Friday, December 30, 2016

The Fear of G-d Barometer: A Torah Thought for Parashat Miketz

By Moshe Feiglin

“And Joseph said to them on the third day, ‘Do this and live, I fear G-d.’“ (From this week’s Torah portion, Mikeitz, Genesis 42:18)  “For I said, there is no fear of G-d in this place, and they will kill me.” (Abraham in Genesis 20:11)                                             

Joseph understood the same thing understood by his great-grandfather, Abraham. Joseph’s brothers have nothing to worry about. They can leave Shimon with the stern Egyptian ruler and be sure that no harm will befall him, for he has a G-d: “I fear G-d.”       

True fear of G-d is the foundation upon which everything rests. There are people who fear G-d, but are unaware of it. There are people who declare that they have fear of G-d, but in truth, it is non-existent. Only G-d knows what is in our hearts. But ultimately, without fear of G-d, everything collapses. There are no borders to separate between good and bad. There is no permissible and forbidden, no moral coordinates with which to navigate the challenges of life. Reality sinks into confusion, into chaos and disarray – into death.                                                                           

The greater the potential, the greater the sensitivity. A state of the art fighter jet is much more sensitive and can be ruined much more easily than a simple rifle.  Regular countries can survive for long periods of time even if their leadership lacks fear of G-d. But the State of Israel is different. Without fear of G-d, the amount of time it takes for it to lose the legitimacy for its very existence – is very short.                                                                                                   

The Nation senses this and is seeking G-d.                                         

With His help, we will soon have leaders who reflect the will of the Nation.                                                                                                 

Shabbat Shalom and Happy Chanukah.

Eilu V'Eilu

By Rabbi Herschel Shachter

The gemara (Shabbos 21b) quotes the story of Chanukah from Megillas Taanis (Rashi, Shabbos 13b, explains that this work is referred to as a megillah because it was already written down at the time that the mishnayos were still being learned orally.) The Yevonim were metamei all the oil in the Beis Hamikdash and the Chashmona'im only found one small container of pure oil that should have only lasted for one night. Rav Yaakov Emden (Mor U'Ketzia #670)[1] raises the following major issue: the mishna tells us that liquids in the Beis Hamikdash are not mekabel tummah>[2] so the whole story does not make any sense! The olive oil was a liquid and could not become tameh, so why was there a need for a miracle if there is no such thing as shemen tameh in the Beis Hamikdash?

Some suggest the following answer. The psak of a talmid chochom is binding because he probably had divine assistance in developing his position[3]. And even when there is a machlokes in halacha each yeshiva is obligated to follow its own rebbe, and we assume that this is so because each rebbe was given the divine assistance to formulate his position. The story of Chanukah occurred in the middle of the period of the second Beis Hamikdash over two hundred years before its destruction. In that generation, the accepted psak was that even liquids in the Beis Hamikdash are also mekabel tumah. It was only several generations later, during the period of the zugos, that R' Yosi ben Yoezer's position that liquids in the Beis Hamikdash are tahor was adopted l'halacha. How can it possibly be that Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel each had a divine assistance to come to differing conclusions? The answer is: the gemara says that sometimes when there is a machlokes in halacha we assume eilu v'eilu divrei Elokim chaim[4]. The Ritvah[5] explains that when Moshe Rabbeinu was on Har Sinai and Hashem was teaching him the entire Torah, and Moshe Rabbeinu posed questions to Hashem regarding what the din is in various cases and under various circumstances. In some cases Hashem told him that the din is mutar; in other cases Hashem told him the din is assur; and in other cases Hashem told him that this is a grey area of halacha, with both elements of heter and of issur, and He leaves it up to the judgment of the chachmei ha'dor in each generation to decide based on their perspective of kol haTorah kulla whether the elements of heter outweigh the elements of issur or the reverse.

Every so often in the gemara we find that in different generations the consensus amongst the rabbonim shifted and the psak was changed. The two positions are often referred to mishna rishonah and mishna acharona. The gemara tells us[6] that for the four hundred and ten years of the first Beis Hamikdash the Kohanim fulfilled the mitzvah of nisuch hayayin in one fashion. When the second Beis Hamikdash was built (after the seventy years of galus Bavel), the chachomim of that generation decided to do the nisuch hayayin in a different fashion. The Sfas Emes in his commentary on that gemara raises a question, does that mean that during for all of the four hundred and ten years of the first Beis Hamikdash they were never properly yotzei the mitzvah of nisuch hayayin?! The simple answer is that eilu v'eilu divrei Elokim chaim. Since both groups of chachomim were knowledgeable in kol haTorah Kulah and both were working within the framework of the middos sheHaTorah nidreshes bohem, both positions were considered correct. During the Bayis Rishon period the correct halachic position was in accordance with the consensus of that time and during the Bayis Sheini period the correct halachic position was in accordance with the consensus of that era.

Similarly, if the story of chanukah would have occurred a few generations later, Hashem would not have caused any miracle to occur because the accepted psak was like R. Yosi ben Yoezer that the olive oil cannot become tameh. But in the generation of the Chasmona'im the Ribbono Shel Olam went along with the psak of the consensus of that generation and caused the nes to occur.

Thursday, December 29, 2016

Netanyahu is Making More Speeches

By Moshe Feiglin

Netanyahu is doing what he does best – he is making speeches.

What should have been done long ago – he is not doing. And he will not be doing it. 

His speech after the UN Security Council vote reminded me of his speeches against Iran. A very leader-like pose, no substance and transfer of responsibility for Israel's security to the US. The Iran fiasco resulted in US-Iran negotiations, with Netanyahu trying to eavesdrop on the discussion room. Entirely reminiscent of Czechoslovakia on the eve of the signing of the Munich accords. Netanyahu is simply a gift for the Iranian nuclear project.

The same is true for the UN vote: A tempest in a teapot. "We have destroyed entire settlements, we removed the dead from their graves and we received a rain of rockets on Tel Aviv," bellowed Netanyahu in response to the vote. He forgot to mention that not only did he not prevent the senseless destruction of Gush Katif, but that he also voted for it in the Knesset.

From the Levy Commission on settlements in Judea and Samaria:
Jordan's annexation was not accepted on any legal basis, and most Arab countries opposed it, until 1988 when Jordan renounced its claim to the territory. Thus the original legal status of the territory was restored, namely, a territory designated as a national home for the Jewish people, who had a "right of possession" to it during Jordanian rule while they were absent from the territory for several years due to a war imposed on them, and have now returned to it.

