Watch: Sweden FM believes Abbas renounces violence

On December 4, 2015, there appeared on youtube a video of a formal interaction between Sweden's anti-Israel Foreign Minister (FM), Margot Wallstrom, and a pro-Israel Swedish Member of Parliament (MP), Kent Ekeroth. This video shows you what the Arab-Israel conflict looks like in the 21^st Century.

For this 'debate'. the pro-Israel Ekeroth had asked the Swedish government what are its views of the Palestinian Authority (PA), Fatah (the Party that controls the PA) and Mahmoud Abbas (leader of Fatah and President of the PA). A second pro-Israel MP, Mathias Sundin, had asked the FM why she had not condemned Arab attacks against Jews in Israel. A third MP, Magnus Oscarsson, had asked if Sweden intended to support moderates in the PA. 

The debate begins. The FM states what she believes: she's against 'Palestinian' violence. She's against terror. She has already condemned Arab violence. 

Throughout this video, you will see the Swedish FM articulate the five basic elements of the West’s 21st Century peace-for-Israel mantra. In practical terms, however, these eloquent words are nothing more than dressed-up anti-Israel propaganda:

1.   Abbas and his government renounce terrorism (1:44, 2:08, 2:35 (by suggestion), 2:47, 10:48, 10:48 (repeated at this point twice in two consecutive sentences) and 11:23.

2.   Israel and ‘Palestine’ will live ‘side-by-side in peace and security (2:31, 3:17)

3.   Two states are the goal (3:11, 10:01)

4.   The violence between Arab-Jew is morally equivalent (suggested at 1:21-1:35, 8:32, 11:07)

5.   Sweden supports moderates in the PA (2:16)

At 3:30-7:20, MP Ekeroth gives his first response to the FM’s pro-peace assertions. 

Listen to how the FM answers MP Ekeroth at 7:25-11:40. You can judge for yourself if she answers Ekeroth’s questions. In my view, she does not.

Instead, she answers question Ekeroth hadn’t asked. She avoids answering his questions.

Like all pro-peace/anti-Israel advocates, she hides behind expressions of compassion (7:39). Instead of answering clear questions, she prefers to quote her own previous speeches (8:03-8:30).

She speaks in generalities. For example, instead of answering Ekeroth’s specific questions, she says Sweden is a friend of Israel (not one of Ekeroth’s questions) (9:43). Sweden is a friend of peace (10:1). The only way to achieve peace is through a peace process (10:13)—again, not answers to anything Ekeroth asked.

She does attempt to address Ekeroth’s questions. But when she does this, she announces that this isn’t the time to discuss interpretations and translations of what Abbas has said! (10:30).

This is exactly how pro-peace/anti-Israel advocates handle uncomfortable questions that do not conform with the narrative they are selling (that Israel is the aggressor). They refuse to answer those questions. 

At 11:51, Ekeroth gets to respond to the FM’s generalites. 

At the end of the video, the FM finally responds to Ekeroth’s having detailed specific Fatah Facebook and Twitter examples of official PA incitement to violence against Jews. She does this by attacking Ekeroth's knowledge (in debate, this is called, when you're losing, attack the person, not the facts): she says, “where Ekeroth gets his information from only god knows”.

Apparently, she’s never heard of the internet.

Here’s the video. If you want to watch just a 'quick' view, watch 3:30-7:30 and 11:51-15:54 and 20:30-25:20:

 The 21st Century: where the war against Israel is a war against truth; and yes, G-d knows where Ekeroth got his facts from: an NGO that tracks the Arab anti-Israel press and reports its findings on the internet--in detail, with sources cited by name and date.

Watch: Discrimination against religious Jews on the Temple Mount

The Temple Mount is Judaism's holiest place on earth. But when the State of Israel was born in November, 1947 through a United Nations General Assembly vote, the UN did not consider the Temple Mount to be a specifically Jewish site. The UN wanted the Temple Mount to be free and open to all three monotheistic religions. 

As you probably know, the Arabs surrounding the new as-yet-unnamed Jewish State rejected the idea of a Jewish State in their midst. They didn't care that the UN was creating that Jewish State. They rejected the UN authorization for it. 

They attacked the Jews. They wanted to destroy the Jewish State before it even had the opportunity to give itself a name. 

Because of the Will of HaShem, the G-d of Israel, those Arabs lost that war. But in that loss, they still conquered important parts of Jerusalem. That conquest of Jerusalem meant that the Temple Mount would be in their hands exclusively. 

Because of the Will of HaShem, the G-d of Israel, those Arabs immediately showed the world what they thought of the freedom of worship. They banned Jews from the Temple Mount. 

That Jew-free status lasted until 1967. Then, HaShem the G-d of Israel stepped into history again. 

In 1967, the Arabs surrounding Israel decided it was time to drive the Jews into the Sea once-and-for-all. Again, they organized an attack against the Jews.

Because of the Will of HaShem, those Arabs lost again. As a result of that loss, the Arabs lost Judea-Samaria. They lost the Golan Heights. They lost Jerusalem's Old City. 

Through the Will of HaShem, the modern borders of Israel grew to conform more accurately to the borders HaShem had originally described for Israel some 3,280 years before, in the Torah. 

Through the Will of HaShem, 1967 also changed something else: when the Arabs lost that war, they lost the Temple Mount. As of June, 1967, the Temple Mount fell into Jewish hands. HaShem had returned the Temple Mount back to the Jewish people.

