July 2004
July 4, 2004 Did Menachem Begin Err?
July 5, 2004 How to Visit Jerusalem Spiritually!
July 6, 2004 Discussion of Three Imortant Problems
July 8, 2004 Testing the Leadership of Israel
July 11, 2004 Out of Jerusalem Will Come Forth the Word of G-d
July 14, 2004 "Out of Jerusalem Will Come Forth the Law"
July 15, 2004 Bush Vs Kerry - Again
July 16, 2004 CAIR's Phony Petition
July 17, 2004 The Holiness of the Temple Mount is Derived from Judaism
July 18, 2004 Upcoming Activities
July 20, 2004 Tisha B'Av, 5764
July 22, 2004 Do Not Let Jewish History Be Erased!
July 22, 2004 Bodansky's Revelations: Part II
July 23, 2004 Instant Spiritual Gratification
July 25, 2004 Jonathan Pollard's Family To Join Human Chain From Gaza
July 25, 2004 Drawing Near to Your Maker!
July 27, 2004 Return the Israeli Flag to the Temple Mount
July 28, 2004 Taken from Arutz 7 News of Tuesday, July 27
July 29, 2004 The Struggle Against Physical and Spiritual Subjugation
July 30, 2004 In The Service of the Almighty !
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July 4, 2004
Did Menachem Begin Err?
by Nadia Matar
The entire country was in an uproar when Uri Elitzur, editor
of the Nekuda monthly and director-general of the PM's
office under Netanyahu- called for refusal to obey the order
to uproot settlements and even justified violence, in the
Besheva newspaper. "The uprooting of a settlement is illegal
and shocking, and therefore justifies refusing an order and
the use of force - except for firearms- and every way in
which a person can defend his home, from which he is
expelled for political reasons," said Elitzur. As was to be
expected, a number of Knesset members from the left filed
requests with Attorney General Manny Mazuz to bring
charges against Elitzur and his supporters for incitement
and sedition. In addition, the leftists also filed complaints
against the Judea, Samaria, and Gaza Council of Rabbis,
and called for charges to be preferred against them for
having declared in the Maaleh Adumim conference: "No
citizen, policeman, or soldier is permitted to assist in the
uprooting of settlements."
In marked contrast, the country remained quiet when public
figures from the left called to refuse any order of transfer of
the Arabs, and also advocated violence. The examples are
numerous: Yossi Sarid and Yair Tzaban wrote in Yedioth
Ahronoth, Wednesday, June 27, 1990, in response to the
proposal to temporarily move several Arab villages until the
end of the grape harvest: "Let there be no
misunderstandings amongst us, and let it not be said that
you were not warned in advance: We shall not obey the
transfer order, nor will our children and those we have
educated obey it. The day that the transfer order - which is a
patently illegal order - will be given, shall be the day of
refusal to obey an order." Others in the leftist camp wrote
that they were willing to blow up bridges in order to stop the
evacuation of Arab settlements.
As regards the violence which the left is willing, and wants,
to employ, there are even more numerous examples. The
following are only a small portion of these instances.
*Yehonatan Gefen, 1998: "Secular Israel is the occupied
territories of the religious parties. If the secular desire to live
here, they have no choice but to start an intifada. Yes, I am
prepared to throw the first stone."
*An article in the Ha-Kibbutz newsletter, August 1995: "They
[the settlers] are not my brothers. [...] A civil war will be a
war [...] I will run to it [...] and I will crush their flesh with
mighty blows, to rout them. [...] I will go forth to the foe in
order to fight, for once, a justified war. [...] Much blood will
be shed."
*Zeev Sternhal, in the Davar newspaper, 1988: "Fascism
cannot be stopped with rational arguments. This can be
stopped only by force, and when there is willingness to risk
a civil war. When necessary, we shall have to forcibly deal
with the settlers in Ofrah or in Eilon Moreh. Only a person
who is willing to advance against Ofrah with tanks will be
capable of curbing the fascist drift that threatens to inundate
Israeli democracy." In an article in the Ha'Aretz newspaper
in 2001, this same Sternhal incited the Arabs to murder
settlers, advising the terrorist organizations to place
explosive charges only on the eastern side of the Green
Line. "There is no doubt regarding the legitimacy of the
[Arab] armed resistance in the territories themselves. If the
Palestinians had a bit of sense, they would concentrate their
struggle against the settlements. [...] They would similarly
refrain from placing explosive charges on the western side
of the Green Line."
When Women in Green filed a complaint against Sternhal
with the police, for incitement to murder and identification
with a terrorist organization, I was informed of "the decision
to no longer investigate your complaint, for the reason that
'there is no criminal guilt'" in Sternhal's statements. The
same thing happened when we filed a complaint against the
statement by Ami Ayalon, former head of the Shabak, when
he incited to murder settlers in an interview in Yedioth
Ahronoth, the Sofshavua magazine, November 14, 2003.
