Ezra USA

OUR VISION...

To strengthen your love for Judaism and the land and people of Israel, while you deepen your personal commitment to Jewish life.


WRITE TO US AT : opinions@ezraus.org and tell us what you'd like to hear from us about!

Monday, March 28, 2011

The Side of Israel You Don't Hear about.

By: Aryeh Pekker

Israel may be one of the few, if not the only, nation in modern times to have been threatened with political and even physical destruction.  It is a nation that has been accused of committing horrific acts against civilians.  It is a nation whose very legitimacy is being condemned by some of the most viscous and monstrous regimes on this planet.  As you read this, the UN Human Rights Council is considering six separate resolutions condemning Israel for one reason or another in one session.  A new record for the Council.  Of course, “considering” or “debating” a resolution on Israel is, when it comes to the UN, just another way of saying that they have already made up their minds and will condemn Israel, but that even they cannot bear the embarrassment of being so openly biased.  Given these depressing facts, it seems a good time to reflect on the positive contributions that Israel has made to this world, the ones that the UN and the regimes that pull its strings will not “consider” when “debating” something on Israel. 

The following is an exceedingly short list of things that Israel has done for people all over the world.       


1959- Israel began setting up eye care clinics all over the world, providing free care to some of the most downtrodden nations including; Nepal, Liberia, Micronesia, Mauritania, and Tonga.

1979- Cambodia- An Israeli team was sent to treat refugees of the Khmer Rouge Genocide on the Thailand border, where they stayed for a month and a half.

1984- Sudan- The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) along with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) airlifted around 8,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel in Operation Moses.

1985- Sudan- The IDF and CIA airlifted an additional 800 Ethiopian Jews from Sudan to Israel in Operation Joshua. 

1988- Armenia- After a devastating earthquake an Israeli medical team was sent to set up a field hospital that treated up to 2,500 people.

1991- Ethiopia- Within 36 hours, the IDF airlifted approximately 14, 325 Ethiopian Jews to Israel due to increasing threats to the Jewish population of Ethiopia.  

1994- Rwanda- During the horrible Rwanda Genocide Israel sent emergency medical aid to the Rwandan refugees, including a field hospital sent by airlift to Zaire (present day Democratic    Republic of Congo). 

1995- The Israel-based Save a Child's Heart organization, co-sponsored by The Israeli Ministry for Regional Cooperation, sent doctors all around the world providing free heart surgery to children.  So far, 2300 children have received free heart surgery, half of them living in the Palestinian Territories, Jordan and Iraq. 

1999, April- Albania- To aid refugees from ethnic cleansing in Kosovo, Israel set up a field hospital which included; 100 beds, 1 pharmacy, 1 laboratory, 1 operating room and 60 medical personnel including specialist doctors of; internal medicine, gynecology, infectious diseases, and orthopedics, along with nurses, paramedics, and radiologists. In addition to this, Israeli non-profits helped gather an additional 141 tons of aid that included tents, blankets, food and water.

1999, August- Turkey- After an earthquake Israel set up; 1 field hospital, 1 operating room, 1 x-ray room, 2 clinics.  A 250 member Search and Rescue team was sent along with 50 tons of aid and     medical supplies.

2001, January- El Salvador-  After an earthquake the Israeli Foreign Ministry sent a medical team to aid victims of the disaster.  In addition to government aid, the Israel-based organization, Latet, collected 22 tons of clothing, blankets and other aid for victims.

2001, December- India- After an earthquake Israel sent 65 tons of aid and medical supplies.  A 150 member team of specialist physicians, nurse, paramedics, rescue crews, and construction workers was dispatched.  A field hospital with 100 beds, a pharmacy and operating room was set up.

2003- Iran- Despite not being officially recognized by the Islamic Republic of Iran, Israel offered aid after an earthquake had hit the country, however, it was rejected.

2003- Israel was the first country to issue a Kimberley Process certificate in an effort to stem the flow of conflict (blood) diamonds.  In 2010, Israel became Chair of the Kimberley Process.

2005- United States of America- In coordination with the US government, Israel sent;  80 tons of food, disposable diapers, beds, blankets, generators and additional equipment.

2006- Kenya- After a building collapsed, Israel sent an 80 strong IDF Search and Rescue team to help save and recover victims of the collapse.

2009- Philippines- After two typhoons, Israel sent a medical relief team, treating up to 300 people a day.

2010- Haiti- After a 7.0 earthquake that devastated the capital of Haiti, Port-au-Prince, Israel was the first nation to arrive providing aid.  220 Israeli soldiers and medical staff was sent to Port-au- Prince.  Within 16 hours of landing, the IDF had set up a field hospital run by 40 doctors, 40 nurses and paramedics.  Within the first 7 days of the operation the hospital had treated over 300 patients and is estimated to have saved thousands of lives by the end of the operation.

