Israel News | By One Jerusalem http://www.onejerusalem.org/ Israel News By One Jerusalem 2010-03-09T20:30:33-05:00 V.P. Biden "I condemn.." Israel? Hamas? Iran? http://www.onejerusalem.org/2010/03/vp-biden-i-condemn-israel-hama.php Did the Vice President condemn the Palestinian Authority for inciting its children to violence against Israel? Did the Vice President condemn Abbas for refusing to take out of the Palestinian Covenant the destruction of the State of Israel? Did the Vice President condemn Hamas for brutalizing its own people?

No.

The Vice President of the United States condemned the government of the State of Israel for issuing permits so Jews can build apartments and live in their capital of Jerusalem.

The Vice President's tirade was echoed by the White House.

In their eyes, Israel's Jerusalem is out of bounds for Jews. Jews must not legally purchase property -- property that was taken from them by Muslims and which they purchased back.

It does not matter to Biden or the White House that Jews were forcibly driven from Jerusalem.

It does not matter that the Jewish State has opened Jerusalem to everyone after it was closed to them and most Christians during the Muslim occupation from 1948 to 1967.

Biden and Obama have made themselves the guardians who must keep Jews out of sections of the Holy City.

We must let Obama and Biden know that we support Jerusalem the way it is -- free and open.

We should send them a copy of PM Netanyahu's recent speech on Jerusalem.  We applaud the efforts of Young Israel and others who are standing up for Jerusalem. 

]]> Posts Allen 2010-03-09T20:30:33-05:00 PM Netanyahu's Address to the Christians United For Israel Jerusalem Summit http://www.onejerusalem.org/2010/03/pm-netanyahus-address-to-the-c.php Welcome to Jerusalem, the undivided, eternal capital of the Jewish state and the Jewish people.

Your presence here today represents a profound transformation in the relationship between Christians and Jews.  This transformation has its roots in the 19th century when the early Christian Zionists came to the Land Israel and when they began exploring the land of the Bible, when they began to yearn for the Jewish restoration in this land, the restoration of our numbers, the restoration of our sovereignty.

In fact, Christian Zionism preceded modern Jewish Zionism, and I think enabled it.  But it received a tremendous impetus several decades ago when leading American clergymen, among them most notably, Pastor John Hagee, a dynamic pastor and leader from Texas, began to say to their congregations and to anyone who listened, it's time to take a stand with Israel.  It was time to take a stand with the sole democracy in the Middle East.  It was time to take a stand against the lies and the slander and the vilifications.  It was time to defend the Jewish state's right to defend itself.

Today, Christians by the thousands, by the tens of thousands, by the hundreds of thousands, by the millions, by the tens of millions - today they have heard this call, and they stand with Israel.  I salute you, the people of Israel salute you, the Jewish people salute you.

Time after time, through thick and thin, you have stood shoulder to shoulder with our state, and I have come here tonight to thank you for your unwavering friendship.  And today that friendship is more important than ever because Israel faces unprecedented challenges to its security and its legitimacy.

No security challenge is more important to our common future than preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons.  I have said before and I'll say again, that the greatest threat facing mankind is the specter of a militant Islamic regime acquiring nuclear weapons, or the specter of nuclear weapons acquiring a militant Islamic regime.  The first is dangerously close to happening in Iran, and the second may or may not happen in Pakistan.  I believe that with the right policies both can be averted.

If Iran develops atomic weapons, the world would never be the same.  We would witness a cascade of terrorism across the globe as terrorists would operate under an Iranian nuclear umbrella.  Look at how much havoc, how much terror they sow now, when there is no such umbrella, and understand what can happen if Iran, their patron, sponsor, supplier and supporter, if that Iran had nuclear weapons.  Equally, the region's vital oil supplies could be severely threatened and efforts to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons in the Middle East would collapse as one regime after another would rush to acquire nuclear weapons of their own.  Worst of all, if nuclear weapons would be given to terrorists, or to terrorist states, a 65 year-old era of nuclear peace would be endangered for the first time.

