Deadly Roadmap, Deadly Roads

By Tova Abadi
Media Liaison
Manhigut Yehudit

According to an Associated Press report published in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert acknowledged that the new dialogue with the "Palestinians" currently being undertaken is full of risks, but he will not allow these risks to prevail. The article states that Olmert said that the Abbas government is weak and that "Palestinian" security forces are not capable of ensuring law and order. He stated that "this is an opportunity that entails many uncertainties, many risks, many, many dangers." In other words, Olmert is playing a game of Russian Roulette with the lives of Jews throughout Israel. 1500 dead Jews since the 1993 Oslo Accords were signed can attest to this fact. Additionally, since it has been proven that during periods of Arab violence in Israel violent acts against Jews worldwide occur more frequently, Olmert is also playing with the lives of Jews in the Diaspora.

Similarly, before Ariel Sharon's 2005 destruction of 25 Jewish communities from Gaza and the Shomron, the government supporters of expulsion stated that they were willing to take serious risks. If the expulsion failed, then Israel would re-take Gaza, they all said. Olmert supported Sharon in the Expulsion and the taking of chances with Jewish lives. As a result of this poor gamble, two and a half years later the expelled families continue to suffer tremendous neglect and deprivation, and the Israeli city of Sderot is now under daily missile bombardment from Gaza. The Olmert government claims it can not pursue the military mission that is required to quell Gaza because this would harm the current negotiations.

Yet more games of Russian Roulette are occurring on Israel's roads. Thirteen people have been killed on the Arava Highway since the beginning of this year. Road safety experts have warned the government for years that it needs to build guard rails. The policy in Israel is to build the needed guard rails only on four-lane highways. The Arava is a two-lane highway. Roberta, Charles, and Batsheva Bernstein z"l (who immigrated from the US 21 years ago) were the latest victims. Shmuel Raba David, driver of the car that crashed on the Arava highway Sunday, was informed for the first time yesterday that his 12 year-old son and 8 year-old daughter were killed in the crash. Just months before this terrible tragedy, a 42 year-old mother Sarah Popper and her 6 year-old son Shimshon were also killed on the Arava.

Each week Israeli's mourn the loss of so many dead on the roads in Israel. According to Shmuel Sackett, Manhigut Yehudit's International Director: "The government builds fences everywhere except where there is a need for them (as barricades on dangerous roads)." In the North, the roads leading to Tsfat are overlooking cliffs with no barrier. There are many places in Israel where the loss of lives could be prevented by taking adequate precautions.

However, the Olmert government is too busy trying to give our Land away to consider the well-being of the lives of Israel's Jewish citizens. Clearly the acceptance of the Olmert/Bush/Rice/Abbas Roadmap goes against the Torah roadmap and is a slippery road leading the Jewish people to, G-d forbid, a head-on collision.

The bottom line is there really is no choice. Israel's citizens must have leadership that has values.

The Way Forward

By Ted Belman

In my article Why I hate the “peace process”, I set out in point form what is wrong with it.

Bottom line is that it is a vehicle that the world community rides to force Israel to capitulate to Arab demands. Many people including Jews support the process and even support US pressure on Israel to make more concessions. Without making a further argument in support of my rejection and against their designs, I would like to identify certain facts which inform the reality upon which I base my ideas of the way forward.

1. Before the Oslo Accords, the Arabs living in Judea and Samaria had good relations with Israel. Israel provided schools for them and even universities. As a result, such Arabs, now called “Palestinians” had a better education than their Arab brethren in adjacent countries. Their standard of living was higher also and they weren’t dependent on the world for charity. Jews and Arabs mixed freely for the benefit of all.

2. Oslo changed all this. The US led the way in forcing Israel into a peace process by convening the Madrid Conference in 1991. No doubt it did so at the request of Saudi Arabia. Why, I don’t understand, because the US had just invaded Iraq to protect Saudi Arabia. It owed it nothing. As a result of the process that it started and kept pushing, Arafat and his PLO terrorists, who had been exiled to Tunisia, were invited into Israel to form the Palestinian Authority. This influx of terrorists enabled them totake over from the local Palestinians.

3. The authority given to the PA by the Oslo Accords, lead to an incessant diet of incitement to hate and to terrorist attacks. As a result, the peace process brought war not peace. This war has resulted in about 1700 Israeli deaths which is more than double per capita the number of casualties suffered by the US in the Vietnam War. Furthermore the US kept compounding the problem by its decision to

- arm and train the Palestinians
- restrain Israel in its self defense
- require that Israel not control the border between Gaza and Egypt thereby enabling the transfer of arms, munitions and terrorists from Sinai to Gaza
- insist on Hamas being allowed to contest the elections
- convene the Annapolis Conference which humiliated Israel

4. Hamas continues to arm and train for war and to fire daily rockets at Israel. Israel must deal with the problem sooner or later. It has been estimated that over 100 IDF fatalities would result. The longer it waits, the more the casualties. A Hudna, even if offered on terms acceptable, will only postpone the problem and enable it to become an even bigger problem.

5. The Palestinians and Israelis have been unable to agree on a settlement of the core issues despite 14 years of the peace process. Now both Evelyn Gordon and Yossi Alpher report that the gaps separating the parties are wider than ever. In my opinion they are unbridgeable no matter how much pressure may be applied.

So what’s to be done?

Israel must accept that the peace process is a deadend street, literally.

Judea and Samaria

Israel must abrogate Oslo and the PA. It must then return to the pre-Oslo days. This would involve expelling the terrorists, stopping the incitement, changing the school curriculum to one designed for peace not war, disarming the Palestinians and arranging for local leaders to maintain order. The Palestinians will then be rewarded for cooperation and progress by the lifting of roadblocks and by humanitarian relief as required.

Israel must pass a Constitution that declares Israel to be a Jewish state and ensures human and civil rights for all. The Palestinians should be entitled to citizenship after the elapse of 15 years (to enable their detoxification) providing they speak Hebrew, pledge allegiance and sign a loyalty oath. They should also be given financial incentives to emigrate if they so wish. National service, military or otherwise, should be a prerequisite to certain state benefits.

Israel must extend Israeli law to the Jordan, just as it did in Jerusalem and the Golan.

Israel should investigate whether Jordan is prepared to extend citizenship to the Palestinians as set out in the Elon Plan, but it should not depend on it.

Gaza

Israel should immediately retake the Philidelphi Corridor to prevent smuggling. It should retake the norther five miles of Gaza to prevent rocket attacks on Ashkelon and vicinity. Similarly it should occupy whatever is needed to stop rocket attacks on Sderot. As for Gaza City, I leave that to the military to decide both when and how. It should be a military decision and not a political one.

At some future time say in five years after Israel’s policies have proven themselves in Judea and Samaria, Israel should do the same in Gaza.

The “right of return” should in no way be recognized.

This is the only way to peace. It is the only way forward

Let Us Breathe

By Moshe Feiglin

Kislev, 5768
Dec., '07

On warm winter days, when the winds are not blowing from the west, Israel's metropolitan center, Gush Dan, is covered in a brownish yellow blanket. As my car descends from Karnei Shomron towards Kfar Saba in Gush Dan, I can view the Gush Dan metropolis in all its glory. Only the Azrieli Towers poke out of the cloud of smog.

Research has shown that more people die of air pollution related diseases than from both car accidents and terror attacks combined. From my car, it looks like the only safe place to breathe in Gush Dan is from the top of the Azrielli Towers. As I glide into the cloud of smog, I reflexively close my windows and turn on the air conditioner in a futile attempt to breathe a few more seconds of clean air. The blue sky that greeted me when I left my home in Karnei Shomron is now a sickly looking gray.

That's it. I am just another motor vehicle in the almost permanent traffic jam on Highway 5 to Tel Aviv. There is no lane for bicycles here, so I am forced to join the thousands of cars idling around me, their engines belching out their contribution to our collective yellow blanket.

Israel has a great advantage over other industrialized nations. Its borders are closed and all the cars stuck with me in the traffic jam are Israeli. There is not even one Syrian, Egyptian or Iraqi car in the gridlock. That being the case, the state could give incentives that would mean that most of the cars in any given traffic jam would be hybrid vehicles. Hybrid cars have two engines -- one powered by gasoline and the other by electricity. The electric engine is for driving in the city, while the gasoline powered engine automatically takes over when the car is driving longer distances. If the thousands of cars surrounding me now on Highway 5 all had hybrid engines, things would be looking much better. For one, we wouldn't be burning the gasoline in our tanks just to stand here on the highway. Second, the air that we breathe would be much cleaner and the greenhouse effect that all of this exhaust creates would be reduced. The problem is that hybrid vehicles are more expensive than their conventional counterparts. The hybrid's battery tacks another 5,000 dollars onto the price of the car.

I do not think that the state should subsidize hybrid cars. But if it would simply lift the taxes on the batteries and reduce taxes on direct purchase of the cars, they would become an attractive option for the middle class. The middle class is the layer of society that bears the weight of the state on its shoulders. Most of the cars in the state belong to the middle class. These people need cars to get to work and to function normally. The upper class will continue to drive luxury cars and the poor people will continue to ride the buses. But for the middle class that produces most of the state's tax revenues, the tax reduction on hybrid cars would make all the difference. In addition, gasoline is Israel is twice the price that it is in the West (even though its original price is basically the same). So even if the hybrids would initially cost more, the tremendous savings on gasoline would make them a worthwhile purchase in Israel.

In the U.S. for example, the government recognized the importance of the hybrids. By lowering taxes on the cars, the hybrids returned the cost of their purchase within two and a half years. In Israel, though, the government is not interested. It still deems the mobility of the middle class a luxury. Furthermore, the taxes on cars and fuel are a government gold mine. The state simply takes advantage of the modern imperative to drive long distances to work and squeezes its citizens for every drop of tax money that it can. Simply put, the state is telling us "The cars you buy will be much more expensive, the fuel prices even double and I insist that you burn as much of it as possible, even though thousands of you will die annually of the effects of the air pollution that your cars create. Why? Because it fills my coffers with money."

We are not asking the state to take positive action to maintain the health of our environment, bodies or bank accounts. All that we need is for it to stop interfering

The War On Zionism

By Ted Belman

Post Annapolis, the Palestinian Authority made it crystal clear that it will never recognize Israel as a “Jewish state”. Furthermore, it made it crystal clear that it will not compromise on Jerusalem making it a capital offense to do so. Yet negotiations continue. Either Olmert doesn’t believe the PA or what is more likely, he will still cut a deal where Israel is denied that recognition and will divide Jerusalem according to Arab demands.

Do not think for a moment that these entrenched Arab positions are negotiable. They aren’t and never have been.

Ever since Theodor Herzl wrote The Jewish State in 1896, the Arabs, with one exception, Faisal ibn Hussein, have opposed it.

Bat Ye’or wrote in her monumental study, The Dhimmi,

In the historical Arab context, Israel represents the successful national liberation of a dhimmi civilization. On a territory formerly Arabized by the jihad and the dhimma, a pre-Islamic language, culture, topographical geography (biblical towns), and national institutions have been restored to life. This reversed the process of centuries in which the cultural, social and political structures of the indigenous Jewish population of Palestine were destroyed. In 1974, Abu Iyad, second-in-command to Arafat in the Fatah hierarchy, announced: “We intend to struggle so that our Palestinian homeland does not become a new Andalusia.” The comparison of Andalusia to Palestine was not fortuitous since both countries were Arabized, and then de-Arabized by a pre-Arabic culture.

Once a region has been conquered for Islam, it is always Islamic and must be re-conquered from the infidel, regardless of the passage of time.

This is the core of the conflict. Palestine “must be re-conquered from the infidel, regardless of the passage of time”. Thus Israel must be destroyed.

In pursuance of this goal, the Arabs rejected the Partition Plan and the creation of Israel, they went to war numerous times to destroy Israel, they rejected Res 242 and shortly thereafter they decided at the Khartoum Conference to have “no recognition, no negotiations, no peace” with Israel.

In 1964, the Arab states founded the PLO with a Charter that specifically calls for “the liquidation of the Zionist presence.”

Shortly thereafter, the PLO was taken over by Arafat’s Nazi trained Fatah, whose Charter was and is similar. Its goals,

Article (12) Complete liberation of Palestine, and eradication of Zionist economic, political, military and cultural existence.

Article (13) Establishing an independent democratic state with complete sovereignty on all Palestinian lands, and Jerusalem is its capital city, and protecting the citizens’ legal and equal rights without any racial or religious discrimination.

Nothing could be clearer. It refers to “all Palestinian lands”.

Then in 1975 with Soviet support the UN General Assembly passed the infamous resolution (3379), “Zionism is Racism”, by a vote of 75 to 32 with 35 abstentions with the operative words,

DETERMINES that Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination.

Chaim Herzog, Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, at the time made one of the great speeches of the Twentieth Century arguing “Zionism is Not Racism”.

Though the US, lead by the late Ambassador Patrick Moynihan, vehemently objected also, a month later it did not veto a proposal to seat the PLO as observers in the UN Security Council. No non-state had ever been accorded such recognition.

According to the website Anti-Zionism,

The Cold War Soviet Union doctrine of Zionology was sponsored by the Department of propaganda of the Communist Party and by the KGB. It stated that Zionism was a form of Racism and Similar to Nazism. As communism was against Racism, and Zionism was largely formed under strong leftist and socialist influences this presented some difficulties for the Soviet Union. They solved this by misrepresenting Zionism, and focussing on its links with America. Much anti-Zionist propaganda was produced by the Soviet Union, much of it was antisemitic and in cases Nazi propaganda and old Tsarist antisemitic material was reproduced. The UN also started producing anti-Zionist propaganda. Using resolution 3379 as a moral basis, UN educational publications spread anti-Zionist dogma throughout the world.

In 1991, with the fall of the Soviet Union, the UN General Assembly revoked resolution 3379, admitting it had been mistaken to label Zionism as racism. The motion to revoke 3379 ( General Assembly Resolution 4686) is one of the shortest in history and passed with 111 for and only 25 against.

Nevertheless, this odious charge persists like the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

In the negotiations prior to the Oslo Accords in 1993, the Fatah Charter became an obstacle. Arafat agreed to amend it. This was a precondition. Yet no such amendment was effected necessitating this letter from Arafat to President Clinton in 1998.

In the mutual recognition letters between myself and the late Prime Minister Itzhaq Rabbin of September 9/10, 1993, the PLO committed to recognize the right of the State of Israel to exist in peace and security, to accept UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338 and to a peaceful resolution of the conflict between the two sides. The PLO also agreed to secure the necessary changes in the Palestinian Covenant to reflect these commitments.

Accordingly, the P.N.C. was held in Gaza city between 22-25 of April 1996, and in an extraordinary session decided that the “Palestine National Charter is hereby amended by cancelling the articles that are contrary to the letters exchanged between the P.L.O and the Government of Israel on 9/10 September 1993″.

Yet the Charter is still not amended.

More recently Judea Pearl, father of Daniel Pearl, penned an essay, Anti-Zionism is Racism in which he wrote, “anti-Zionism is a form of racism more dangerous than classical anti-Semitism”. Could be.

In the run up to Annapolis, House Republican Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO) introduced H.Res.758 jointly with Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-NV). This resolution calls on PA and Mahmoud Abbas, also chairman of his Fatah Party, to officially renounce ten articles in the Fatah Constitution that call for Israel’s destruction and acts of terrorism against the Jews.

The Council of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations issued a statement to the effect that if Abbas is serious about making peace with Israel, he must officially and publicly amend the Fatah charter as a “confidence-building measure which would help to create a better environment to achieve progress in the peace talks.”

While AIPAC supports the Blunt resolution, it also supports increasing aid to the PA without regard to the Charter. Having it both ways I guess. Doesn’t it know, you can’t suck and blow at the same time.

The Donor’s Conference in Paris pledged $7.4 billion to the PA for the next three years. No one demanded that the Charter be amended, that terror stop or that there be accountability for the funds. And everyone knows that Fatah is about to reconcile with Hamas on Hamas’ terms.

And what are those terms?

First of all, the Hamas Charter is virulently anti-Semitic and uncompromising in its goal of ridding Palestine of the Jews. It declares that

“all Palestine is Islamic trust land, can never be surrendered to non-Muslims and is an integral part of Muslim world.”

“[Peace] initiatives, the so-called peaceful solutions, and the international conferences to resolve the Palestinian problem, are all contrary to the beliefs of the Islamic Resistance Movement. For renouncing any part of Palestine means renouncing part of the religion;”

On Dec 7th, Ismail Haniyeh speaking for Hamas said “We will never recognise the usurper Zionist government and will continue our jihad-like movement until the liberation of Jerusalem,”

Everyone is determined to ignore this, or worse, to live with it.

At Annapolis, Bush said

“The United States will help Palestinian leaders build these free institutions. And the United States will keep its commitment to the security of Israel as a Jewish state and homeland for the Jewish people.”

Yet Tony Blair, who recently visited Israel, refused to answer a question directed at him about PLO/PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ recently reiterated refusal to recognize Israel as a JEWISH state. This cannot be ignored by Israel, yet it is.

Normally this refusal on the part of the PA should be a deal breaker but negotiations continue. The same goes for Jerusalem. This is very ominous.

But the bottom line is that the Arabs want Palestine to replace Israel. This goal is reiterated by all boycott movements, by the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) and Muslim Student Association (MSA), by Iran when it calls for Israel to be “wiped off the map”, by the PA which publishes books with maps showing Palestine in place of Israel, by Hamas and by many UN agencies and NGO’s. Daniel Pipes reviewed this refusal post Annapolis in Arabs refuse to Accept Israel as the Jewish State

And they are not alone. The idea of a Jewish state is considered by the Jewish left as an anachronism, retrograd and even racist. Pipes commented on this in Zionism’s Bleak Future.

In my article Jewish Israel is the key to its survival, not its end I reviewed the liberal/left opposition and argued,

One of the icons of the left is affirmative action which obviously denies equality. Affirmative action is seen as making up for years of discrimination and therefor worthy. If anyone or people are entitled to affirmative action, the Jews are. I look upon the Balfour Declaration as an act of affirmative action and the recognition of the State of Israel, after the Holocaust, as another act of affirmative action. In fact, the rationale for the creation of the Israel was the need to create a refuge for Jews in recognition of two thousand years of discrimination. Jews are entitled to this assistance or favouritism or protection whatever you may call it. We paid for it in blood.

The endorsement of the two-state solution is a sham for western consumption. The demand for a “just solution to the Palestinian Refugee problem to be agreed upon in accordance with UN General Assembly Resolution 194″, otherwise known as the right of return, vitiates any recognition of the two-state solution because it effectively is intended to destroy the state of Israel.

The enemies of Israel recently coined two new terms, “Zion-Cons” and “Zionofascism”. You can imagine why.

The war on Zionism continues.

Harry Potter Strikes Again

By Moshe Feiglin (Editor's Note: The eagerly anticipated seventh Harry Potter book was released in Hebrew this Chanukah). Chanukah, 5768 Dec., '07 As Chanukah approached, we became more and more certain that we could not escape it. Our youngest son had forgotten all about his ball games and friends. Even computer games did not interest him. Our son impatiently paced the floor of the house like a caged lion, counting the minutes and the seconds left until we would buy him the seventh bible written by J.K. Rowling. Even before the appointed hour, he sat in the car, urging me to hurry to the home of the local Harry Potter salesman. He darted out of the car into the salesman's home and when he returned with the newest book, he was the happiest boy in town. It was already night and the car was dark. Somehow, though, by the light of the streetlights, he was already on page 20 by the time we reached home. After a day and a half, he was already back to the beginning of the book. By the end of Chanukah, he had read the pile of papers for the third time. Once, before he went to sleep, he asked me to read him (for a change) a chapter from Harry Potter. Usually, I divert his attention to stories by Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, or at least Don Quixote, The Little Prince or something that I make up. But this time, I gave in to the pressure, picked up the hefty book and began to read out loud. After a page and a half, I gave up. It's not that I can't follow the story -- my son had already dragged me to see the film based on the first book -- so I more or less know the main characters. But reading Harry Potter to my son became a mission impossible. It's not that I hadn't tried to break him of the habit. I bought my son "Around the World in Eighty Days" by Jules Verne. At his age, I was also a book worm. There was not one book by Verne that I had not read. My son was interested by the illustration of the hot air balloon on the front cover, but after one page he put the book down and went back to the disintegrating pages of one of the first six Potter tomes. "How do you explain this phenomenon?" I asked my cultural analyst friend Aryeh Vodka. "It's quite simple," Vodka smiled. "It used to be that art would describe what exists. But today, it describes what does not exist." Humanity has despaired of the world and escapes to the realm of fantasy. What, then, is the difference between the fantasies of Jules Verne and those of J.K. Rowling? The major difference is that Verne's old fashioned fantasies gave birth to new reality -- and in fact, many of Verne's fantasies were eventually realized -- while Harry Potter has absolutely no pretense of becoming reality. I seem to belong to the fantasizers of the old generation, while my son was born into the culture of fantasy for its own sake. What do I have against Harry Potter? My problem is with the fantasy culture that it creates. Currently, our country is being led by irresponsible people who have created a mad fantasy, disengaged from any responsibility for its results. In the "post modern" era there doesn't seem to be any reality at all. As a result, points of reference for determining the results of policies do not exist either. Everything is subjective, there is no truth and no falsehood and all that matters is that somebody continues to supply us with more and more fantasies. Get ready for the next book: Harry Potter in Annapolis. We may not be able to help the main characters in the Israeli version of the Potter fantasy saga. But why does the Jewish majority keep reading the book? The only possible answer is that we are so busy reading and re-reading the Israeli fantasy, that we have not yet written our own book. For us, though, it is even easier to write. After all, G-d has already written the happy end. Not only that, but the Creator of the world has given us the opportunity to write the next to final act and to help determine if it will be long and painful, G-d forbid, or short and joyous. Manhigut Yehudit is working hard on the penultimate act -- providing Israel with authentic Jewish leadership. Please join us in creating the ultimate, all time best seller! Manhigut Yehudit needs your help now more than ever. You can also help create the Jewish majority revolution. Now is the time to support Manhigut Yehudit. Click here for our on line secure donation form. If you are in Israel, now is the time to volunteer to help. For more information, call (Israel) 02-996-1123.

Government Responsibility and Irresponsibility

Last week, Israel's government announced to the Supreme Court that there is no law that obligates it to shield the homes of Sderot from rocket attacks. Just like that -- in deceptively evasive legalese, the State of Israel abandoned the residents of Sderot to their fate. But this phenomenon is not unique to Israel alone. A gradual change in the status of the modern Western sovereign state has been taking place since World War II.

The most basic factor that affords a sovereign state validity is its responsibility for the security of its citizens. After World War II and the upsurge in the West's liberal values, democratic regimes were forced to find creative solutions for guarding their national security without paying the price. And so, Western nations began to sub-contract their wars to other arenas; to nations and cultures that were not democratic. Korea, Vietnam, Africa and Lebanon all provided the backdrop for the continued wars of the West. Israel and the genius attempt to create a Palestinian state ex nihilo -- without democratic constraints -- also provides the West with a theatre for its fights. Slowly but surely, though, this has created a gap between the Western nations' liberal-democratic values and their ability to preserve national security. When the state can no longer triumph in war, its sovereign status is severely undermined.

The most explicit symbol of this process was the attack on the Twin Towers on 9/11. Although it was as devastating as Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, it left the Americans with no return address for a counter-attack. America found itself at war against an enemy that is not a state. It is an enemy in another dimension -- an enemy that cannot be defeated with modern democratic consciousness. Liberal, democratic nations (Israel included) are helpless against such an enemy.

The Western nations no longer afford their citizens a sense of security or the experience of victory. That is why they are losing their sovereign status. The sovereign that no longer provides security is not much of a sovereign. Everybody begins to pull in his own direction until the seams fray and burst.

In Israel, as always, this process is much quicker and more extreme. Although the state shirks its sovereign responsibility to provide its citizens with security, it insists on "educating" our children, "preserving" our health and "caring" for our elderly and needy. "Big Brother" pays for our needs with our taxes. He sinks his hand deep into our pockets and rewards us with a few crumbs of service. Has anybody thought of demanding a tax refund for the two months that our high school children have been out of school while their teachers strike? And how much of a tax rebate should Sderot's residents get for the security taxes that they pay?

"In my opinion, the residents of Sderot should stop paying taxes," fumed an angry citizen this week. "If the state shirks its responsibility, Sderot residents owe the state nothing -- not income tax, not social security, not V.A.T. and not health tax."

The old concepts and the accepted way of thinking are deep in the process of collapse and change. It is our job to lead the process in which the state once again takes responsibility for what it should -- the security of its citizens -- while allowing its citizens the freedom to control the rest of their lives.

For more on this topic see Moshe Feiglin's article, "Districts for a Democratic Israel

Of “Moderates” and Radicals

By Ted Belman

“Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists”

So said Pres Bush after 9/11. He went on to identify N. Korea, Iran and Iraq, the “axis of evil” and to declare the “war on terror”. The last thing he wanted to do was to identify the enemy. N. Korea was included in the list for fear that someone might think, G-d forbid, that Moslems were the enemy or that Islam was the enemy just as Communists and Communism were during the Cold War.

It’s not that he didn’t know who the enemy was. After all, 15 of the 19 highjackers were Saudis who were inspired by Saudi supported Wahabbism. Its not that he viewed the use of terror as the enemy because the US had created al Qaeda to use terror to defeat the Russians in Afghanistan. It is not that this was the first time that the US was attacked by Arabs or Muslims starting with the Islamic revolution in Iran and the hostage taking of US diplomats.

And don’t forget the US coddled Arafat and his terrorists and demanded Israel let them back into the territories and restrained Israel thereafter..

Angelo Codeville, a professor of international relations at Boston University, wondered and wrote a startling article in the Fall of ‘02, Post Mortem to a Phony War. If you missed this article, don’t miss it now. It’s a classic.

Without debating why Bush invaded Iraq rather than Iran or whether he invaded because of WMDs or because he wanted to transform the ME, what we do know for sure was that the price of oil tripled making huge profits for oil countries and oil companies, the US military industrial complex did land office business and Halliburton didn’t do shabbily either from their no-bid contracts.

Little noticed was that the Roadmap, with its recital of the Saudi Peace Plan, was announced days later. The linkage was undeniable. I wrote about this in Perfecting the Unifying Theory.

In the lead up to the Iraq invasion Bush quickly learned who was not “with us”. This group included France, Russia and Turkey. He was later to learn that this group included Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia, all of whom fully supported the “insurgencies”. It sure is lonely at the top.

Last year US casualties got so high that she began looking for an exit strategy with little talk about a victory strategy. The Iraq Study Group was formed and published its report a year ago. The Washington Post advised that,

“the Panel said the United States should launch a new round of Middle East diplomacy, including a revived effort to solve the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, aimed at building an international consensus for stabilizing Iraq.

As part of this initiative, the group urged the Bush administration to break with its policy of not having high-level dialogues with Iran and Syria, though members of the commission held out little hope that the two countries, longtime rivals of the United States, would be interested in joining the effort.”

Why was it necessary to restart the peace process in order to build a “consensus for stabilizing Iraq”. Why not have a peace process in Iraq? This either suggests that the reason for the insurgency was to force the US to start the peace process, or that everyone saw no need to help the US in Iraq unless they got Israel as a quid pro quo for their help. In other words the ISG Report recommended Israel as the sacrificial lamb to appease the monster and extricate the US.

Although Bush publicly opposed the Report and opted for the “surge” instead, the Report was the beginning of the efforts to form a coalition of “moderates” and to bring about Annapolis.

This coalition was ostensibly to stabilize Iraq but was really to contain Iran. Thus, the moderates v the radicals as the US saw it and needed it. But the Arabs saw it differently. Islam requires the expulsion of the big Satan, USA, and the little Satan, Israel, from the ME. All the countries in the ME, whether they be Arab or Iranian, “moderate” or radical or ally or foe, demonize and vilify the US and Israel. The ISG Report recommended feeding Israel to the alligator in the hope it would be satisfied or at worst, that the US would be eaten last.

Too bad they didn’t bother to read the poll which Reason Magazine reported on a year ago under the title Islamic Radicals and Moderates Not All That Different

Foreign Policy is reporting a poll of 9000 Muslims in 9 countries that finds that distinguishing moderates from radicals is not going to be easy. The poll identified moderates and radicals using a 5 point scale in which participants were asked if the 9/11 atrocities were justified or not. Moderates scored 1 to 2 points and radicals 4 to 5 points. The poll found that 92 percent of radicals and 91 percent of moderates said that religion was really important in their lives. Also, moderates were slightly more likely to have attended religious services in the past week. In addition, radicals were more highly educated and richer than moderates. Radicals were more hopeful about the future. Both admire the West for its technology (top response), but most surprisingly, both equally esteemed the West for its liberty (second most frequent response). What do they think the West should do to improve relations? Both moderates and radicals first choice was respect Islam. However, radicals next choice was for the West to avoid imposing its policies and beliefs, while moderates yearned for economic development and jobs.

How moderate can the moderates be if they think Islam is worthy of respect?

The US began to paint Iran as a threat to the US, Israel and the Arabs in aid of building such a coalition. It also began to promote Abbas and Fatah as moderates, despite considerable evidence to the contrary, in order to elicit their support in fighting Hamas and it began to openly support the Siniori government in Lebanon to resist Hezbollah and Syria. All to no avail.

Saudi Arabia had plans of its own. It was not worried about the “radicals” because it is a radical itself. It arranged to reconcile the radical, Hamas, with the “moderate” Fatah in defiance of US policy. It forced the US to invite a radical, Syria, to Annapolis and ceded Lebanon to Syrian influence. To cap it off, the Saudi King Abdullah walked hand in hand with Ahmedinejad for all to see. Poor Tzipi Livni, no Arab would shake her hand. Actions speak louder than words.

The US saw this all coming and made a strategic decision to engage the arch radical, Iran. And so it released the NIE report as the beginning of Iran’s transformation from radical to moderate. Now everyone is a moderate except Israel who is considered by the world, as the radical.

Israel, the only true moderate, doesn’t have a friend in the world and must face nuclear Iran alone and from Auschwitz borders.

Annapolis will lead to Dhimmi status for Israel

By Ted Belman

Everything I read about the negotiations leading up to Annapolis and the event itself suggests that a deal has been cut whereby Israel assumes its rightful (according to Islam) role as a Dhimmi in exchange for Saudi acceptance of the existence of Israel.

To understand what this role or status is, I recommend you read this synopsis distilled from Bat Yeor’s seminal book The Dhimmi.

It is unthinkable for Muslims that conquered peoples should rise up and throw off the yoke of Islam or that land once in the domain of Islam should ever be lost to that domain. According to Islamic thinking, once a region has been conquered for Islam, it is always Islamic and must be re-conquered from the infidel, regardless of the passage of time.

They [Dhimmis] were doomed to remain second-class citizens, living, it seemed, for the sole purpose of demonstrating to all, the superiority of Islam over conquered religions.

This is the core of the conflict. Palestine “must be re-conquered from the infidel, regardless of the passage of time”. Israel must submit to Islam. Muslims have been waging Jihad against Israel, both before and after its creation. They employ all tools at their disposal; economic boycotts, propaganda aimed at demonizing and deligitimating Israel just as the Nazis did, propaganda aimed at revising facts both past and present and finally armed struggle.

As Andrew G Bostom, The Legacy of Jihad, noted in Passover and the Ignored Liberation

These uniquely Islamic systems—jihad and its corollary institution, dhimmitude—have shaped events in historical Palestine—modern Israel, Judea, Samaria, Gaza, and Jordan—from 634, through the present, setting in place archetypal patterns still quite evident today.

He goes on to discuss the central role of both Jihad and Dhimmitude in Islam.

In my article The Conspiracy to Shrink Israel I quoted Kissinger’s remarks to an Iraqi diplomat in 1975,

“We don’t need Israel for influence in the Arab world. On the contrary, Israel does us more harm than good in the Arab world [..]

“We can’t negotiate about the existence of Israel but we can reduce its size to historical proportions.

[..] “I don’t agree Israel is a permanent threat. How can a nation of three million be a permanent threat? They have a technical advantage now. But it is inconceivable that peoples with wealth and skill and the tradition of the Arabs won’t develop the capacity that is needed. So I think in ten to fifteen years Israel will be like Lebanon–struggling for existence, with no influence in the Arab world.”

Essentially Kissinger was assuring him that Israel’s dominance would be short lived and the US would help to bring this about. The Arabs couldn’t stand the idea of being dominated by Israel or Jews.

Thus the nature of the negotiations heretofore is that Israel must submit to Arab demands. Thus no negotiations at all at least not on the basics. Master and supplicant do not negotiate, The master dictates.

One of these basics is the Temple Mount. It is inconceivable that Islam, as represented by the Al Aqsa Mosque, be subject to Jewish sovereignty. It must be the other way around.

Israel must be so weakened that Arab dominance and Israel inferiority in security matters must be palpable. Israel must appear to exist under Islamic sufferance.

Dhimmis are also inferior to Muslims and thus are accorded no rights or respect. This was demonstrated at Annapolis by requiring Israeli delegates to enter through the “servant’s door” and by the refusal by the Arab delegates to shake Livni’s hand. This is more than petty; it is a demonstration of dominance and the US enabled such treatment thereby showing its own dhimmi status.

Bat Yeor observed, that jihad remained,

…the main cause of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Since Israelis are to be regarded, perforce, only as a religious community, their national characteristics – a geographical territory related to a past history, a system of legislation, a specific language and culture – are consequently denied. The “Arab” character of the Palestinian territory is inherent in the logic of jihad. Having become fay territory by conquest (i.e. “taken from an infidel people”), it must remain within the dar al-Islam. The State of Israel, established on this fay territory, is consequently illegal.

And she concluded,

…Israel represents the successful national liberation of a dhimmi civilization. On a territory formerly Arabized by the jihad and the dhimma, a pre-Islamic language, culture, topographical geography, and national institutions have been restored to life. This reversed the process of centuries in which the cultural, social and political structures of the indigenous population of Palestine were destroyed. In 1974, Abu Iyad, second-in-command to Arafat in the Fatah hierarchy, announced: “We intend to struggle so that our Palestinian homeland does not become a new Andalusia.” The comparison of Andalusia to Palestine was not fortuitous since both countries were Arabized, and then de-Arabized by a pre-Arabic culture.

The Arabs realize that they cannot at this point wipe Israel off the map and so they are prepared to live with a greatly truncated and humiliated Israel, temporarily. But we must understand that Islamic “peace” and Israel are mutually exclusive. Israel is only postponing the day it will have to fight for its existence.

Since the West is accepting Dhimmi status even before it is conquered why shouldn’t it demand Israel do likewise.

Where Is The Right Hiding?

By Moshe Feiglin

Kislev, 5768
Dec., '07

Translated from the Makor Rishon newspaper

If the Likud would be run according to its constitution, it would have applied Israeli sovereignty over all parts of the Land of Israel that are in our hands long ago. But currently, the Likud is not run according to its own principles. Its ideology has been replaced by pragmatism. Today's Likud is convinced that in order to rule, it must access votes from Israel's Center. There in the Center, the Likud believes, waits a vast pool of voters who determine which party will win the elections. And so the Likud puts its ideology aside and vies for the elusive center of the voter pie.

A number of weeks ago, Dr. Asher Cohen, a senior lecturer at the Political Science Department of Bar Ilan University, put a wrench in the Likud's theory. According to a survey that he conducted on the political identity of Israel's citizens, 29% described themselves as Center. 15% defined themselves as moderate Right, and Dr. Cohen logically identifies them with Likud voters. But now for the big surprise: an additional 12% of those right of the Likud defined themselves as plain Right, while a whopping 22% of those right of the Likud defined themselves as extreme Right. All in all, 34% of Israel's rightists -- a full third of Israel's voters -- consider themselves to be politically right of the Likud!

Where, then, according to Dr. Cohen, is the Right hiding? His answer is simple. Those who defined themselves as Right and extreme Right by and large voted for Lieberman and Shas. They are currently "hiding" deep inside Ehud Olmert's government.

In light of these statistics, we can clearly see how erroneous the Likud's attempt to attract votes from the political Center really is. To the left of the Likud there is a bank of 29% of voters who define themselves as Center, while to the Likud's Right, the bank has 34% of Israel's voters. Why, then, does the Likud consistently attempt to woo the Left/Center voters? Not only are there less of them, but they already have a political home in Kadimah or the Labor party.

Clearly, if the Likud wants to return to the 48 Knesset seats that it once held (4 times what it has now) it must appeal to its natural constituency and proudly display its ideology, instead of denying it. But in practice, we see just the opposite. Likud chairman Netanyahu announces that he sees Ehud Barak as a worthy candidate for defense minister in a Likud-led government. In other words, the entire Right "bank" will have no influence on the policies of the Likud. In addition, Bibi is investing much of his energy into an attempt to neutralize the ideological voices in the Likud. His actions send a clear message to one third of the voters in Israel: You are not Likudnicks.

This is a no win situation. The first to lose is the Likud, which time and again loses the elections and has become a pale shadow of the Left. The second loser is the National Camp, which remains captive in the hands of the Left -- even when, on the surface, the Likud wins the elections. And most importantly, the entire State of Israel loses its only chance to survive and halt the blind march to its own destruction.

It is highly unlikely that anyone can convince Netanyahu to change direction and appeal to the Right bank of voters. As I have written in the past, the foundations of that problem are much deeper than its political reflection. But whether we like it or not, the key to the consolidation of the Right and Israel's rescue is exclusively with the Likud. Instead of splintering off into more and more right wing parties that will remain insignificant as long as the Likud stays connected to the Left; instead of deliberating whether to demonstrate with or without a permit, the Right must simply join the Likud and restore the ruling party to its own hands.

We Have Lots to Smile About

The Jewish majority is winning -- and it doesn't even notice! The settlements in Judea and Samaria are growing faster than in any other area of Israel. Many of the settlements have absolutely no room for new families. A new and vigorous generation has grown up in the settlements. Most of them choose to remain in Judea and Samaria after they marry and start their own families. The youth, inspired by the Homesh activists, stubbornly cling to the outposts that they put up on Sukkot and are planning more outposts for Chanukah. A steady and determined group of youth has managed to remain in Homesh since the summer. We are also winning the demographic race. Slowly but surely, the Jewish nation in the Land of Israel is awakening. The birthrate of religious Jews is higher than the Arab birthrate and the general demographic picture is now in favor of the Jews. And most importantly -- our Jewish identity. 83% of the Jews in Israel will be lighting Chanukah candles throughout the entire eight day holiday. These statistics reinforce the yearly Jewish identity polls that show Israel's Jewish identity to be constantly on the rise. "When I began to study Judaism," a once-secular friend recently told me, "my friends were convinced that I had gone off the deep end. Now, if you are on the trendy Sheinkin St. and you don't learn Judaism, you are simply not 'in.'" The Jewish majority is winning! It clings to its homeland and to its identity, its enemies' numbers are diminishing while its own numbers are increasing! Just as during the historical Chanukah, the battle seems to be against Israel's enemies. But the real battle is for the soul and leadership of the large and healthy Jewish majority in the Land of Israel. On that front as well, Manhigut Yehudit is progressing by leaps and bounds. Moshe Feiglin has almost nightly meetings with Likud members throughout Israel, and the positive feedback is tremendously encouraging. We are sure that when election time comes, much of that support will turn into votes for Jewish leadership for Israel!

Chanukah's Message: Take Responsibility

On Chanukah, we celebrate Israel's independence from Greek rule. Judaism is founded on independence; the freedom to take responsibility for one's life choices. On a national level, citizens who have lost the will to take responsibility for their lives and instead rely on the State to decide for them have essentially surrendered their freedom.

Chanukah is a potent reminder that every single Jew must take responsibility for his life and ultimately, for his nation. This is certainly clear on the political level. That is why Manhigut Yehudit has taken responsibility and is working to provide Israel with authentic Jewish leadership. It is also true for every other facet of our lives. Israel's health system is not geared to keep us healthy? Let's get involved and work for a Jewish system that emphasizes maintaining good health. Israel's welfare system is in a state of advanced decay, with social workers advising the needy to turn to private organizations? Let's build a completely overhauled welfare system, based on Jewish ideals.

Now that Israel's educational system has collapsed, we have the perfect opportunity to take responsibility for our children's education. 80% of the parents of Israel's students define themselves as religious or traditional. In general, religious parents see to it that their children receive a Jewish education. But the vast amount of traditional Israelis who send their children to Israel's public schools are allowing the State to indoctrinate their children with the anti Jewish-identity views of Education Minister, Yuli Tamir.

How is it that although Tamir has severely reduced the hours devoted to Jewish heritage in Israel's public schools, she adamantly insists that our children learn about the Arab nakba, or the catastrophe of the founding of the State of Israel? Why are violence and abuse an accepted part of the public school experience? How is it that the average child in Israel's public school system cannot complete the age-old, quintessential Jewish saying, "Shema Yisrael?" It is time for the hundreds of thousands of parents who comprise Israel's Jewish majority to demand an educational system that reflects their values.

The temptation to give up freedom of choice and just let the state take over is immense. It has the same allure as idol worship. When there is no good or bad and no responsibility, there is no need to choose. One can surrender his 'human advantage' and just drift down whatever stream the state dispenses. This Chanukah, we must restore our freedom to make choices and take responsibility. May we be inspired to exercise our G-d given freedom of choice, take responsibility for our national lives and fill Israel with the Jewish light of Chanukah all year around!

Everyone is switching to the radicals, US included

By Ted Belman

Ahmadinejad enters Gulf states summit hall hand in hand with Saudi king Abdullah and Sultan Qaboos of Oman

The Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad leader was invited for the first time to the OCC meeting of six Gulf Cooperation Council leaders which opened in Doha Monday, Dec. 3. DEBKAfile: His warm welcome by the “moderate” Arab rulers further bankrupts Washington’s policy backed by Israel’s Olmert government, which attempts to draw a distinction between “radical” and “moderate” Middle East governments.

That’s it. Ball game over. The US has been trying to hold a non-existent coalition together by its finger tips.

Last year I speculated that the US ordered Abbas to take a dive in Gaza. The reason being to allow the peace process to go forward in the West Bank. It needed to separate Hamas from the government in Ramallah and so it began to undue the elections.

Saudi Arabia wasn’t happy and met in the beginning of this year with Iran. No break through was reported. But in February, Saudi Arabia stabbed the US in the back by engineering the Mecca Accords bringing them back together. That was a shocker.

Then in March, Ralph Peters warned US is wrong to bed with the Saudis

But the greater, long-term danger is one this column has highlighted before: The administration’s rush back into the arms of the Saudis and other America-hating Sunni Arab governments is a colossal strategic mistake.

The US had to beg Saudi Arabia to attend Annapolis and met most of its demands. Syria was invited and the Israelis were humiliated. Though Hamas was not invited as requested by the Saudi’s, Hamas rules with Saudi support. In effect, Hamas has a veto as does Syria.

If that wasn’t enough, the Saudi Arabia sided with Syria against the US in accepting a pro-Syrian Prime Minister for Lebanon as reported yesterday. Actually according to Caroline Glick, in Our friends the Syrians,

By inviting Syria to Annapolis, the Americans told the anti-Syrian forces in Lebanon all they needed to know. Bowing to the reality of America’s abandonment, they gave in and announced their support for Suleiman.

Suleiman’s ascension to the Lebanese presidency is disastrous to the US for two reasons. First, it destroys US credibility as an ally. Between Rice’s decision to put the squeeze on Israel for massive concessions to the terror-supporting Palestinians, to her lackadaisical attitude to Russia’s abuse of US allies in Ukraine and Poland, to her abandonment of Japan in favor of appeasing North Korea, to her neglect of pro-US political forces in Iraq, Rice’s preference for Syria over Lebanese democrats makes it clear that there is no advantage to be gained from being pro-American.

[..] The lethal force of a terror-ruled Lebanon, situated strategically on the Mediterranean coast presents an even greater threat to US national security

Today DEBKA reported that the US took the military option off the table vis-a-vis Iran. It also reported a Syrian al Qaeda operation in Gaza.

And now we have the Saudi King Abdullah walking hand in hand with Ahmedinejad.

Syrian attendance at Annapolis, thought by many to suggest tension between it and Iran, is of no consequence because Iran Says Ties With Syria Rock Solid

It would appear that the US has switched to the radicals to be on the winning side. For that matter everyone is switching to them, including Israel. Israel has appointed Russia as a mediator to arrange for a Syrian/Israel deal where Israel would give up the Golan.

Why Don't the Advocates Of Peace Understand This?

By Ted Belman, IsraPundit

About a month ago, I wrote Annapolis is about wiping Israel off the map. A devotee of Israpundit wrote to say that I went too far in accusing the US of that. Since I believe that accepting the Saudi Peace Plan would place Israel in mortal danger, I advised him that in criminal law, when one proceeds in reckless disregard of the consequences, one is deemed to have intended them. That is not to say that there are not many in the State Department who do in fact want to see the end of Israel.

Recently I advised Why I hate Annapolis and this article was widely distributed. One lawyer wrote to say in effect “Hogwash”. I wrote him back with a few facts and he backed off and said there were two ways to look at things. I agree. The right way and the wrong way, but I am sure he didn’t mean it in that sense.

Other leftists wrote that we must pursue Annapolis if we desire peace. That’s the holy grail but none of them questions whether it will in fact lead to peace. For them it is an axiom. I want peace and that’s why I reject it.

Today I posted an article by Prof Barry Rubin, Annapolis, in which he explains why peace is not obtainable,

The reason the issue persists is twofold. First, the Palestinians and a very large portion of their fellow Arabs still want and expect total victory. They don’t seek compromise because they don’t really want a two-state solution, at least not as more than a temporary stage leading to Israel’s disappearance from the map. Thus, while there is endless talk about Israeli concessions and commitments but virtually nothing about what is required by the other side. Why? Because they won’t give anything and pointing that out too explicitly shows there is no chance of real progress.

Second, Arab politics needs the conflict’s continuation. Incumbent regimes require it to provide a scapegoat so they can mobilize support for themselves and as an excuse letting them explain away their own multiple failures. The Islamist oppositions need it as a slogan in their pursuit of power. Fatah is in the first category; Hamas in the second.

And there you have it.

Stop Complaining, Take Effective Action

One after the other, the speakers rose to eulogize Ido Zoldon, may G-d avenge his blood. Almost all of them spoke about the same thing; Jewish leadership for Israel. The most articulate was MK Effie Eitam; "We will establish new leadership for the Nation of Israel," Eitan proclaimed. It was clear to him and to all those present that belief based leadership is the solution to Israel's woes. Everybody seems to understand that Israel needs authentic Jewish leadership. But daily, frustrated and concerned Jews accusingly ask Manhigut Yehudit, "And what are you doing now to save Jerusalem?" Why aren't these people daily asking the right wing organizations why they are staging demonstrations instead of joining forces with those who are working on establishing alternative leadership? The truth is, that while most of the right wing public has internalized that it can expect nothing from neither Right nor Left, it by and large has not yet integrated the consciousness necessary to lead. Israel's Jewish majority and particularly the Orange Camp, has not yet accepted the fact that it must literally take the reigns. The rightists don't believe Olmert -- but are not willing to fill his shoes. They prefer Olmert 2 or Olmert 3. They prefer to remain in the demonstration rut, feverishly changing their right sock with their left sock and back again until the bitter end. What is Manhigut Yehudit doing today? Exactly what we did yesterday and what we will do tomorrow. We are focusing on creating the Jewish leadership alternative. Those people who ask what we are doing actually want to know how we are solving the problem within the familiar albeit failed parameters within which they feel comfortable. In other words, they want somebody to solve the problem without taking responsibility and without striving to lead. Our almost daily meetings with Likudniks, registration for the Likud and the progress along the muddy path that leads to leadership do not interest them. They want another spectacular demonstration and nothing that requires a major commitment. Manhigut Yehudit does not have a solution for those people. The Yesha Council or one of its sub-groups will certainly organize nice demonstrations for them. Who knows? Maybe it will even organize a march around the walls of Jerusalem just like the march around the fences of Kfar Maimon? There is no solution other than Jewish leadership for Israel. Our day to day efforts have been bearing fruits now, as the situation becomes more difficult and challenging. Our work to convince Likud members of the Jewish leadership alternative and the many people who had registered for the Likud through Manhigut Yehudit brought us almost one quarter of the votes in the recent primaries for chairman of the Likud. We are still working hard. With G-d's help, this constant effort will translate into Moshe Feiglin's high placement on the Likud Knesset list -- as a stepping stone to creating the Jewish leadership alternative. Support Manhigut Yehudit Today Now is the time! Your donation can turn the State of the Jews into the Jewish State. Joining Manhigut Yehudit is much more than just a donation. Now you're part of the team! You don't need to be living in Israel Support Manhigut Yehudit Today