PRESENT DAY-2011- Japan- After an earthquake caused a horrible tsunami to rip through Japanese villages and towns, Israel is again the first nation to set up a field hospital to treat patients.  A team of 50 doctors, 62 tons of medial supplies and 18 tons of humanitarian aid has been sent to Japan.  The aid includes; mattresses, blankets, coats, gloves and chemical toilets.  

This list is far from complete.  I have compiled what I could through my limited research abilities to show what Israel has accomplished in the past and presently, however I cannot list what the future will hold, but I am sure this list will get much longer, and that is not being optimistic, it is just being realistic.

Monday, March 21, 2011

The UN Inhuman Rights Council

                                                                                                                                                      By: Aryeh Pekker
            Watching the UN today, it is difficult to believe that this is the same institution that created the Jewish State of Israel we have today.  The horrors of the Nazi Holocaust made it clear to the world that not only did the Jews need a place they could call home, but that the concept of human rights be respected by all nations.  With the help of people like Eleanor Roosevelt, the UN Commission on Human Rights was founded in 1946.  Sixty years later it was replaced by the current UN Human Rights Council.  These may very well be the most ironically named institutions world politics has ever seen, because as the dissolved Commission proved and as the disgraceful Council demonstrates on a daily basis, these two institutions have been an embarrassment to the very idea of human rights and a shame for the entire human race. 

            The original Commission had to be dismantled thanks to its bias against Israel and ignorance to actual human rights violations committed by other nations.  It sunk so low that Libya was elected the chairmanship of the entire Council in 2003.  Yes, that Libya, the one currently being ruled by the viscous dictator Colonel Muammar Gaddafi; the man who in 1996 had 1200 political prisoners rounded up and shot within a matter of hours then buried in mass graves and the man who is currently paying mercenaries from around the world to come and drop bombs on his own people. 

            When the former Secretary-General of the UN, Kofi Annan, proposed the new Human Rights Council he stated that:

“We have reached a point at which the Commission's declining credibility has cast a shadow on the reputation of the United Nations system as a whole [...]”

            I would say it cast much more than just a shadow, but still an accurate assessment.  Unfortunately for Israel and Mr. Annan, the Council was not part of the UN for five minutes before it decided to adopt every negative aspect of its predecessor and then some. According to Freedom House,  a non-governmental organization based in Washington D.C., 57% of the Council's members fail to meet basic democratic standards.  After one year since its founding in 2006, the Council had ignored eighteen of nineteen nations deemed “worst of the worst” according to Freedom House.  The only report on the government of Sudan was rejected by the Council.  Sudan of course is where the horrible genocide in Darfur occurred, where over 300,000 innocent people were systematically raped and slaughtered and almost three million were made homeless all under the order of President of Sudan and now indicted war criminal (about time) Omar al-Bashir.  No, genocide is not an issue for the UN, but Israel is.  In fact, Israel was the only nation condemned and more than once.  Eleven separate resolutions were passed condemning Israel, almost one a month.  This prejudice became so open that in his speech on International Human Rights Day in 2006 Kofi Annan had to remind the Council of its job yet again saying:

“But, I am worried by its disproportionate focus on violations by Israel. Not that Israel should be given a free pass. Absolutely not. But the Council should give the same attention to grave violations committed by other States as well.”

            As it seems to be the pattern with the Council, even after being publicly criticized by their own Secretary-General it decided to take another plunge into bias and depravity.  Shortly after Mr. Annan retired his post the Council then decided to make Israel a permanent agenda item, meaning that at every session of the Council Israel will be put under scrutiny, not one of the other 191 UN member states is subjected to this.  Ban Ki-Moon,  Annan's successor, released a statement criticizing this as well:

“The Secretary-General is disappointed at the Council’s decision to single out only one specific regional item, given the range and scope of allegations of human rights violations throughout the world.”
            So we know that Israel, in the eyes of the Council, is forever in the wrong and therefore must be penalized at every session, who then, would the Council recommend as a model of human rights protectors?  For starters, Libya.  Yes, the same Libya mentioned above.  In 2009 Libya was made chair of the Durban 2 conference on racism and discrimination.  Who knows, maybe this is actually a conspiracy by UN reformers secretly trying to get this Human Rights Council enough embarrassment and shame that they will have dissolve it just like they did the first one.  Or, and this is just a guess, maybe lobbying by groups like the Arab League, The Organization of the Islamic Conference (the largest voting bloc in the Council, with 56 member states), OPEC, the Non-Aligned Movement (basically a group aligned against Israel and its allies) and others, has been so powerful that they got the Council so politicized that they actually managed to make the vicious regime of Libya, a chairmanship in the Council a second time.  To be fair, this time Libya was not chair of the whole Council but simply of an event about one of the most major issues the UN is expected to deal with (I do not know about you but that makes me feel a whole lot better).  2009 is also when the Sri Lankan army was accused of killing an estimated 20,000 civilians in its war against the Tamil Tigers because of indiscriminately firing shells and mortars into areas with civilians in the hopes of killing rebels.  How did the Council respond to these gross violations of humanitarian and human rights law?  They praised the Sri Lankan government.  No, I am not joking. 
            The Council passed a resolution describing the conflict between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers as “domestic matter that doesn't warrant outside interference.” 20,000 dead civilians does not warrant outside interference? Then what does?  At its worst, the war was taking the lives of over 1000 civilians a day, as opposed to an average of 25 a day in the Gaza War that same year with Israel.  So where is the praise for Israel?  If the Council is in such a jolly mood to pat nations on the back how about passing a resolution honoring Israel's relentless campaign to indiscriminately provide aid to civilians in Haiti after a 7.0 earthquake?
You know, that campaign? When all those evil Zionists went around performing surgeries, delivering babies and pulling people out of rubble.  Yes, that campaign.
            Although the Council has dug itself into a hole filled with the worst smelling foul one could think of, it keeps on digging (you have to admit, it is very persistent).  Recently in November of 2010, Libya (again), Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan were all elected to a new board of a UN agency on women's rights.  Believe me, I desperately wish this was a joke.  All of these nations are routine human rights abusers but the last two are real jewels when it comes to women. 
         According to the Global Gender Gap Index of 2010, Saudi Barbaria Arabia and Pakistan are the 6th and 3rd , respectively, worst nations in the world to be a woman.  Saudi Arabia is the only nation where it is illegal for women to drive.  In 2007 a 19 year old woman, brutally gang-raped by at least seven men, was later sentenced to 90 lashes for being in a car with her male friend when they were both attacked.  When she went public with her story the courts increased her sentenced to 200 lashes and a six month prison sentence.  Thankfully after international outcry the dictator (also known as the “King”) of Saudi Arabia pardoned this poor woman.  In 2009 another woman, aged 23, was gang-rape and impregnated by her attackers.  She was sentenced to one year in prison and 100 lashes, to be given after she delivers the baby, how merciful.  Within a few weeks of that case, a 75 year old women was sentenced to 40 lashes, four months in prison and deportation.  Why?  Because she asked two men, one of whom she breastfed when he was a child, to help her carry her groceries to her home. 
            And of course, Pakistan.  A nation where in 2008 report by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan found that:
            “[...] 80 percent of wives in rural Punjab feared violence from their husbands, and nearly 50 percent of wives in developed urban areas admitted that their husbands beat them. The HRCP reported 52 cases of women doused with kerosene and set afire. Women who tried to report abuse faced serious challenges. Police and judges were reluctant to take action in domestic violence cases, viewing them as family problems.”

            Well isn't that good to know.  Women are routinely abused and the police tell them to deal with it.  Wonderful.  Yet despite such institutionalized discrimination against half the population of each of these nations, no resolutions condemning them have been passed.  Condemnation is reserved only for Israel and a few other nations if the Council finds time in its busy Israel-bashing schedule. 
            We have just passed the fifth anniversary of the UN Human Rights Council and so it is important to look back at what has been accomplished.  For one, the Council has achieved  officially condemning Israel 35 times out of about 50 resolutions that have condemned nations.  That is 70 percent of condemnations for one state out of 192.  I really do not like math but I need to point out that Israel is 445 times more likely to be condemned than any other UN member state. 
            This Council has made a point of excusing the most atrocious and blood thirsty regimes on this planet while actively singling out and and delegitimizing an open and free democracy, Israel.  The UN Human Rights Council is an Inhuman Rights Council, because it has harbored the worst fugitives guilty of human rights abuses this world may have ever seen.  In 2008, the Council spent millions of dollars, originally intended on foreign aid, to renovating its ceiling.  It is now a collage of thousands of fake stalactites.  What an appropriate design for an institution involved in the active attempts at taking this world back to the Stone Age, but before they do, they will probably pass a few more resolutions and indictments against Israel just to feel good. 

Thursday, March 17, 2011

The Fast of Esther: Purim is COMING!

By: Dmitriy Krasny

The Fast of Esther is not the most difficult fast in the Jewish calendar, nor the most auspicious. It's hard for me to say what exactly made me start observing it a couple of years ago, but it's an observance I plan to keep once again this Thursday. In the end, there is a solemn purpose of one kind or another to any fast. While we're not really mourning anything on Ta'anit Esther (as we do on, say, the 9th of Av), there is still much fodder for reflection. After all, the struggle described in the Purim story was against the very real threat of the plot to physically annihilate the entire Jewish people.