According to Ayalon, another Altalena has to be done
against the settlers who would refuse to evacuate of their
own free will. "There is more than one Altalena in the life of
every state or nation. [...] The political leadership in the State
of Israel has already taken difficult decisions when the
alternative was clear, and in the future the political
leadership will have to take difficult decisions when the
alternative is clear," said Ayalon. Anyone who knows a bit of
history knows that this is a call for the murder of Jews. Talia
Sasson, at the time the director of the Division for "Special
Tasks" in the Justice Department (better known in national
circles as: "the Department for the Persecution of National
Jews") answered me: "After an examination of this matter, it
was decided that what Mr. Ami Ayalon said in the context of
the interview that is the subject of the complaint, does not
constitute a criminal transgression.
It is our understanding that Mr. Ami Ayalon did not call for
the implementation of a violent act against settlers, but
rather estimated that when it will be necessary to evacuate
settlements, there will be a certain percentage of inhabitants
who will not consent to be evacuated from the settlements
of their own free will. In such a situation, he maintains, the
state will have no alternative other than to confront anyone
who will not obey the legal order of the elected
government." In other words, Talia Sasson agrees that in the
event that settlers refuse to be evacuated, the state must
"confront anyone who will not obey," and, according to her,
Ayalon's statements are within the realm of the permitted.
Talia Sasson does not have a problem with the state
conducting an "Altalena" against them - that is, that the
state will shoot and murder them!
*THE QUESTION THAT I WANT TO ASK IS: "WHAT IS THE
EXCITEMENT ABOUT"?
How is it that people are becoming so excited by the
statements of Uri Elitzur and the Judea, Samaria, and Gaza
Council of Rabbis, but completely disregard the incitement
by the left? It could be argued that the media and the judicial
system have a leftist bias, and therefore relate forgivingly to
the invective of leftists, but are up in arms against
individuals with a national orientation. But this is an overly
simplistic explanation, as well as being incorrect. For Uri
Elitzur was also denounced by senior members of the
national camp, such as Benzi Lieberman and others in the
Council of Jewish Settlements in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza,
and also Zevulon Orlev, and other NRP people. What
shocks them so? AND THE ANSWER IS: MENACHEM
BEGIN'S POLICY OF RESTRAINT gave the national camp a
Christian image of always turning the other cheek.
In my humble opinion, the answer lies in the policy of
restraint of Menachem Begin during the Season and the
episode of the Altalena. The Menachem Begin Heritage
Center was recently opened, and the Maariv newspaper
published a special section to mark this event. The section
contains an article by Menahem Rahat entitled "Jew Shall
Not Take up Sword against Jew," in which Rahat reminds us
of the following, which many of us have unfortunately
forgotten: "Many remember Menachem Begin mainly for the
peace treaty with Egypt [...] but Begin himself wanted to be
remembered, more than anything, because of a completely
different event that occurred decades before he was first
elected Prime Minister. [...] "After my death I hope to be
remembered, above all, as the one who prevented civil war."
Israel stood before civil war twice before the establishment
of the State. In each circumstance, Begin, then the
Commander of the IZL- Irgun Zvai Leumi, used all his
influence [...] to prevent a war of Jews against Jews. The
first time was during the time of the Season (the "hunting
season") in 1944-1945, when Ben-Gurion declared total war
against the IZL because of their refusal to accept the policy
of the restraint adopted by the organized Yishuv [the pre-
State Jewish community in Eretz Israel]. Hundreds were
arrested and handed over to the British, but Begin
persuaded his people not to respond. The second time was
when the IDF shelled the Altalena that was anchored off the
Tel Aviv coast, due to the fear that the arms would help the
IZL as independent military force in the fledgling State of
Israel. Begin, who was on the ship, ordered his men not to
return fire. "Civil war - never" he ordered on both occasions.
For perfectly clear reasons, very little is spoken about the
time of the Season in which Ben-Gurion's leftists persecuted
their brothers from the IZL, kidnapped them, and handed
them over to the British, knowing that the latter would abuse
them, and even murder them. Israeli youth is totally unaware
of this scandalous episode. Consequently, in order to
understand what is happening today, and to remember what
leftists are capable of doing to their brothers, it is important
to recall the horrifying details. Let us therefore continue
quoting Menahem Rahat's article. THE SEASON: In
December 1943, the 30-year-old Menachem Begin assumes
command of the IZL. A month later, in January 1944, the IZL
issued a flyer proclaiming the revolt against British
Mandatory rule. The reason: "The refusal of the British to
allow the refugees from the Nazi beast to enter Eretz-Israel."
Some time later the IZL initiated a series of attacks against
the institutions of British rule. The organized Jewish Yishuv,
under the leadership of David Ben-Gurion, the Chairman of
the Jewish Agency, demanded that the IZL stop the attacks,
but the IZL refused. [...] Begin ridiculed what seemed to him
to be the childish innocence of the Yishuv leadership, which
wanted to rely upon Churchill's good will, while the British
were blocking the shores of Eretz Israel against the
surviving remnant. When Begin rejected all the requests not
to conduct an independent war against the British, Eliyahu
Golomb, the Minister of Security of the Yishuv [i.e., the head
of the Haganah], declared: "If so, then we will step in and
eliminate them."
