INN: Indictment: Islamists Planned to Attack Feiglin, Glick

An indictment against three Israeli Arabs was filed in the Jerusalem District Court on Friday, after the three allegedly planned to attack Temple Mount activist Yehuda Glick or MK Moshe Feiglin (Likud).

The Jerusalem District Attorney’s Office, via Attorney Yifat Pinhassi, filed the indictment against the three, names as Maj’d Ben Maher Qaraqi (21), Muhammed ibn Azi Bekri (20), and Mahmoud bin Abjad Jaber (18). All three are residents of Jerusalem’s eastern section, which is predominantly Arab.

According to the indictment, the three were planning to throw rocks and fireworks at either Feiglin or Glick – both of whom were scheduled to ascend the Temple Mount on October 30 – as well as at other Jewish visitors.

The defendants planned to camp out overnight on the Temple Mount, during normal visiting hours for Muslims, and then attack visitors the next morning – with plans to intimidate, burn, and harm the visitors, the indictment states.

Then, the three had planned to barricade themselves in the Al-Aqsa mosque compound on Judaism’s holiest site, preventing security forces from entering, and escape in the anonymity of other worshippers leaving the mosque.

The indictment notes that the plan to attack others “in cold blood” has, specifically, nationalistic – i.e. terror – motivations.

The plan would also have been carried out just hours after a real-life attempt was made on Glick’s life; Glick – who founded and heads the LIBA Initiative for Jewish Freedom on the Temple Mount – was shot in the chest on October 29 outside the Begin Heritage Center in Jerusalem. He was released from hospital just last week.

In addition to planning the attack, the three have also been tied to other Arab rioting on the Mount, and have allegedly participated in rock-throwing and firework-shooting attacks against security forces on the Mount while masked.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/188015#.VHpOxtKUeCQ

MK Moshe Feiglin: Why is Fear for Safety of Jewish Children ‘Racism’?

“There is so much hypocrisy in the media and political onslaught against Ashkelon Mayor Itamar Shimoni,” said MK Moshe Feiglin. Shimoni decided to temporarily stop the employment of Arab construction workers on sites near schools citing security concerns. “After all,” Feiglin continued, “Arab workers are not employed on IDF bases or at sensitive Defense Ministry facilities. So why is the safety of children in Ashkelon less sensitive? Why is the fear for their safety labeled ‘racism’?”

Moshe Feigln: Strengthen Druze and Arab Allies

“To strengthen our national fortitude and preserve a strong and relevant unity, we must connect to our allies – the Druze community and those Arabs in Israel who prove their loyalty to the State of Israel and its values,” said MK Moshe Feiglin after his condolence call to the family of police officer Zidan Sayef, killed attempting to stop the terrorists in Har Nof.  “Strengthening and empowering our allies will strengthen our stand against terror and those hostile to Israel,” said Feiglin

Pictured: MK Moshe Feiglin at the condolence call in Kfar Yanuach-Jet.

Israel's Defiant Economic Growth

By Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger

The assumptions that Israel's economic growth depends on the conclusion of peace accords, and that Israel's economy cannot withstand BDS pressure (boycott, divestment and sanctions) are inconsistent with reality.

In fact, Israel's unique economic growth – from $1.5bn GDP in 1949 to $300bn in 2014, from $50mn annual exports in 1949 to $97bn in 2014, and from no foreign exchange reserves in 1949 to $92bn in 2014 – has been driven byAliyah (Jewish immigration), fiscal responsibility, brain power, cutting-edge commercial and defense technologies, exports, military posture of deterrence and (most recently) natural gas; not by the peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, or the Oslo Accord with the PLO.    

For example, Israel's GDP surged by 8%-14% annually following Israel's victory in the Six Day War (1967-1972), and by 9% upon the launching of the Aliyah wave of one million Olim from the USSR in 1990. On the other hand, the post Oslo (1993-1996) economic growth of 4%-7% was triggered, mostly, by the Aliyah ripple effect, but was marred by rapidly worsening budget and trade deficits. 

In addition, Israel's 42.5% annual inflation in 1977 - when the Begin-Sadat peace initiative was launched - galloped to 111.4% in 1979 and 445% in 1984. Inflation was reduced to 19.7% in 1986, and to the current low single digit levels through an unprecedented policy of fiscal responsibility; not through the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty. 

The BDS impact on Israel's economy is minor as demonstrated by the improved trade balance between Israel and Turkey and Britain, independent of the Turkish government and British Parliament support of BDS.  Moreover, Israel's vulnerability to BDS is highly constrained since 90% of Israel's exports are business-to-business, enhancing the cost-effectiveness and the level of health, medicine, irrigation, science, education and national security of Israel's trade partners. Furthermore, Israel's trade is trending away from Europe – the epicenter of BDS – towards India, China, Russia, Japan, South Korea and the former Soviet Republics.

Thus, according to the August 11, 2014 issue of the Turkish daily, Today's Zaman, "It is said that there has been a serious crisis between Turkey and Israel…. But, the foreign trade volume between the two countries rose from $4bn in 2011 to $4.86bn in 2013…. Giant ferries depart from Turkey's port of Iskenderun and anchor at Israel's port of Haifa, carrying Turkish semi-trailer trucks which then travel to Arab countries…. [Israeli] Defense exports to Turkey were never halted…. Oil coming from Iraq's Kurdistan to Turkey is indirectly sold to Israel…. Prime Minister Erdogan's son, Burak, shuttles his cargo ships between Israel's port of Ashdod and Turkey…."

The November 18, 2014 issue of the Times of India opined that "despite its burgeoning ties with China, Israel doesn't look at Beijing as a strategic partner the way it does at India, Israel's number one buyer of military systems…. [India's] Prime Minister Modi commits himself to taking ties with Israel to a new level…. With an annual trade volume of over $10bn, China is Israel's largest trading partner in Asia…. India's annual trade with Israel is still around $5bn, but this could double with the signing of a free trade agreement…." 

The Asian Defense News reported that Israel's Rafael won a $525mn bid to supply India with over 8,000 laser-guided, man-portable, anti-tank Spike missiles and more than 300 launchers. The Defense Industry Daily announced a successful test of the Israel-India "Barak8" medium range, land and ship-borne air and missile defense system, which followed a $300mn Indian acquisition of Israel's "Barak1" supersonic, vertically-launched, short-range air defense system. "Israel may be on its way to surpassing Russia as India's largest partner."