It was instituted many centuries after the advent of the holiday of Purim, and usually takes place on the day before the holiday itself (though this year, and any year when Purim falls out on Sunday, the Fast moves to the preceding Thursday, as fasting is not allowed on Shabbat). The fast we observe is commemorative - the original fast took place not in the month of Adar (which is when Purim is celebrated), but on the 14th, 15th and 16th of Nisan - that is, the eve and first two days of Passover! This came about at a critical juncture in the Purim story. Queen Esther passed a message to her uncle, Mordechai - the Jewish people's spiritual leader at the time - that she would be approaching the king and setting in motion a plan to save the Jews from destruction. Approaching the king, however, was not a trivial endeavor - the king could choose to have Esther executed if he simply didn't feel like being bothered when she came in. In the hope of garnering the Almighty's favor, Esther asked Mordechai to declare a three-day fast that would preempt the Jews' defining holiday. It's suggested that Esther's logic was, "better to fast on one Passover than to never celebrate it again".

Coming back to the present day, do we not face a similar threat now? It's true that our history has no shortage of existential threats, but for the better part of a century, we've come up against popular ideologies whose core aim was (or still is) to destroy the Jews - first the Nazis, and following them closely come the hard-line Islamists and others who do not believe Israel has a right to exist. Most of us are informed enough to know about these issues, at least on some level. We've learned about the Holocaust, and we read the news coming out of Israel with great care and empathy. But how close are we - emotionally or cerebrally - to the true struggle and suffering here? Learning of the massacre in the Itamar settlement last Saturday was painful, but if at some point that weekend you were to ask me how I was doing, my response would have been no different than it might have been a few days prior. Am I suggesting that we simulate or deliberately inflict suffering on ourselves just because others are suffering? By no means. But as much as Purim is about survival and deliverance, the Fast of Esther is about the tragedy that could have been, and as such, it allows us (or at least allows me) a chance to reflect on some of the more adverse realities of our time. The Fogel family was probably preparing to celebrate Purim like all their neighbors. Meanwhile, halfway around the globe from both Israel and the US, thousands of lives have been lost, and two million others upended... Existence is unfortunately quite fragile sometimes.

Today, I may end up thinking about nothing but 7:45pm, which is when the fast ends. But I hope I'll have the strength of character to look beyond my own (thankfully temporary) discomfort, and to mind the context in which it is taking place.

--

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Too sterile for tears.


By: Rimma Ayzen

Our visit to Krakow can be seen as a prelude, a subtle warning, but one that can only be acknowledged as such in hindsight.  Should we have used it to brace ourselves?  The remaining synagogues and cemeteries are faint shadows of what once was, and tour guides are left to recall the past for us.  There is a vague sense of familiarity, a stinging nostalgia.  A group of Jews walking along the streets of Kazimierz.  But we were there to briefly aim our cameras and attentions at the non-kosher Jewish style restaurants, at the Remuh synagogue and stories of the great sages buried behind it.

Then, Auschwitz and Birkenau, and numbness.  Standing in the barracks and touching the slanted bunk beds rendered any previous knowledge, emotion or experience foreign; all the books, lectures, and movies hovered aimlessly in the background.  There was no anchor for our thoughts, just overwhelming emptiness, nebulous pain.  This shouldn’t have been so ambiguous, it’s endlessly frustrating that it was.  We expected to come and to cry, but it wasn’t so easy.  Flowers grow on either side of the railroad tracks, and this, what we’re taking pictures of, is a gas chamber masquerading, if only for a moment, as a museum.  We desperately struggled to understand and internalize, to feel. 

Perhaps emotion would be inappropriate anyway, too full of life; as if the sunlight and birds weren’t enough.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Forward: Sweden to Jews: Get Out!

By: Aryeh Pekker

Although Sweden is often toted as a human rights success story it does seem to suffer from some short term memory loss.  Apparently it only takes a little over sixty years for them to forget the atrocities that were the reason for establishing human rights as part of an international norm.  Today, as in the past, Jews are leaving Europe thanks to a surge in Antisemitic hate crimes, products from the usual bands of Neo-Nazis but more recently because of a large influx of Muslim immigrants from the Middle East and parts of Africa.  In the Swedish city of Malmo, Jews number approximately 700 out of almost 285,000 people, or less than a quarter of one percent.  Despite the fact that there are over 40,000 (possibly up to 60,000) Muslims in Malmo, more than 57 times the number of Jews, Jews are routinely being harassed, intimidated and physically attacked on a regular basis.  In 2009, Malmo police stated that of 115 hate crimes reported, 52 were against Jews.  Do the math and that means that in proportion to their size, Jews in Malmo are about 335 times more likely to be the victims of hate crimes than the average citizen.  We often ask questions about the Holocaust such as; “How could it have happened” and the answers usually range from appeasement, to historic Jew hatred and so on.  We could ask the same question today about the situation in Sweden and get much the same answers.  According to the mayor of Malmo, Ilmar Reepalu, 

We want Malmo to be cosmopolitan and safe for everybody and we have taken action. I have started a dialogue forum. There haven't been any attacks on Jewish people, and if Jews from the city want to move to Israel that is not a matter for Malmo.”  