At that point Ben-Gurion began to plan the Season. In the
first stage, Palmah members were brought into the big
cities, in order to conduct surveillance of IZL members and
plan their kidnapping. The IZL learned of these threatening
plans, but the order was given not to fall prey to
provocations. [...] For the Season operation, 250 Palmah
members, hundreds of members of the Plugot ha-Poel
[Labor troops], and active members of the Haganah's
Intelligence Service were mobilized. They gathered
information, kidnapped IZL activists, and handed them over
to the British Criminal Investigation Division. In his book
The Revolt, Begin speaks about some 1500 IZL members
who were arrested.
Begin resolved not to respond. He writes in his book The
Revolt: "This horrendous episode continued for many
months. We said: There will be no civil war. In actuality, a
cruel civil war raged throughout Eretz-Israel, but this was a
unilateral civil war." [...] Indeed, the IZL refrained from
responding to the persecutions, the denunciations, and the
arrests that were initiated by the organized Yishuv. In a flyer
issued on December 3, 1944, Begin explained the policy of
non response: "Shall a civil war erupt in Eretz-Israel? Shall
we see our children raising a hand or a weapon against his
fellow? [...] Be calm, loyal Jews, there shall be no war of
Jews against Jews in this land." The fighters from the ranks
of the IZL opposed Begin's policy of restraint, but he
convinced them of their duty to show restraint in the face of
the persecutions.
ARIK SHARON AND THE SEASON: It is fascinating to read
about this episode in Ariel Sharon's
autobiography, Warrior. On page 35 Ariel Sharon writes that
he informed his father of his desire to join the Palmah. "But
it turned out that my father had other ideas. One day as we
were working together in the orange groves, I glanced up
and saw him looking at me, his face framed by the branches
of a tree. With an expression full of concern he said: 'Arik, I
want to tell you, anything you decide to do with your life is
all right with me. But you have to promise me one thing.
Never, never participate in turning Jews over to non-Jews.
You must promise me that you will never do that'. He did
not mention the Palmach directly; he didn't have to. What he
meant was clear enough. The "season" had started up
again. And what my father thought of this campaign of Jew
against Jew can hardly be described. As the Hagana's strike
force, it had been the Palmach that had carried out the hunt.
Palmach men had arrested the militants, and Palmach men
had turned them over to the British. My father could not
stomach the thought of my being connected with that, and
though I badly wanted to join (!), I understood his feelings
exactly, and I accepted them."
Instead of joining the Palmah, Ariel Sharon enlisted in the
Jewish Settlement Police, which was a police force
protecting the Jewish settlements. It would be interesting to
know what Sharon's father would have said about his son's
willingness to forcibly deport Jews from Eretz Israel and to
give over extensive parts of our homeland to the enemy!
THE EPISODE OF THE ALTALENA MASSACRE The second
time when Begin ordered his men to refrain at all costs from
civil war was during the episode of the Altalena arms ship,
about a month after the declaration of war by the Arabs.
Ben-Gurion ordered the sinking of the Altalena ship, on
which hundreds of IZL members had brought thousands of
rifles and mortar shells, dozens of machine guns and
mortars, three million bullets for the rifles and machine
guns, and a large quantity of explosives. This tremendous
quantity of arms was sorely needed by the new Jewish
State. But Ben-Gurion decided to sink the ship. The official
reason, that is repeated to the present, was Ben-Gurion's
fear that Menachem Begin would use these weapons in
order to overthrow the government. Obviously, this was just
an excuse. The real reason was unquestionably the fear that
Menachem Begin, thanks to the weapons that were brought,
would receive such great sympathy among the public, as to
threaten the political future of Ben-Gurion and those of his
camp. In order to ensure that Begin and his followers would
not gain power, it would be preferable to kill and eliminate
them, even at the cost of sinking arms that were so essential
to the new state. And so Ben-Gurion, Yitzhak Rabin, and
others sank the ship from the shore, using the "holy
cannon." (Interestingly, the Air Force pilots -who were
mainly foreign volunteers- refused to carry out the order to
fire upon the ship while it was on the open seas. "We did not
join the struggle to fire on fellow-Jews"). After the ship was
sunk, The Palmah soldiers fired from the shore at the IZL
fighters swimming in the sea trying to save themselves.
Sixteen IZL fighters were murdered in this manner, in cold
blood, by their brothers from the left.
Menahem Rahat quotes the editor of Maariv at the time, Dr.
Azriel Carlebach, who wrote on the day following the
massacre: "And I stood among the great crowd down below,
on the sea shore, and together with them I saw with my own
eyes. [...] I saw Jewish young men jumping out of large
vehicles, with steel helmets on their heads and machine
guns in their hand, ready to fire. They were armed from head
to toe, and they were two by two, three, tens, many
hundreds, running to shoot the Jews. And down below, in
the sea, on the mast of the ship, and on its deck, Jews
stand, waving a white flag, and shouting: 'Don't fire!'"
On a broadcast on the underground radio after the
massacre, Begin called to his people: "We shall continue to
love the people of Israel, and we shall continue to fight for
the people of Israel. [...] Help me to persuade my people that
it is forbidden for brother to raise a hand against brother,
that it is forbidden that a Hebrew weapon be used against
Hebrew fighters." Rahat continues: Tears choked Begin's
throat during the speech. His opponents jeeringly called this
the "speech of tears." Begin responded to this description in
his book The Revolt: "[...] as the Altalena taught us, it is
essential that tears should take the place of blood. [...]
sometimes it is better that one man should pour tears from
his heart over an abomination committed in Israel, than that
many, many should weep over its consequences." He also
wrote: "And so it came to pass that there was no fratricidal
war in Israel to destroy the Jewish State before it was
properly born."