Remember that for the tyrants in Tehran, Israel is only the little Satan.  In their eyes, America is the Great Satan.  America is their ultimate target.  Yet for Israel, the threat from Iran could not be clearer.  Iran's leaders openly call for Israel's destruction.  They brazenly deny the Holocaust and they hope, and they say so just about every other day, they hope to wipe Israel off the map of the Middle East.

We must not allow such a regime to threaten the peace of the world, the peace and security of all humanity.  All responsible members of the international community must do everything in their power to stop Iran from developing atomic weapons.

As we speak the United States is leading an international effort to impose sanctions on Iran.  We believe those sanctions must have teeth.  And to have teeth, they must bite deep into Iran's energy sector.  Simply put, they should prevent Iran from importing gasoline and from exporting oil.  I believe that such measures might convince the regime to choose between continuing the weapons program and between assuring the regime's future.  But there must be tough, biting sanctions.

I said that we face great challenges to our security, but we also face unprecedented challenges to our legitimacy.  Now this assault on our legitimacy comes in many forms - it comes from the so-called human rights bodies in the UN which would deny Israel its legitimate right of self-defense, it comes by falsely charging Israel's political and military leaders with imaginary war crimes, and it comes by the outrageous waging campaigns to boycott, divest and sanction Israel.  You are all familiar with that.

But I think that there is an even greater assault on our legitimacy.  I think it is the attempt to perpetrate one of the greatest lies of history -- to deny the connection between the people of Israel and the land of Israel; to cast the Jewish people as foreigners in the land of our forefathers.  Make no mistake about it.  The attempt to deny our history in this land is an attempt to deny our future in this land.   That is why to defend our past is to defend our future.

I ask you all to join us in this battle to defend the truth.  Remind them of Abraham and Isaac, remind them of Joshua and Samuel, remind them of David and Solomon.  Remind the world that the land of the Bible is not in the heavens but right here on earth.  And that the people of the Bible, are on the land of the Bible.

Let me tell you how I remind foreign officials of this connection of the Jewish people to our history and to this land.  You see, they visit my office.  And I say, Would you come and look at this little signet ring that I was given on loan from the Department of Antiquities?  It was found next to the Wall of the Second Temple, but it dates back to the First Temple.  It goes back some 2800 years ago, to the period of the Kings.  It is a signet seal of a Jewish official, and it has a name written in ancient Hebrew, which I can read.  The name is: Netanyahu.  Netanyahu Ben-Yoash.  I say, that's my last name.  My first name, Benjamin, dates back 1000 years earlier, to Benjamin the son of Jacob, who also walked these hills.  That is our connection.  And nobody can deny the connection of the Jewish people to the Jewish land.

Israel faces great challenges.  We must prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.  We must repel the assault on our legitimacy.  We must find a way to achieve peace with our neighbors.  We must all pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

After centuries in exile, I have come here to assure you, the people of Israel have come home and no force on earth will ever make us leave our home again.

]]> Posts editor 2010-03-09T14:23:31-05:00 Israel's Misguided Bow To Obama http://www.onejerusalem.org/2010/03/israels-misguided-bow-to-obama.php reportedly told the Mayor that the issuance of building permits at this time would cause an international stir.

Undoubtedly, the Prime Minister had received "advice" from Washington as the Obama Administration was preparing for Vice President Biden's trip to Israel.

Israel's consent to the request appears like a small matter in the overall picture in the region, but it has much larger consequences than one may imagine. Every time Israel takes its marching orders from Washington or the international community, it reinforces the belief that Jerusalem and all of Israel is less than a self-governing sovereign state. Legal and policy decisions in Israel seem to be final unless they conflict with the wishes of the United States and other international players.

If Israel does not set policy over its capital, if it changes course because Washington wants it, is it any wonder that Israel's enemies do not believe that a united Jerusalem is not necessarily a settled matter. Israel is feeding the belief that in the end of the day it will capitulate in dividing the city if the United States demands it. 
]]> Posts Allen 2010-03-08T19:28:58-05:00 The Plot To Take Jerusalem Unfolds: Jordan's King http://www.onejerusalem.org/2010/02/the-plot-to-take-jerusalem-unf.php news reports that Jordan's King told the Palestinian Authority's Abbas that Israel is threatening the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and that some unspecified action should be taken to protect Muslim sites in East Jerusalem.