Well by golly, what do you know, it turns out there have not been any attacks on Jewish people after all.  And here I am quoting statistics by the mayor's own police department thinking that Jews may have something to worry about.  How ignorant of me.  However, hypothetically speaking, if there were attacks on Jews in Malmo, what does Mr. Reepalu think is the cause?  According to an interview he gave to Skanskan, a Swedish newspaper, its the Jews' fault.  The old “Jews bring it on themselves” argument that we have heard so many times before; if that isn't prejudice then it doesn't exist.  Reepalu suggested that Jews in Malmo should distance themselves from Israel and its policies in order to prevent further intimidation and attacks.  Sounds simply enough.  So all that Jews have to do in order to prevent their own victimization is give up their rights to freedom of speech, of opinion, of conscience and accept the fact that human rights, apparently, only apply to people who take an active role in denouncing the Jewish State.  But the Jews who are either quietly minding their own business or have the audacity to support Israel? For them it seems Sweden has run out of rights.    


Hate crimes force Jews out of Malmo
Jews leave Swedish city after sharp rise in anti-Semitic hate crimes 


Malmö mayor says unaware of level of attacks on Jews

5 Years without Gilad Shalit

Today Israel observed 5 minutes of silence for Gilad Shalit; one minute for every year he has been held in captivity. 1,724 anguishing days that Gilad is away from his family since being abducted on 25 June 2006 by Hamas in a cross-border raid.

"For the past five years, the entire nation has been united in its hearts in the hope that Gilad Schalit will be here with us, healthy and whole," President Shimon Peres said at Tuesday's Negev Conference in Eilat.
This is Israel's humanity. Each soldier, each child is a child of Israel. As Peres said,
"Schalit family, we feel like a part of your family. Gilad is a soldier in the IDF, and the entire country will not rest until he comes home," he added. "The negotiations for his release are difficult and  painful. We are fighting an organization that has no law and no heart, but we will not give up."

Shalit's father said that "five minutes symbolizes five years in captivity, in the darkness of Gaza, in caves or in basements of the Gaza Strip, and solitary isolation with no communication to the outside world."

WE ARE HERE WITH YOU GILAD!


You are in our thoughts and Israel and the world are fighting for you to return safely into our hands.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Itamar TERRORIST Attack

By: Tatyana Shligold

On Friday March 11th after many of the families have returned from Synagogue Shabbat services to their
homes, a family was butchered in a Jewish settlement called Itamar, located in Judea and Samaria. It all began when Palestinian terrorists jumped over a fence that divided the Jewish settlement and the Palestinian settlement (for obvious security measures) in order to break into any house in order to kill Jews. An alarm was set off due to the jumps but the terrorists were extremely quick and were able to flee the area before guards/patrol was able to get there. By the time the guards arrived there was no one around and it was decided that the alarm was set off by animals such as wild boars or rabbits as is the case many a times. The Palestinian terrorists first ran into a house that was bereft of its inhabitants at that moment. They decided to proceed to the next house, that next house was the house of the Fogel family. The terrorist broke into the house and 1st killed the father (Udi, 36 years old) who was resting with his newly born baby (Hadar, 3 months old) by slitting their throats. They proceeded to stab the mother (Ruth, 35 years old) to death. They consequentially killed Yoav (11 year old son) and Elad (3 year old son). Then the Palestinian terrorists were able to escape the same way as they came in, again undetected. Their 12 year old daughter, Tamar, who was coming back from an event that she attended for Shabbat , found this heinous scene. She ran out screaming and crying and was consoled and taken in by her neighbors. Besides Tamra, the Fogel family had 2 other sons who survived because of sheer luck by not being noticed. They are Roi (8 years old) and Yishai (2.5 years old).

Security

How could this abominable terrorist act take place in a Jewish settlement that seemed to have been
so well protected? Itamar is protected by an electric fence that sets off an alarm even if the shrubs
move. It is patrolled by defense ministry civil guards who replaced the IDF but who were trained by the
IDF previous to taking this post. The procedure during the night of the massacre was fully followed.
The town is equipped with gates, fences, lighting, cameras, security, vehicles and more. So what went
wrong? It seems that the simple answer is, if a human being is able to jump over the fence and make a
fast escape before the security is able to arrive, then the simplest solution would be to raise the height
of the fences! Another concern is the security cameras that didn’t operate to its full capacity and did
not capture any footage where the terrorists were able to infiltrate. The cameras need to operate to its
full capacity and take in all the area around so there wouldn’t be any blind spots.