Together with the international commitment to govern the territory and ensure the rights of the local population and public order, Israel also had the full right to claim sovereignty over these territories, and all Israeli governments believed so, but they chose not to annex them and take a pragmatic approach in order to allow for peace negotiations with representatives of the Palestinian people and the Arab states.

Israel therefore did not see itself as an occupying power in the classical sense of the word, and so never saw itself committed to the Forth Geneva Convention in relation to Judea, Samaria and Gaza.

As a result, Israel implemented a policy that allows the Israelis to live voluntarily in the territory in accordance with laws prescribed by the Israeli government and supervised by the Israeli legal system, while their continued presence is subject to the outcome of the negotiation process.


In light of the aforesaid, we have no doubt that from the perspective of international law, the establishment of Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria is legal, and therefore we can proceed to discussing this question from the perspective of domestic law.

Instead of adopting the Levy Report (which he himself commissioned) Netanyahu preferred to sustain the approach of the Outpost Report, authored by the extreme radical leftist Talyah Sasson. In other words, he sustains Israel's position that Judea and Samaria are 'belligerently seized' – doublespeak for 'occupied territory'.

The significance of this is that Israel itself indicates that it is an occupier in its own land. By its own admission, Israel has placed itself under the jurisdiction of international law and invites decisions like last week's Security Council resolution upon itself. Once again, Netanyahu is attempting to maintain his famous 'wait it out' policy and has transferred responsibility to the new Trump administration (except for his sanctions against Senegal).

The results will be similar to the Iran fiasco. No friend will do for you what you do not dare to do for yourself

“From what Remained in the Jug a Miracle was Performed for the ‘Roses’

By HaRav Mordechai Greenberg
Rosh HaYeshiva, Kerem B'Yavneh

“And it happened, at the end of two years” [Bereisheet 41:1]. “In all toil there is something gained” [Mishlei 14:23]. Every sad event will in the end lead to a benefit. And that is how Yosef’s salvation came about, from within the Egyptian prison. (Bereisheet Rabba 89:2).

“Happy is the man who put his trust in G-d” [Tehillim 40:8]. This refers to Yosef (Bereisheet Rabba 89:3). Yosef is the essence of the trait of faith, and he was able to find solace from within his troubles. In fact, the deepest part of the trouble was the beginning of his salvation.

The Chassidim claim that the passages of rebuke – “tochachah” – will eventually be revealed to be blessings. “The stranger in your midst will rise up higher and higher, and you will descend lower and lower” [Devarim 28:43]. This too is a source of consolation for Yisrael, like when a point on a spinning wheel reaches the bottom and it immediately starts to rise.

“‘She has fallen and will not rise, the virgin of Yisrael’ [Amos 5:2]. In Eretz Yisrael this is explained as follows: She will fall and not fall any further. Let the virgin of Yisrael rise up.” [Berachot 4b].

In the thirteen traits of mercy, one trait seems at first glance to be completely out of place. “And He will not forgive a sin at all” [Shemot 34:7]. This would seem to mean that G-d will never relent from punishing the sins. However, we are taught in the name of the ARI, “Do not look at a jug but only at what is inside it.” But this statement is not very clear.

In his book Gelilei Zahav, Rebbe Moshkowitz from Transylvania explains this as follows: “For I will destroy all the nations except for you, and I will not leave you unpunished” [Yirmiyahu 30:11]. Rashi notes that this is referring to destruction – that is, G-d will not remove them from the world. In this way, this trait is indeed an element of mercy, it does not mean that Yisrael will not be forgiven for their sins but rather that they will never be removed from the world.

If we look at the letters of the words “Nakeh... Yenakeh” we find that they are made up of the letters of G-d’s name (yud-heh-vav-heh) and the letters kuf-nun twice. And that is what the ARI meant: Do not look at the “kankan” (the jug) but what is inside it. Look for the holy name which appears together with “kankan.” Even at a time of exile and punishment, G-d’s name remains with them. As is written, “I will descend with you, and I will surely raise you up again” [Bereisheet 46:4].

And that is the meaning of the line quoted above from the song “Maoz Tzur” -

“From what remained in the jug a miracle was performed for the ‘roses.’” Chanukah was a miracle performed for Yisrael, who are nicknamed “roses,” by the name of G-d left over from the letters “kankan” in the trait, “Nakeh Yenakeh.”

The Beit Yosef asks a famous question: Why do we celebrate eight days of Chanukah, if the miracle was only seven days (since there was enough oil to burn for the first day)? The TAZ replies that on the first day a small bit of oil must have been left over, since a miracle would not take place in a vessel that was completely empty, as can be seen from the story of Elisha and the oil. Thus, a miracle already took place on the first day too. But we may well ask: This might be true for a miracle performed by a prophet, but how can we suggest that G-d cannot create a miracle starting from nothing? The answer that is given is that a miracle performed with the Name yud-heh-vav-heh can indeed be a creation of something out of nothing. Thus, when the people poured out the oil into the Menorah on the first day the container immediately filled up again. And in this way the miracle was indeed for eight full days. “And from the remains of the jug a miracle was performed” – “kankan” which is the remainder of the holy name of G-d. Therefore we add, “Wise sons called for song and praise for eight days” – and not only for seven days.

Rav Kook on Mikeitz: Interpreting Dreams

The Sages made a remarkable claim regarding dreams and their interpretation: 
“Dreams are fulfilled according to the interpretation” (Berachot 55b). 

The interpreter has a key function in the realization of a dream: his analysis can determine how the dream will come to pass. 

The Talmud substantiated this statement with the words of the chief wine-butler:
“Just as he interpreted, so [my dream] came to be” (Gen. 41:13).

Do dreams foretell the future? Does the interpreter really have the power to determine the meaning of a dream and alter the future accordingly?

The Purpose of Dreams

Clearly, not all of our dreams are prophetic. Originally, in humanity’s pristine state, every dream was a true dream. But with the fall of Adam, mankind left the path of integrity. Our minds became filled with wanton desires and pointless thoughts, and our dreams became more chaff than truth.

Why did God give us the ability to dream? A true dream is a wake- up call, warning us to correct our life’s direction. Our eyes are opened to a vivid vision of our future, should we not take heed to mend our ways.

To properly understand the function of dreams, we must first delve into the inner workings of divine providence in the world. How are we punished or rewarded in accordance to our actions?

The Zohar (Bo 33a) gives the following explanation for the mechanics of providence. The soul has an inner quality that naturally brings about those situations and events that correspond to our moral level. Should we change our ways, this inner quality will reflect that change, and will lead us towards a different set of circumstances.