With these statements, the King earned himself the Chutzpah Man of the Year Award.

You see Jordan, is the country that expelled (and killed) Jews who had resided in Old City's Jewish Quarter. And from 1948 until Israel freed the Old City and unified it, Jews (and most Christians) were not allowed access to the Old City. Moreover, since 1967, under the governance of the State of Israel, Muslims have been given control over all their holy sites. Their control is so great that they have used it to destroy tons of antiquities from the days of Solomon's Temple and they control who can visit the Holy Temple Mount.

Given this historical and current record, the King of Jordan should be thanking the State of Israel for protecting Muslim holy sites and for allowing all people to peacefully visit the Old City.But he won't acknowledge Israel's contributions in this area. Instead he will instigate trouble while calling on the "international community" to take control of Jerusalem. Given the mindset of the Obama Administration it will require a strong response by supporters of a united Jerusalem to stop the Jordan, Palestinian attempt to undermine Israeli control.

The King also criticized Israel's decision to declare biblical sites as being part of the Jewish people's heritage. Chutzpah Personified.

For the record the King's call to action caused Palestinians to attack Israelis in Jerusalem. 
]]> Posts Allen 2010-02-28T18:46:55-05:00 American Approval of Israel Increases Dramatically http://www.onejerusalem.org/2010/02/american-approval-of-israel-in.php As recently as 2005, when the respected Gallup organization asked Americans if their sympathies lay with Israel or the Palestinians, 52% said Israel while 30% preferred the Palestinians.

In February 2010, in answer to the same question: 63% chose Israel while only 15% said the Palestinians. Gallup concluded that Israel's support is "the highest level in nearly 20 years."

Also, when compared with the rest of the world the American public rated Israel as one of America's favorite nations.

This survey also shows that Americans, excluding the neophytes in the White House, understand that the prospect for "peace" with the Palestinians is highly unlikely. Americans see that the Palestinians are not to be trusted and are not interested in a "peace" with Israel.

It is instructive to reflect on the fact that when Israel bent over backward to please the international community by making unprecedented concessions to the Palestinians, support for Israel dropped among Americans. Clearly, Americans support a realistic and a strong Israel. An Israel that is willing to stand up for its rights, the Jewish State, and fight the enemy that is also challenging the United States.

While this survey is reassuring, friends of Israel should not become complacent because of it. Time and again, the Obama Administration has shown that it will ignore the wishes of the American people in pursuit of policies that it believes in. We must constantly remind the Obama Administration that Americans support Israel and not those who wish to eradicate the Jewish State.

 

 

]]> Posts Allen 2010-02-28T14:53:57-05:00 Crossing the Line: Anti-Zionism or Anti-Semitism http://www.onejerusalem.org/2010/02/crossing-the-line-anti-zionism.php Watch this new, 5-minute video clip about Anti-Semitism on college campuses.

Video: Crossing the Line

]]> Posts admin2 2010-02-24T09:20:37-05:00 Church Leader Deeply Concerned about Christians in the Holy Land http://www.onejerusalem.org/2010/02/church-ledar-deeply-concerned.php Rowan Williams leader of the world-wide Anglican Church expressed profound concern about dwindling number of Christians in the Holy Land.

Mr. Williams, The Archbishop of Canterbury, does not appear to have identified the primary reason why Christians are leaving the Holy Land. The official position of his Church is that a settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is the answer to stopping the Christian flight from their ancient homeland. The natural extension of this view is that Israel holds the cards to making a deal.

What Williams and other mainstream Christian leaders fail to articulate is the dominate role played by Muslim Arabs in making life unlivable for Christian Arabs. In the Town of Bethlehem the Christian population remained dominate under Israeli rule but is quickly disappearing under the rule of the Palestinian Authority.

Years ago, while visiting Bethlehem I spoke with a Christian resident who owned a small jewelry store on Manger Square.  He described the brutal nature of Muslim rule and why he and his family were forced to leave.