Disgraceful Coverage of CNN and BBC

CNN and BBC have proved to be completely biased and refused to call this atrocious act a terrorist
act even though the IDF have officially stated that this is a terrorist act and they are searching for
terrorists. Both CNN and BBC called the Palestinian terrorists intruders. By their depiction you would
of have thought that these ruthless crimes were nothing more but robberies. BBC went further and
stated that these settlements are internationally illegal and should not be there. Even if this was so, it

justifies terrorists to break into houses and kill families, infants, children? I suggest that all Jews call or
email your cable provider and complain that they would like CNN and BBC to be taken out of their plan
because they don’t want a penny of their money contributing to a biased, anti-Israel news channels.
Furthermore, the signs point that these were well trained terrorists who deliberately planned this
terrorist attack. First of all, they knew exactly the area where the cameras would not capture them.
Second of all, the neighbors who lived right next door did not hear any screams whatsoever. These
Palestinian terrorists knew how to kill swiftly and without making a commotion. Lastly, there was
absolutely nothing stolen.

PR

Israel seems to be losing the war in public relations. It has been a longtime policy of Israel to not exploit
those who lost their lives or were injured in a terrorist attack, meaning that Israel would not release
pictures of the brutal and horrific images of the aftermath of these attacks. On the other side, the
Palestinians were only too happy when someone was injured or killed accidentally during an altercation
which they initiated, to show the footages or the pictures to the media. There have even been many
cases when footages and pictures were faked or staged.

However, this is perhaps the first time that Israel is releasing the gruesome pictures of the aftermath of
this massacre, of course with the permission of the surviving family members. The faces of the victims
will be blocked but the public will be able to see what transpired and how this family was stabbed to
death. Perhaps the world will see and start to comprehend what kind of an enemy/neighbors Israel is
forced to try and find peace amongst.

Palestinian Authority Promoting the Hatred

Chairman of Ministry of Strategic Affairs Brigadier General Yossi Kuperman, is blaming and rightfully so,
the Palestinian Authority for inciting hatred towards Israel amongst Palestinians in Judea and Samaria.
The examples are numerous and I will list just some:

1. Palestinian Authority has said on numerous occasions that Israel has no right to exist and even has textbooks for school children with no presence of Israel on the maps of the textbooks
2. PM Abbas meets with a young poet who writes poetry where he glorifies martyrs and suicide
bombers, in order to praise him for his work.
3. PM Abbas names a square of a Palestinian woman terrorist.
4. No strong aversion or speeches condemning this attack, as a matter of fact PM Netanyahu had
to ask him to strongly condemn it, however this strong condemnation did not come
5. Songs by and Egyptian group that calls on the carrying out of terrorist attacks has been aired in
Palestinian media. These songs are studied by 8th graders
6. Palestinian Authority has asserted that an armed struggle is the best struggle to set free the Palestinians. This just occurred, during the last Fatah convention in Bethlehem

The examples of the anti-Israeli, anti-Semitic sentiment can go on and on. As the world keeps on
pushing Israel to have a peace agreement with such a government, and with such people who have
been brainwashed to disrespect and hate? The idiocy of this is far beyond comprehension. There
are two ways the situation should play out. Situation number on is the acceptance of a long interim
agreement where overtime the demonization of Israelis end and a true partnership and respect is
formed. Situation number two is Jordan admitting that over 70% of Palestinians are from Jordan and
accepting them as their citizens. Any other solution is illogical and could quite possibly be an enormous
blow to the security and stability of Israel.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

The Jews DID NOT DO IT!

Its official the Jews DID NOT do it - kill Jesus, that is.

In his new book ,"Jesus of Nazareth-Part II"  Pope Benedict XVI took on one of the most discussed issues in Christianity, Did the Jews kill Jesus? And the answer is NO!
Pope Benedict uses biblical and theological analyses to explain.

Read more about our new found freedom at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/02/pope-jews-jesus-death_n_830140.html

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

2012 = ZION SERIOUSLY?

Article Link: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/02/28/iran-objects-racist-london-2012-olympics-logo/?test=latestnews?test=latestnews

London will be hosting the 2012 Summer Olympics. The Olympics is a time when all of the world comes together to celebrate, boast, and to compete against each other. The logo that has been picked for the 2012 Olympics is that of the number 2012 written in abstract print.

Not according to Iran! Iran objects the logo on grounds that the logo is racist and "resembles" the word "Zion." It is a worldwide conspiracy!