Dreams are part of this system of providence. They are one of the methods utilized by the soul’s inner quality to bring about the appropriate outcome.

The Function of the Intepreter

But the true power of a dream is only realized once it has been interpreted. The interpretation intensifies the dream’s impact. As the Sages taught, “A dream not interpreted is like a letter left unread” (Berachot 55b). When a dream is explained, its images become more intense and vivid. The impact on the soul is stronger, and the dreamer is more primed for the consequential outcome.

Of course, the interpreter must be insightful and perceptive. He needs to penetrate the inner message of the dream and detect the potential influences of the soul’s inner qualities that are reflected in the dream.

Multiple Messages

All souls contain a mixture of good and bad traits. A dream is the nascent development of the soul’s hidden traits, as they are beginning to be realized. A single dream may contain multiple meanings, since it reflects contradictory qualities within the soul.

When the interpreter gives a positive interpretation to a dream, he helps develop and realize positive traits hidden in the soul of the dreamer. A negative interpretation, on the other hand, will promote negative traits. As the Zohar (Mikeitz 199b) admonishes:
“A good dream should be kept in mind and not forgotten, so that it will be fulfilled.... Therefore Joseph mentioned his dream [to his family], so that it would come to pass. He would always anticipate its fulfillment.”

It is even possible to interpret multiple aspects of a dream, all of which are potentially true. Even if they are contradictory, all may still be realized. Rabbi Bena’a related that, in his days, there were 24 dream-interpreters in Jerusalem. “Once I had a dream,” he said, “and I went to all of them. No two interpretations were the same, but they all came to pass” (Berachot 55b).

Dreams of the Nation

These concepts are also valid on the national level. Deliverance of the Jewish people often takes place through the medium of dreams. Both Joseph and Daniel achieved power and influence through the dreams of gentile rulers. The Jewish people have a hidden inner potential for greatness and leadership. As long as this quality is unrealized, it naturally tries to bring about its own fulfillment - sometimes, by way of dreams.

When a person is brought before the Heavenly court, he is questioned, “Did you yearn for redemption?” (Shabbat 31a). Why is this important?

By anticipating and praying for the redemption, we help develop the inner quality of the nation’s soul, thus furthering its advance and the actualization of its destined mission.

Two-State Illusion

By Rabbi Steven Pruzansky

The Jewish people have been “refuseniks” long before Jews from the former Soviet Union heroically gave that designation such honor. Rav Soloveitchik explained that Yosef, nearly falling into the lecherous clutches of Potiphar’s wife, extricated himself in a way that the Torah (Breisheet 49:8) described in one word: “And he refused.” That word is set apart from the rest of the verse by a psik, a sort of bracket, after which Yosef offers several explanations to the trollop who pined for him. But those disparate explanations are not essential to the narrative. What is essential is that one word: “Va’y’ma’ein.” And he refused. Period. The refusal matters more than the reasons.

Avraham refused to follow the debauched trends of his generation and ushered in a new era for mankind. Yitzchak and Yaakov both refused to buckle to their enemies and their inner strength and courage inspires us until today. Jews have always been refuseniks, and we would not be celebrating Chanukah this week but for a group of refuseniks called Maccabees who defeated a powerful Syrian army, rejected Greek culture, and overcame the Hellenist Jews of their generation who were trying to curry favor with the hostile, anti-Jewish establishment. Jews can refuse the enticements of sin, whether moral, physical or financial.

Herzl, Ben Gurion and Begin were all refuseniks in their own way, and today, we too are again called upon to be refuseniks, as the world community (read: UN) spearheaded by an American government led by a president, for whom so many Jews are still enamored, who has been waiting for an opportunity to stick it to Israel since his favorite preacher schooled him in the perfidies of the Jews. Yes, yes, this US government has provided Israel with $25B in military assistance in the last eight years, most of it spent in America; the same government has also furnished Iran with $100B to spend as they wish on terror, mayhem and the development of nuclear weapons.

Some Jews are irredeemably leftists and Obama supporters and nothing can happen that will change their minds. They have a unique capacity to be spat upon and then to exclaim with joy that it is raining. Gishmei Beracha. Or maybe Gishmei Kelala. Those “Jews” – make no mistake; a disproportionate number of them are not halachic Jews but the product of the scourge of intermarriage that is devouring American Jewry – would sooner blame Israel than open their eyes to Obama. Spare me the crocodile tears of those Obama supporters, some of whom voted for Obama twice, who now castigate him and offer platitudes of support for Israel, and of course would have voted for him a third time given the opportunity.

Obama is as much a product of his background – anti-Israel, liberationist theology – as John Kerry is of his: grandson of an apostate Jew who changed his name from Kohn to Kerry to try to pass himself off as Irish. We are now, indeed, being encircled by the rings of Kerry who does not even recognize his delusions. For example, 2.75 million Palestinians do not live under “Israeli military occupation,” as Kerry claims. Even ignoring the inflated number of Arabs living in Judea and Samaria, more than 90% live under an autonomous Arab government. If they cannot vote, it is because the brutal Arab dictatorship under which they live does not allow elections. And if those Arabs cannot enter “Israel” at will, it is because Israel is supposed to be a separate country, especially according to Kerry, and countries have the right to determine who can and cannot enter. That should be obvious.

Obama’s treachery was widely predicted, including in this space, and it is still entirely possible that he will recognize a “Palestine” before he is shown the door. But, as is the case with almost everything that Obama did as president, certainly domestically, it can all be reversed and erased. That is not to say that it will be easy. It is entirely in keeping with Obama’s world view that he has alienated Israel (and other US allies) and befriended Iran and Cuba. He hates Netanyahu and loves Castro. He has a fierce hatred of the fulfillment of Jewish destiny in the land of Israel even as he has bolstered and promoted the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood and presided over the spread of Islamic terror across the globe. What a legacy.

UN Resolution 2334, orchestrated by the Obama administration, is similar in many respects to another act of treachery by Jimmy Carter, later exposed to be a rabid Jew hater. On March 22, 1979, Carter abstained on UNSC Resolution 446 that condemned Israeli settlements, including Jerusalem (!), stated they had no legal validity, violated international law, and deplored … yada yada yada. But Jews are refuseniks, and since 1979, almost 500,000 Jews have populated Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem. May the current resolution result in similar growth!

Resolution 2334 differs substantially in only two respects: it calls on the world to “distinguish in their relevant dealings” between Israel “proper” and Judea and Samaria, effectively lending support to a boycott of Israel. And it refers repeatedly to the “two-state solution” and how settlements impair the “two-state solution.” It is time for that narrative change.