Muslim treatment of Christians is the primary reason why Christians are leaving the Holy Land. When Jordan ruled the Old City of Jerusalem, Christian Arabs who lived in Israel could not enter the Old City.

Moreover, the Palestinian Authority continues to deny Christians and Jews ever had a presence in Jerusalem and they destroyed priceless antiquities that would prove that Christians and Jews existed in Jerusalem long before the Muslims ever did.

Since Israel took control of all of Jerusalem, Christians have had unlimited access to the Old City and all Christian Holy sites.

If Christian leaders want to stop Christian flight they should start by acknowledging the problem of living under Muslim rule. The surest way to continuing the Christian exodus is to support turning more of the Holy Land over to the Muslims.  
]]> Posts Allen 2010-02-20T16:39:37-05:00 Obama's Muslim Courtship http://www.onejerusalem.org/2010/02/obamas-muslim-courtship.php
In recent weeks, the Obama Administration has dropped all legal attempts to deny a visa to one Tariq Ramadan. Mr. Ramadan is a slick defender of his grandfather the founder of the radical Muslim Brotherhood and is a European intellectual rock star who has been banned from European countries and universities because of his radical views. A few years ago, in debate with Nicholas Sarkozy he called for a "moratorium" not a ban on the stoning of women in Muslim countries. He also wrote an article condemning Jewish intellectuals. These actions and some links with terrorists and the financing of terrorism caused the Bush Administration to refuse to allow him into the country.(For a full account of Ramadan's record read Brother Tariq by Caroline Fourest a French journalist.)

In addition to giving Ramadan a pass into this country, the Obama administration's counter terrorism guru has been making more troubling news. His latest pronouncements include an intellectual love fest with a largely Muslim crowd at New York university. He defended the release of terrorists and entertained a Muslim troublemaker who is dedicated to raising questions about who committed the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.Mr. Brennan is the same man who defended the handling of the would be Christmas Day airplane bomber. He was not disturbed by the kid gloves treatment the terrorist received.

And now we have the Obama Administration appointing what appears to be an apologist for a terrorist supporter.There is an old saying, "When there is smoke there is fire": It appears there is a forest fire when it comes to suspicious Muslims and the Obama Administration. 

 
]]> Posts Allen 2010-02-17T15:21:58-05:00 Muslim Students Shout Down Israel's Ambassador http://www.onejerusalem.org/2010/02/muslim-students-shout-down-isr.php ]]> Videos editor 2010-02-16T15:15:42-05:00 One Man Can Make A Difference http://www.onejerusalem.org/2010/02/one-man-can-make-a-difference.php
For the facts of his life, which includes the upheaval of the Holocaust and the rebuilding of the Jewish nation in the aftermath of that tragedy, you can get a glimpse here and we heartily recommend his biography,  The Rabbi of 84th Street: The Extraordinary Life of Haskel Besser written by our good friend Warren Kozak.

If you do a Google search for Rabbi Chaskel Besser you will find an out pouring of platitudes for this great man.

While the world rightfully praises Rabbi Besser for his public accomplishments, we want to share a few private reflections on a man who we had the good fortune of knowing.

Rabbi Besser was a man with a smile. Rabbi Besser treated everyone with respect. If you spoke, he always listened. He felt he had something to learn from everyone he met.

In his quiet unassuming way Rabbi Besser played a lead role (with the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation) in reintroducing Judaism among the ashes of Nazism and Communism in Eastern Europe. He met Presidents and Prime Ministers but you would not know that from him. Because Rabbi Besser left self-promotion for others.

Over the years we spoke some politics and discussed some classical music. When you entered his office you would be struck by the number of books that lined his walls and piled up on his desk. And you would invariably be treated to some classical music. He loved his classical music and he knew his composers.

While the world is poorer by his passing it is richer for having had his presence for nearly 90 years.  May his memory be a blessing.]]> Posts Allen 2010-02-13T13:29:01-05:00 Dore Gold's New Web Initiative http://www.onejerusalem.org/2010/02/dore-golds-new-web-initiative.php web-site where his insights into the most important issues of the day will be on display 24 hours a day.

