The Day of the Swine

This morning at 2:30 AM, was the official start of the "Day of the Swine" -- as 477 murderous Palestinian, Islamic animals are being released from their pens. These swine who have butchered civilian men and women, boys and girls, and tiny infants in the name of Islam and Palestine, these worthless representatives of a fake collective called "Palestine", whose biggest claim to fame is their lack of a positive contribution to the human race, are preparing for a hero's welcome by their fellow animals.

Any Muslim, any Imam, any Muslic cleric who does not hang their head in shame at the release of these butchers -- over a thousand by the end of the exchange deal for kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, is also part of the herd of swine.

How do they not weep that this exchange proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that the absolute value of a single Jew is worth more than over thousand of their fellow co-religionists? Islamic apologists point of the invention of the "zero" as one of the great contributions of Islam to the world. Today we see over a thousand zeros -- a thousand murderous animals, filthy swine being released, as Palestinians celebrate.

Collectively, they are even too stupid to even realize that this exchange minimizes their own self value.

There will never be peace with the Palestinian people. Any person who cheers this release will never desire peace, will never want peace, and cannot comprehend the concept of peace.

The butchers released today, their mobs of supporters, and every Islamic leader who does not denounce them, will rot in hell for eternity.


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Sukkah Torah and Prayer

I spent yesterday (Sunday) meeting with and listening to different politicians and public figures at various Sukkas I visited. Something the Chief Rabbi said intrigued me. This is what I remember him saying (it's not word-for-word, but rather the general gist of his talk):

This past year Israel faced an incredibly serious threat, a number of them actually. Yet September came and went, and no disaster fell upon is despite vocal cries of the upcoming Tsunami.

So what happened?

The threats were real. September was very real. Even more real and dangerous than the general public knows.

But Hashem doesn't turn away a prayer that comes from deep within. Because of the very real threat we faced, in our fear, we the nation increased our prayers, our depth, our concern expressed in those T'fillot, and as a result Hashem listened.

Hopefully our prayers are also helping to free Gilad Shalit soon. And that is a wonderful thing. An important thing.

But his coming home is coming with an awful, horrible price that the nation will have to face.

And we'll need to increase our prayers in response to this, to protect us more.

In was inevitable, that unless Israel launched a rescue operation, or started taking more aggressive steps against our enemy that this was the price we were going to eventually pay once Hamas decided it was ready to make a deal (assuming it happens).

And I think the Chief Rabbi summed it up succinctly. Getting Gilad Shalit back is important for Gilad and important for the nation. But it's now up to us to pray harder to protect us from what comes next as a result of this horrible deal.


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Who said?

(All these quotes were made in the years after 1967, following Israel's liberation of Judea and Samaria from the illegal Jordanian occupation.)

1) I hope that Jews, including those in America will come to settle in Hebron and around it.

2) Jews have complete rights in this land, to live in Gush Etzion and Har Hebron in its entirety.

3) If we manage to create a massive Aliyah [to the territories], we will be able to keep this land whole, like it was.

4) There never was a Palestinian state, and the Arabs that conquered the land never developed anything.

5) I would never give a command to destroy any settlement in the territories.

6) We need to increase pace, and spread more settlements across the map.



And as a bonus:
1) Who gave 10% of his pension to the Rabbi Levinger’s yeshiva in Hebron?

Answers to these 6 quotes after Shabbat.

Chag Sameach.


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Official Muqata Statement: We Condemn Mosque Arson

I was abroad for a bit and didn't have time to blog about this particular, important issue, but didn't want it to pass by without any comment.

This past Sunday evening, someone torched a Bedouin Mosque in the Northern Israel town of "Tuba Zanghariya." Someone left behind some graffiti as well, indicating the arson attack was a "price tag" retaliation for the murder of the Palmers by Palestinian terrorists on Erev Rosh HaShana.

“What I can’t understand is why us? Why of all places would they come here?” asked resident Dr. Muhammad al-Haib, in a plaza outside the scorched entryway of the al-Noor mosque.

In a common sentiment expressed Tuesday, al-Haib said the people of the village are “completely Israeli” and see themselves as having a shared fate with their Jewish neighbors in the surrounding towns.

Al-Haib said the villagers celebrate Independence Day and do not identify with the “Nakba,” the Palestinian day that mourns the founding of the State of Israel.

Like others, al-Haib also expressed a sense of bewilderment and surprise at the suspected arson, rather than a desire for revenge.

“When this happened, people were very angry and asked: ‘Why us?’ We’re together, we’re not fighting one another here. We serve together [in the IDF], we live together, we’re very close. Somebody wrote ‘revenge’ on the wall, but why do you want revenge on me?”