Irrespective of recent assessments of Israel's economic slowdown, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) expects a 3% growth in 2015 and 3.5% in 2016, "which should avert any rise in unemployment [5.7% in October, 2014]."  The November 25, 2014 issue of the Economist Intelligence Unit maintains that Israel's recent manufacturing and export data "seem to confirm that the rebound in activity in September was sufficient to offset the impact on the Israeli economy of the July and August Gaza hostilities…."

Indeed, foreign entrepreneurs express their confidence in Israel's long-term economic viability, which is increasingly acting as a critical pipeline of cutting-edge technologies to the high tech industries in the USA. They seek to leverage Israel's unique brain power, which is equipped with minimal natural resources, having to produce solutions to unique agriculture, irrigation, energy, medical, health, homeland security and military challenges.

For instance, Lockheed Martin plans to hire about 1,000 employees for its new subsidiary in Israel's Beer Sheba Cyber Park (next to a subsidiary of another US giant, EMC), which has concluded cyber cooperation agreements with Ben Gurion University, the Technion in Haifa and Hebrew University.  Redmond, WA-based Microsoft – which operates two research and development centers in Israel - acquired Israel's Aorato for $200mn. South Carolina-based 3D Systems acquired Israel's Cimatron for $97mn.  China's Long Tec Venture led a $10mn round of private placement in Israel's RealView, South Africa's Naspers and Britain's Lord David Alliance Venture Fund led a $15mn round in Israel's Similarweb, Singapore's Temasek and India's Tata investment funds are co-leaders of the Tel Aviv University $23.5mn technology transfer fund. Private US investors led a $15mn round by Israel's AposTherapy, etc.

These companies, along with 250 US high-tech giants operating in Israel, concur with the assessment made on November 26, 2014 by Greg Case, President and CEO of AON, the leading global provider of risk management solutions: "Our clients are aware of the risks and the opportunities of doing business in Israel…. Risks in Israel are similar to other parts of the globe…. Israel is a vital, growing and innovative economy."  

The Place

A Torah Thought 

By MK Moshe Feiglin

In this week’s Torah portion, Veyeitzei, Jacob is forced to flee the wrath of his brother Esau. Big brother Esau had sold the birthright to Jacob, but that fact didn’t calm him down when he realized that he had lost eternal blessing. Jacob had to run for his life.

Why couldn’t Jacob have been born first? Why couldn’t Esau accept the sale of the birthright with grace? Why does the truth have to be revealed in such a complicated way? Why does the Divine message to mankind always appear from amidst hardship?

The complexity of life, structured to connect body and soul, the material and the spiritual has fascinated humanity from time immemorial. Christianity and Islam chose to solve the paradox by granting exclusivity to the spiritual or to the material, respectively. But it is Jacob who knows how to synthesize the two.

“And he (Jacob) reached the place.” Our Sages explain that the place is the Temple Mount, the physical place on earth touched by G-d, the place from where His Divine Presence emanates to permeate the world. This meeting point between the physical and the metaphysical conceals the key to the secret of life.

Our Sages say that from the day that the Holy Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed, the vivid experience of life has been taken from us. Food has become tasteless, colors have lost their brilliance and we can no longer truly enjoy the pleasures of life. We are oscillating violently on a pendulum between the physical and the metaphysical, incapable of achieving equilibrium.

Jacob, Israel, has the tools to restore the flavor and balance to life. He will build the Temple; the palace of the Creator in this world and he will enliven the human experience. When Jacob shoulders the responsibility for this destiny, he merits the Place: “The Land upon which you (Jacob) lie – I will give it to you.”

Deep down, humanity knows and anticipates this.

Shabbat Shalom

Between Israel and the Nations

By Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed

The relations between Israel and the nations are complicated. Many efforts have been invested in trying to understand the reason for this complication. Many books were written on this strange relationship between Israel and the nations. But after all the effort there is still a feeling that the basic reason wasn’t found. Since the Jewish people became a nation there is a continuous situation – a deep hatred in the hearts towards Am Yisrael, without an explanation and without justification. A deep and constant hatred that exists in all situations, whether the Jew successes or failures, always! Nations hate the Jews because they are capitalists and they hate the Jews because they are socialists. They hate Jews because they are right winged and because they are leftists. Sometimes it is because the Jews are over talented, where in other cases, because they are a burden. Sometimes the Jews are too advanced and sometimes because they are outdated and behind. The truth is that there is no real reason. This hatred is without reason. Rabbi Shimon Bar - Yochay: said "Halacha, B'yaduh Sh'Eysav Sone L'Yaakov" – It is a know law that Esav hates Jacob (Sifri Bamidbar 79). The words of Rabbi Shimon Bar - Yochay seems puzzling, how can you say "it is a law"? He should have said it's known that Esav hates Jacob. What does it mean "Halacha" – law? Rabbi Menachem Zemba zt"l explains that Rabbi Shimon Bar – Yochay teaches us not to look for a reason. It is a law without a reason. Rabbi Shimon Bar - Yochay was known for always "searching for the meaning of whats written in the Torah", looking for the purpose of all the commandments. However, in this case - don't ask. Don’t look for a reasons and explanations, since there is no point. This is a deep behavior without any known sense. It is not easy for some nations to admit this hatred. They try to hide it, cover it, ignore its existence or deny it. But it exists. Even if they try to fight it and uproot it, try to prevent it from erupting, they can’t always succeed. Occasionally the nature of Anti-Semitism explodes in a terrible way. The most dreadful evil outbreak of nations against Israel was not long ago, only sixty years ago, the Holocaust. Many nations were involved in this wickedness, some in a great extent, others gave small help and some nations just stood by and did nothing to save the Jews. Only later, to overcome their moral dissonance, they felt a need to seek atonement for the wickedness and a majority of the United Nations decided to approve the Jewish state in Israel. However, the inherent nature has not changed. The attitude of the nations to Israel is complex. "It is a known law that Esav hates Jacob." This law teaches us that instead of trying to change this nature we have to learn to live with it. There is no point in trying to escape this reality, because we can’t escape it. This is not only because we can't escape, this law has a role. This fate is not a blind fate, but it has a purpose! We can and should cast this factual content and give it meaning. We should give an uplifting meaning to the people dwelling in solitude, the one and special nation, the nation of G-D and of the Torah. We have to transform this difficult reality to an opportunity to build our nation, until the value of Israel will become clear. Then, in retrospective, we will understand Israel's special fate. – "And many peoples shall go and say: 'Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the G-d of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths.' For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem". (Isaiah B, C).