URI ELITZUR DID NOT RECOMMEND BEGIN'S POLICY OF
RESTRAINT - with the consequent shock and outrage at his
statement. In my humble opinion, Menachem Begin's policy
of restraint has resulted in the formation of an image of the
national camp as a poor unfortunate "nebech", of someone
who will always restrain himself, who will always offer the
other cheek, who will never raise his hand to defend himself
against attacks by Jews - not even if they kidnap him and
hand him over to the non-Jewish enemy, not even if they
shoot him and murder him as he is swimming in the sea
towards the shore. Begin's policy of restraint castrated the
national camp, and the leftists have felt, ever since the
establishment of the State of Israel, that they can do as they
please with them. No matter what the leftists do, the national
camp will always be acting with "mamlakhtiyut" [the term
coined by Ben-Gurion to express the essence of statehood],
like "good little boys."
And so there is shock and outrage when someone like Uri
Elitzur dares to suggest that this time we not restrain
ourselves! How dare he? Why, his task, as a member of the
national camp, is to swallow everything. And if it is decided
to uproot him from his home - he must accept this. He is
permitted to organize a quiet demonstration with the reading
of Psalms, but no more!
WITH HINDSIGHT, DIDN'T BEGIN ERR?
This leads to my question, Wasn't Begin's policy of restraint
a mistake? I spoke with different people and I posed the
question to them. I heard different opinions. Some say that
in those days, at the time of the establishment of the State,
Menachem Begin's policy of restraint was essential. Who
knows what would have happened if a bilateral civil war had
actually erupted? Others, like myself, think that if, during
the Season, Begin had permitted his men to forcefully
respond to the attacks by the left, the latter would have
immediately ceased their war against the IZL. If the IZL
fighters had -like many of them wanted to- properly "taken
care" of one or two little informers from the Palmah, the rest
of the leftists would have been scared off, and would no
longer have dared to continue their war against Begin and
his followers. In this manner Begin would have earned for
himself and his camp respect and awe, instead of scorn and
derision, which has continued to the present day.
BUT ONE THING IS CLEAR: NOW WE SHOULD NO LONGER
ENGAGE IN RESTRAINT!
One can agree or not with Begin's policy of restraint. This
discussion belongs to the past. But we must learn the
lesson. Today, in 2004, the entire national camp must unite
and declare: The period of restraint is over! We shall not
curb ourselves if we are attacked! The leftists who
masqueraded as members of the national camp and were
planted in the Likud, such as Sharon, Olmert, Livni, and
others, together with obvious leftists such as Shimon Peres,
are planning a new Season and Altalena. The uprooting of
settlements, the forcible deportation of Jews, the handing
over of parts of Eretz Israel to the Arab enemy, are a new
form of the persecution of the national camp by the left, with
the goal, as then, of breaking it and ensuring the continued
rule of the left. And all this, despite the knowledge that the
"disengagement" plan will cause irreversible damage to the
State of Israel, and even threaten its very existence.
Today, the leaders of the national camp must stop trying to
be "beautiful people," to stop trying to curry favor in the
eyes of the leftists in the State Attorney's Office and the
media, and begin taking action to save Israel from the left: to
start acting like proud Jews, who are willing to fight against
the wicked anti-Semitic plans of
Sharon and Peres for the uprooting and deportation of Jews
from Eretz Israel, and against the transformation of the
Jewish state into a state of all its citizens, bereft of Judaism.
This is especially the case when it is common knowledge
that Sharon's plan does not represent the will of the majority
of the people. The majority thirsts for proud Jewish-Zionist
leadership, which is not afraid to shout to the entire world:
the Land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel, according
to the Torah of Israel!
We in the national camp are not violent, and do not seek
confrontation with anyone. Our sons serve in the army.
Refusing to obey orders is foreign to us. We obey every
order and perform every mission against the Arab enemy,
for it is the task of the IDF to fight the enemy and defend
Israel. But the role of the IDF is not to expel Jews from their
Biblical land and to make possible the handing over of
portions of the homeland to the enemy. Accordingly, if, God
forbid, the order to uproot settlements should be given, we
already now say to all the advocates of transfer what Yossi
Sarid said in 1990: "Let there be no misunderstandings
amongst us, and let it not be said that you were not warned
in advance: We shall not obey the transfer order, nor will our
children and those we have educated obey it. The day that
the transfer order - that is a patently illegal order - will be
given, shall be the day of refusal to obey an order." I hope,
and expect, that every Jewish mother will transmit this clear
message to her children serving in the army and the police:
a real Jew does not uproot and deport his-fellow Jew from
the Land of Israel.
And if, as was reported in the media, the government is
actually training special "transfer units" with leftists and
non-Jews who are only too eager to attack and uproot Jews
- they should not think that we shall wait for them with
restraint, passively, while reciting Psalms. We shall regard
ourselves as a victim who is attacked by a violent aggressor
- and as is well-known, anyone who is attacked is entitled to
defend himself. The more resolute our self-defense, the
more that transfer forces will think twice before they carry
out the crime of expulsion and uprooting.
