takeover in Iraq and the Hamas coup in Gaza.

"For the first time, a new situation has been created in the Middle East that creates common interests between us, the moderate Arab countries and the international community and turns the plan into a possibility," Elon said. (Read it all here in the JPost)

Of course Olmert won't be happy with such a proposal -- you don't win Nobel Peace Prizes without giving away Israel's homeland.

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael

Israel YES Satellite TV Interference Source Located

Scan any Israeli alternative news website, and you'll see complaints from all over Israel about poor reception issues from YES, the Israeli DBS (Digital Broadcast Satellite) TV service -- what is supposed to be DVD-quality, crystal-clear reception has turned into a pixilated, garbled signal.

Beirut's "Variety" news site picked up on the story and has linked it to Israel's top secret, not cleared for publication, alleged attack on Syria last month.

BEIRUT -- Watching television in Lebanon and Israel has become a jarring experience over recent weeks.

Frustrated viewers have inundated their cable and satellite providers complaining that the onscreen images constantly flicker and freeze. Analysts on both sides of the border suspect covert military activity but, like any good Middle Eastern story, theories abound as to who is the culprit.

The onset of the problems coincided with a Sept. 6 Israeli air raid on Syria. Television signals began to deteriorate shortly afterward and on Sept. 12, Lebanon's Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamadeh told local daily An Nahar that interference had "started with the aggressive Israeli infiltration on Syria."

But by Sept. 20, Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, which also linked reception problems to the raid, reported "Syrian espionage activities on northern Israel using Russian experts" as a possible cause of the disruption.

A third theory emerged on Sept. 23 when satellite industry publication Rapid TV News cited reports that strong radar signals were being generated by "various intelligence elements, chiefly Western countries, which are trying to fathom the intentions of Israel and Syria in the near future."

Israeli and Lebanese cable providers have offered less specific explanations. Israeli satellite operator Yes said reception problems had been caused by "electromagnetic interference not connected to the company."

Now, after web reports on rotter.net earlier this evening indicated that a ship might be involved, the latest report from Channel 1 Israel TV (via Walla) is that a ship flying a flag from Holland is responsible for the interference.

Was it working for Russia? Syria? NATO? Or perhaps an illegal Phlippino Gambling operation? We'll see how this story unfolds...

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael

Jerusalem: Who is the Real Mother?

Who is the real mother? The one who claims all of Yerushalayim, or the one who has no problem cutting it in half?

Report: Israel and the Palestinians have agreed that the Temple Mount as well as other parts of the Old City in Jerusalem will be under Jordanian control as part of a future peace deal, a Palestinian daily reported on Monday.

We saw what a wonderful job the Jordanians did when they controlled the Old City of Jerusalem from 1948-1967.

Major damage was suffered while the Mount was controlled by Jordan between the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and 1967, with Jordanians using the gravestones from the cemetery for construction of roads and army latrines, including gravestones from millennia-old graves. The late King Hussein permitted the construction of the Intercontinental Hotel at the summit of the Mount of Olives together with a road that cut through the cemetery which destroyed hundreds of Jewish graves, some of which were from the First Temple Period.[1][2][3] Some fifty thousand Jewish graves out of a total seventy thousand were destroyed or defaced during the nineteen years of Jordanian rule.[4] After the Six-Day War, the Israelis painstakingly repatriated as many of the surviving gravestones as possible (from Wikipedia)

Or here's what PsychoToddler wrote when visiting his Great Grandfather's grave on the Mount of Olives:

Many of the graves look new. This is partially because the cemetery is still in active use and new graves are being dug. It is also because the Jordanians overturned many of the graves during their occupation of the area between 1948 and 1967. My great-grandfather’s headstone was one of those that were rededicated after ‘67. How do we know where it was? First, because my Aunt Sara and her husband visited the grave before the Jordanians took over. And second, because the Chevra Kadisha (Burial Society) kept meticulous records going back hundreds of years.


On our way over we passed numerous graves that were still in a state of disrepair. My cousin told me that there were many that either could not be identified or that didn’t have family to rebuild them. In fact we passed one “mass grave” that was constructed from the headstones of multiple unidentifiable graves.