Zion is " a biblical term widely recognized to refer to the city of Jerusalem". This comes from a country whose president denies the Holocaust ever happened. What do you think of this claim? How would you respond? 

Monday, February 28, 2011

Anti-Semitism hits DIOR

Article Link: http://www.thejc.com/news/world-news/45803/dior-suspends-john-galliano-after-antisemitism-row


Famed Dior designer John Galliano, has been suspended from his duties after he was arrested for allegedly making antisemitic comments. He will remaim suspended until the incident is further investigated.

And the Oscar Goes to.....

Link to article: http://www.jpost.com/ArtsAndCulture/Entertainment/Article.aspx?ID=210158&R=R1
                     
http://www.thejc.com/red-carpet/45854/natalie-portman-wins-best-actress-oscar-black-swan


The Oscars are the Superbowl of the film world. Each year, millions of people all around the world tune in to watch. Last night the Oscar for best actress went to the Israeli born actress of Russian descent, Natalie Portman for her role in The Black Swan, which was also produced by a fellow Jew of Russian descent, Darren Aranofsky.

Portman was born in Jerusalem, Israel on June 9th, 1981, under the birthname Natalie Hershlag. Portman has starred in such films as, Where the Heart Is, The professional, Closer, V for Vendetta, Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, and many others. Her maternal ancestors were Jewish immigrants from Austria and Russia, and her paternal ancestors were Jews who moved to Israel from Poland and Romania. Her paternal grandfather, whose parents died at Auschwitz, was an economics professor in Israel, and her Romanian-born great-grandmother was a spy for British Intelligence during World War II.

She holds dual citizenship, here in the United States and in Israel. Portman once said in an interview, "I really love the States, but my heart's in Jerusalem. That's where I feel at home."  Something like this is a testament to the achievements of the Jewish people, of what Israel and the Jewish nation has given to the world in all fields of life, in this case to the entertainment world. Also, taking home an Oscar for Best Documentary Short was the Tel Aviv set documentary Strangers No More.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Article Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/17/fashion/17SKIN.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

By: Julia Shteyman

I am a Jew with a tattoo.

As we all grew up, we always heard our Jewish parents and grandparents, amongst others say:  "If you get a tattoo, you can’t be buried in a Jewish cemetery." I know my family always said that to me; but I still went and got one.

One of the reasons Jewish culture opposes tattoos is that Jews were involuntarily marked in concentration camps. In the last few years the tattoo culture has grown and become less of a taboo. I look around and I see many of my Jewish friends with tattoos on them.  Andy Abrams, a filmmaker, has spent five years making a documentary called “Tattoo Jew.” It is interesting to see that the majority of tattooed Jews that he interviewed,  have Tattoos of the Star of David, of Hebrew words and memorials to the Holocaust. My first tattoo was in fact the Star of David..  According to the article, "The eight rabbinical scholars interviewed for this article, from institutions like the Jewish Theological Seminary and Yeshiva University, said it’s an urban legend, most likely started because a specific cemetery had a policy against tattoos". What do you think about this myth and Jews who have tattoos?

Thursday, February 17, 2011

In Our Backyard

 
As the the city of New York was watching the hunt for Max Gelman on Friday, we were all too busy to pay attention to yet another hate crime happening very close to our homes. The Ave. Z Jewish Center was robbed and vandilized; the Torah ripped in half ! Our families and ansestors emigrated to this wonderful land so that we would never have to witness Kristallnacht again, and what do we see here in our very own neighborhoods? A repeat of a history we have vowed to never allow to happen AGAIN!

Monday, February 7, 2011

Three Things About Islam

A group calling themselves "White Roses" created a video to inform non-Muslims about Islam. The name of this video is Three Things About Islam.
White Roses is headquartered in Sweden. This first version is in English. The name "White Roses" is based on a student resistance group "Die weiße Rose" in Nazi Germany. The group became known for an anonymous leaflet campaign, from June 1942 until February 1943, which called for active opposition to Adolf Hitler's regime.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ib9rofXQl6w&feature=player_embedded

Thursday, January 27, 2011

66 YEARS AGO TODAY - Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated

The Auschwitz main camp, the Birkenau death camp and the Monowitz labor camp were liberated by soldiers of the Soviet Union in the First Army of the Ukrainian Front, under the command of Marshal Koniev, on January 27, 1945. 
 
May we do everything in our power to keep this in our memory and never let such an atrocity happen again.
 
 
EACH OF US HAS A NAME - ZELDA
 
Each of us has a name
given by God
and given by our parents

Each of us has a name
given by our stature and our smile
and given by what we wear

Each of us has a name
given by the mountains
and given by our walls

Each of us has a name
given by the stars
and given by our neighbors

Each of us has a name
given by our sins
and given by our longing

Each of us has a name
given by our enemies
and given by our love
 
Each of us has a name
given by our celebrations
and given by our work

Each of us has a name
given by the seasons
and given by our blindness

Each of us has a name
given by the sea
and given by
our death.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Drill Baby Drill!