Dore Gold is one of our side's most articulate and persuasive voices on security and international matters. He is the author of New York Times best selling books including, The Fight For Jerusalem, Hatred's Kingdom, and The Rise of Nuclear Iran.

The site includes archives of some his most important television interviews and his debate with the infamous Goldstone. And his blog contains his thoughts on the most pressing issues facing Israel, Jerusalem, and the Middle East.

Those interested in getting updates sent to them can register at the site.

Please visit Dore Gold's personal web-site bookmark the page and tell friends and family about it.

 
]]> Posts Allen 2010-02-13T13:17:10-05:00 Saudi Indoctrination of American High Schoolers and... http://www.onejerusalem.org/2010/02/saudi-indoctrination-of-americ.php When the Iranian Islamic Revolution succeeded in deposing the Shah and declared an aggressive campaign to spread its ideology in the Arab world and beyond, the rulers of Saudi Arabia responded to the challenge by dedicating billions of dollars to spread their poisonous Wahhabi ideology around the world.

This campaign has taken many forms. For instance, the Saudis have been building mosques and cultural institutions wherever Muslims reside and have installed their radical imams to perpetuate the most radical form of Islam.  In the United States, the Saudis have spread their propaganda in several ways. They have employed many retired American foreign service and military officials and they have "endowed" university Middle Eastern Studies programs at many of our institutions of higher learning. When they finance educational institutions they recruit "scholars" who are anti-Israel and apologists for Saudi Arabia.

Georgetown University has been the recipient of barrels of Saudi "petrol dollars" and has dutifully served as a home to programs that serve their Wahhabi patrons. One of their more far reaching initiatives is targeted to filling the minds of American children and college students. 

At Campus Watch, the superb Stephen Schwartz is most enlightening on the Saudi funded Model Arab League.(It was created at Georgetown University in 1983.) Schwartz describes the mission of this program as:"The Model Arab League is offered to the educational establishment -- including high schools -- as a teaching device for the betterment of young Americans' knowledge of essential contemporary issues. In reality, its origins and content reveal it to be an intrusion of Saudi-financed ideology into American academic life, the appropriateness of which should be questioned.."

The name of this program says much about its mission. The Arab League has been determined to undermine and destroy the State of Israel since the founding of the Jewish State. In addition, in late 2009, the Secretary General of the Arab League endorsed Iran's nuclear program.

That the Model Arab League exists and is functioning in the United States should be of concern to all parents and citizens. For more detail on their agenda read Mr. Schwartz's  article at Campus Watch. We also suggest you browse the Campus Watch web-site for valuable information about orchestrated campaigns to legitimize radical Islam.

 

]]> Posts Allen 2010-02-08T13:38:15-05:00 Senators Lieberman and McCain Visit Jerusalem http://www.onejerusalem.org/2010/02/senators-leiberman-and-mccain.php The Left is up in arms over a recent visit to Jerusalem by Senator's Lieberman and McCain. The Senators used their trip to chastise Obama's envoy for threatening to cut off military loans to Israel if it did not capitulate to demands made by the Obama Administration.

The Senators are accused of not seeing the real Jerusalem. After all they went to historical sites which included the tunnel along side the outer wall of the Temple of Solomon and the City of David. Both these sites are problem for the Muslim leadership and their Western apologists. You see the Muslim leadership denies that ancient Jews ever set foot in Jerusalem. They deny that the temples including Solomon's ever existed. In other words they refuse to acknowledge that Jerusalem was ever the capital of the Jewish nation.

The Western Wall and the City of David expose this fiction, this lie. Both sites are brimming with evidence that since ancient times, Jerusalem has been the heart and the soul of the Jewish people.  A few years back, archaeologists discovered King David's Palace in the City of David.  This is just one Jewish historical treasure in Jerusalem.

Along with denying Jewish history the Left also refuses to admit that Muslims have tremendous power over their holy sites in Jerusalem.  Many feel they have been granted too much power. Over the years Muslim religious authorities have destroyed tons of Christian and Jewish antiquities on the Temple Mount. They also severely limit Jewish access to this holiest site in Judaism.

