Why do some Jews have the need to fly to Iran to attend a Holocaust Deniers Conference?
Their justification?
To protest "unjust acts against the Palestinians."
Beautiful.
French writer Georges Thiel, who has been convicted in France for spreading revisionist theories about the mass extermination of Jews, said the Holocaust was “an enormous lie”.
“Jewish people have been persecuted, that is true, they have been deported, that is true, but there was no machinery of murder in any camp—no gas chambers,” he said in Tehran.
Participants included about half a dozen Jews from Europe and the United States clad in long black coats and black hats, some wearing badges depicting the Israeli flag crossed out. One wore a badge saying: “A Jew, not a Zionist.”
“We came here to put the Orthodox Jewish viewpoint,” said British Rabbi Ahron Cohen. “We certainly say there was a Holocaust ... But in no way can it be used as a justification for perpetrating unjust acts against the Palestinians.” (YNETNEWS)
Update: Israel (as can, and should be expected) lambasted the conference.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called it “a sick phenomenon that shows the depth of hatred of the fundamentalist Iranian regime.”
Curiously, (or not), Israel has no such nasty words for the leader of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen. This is the same person who Israel and the United States consider "a moderate". And why should anyone think badly of this kind, gentle leader of the Palestinian Authority?
Perhaps because of his doctoral thesis, "Zionist leadership and the Nazis."
World War Two caused the death of 40 million people from different parts of the world. Ten million Germans, 20 million Soviets, and more…Rumors at the end of the war said that 6 million of the world's Jews were among the victims in the war of extermination that was waged against the Jewish people and later on against other peoples. The fact is that no one can confirm this number or deny it. The number could be 6 million, but it could be much smaller, perhaps even smaller than one million. The controversy over the number must not divert us from the severity of the crime committed against the Jewish people. The murder of a human being is a crime that the cultured world must not accept.
I found the following as well in FrontPage magazine:
"Many researchers who discussed the number reached the unconventional conclusion that it is no more than several hundred thousand," he wrote. Later on, Abu Mazen quotes a Holocaust denier who claimed that "at first the Zionists spoke about 12 million Jews who were killed in the death camps. They later narrowed the number down to 6 and to 4 million. It is not possible that the Germans murdered more Jews than existed in the world at the time." He quotes another Holocaust denier who counted 896,000 Jewish victims in all.
To deny the holocaust in Teheran is reprehensible; to do so in Ramallah is acceptable.
You might call this the first case of “politically correct” Holocaust denial
Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael
Getting to Jerusalem every day is a challenge, and it's been getting worse with the ever-tightening walls and checkpoints being erected around it. Today was different, and I decided not to get stuck at the Chizmeh/Pisgat Zeev checkpoint traffic jam, but would take a new route (well, I used to go that way daily, before the "security" wall went up).
While regular Jewish civilian traffic made a lefthand turn at the Adam intersection on Route 60 (traffic circle), I continued straight.
Towards Jerusalem. Towards the Ramah IDF base. Towards the Jerusalem Airport.
And it's also towards Ramallah.
The way it used to be -- till a few months ago, you drove up to traffic circle, went 3/4 of the way around it, and continued on your way. To the right was Ramalla, and the IDF checkpoint that divided Ramalla from Jerusalem.
The Aram checkpoint.
Today it was different; I followed the signs "To Jerusalem" and arrived at a traffic circle, where to the right was Ramalla, and to the left...was the IDF checkpoint. I was now at the outskirts of Ramalla, and could have just driven in without a problem.
Well, I guess there would have a been a problem, since Jews aren't very welcome there.
Overlooking the traffic circle is an IDF concrete cylinder, with soldiers located at the top, protected with bullet-proof windows. I wonder how many suicide bombers stood at this very point, poised to cross out of Ramalla.
My car was out of place and curious Palestinians were staring at me.
Apparently, at that exact location a few weeks ago, a Jewish car was badly stoned by an Arab mob, and the IDF position overlooking the traffic circle did nothing. That car barely escaped...
So I'm stuck at this traffic circle, in traffic...Palestinian cars everywhere...and Arabs keep walking by, keep staring at me. Some start pointing to the checkpoint, and I nod at them.