Who would of ever thought that Israel, a tiny country the size of New Jersey, which was bereft of all
natural resources would be in the process of becoming not just self sufficient in the energy sector but
an exporter as well in the beginning of 21st century. Besides some Christians (the Bible states that Israel
has large amounts of petroleum deposits which the finding of will cause attacks on Israel and create the
final battle of Armageddon) no one thought it would be possible. However Israel proves ones again what
genius and innovative Jewish brain can accomplish.

I am speaking of the natural gas reserves found off shore of Haifa (a major city in Israel). This discovery
was made by a Texas based oil and gas producer called Noble Energy along with 3 other Israeli
companies which are Delek Drilling, Avner Oil and Gas and Ratio Oil Exploration. The first natural gas
reserve that was found in 2009 was Tamar. Tamar is 56 miles off shore of Haifa. It was thought that it
contained 5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas but the later findings proved that it contained even more,
8.7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Everyone involved and Israel supporters were quite thrilled with
this finding however there were more grand surprises to come especially when the Leviathan field was
discovered. The Leviathan gas field is 81 miles out to sea from Israel and the findings there were of
astounding amounts, 16 trillion cubic feet of natural gas to be exact. These findings were the largest
that the world has seen in a decade.

To put this into perspective we have to realize that Israel spends 5% of its GDP on importing natural
resources. It is surrounded by countries which are overflowing with natural resources which in theory
they can provide to this small but mighty Jewish state but because they view it as an enemy they refuse
to supply it. Therefore Israel has to go through other countries/continents to acquire the resources it
requires which obviously adds on to the cost and time. It is interesting to note a point in time in history
when Israel did not have to spend this chunk of its GDP on natural resources, that was during Israel’s
rule over the Sinai Peninsula. Israel had control over the Sinai Peninsula after the 6 Day War, in 1967,
until the peace Treaty that it signed with Egypt in 1979. By giving up Sinai Peninsula for peace (which is
shaky and can end at any moment in time) Israel gave up approximately over 100 billion dollars in oil.
Needless to say, the Sinai Peninsula has an exuberant amount of oil reserves.

It is estimated that the time needed to build the pipelines to on shore facilities will take a few years.
Tamar is scheduled to start producing gas in the year 2013, while Leviathan is scheduled to start
production in 2016. However full scale production is set to take place in 2020. This will not only make
Israel self sufficient but it will become an exporter of natural gas. Experts have predicted that these
incredible discoveries will add 300 billion dollars to the Israeli economy overtime which is 150% of its
GDP which will double Israel’s account surplus.

Another major issue to be decided by the Israeli government is the amount of taxes to be levied on the
energy companies involved. When this discovery was found Israel’s taxes on oil was just at 30%, the
same that it has been since 1952. This percentage was extremely low compared to what other countries

in the OECD charged. Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu created a committee called the Sheshinski
committee (headed by Eytan Sheshinksi who is a distinguished economist) to come to a conclusion as to
what tax percentage Israel should charge for drilling the reserves. The final decision was a tax hike to
62%, the average tax levied by other OECD counties. This tax was approved by the Israeli cabinet.

We should rejoice in this phenomenal discovery. This will minimize Israel’s reliance on other countries
and it will increase its wealth. What a phenomenal country that is just 62 years old. In the words of
Sarah Palin “Drill baby drill!”

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Israeli Invention Helps Elderly Vision

Visioncare, an Israeli science company has once again brought the State of Israel to the forefront in technological development by creating the only solution for end-stage AMD, the most common form of blindness found in the elderly. Visioncare has invented a tiny pea-sized telescope implant that is placed inside the patient’s eye, which in return enlarges the central vision images over the damaged area allowing the patient to use the eye to provide peripheral vision for mobility. This development in technology has been described by an assistant professor of ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School, Kathryn A. Colby, as “a breakthrough technology” and will be introduced in both the United States and UK in the near future. (Israel21c.org)

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Reflections from Majdanek!

Every Year Ezra trains young leaders to become Madrihi. Part of the training entails an emotional, thought-provoking visit to Poland's Concentration Camps.

On January 3rd the group arrived in Poland wearing warm jackets, fur boots, gloves, and hats to bear the cold. This is when the realization came that the Holocaust victims had none of this as they braved four cold winters naked and starving.
 

Follow Ezra USA's Aviv Leadership Trip to Poland as they visit the Concentration Camps and the remnants of Jewish life in Poland and share their reflections with us.


Visit http://avivabroad.tumblr.com to read about Day 2 in Poland at Majdanek Concentration Camp.