At that time (1967), the Jews showed the world what they thought of the freedom of worship: they kept the Temple Mount open to Muslim worshippers.

Since then, Israel has done what the Arab had refused to do: offer freedom of access and freedom of worship on the Temple Mount. In practical terms, this has meant that, even though Muslims no longer controlled the Temple Mount, they nonetheless had the right to ascend to the Temple Mount to pray. 

What began for the Muslims in 1967 remains true to this day. Muslims retain the freedom to worship as they please on the Temple Mount (except when public safety is an issue). 

The idea of freedom of religion is important to modern Israel. Israel's official policy is that the State of Israel is a democratic state which guarantees freedom of religion to all its citizens ("The meaning of Israel as the State of the Jewish people," Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, February 20, 2014). Israel's Declaration of Independence states clearly that "it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions" (ibid).

But while Muslims have the freedom to worship on the Jewish Temple Mount, that same freedom is not entirely available to all Jews. Today, certain Jews are denied the freedom to worship on the Temple Mount. They are discriminated against.

Israel denies that. As you'll see at the end of the video below, Israeli authorities say they treat all religions alike on the Temple Mount.

The video itself, however, may prove that assertion to be false. Since the video was filmed by Israel's channel 2 TV--which is not a pro-religious TV station--you may conclude that Israel has a problem here. 

If the video is correct, officials at the Temple Mount have divided Jews into two groups. You'll see in the video how that plays out on the Temple Mount.

The video is 4:11 long. The language spoken is Hebrew. There are English subtitles. 

Because Israelis speak very quickly, you may need to watch this short video more than once, in order to have enough time to read the subtitles and watch the video images.

Here's the video. It comes to you courtesy channel 2 TV in Israel. As I understand it, the video has become part of the effort of the Temple Institute (in Jerusalem), to bring Temple Mount issues to the attention of the public.

Israel is the State of the Jewish people. Because Jews have been so discriminated against for so long--2,000 years--it's important for us to have our own State. Because our State is ours, it's supposed to end anti-Jewish discrimination so that Jews can 'come home' to be free, to live as Jews and to be able to work and worship as Jews. 

But--as you just saw--Israel's journey to freedom for the Jewish people isn't over. For Jews to be free, Israel must change. 

Israel isn't perfect. If anything, Israel's government is proof-positive that Man is flawed. 

This modern government of Israel operates according to man-made Western law. This means that Israel is more democratic than Jewish.

For some of us, that's a flaw.

But Israel is also changing. If you're pro-Israel and a religious Jew, you may not believe that. As you look around, there are simply too many anti-Israel/anti-Jewish decisions emanating from the halls of Israel's government.

But then, Israel is changing. There is more Torah in Israel today than any time in history. The Jewish population in Israel is growing. The religious Jewish population in Israel is growing. More important, the number of Jews who say they are both religious and pro-Israel is growing.

Israel is not perfect. But Israelis increasingly believe in HaShem. They increasingly see His Hand in our Destiny.

There is trouble for Jews on the Temple Mount. But Israel is changing. 

If you don't believe that, stay tuned. This movie isn't over.

Sympathize with Arab terror: support genocide

This past week, Arab terror attacks against Jews in Israel continued (News of Terrorism and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, December 2 – 8, 2015”, Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center”). The attacks were focused. Between December 2-8, 2015, Arabs committed twelve attacks against Jews in Judea-Samaria and the Jerusalem area only (ibid).

Here’s the record: Arabs committed four stabbings. A fifth stabbing attempt was stopped before it began. The IDF picked up a 13-year old Arab boy carrying a large knife. When soldiers asked him where he was going with that knife, he replied, essentially, that he was going to stab a Jew.

In addition to the four stabbings, Arabs committed six more shooting attacks against Jews and two more car attacks: seven days, twelve attacks.

Most of these attacks were carried out by ‘civilians’. One attacker was an officer in the PA’s general intelligence services. He was one of the shooters. He was killed in that attack (ibid).

These Arabs were primarily young-to-very-young. For this particular seven-day period, the attackers’ ages (for those who were caught or killed) were: 18, 21, 16, 19, 27, 21, 21, 37 and 13 (ibid). Four of nine were teenagers.

We know something about some of the attackers who died. One was a 10^th grader (age 16). Security forces found a note on his body. The note indicated his attack had been planned. His 19 year-old cousin, a University student, had joined with him to attack a soldier, stabbing him with knives. Both were shot dead during their attack. The soldier survived.

Two others attackers were gainfully employed. One of these two was engaged to be married.

Beneath the fog created by Arab propaganda that Arabs are the victims of these attacks, there squats an ugly lie and an uglier truth. The lie is, these attacks are ‘lone-wolf’ expressions of rage against Israeli oppression that has nothing to do with Jew-hate (Mohammed Daraghmeh, Karin Laub, “Fueled by rage, Palestinian lone wolf attacks [now] in 3rd month”, Associated Press, December 9, 2015). The truth is, these attacks are genocide.

Let’s look at this lie and this truth. First, the lie: the hate-Israel industry story-line about this campaign of Arab terror against Jews is that this violence is Israel’s fault (the old ‘blame-the-victim’ excuse). That is, this anti-Jewish violence is the result of Israel’s crushing rule over ‘Palestinians’ (ibid). The violence supposedly exists because Israel humiliates ‘Palestinians’ beyond endurance (Bernard Avishai, “What Provoked Palestinian Knife Attacks in Israel?”, NewYorker, October 23, 2015).