The problem is as much branding as it is politics and Jew hatred. There are problems and there are solutions, even if sane, realistic people recognize that not every problem has a solution. The very phrase “two-state solution” is the kicker. If there is a solution to a problem, only a nut would reject the solution and allow the problem to fester. It hasn’t dawned on the geniuses in the striped pants world (although it certainly motivates those who favor Israel’s demise) that the two-state “solution” is no solution at all. No reference was made to a two-state “solution” in Resolution 446 because it was then a dead letter. No rational person believed then that partitioning Israel and awarding its sworn enemies half its territory would be a solution to anything, except to those who perceive Israel’s existence as a problem. No rational person should believe it today.

We have to change the brand. Every time someone says “two-state solution” just write, blurt out or yell “two state illusion.” It is an illusion – indeed, a delusion – to think that an independent “Palestine” will bring peace. There never was an independent “Palestine,” there is no such political identity, no historic Palestinian figures from the 19th century going back to creation, and no means for even a peaceful “Palestine” to sustain itself as a state on territory that lacks material resources and infrastructure. It is a fabricated identity, fabricated not to buttress Arab claims but merely to suppress and eliminate Jewish claims. It is therefore not surprising that the “Palestinians” refused a state before 1948, made no effort to create a state when Jordan and Egypt controlled these territories from 1948-1967 and have rejected several ill-advised attempts to award them a state in the last 15 years. Let’s get real.

“Two state illusion” rolls off the tongue, and when uttered repeatedly, it makes a “two-state solution” sound much less appealing or even sensible. And it is a tribute to a number of Jewish activists that the Republican Party platform this year withdrew its support for the “two-state illusion,” and the incoming Trump administration seems presently disinclined to advocate it. And why would it? It can’t work, and if it could work, it would have worked already.

Much of the chatter makes it seem as if the “two-state illusion” was long-standing American and Israeli policy. It is not. Even the Oslo Accords did not endorse a “Palestinian” state, and the US only signed on to it at the urging of Ariel Sharon in 2004. Sharon encouraged the Bush Administration to support such a state in exchange for recognition of the settlement blocs as legal. This, sadly, was another disastrous legacy of Ariel Sharon. George W. Bush issued such a letter in June 2004, but US support of the settlement blocs was repudiated by Hillary Clinton in 2009 even as she pocketed the “two state illusion” as US policy conceded by Israel. Well, times have changed, and as Einstein noted, only the insane keep repeating the same actions and hope for different results.

Judea and Samaria represent Israel’s past and future. It is immoral to say that Jews can live in Shiloh, Illinois and not the original Shiloh. To articulate that sentiment is to be on the wrong side of history and to mock the Bible. Obama and Kerry are on the wrong side of history. In the story of Chanukah, it is distressing to note that most Jews sided with the enemy, the Syrian Hellenists who tried to stamp out Jewish sovereignty in the land of Israel and eradicate the Torah itself. Those Jews were on the wrong side of history. Many of the battles of the Maccabees were fought on land that neither Obama nor Kerry recognize as Jewish. But it was then and is now.

Those Jews who are turning on Israel are also on the wrong side of history. It is patently clear that the closer Jews are to Torah the greater is one’s commitment to the land of Israel, whose possession by Jews is obviously a major element of the Torah.  Of course, there are observant Jews who are still enthralled with the two-state illusion but they are an ever declining minority of the Torah world. So be it.

The battles that are being waged now for the land of Israel during the celebrations of Chanukah are reminders to us that the old antagonisms still exist in every generation, and that the spirit of the Jewish refusenik that has animated us throughout history will give us the strength and courage to refuse even the entreaties of people who perceive themselves as well-meaning in their quest to hound, diminish and weaken Israel.

That light still shines in every truly Jewish home, and will shine forever.

Happy Chanukah!

Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Obama's hatred of Israel will rebound

By Karin McQuillan

We're now in the Trump era. Time to drop the euphemisms. Time for consequences. Obama is not motivated by personal "pique" at Netanyahu. Anti-Zionism is not personal; it is ideological, and it is widely popular among the Democrat leftist base. Whereas anti-Semitism has shrunk to 3% of the white population in America, the ADL estimates that it is 22-36% among blacks and Latinos. It is much higher than that among leftists.

Obama has chafed at the need to put on a mainstream front. Now he is baring his leftist teeth. The effect is more mean than frightening, and it will not have the outcome he wants.

Obama hates Israel, as he hates America. He is the spiritual son of his Marxist father and of the openly anti-Semitic and anti-white Reverend Wright, as Obama told us from the first. To the left, Israel and America are evil imperialists. Obama has always wanted to cut Israel and America down to size.

Obama's last-ditch efforts to leave a legacy reveal his animus: flood our country with murderous jihadi "refugees" and make Israel a pariah nation in international courts. It is a big "F you" from our perfidious president.

Make no mistake: Obama has handed a useful club to Israel's enemies. Nonetheless, his leftist idea that he can effectively shackle the United States and Israel with international law is a progressive pipe dream. Neither Trump nor Israel's Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu is intimidated by the United Nations.

Obama is a small man with large dreams of destruction. His malicious attack at the U.N. will rebound. The permanent damage will be to Obama's own image. The Wall St. Journal editorial called it "a defining act of Obama's Presidency." Senator Tom Cotton was more blunt:

This cowardly, disgraceful action cements President Obama's richly deserved legacy as the most anti-Israel president in American history.

The literal wording of the U.N. resolution would push Israel to its 1949 armistice lines, which are militarily indefensible, and end Israel's viability. It would expel Israelis, and all Jews, out of ancient Jerusalem and their holiest site, the Western Wall, and lead to the expulsion of 600,000 Israelis from their land and homes. It will never happen, but Obama is inviting international courts and the anti-Israel EU to sanction and boycott Israel. In today's toxic world of leftist judicial activism, that would happen.

The Wall St. Journal:

No longer needing Jewish votes, Mr. Obama was free, finally, to punish the Jewish state in a way no previous President has done.

No effort to rescind the resolution … will succeed because of Russia's and China's vetoes.

Instead, the resolution will live on as Barack Obama's cat's paw, offering support in every European capital, international institution and U.S. university campus to bully Israel with the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.


Andrew McCarthy argues that the U.N. resolution is legally indefensible (not that legality has ever stopped Obama), as these territories are not "occupied," but "disputed" under international law. The word "occupation" is Arab propaganda. McCarthy is apoplectic:

It is Islamist-leftist dogma that Israel's millennia of attachment to its homeland count for nothing. Adding a final shameful chapter to a foreign-policy record that already runneth over with them, Barack Obama on Friday abandoned America's commitment to Israel's security, and to the vindication of democracy over sharia-supremacist aggression. In an act of cowardly venom…The resolution undertakes to render our ally indefensible.

I don't believe that this resolution will live on. The victor in a struggle between the U.N. and President Trump is foreordained. Trump will beat Obama's attack, not just this one time, but in the years to come, on many fronts, as Obama is free to act openly as a socialist agitator (that's what a community organizer is, folks). That Obama chose Israel as a first battleground is one more example of how tone-deaf he is to the American heart.

President-Elect Trump has surrounded himself with a powerhouse of cabinet ministers and advisers, the most successful men to ever serve a president. They have set themselves to take on ISIS and Iran. Palestinian maneuvering at the U.N. is small potatoes and will be dealt with appropriately.

The U.N. will find their U.S. funding cut by Congress. The Palestinians will find they are worse off than before, that Obama's support will bring them worthless victories and real-world grief.

Many senators are calling for consequences to the United Nations, none more eloquently than Senator Tom Cotton (hat tip: Power Line):

President Obama is personally responsible for this anti-Israel resolution. His diplomats secretly coordinated the vote, yet he doesn't even have the courage of his own convictions to vote for it. ... This resolution ... targeting Israel for building homes in Jerusalem, its own capital, while not specifically addressing Palestinian incitement of and financial support for terrorism. ... [T]his resolution surpasses even the infamous "Zionism is Racism" ... in its irrational obsession with the Jewish state.
Wimpy Obama thinks he handed the Palestinians a killing weapon. Instead, he has guaranteed that Trump will take on the Palestinians sooner. Trump will drain the diplomatic swamp that has normalized Palestinian hate. Knowing this, Obama tried to pre-empt Trump's intended change of course with this U.N. resolution.

Trump will be the first president to stop pushing the Palestinian's anti-Semiticcause. The Palestinian jihad against Israel was launched by Hitler's Third Reich. Adolf Eichmann himself traveled to the Mideast to focus the Moslem Brotherhood's jihadi rage on Jews. Decades before there were "occupied territories," Yasser Arafat was trained by ex-Nazi officers to destroy Israel.

President-elect Trump's new ambassador, David Friedman, is even moreoutspoken than Trump, has no illusions, and will break the false diplomatic tradition that Palestinians are a legitimate national movement.

Obama will find he has not even slowed down building in the so-called settlements. If not for the propaganda war against Israel, they would be called neighborhoods and suburbs of Jerusalem. The Jerusalem Planning and Construction Committee told reporters they are not intimidated and will be voting for 5,600 new housing units in East Jerusalem this week. They look forward to a friendly Trump administration that will not give them grief if they start a nice little building boom in East Jerusalem.

It will also be interesting to see how Obama's U.N. move plays out politically in America. Liberal Jewish organizations have been behaving bizarrely over Trump's victory. In a shocking repudiation of their traditional political neutrality,11 groups including the biggies the ADL, the Reform movement, and Hadassah, recently joined a fringe Soros BDS group to boycott the community Chanukah Party because it was at Trump's D.C. hotel.

It is entirely possible that this U.N. resolution will reverse that momentum. It will force Jewish Democrats into a bipartisan coalition with Trump. It seemed there were no limits to liberal Jews' willingness to betray Israel and Jewish interests (think Iran deal) in the service of the Democratic Party, but Obama may have found the limit.

The well known liberal Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz voted for Obama twice. He now calls Obama "nasty."

Dershowitz said he met with Obama previously, and he was promised he would "always have Israel's back." "I didn't realize what [Obama] meant is that he would have [their] back to stab them in the back, and he just stabbed them in the back," Dershowitz said.

Personal anecdote: An unhinged Hillary supporter who had been peppering a conservative friend with anti-Trump emails called in tears, saying she can no longer consider herself a Democrat.

Obama's betrayal came on the eve of Chanukah. Jews are sensitive to our holidays being occasions for attack. Roseanne Barr tweeted:

nazis enacted anti jewish laws on the eve of jewish holidays-exactly as @POTUS has done on eve of Hanukkah.

Israel's survival cannot be harmed by Obama's puny malice. This is how Israel responded at the U.N.:

Israel's (U.N.) Ambassador Danny Danon held up a Bible in that sanctuary of idolatry and spoke of the holiday of Chanukah, about to commence this calendar year on Christmas Eve. He reminded his listeners that over two thousand years ago another King had banished the Jewish people from the Temple in Jerusalem, and tried to sever Jews from their religion and their heritage.

And he continued: "But we prevailed. The Jewish people fought back. We regained our independence and relit the Menorah candles…We overcame those decrees during the time of the Maccabees and we will overcome this evil decree today."

A Letter to our Prime Minister: Employing Evil to Produce Good

By HaRav Nachman Kahana

A Letter to our Prime Minister

Honorable Prime Minister of Israel Mr. Binyamin Natanyahu:

The UN Security Council has voted that our presence in Shomron, Yehuda, the Golan, the Kotel and the Old City where I live, in short all of Eretz Yisrael beyond the 1967 “green line” is in violation of international law.

But that should not disturb us because the Torah was in violation of all the laws of international idolatry which were the accepted norms by the nations. Those nations have all vanished, except as exhibitions in our museums, while our Torah gains strength and momentum with every passing generation. So, too, will secular international law and the UN fade out of world history, as the Jewish nation grows and prospers within all the biblical boundaries – most of which we have yet to liberate.

In actuality, the vote is not the real story here. The more damning action of the Security Council occurred after the voting, when all the members stood and clapped at the results.

It is not accepted practice to clap at decisions of this august political body, so this exceptional and joyous response has a meaning of its own.

It is well known that you and your family study the TaNaCh veraciously, so it would come as no surprise that we can find a similarity of circumstances in the book of Shoftim (Judges, chapter 16) which relates the last heroic act of Shimshon (Samson):

 (כה) ויהי כי טוב כטוב לבם ויאמרו קראו לשמשון וישחק לנו ויקראו לשמשון מבית האסירים האסורים ויצחק לפניהם ויעמידו אותו בין העמודים:

(כו) ויאמר שמשון אל הנער המחזיק בידו הניחה אותי והימשני והמשני את העמדים אשר הבית נכון עליהם ואשען עליהם:

(כז) והבית מלא האנשים והנשים ושמה כל סרני פלשתים ועל הגג כשלשת אלפים איש ואשה הראים בשחוק שמשון:

(כח) ויקרא שמשון אל ה’ ויאמר אדני ה’ זכרני נא וחזקני נא אך הפעם הזה האלהים ואנקמה נקם אחת משתי עיני מפלשתים:

(כט) וילפת שמשון את שני עמודי התוך אשר הבית נכון עליהם ויסמך עליהם אחד בימינו ואחד בשמאלו:

(ל) ויאמר שמשון תמות נפשי עם פלשתים ויט בכח ויפל הבית על הסרנים ועל כל העם אשר בו ויהיו המתים אשר המית במותו רבים מאשר המית בחייו:

“Now the rulers of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to celebrate, saying, “Our god has delivered Shimshon, our enemy, into our hands.”

When the people saw him, they praised their god, saying, “Our god has delivered our enemy into our hands, the one who laid waste our land and multiplied our slain.”

While they were in high spirits, they shouted, “Bring out Shimshon to entertain us.” So, they called Shimshon out of the prison, and he performed for them.

When they stood him between the pillars, Shimshon said to the servant who held his hand, “Put me where I can feel the pillars that support the temple, so that I may lean against them.”

Now the temple was crowded with men and women. All the rulers of the Philistines were there, and on the roof, were about three thousand men and women watching Shimshon perform. Then Shimshon prayed to the Lord, “Sovereign Lord, remember me. Please, God, strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes.” Then Shimshon reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other, Shimshon said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus, he killed many more when he died than while he lived”.

Shimshon was in a weakened state; exposed before the thousands of Philistines who were clapping, jeering, mocking and scoffing at the weakened Jew. The Jew who was the object of their scorn. The Jew who could not defend himself at that moment.

But with his last breath, Shimshon pulled down the great pillars which held up the temple of avoda zara (idolatry); and all those present died.

The similarities between Shimshon and Medinat Yisrael in the Security Council meeting are real. Indeed, the Philistines in their “high spirits” and the clapping at the end of the vote at the Security Council disparaged, denigrated, belittled, trivialized, ridiculed and discredited the Jew and the Jewish State.

However, the similarities abruptly end here.

Shimshon was weakened, but HaShem granted him one last moment of super strength that enabled him to pull down the huge pillars holding up the temple.

Medinat Yisrael is a regional superpower with the men, machinery and arsenal to destroy any enemy within thousands of kilometers of our borders. Shimshon died on the day the temple collapsed. Medinat Yisrael has just begun to develop and will live on forever.

Notwithstanding these differences, there still is one more similarity that will become clear in the near future. As a consequence of the Philistines’ ridicule and clapping, the Temple to Dagon was destroyed. The Security Council’s ridicule and clapping will bring about the obliteration of the institution that has lost its ability to discern between right and wrong.

Mr. Prime Minister,
As a son of the tribe of Levi (third son of Ya’akov and Leah) you are endowed with leadership qualities as was Levi when he took the initiative to punish the city of Shechem for violating their sister Dina. The healthy and proud segments of our nation will stand by you in all your initiatives to protect our honor and our rights to HaShem’s promised land against all those who plan, scheme, plot or intend to erode or diminish our religious and historic rights to this land.

יהיה השם בעזרתך

Employing Evil to Produce Good

The Midrash (Bamidbar parashat Chukat chapter 19) describes a phenomenon that is solely in HaShem’s realm, where He orchestrates history by employing evil to produce good.

אברהם מתרח, חזקיה מאחז, יאשיה מאמון, מרדכי משמעי, ישראל מעובדי כוכבים, העולם הבא מעולם הזה מי עשה כן מי צוה כן מי גזר כן לא יחידו של עולם,
“Avraham born from Terach, King Chizkiyahu from Achaz, King Yoshiyahu from Amon, Mordechai from Shi’mie, the Jewish nation from idolators, the World to come from out of this world. Who is able to perform these things? Only HaShem Himself”.

Moshe came from the palace of Paro, the enslaver, to free the Jewish nation.
Queen Esther, from within the palace of evil, saved the Jewish people from the clutches of Acheshverosh and Haman.
Moshe turned the bitter waters of Marah sweet by inserting a bitter branch into the water.
King David was the great-grandson of Ruth who was a direct descendant of the evil Eglon, King of Moav (Moab).
The descendants of Haman studied Torah in Bnei Brak.
The descendants of Sisrah taught Torah to the children of Yerushalayim.
And Shemaya and Avtalyon, descendants of Sancheriv the Assyrian, were the teachers of the great Hillel.
Medinat Yisrael is in the midst of being betrayed by those whom we believed to be our staunchest supporters in the western world. It is no secret that the Shi’ite Iranians vow to wipe Israel off the map of the world, and they unflinchingly and brazenly labor to create the means to do so. Our so-called “friends” and “allies” have turned their backs on the existential threats which the Medina is facing. Moreover, they are fomenting the hegemonic fantasies entertained by Arabs in Yehuda and Shomron and even by the Arab citizens of the State.

The future will show that the source of the evil itself will be the avenue for our salvation in a way that only our Father in Heaven can orchestrate.

Shabbat Shalom,
Nachman Kahana
Copyright © 5777/2016 Nachman Kahana

Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Obama’s war against America

By Caroline B Glick

Following outgoing US President Barack Obama’s assault on Israel at the UN Security Council last Friday, longtime UN observer Claudia Rossett wrote an important article at PJMedia where she recalled Kirkpatrick’s words.

In “How the PLO was legitimized,” published in Commentary, Kirkpatrick said that Yassir Arafat and the PLO worked “to come to power through international diplomacy – reinforced by murder.”

Kirkpatrick explained, “The long march through the UN has produced many benefits for the PLO. It has created a people where there was none; a claim where there was none. Now the PLO is seeking to create a state where there already is one. That will take more than resolutions and more than an ‘international peace conference.’ But having succeeded so well over the years in its campaign to delegitimize Israel, the PLO might yet also succeed in bringing the campaign to a triumphant conclusion, with consequences for the Jewish state that would be nothing short of catastrophic.”

As Rossett noted, in falsely arguing that Obama’s support for Friday’s UN Security Council Resolution 2334 is in line with Reagan’s policies, Obama’s UN ambassador Samantha Power deliberately distorted the historical record of US policy towards Israel and the PLO-led UN onslaught against the Jewish state.

In stark contrast to Power’s self-serving lie, neither Reagan nor George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton nor George W. Bush would have ever countenanced a resolution like 2334.

Obama’s predecessors’ opposition to the war against Israel at the UN was not merely an expression of their support for Israel. They acted also out of a fealty to US power, which is directly targeted by that war.

It is critical that we understand how this is the case, and why the implications of Resolution 2334 are
disastrous to the US itself.

Resolution 2334 is being presented as an “anti-settlement” resolution. But it is not an anti-settlement resolution.

Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria and neighborhoods in Jerusalem are being used – as they always have been used – as a means of delegitimizing the Jewish state as a whole, and legitimizing Palestinian terrorists and Islamic terrorists more generally. Resolution 2334 serves to criminalize Israel and its people and to undermine Israel’s right to exist, while embracing Palestinian terrorists and empowering them in their war to annihilate Israel.

America’s historic refusal to countenance such actions at the UN Security was never a purely altruistic position. It was also a stand for American power and the inherent justice of American superpower status and global leadership.

Throughout most of its history, the UN has served as a proxy battlefield first of the Cold War, and since the destruction of the Soviet Union, for the war against the US-led Free World.

Beginning in the early 1960s, the Soviets viewed the political war against Israel at the UN as a means to undermine the moral basis for the US-led West. If Israel, the only human rights defending state in the Middle East, and the US’s only stable ally in the region could be delegitimized, then the very coherence of the US-led Western claim to moral superiority against the totalitarian Soviet empire would be undone.

Hence, the first Soviet attempt at the UN to castigate Zionism, the Jewish national liberation movement, as a form of racism was made in 1965, two years before Israel took control of Judea and Samaria and united Jerusalem in the Six Day War.

That attempt failed. But nine years later the wording first raised in 1965 was adopted by the UN General Assembly which passed resolution 3379 slandering libeled Zionism as “a form of racism.”

With their automatic majority in the General Assembly and all other UN organs, the Soviets used the Palestinian war against Israel as a proxy for their war against America. After the demise of the Soviet Union, the Islamic bloc, backed by members of the former Soviet bloc, the non-aligned bloc and the Europeans continued their campaign. The only thing that kept them from winning was the US and its Security Council veto.

When Obama chose to lead the anti-Israel lynch mob at the Security Council last week, he did more than deliver the PLO terrorist organization its greatest victory to date against Israel. He delivered a strategic victory to the anti-American forces that seek to destroy the coherence of American superpower status. That is, he carried out a strategic strike on American power.

By leading the gang rape of Israel on Friday, Obama undermined the rationale for American power. Why should the US assert a sovereign right to stand against the radical forces that control the UN?

If US agrees that Israel is committing a crime by respecting the civil and human rights of its citizens to live in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, then how can America claim that it has the right to defend its own rights and interests, when those clash with the views of the vast majority of state members of the UN?

Following Obama’s assault on Israel Friday, Senators Lindsay Graham and Ted Cruz called for the US to end its financial support for the UN at least until the Security Council abrogates Resolution 2334. They are correct.

But it isn’t anger at how Obama has and is expected to continue to use the Security Council to imperil Israel that should inform the incoming Trump administration’s actions. Rather a determination to maintain US power and secure its national security requires that the UN be permanently defunded and defanged.

For eight years, through his embrace and empowerment of US enemies, betrayal and weakening of US allies, emaciation of the US armed forces and repeated apologies for America’s past assertions of global leadership Obama has waged a determined war against US superpower status. The last vestige of the strategic and moral rationale for US power was the protection America afforded Israel at the Security Council.

Now with that gone, it has become a strategic imperative for the US to render the UN irrelevant. This can only be undertaken by permanently defunding this corrupt institution and using the US’s Security Council veto to end the UN’s role as the arbiter of international peace and security, by among other things, ending the deployment of UN forces to battle zones.

Only by stripping the UN of its financial wherewithal to assault US allies and American interests and by denying it the institutional and operational capacity to serve as an arbiter of disputes morally and legally superior to the US can America protect its sovereignty and advance its interests.

Only by denying those associated with the UN the prestige that confers to an institution legitimized by democrat and autocrat alike can the incoming Trump administration rebuild America’s reputation and power.

It is not surprising that Obama is carrying out the final act of his presidency at the UN. Obama has made no attempt to hide his desire to eliminate America’s independence of action. By elevating the post of UN ambassador to a cabinet level position at the outset of his presidency, Obama signaled his conviction that this corrupt institution is the equal of the US government.

This early signal was transformed into an open policy when Obama used the Security Council as a means to bypass the US Senate in implementing his nuclear deal with Iran.

Now, by ignoring the near consensus position of both parties that the US should block anti-Israel resolutions from being adopted at the Security Council and plotting further action against Israel at the Security Council in his final weeks in office, Obama has made clear his position and his aim.

Obama is not leading the war against Israel at the Security Council simply to advance the PLO’s war for the annihilation of Israel. He is acting in this manner to undermine the legitimacy of American power.

Obama’s strategic campaign against his country can only be defeated by a counter campaign by his successor.

Luckily, by eschewing multilateral entanglements in favor of bilateral partnerships during his presidential campaign, President-elect Donald Trump has demonstrated that he understands the threat and will adopt the only possible means of countering it. To reassert and rebuild the rationale for American power, the Trump administration must permanently defund the UN and reject its legitimacy as an institution of global governance.

The UN Declares War on Judeo-Christian Civilization

By Giulio Meotti 

  • How is it that Western jurisprudence, created after the Second World War to prevent more crimes against humanity, is now being used to perpetuate more crimes and against democracies?
  • It is a dreadful manipulation to try erase all Jewish and Christian history, to make believe that all the world was originally and forever only Islamic. That is what a jihad looks like. It is not just orange jumpsuits, beheadings and slavery. If one can erase and rewrite history, one can redirect the future.
  • If Palestinian men beat their wives, it's Israel's fault, argued UN expert Dubravka Simonovic with a straight face.
  • Last month, the President of the UN General Assembly sported the famous keffiyah scarf, a symbol of the "Palestinian resistance" (read terrorism). This is simply the continuation of the cultural obliteration of Israel, which is supposed to justify next its physical obliteration.
  • The UN's war on the Israel's Jews is, at heart, a war against the West. The UN and its backers are briskly paving the way for the European Caliphate.
Last month, the President of the UN General Assembly, Peter Thomson, sported the famous checkered scarf, the keffiyah, a symbol of the "Palestinian resistance" (read terrorism). This is simply the continuation of the cultural obliteration of Israel, which is supposed to justify next its physical obliteration. (Image source: UN/Manuel Elias)
2016 has been a sumptuous year for the anti-Semites at the United Nations. The UN Security Council just targeted the only democracy in the Middle East: the State of Israel. The outgoing Obama Administration reportedly orchestrated what even Haaretzcalled a "hit and run" campaign in UN to denigrate the Jewish State and leave it to a fate where only conflict and hate loom. This is a cultural genocide that is no less dangerous than terror attacks. It is based on anti-Semitic lies and creates the atmosphere not for achieving "peace", as disingenuously claimed, but for perpetuating war.

The Shamrak Report: International Anti-Semitic Smokescreen

(Over 60% of all resolutions adopted by the ‘Ugly Nazi’ have been dedicated to the anti-Semitic need to denigrate Jews, bully and legally discriminate against the only Jewish state!)
The UN Charter makes it clear that the only binding resolutions are issued under Chapter VII, these all relate to keeping the peace and are extreme measures. The rest are advisory
There have been ZERO Chapter VII resolutions regarding Israel, so Israel has breached no UN resolutions, as ALL have been advisory (usually advising of a condemnation), and therefore there is no requirement to act. Here is the list of Chapter VII interventions; they include:
United Nations Security Council Resolution 82 (Korea)
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1267 (Afghanistan)
United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor
United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone
United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda
United Nations Angola Verification Mission II
United Nations Operation in Somalia II
United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission
United Nations Protection Force (former Yugoslavia)
Oil-for-Food Programme (Iraq)
United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti
United Nations Security Council Resolution 678 (Gulf War)
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 (Libya)
Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter sets out the UN Security Council's powers to maintain peace. It allows the Council to "determine the existence of any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression" and to take military and non-military action to "restore international peace and security".
NOTE: As the term “Palestinians” is used - it is prudent to point out that it is a common definition only, but does not mean the acceptance of the existence of a fake nation, which was created by Arab states with the help of the Soviet Union in 1960’s in order to undermine the legitimacy and to eventually achieve the destruction of Israel - the only Jewish state!
Remember Ugly anti-Semitic Nazis!
The Council is composed of 15 Members: China, France, Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the US and ten non-permanent members: Angola, Egypt, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Senegal, Spain, Ukraine, Uruguay and Venezuela. Some of them have been playing a fake friendship game with Israel!
Happy Hanukah!
Hanukah represents the Jewish national struggle for freedom. Small group of Jews liberated the Eretz-Israel from the Greek occupation. May the spirit of the Maccabees inspire the government of Israel to free all the Land of Israel from Arab occupation!
Food for Thought by Steven Shamrak
If the US state department and the US ambassador to the UN Samantha Power, particularly, had any integrity, she could vote NO and block the anti-Israel resolution of the UNSC and resign her position later! (only one month left). But her obvious affiliation with Obama's hate for Israel and lack of integrity has not allowed it.
The United States allowed a UN Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlement construction to be adopted. The Security Council approved the resolution with 14 votes, with the US abstaining. There was applause in the chamber following the vote! "As the United States has long maintained peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians will only come through direct negotiations between the parties, and not through the imposition of terms by the United Nations," Trump said. "This puts Israel in a very poor negotiating position and is extremely unfair to all Israelis." (Cuba did not work, so Obama invented another ‘legacy’ for the anti-Semitic world to remember him! Not a single busted-state supported Israel! Israel must realise that only Israel can end this internationally fostered travesty and the removal of all enemy population from Jewish land is the only solution!)
The High Court of Justice accepted on Thursday a request to postpone the evacuation of the illegal outpost of Amona - scheduled for December 25 - by 45 days, till February 8. The court stressed that "this is a final and last extension, even if no alternative solution is found."
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said the organisation has a “disproportionate” volume of resolutions against Israel, which he believes has “foiled the ability of the UN to fulfill its role effectively”. In response, Israel's Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, said that the UN's hypocrisy towards Israel had "broken records over the past decade". “During this time the UN passed 223 resolutions condemning Israel, while only eight resolutions condemning the Syrian.(On his way out Ki-moon is playing a hypocritical lip-service to the truth.)
Bipartisan legislation to strengthen collaborative cybersecurity research and development efforts between the United States and Israel was signed into law.
UN warns Palestinian population will double to 9.5 million by 2050. New report says projection should be ‘wake-up call’ to Israel, international community as crises surrounding faltering economy, infrastructure and electricity persist, especially in Gaza. (The UN created them, by 'unique' anti-Semitic support of the enemies of the Jewish state since 1947. The Sinai is a perfect place to continue this stupidity for 100 more years!)
Israel will stop funding UN institutions in response to the resolution condemning its settlements in the occupied territories and East Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had already cut $7.8 million in funding to five UN institutions “that are particularly hostile towards Israel.” Netanyahu ALSO summons 15 ambassadors and cuts civilian coordination with Palestinians.
Lebanon is Hezbollah Arm Supplier
Hezbollah terror fighters "appropriated" armored personnel carriers given to Lebanon by the United States. Photographs of the APCs, supplied by the US to the Lebanese Army, were seen posted to the internet while being paraded by Hezbollah guerrilla fighters in Syria.
Quote of the Week:
“I have no doubt that the Obama administration initiated the decision and stands behind it (the UN Resolution 2334). It coordinated its phrasing and saw to it that it would be passed - completely contrary to the traditional American policy of not seeking to impose final terms through the Security Council.” - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - They say "There is bad in Good and good in Bad." Just building in Jerusalem is inadequate response to international anti-Semites! Israel must have a plan of reunification of all Jewish land. The first step toward it - complete annexation of Judea and Samaria and removal of the enemy population, using various encouragements and legal persuasions!
(Israel needs to provide a little ‘encouragement’!)
Media reports about the Arab struggle to retrieve the lands of Amona has been presented by politicians and the media as part of an Arab tradition of loyalty to their land...
And yet, reality on the ground in Judea and Samaria is somewhat different. Local Arabs may not be willing to sell their land (in fear of death from the Arab ‘brothers’), but many of them don’t live on land either, preferring instead to emigrate to the US (and other countries)...
The Jewish settlers of Ofra and Amona have been wondering what has happened to neighboring Arab villages such as Silwad. A visitor happening inside the village can see numerous, luxurious villas that are deserted... Reporter Assaf Gibor describes those empty homes as “white elephants.”
According to Gibor, between 80 and 90 percent of Dir Dibwan’s residents have an American citizenship. One local resident, Muhammad Manasra, who splits his life between the village and California, estimates the population in the two neighboring villages at 16,000, most of them living abroad...
Arab immigration from Judea and Samaria has been going on for decades. 
Official Palestinian Authority figures suggest there are three million Arabs living there. In reality, the figures are lighter by at least one million, according to many experts. Since 1997, Israel is no longer operating the census there, and the PA count does not abide by international norms, whereby a person who has been absent for a year or more from his country is no longer counted.