MISSOURI vs. MISERY: HaRav Nachman Kahana on Parashat Vayaitzai 5775

BS”D  Parashat Vayaitzai 5775  Rabbi Nachman Kahana MISSOURI vs. MISERY The Torah establishes the rules of behavior when a Jew inadvertently kills another (Devarim 19,4-6) ד) וזה דבר הרצח אשר ינוס שמה וחי אשר יכה את רעהו בבלי דעת והוא לא שנא לו מתמל שלשם: ה) ואשר יבא את רעהו ביער לחטב עצים ונדחה ידו בגרזן לכרת העץ ונשל הברזל מן העץ ומצא את רעהו ומת הוא ינוס אל אחת הערים האלה וחי: ו) פן ירדף גאל הדם אחרי הרצח כי יחם לבבו והשיגו כי ירבה הדרך והכהו נפש ולו אין משפט מות כי לא שנא הוא לו מתמול שלשום: 4 Concerning a murderer who flees there (to a city of refuge) for safety—one who killed a fellow Jew unintentionally without malice aforethought. 5 As one who entered into a forest with a friend to cut wood, and as he swung his ax to fell a tree, the metal head disengaged from the handle and killed his friend. He shall escape to one of these cities (of refuge) to save his life. 6 Lest the avenger of blood pursue him in a rage, overtake him if the distance is too great, and kill him even though he is not deserving of death, since he did it to his neighbor without malice. The Mishna in Makot 2,7 quotes the opinions regarding the status of a “revenger of blood” in the case of an unintentional homicide, when the avenger is a blood relative or anyone else who is abhorred at what had occurred. All agree that the instinctive, natural reaction of a relative or any man who seeks to create a more perfect Jewish society is to avenge the homicide by killing the perpetrator who should have been more careful. However, Rabbi Yose HaGlili states that it is a Torah mitzva for a relative to kill the murderer if found outside a city of refuge. But one who is not a blood relative is permitted although not a required mitzva to kill the perpetrator when found outside a city of refuge. Rabbi Akiva believes that it is never a mitzva to kill the murderer. However if a blood relative avenges the death, he has done a permitted act, whereas a non-relative should refrain from doing so, but if he should kill the murderer he would not be punished. When describing the instinctive reaction of an avenger the Torah uses the term כי יחם לבבו Pursue him in a rage  Rage is the reaction of normal people. It is sanctioned by the Creator but channeled by Halacha to be implemented only when the murderer is outside a city of refuge. Twenty-four years ago, at 5:00 AM on Tuesday the 18th of Mar Cheshvan (5750-1990) while learning with HaRav Moshe Zaltzberg z”l in the bet knesset Ramban in the Old City, my wife Feige entered and stood by the door. I approached and asked one word, “Who?” “Meir was just shot to death in New York by an Arab,” she said. The immediate feeling that gripped every bone in my body was revenge in the most extreme way. Had the murderer been in front of me, I would have ripped him apart limb by limb. I was experiencing what the Torah calls כי יחם לבבו  – pursue him in a rage. If one needs an example of rage, look no further than what is now transpiring in the city of Ferguson, Missouri and in other cities from California to New York. I cannot condone the reflection of that rage into acts of violent mass destruction, however, I totally understand their feelings. That’s the way human beings are wired when a loved one is murdered. Last week we were traumatized by a terror act of unadulterated hate by two Arabs who went on a pre-planned rampage of wanton murder in a bet knesset in the Har Nof neighborhood of Yerushalayim. They murdered four Jews in the middle of their prayers and wounded 7 more. The Arabs used guns and hatchets to tear into the flesh of those holy men, and when it was over 4 women were widowed and 24 children orphaned from their fathers. However, as gruesome as these murders were, there was no white rage. No passionate calls to make the other side suffer for what two of theirs had done and for commending their savage acts of “heroism” and martyrdom. It was not Missouri, but just plain misery. Pouring Money into the Enemy’s Pockets Tonight a memorial gathering will be held in the bet knesset where the murders occurred. I will not be there, but I could write the speeches of the distinguished rabbis who will stand before the people. The speeches will take two forms: one will emphasize the need to accept what was decreed by HaShem without question, and look into ourselves with self-blame with the resolution to learn more and do more acts of kindness.  The other form will seek to lay blame for the deaths of these holy men. Some will blame those who ascend the Temple Mount. Some will place the blame on those who would like to see the drafting of yeshiva men into the army. And others will search out the myriad sins of the secular and of the religious Zionists. But they will have thing in common – they will all fall short of taking any meaningful action. I call upon the people of Har Nof and the Chareidi community at large to at least do the basic minimum. We are now in the year of Shevi’it (Shemitta). It is the accepted view that the laws of Shemitta are now in affect by rabbinic decree not from the Torah law. There is an additional rabbinic decree that prohibits eating vegetables grown in Jewish owned fields during the Shemitta year. That is a two layer rabbinic prohibition – the Shemitta year itself and the prohibition of eating “Jewish” vegetables and legumes grown in Jewish owned fields in Eretz Yisrael. There are several ways of purchasing and eating Shemitta vegetables. Vegetables imported from abroad; those which are grown in the deep south of the country near Eilat; those grown on soil platforms which are detached from the ground; hydroponics (on water) and the sale of Jewish lands to a gentile for the year (heter mechira). And the last method, which is utilized by the Chareidi community, of purchasing vegetables grown on land owned by Arabs. The last method pours millions of shekels into the pockets of our Arab “cousins” every week. This money is then used to oil the hate machinery of the PLO and to purchase land from Jewish farmers who cannot make a living from agriculture. Let the Chareidi leaders decree that their communities utilize one of the other methods of purchasing and eating vegetables. It is the barest minimum that they can do to give expression to their anguish for what the two Arabs have done and for the hundreds of thousands of Arabs (probably millions in the land) who identify with, and encourage, these murderous activities. It is a small but necessary step in the internalization of the Chareidi community to the reality that they are targeted for death no less than any soldier of Tzahal, or any settler in Yehuda and Shomrom. It is not the Zionist who is being targeted, it is the Jew. If the Chareidi community chooses to continue pouring their money into the pockets of our enemies, they should be very meticulous in washing the produce; not just for bugs but to wash off the Jewish blood which is on every leaf. We are not like the people in Missouri, but on the other hand misery need not be our fate. We must resist the enemies of our people in all ways. Those who are young and physically capable must serve in Tzahal. Those who cannot must serve through prayer and Torah study, and those who can do both are the best we have. May HaShem give us the will and ability to bring about the final redemption of our people in our time. Shabbat Shalom, Nachman Kahana Copyright © 5775/2014 Nachman Kahana

Only a Jewish National Homeland can Vanquish Terrorism

By Rabbi Yisrael Rosen Dean of the Zomet Institute

The week after I write this article is expected to be very stormy. That is not only the weather forecast as of now, it is mainly a forecast of the general mood in the country. The level of security and national controversy will come to a crest, and I hope and pray that He who Dwells on High will hear our prayers to decrease the levels of anger and wrath. Terrorism Equals Islam In the matter of security, we are facing an enemy of a type with which our ancestors were not familiar – terrorism. This is a murderous and satanic enemy who holds a sword dripping with blood, infused with cruel insanity, who is not backed by a specific country or an army that is ready for hand-to-hand combat. Semi-anonymous terrorism has become the ultimate enemy of the free world, the world of culture – and not only in the Western World. In the past we spoke about terror nations (such as that of Stalin and others), but today the concept of terrorism has changed and it now refers to gang-style murders and callous ideological violence, without specific national or governmental links. Here is a quote from "The Oracle," (The High Priest of all knowledge) - Wikipedia: "According to Prof. Ehud Sprinchak the definition of terrorism is 'performing harsh violence against non-combatant citizens as a symbolic act and as a means of giving a message of fear to the entire population.' Dr. Boaz Ganor adds, 'The objective of terrorism is to achieve political goals or to change overall policies.' Such actions do not target individuals but rather an entire population, such that a terrorist is usually not interested in the identities of his or her victims. Murder of a specific person, even if it is carried out by a terrorist organization, is considered political murder and not terrorism. This is true, for example, of the murders of Kennedy, Rabin, and others." I assume doctoral candidates all over the world are "making their living" from research on terrorism, and are avidly defining and redefining all the relevant terms. Meanwhile, "the sun rose, the system has bloomed, and the slaughterer continues to slaughter" [Chaim Nachman Bialick, "B'Ir Haharigah," on the subject of the pogroms of Kishinev, 1903). And this is true not only in Jerusalem, "Har Nof, the joy of the entire land" [Tehillim 48:3]. What is missing in all the learned definitions is a very simple sentence: "Any mention of terrorism is a reference to Islam!" Collateral Punishment During the last decade terrorism has taken on a monstrous character, seemingly without any conventional solution – when it was transformed into the suicidal act of a shahid who sanctifies death. No punishment has yet been invented in any earthly court that will serve as a suitable punishment for a suicidal person for his or her murders. The only possible deterrence is related to his surroundings, by making his close relatives pay for his deeds in a way that corresponds to his level of murder. Questioning of Islamic prospective suicides who were caught on the way to performing the deed has shown that only harsh treatment of their parents (and especially their mother) together with other family members – might perhaps be some sort of a deterrent for their actions. If it will not deter their actions, it can at least serve to create a warning. Family members who can expect to be punished might be induced to "spill the beans" before the terrorist can act. Our Minister of the Interior speaks – and more power to him for that – about revocation of the individual rights of those who support terrorism, such as social security benefits. I hope that we will pass emergency legislation that goes much further than this – expulsion, expropriation of property, and revocation of rights of parents of suicidal terrorists, and their wives and children, and perhaps the same for other close relatives in their extended family (the "chamulla"), unless they can prove that they did everything they could to stop the action and that they are strongly opposed to his or her actions. The crime would be defined as supporting or not preventing terrorism, related to what appears in the Torah: "And I will set my face against that man and h-i-s  f-a-m-i-l-y, and I will cut him off" [Vayikra 20:5]. Based on the words of the sage, Rashi writes,"What was the sin of the family? ... The answer is that they all cover for him... Should we say that the whole family can be punished by karet, being cut off? No, because it is written, 'I will cut him off.' He will be cut off but not the whole family, who will be punished with suffering." I am not naive. This emotional cry will be opposed by a strong legal wall that will cry out: "Collective punishment! Individual rights! Democracy above all else!" Well, this may be satisfactory when learned experts in academia have discussions of how to define terrorism, and there it may not do any harm. But when legal professionals get involved, we may well be in deep trouble! In the war between the religion of individual rights and the religion of the shahidim, the discouraging results are predictable... The Jewish State Law – A Ray of Hope And this is our opportunity to move on to another current topic – defining our country as the National Homeland of the Jews! The root of the dispute over the proposed new Jewish State Law revolves around the question whether democracy as defined by the Israeli Supreme Court is the ultimate value which will always prevail, or whether it can be superseded by values of nationality and Judaism. Since the details of one or more proposed laws are not yet available at the time that I am writing this article, and since the matter is fluid and depends on considerations related to the coalition, primaries, and elections – this is neither the right time nor place to discuss the matter in depth. However, there is one thing that I know. Only a law defining the Jewish State will give us the capability of fighting against suicidal Islamic terrorism. Only lowering democracy and legalism, the roots of the religion of individual rights, from their exalted positions can put us on track to eradicate terrorism. And at the same time, only a Jewish State Law will allow us to fight against the infiltration of Sudanese and prevent the courts from rejecting laws to put them in prison. Only a Jewish State Law will allow us to destroy homes of shahidim and not to destroy homes of Jews which were built on national land. There are other benefits of such a law, which the anti-Jewish leftists so violently oppose, no doubt for reasons that they know very well...

MK Moshe Feiglin: Stop the Cover-Up of Terror Attacks

MK Moshe Feiglin applauded the court decision on Wednesday to officially recognize the murder of Netanel Arami in September as a terror attack. In September, Netanel Arami plunged to his death from a tall apartment building where he had been hired to make repairs while rappelling. The ropes to his equipment were found slashed on the roof of the building.  “When I visited the mourning  Arami family shortly after the tragedy,” said MK Feiglin, “I  found citizens abandoned to their fate. Not only had the police not officially recognized that Netanel was murdered by terrorists, but they had treated the family in an ugly manner – as if they were criminals. I decided to stand by their side and to help with whatever I could.”

“I am pleased that the State has officially recognized the fact that Netanel Arami was murdered by terrorists who cut his ropes. The court has finally eased the additional heartache of denial from the searing pain the family suffers due to the horrific murder.

The policy of covering up terror attacks by labeling them ‘crimes’ or ‘suicides’ must stop. Blurring the nationalist motivation for these murders is intolerable hard-heartedness toward the victims and their families,” Feiglin added.

MK Moshe Feiglin: Police Chief Should Provide Security in Jerusalem Instead of Blaming Me

Responding to Police Chief Danino’s remarks on Tuesday that it was a mistake to allow MK Moshe Fegilin  to visit the Temple Mount, Feiglin said the following:

Unfortunately, Police Chief Danino has failed to provide security for Jerusalem and its residents. Instead, he is looking for a scapegoat and making excuses for his failure.

I have been lawfully visiting the Temple Mount monthly for the last fifteen years. That is the legal, moral, national and religious right of every Jew. Police Chief Danino should focus on providing security for Israel’s residents and spend less time making speeches in an attempt to blame others for his failure.

Israeli Sovereignty on the Temple Mount: Slip Sliding Away

By Moshe Feiglin

There is nothing more harmful to the ‘status quo’ that is in place (more or less) today on the Temple Mount than the senior Israeli officials’ demand of Knesset Members not to visit the Temple Mount.

To our chagrin, the ‘holy status quo’ has always prohibited Jews from praying on the Temple Mount. But their free entry to the Mount – certainly the free entry of Knesset Members – during all hours of the day and to all places on the Mount, including the Dome of the Rock and the El Aktza Mosque – were always part of the ‘status quo’.

The rights of the Jews on the Temple Mount are slipping away. Pressuring the Knesset Members to give up the last remnants of the Israeli sovereignty that they are trying to retain on the Mount has nothing to do with preservation of the ‘status quo’. Israel’s leadership has simply caved in to Jordan, which constantly tries to erode any sign of Israeli sovereignty on the Temple Mount. The sovereign is the Knesset. Thus, the Jordanian king doesn’t like it when Jewish MKs visit the Mount.

And so, the Prime Minister, President, heads of security and of course an enthusiastic army of journalists have all converged to incite the public against its elected representatives and to blame them for the Arab violence. By doing so, they encourage terror.

Why is it so easy to turn public opinion around and dupe the Jews into once again blaming themselves for the Arab murderousness? If the Arabs were to riot because of aliyah to Israel and Jordan’s king would recall his ambassador would the Prime Minister run to Jordan to appease him and stop aliyah?

Of course not.

It is not fear and flaccidity that have brought about the abandonment of the Temple Mount – and as a result, the precarious security situation in the entire country. Just the opposite. Our emotional detachment from the Mount, our inability to connect to its essence, to the destiny that it represents – just as we connected to the idea of aliyah to Israel  – this abandonment of the heart of our nation leads to the flaccidity and lawlessness that we are currently experiencing.

The first Zionist principles like aliyah and settlement were easy to explain from a purely nationalist standpoint. But in order to ascend to the next dimension of the fulfillment of the Return to Zion – the ascent to the Temple Mount – we need a new spirit. The narrow nationalist consciousness is nothing more than its foundation.

When G-d restored the Mount to Israel in 1967, the consciousness of Israel’s leadership was too narrow to perceive its significance. “Who needs this whole Vatican?” Defense Minister Moshe Dayan scoffed and hurried to give the keys to the Mount to the Moslem wakf. The religious leadership adopted the narrow dimension of religion alone, instead of daring to advance to the all-inclusive vision of the Temple.

But without destiny, existence is empty. When the Temple Mount was not in Israel’s territory, our spiritual batteries were powered by the destiny that was out of reach. But in the Six Day War, when General Mota Gur declared, “The Temple Mount is in our hands,” the destiny became tangible. Its denial became tangible, as well.

Since the Temple Mount was liberated, Israel has grown and become unrecognizably stronger. But the stronger we grow, the less existential legitimacy we retain. Even our ability to preserve our current existence is slipping away.

For there is no existence without destiny.  And for the Jewish People, there is no destiny without the Temple Mount.

INN: Orbach: Left Involved in Feiglin Fiasco

Minister says Opposition escalated Monday’s tiff in the Knesset, during which Moshe Feiglin was called ‘fascist,’ for political reasons.

By Ido Ben-Porat and Tova Dvorin

Minister for Senior Citizens MK Uri Orbach (Jewish Home) defended MK Moshe Feiglin (Likud) on Tuesday, after Feiglinforcibly removed MK Jamal Zahalka (Balad) and MK Mohammed Barakeh (Hadash) from the Knesset podium for labelling Feiglin a “fascist” and threatening him.

According to Orbach, an MK who calls another MK a “fascist” and threatens to “choke” him must be removed immediately.

”It’s not just a matter of rules, but basic courtesy,” Orbach stated, in a Facebook post. “It’s not about free speech, but the basicprinciples of parliamentary democracy.”

Orbach stated that Feiglin’s decision to boot the two MKs from the podium was “just.”

”There is absolutely no room for discretion,” he added. “It’s like a football [soccer – ed.] player spitting on the referee and not receiving a red card [to eject him from the game – ed.].”

Orbach also slammed several other Opposition MKs who went up to the podium and began heckling Feiglin for the decision.

“Are you out of your minds?” he said. “Does it seem to you that someone who curses out the Knesset Speaker and calls him ‘fascist’ can be worked with in peace?”

“Do you not think that mudslinging like this by Arab MKs can encourage a young Arab in Jabal Mukaber [in Jerusalem – ed.] to hurt Jews,” he added, referring to the neighborhood where the terrorists behind last week’s massacre in Har Nof lived.

Orbach also attributed the hullaballoo to sinister political motivations from the Opposition, in his words – specifically “Labor and Meretz.”

“Members of the opposition, on the left, with a little help from friends and the media, are trying to create an atmosphere of chaos in the Knesset,” he fired, “by claiming that Arabs are repressed there because of their cultural identity and not because of the curses they uttered and the ongoing incitement they have raised in the Knesset.”

”Rudeness and bad taste are not a criminal offense,” he continued, “but there is basic etiquette in the Knesset. Harsh verbal violence against [Feiglin] by Zahalka and Barakeh is dangerous to democracy and encourages violence.”

Monday’s heated debate emerges just as tension in the coalition are at an all-time high, following the postponement of the preliminary reading for the Jewish State Law. MKs and analysts alike have predicted that the coalition could fall if Justice Minister Tzipi Livni (Hatnua) and Finance Minister Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) do not vote for the bill according to the coalition agreement, although Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu himself stated Monday that only “time will tell” if the crisis will culminate in new elections.

 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/187850#.VHRURdKUeCQ 

Deputy Speaker of Knesset Moshe Feiglin: I Will Not Allow Verbal Violence in Plenum

MK Moshe Feiglin chaired the Knesset plenum deliberations on Monday evening. Two Arab MKs hurled epithets at MKs David Rotem and Feiglin from the podium. As Speaker of the Knesset, Feiglin  had one MK removed from the plenum and the other from the podium.

“Freedom of speech is not anarchy,” said MK Moshe Feiglin later in the evening. “When Arab MK Barakeh curses MK David Rotem and myself (as Speaker of the Knesset) that we ‘should choke'; when Arab MK Zachlakah calls the Speaker of the Knesset a fascist and neo-Nazi, they have crossed a red line and broken the rules of civility that guide Knesset deliberations. Their epithets warranted an immediate, decisive reaction.”

“Over the past few weeks – and even as these words are being written -” Feiglin noted, “the verbal violence of some of the Arab MKs has been translated by their constituents into physical violence. Unfortunately,democratic discourse has muddled the ability of some of the leftist MKs to discern between acceptable and unacceptable speech. Under the guise of ‘democracy’, they choose to allow for violent discourse that breeds terror,” he said.

“I stand behind the action I took this evening as Speaker of the Knesset and will do the same in the future if an MK – Jewish or Arab – crosses the red line of civilized discourse,” Feiglin concluded.

Don’t give them the Narrative

By Vic Rosenthal

Narrative is everything in information warfare.

If you give your enemy the narrative, then the game is tilted in his favor from the start.

Palestinian Arabs constantly repeat the myth that they are an indigenous people and we stole their land. This is an article of faith in Europe, the UK, American campuses, Tel Aviv coffee houses and the White House.

Our officials act as though they believe this. They offer to ‘return’ land to the ‘Palestinians’ in return for security from their terrorism. They feel guilty about ‘Palestinian refugees’ whose ancestors mostly left to escape a war that they and their allies started and who were kept in refugee camps because the Arab states and (later) the PLO wanted them there to be an army against Israel.

The myth is made-up history. They aren’t indigenous. They are mostly Arabs from Syria, Egypt and other places whose ancestors arrived here in the 19th and 20th centuries. And they would have lost nothing if they and their allies hadn’t waged war against us. We don’t owe them anything.

The PLO pretended to want a peaceful state alongside Israel. Our leaders, again, acted as though the believed this. We brought it back from the dead, gave it a base next door to us, armed and funded it. But it is the same terrorist gang that it was in 1972, when it murdered our athletes in Munich. Thousands of Jews (and not a few Arabs) died because of this monumental stupidity.

Two myths — the existence of a wronged “Palestinian people” and the peaceful intentions of the PLO. They are the received wisdom in most of the world. Why shouldn’t they be? We and most of our leaders don’t dispute it!

Even PM Netanyahu, who certainly knows that he can’t trust the PLO, acts as though it is possible to give up land to some kind of ‘demilitarized’ Palestinian entity in return for quiet.

It isn’t. Give them a base and they will fortify it and attack us from it. But more important, give them anything and it legitimizes their always-escalating demands. The so-called “peace process” was nothing but an extortion process.

We need to recover from the mistake of Oslo, to tell the world over and over that we do not recognize the “Palestinian people” as an entity that has the right to demand anything from us, and that we consider the PLO (and Hamas and all the other factions waving their AKs in the air) as terrorists who are guilty of multiple murders and crimes against humanity.

Many people say there is value in cooperating with the PLO against Hamas. They are enemies and the enemy of our enemy, etc. I think it’s not worth it. Our relationship to both the PLO and Hamas should be the same: massively disproportionate response to terrorism.

It is also important to tell the Arab citizens of Israel that we won’t treat them as a national minority. They are an ethnic and religious minority, Arabs and Muslims or Christians, who have civil rights as citizens of the state. They are not “Palestinians” who have special political rights. Unlike virtually all the Arab states, who have treated Jews as a (hated) national minority and expelled them, we will not expel them just for being Arabs. We do require that they don’t try to murder us.

So they feel oppressed living in a Jewish state? Where on earth is the Arab or Muslim state in which Arabs are as free to do as they please as Israel? What kind of rights do they have in Egypt or Saudi Arabia? Is the fact that we sing Hatikva more painful than the real repression in those countries? This shows that it is not a question of wanting to be free of oppression, but rather a desire to be free of Jews.

Finally, we needn’t be ashamed of our own identity as a Jewish state, the state of the Jewish people. Unlike the “Palestinians,” we do have a history. This does not agree with what Natan Sharansky calls the “post-identity” philosophy, but who cares? The Europeans, who are the great proponents of eliminating national identities and becoming world citizens, are watching their formerly great civilization die, both by demographic attrition and the thousand cuts of terrorism, murder and rape.

I am for telling the truth, and negotiating on the basis of the truth. If we don’t do this, who will?

My Homage to the Rabbis Killed in Jerusalem (from INN)

The four rabbis murdered in Jerusalem were living Torah Scrolls.

Published: Saturday, November 22, 2014 6:23 PM

By Giulio Meotti

The writer, an Italian journalist with Il Foglio, writes a twice-weekly...

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Their every word and deed revealed an ancient civilization and traditions filtered through the centuries. Their bodies were turned into fountains of blood by the delirium of Islamist murderers who shouted "Allahu Akbar". But to see them alive, shadows swaying, was to realize that those four learned men transmitted the plastic image of scenes from the Old Testament.

They each wanted to aspire to be a "talmid khakham", students of rabbis who preceded them, in the tradition of those pious scholars who founded a democratic theocracy and rebelled against the most formidable autocratic monarchy of the time, Egypt. 

The four Israeli rabbis killed with a machete in the synagogue in Har Nof, Jerusalem, lived with an acute sense of the Jewish tragedy. The destruction of the Temple, the mass pogroms of Chmielnicki and the Holocaust were physically present in their lives. 

They spoke of  "mesirut nefesh", Hebrew for self-sacrifice. "The Lord chooses his children, we have to respect his wishes." This infinite compassion was the greatness of Rabbis Moshe Twersky, Aryeh Kupinsky, Kalman Levine and Avraham Shmuel Goldberg. They had a pale and elusive beauty, intensified by a spiritual contempt for fear. They wore long white beards and blue eyes bursting with curiosity.

Twersky was heir to two of the families who have contributed volumes to the glory of Orthodox Judaism. A life of study and prayer. His maternal grandfather, the great Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, Jewish philosopher and rabbinic head of Yeshiva University, known simply as "the Rav", pressed Pope Paul VI to reinstate the condemnation of the charge of deicide during the writing of the Vatican encyclical on Judaism Nostra Aetate, which had disappeared from the draft under the pressure of the Arab eastern churches. The other grandfather, Rabbi Isadore Twersky, famous for his works on Maimonides, founded the Center of Jewish studies at Harvard. 

At first glance, the Israeli world presents, sometimes almost exasperatingly, the character of the most advanced, unscrupulous Western societies. In Har Nof, however, and in the synagogue where the massacre took place, once finds the other Israel, the pious, humble, religious Israel, that can be found in the older ultra-Orthodox densely populated neighborhoods, in parts of Judea and Samaria and large neighborhoods of Jerusalem built after 1967.

In the hill of the massacre, Har Nof, literally the Hill of Vistas, lived Former Sephardic Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, who died a year ago, the phenomenal rabbi who had won the title of "Ma'or Yisrael", the Light of Israel.

The motto here is: "First the Torah, then the State".

The attack on the synagogue was a deja vu. forJerusalem, On August 19, 2003,  Jerusalem's number 2 bus was filled with worshipers returning from the Western Wall when twenty-three Jewish passengers were killed by a Palestinian suicide bomber. It was called "the bus of holiness." For many of the victims, going to the Kotel was a holiday, a source of immense joy.

The four rabbis wanted to "help sixteen million Jews in the world to reach contact with God and the commandments." The watchwords of Twersky were like those of Chabad: wisdom (chochmah), understanding (binah), and knowledge (Daath). Twersky and the others were in the world, but out of the world.

You see them everywhere in Jerusalem, they are always in good spirits, they turn to strangers with a smile, if they are Chabad, they immediately offer to fasten the phylacteries, coiling them around the arm with the agility of magicians. 

They were the heroes of a world of simplicity, directness and prodigious familiarity with God; that same world that Marc Chagall revealed with his pictorial art. Education and social assistance were the priorities of these four Jews. The biographies of the four vibrated with the paradox of a proportion that dropped entirely in the reality of the human, the radical absence of abstraction, the continuous passage from earth to heaven, a sublimity tinged with humor.

The Torah scholars killed by Palestinian terrorists had all left lives of ease and assimilation in the outskirts of the West.

Levine was born in Kansas City, he was the son of a lawyer, and in Israel studied in the old hareidi neighborhood of Meah Shearim, which means "one hundred doors", a fortress where Jews live, sleep, work with the Bible and the Talmud under their eyes. 

Rabbi Kupinsky was from Detroit, where he was well known in the city (his parents had taught at Wayne State University). Kupinsky had moved to Har Nof from his family's home in Kiryat Arba, the "City of Four", adjoining Hevron, the city of the Jewish Patriarchs, where Jewish life is behind a tall metal fence that runs all around the houses, the post office, the school.  A place where war is not on television, but enters the low houses of white stone and is on the roads, in the pine forest, in the games for children. "Welcome to the Messiah," says the yellow banner that greets visitors at the entrance of the village-bunker. It was founded with the blessing of Labour, not the Likud. It was born with 18 inhabitants and 11 Bibles. 

Rabbi Goldberg was a chemical engineer from Liverpool and a consultant for the hareidim, "the righteous", those who live in houses with only basic furniture. Goldberg had arrived in Israel in 1991, while the scuds of Saddam Hussein hit Tel Aviv, Iraq threatened to "burn half of Israel" and the Jews pulled out gas masks from the khaki box they had hidden in a corner of the house to exorcise it. Goldberg had left the idyllic hills of Golders Green, the middle class of Jewish London.

When Palestinian terrorists stormed the synagogue in Har Nof, the four rabbis had their eyes turned to the east praying towards the Old City of Jerusalem where once stood the Temple and the Holy Ark of the Covenant. They were killed wearing their phylacteries and prayer shawls, eyes still fixed on the siddur, the book of prayer. About to say a Psalm: "This is the gate of God and the righteous will enter it."

They were really the princes of Israel. The day after the massacre, the yeshiva of Bnei Torah on the western hill of Jerusalem, the blood of the martyrs, the  kedoshim, was removed to be buried along their poor remains. But the day after dozens of Jews returned to the synagogue to thank God. So that God can smile down at His people again after that horrific day.

I bow before them. 

After the Massacre, Change the Dynamic

By Rabbi Steven Pruzansky

How does a human being (or two) walk into a synagogue and begin hacking at worshippers who are immersed in prayer, leaving behind a trail of blood, victims, grief and horror?

The question is misplaced because no “human being” could do such a thing. It would have to be a beast in human form, a relic from primitive times before true humans became civilized. The Arab-Muslim animals that span the globe chopping, hacking and merrily decapitating – from Iraq to Jerusalem to New York to Oklahoma, and places in between and beyond – are a discredit even to the term “animal.” Most animals are not that brutal.

The real issue confronting Israel for decades and the civilized world today is what to do about the proliferation of savages who lust for blood and derive inspiration from their religious texts? One example not to follow is that of President Obama’s. In one of his more ludicrous statements in the last few months – amid a healthy competition – he decried the attack, the loss of life “on both sides (!),” and then added this gem: that the “overwhelming majority of Palestinians…want to live in peace.” Really? And based on what data was that determination made? That only tens of thousands of “Palestinians” rejoiced after the massacre, singing and dancing in the streets, distributing candies and sweets, praising the vicious slaughter and the slaughterers – and not hundreds of thousands? Polls in the PA reveal widespread support for the murder of Jews so what exactly is he talking about??

Obama seems to be as much an expert on “Palestinian” society as he is about Islam generally. His incessant protestation that ISIS distorts Islam is based on…what exactly? ISIS and sundry other radical groups seem to feel that they are fulfilling the dictates of Islam – and the few Muslims who disagree meet their fate at the business end of a machete. Actions speak louder than words. Obama’s expertise in Islam has led him to cede the Middle East to the most ruthless forces, embrace the radical Muslim Turk Erdogan as an American ally, and facilitate Iran’s acquisition of nuclear weapons. Perhaps with a nuclear weapon, Iran will be civilized, or so the thinking goes.

Little can or should be expected from Obama or from the Europeans, mired as they are in cultural deterioration, moral relativism, population decline and Muslim-inspired Jew hatred. Sweden just became the latest country to recognize “Palestine.” Sweden (!), which willfully encourages those who favor the shechita of Jews even as they themselves ban the shechita (ritual slaughter) of animals. How is that for misplaced priorities and corrupt values? And we should be clear, as the wave of recognition sweeps Europe in the coming year: any country that recognizes a “Palestine” is endorsing the mass slaughter of Jews.

But Israel has to act, especially as the violence has spiraled out of control. The dynamic needs to change, dramatically. At a certain point, the unrestrained behavior of unruly animals becomes the fault of the zookeeper, not the animals. What can be done?

Clearly, many things can be done that should not be in print, but the general approach needs to be the abandonment of defensive, reactive moves and an embrace of offensive, anticipatory, and proactive moves. The Arabs need to feel that they are paying a heavy price for murdering Jews. Right now, not only do they not pay a heavy price but the murderers and their families benefit. Here are some suggestions to change the dynamic, and they are all based on a single premise: that there is a war  for the land of Israel that is being waged, and the Arabs who dwell in the land of Israel are the enemy in that war and must be vanquished.

Israel should make clear that a Palestinian state will never be created between the river and the sea. There will be no non-Jewish national entity tolerated. The Muqata in Ramallah should be destroyed and “President” Abbas should be incarcerated as a war criminal.

Terrorists will be killed, not captured (no great loss, as their fondest wish is for martyrdom). Their bodies will not be returned to their families but will be cremated, and perhaps the ashes buried with deceased pigs. The homes of the extended family (up to and including first cousins) of the terrorist will be destroyed, and they will all be deported to the Muslim country of their choice. A second terrorist in a village results in the destruction of that village and the deportation of its residents to a friendlier country. (If the homes in that village would be useful to Jews, then they should be retained and given to Jews after the evil residents are deported. Or, as they used to say in Israel, disengaged.)
Anyone who riots or throws a stone at a Jew should be shot – with real bullets. Rubber bullets and tear gas should be sold to the Amish. Those who wish to be martyred and who celebrate death should be accommodated as often as possible. The media should be barred from scenes of violence, cell service canceled and cameras confiscated, like in most war zones.

In the meantime, Arab access to the Temple Mount will be denied for at least six months, and Jewish prayer will be allowed thenceforth at permissible locations, such as they might be. It is unconscionable crime to deny Jews the right to move their lips on the Temple Mount! And those who refrain from ascending the Mount for halachic reasons will surely agree that if Jews cannot be there, certainly Muslims cannot be there. And perhaps the day will come in the near future when the mosque and the dome can be uplifted intact and reset in Saudi Arabia, Syria or wherever it is wanted. (The Arab countries can fight over it if they want.) That itself will preclude any Arab claim to Jerusalem.

The same restrictions and limitations would pertain to the Cave of Machpelah in Hevron. Any terror emanating from Hevron results in closure of the facility to Muslims. In fact, we should apply to Muslim holy places the exact same respect and deference they have shown to Jewish, Christian, Buddhist and Hindu holy sites across the world. That seems only fair.

As noted here in the past, measures need to be implemented that encourage Arab emigration – the payment of stipends, compensation for property, etc. Thy must be made to feel that that they have no future in the land of Israel – no national future and no individual future. Start with the Arabs of Judea and Samaria who are stateless; they deserve to find a country in which they can be full citizens and make their contribution to society. Let them demonstrate in an Arab country their dexterity with bombs and their grace with machetes. (If Israeli Arabs persist in their support of terror – now at a low level, but who can predict the future? – they should forfeit their citizenship and be returned to military rule as it was before 1966.) Of course, those who wish to stay and be peaceful, acknowledging the sovereignty of the Jewish people in the land of Israel, are welcome to stay. But an enemy is an enemy – and one who wants to kill you, maim you, blow up your buses, trains and restaurants, run over your pedestrians and conquer your capital is an enemy, and a ruthless one at that. Why so many Israelis do not perceive that is an enduring enigma, an enigma that has enabled the relentless slaughter of Jews.

There are other measures as well but here is the problem: not a single method above will be enacted. That is why right now there is absolutely no deterrent to the murder and maiming of Jews. Indeed, it is exactly the opposite. The slaughter of Jews is incentivized in Arab society. Often the terrorist is killed (martyrdom and virgins), lionized and immortalized with the naming after him of streets, schools and camps (eternity), and his family receives a monthly pension of thousands of dollars to compensate for his lost earnings (financial reward). Under those circumstances, and given the primitive culture in which they are raised, it is an irrational act not to want to murder Jews.
That is the dynamic that has to change.

Yet, despite everything, much of Israeli society still clings to the illusion that “peace” is possible with these savages, or at least that someone, somewhere, sometime, will sign a peace treaty with them. That illusion is slowly receding, but it is still abetted by the elites of Israeli society, especially because it is being propounded and pushed by Western governments like the US and in the European Union. There is no more deadly illusion on the planet, except for construing ISIS as a cold summer treat enjoyed by children.

Rational thinkers will argue that the “world” will never tolerate such Draconian sanctions, that countries will sever diplomatic relations with Israel, cut off trade ties and completely isolate the Jewish state. And, in the short term, much of that is true. But is there an alternative short of national suicide and self-immolation? Israel has much to offer the world, without which many people in the world would suffer, that such alienation will be short-lived. And Israel’s pivot to Asia (much more successful than Obama’s clumsy and failed one) has allowed Israel to strike close relations with the two largest nations on the globe, China and India. Neither country is moved in its foreign affairs by a moral impulse and both countries are anxious for military ties with Israel. And do not overestimate the popularity of the Palestinians in the rest of the world; truth be told, they are reviled even in the Arab world, perhaps even more than in Europe.

We should not ignore as well the rank hypocrisy that promotes the double standard that cripples Israel’s ability to defend itself. Case in point: this week, Egypt evicted thousands of Arabs along the Gaza border and destroyed hundreds of their homes for “security reasons.” No courts, no appeals, no process. Some of the homes were being used to conceal tunnels, so they all had to go.

Moral? Not in normal times, but Egypt recognizes it is at war with a heartless enemy, and that enemy and its population deserve no accommodation. Even Jen Psaki found no fault in Egypt’s actions, the phony.

If only Jews would realize the same and stop fantasizing about convincing that enemy of our own goodness. Here is one exercise that should help: the same enemy that lynched soldiers in Ramallah and tore them apart is the same enemy that butchered holy Jews this week in Har Nof is the same enemy that kidnapped and murdered three precious boys just a few months ago.

It’s the same enemy. And that enemy rides our buses, shops in our malls, drives on our roads and lives just two miles from us. The same enemy.

Do you know where that enemy is, and what he is plotting right now?

Change the dynamic. Change the terms of the debate. Change the rules of war. And change the outcome that the enemy now anticipates. Such will save Jewish lives and even bring redemption.