That’s why, this argument goes, we see so many Arab teens attacking. Because of Israel, they’ve lost all hope (Mohammed Daraghmeh, ibid). This is why the attacks are spontaneous, with no guiding hand or clear tactical goal (ibid). Hopeless Arab teens simply hurl themselves to their deaths because Israel has stolen their state.

This construct is false. Teenagers almost never commit suicide because of politics. They have other motivations. When Arab teens and young adults go to the Jewish street to attack Jews with knife or car, they sometimes post comments onto their Facebook page before their attack. Almost always, they specify Islam, the Islamic god and/or some aspect of ‘Islamism’ or ‘martyrdom’ as the reason for their attack. ‘Statehood’, ‘rage’, Israeli rule or ‘Frustration’ are seldom mentioned.

Furthermore, most of these Arab attacks cluster around just two places: Jerusalem (home of the Temple Mount) and Hevron (burial site of the Jewish patriarchs). Jerusalem and Hevron are religious sites.

That should tell you something about these attacks. They’re about religion, not politics. Attacker Facebook entries support this assertion.

The hate-Israel industry lies. Arabs aren’t attacking Jews in Israel because of statehood.

The ugly truth is, this violence isn’t about political rage. It’s not about ‘frustration’.  

It’s about religion. Specifically, it’s about a religion-inspired genocide committed at the grass-roots level.

Typically, we think of genocide as a crime committed by a national ruler, an army or a government. But, while that’s true, private individuals can also commit genocide.

The Bible of ‘Genocide’ is the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. This document was ratified by the UN General Assembly December 9, 1948.

Articles II and III define genocide as acts committed by one group against another group, in order to destroy, in whole or in part, that other group. Article III explicitly states that acts of genocide include the killing of members of a group and/or the causing of bodily and mental harm to members of that group.

These definitions describe the stabbings, car-rammings and shootings we have seen in Israel. Each of these attacks is aimed at individuals who are Jews—members of a group. These Jews aren’t targeted because they’ve committed a crime. They’re targeted exclusively because they belong to a group. That’s genocide.

More important for you, Article IV of that Genocide Convention states explicitly that acts of genocide are not only punishable when committed by constitutionally responsible rulers and/or public officials, but also when committed by private individuals [emphasis mine].

That’s the point you need to understand. A ‘lone wolf’ teen, adult, or pre-teen who tries to kill a Jew is not a Martian, a ‘wolf’ or a victim. He’s a private citizen who commits a punishable act of genocide because he is targeting members of a group.

When you feel sorry for that teen, adult or pre-teen, you agree with genocide. You feel sorry for a person who commits a crime against humanity (Rome Statute, Preamble, Part Two, Article 7, “Definition of ‘Crime against Humanity’”, July 1998).

When you sympathize with the Arab attacker, you end up demonizing the Jewish victim. When you sympathize with the Arab attacker, you’re not rooting for a ‘freedom fighter’. You root for a criminal who is no ordinary criminal.

He’s a purveyor of evil. He commits a crime against all of humanity.

Is that what you want to support? 

Terror and Islam, America and Israel

Recently, an article appeared in the Anglo press about Muslim condemnations of terror attacks (Max Fisher, “A very simple explanation of why it's wrong to demand that Muslims condemn terrorism”, vox, November 21, 2015). The article suggests that Americans don’t perceive Islamic terror the way Israelis perceive it.

On November 13, 2015, an ISIS attack in Paris, France killed 130 and wounded hundreds more. After the attack, some Americans wanted to see Muslims condemn it (Max Fisher, ibid). Muslims didn’t answer the call. They didn’t storm into the streets to protest against ISIS.

People noticed. In Paris, the site of the attack, many expected mass Muslim protests against ISIS. Paris is home to 1.8 million Muslims. An anti-ISIS protest should have attracted thousands from the ‘religion of peace’. But only 30 Muslims showed up (“Paris: 30 Muslims out of 1.8 mil in the city turn up to protest terrorism”, themuslimissue, November 17, 2015).

This lack of Muslim interest to stand up against ISIS isn’t unique to Paris.  It’s happened before. When ISIS atrocities in 2014 shocked the world, few Muslims came out to protest. For example, in Grand Rapids, Michigan—which has a population of 200,000 Muslims—only 50 went to protest ISIS (Tziv Ben-Gedalyahu, “A Grand Total of 50 Muslims in Michigan Condemn ISIS”, Jewishpress, August 29, 2014).  Through 2015, ISIS brutality has provoked very few Muslim protests--anywhere.

Some Americans wonder: why don’t Muslims protest atrocities committed by their co-religionists? Wouldn’t adherents of a ‘religion of peace’ want to show they stood for peace, not terror?

That question provokes anger. On what basis, some Muslims ask, am I answerable for the actions of others who claim my creed?   (Justin Glyn “On blaming Muslims for Paris”, eurekastreet, November 18, 2015).

On US TV, MSNBC’s Chuck Todd set out to explore that very question. He invited a woman named Dalia Mogahed, a Muslim and, Todd said, an expert on Muslim attitudes in the US (Fisher, ibid). He asked her about American leaders who had demanded that more Muslim leaders come out to condemn ISIS. Mogahed didn’t respond by declaring that Muslim leaders were condemning ISIS (as we saw some do after the San Bernadino, California attack on December 3, 2015). She made her own demand: we need to stop demanding that Muslims condemn terrorism.