The national camp does not want a civil war. But if Ariel
Sharon should give the patently illegal order for the
expulsion of Jews from Eretz Israel, this will tantamount to a
declaration calling for a civil war.
We pray that we will not come to such a state of affairs. The
horrible nightmare of civil war can be prevented, if we
succeed in burying the "disengagement" plan, by putting
the Prime Minister out to pasture, and sending him back to
the Shikmim farm, where he can take care of his sheep. One
thing must be clear: we, the members of the national camp,
have stopped acting like nice sheep.
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July 5, 2004
How to Visit Jerusalem Spiritually!
It is the tenth consecutive year of the Walk around the Walls
of the Old City of Jerusalem on Tisha B'Av evening. Each
year, it has become a major spiritual Event. The Walk
symbolizes our faith in the One G-d of the universe, and our
belief that He will rectify the immoral and inhumane acts
being committed by the Arabs almost daily, both in Israel
and in Iraq. It is estimated that there will be more than
100,000 participants who will attend, just as they did last
year.
The spirit of the Bible that Israel should represent is
embodied in this Walk. So much of the news emanating from
the Holy Land deals with Arab terror nowadays. The
Spiritual nature of Biblical Israel is therefore overlooked.
On the Temple Mount, Holy Temples stood which were built
to house the L-rd Himself. The miracle which occurred in
the return of the Jewish People to their ancestral home, is
still not fully recognized. That is not unusual. Few miracles
are fully grasped by we mortals. Nevertheless, it is best that
we refocus on the spirituality of Israel once again, and take
part indirectly in this spiritual occasion. This is true,
wherever you may be located physically.
Join us by having someone participate in your name, and
have your spiritual presence here in Jerusalem. At the same
time, you can help to pay for the large expenses involved in
holding this annual Event. It will be sure to redound to
uplifting you spiritually!
Ruth and Nadia Matar
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July 6, 2004
DISCUSSION OF THREE IMPORTANT PROBLEMS
LETTER FROM RUTH MATAR (WOMEN IN GREEN)
JERUSALEM
Tuesday, July 6, 2004
Dear Friends,
I decided not to answer your many emails individually, for
two reasons:
First of all, we are very pressured in order to make the Tisha
B'Av Walk around the Old City Walls of Jerusalem on July
26, 2004, a success. It is very important that we show the
Sharon Government and the rest of the World how important
Jerusalem and the Holy Land is to the Jewish People. Tisha
B'Av, the 9th of Av, which this year starts in the evening of
July 26, is in commemoration of the destruction of the First
and Second Temples. Tisha B'Av is a forceful reminder of
Hashem's displeasure, when we don't obey His
Commandments. At a time, when our Prime Minister, Ariel
Sharon, wants to disengage from parts of G-d's Promised
Land, and from the Torah and Jewish Law, it is important
that we "pray with our feet". We have to make a public
demonstration, that the Jewish People will not take part
once again in defying the Almighty's explicit
Commandments.
Secondly, many of your letters raised three major questions.
I would like to answer them at some length, because I
believe that "give and take" between us is extremely
important.
1. Some of you were disappointed that I abandoned the
"Dollars with a Message" scheme. "It was a great plan" -
you said - "so why did you fold, when you yourself admit
that everybody writes on Dollar Bills, and nobody is
prosecuted?"
There is a good reason why I had to abandon the "Dollars
with a Message" scheme. As co-chair of a very large
grassroots Movement, Women for Israel's Tomorrow
(Women in Green), and as an American citizen, I have no
right to give our enemies the opportunity to make our
organization appear contemptuous of American laws. Does
that sound as if I am paranoid? Remember, paranoids also
have enemies! The United States State Department, through
the United States Embassy in Israel, has on a number of
occasions demanded that I let myself be interviewed as to
the "views" of Women in Green.
It so happens that I did a weekly English language program
for Arutz 7, Israel National News, for six whole years. This is
the radio station which Ariel Sharon so conveniently was
able to get off the air, in order to deprive the Zionist oriented
public of a media voice. Since then, I have been able to
send you this weekly Letter from Jerusalem, on our
extensive email list. One would think that this public
exposure would be enough even for the people at Foggy
Bottom to figure out what my views are! I have a feeling that
this is pure intimidation, and as a proud American I believe
in Freedom of Speech. However, you can understand that it
would be unwise to give enemies of Israel an opening for
criticism.
2. Many of you questioned my support for President Bush's
reelection. In fact, one of your letters said "I am desolate
that you are a Bush supporter".
I am certainly not happy about the choice of Presidential
Candidates that we have in the coming November election.
The reason that I'm going to vote for Bush, rather than not
voting at all (which would be a vote for Kerry), is as follows:
President Bush's largest constituency are the American
Christian Zionists. As an Orthodox Jew, I believe, as they
do, that as far as the future of Israel is concerned, The Bible
should be our mandate. I still have hope that George W.
Bush, in spite of his family's oil interests, can be made to
realize that a large part of his Christian constituency, as well
as Bible believing Jews, feel very strongly about the Holy
Land.
On the other hand, John Kerry's second wife, Teresa Heinz
Kerry, is a very wealthy lady. She has put millions into her
husband's campaign and has also been pouring many
millions into radical left wing causes, including CAIR
through the TIDES FOUNDATION. CAIR supports Hamas,
some of whose members have been arrested for being
terrorists. CAIR regularly imposes and demonizes American
efforts to fight terrorism claiming, for instance, that
Homeland Security measures are responsible for an
undocumented surge in "hate crimes". Every few months
some CAIR campus official is arrested for aiding and
abetting terrorism!
The TIDES FOUNDATION is a major source of revenue for
some of the most extreme groups on the Left. TIDES allows
donors to anonymously contribute money to a host of
causes; the donor simply makes the check out to TIDES and
instructs the Foundation where to forward the money.
TIDES established the Iraq Peace Fund and the Peace
Strategies Fund, to fund the anti-war movement. These
projects fueled such hysterical protest organizations as
MoveOn.org, the website that recently featured two separate
commercials portraying George W. Bush as Adolph Hitler.
On January 26, 2004, on the eve of the New Hampshire
primary, John Kerry made a campaign speech, revealing
how he really views the Arab-Israeli conflict. He criticized
Bush for not paying enough attention to the Arab-Israeli
conflict (I think, actually, that's a plus!). He pledged, that
immediately upon his election, he would appoint Bill Clinton
and Jimmy Carter as special envoys to the Middle East. (To
have two former Presidents, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton,
who have done a great deal of harm to Israel, working full-
time to pressure Israel to allow itself to be decimated
through the realization of the "Road Map", would be
catastrophic.) Make no mistake about it, John Kerry would
work full-time to force the Road Map down Israel's throat.
In the same speech, Kerry also stated that the problem in
the Arab-Israeli conflict is that Israel does not offer enough
concessions to the PLO: "It is very difficult for Israel to
negotiate because in Israel, there is nobody to negotiate to
actually deliver."
Finally, in that January 26, 2004 speech in New Hampshire,
Kerry blamed Israel for all the problems in the Middle East,
and condemned the very existence of Jewish Communities
in the Biblical Lands of Judea, Samaria, and the Gaza Strip.
Kerry urged that more U.S. aid be given to Arafat's
Palestinian Authority.
3. The third question which concerned many of you is that
Jews should stop appealing to U.S. Government officials,
which is something we obviously were planning to do with
our "Dollars with a Message" scheme. One of your letters
read as follows: "Let us stop appealing to U.S. Government
officials. The latter's duties are to serve the Unites States
and not Israel. Our weakness lies with the Jews. Let us
begin to show some national dignity and stop whining to
others for assistance. Israel's and Jewish survival depends
principally upon the efforts of Jews. Your efforts should,
therefore, be directed toward Jews, rather than toward U.S.
Government officials".
I agree only partially with this letter writer. No doubt that the
buck stops with Israel's Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon. For all
his talk about fighting terror, the fact is that Sharon has
failed to take a strategic decision to eliminate the menace of
Palestinian terror once and for all. The attack that killed a 4
year old boy, Afik Zehavi, outside his kindergarten in the
Southern Israeli city of Sderot, and seriously wounded his
mother, was hardly the first time Arab terrorists had fired
rockets at Israeli communities. Over 4,160 missiles and
mortar shells have been launched by Arabs against Jews in
Gush Katif, in the 45 months since the violence began in
September 2000. Little Afik was the 1,064th victim of
Palestinian terrorism since September 2000. Afik's murder
certainly proves the folly of Ariel Sharon's Disengagement
Plan. Such disengagement would limit Israel's freedom of
maneuver in the areas it cedes. In addition, besides the fact
that expulsion and transfer of Jews is completely illegal and
immoral, it also sends a message of weakness to the Arabs.
In fact, Muhammed Dahlan, Former PA Minister of Security
and the darling of the U.S. State Department, said in
February of 2004:
"The Israeli withdrawal is a victory for us, and we must
celebrate it. Hizbollah turned Israel's retreat from South
Lebanon into victory. The withdrawal of the Israeli army
from the Gaza strip and some West Bank settlements is one
of the most important achievements of the intifada. The
withdrawal should take place without an agreement and with
no political gains (for Israel). Sharon has decided to
withdraw unilaterally and this is cause for celebration."
However, having said all this, it would be helpful if the U.S.
State Department and George W. Bush would stop
pressuring Israel's defeatist Prime Minister Ariel Sharon,
and not promise him America's support for his immoral
policies, which are directly against the Word of G-d, and
which are not in the interest of either country.
With Blessings and Love for Israel,
Ruth Matar
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July 8, 2004
Testing the Leadership of Israel
by Rabbi Eliezer Waldman
A week ago, there were two major terror attacks which
forced us to wake up to the reality of our lives in Eretz
Yisrael. One was the horrific explosion of the fortified
'Orchan' military base, located at the entrance to Gush Katif,
in which one Israeli soldier was
killed. The terrorists dug a tunnel from Khan Yunis, a hotbed
of terror, all the way to 'Orchan', planted a huge amount of
explosives directly under the base and set it off by remote
control. The second attack occurred in the development
town of Sderot in the western Negev, one and a half
kilometers from the Prime Minister's ranch at Havat
Hashikmim, when a rocket was launched from the northern
Gaza region. Two people were killed, a little boy at the
entrance to his nursery school and an older man sitting on
a bench.
That same week, the Jewish people suffered yet another
blow, this time launched by our own Supreme Court. It was a
blow to our basic rights to self defense. The Israeli
government has done its utmost in the past two years to
build a fence through Yesha that supposedly serves
as a shield against murderous terrorists and tries to
convince the public that it will provide security for Jewish
lives. A few days ago, the Supreme Court passed a ruling
that caused much controversy among the public and in the
Knesset: they proclaimed that the location of the fence must
give more consideration to the financial and social
difficulties of the Arab population. even at the cost of less
security for Jewish life.
We think it is absurd that a court ruling could give sympathy
or thought to living conditions of those very same villages
that breed hate and wickedness against our people and
launch the suicide bombers who explode on our buses and
main streets. All the words of
protest heard in the Knesset by ministers (Landau and
Orlev) against the ruling, are of course justified.
Unfortunately this is just another expression of the
deterioration of our national self confidence and lack of faith
in the just cause of protecting Jewish lives in Eretz Yisrael.
Beyond the problem of where to build the fence there is the
more important question as to whether any fence can serve
as the solution for our problems with Palestinian terror. The
two terror attacks of last week have proven again that a
fence will not prevent terror. Rockets that are fired above the
fence against civilian targets and tunnels built under the
fence reaching army bases or Jewish towns with explosives
planted underground, can overcome the supposed security
of a fence. An independent, responsible government that
has the power
and determination to destroy terror cannot hide behind
fences. Certainly a government of the Jewish people who
had to flee enemy attacks while in exile, and were eventually
imprisoned and confined in ghettos surrounded by fences,
should understand that this is no solution. A courageous
leadership deals directly with the enemy that wants to attack
its citizens and drive them from their homeland. The only
way to stand up to this terror is by a continuous offensive
against the terrorists until complete victory is achieved. How
would a nation like the U.S., France or England respond to
rockets being fired from a neighboring country against its
towns or cities? I can only guess that a responsible
government would send its forces immediately to destroy
the area from which the attacks originated and ensure that
no further attacks endanger its civilian population.
We've come back home to create a safe haven for our
people; this is the first and foremost responsibility of
leadership. A normal, self respecting government that puts
all its hope and reliance on fences will certainly fail its test
of commitment to defend Jewish life, and
lose its dignity and respect in the eyes of its friends and all
the more so, its enemies. It pains me to say that this will
stimulate even more attacks against our people.
This irresponsible approach to defending our nation stems
from a basic flaw in perceiving the historical roots of our
rights to Eretz Yisrael. What is a Jew doing living in the
"Arab" city of Hebron? How dare the Jews "occupy" the
"Palestinian" hills of Judea and Samaria? "Peace" will only
be achieved after the end of the occupation of "Arab lands"!!
These absurd declarations which are being broadcast day
and night in the international media have been brainwashing
world opinion, and have been adopted as well by the Israeli
left. Let's get things straight . We have not occupied any
foreign land, we've come back home to the land of our
ancestors which has been promised to their children by the
G-d of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. We have returned to
Hebron, the city of Abraham, the first capital of Israel
established by King David. We have renewed Jewish life in
the hills of Judea and Samaria where the visions of our
Prophets enlightened our lives even in the darkness of exile
and suppression, with the divine promise of the redemption
of Israel by its return to its Biblical inheritance. How blessed
is our generation to take an active part in the realization of
this divine plan of renewal of Jewish life, which is to bring a
blessing to all the nations of the world.
Mr. Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, with all due
respect, there are no Jewish "occupied territories" in Eretz
Yisrael. We have renewed Jewish life by settling in the heart
of our homeland, as we are instructed by divine Biblical
command and by the driving spirit of the Zionist dream. The
continuous flow of eternal Jewish life from the depths of
destruction in the bloodbaths of Europe, burst forth into a
renewed stream of life in Eretz Yisrael, turning into a
gushing river of faith and hope. This divine Zionist faith
created the pioneering zeal and devotion, which inspired the
builders of towns, villages and cities,
from Metulla, Rosh Pina, Elon Moreh, Shilo, Eli, Beit El,
Yerushalayim, Gush Etzion and Hebron, to Sderot and Gush
Katif. Generations of dreamers, fighters and builders have
been privileged to achieve the realization of the Zionist
dream. "When G-d returns us to Zion, we will be like
dreamers". (Psalms 126:1)
It is strange that the very government that should be using
force against our enemies to ensure the existence of the
Jewish people, is advocating violent force against its own
citizens. Our leadership hasn't found the courage and
determination to destroy our enemies, yet is determined to
use aggressive force against its citizens. This inconceivable
thought of forcibly uprooting Jews from their homes in
Gush Katif is a moral infringement against basic civil rights
of a citizen in a democratic society. All the more so, it is a
national crime against the Zionist process, and denies the
Jewish right of return to its homeland. If this
"disengagement" plan would be devised and implemented
by a foreign power, the entire Jewish nation and its leaders
would be up in arms against this expression of anti-
Semitism. Our leaders have already made it clear that any
thought of forcibly relocating any Arab population would be
a crime of transfer and racism. How can the planned forced
transfer of Jews from their homes and towns be justified? Is
violent force and racism justified only when applied to
Jews? Is this the realization of the Zionist dream? Have we
now reached the peak of achievement of Jewish
independence in our homeland? Are we not showing our
enemies the way to humble Jewish spirit and bring about
the capitulation of the People of Israel? Is this the way to
ensure Jewish security in Israel, or will this serve as a
catalyst for continued Palestinian terror until we are thrown
into the sea, G-d forbid? These painful questions are meant
to pierce the heart of every responsible Jew.
I want all of my friends, including our Israeli government, to
know that the Zionist dream is continuing in the classical
divine path of settling, building, and defending Jewish life in
all of Eretz Yisrael, b'ezrat Hashem. This divine phenomenon
is driven by the eternal
strength of faith and its natural instinct of Jewish survival
and existence. This process will not be deterred by the evil
of our enemies nor by the weakness and irresponsible folly
of our brothers at the head of the Israeli government today.
To our devoted friends outside of Israel, who ask how they
can participate with us in preventing the uprooting of Jews
from their homes, I suggest the following: Recruit many
thousands of signatures on a petition against the uprooting
of Jews from their homes. In addition, we are organizing a
mass demonstration by forming a human chain stretching
from Gush Katif to the Kotel in Yerushalayim, on Sunday the
7th of Av (July 25), and I welcome all of our friends to come
and join this chain of Jewish faith.
Always remember, we are all guided and reassured by the
holy words of the Prophet Amos:
"And I will plant them upon their land and they shall no more
be uprooted from their land which I have given them, says
the Lord, thy G-d." (Amos 9:15)
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July 11, 2004
Out of Jerusalem Will Come Forth the Word of G-d
The spiritual nature of the Tisha B'Av Walk around the Walls
of the Old City of Holy Jerusalem is indeed praiseworthy.
For it was in the First and Second Temples on the Temple
Mount that the L-rd of the Universe resided. Sadly, on the
same exact day, the Ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av,
both Temples were destroyed. Six Hundred and Fifty Six
years elapsed between the two destructions.
Jews and Christians are not allowed to pray on the Temple
Mount today. That is a Muslim innovation, and is enforced
by Arab Muslims. Apparently the Arabs are not fazed by
their refusal to allow prayer by anyone else, except fellow
Muslims.
Our Walk is a silent protest against this desecration.
Everyone should participate in this Walk! Raise your voice
in supplication to G-d, so that prayer for all religions will be
possible on the Temple Mount. Of course, when the Third
Temple is eventually built, the Temple Mount will become a
spiritual center for all mankind. Prayer is a natural
expression of a spiritual message to the Almighty. This is
particularly true in the Holy City of Jerusalem.
Send in your contribution to help pay for this Holy Walk. In
this way, you can personally feel that you are actually
participating in this Event. Thus the message will go out
from Holy Jerusalem, that we sincerely believe that a moral
and just G-d rules over all of us.
Ruth and Nadia Matar
*******************************************************
July 14, 2004
"Out of Jerusalem Will Come Forth the Law,
And the Word of G-d, from Jerusalem!"
The upcoming Walk around the Walls of the Old City in
Jerusalem on Monday Evening, July 26, will inspire all of us
spiritually. The Walk symbolizes the concept of freedom of
religion, and speaks out against the universal practice of the
Moslems, who claim superiority of their religion over the
faiths of everyone else. The Moslems have assigned a lower
status to those who believe differently than they do. In
every Arab country this discriminatory practice is
widespread, and endorsed by their respective ruling
authorities.
The irony is that in the very Biblical Holy Land of the Jewish
People, here in Jerusalem, this discriminatory practice of
the Moslems is practiced even on the Temple Mount where
the former First and Second Temples were located. That
this site is considered by the Jewish People its holiest site,
and therefore naturally a place where Jews would and
should be allowed to pray, is not considered by the Moslems
as a reason for them to change their fundamental practices.
The result: Jews and Christians are not permitted to pray on
the Temple Mount!
Prior to the Walk itself, we shall be reading aloud the Biblical
Book of Lamentations, which in Hebrew is called "Aicha".
This Hebrew word is a transliteration to English of the first
Hebrew word of that Book. In those lamentations, we
bemoan the destruction of both of our earlier Holy Temples,
and pray for the building of the Third Temple, as soon as
conditions in Jerusalem permit this to happen.
In the meantime, our ancient custom of Walking around the
Walls of the Old City in silent prayer continues. We now
have conducted this Walk for ten successive years. Each
year we have more than 100,000 participants. Only the
limitation in our financial ability to advertise the Event
properly, has prevented a dramatic increase in the numbers
who participate. There is little doubt that this spiritual Event
would attract far more people to come to Jerusalem from
throughout the world, and within all of Israel, if we had the
necessary funds to advertise this "happening."
Avail yourself of the opportunity to join this spiritual Event
by contributing to the considerable cost of publicizing this
Walk. The organizing of the Event itself is done entirely by
volunteers. