Israel
headlines tell a story. They tell you the news. But sometimes, they reveal some
underlying truths.
Return to
this blog every Tuesday and Friday after Noon. You’ll see a sampling of headlines
from Israel’s press—and some comments about those headlines.
Today, we
look at—and comment on--Chanukah, which began November 28th.
Chanukah
-Some clamor
for challurkey while others cry fowl over holiday mix
With
everyone talking about ‘Thanksgivikah’, this headline was a show-stopper. As
you may know, some calculate that the next
convergence of Thanksgiving and Chanukah will be app 79,043 years from now. Do
you know what a ‘challurkey’ is? It’s a challah (bread) baked in the shape of a
turkey.
Now you’re
ready for the next Thanksgivikah.
Here are more
Chanukah headlines:
-IDF
Officer: All Hareidim Should Die
-Police hold
for questioning three Jews who attempt to pray at Temple Mount
-Israel
boycott finds favor at American university event
-Infant
wounded by rock throwers in Jerusalem
What do
these headlines have to do with Chanukah?
They’re
about the Chanukah story.
During the
years 175BCE-165BCE (app) Jews in Israel fought against the Greeks and their
Syrian allies. These foreign conquerors wanted to rule over the Jew. They wanted
to ‘unJewish’ the Jewish State. They wanted to stamp out Jewish worship and
Torah.
Many Jews
joined them. The Chanukah war was, to a large extent, between Jews and non-Jews
who joined together to reject Torah versus Jews who fought to keep Torah.
These additional
headlines remind us that we continue to battle today against Jews and non-Jews who
would destroy the Jewish State. We continue to fight against those who would ‘unJewish’
Israel.
When the
Jewish Hasmoneans won their war, they saved our Torah. They saved our Temple. We are Jewish
today—some 2100 years later--because of their victory.
Our enemies still want to destroy us. They want to stamp out Jewish worship.
Many Jews
join them.
Sound
familiar?
It’s deja
vue—the Chanukah story--all over again.
Which side
are you on?
The war
against Israel
-UN declares ‘Year of Palestine’
-PLO
official: PA will join ICC if peace talks fail
-Chief
Palestinian negotiator: Israel is destroying the peace process
-Majority of
Palestinians believe peace talks with Israel will fail
-Palestinian
debt to IEC passes NIS 1b[illion]
-Israel
boycott finds favor at American university event
-Terror on
the road: Jerusalem plagued by stone throwing
Individual
Arabs are bombarded daily with viciously anti-Semitic sermons, TV programs and
speeches. Even their (UN-sponsored) school textbooks incite against Israel. They
cannot avoid the hate.
Driven by this hate, they stone innocent children and civilians.
Their elders
sit at ‘peace’ talks with Israel. Peace? Arabs leaders don’t talk peace. They demonize. They threaten.
Israel destroys the peace process. Israel must be dragged before the International Criminal Court on charges.
University
professors—the intellectual guardians of our children—seek to destroy Israel
through boycott and sanctions. Israel, they claim, is a colonizer, a settler
state, a perpetuator of apartheid.
What must
the G-d of Israel think of these people?
Gaza
-Rocket sets
off code red sirens in Ashkelon Coast area, but lands within Gaza
-Gazan
captured inside Israel with grenade
While the
West labels Israel as intransigent on peace, Hamas and Gaza remain pro-active. They target Israeli civilians.
A Gazan
enters Israel carrying a hand grenade. The world says nothing. Why?
Iran
-U.S.: Six-month clock on interim Iran
nuclear deal not yet ticking
- Iran deal
won’t kick in until nuclear inspections, pushing start into 2014
-US now
indicates Iran interim deal wasn’t finalized
-Iran
enjoying pre-implementation ‘window’
-UN nuclear
watchdog likely to need more time, money to implement Iran deal
-Most
Israelis believe interim Iran deal endangers them
America
and Israel
-Obama touts
Iran deal as ‘right move, good for Israel’
-Report:
Obama asks Netanyahu to 'take a breather' from vocal criticism of Geneva deal
-Iran deal a
failure, says ex-national security chief
-ZOA: Iran
deal is Munich, Obama is Chamberlain
-US told
France about secret Iran talks months before it told Israel
-Poll:
Americans back Iran deal by 2-to-1 margin
-Poll shows
Americans split on Iran deal
During this
news cycle, US President Obama came out swinging at Israel. He had signed a
deal with Iran. Israel was safe now, he said.
So why was Israel
Prime Minister being negative? Israel should ‘take a breather’.
A US poll showed support for the plan by a 2-to-1 margin. What part of 'good deal' didn't Netanyahu understand?
The
inference here seemed clear. Israel was acting like a selfish, self-centered
cry-baby now upset because it didn’t get what it wanted.
The Israelis
should ‘give it a break’.
It was great
theatre. But then the
wheels came off.
Another poll
came out. It seems that the original poll showing tremendous American support
for the deal wasn’t being confirmed. This second poll didn’t show overwhelming
support for the plan. In fact, it showed, essentially, an even split among
Americans.
Then, news
started to leak about plan details. Iran
got 8 billion dollars released immediately (too immediately?) from
sanctions; but the West couldn’t begin to monitor anything in Iran until some
time in 2014.
The plan was
set up to monitor Iran for six months, to see if Iran truly qualified for the
lifting of sanctions—but the monitoring clock couldn’t start. No one was ready for it.
No wonder
Iran called the deal a victory for Iran.
Then, we learned
more about the plan. When monitoring did begin, monitors would be limited to
sites the Iranians have confirmed and not those critics suspect may exist
secretly (where the real nuclear work was being done).
Then it got
worse. The US admitted that this interim deal hadn’t even been finalized. A State Department spokeswoman told reporters
it wasn’t clear when the deal between Iran and world powers would actually go
into effect. But then, she added, the U.S. was respecting the spirit of the deal
in urging against sanctions.
What?
This ‘deal’
gave Iran everything it wanted. It even provided a pre-implementation nuclear window
during which to push forward unimpeded--and 8 billion dollars. This is how Obama makes Israel safe?
The ZOA
(Zionists of America) may have captured best what had just happened when it
said that this deal was our era’s new Munich. President Barack Obama and
Secretary of State John Kerry have become the new Neville Chamberlains.
G-d help us
all.
Life in
Israel
-Israel’s water shortage eased by 90
percent in four years
-Another
large natural gas field discovered on Israel’s Mediterranean coast
-Israel to
get first (natural) gas filling station next year
-Mexican
billionaire Carlos Slim eyes investments in Israel
As the world
continues to tell us we must buy into the 'Palestinian struggle', investors line up to make money from Israeli
companies. Israel continues to solve its water issues while the Arab lands
around Israel suffer from something horrible called, ‘desertification’—the turning
of farmland into desert sand.
Now Israel reports that yet another natural-gas field has been
discovered. This new discovery is called ‘Tamar Southwest’. It contains perhaps
20 billion cubic meters of gas. This 2013 discovery compares favourably with
the 2009 ‘Tamar’ site (10 billion cubic meters of gas). It is smaller than the
2010 ‘Noble’ find (16 trillion to 18 trillion cubic feet of natural gas).
Guess what
new businesses Israel is going to develop? One will be natural gas fill-up
stations. These will service primarily (at first) busses and garbage trucks.
If you have
ever been in Jerusalem, you’ll know that there are a lot of busses and garbage
trucks clogging Jerusalem streets. Converting them to natural gas could have a
major impact on local air quality.
If you want
to understand what that means, think about air quality in Cairo, Egypt. Yes, Cairo
is much larger than Jerusalem. But in five years, where might air quality be
for each city?
Israel shows
the potential to move into a Redemption-style future. It might be safe (if
politically incorrect) to say that Cairo shows the potential to turn into a
living hell.
The Arab
Middle East
- Syrian opposition to attend Geneva
peace conference
-Egypt's
interim president to decide on voting system
- String of bombings, shootings
kill at least 20 across Iraq
-HRW: Syrian
refugee women sexually harassed in Lebanon
-Report: 250
Hezollah fighters killed near Damascus
-Report:
Scud missile kills 40 people in Syrian market
While Israel
is demonized, it continues to push the envelope of technology and
research. Arabs, meanwhile, go in a different direction. One headline (not
included here) reveals that some 2.2 million children have become
refugees from Syrian fighting. Human Rights Watch (HRW) reports on rights violations
in Lebanon. Fighters in Syria accuse each other of using chemical weapons on
the battlefield. Egypt still struggles to find ‘democracy’. Bombers in Iraq
continue to kill innocents.
But of
course, the UN doesn’t overly worry about these issues. The UN worries about
Israel. It’s all Israel’s fault that, for example, refugee Arab women in Lebanon
are sexually harassed by other Arabs.
Jews
around the world
-Brooklyn
Jews targeted in ‘knockout’ attacks
-Anti-Semitic
incidents on the rise in Australia, report shows
-French Jews
too afraid to put kids in public school
-French
Jewish immigration to Israel up by 49 percent
Face it. It’s
a myth that life in Israel is dangerous. We all see news reports about Arab
attacks against Jews. But these reports shrink when compared to assaults and
attacks in large cities around the world.
New York
City, for example, has more people than all of Israel. While I do not have a
source for this, I will suggest to you
that there are far more murders, rapes
and muggings in New York than in Israel.
I live in an
Israeli city of 44,000 people. There is virtually no crime here.
We don’t
have ‘knockout’ attacks in Israel. We are not afraid to send our children to ‘public
schools’ (as Jews in France are afraid to do). We do not fear that our children
and grandchildren will be subject to anti-Semitic insults (as a third of the
French fear). We are not afraid to walk in public wearing clothing that would
identify us as Jews (as many are in Europe today).
If you are
Jewish, the chances are good that you are safest in Israel, not someplace else.
There are
other stories in Israeli news outlets. But aren’t these enough for one day?
Come back
again. You’ll see Jewish Destiny unfolding right before your eyes.
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