She argued that one could not justify such a demand. Her reason was simple. The majority of terrorist attacks in the US, according to the FBI, she said, were committed by white, male Christians (ibid). When those terrorists kill, she said, we don't suspect other people who share their faith and ethnicity of condoning their actions. We don’t ask Christians to stand up to condemn them. We assume these attacks outrage Christian leaders just as much as they do anyone else.

Therefore, she concluded, we have to afford this same assumption of innocence to Muslims. Essayist Fisher (above) agrees with her. He sees any demand that Muslim leaders condemn ISIS as some kind of bigoted ritual (ibid). It’s bigotry because, Fisher says, it implies that every Muslim is under suspicion of being sympathetic to terrorism unless he or she explicitly says otherwise. The implication is also that any crime committed by any Muslim is the responsibility of all Muslims simply by virtue of their shared religion. He claimed it’s a form of blaming an entire group for the actions of a few individuals (ibid).

I disagree with Fisher. The reason Western man would ask Muslims to condemn ISIS is not because the West is bigoted towards Muslims. The West makes this request because Islamic ISIS terrorists claim they kill in the name of Islam. All the West wants to know from its Muslim friends is, are these terror attacks truly a part of Islam, or just ISIS?

To express shock that one would be asked that question is to dodge the question. That dodge suggests one doesn’t want to answer the question.

What’s wrong with the question?  When white Christians in the US commit terror attacks they don’t do so while exclaiming, ‘Jesus is Great!’ They don’t exclaim, in the middle of their attack, that they kill in the name of Christianity. That’s why no one asks Christian leaders to denounce the attacks. The killers themselves don’t connect ‘killing’ with ‘Christianity’.

But Muslim terrorists do make such exclamations. They do connect ‘killing’ with ‘Islam’. Why wouldn’t we want to hear from Islam’s leaders?

When Islamic terror happens, you almost always see two things occur. First, the terrorists declare they kill in the name of Islam. Second, few Islamic leaders denounce those attacks.

What does that suggest?

In Israel, we don’t have such questions. In Israel, Islamic religious leaders do speak out. They are as clear as the killers.

Is Islam in America different from Islam in the Middle East?

Jew-hate, 'Palestinianism' and the Poisoned Chalice

(Last updated: December 11, 2015)

A poisoned chalice is typically defined as an honour which turns into a disadvantage or a source of problems to the recipient (oxforddictionaries). It’s a way of saying that, while something may have looked really good at first, it ends up being extremely bad for the person holding it. The reference may come from Shakespeare’s Macbeth, where it referred to a murder plot that backfires.

In a way, this concept of the poisoned Chalice captures the history of the ‘Palestinian Cause’. It suggests that the ‘Palestinian’ dream has backfired. It’s no longer a dream. It’s a nightmare.

The Palestinian Cause fits this definition because it’s a story of an idea that looked great—at first. That idea was Arab nationalism.

Arab nationalism began brewing in earnest at the end of World War One (“Arab Nationalism and the Poisoned Palestinian Chalice”, blootstellan.wordpress, June 9, 2010). But then, once this idea got to the ‘Palestinian’ Arabs, it backfired. It became a ‘poisoned chalice’.

The idea of a ‘national pride’ that could create Arab states worked for Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and a number of other Arab states. But it didn’t work for Arabs from the Jewish Palestine.

For these Arabs, the great idea backfired. It backfired because of a singular reason— anti-Semitism (ibid).

Anti-Semitism re-focused Arab nationalism for Arabs in the pre-state Israel. It transformed ‘nationalism’ into ‘Jew-hate’. That hate poisoned their national dream.

Through the regional Islamic leader, Haj el-Amin Husseini, Arab nationalism became radicalized. It turned towards Hitler’s Nazism. Husseini fell in love with Hitler. He fell in love with exterminating Jews.

That was a first but no doubt sweet taste of the poison that has since transformed a national opportunity (the Chalice) into a fatal poison. That poison continues today.

Anti-Semitism has infected the ‘Palestinian’ dream. It has tainted every effort to bring resolution to ‘Palestinians’. It has hijacked ‘Palestinian’ nationalism so that today, ‘Palestine’ exists only insofar as it can replace the Jewish state. It has no interest in statehood. It exists only as a vehicle to destroy Israel. Its only reason for being is Jew-hate, not nationalism.

Because Israel is strong, it won’t go away. The anti-Semitism of the ‘Palestinian Cause’ poisons all who drink from the Chalice. Put another way, anti-Semitism is not just a poison, it’s a poison whose essence acts like an unintended abortion pill: it destroys the very life ‘Palestinians’ say they seek.

Because the ‘Palestinian’ desire for statehood has been poisoned, the 'Cause' does not focus on statehood. It focuses on more aggressive Jew-hate. That’s why we see these horrifically impotent new Intifadas: instead of activities to promote a viable state, we see a series of infantile Intifadas called the ‘car Intifada’, ‘knife Intifada’ and the ‘children’s Intifada’.

The most sophisticated strategy ever devised by ‘Palestinians’ doesn’t have anything to do with statehood. It’s about killing Jews. It’s about using a media and an education campaign to incite 12-year olds, 16-year olds and 21 year-olds to kill Jews.

That won’t lead to statehood. It will eviscerate a generation of Arab youth.

The ‘Palestinian’ dream of a Jew-free ‘Palestine’ will die with those 16-year olds who are shot dead on Israel‘s streets as they attempt, in the most infantile manner, to slash at and stab Jewish pedestrians with an enormous knife. That knife identifies the point of the ‘Palestinian’ dream—to kill Jews.

The ‘Palestinian’ dream is not nationalism. It’s genocide.

The symbol of this dream is the picture of an Arab teen or child dying because they’ve been brainwashed by the idea of killing Jews. They have been made to drink from the Chalice. They drink poison. They die.

The more these Arabs promote anti-Semitism, the less economic stability they have. The more they allow anti-Semitism to poison their every thought, the poorer and more disadvantaged they become.

‘Palestinians’ are trapped. Their Jew-hate school curricula and TV programs give them no place to go but to the Israeli street—with a knife.

There, they will be put out of the misery their leaders have given them. They will attack Jews and arrive at the inevitable destination of poisonous hate: death.

That’s what happens when you entice innocent children to drink from a poisoned Chalice. There is no other possible outcome.

Arab leaders have poisoned at least two generations—their children and grandchildren--with Jew-hate and incitement. That hate aborts their original dream.

They have poisoned their golden Chalice. The have transformed their dream into a curse. They poison themselves. They abort.

Why should I make aliyah?

A reader has asked me to address the question: why make aliyah?

It’s a good question. Why do people come to Israel?

They don’t come because they can earn more money in Israel. Generally, they don’t.

People also don’t move to Israel because Israel is such a happy place to live. Given the news you read, you’d think Israel is a very unhappy place to move to. But it isn’t.

According to the most recent World Happiness Index, Israel ranks 11^th of 158 countries for ‘happiness’, as defined by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, an organization which has worked with the United Nations on Happiness and Well Being (“World Happiness Report 2015 ranks happiest countries”, sciencedaily, April 23, 2015).

Compared to Israel (at 11th place), the US (15th), Germany (26^th), France (29^th), Britain (21^st), Russia (64th) and South Africa (113^th) all rank lower than Israel in happiness (John Helliwell, Richard Layard and Jeffrey Sachs, “World Happiness Report 2015”, The Earth Institute, Columbia University; Sustainable Development Solutions Network, 2015).

Israel is a very happy place to live. But that’s not why people move to Israel.

So why do they move to Israel? Here are three answers to that question. These answers come from three different people, each of whom has created either a list of reasons or an essay about those reasons.

Certainly, those of us who have already made aliyah have our own reasons for having done so. Our reasons almost always show up on these lists.

As you read these ‘lists’, ask yourself a question: which of these reasons make me think about where I should live?

The first essay is from Tzvi Fishman, “50 Reasons to Make Aliyah”, Arutz Sheva, May 8, 2012:

1. To get closer to G-d.

2. To fulfil the Torah commandment to live in the Land of Israel.

3. To perform the mitzvot in the place they were meant to be performed, and not in a place where we do them as reminders, so that will still remember how to perform them when we return to the Land.

4. To live in the Land of our Forefathers.

5. To live in the Land of Prophecy.

6. To live in the Land that Hashem promised to the Jews.

7. To break free from being a despised stranger in gentile countries.

8. To escape gentile cultures and the spiritual pollution of the Diaspora, which clouds and distorts pure Jewish thinking and prayer.

9. To play a part in the ingathering of the exiles.

10. To play a part in Israel’s Redemption.

11. To play a part in the rebuilding of Jerusalem.

12. To actualize our daily prayers to return to Israel and thus be true to the words that I pray.

13. To make my wish, “Next year in Jerusalem” a reality.

13.  To have a government of Jews.

14. To have a Jewish army.

15. To live in a country according to the Jewish calendar.

16. To live in a country where the official language is Hebrew.

16. So my children won’t intermarry.

17. So my grandchildren won’t intermarry.

18. So my great grandchildren won’t intermarry.

19. To forget about Xmas.

20. To erase the Chillul Hashem of living in a foreign land, where the gentiles mock G-d, saying that He doesn’t have the power to keep His People in Israel.

21. To live amongst Jews.

22. To live in the place where prayer ascends directly to Heaven.

23. To live in the place of the Shechinah, the Land that Hashem watches over from the beginning of the year to the end.

24. To live in the Land where Avraham, Yitzhak, and Yaacov lived and are buried.

25. To live in the Land where every place I walk earns me a higher place in the World to Come.

26. So my children will grow up to be proud Jews.

27. So my children will grow up without dual identities and schizophrenic complexes.

28. Because Israeli women are the real thing, not trying to be like shiksas, and Israeli men aren’t teenagers who never grow up.

29. Because Israeli mothers still cook meals for the family.

30. Because there is more Torah in Israel than anywhere else in the world.

31. Because there are more Torah Gedolim in Israel than anywhere else in the world.

32. Because there are more frum communities in Israel than anywhere else in the world.

33. Because there are more yeshivot, heders, Talmud Torahs, religious colleges and schools for girls in Israel than anywhere else in the world.

34. Because the Kohanim bless the congregation each day.

35. Because of the extra mitzvot you can only do in the Land.

36. To become a bigger Jew, ready to give up “the good life” in the Diaspora in order to build our Nation in our Land, even if it means sacrifice, rather than living a small solipsistic life motivated by my own personal interests and pleasures.

37. To live in a place where my taxes support yeshivot, Tzahal, Jewish charity organizations, terror victims, Jewish hospitals, the city of Jerusalem, the ingathering of the exiles….

38. To be near Jerusalem.

39. To be near the Kotel.

40. To be in the place where the Jewish holidays are naturally tied to the climate of the Land.

41. Because of the beautiful biblical scenery.

42. Because the food is great with the most delicious kosher pastries and cakes in the world.

43. Because you can get bagels there too.

44. Because radio broadcasts begin in the morning with “Shema Yisrael.”

45. Because of the modern apartments and fantastic villas.

46. Because of the thriving economy.

47. Because Israel’s an international leader in high-tech.

48. Because of the excellent medical care.

49. Because of the respect for the elderly.

50. Because that’s where I truly belong and where G-d wants me to be.

--

The second of the three lists comes from Yoel Meltzer, “Why Make Aliyah?”, aish.com, January 7, 2010:

… 1. Percentage-wise the best chance to find a Jewish spouse is in Israel.

2. Statistically the lowest rate of intermarriage is in Israel.

3. Within a few short hours one can hike in the desert, swim in the Mediterranean, ski on the Hermon or float in the Dead Sea.

4. Jewish holidays are a natural part of the life-cycle here.

5. There is no Christmas shopping season in Israel.

6. The cost of Jewish education in Israel is a fraction of the cost in the US.

7. In Israel there is a feeling of "home" for the Jewish people.

8. Israel is the only Jewish country in the world. There are no others.

9. In Israel a Jew does not have to integrate into a non-Jewish society.

10. Although like any country there are many problems and issues, at least they are our problems and issues.

11. Mitzvah observance and their significance take on a whole different meaning in the Land of Israel.

12. There is only one Jerusalem in the whole world and it is here, in the Land of Israel.

13. After a few thousand years, Hebrew, the language of the Prophets, is once again heard throughout the Land of Israel.

14. Israel boasts the fastest growing Jewish population in the world.

15. After a long respite of nearly 2,000 years, Israel is once again the physical and spiritual center of the Jewish people.

16. History is literally unfolding here in front of our eyes. All that has transpired here during such a relatively short time period is nothing short of mind-boggling. As such, there is an incredible and unique opportunity available to any Jew throughout the world to come to Israel and to actually have an impact on the shaping of history.

--

Finally, this is the third of three essays to answer the question, ‘why make aliyah’. Personally, I like this essay the best—but that’s just my opinion. The essay is by Tamar Yonah. It’s called, “Top 10 Reasons Jews DON'T Make Aliyah”, Arutz Sheva, September 5, 2007 (I've done some light editing):

I've heard it all.  Excuses, excuses, excuses. [People refuse to make aliyah because they’ve decided], "I'll make aliyah only under MY conditions...  not G-d's." THAT is what it comes down to…

Today, I went to cover the Nefesh B'nefesh flight that came into Israel's Ben Gurion Airport this morning.  It was carrying 210 new immigrants from the US and Canada. They broke through their fears and material desires to take their place in history and join the millions of Jews already here in our homeland.  They have chosen to BUILD the land and nation of Israel, not stay behind in the dying Exile.

Almost 100 of the 210 new immigrants on the flight today were singles.  I also came when I was single, but I didn't have the Nefesh B'nefesh fanfare, and my aliyah was a lot more difficult.  I'm not complaining though.  Our ancestors had it a lot harder than any of us Jews today.  Swamps, malaria, British rule, Turkish-Ottoman rule, food rationing, third world standard of living.... I can go down memory lane with you if you like, listing all the hardships we have had to suffer in the past, but that's not what I want to write on this blog entry.

Today, hundreds of Jews attained their goal of coming home, and planting themselves in the Holy Land of Israel.  I don't say they made a dream come true, because in order to dream, one has to be asleep. I am talking about people who were determined to make aliyah a conscious goal. They yearned for Israel, and they came.  

What our brothers and sisters did today was realize the aspirations of our ancestors for the last two thousand years.  They have left the Exile and are now going to start a dynasty of their family right here in our homeland. Their grandchildren will say, "I'm an Israeli today because my grandfather (fill in your name) and my grandmother (fill in your name) left the 'Old Country' and came to Israel.  You will be remembered for generations for changing the destiny of your family line.  Your future seed will now be Israeli because of the goal you set for yourself.  And it is not always easy to make aliyah. Though it is luxurious to live in this Land and have virtually all your neighbors be Jewish, with the country celebrating Jewish holidays, and every Friday before the Sabbath the air takes on a different feeling, you are coming as someone from a different culture, one that is NOT Jewish.  Here, you will learn what it really means to be a Jew.

I often hear a lot of excuses from our brothers and sisters in the Western Exile how they don't want to come to Israel because of X, Y, or Z.

Here are just a few of the examples I have been given by Jews who make excuses why they can't or won't make aliyah...

1)  The government is not to their liking.

2)  They won't come until there is peace.

3)  They don't believe they are obligated to live here until the Moshiach comes (I think that Tzvi Fishman has proven that wrong with the Torah sources given on his blog.)

4)   They won't come unless they know they have a job in their field waiting for them.

5)   Their kids are too old

6)   Their kids are too young

7)   They're waiting until they retire

8)   They're waiting until they are dead and need to be buried

9)  Their furniture won't fit in these small apts.  - Honest to goodness, this was an excuse.  One American woman looked at my parent's dining room when they were here touring Jerusalem on a pilot trip and the woman said, "I can't make aliyah, I see that my dining room table would never fit into an Israeli apt. that I can afford".

10)  I have old sick parents or I am divorced and I can't take my kids with me.

Of the above 10 reasons why most Jews don't make aliyah today....  only number ten has any merit at all.  I personally sympathize with divorcees that want to be in their children's lives, and cannot do so if they are forced to leave them in the Old Country.  I also understand how someone who feels they cannot come because they are caring for their elderly parent who cannot be moved or travel such a long distance.  However, even these two excuses can be argued.

The fact is, that most of our Jewish brothers and sisters who don't want to make aliyah is because they are prisoners.

They are prisoners of their fear and prisoners of the golden cages they have built for themselves.  They are attached to their materialistic life styles and cannot escape.  They THINK that they are free, but they are slaves.  Slaves to the American dream, wealth, success, materialism, and their THINGS.  Nice house, nice car(s), nice shopping.  They are living in affluence and they can't extricate themselves.

We KNOW this to be true.  I will prove this to you right now.

When one doesn't make aliyah for idealistic reasons, it is for one of two other reasons... 

1)  Anti-Semitism,

2)  Their host country's economic situation is very bad, and it is better in Israel.

When we look and see why we had aliyah from the Soviet Union back in the 1970's, it was because they were living under an anti-Semitic and Communist regime.  A Jew could not practice Judaism there under the anti-Semitic USSR, they couldn't get jobs they deserved because they were Jewish, and so they applied to emigrate and come to Israel (or the USA).

Today, Jews from France are making aliyah [note: this essay wasn’t written in 2015; it was written in 2012]. Many other French Jews are buying homes here in Israel in preparation for a near-future aliyah. They are leaving France to escape their unsympathetic French government in denial about anti-Semitism, and the rising anti-Semitic attacks on Jews from France's immigrant Moslem population.  It has convinced Jews that they have no future in France anymore.

In the early 90's, we had a massive aliyah from Russia after the Soviet Union broke up.  This time it was because the Russian economy was so bad.  Israel offered a much better lifestyle and standard of living, and so they made aliyah.  (And what a blessing that was for us here in Israel.  It is always a blessing for us here in Israel when Jews make aliyah.)

Later, we had a large aliyah from Argentina.  The Economy in Argentina suffered a crisis of enormous proportions, and thousands of Jews from that country chose to come on aliyah.

The largest Jewish population in the Exile is in the USA, but they don't want to come for the ten reasons listed above.  They are too comfortable.  Most Jews in the USA are pretty much removed from Torah.  They are Jews who belong to a Conservative or Reform synagogue and do not know their own mother tongue - Hebrew.  Most have never learned Torah and many want to shrug off the 'burden' of being a Jew. I want to address the religious Jews who should know better, and should want better.

Jews are weighted down like a heavy bird in the golden cages of the Exile.

We KNOW that G-d gave us this land as our homeland.

We KNOW that the future of the Jewish People is going to be here, in Israel, and not in New York, Monsey, Los Angeles, or London.

We KNOW that we cannot do all the mitzvoth (commandments) unless we are living in Israel.

We KNOW that we were punished in the desert because of the spies who rejected the land of Israel.

We KNOW that G-d wants us to live here and that even today, He is gathering us from the four corners of the earth in line with what our prophets predicted.

And, we KNOW that if anti-Semitism rose to a level that was uncomfortable and too dangerous for Jews in the USA, they would leave America.

And we KNOW that if the economy in America would crash, or that things would be very bad, that these same Jews who are crying out the above 'ten excuses not to make aliyah', would all be converging on the aliyah offices in America and trying to get here. 

If you are not yearning for Israel, there is something FUNDAMENTALLY wrong with your Judaism.

So, to my Jewish brothers and sisters in the West who are belly-aching about this reason or that why they can't or won't or don't HAVE to come on aliyah and return home, --some tough love here for yuh....  if things got bad there where you are, you WOULD come.  Because the minute that Israel would offer you better than what you have now, you'd be scratching your heads and saying to your spouses, "maybe we should move to Israel.  I hear they have it easier over there." Jews would be flocking to Israel from the West like all the other mass emigrations and aliyahs in history.  America will be no different.

No, you won't have the perfect government.  You will have to come here and build the nation with us and vote in a better government.

No, you may not come to a country that has 'peace', but America is under threat of massive mega-terror as well.  Better to be in a country where almost all the Jews have a gun, know how to use it, and can defend themselves.

No, you will most likely not have a guaranteed job waiting for you, calling your name.  You will have to come and interview for jobs just like our own families do here in Israel.

No, your kids aren't too young or too old. This is our home.  We are your family.  Your kids will adjust. They'll make friends, pick up the language and you'll be asking THEM to help you with your Hebrew.

Don't wait until retirement or until you are dead.  You needn't die for Israel.  LIVE (here) FOR ISRAEL.

Let go of the weight that keeps you in the Exile. Get out of your slavery to comfort and materialism.  Open your golden cages that you have imprisoned yourselves in and come home.

If you consider yourself a Torah believing Jew, then you should AT LEAST be YEARNING to come to Israel.  Maybe you feel you can't because of your fear, or your family obligations for elderly parents or lack of custody for your kids, but a Jew should at LEAST be YEARNING to make aliyah and move to Israel. You should at least be saying, "I'd LOVE to come to Israel, but alas, I cannot, I have to care for my sick, elderly mother who can't be moved".    ...And if you are not yearning for Israel, if you are not dreaming of the day when you can come home, and instead are very happy in the cage you live in, there is something FUNDAMENTALLY wrong with your Judaism.

--

My comment: we don’t generally make aliyah for financial, physical or welfare benefits. We do it for a religious reason—or, because we feel coerced to move, as Tamar Yonah discussed, above.

If you’re Jewish, you don’t belong in exile. Exile isn't happiness. It's punishment.

If you say that’s crazy, go look at any Holiday Musaf Sh’mona Esrai. It says there very explicitly, ‘because of our sins we were exiled from our land’.

Exile is punishment. Why do you live in punishment?

Come home. You belong here.

A Chanukah revolution for modern Israel?

Today has been Day 2 of the 8 days of Chanukah, 5776 (2015). Chanukah is the story of Jewish revolution against anti-Jewish oppression. The original story defines the ‘revolt’ and ‘Jewishness’ issue of its time. Are we now about to witness a new revolution in Israel over ‘Jewishness’?

According to a recent TV news report in Israel, Israel’s government will re-visit the issue of ‘settlements’ in Judea-Samaria. This time, Israel won’t be talking about a ‘settlement’ freeze or some kind of ‘settlement give-away’. This time, Israel is going in the opposite direction.

According to Israel’s channel 2, Israel’s Foreign Ministry will fight for the ‘Jewishness’ of Judea-Samaria. It’s going to argue that settlements in Judea-Samaria are legal, not illegal, as the UN and EU say, nor ‘illegitimate’, as the US says (Ruthie Blum, “Israel Draws Up Document Justifying Legality of Settlements, Property Claims to West Bank”, algemeiner, December 3, 2015).

This effort, if channel 2 is correct, represents a major change for Israel. So far, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been cautious about a 2012 study called, the Levy Report. That Report, named after its leading investigator, former Israel Supreme Court Justice Edmund Levy, had concluded that, contrary to hate-Israel-industry claims, Jewish settlement in Judea-Samaria was in fact legal.

In 2012, reaction in Israel to the Levy Report was predictable: the Right hailed it; the Left condemned it; the so-called Center found it irrelevant for diplomatic discussions (Lahav Harkov, “PM to decide on Levy report with settlement c'tee”, Jerusalem Post, September 7, 2012).

Netanyahu, ever careful, praised the committee. He did nothing about the Report.

The then-Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, was equally cautious. He liked the Report. But his ‘endorsement’ seemed lukewarm at best (ibid).

Now, Israel’s Foreign Ministry will change course. It will formally promote the conclusions of the Levy Report. It will translate the Report into multiple languages. It will distribute those translations world-wide through its embassies (algemeiner, above).

In addition, Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely will spearhead a legal effort. She’ll seek international legal consensus that the Report’s conclusions—that the ‘settlements’ are legal—clearly conform to international law (ibid).

This effort could become Israel’s most explosive diplomatic gamble ever. It’s a gamble because the moment Israel declares it will promote the Levy Report , the world’s hate-Israel industry will attack. Israel will be vilified. It may even be criminalized.

Most every politician in Israel knows what that vilification will look like because they’ve already seen it in Israel. Leftist Meretz leader Zehava Gal-On has said that the Levy committee was formed only to ‘justify the vermin of illegal outposts’ (Jerusalem Post, above). Attorney Michael Sfard of the Leftist Yesh Din NGO has said that this Report was ‘born in sin’ and wasn’t a legal document (ibid).  

The UN could act against Israel. The EU certainly will. US President Hussein Obama could use this effort as an excuse to stop protecting Israel at the UN.

The only way Israel can fight such reactions successfully is to have a political leadership that’s unequivocally united. For this gamble to work, the Foreign Minister and the Prime Minister must absolutely be on the same page.

They are on the same page. They stand as one man-one-heart because of a crucial decision Netanyahu made after the March 2015 election.

In March 2015, the newly-re-elected Netanyahu appointed a new Foreign Minister. Today, the FM and the PM act with one voice. 

Because of this unity, the normally contentious Israeli political ‘me-first-you-stupid’ public behaviour will not rear its ugly head. The current FM-PM arrangement simply won’t allow it.

Do you know why? Well, do you remember who Netanyahu appointed to be his new Foreign Minister? You might recognize the name.

The name of Israel’s current Foreign Minister is Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu kept the Foreign Minister Portfolio for himself. Therefore, the reason the FM and PM can stand as one-man-one-heart is because they are one-man-one-heart.

That could be the secret to success for this effort. Certainly, if channel 2 is correct, the decision to argue that ‘settlements’ are legal is a water-shed moment for Israel. It will change everything because Israel will, for the first time in a long time, grab the 2,000-pound mad bull by the horns: it will directly attack the core value of the world’s hate-Israel-industry by attempting to delegitimize that industry’s ‘settlement-is-illegal-occupation’ mantra.

Hate-Israel has suckled at the bosom of ‘settlement-is-illegal-occupation’ for decades. In the past, Israel has responded to this ‘hate-mantra’ by bowing before the hate instead of opposing it. It has accepted with little comment whatever its enemies have declared.

That will now change. Israel is going to stand up and shout, ‘this entire land is Jewish’.

This isn’t just change. It’s revolutionary change. It will turn Israel’s ‘if-I-bow-will-you-love-me’ world-view onto its head.

Is this the beginning of a new Chanukah Jewish revolution?

Stay tuned.