Another points to me, and I notice that there's a lane blocked off with a chain. I nudge my car towards it, and a different Arab walks over and lowers the chain so I can drive through, avoiding all the other cars at the traffic circle. I arrive at the checkpoint, and the first gate goes up.
There are 2 lanes of traffic being checked, as the IDF soldiers check every single car and its occupants for weapons and bombs. I'm waiting in one of the lanes, with about 7 cars in front of me, when a green light goes on at the right-most lane. A soldier there waves at me, and I drive towards him...in the empty lane.
As I pulled up to him, he smiled and said, "Boker Tov, Achi Hagibor" which means, "good morning, my brave brother." Apparently, only IDF jeeps go that way...and very few civilians.
He waved me right through, and I got to work, with hardly any traffic.
I haven't decided if I'm going to continue that route; I was actually in Ramalla...I used to drive through Ramalla all the time in the good old days before Oslo...before the checkpoints and the walls...before the suicide bombers.
Although I had my pistol with me, and was always no more than 20 feet from the watching eyes of IDF soldiers, I'm not sure if I'll do this tomorrow.
What surprises me is that I could have just made a right turn and driven straight into Ramalla.
What a weird way to start my day.
Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael
India's a dangerous place to visit. Yes, backpackers love it, High-tech can't live with it, and yet, it's not the place I want to hang out. (Almost as bad as Manila)
Seems that Israeli drug dealers in India plant drugs on innocent backpacker Israelies, and then report them, so they stay in good grace with the local police authorities. The backpackers then end up in jail, and the current estimates are that 25% of Israelies in Indian prisons for drug-related charges, were framed.
Speaking under the false name of Haim, he said his son has been in a Bombai jail for one-and-a-half years. Soon after the arrest Haim and his wife left Israel and settled in a house near the prison where their 24-year-old son is imprisoned.
"They turned it into a Hollywood film. A horror story the end of which can't be seen on the horizon. They fixed my son the same way Messing warned about. My son is accused of trying to smuggle grass outside India and we are undergoing a legal process."
He said: "Any lawyer who sees the case will laugh at the fact that my son is still in jail. A normal judge in a normal court would have stopped the case. If the court rules that my son is guilty he will get ten years and it will take two years to appeal the court ruling."
The parents meet their son once a week in court. They avoid going to jail because of the difficult scenes they have to see.
"Dogs in Israel live like kings in comparison to how my son is living there. Visits are traumatic for us. My wife and I are trying to be strong but it is hell here. India is paradise and hell at the same time … We behave like robots and I am not returning to Israel until my son returns with me," he said.
Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael
Instead of individual postings, I've decided to mix it all up to save ME time writing this, and save YOU time reading it. It's all here: humor, politics, Israel, and more. Actually, this isn't really potpourri, it's more like the "everything bagel" (Which tastes much better in the US than here in Israel, and an "everything bagel" has much more appeal than a bowl of potpourri which you mostly find in bathrooms anyway)
So, without further ado, sit back...and read on.
Dentists. A few weeks ago some of my kids were watching a movie on TV...The Little Shop of Horrors. They weren't really into it, except for the scenes with the plant saying "Feed Me...feed me" At some point I told them -- hey, this is the best scene in the movie. They were slightly shocked by it...but I don't think there will be any long term psychological damage.
This should probably have an entire posting of it's own, but I decided to just address it quickly now. Perhaps in the future it will warrant followup. Is "The Giving Tree" a positive or negative book? What does it teach us? When I was younger, I used to think it was a great book for teaching about giving, chessed, and volunteering. In hindsight, I think the book's message is rather bleak. The message of the tree is not for us to emulate. We are not supposed to give and give till we have nothing left to offer. There doesn't appear to be any appreciation from the boy to the tree...its a give and take relationship (tree gives, the boy takes), and all the tree craves is love from the boy. At the end of the day, only when the boy is old and tired, does he devote any time to his friend the tree...who has nothing left to offer. So they live happily ever after, but I don't think the process along the way was very educational for the boy. I could hear the "Cats in the Cradle" playing in the background -- somehow connected to this...
However, if it weren't for Shel Silverstein, I wouldn't have known about one of his other classic books, which is by far, much more educational: Uncle Shelby's ABZ book. My mother in law would throw out this book every time she saw it in the house, and my father in law would go right ahead and buy another copy...
Smoking Kills.
One of the Muqata's loyal readers sent us the following unphotoshopped picture from a cemetery in Israel.
Personally, I can't stand smoke. Not in restaurants, not in bars...and not at weddings. Secondhand smoking kills as well...smoking is murder. Period. Full Stop.
Got the following in my mailbag this week: An open letter to R' Matisyahu Solomon (mashgiach of the Beis Medrash Gavoha/Lakewood Yeshiva) in response to his lecture against bloggers at the Aguda Convention. If you haven't read it, print it out and read it when you have time. A word of caution; the Modern Orthodox world/Yeshiva University/OU rabbinate should not smirk at this, because their handling of the Lanner affair and their beit din was just as shameful. Only after a tremendous outpouring of anger did the OU do anything...
Orthomom posts a heartwrenching, yet respectful letter from an Orthodox person grappling with identity issues which appeared in the Jewish Press. A followup post disappoints with the responses in the JP... Important reading.
Many of you commented about the Olive Tree posting and how excited my kids must be. To tell you the truth, this is what happened after I went to the olive press:
I called up son #2 at yeshiva to tell him that his olive picking was successful, since we got 5 liters of oil from this olives. I explained that I drove to Itamar to the olive press, and it worked out well.
SMS conversation from my oldest, about 5 minutes after my phone call
Did you really go to Yitzhar?
No, I didn't go to Yitzhar. What R U talking about?
I knew you didn't go and were just joking.
Huh?
The olive oil.
No, I really did get it pressed...but in Itamar.
Really?
Yes
Are you pulling my leg?
No.
And you really got 5 liters?!??
Yes.
Cool!
You can read all about it on the blog...with pictures :)
Yesterday afternoon, I received an email from my daughter:
Abba, why didn't you put up any pictures of my caravan on your blog? :(
This blog is a no-win enterprise...sigh
The same daughter excitedly announced that she took pictures of a hachnasat Sefer Torah procession, which I agree are definitly blog worthy. Maybe Sunday I'll put them up.
Oh, lastly, a political tidbit:
Dr. Yossi Beilin, the MK from Meretz wrote this week:
We're really good in history. The right-wing opposition competes with the Olmert-Lieberman government over the question of who scares us more on the Iran question; who will cause more involuntary-immigrants not to come, more Israelis to leave the country, and more former Israelis not to return?
This scare campaign is a blatant anti-Zionist act. If Berlin 1938 is here and now, then the conclusion is clear to everyone: The Jews should be packing their bags.
I can't believe this man. How he compares modern Israel, with the IDF, to the Jews of Berlin is beyond understanding. Perhaps he's more Neturei Karta than Neturei Karta -- and that Jews aren't capable of defending themselves in Israel. He's wrong about history as well. As Shimon Peres loves to say, "There isn't anything to be learned from history."
Our Minister of Education Yulie Tamir has just decreed that our textbooks need to remarkate the Green Line, and must stop calling the West Bank by it's historically Jewish name, "Yehuda vShomron" -- and refer to it only as the "West Bank." Luckily, she hasn't cancelled Chanuka yet.
MK Benny Eilon takes Beilin to task as well with an op-ed piece of his own:
He [Beilin] states "If Berlin 1938 is here and now, then the conclusion is clear to everyone: The Jews should be packing their bags"”. If Dr. Beilin were present during the London Blitz, he would have turned to Wiston Churchil and accused him of causing the disaster by provoking the Nazis with his pre-war hysteria.
No, it is not time to pack our bags; it is time to preempt the threat by fighting back against the axis of evil. Zionism is not about packing our bags and running when the going gets tough, it is about collective self-defense.
Israel is the one place in the world where Jews can defend themselves, where we don'’t have to run when we are threatened, where we can face our enemies head on. Yes, we do face threats, but make no mistake about it, the State of Israel can and will overcome.
And on that note, a Shabbat Shalom to all our readers.
Jameel.
Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael
With all the nastiness thrown at settlers about allegedly cutting down Arab olive trees, (and emerging proof that the Arabs are the ones cutting down their own trees) I decided to post a personal story about the lone olive tree...at the Muqata.
My 2 oldest kids informed me last week that they were going to pick the olives from our tree. We'd never done it before, and I was too busy to bother. Let them have their fun...
Enterprising as ever, they proudly presented me with their handiwork 2 hours later:
I won't put up any pictures of what our poor tree looked like AFTER they got through with it, but I'm reminded of the Giving Tree, by Shel Silverstein (a book I used often as a madrich)
Stuck with buckets of olives at our front door, I was given the job of dealing with the olives. On my way to work this morning, I stopped by a neighboring settlement, Itamar.
Located near Shechem, Itamar is home to the only Jewish-owned olive press in the area -- and it's run by Mr. Barak Melet. In addition to operating the olive press, Barak has his own olive grove and wheat fields -- and he also produces organic flour with his own flour mill. (We use his organic flour for baking matzot on Erev Pesach)
Inside the olive press, I was greeted by many buckets and bags of olives awaiting pressing. (It costs 6 NIS per liter of oil pressed from your olives -- and has an output maximum capacity of close to 200 liters an hour)
The press itself has a panel that controls all the functions of the press.
Barak pouring olives into the press.
Oil dripping out of the press...
And is poured into yellow containers.
Stats:
Each tree produces about 5 liters of olive oil
You can fit about 75 trees per dunan (100 square meters)
Price per liter of oil: 32 NIS.
Amount of money possible per dunam: 12,000 NIS (roughly $2800)
What's left of the olives after pressing: (Barak uses this stuff for heating his home)
Leaving Itamar (I had to get to work already!!)
Off to the North was Shechem...in between the mountains.
On my way westwards to route 60, I passed the local IDF base.
And continued on to Road 60...
Mission Complete: Our olive tree provided us with 5 liters of olive oil which we hope to use this coming Chanuka; and if my wife approves, for cooking as well.
The last remaining issue is that I need to take off terumot and massrot (with a bracha). Note: trumot and massrot are taken from the oil, and not the olives.
Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael
Huh, I hear you ask? What's Rajar? (Sounds like, "Where's Waldo?")
Rajar is a village on the border of Israel and Lebanon/Syria, which has been part of Israel since 1967. It's residents are Israeli, vote in Israeli elections, receive their services from Israel...and till today -- had IDF soldiers stationed in their town.
About 2,100 residents live in Ghajar, some 1,550 of them in the northern part, the latter were surprised to hear in the media about the government's decision that they will be supervised by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon and that IDF soldiers will be stationed on the 'Blue Line.'
The village's secretary, Najib Hatib, was furious: "We have been living without a mother or father for almost seven years. Who will take care of brining food to the babies? Who will take care of repairing electricity and phone problems? Perhaps the UN, perhaps the Lebanese army?"
But the residents have nothing to worry about.
The National Security Cabinet has decided to adopt the proposal calling for Israel to withdraw from the northern part of the Lebanese border village of Ghajar and to hand over responsibility there to the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon.
I'm sure they'll be able to sleep soundly now.
Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael
On my way home from work last night, I was listening to the "Kol Chai" radio station, and heard the following halachik proclamation in the name of R' Chaim Kanievsky (shlita): "Because ELAL flies on Shabbat, flying ELAL is now a safek pikuach nefesh" (roughly translated as: possibly life threatening) -- and as a result...a Chareidi boycott against ELAL is looming.
Last week, ELAL flew many planes on a very late schedule -- with flights flying and landing on Shabbat at Ben Gurion Airport in Israel. The reason for the Shabbat flights was that ELAL trying to "catch up" to their schedule after the Histadrut's Labor Strike last week, which grounded the airport, thereby preventing all incoming/outgoing flights.
The reason for the strike...happened to have been very justified (for a change). Prime Minister Ehud Olmeret's government has refused to pay the salaries of municipal workers in different cities -- with some have not received a salary in over five months. Think about that for a second. Salaried employees, even some who work for the chevra kadisha in certain municipalities as well, have not received salaries for FIVE months or more.
This is the same Olmert who heartlessly continues to refuse housing and job solutions for the people kicked out of their homes in Gush Katif more than 15 months ago. (Hey OU, are you listening?)
So, in typical domino-effect fashion;
Olmert refuses to pay legally, salaried, employees...for 5 months and more.
The Histadrut Labor Union strikes after being ignored by the Israeli government.
The airport gets shut down.
ELAL can't fly out of many locations
Many people are inconvenienced who wish to fly to Israel.
Labor Judge Steve Adler rules against Olmert -- forcing immediate salary payment within a week.
Strike called off.
ELAL rushes to rearrange it's flight schedule -- and due to some stupid consultants, end up flying on shabbat. Bad Move.
So...the Chareidi world is on the brink of calling for an economic boycott against ELAL.
Now, I've posted before about ELAL and how I think they're a decent airline (or perhaps, mostly to their business customers), but they really dropped the ball on this issue.
Unfortunately, the Chareidi world is also blowing things out of proportion by not even trying to talk to ELAL. ELAL is no longer the "State Airline"...and they "desecrate the Shabbat" every Shabbat on all sorts of flights run by the airline, but not with the name ELAL on the plane.
More so, ELAL's competition in Israel also flies on Shabbat...
Lastly; there are all sorts of companies in Israel that operate on Shabbat, but I don't hear the Chareidi community calling for a boycott against them;
Intel works on Shabbat in Kiryat Gat.
Egged buses operate on Shabbat, but not regular bus lines (except in Haifa and a few other places)
The Israel Electric Company transports generators on Shabbat, which is not an essential operation that needs to happen on Shabbat.
And there are many others.
While the Chareidi community usually "tries to solve issues quietly" -- I think in this case, it might have the the right way to go. This boycott is going to be a slippery slope; and where it ends is a big question.
A secular backlash could result in ELAL davka operating on Shabbat...with treif food being the default.
If the boycott starts, then ELAL may just start flying all their flights on Shabbat as well -- resulting in MUCH more Chilul Shabbat.
And more.
sigh
UPDATE 5:20 PM: Reported on Walla & IDF Radio, the CEO of ELAL, Chaim Romano just said something incredibly stupid at a Tourism Conference. "We will continue to fly on Shabbat under certain circumstances. We expect the religious community to accomodate us, just like we accomodate them."
He could have apologized. The slippery slope has started...
Coincidence Update? (5:26 PM) ELAL Jumbo 747, Flight 007 from TLV to JFK just made an emergency landing on runway 26 at Ben-Gurion airport, after fire and smoke were seen coming from one of the engines shortly after take-off.
The plane dumped 150 tons of fuel over the Mediterranean, circled around and returned for the emergency landing. Flight should take off again in another 90 minutes...
Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael
Bnei Akiva symbol painted on a trailer (caravan) at a hidden location in Israel.
Adopting the Muqata's Slogan, this Bnei Akiva caravan reads "To any place where I may walk, I am always walking towards Eretz Yisrael." The blue, white and orange colors are the nationally recognized symbol of "Shvil Yisrael" -- the hiking trail which goes from the Northern tip of Israel, to the Southernmost point.
This past weekend was "Shabbat Irgun", the culmination of a month of activities of the Bnei Akiva youth movement in Israel. I was never part of Bnei Akiva in the United States -- it always had a stigma of being "not religious enough" or much too aliya-centric...in fact, there was no real Bnei Akiva in my hometown growing up. (And the town was happy that way, with little encouragement for aliya, and a "frummer" environment)
Yet, here in Israel, I'm happy my kids are part of Bnei Akiva. (Also, it's not mixed -- like it was when I was a kid in the US. And its alot more fun than Pirchei Aguda).
I will admit, that I don't have patience for their Motzei Shabbat (Saturday Night) performances following Shabbat Irgun, and it's painful waiting through them when your kids aren't in a particular skit or dance.
Let me go home already...please?
And I still only get home at midnight. Yet as my wife is reading this, I know not to complain since I didn't go last year at all (I think I was away on a business trip, whew), so it was definitely my turn this year.
After lunch this past Shabbat, we all took a stroll to our local Bnei Akiva trailer-park (they're called caravans in Israel), which were painted by each group in honor of Shabbat Irgun.
Now, as I was getting this blog post ready for publication, I was pointed (thanks WBM :-)to a posting on Chayei Sarah's blog, where she opinions that Religious Zionism is all about "the land" and doesn't focus on the other mitzvot.
Bnei Akiva kids put a banner up in my neighborhood during the Lebanon War stating their solidarity with the people of the North. I smiled every time I saw it. It made me happy that in a time of crisis, the whole country felt unified and that young people in Jerusalem were proudly proclaiming their solidarity with people they'd never met.
Now that the war is over, and the Gaza pullout is long past, I wish they'd put up banners about other things. About loving your neighbor as yourself, about helping the poor and other things that, after all, are Torah values. Perhaps the kids do discuss these things within their chapters. Certainly they have wonderful activities around the holidays, and they do learn Torah, but in terms of the public face of the organization . . . they don't seem to have learned anything from what happened two summers ago. The self-reflection of the rabbis I heard has not trickled down to the level of the kids' banners and the paintings on the chapter's walls.
It makes me sad that, in practice, Religious Zionism continues to be all about Zionism and hardly about religion at all.
Unfortunately, Chayei Sarah's experience with Bnei Akiva in Israel must be rather limited. I took pictures of the caravan walls, and you can see for yourself what messages they are fostering. (Not that there is anything wrong with solidarity)
Justice in Society. They kids painted every imaginable quote from the Torah, Jewish religious source that deal with Justice...and Social Justice.
On that day...that Jews love one another, respect one another, respect their heritage and when their actions are influenced by love of the Torah, love of the people, and love of the land in its holiness...on that day there will be a "Jewish Culture."
Social Justice was a major theme this year...culminating in the realization that social justice brings about realization of G-d.
And yet, we do not forget.
Over the door of each caravan was a zecher l'churban - a reminder of the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash, the Jewish Temple(s). We have one in our home as well...where we also mourn the destruction of the Jewish communities of Gaza.
Finally - the Bnei Akiva kids make sure they will also never forget the destruction of the homes in Gush Katif. While some may think they learned "nothing" from two summers ago -- I think they learned quite alot. That the Israeli government can easily turn its back, and stab in the back, some of it's most loyal of citizens. I think they learned that when the government ignores the plight of fellow Jews, then THEY fill the void. I think they seek justice for themselves as well as for others.
While it may bother some, we "don't forget" -- the lack of justice then during the disengagement, and the apathy today -- the blatant lack of simple human care by the Israeli Knesset and Government for the plight of the Gush Katif refugees (many of whom still have no real housing solutions, over 50% unemployment, and many other problems).
Judaism is about ALL the mitzvot. And Bnei Akiva tries to encourage the observance of all of them.
Right now, I'm blogging this from the lobby of a hotel in Northern Israel, (during my break for dinner), where I'm attending a MDA enrichment course [I'll blog about that later as well]. There are MANY religious Zionists here...and Chareidim...and secular Israelis...and they all volunteer all over Israel -- not only in their closed environment. Why would they? Don't they only care about themselves?
It's so simple to shoot an arrow, and draw a target around it.
While it may seem like good blog material to go after Religious Zionists and say the "right wing" only cares about the Eretz Yisrael; in reality, you'll find them all over Israel, doing all sorts of wonderful inter-personal mitzvot.
And we still love Eretz Yisrael.
Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael
0. Despite the rest of Israel being on strike, I'm not. Really.
1. I'm just not able to post now...but will have some important posts up around 7 PM. (with an explanation of why I can't post now...this time, it's a good excuse ;-)
2. Sorry if anyone was offended by the Matza Ball ad on my blog; the ad publishers are sending me a slightly more tzanua version (Ive since taken it down till I get the new one).
Thats all. Gotta Run -- be back soon.
Jameel
Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael
(AP Phot0 - hat-tip: Rami from Kenya)