I was told that the Arabs had looted the cemetery, and that the marble headstones were used to make toilets.

Then again, why go back to the ancient history of 1948? Let's see how well the Palestinians are taking care of Kever Yosef, (Jospeh's tomb in Shechem/Nabuls) which was specifically mentioned by the historic Oslo accords...




Or how about what Arutz Sheva's report from the visitors to Kever Yosef over Chol HaMoed a few days ago...

Joseph's Tomb is Shechem's Garbage Dump

(IsraelNN.com) Shechem's Arabs have turned Joseph's Tomb into a garbage dump, Jews who visited the site during Chol Hamoed Sukkot discovered. The group of visitors, which included Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu of Tzfat, prayed at Joseph's Tomb with IDF permission on the second day of Sukkot and was shocked to find that the holy site was in ruins.

Arabs have smashed the domes that capped the structure and the grave's marker. More disturbing, however, was the discovery of piles of freshly dumped, smoldering garbage. The walls of the structure were covered with soot, and it was clear that this was the result of recent burning.

In the past, local Arabs claimed that Joseph's Tomb was a holy site for Muslims.

So the bottom line is; the best way to ensure the desecration and destruction of holy sites in Jerusalem is to give control of them to Jordanians or Palestinians.

Thanks Ehud.

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael

Getting back to Business

Yes, it's been a long Sukkot vacation.

The chagim (holidays) are over, and now, suddenly all the items that Israelis procrastinate about will suddenly have to get done.

The most common pre-holiday expression to hear in Israel is "Acharei HaChagim", (it will get done after the holidays). Of course, this is equivalent to the Israeli expression, "I'll have this project finished you for you ASAP". In Israel, ASAP stands for "After Sukkot, After Pesach" -- meaning when someone promises something to you ASAP, start worrying.

We had a great time over Sukkot, and I'll post some pictures and descriptions of the following in due time (not ASAP, of course).

- Building a new yishuv/outpost, "Shvut Ami"
- Our trip to Herodian
- A bit more about about trip to Hevron
- And of course, waffles in the Sukka.

Will write soon,

Jameel.

PS: While you may not agree with everything JoeSettler posts here (and I don't), it's still extremely useful to call him up when we're under fire in Hevron, and tell him to blog it :)

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael

The Brandeis Challenge

http://www.brandeis.edu/jcs/resources/job/Bronfman%20Chair.html

“The Hornstein Jewish Professional Leadership Program at Brandeis University announces a competition, open to creative thinkers of every kind, to produce a major work in the English language that aims to change the way Jews think about themselves and their community.”

Hmmm. I think there is something missing here.

Let’s take up this challenge for a second.

My first and perhaps only question is, “What is wrong with the way Jews think about themselves and their community, that it requires changing?”

Looking at my own community, I think we’re pretty good. We keep the Torah. We’re good people. We’re proud Jews. We stand up for what we believe in. We help one another. We work hard in all fields of life. We build shuls and communities. Our intermarriage rates are low. Our birthrates are high. Our schools (admittedly expensive) are full of students that usually graduate, and usually graduate to advanced degrees. We produce leaders, and soldiers, and doctors, and scientists, and rabbis, and bus drivers and mechanics.

Our communities are healthy, successful and vibrant, and we properly perceive ourselves the same way.

What more can one ask for?

What is wrong about us?

Perhaps we’re not taking enough senior leadership roles in Israeli society (but we’re working on it).

Perhaps we can be doing more Kiruv for those unfortunate sectors of society that do need to change the way they think about themselves and their community.

And perhaps that is the answer to this challenge.

On one hand, we have parts of Ultra-Orthodox society (with certain notable exceptions) isolating themselves away like Essenes, not only from the non-Ultra-Orthodox, but even from different sects within the Ultra-Orthodox. Not a healthy situation, but one that they will be directly forced to confront at some point or another and resolve.

But, the other side of the spectrum is even worse.

Non-Orthodox society is disintegrating as a Jewish society.