The Senators are guilty of one thing, of shedding light on the Jewish reality of Jerusalem. This city has been home to only one people -- the nation of Israel. 

 

]]> Posts Allen 2010-02-06T15:30:21-05:00 Costco is Target of Boycott For Selling Israeli Products http://www.onejerusalem.org/2010/01/costco-is-target-of-boycott-fo.php
According to these anti-Semites, Costco is guilty of selling Israeli grown clementines. The boycott has a home on the Web and it has volunteers recruiting and instructing people on what they can do to encourage Costco to stop the sale of Israeli goods. Below is the body of a mass circulating e-mail which offers advise on who to contact at Costco:


Friends,

Such a simple action! I called 425-313-8100 and spoke with Mark DeCosta in produce. I told him that I was calling because I saw that Costco was selling clementines from Israel. I explained very politely that there is an international boycott against Israeli products because of the ongoing genocide there. I mentioned the attack on Gaza a year ago, that 1,400 people were killed there, and that Israel restricts food, electricity and drinking water. Mark was very receptive, and said he would pass the message o the buyer in California, and also gave me her number. I'll call her tomorrow and would be happy to hear that other folks might do the same.

Buyer: Pat Burlinguette
925-456-7208


Do not underestimate the consequences if a boycott like this has any success. If friends of Israel do not let Costco know that they support the sale of Israel it would not be a surprise if the company decides to forgo selling Israeli products.

We need to contact Costco and let them know that we will shop there because they sell Israeli products. When I told my wife about the boycott, she immediately responded that she was getting a Costco membership and she will buy the clementines "Even though I don't like clementines. "

Information about contacting Costco can be found here.

This boycott is part of an international cultural and academic boycott of Israel. 

We must do all that we can to help Israel fight back.









]]> Posts Allen 2010-01-29T20:14:48-05:00 Israel's Destructive Press http://www.onejerusalem.org/2010/01/israels-destructive-pre-occupa.php For nearly two weeks, Israel's old line media has been orchestrating a coordinated personal attack on Sara Netanyahu. We will not dignify these deliberate attacks by reciting the charges and counter-charges. We set the stage with this fact: The old line media in Israel is desperately trying to maintain its monopoly over news and it is lashing out at Benjamin Netanyahu's wife because he refuses to back legislation that will stop the explosive growth of an alternative news organ.

A couple of years ago, a wealthy Zionist invested in the establishment of a free newspaper. He entered the Israeli media scene by employing a business model similar to the one used by newspapers in the United Kingdom, the United States and elsewhere. When this venture began, nearly 70% of all Israelis read one newspaper. Today the upstart is read by as many or more people than the former newspaper power house.

A primary reason for this success can be traced to the new paper on the block providing  editorial and news coverage alternatives to the Left wing policies of the dominant newspapers. People have flocked in droves to a paper that is professionally produced and does not use the Right in Israel as a daily punching bag.

Recently, the Left panicked when it became convinced that it could not compete in the marketplace and win, so they started agitating for legislation to stop the upstart publication. They pressured the Prime Minister to support their legislative initiative. He refused to close down the new voice on the block.

In response his wife has become the target of the Left. This is unacceptable behavior during normal times but it is down right irresponsible when Israel is facing life threatening challenges.

The press is so intent on bringing down Netanyahu that they asked him questions about the case at a news conference in Germany with Germany's Chancellor. Chancellor Merkel and Netanyahu had just conferred over how to stop Iran from attaining nuclear weapons but Israel's press thought it was more important to report that the Prime Minister defended his wife in answer to a question.

Even Israel's President Shimon Peres, a political rival of Netanyahu's, has criticized the press' relentless attacks on Sara Netanyahu. At a time when Israel faces monumental challenges posed Iran and a campaign to deligitimize the Jewish State, Israel's Left-wing press devotes its resources to attacking the Prime Ministers wife.

How sad. How irresponsible. 

]]> Posts Allen 2010-01-26T21:39:21-05:00