Al-Haib, who serves as the Education Ministry’s national director for education in the Beduin sector, described the village as completely cut off from the greater Arab sector in Israel, with the closest Arab villages over half an hour away, much farther than Rosh Pina, only a couple kilometers away. (JPost)

The official Muqata response is as follows:

1. Torching a Mosque, or any house of worship is wrong. Burning down a mosque makes you no different that the Nazis who burned down synagogues on Krystalnacht and during the Holocaust, and no different than the Palestinian mobs who burned down the synagogues in Gush Katif after the Disengagement. No difference than the Palestinian barbarians who spray pained swastikas on Kever Yosef-Jospeh's Tomb yesterday. It's wrong.

2. Revenge by individuals cannot be tolerated. The State of Israel via the IDF and Security forces is responsible for deterrence, retaliation and revenge. They need to hunt down terrorists, and scare our enemies to the point that they won't dare attack a single Jew.

3. This statement is not apologetic, nor the result of leftwing pressure. The Muqata Blog receives zero funding or advertising from left-wing organizations or the New Israel Fund. This statement is being made because its wrong to burn down Mosques.

Now, having made the above statement, I would like address some of the surrounding issues.

Israeli politicians have been using the above attack as an excuse to attack the right wing in Israel and wax poetic about how the attack directly goes to the heart of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.

Opposition leader Tzipi Livni commented on the incident, saying that if it was indeed a "price tag" act, then it must be condemned.

"Burning mosques contradicts Israel's values as a Jewish state," she said. "Such serious incidents obligate us to conduct a national self-examination." (Haaretz)

Unlike Tzippi Livni, we at the Muqata don't say that "if it were indeed a "price tag" act, then it must be condemned" -- we say clearly, that regardless of WHO did this act, it must be condemned, not only if it was a "price tag" action.

Unlike Tzipi Livni, who runs to mention the Mosque arson attack, she has no condemnation or even a comment about the murder of Asher Palmer and infant son Yehonatan a week earlier -- remember, the arson attack said it was retaliation for the Palmer murder. (Livni's official website and facebook feed have zero mention of it at all).

The Muqata condemns the murder of Jews and publicizes the issue because its important for people to know that Palestinian terrorism is continuing...and the murder of Jews should always be publicized. Livni only finds the time to quasi condemn the Mosque arson attack.

The same goes for Israel's president, Shimon Peres. Our outspoken President also neglected to even mention the murder of the Palmers, and while he's full of shame at the mosque arson attack, there is not one word of mention of the murder of the Palmers -- not on the entire Presidential web-site.

It goes without saying that the 972mag website condemns the mosque arson (Larry Derfner writing about "settler violence" -- surprised?), yet its perfectly abhorent that 972mag totally ignores murder of Jews by Palestinians...and the name "Asher Palmer" doesn't appear anywhere on their website.

That's the difference between the Muqata and 972mag. We condemn and publicize the murder of Jews by Palestinian terrorists, and make sure you read about it. We also condemn the arson of mosques.

And mosque arson is wrong, regardless if carried out by Jewish Israelis...or by 3 Arabs from Hebron.

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Seminary Girls help Jerusalem Firefighters

This past Monday (October 3rd) young women from the Shaalvim Women's Seminary visited Jerusalem's central fire-department to volunteer for a few hours to help out at the fire-station.

The group of 75 volunteers come from the USA, Canada and England and are studying at Shaalvim. Within the framework of their studies, the women also volunteer for all sorts of chessed/charity work.





Source: Rotter and 102

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Interesting Israeli News Tidbits Roundup

So many things going on...here's a quick roundup.

1. The sad news of the day, is that Rav Hanan Porat died last night.

At the funeral for former MK Hanan Porat on Wednesday, Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin eulogized the Gush Emunim leader, calling Porat "a visionary and an achiever, a poet and a fighter."

"You knew how to be the public's agent whose mouth was full of song, to be a sharp parliamentarian with a dreaming soul," Rivlin said. "Within your soul there was a great love, a conquering love, for the national of Israel, for the ground of this good land, for Israel's Torah."

"Your voice, Hanan, was silenced," he concluded, "but the voice of your song will still lead, with your mighty love, this nation and this land for many years. I came to say goodbye on behalf of the Knesset and the Israeli nation. You will be missed greatly."

Porat, who inspired thousands of people to settle the hilltops of Judea and Samaria, died at his home in Kfar Etzion on Tuesday after a long battle with cancer. He was 67. His funeral will took place on Wednesday in Kfar Etzion. JPost

2. Yet another Israeli wins a Nobel Prize - Professor Daniel Shechtman from the Technion is honored with the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Israeli scientist honored for discovery of atom patterns called 'quasicrystals.' Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences: Shechtman's discovery extremely controversial, fundamentally changed way chemists look at solid matter. (YNETnews)

3. This morning, 2 Arabs created a disturbance on the Jerusalem light-rail in the vicinity of French Hill. Security officers were required to use pepper-spray to overpower them and they were physically removed from the train; police were called in to arrest the law breakers. (source)

4. Iran Press reports that Israel has been secretly occupying the Sanafir Island in the Red Sea since 1967, with the approval of Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia and the Western states have kept silent for decades regarding the occupation of two Saudi western islands by the Israeli regime.
Israeli forces reportedly occupied Saudi Arabia's Tiran and Sanafir Islands in 1967.

The two islands are located at the southern end of the Gulf of Aqaba, leading to the Red Sea.

Tiran Island, which has an area of about 80 square kilometers, is located at the inflow of the Straits of Tiran. Sanafir Island, with an area of 33 square kilometers, also lies to the east of Tiran.

The two islands were given to the former Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser for logistics use in the Six Day War of 1967 against Israeli forces.

However, the islands have been occupied by Tel Aviv since Egypt's defeat.

The Straits of Tiran, which has remained under the control of Tel Aviv, has strategic significance since it serves as Israel's only direct access to the Red Sea.

Regional observers say while Saudi Arabia has maintained a total silence on its own Israeli-occupied islands, it vigorously pursues baseless claims by the United Arab Emirates against three tiny Iranian islands in the Persian Gulf. (Iran PressTV)

What is interesting about this story, is that it appears previously over a year ago in the MiddleEast Monitor...with many more details.

5. Israel Prisons to stop serving stuffed chicken to convicted terrorists, and is reducing the number of TV channels they can watch. (NRG)

6. YNET reported the following (which was also linked to on DrudgeReport)

Syrian President Bashar Assad on Tuesday threatened to set fire to the Middle East, and especially to Israel, if NATO attacks Syria, the Iranian Fars news agency reported.

In a meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Assad said: "If a crazy measure is taken against Damascus, I will need not more than six hours to transfer hundreds of rockets and missiles to the Golan Heights to fire them at Tel Aviv."

7. Will be writing a post soon about the Mosque Arson in Northern Israel, allegedly a Jewish revenge "price-tag" attack.

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Chutz La'aretz Laziness?

Is this really necessary?


(An Eiruv Tavshilin is necessary in order to prepare food from Yom tov to Shabbat, but do you really need to buy one as a packaged set instead of just using a roll and an egg/piece of chicken?)

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Only in Israel: Ben Gurion Airport

I left Israel the other day for a quick 24 hour business trip. On my way out, after passport control before going down the ramp to duty free, there is one more security check, where your passport/ticket are examined (or a piece of paper is given in).

The checker spoke as follows to the people in front of me:

To tourists visiting Israel: "Thank you for visiting, we hope you had a great trip"

to the Israeli teenager: "Have a fun time abroad!"

to my business colleague: "Shana Tova, Gmar Chatima Tova" (A good year to you)

to me: "Gmar Chatima Tova...Tzom Kal" (A good year...and have an easy fast [yesterday was a minor fast day])

Personalized service to every departing traveler -- with a smile!

(Have you ever gotten a smile out of TSA?!)


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What is the Obama Administration's deal with Pollard?

NY Times, this past weekend:

WASHINGTON — In the middle of a meeting with 15 rabbis in Boca Raton, Fla., last week, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. took a punch meant for his boss.

One of the rabbis asked why Jonathan Pollard, the Israeli spy convicted in 1986, was still in prison. Mr. Biden, on a mission to shore up support for President Obama, replied forcefully, according to several people at the meeting.

“President Obama was considering clemency, but I told him, ‘Over my dead body are we going to let him out before his time,’ ” Mr. Biden said. “If it were up to me, he would stay in jail for life.”

Yet, who is really speaking? Is Biden really against the release of Pollard?

JPost:

In a press release circulated by the Justice For Jonathan organization, it is stated that the vice president gave "absolutely no clue as to the reason for his flip-flop," which contradicts a video interview he gave in 2007 in which he expressed support for Pollard's release via commutation of his sentence to time served:

By flip-flopping back and forth, and contradicting each other's position, its hard to know what the real story is, and what the US Administration's real position is on Pollard.

Regardless, he he more than served his time, and should be allowed to come home to Israel. Not one "spy" against the USA has ever served such a harsh prison term...and this is from a friendly country.

This year, grant clemency for Pollard!


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