Intermarriage rates are at all time highs – above 50%. Communities are disappearing as Jewish communities. Israeli society as a whole can’t seem to define why it belongs in Israel, much less in control of Israel. People are trying to save their streams of Judaism by calling non-Jews Jews, as if that is a magic formula. Band-aid solutions like Birthright and this competition are being created to save “Judaism”.

In fact solutions like this are being offered because the sponsors recognize that their brands of Judaism are in a downward tail spiral and they are looking for a way out.

The right question isn’t how “to change the way Jews think about themselves and their community”, but rather how “to change the way non-Orthodox Jews think about themselves and their community”.

I think the answer to the correct question is in the question itself.

It is hard to maintain continuity, membership, history, mission, relevance, internalized meaning, and permanence when the basis for your definition of Jew and Jewish doesn’t embrace those concepts, or when it does include even diminished versions of even one of those concepts, those that should know of them are often ignorant of them.

Birthright has shown some minimal success because it has embraced membership (Israel) and history (Israel again), but it certainly doesn’t provide mission, relevance, internalized meaning, and permanence, and that is why it is a short-term band-aid solution.

The solution is to look at the sector of Jewish society that is succeeding and emulate them.

The solution is to get more Jews to be Torah observant, and just as importantly to understand (internally) why they are Torah observant.

For those of us in the Orthodox sector, we must change the way we see the non-religious community. Not to write them off as lost, but to help them find their way back to Torah Judaism and our Jewish future.

If I win this prize, I would teach Torah and do Kiruv at Brandeis.

That is the correct answer to this challenge.

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael

Jameel and Family are All Right

SPECIAL, EXCLUSIVE BREAKING NEWS

REAL TIME REPORT
4:30pm

Jameel and Family are in Hevron and under attack. Once again Jameel finds himself with a loaded weapon inside Maarat Hamachpela (normally not something allowed anymore since Baruch Goldstein).

Upon exiting the Maarah a few minutes ago, Jameel and family suddenly came under shooting attack by Arab terrorists hiding around the corner of the Maarah.

Jameel jumped on his kids and threw them into a corner as soldiers returned fire.

The emergency siren went off, with hastily barked orders reminiscent of the A Train, as everyone was told to hug the ground and people in the Maarah were not allowed out.


At that point everyone in Jameel's area ran into the Maarah for safety.

The army is currently spread out and searching the Kasbah the terrorists.

To help cheer up the scared children everyone started singing v'Samachta v'chagecha.

More updates to follow.


CORRECTION: The shooting came from the Kasbah, and not the Arab exit from the Maarah as originally thought.

Update 5:41: Jameel and family safely on the way home.
No one was wounded in the attack.

Jameel now asks: Was the terrorist released by Olmert and Peres yesterday?

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael

Sukkot's fifth species

Etrog, Lulav, Haddasim, Aravot, and waffles.

Jack: We're waiting for you...(you're tonight's Ushpizin)




Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael

Driving to Win

Ha’aretz and Channel 10 did a video piece on Israelis living in America.

It interviewed a number of Israelis that live in Israeli enclaves and as much as they all said they are in America temporarily and for just a short period of time… they all seemed quite happy in their “golden prison” as one called it, and after years in America, they clearly weren’t in any rush to leave.

What I found most disturbing was when they interviewed some Israeli academics at Stanford University. They spoke the truth. They were describing how easy it was to succeed in the academic world in the US as opposed to Israel. As she was talking about the availability of jobs in your field, I got the impression that she was talking about the whole academic atmosphere (lack of strikes, laid back atmosphere, etc.).

What is disturbing is how true it is.

Why does it have to be so difficult in Israel? Why does everything seem like an uphill battle?

Is there a lack of business connections? Is it the limited resources? Doing business with large organizations, the most common phrase I hear is that there is no budget available for their department (despite the amount of money flowing through their organizations).

Does the Israeli atmosphere of sink or swim (it’s you or it’s the person next to you) override the understanding that cooperation is often more necessary for success, than beating down your neighbor?

Is that why when driving down the street you often feel that you are on a racetrack – that the person swerving back and forth in front of you is driving to win, and not driving to reach his destination?

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael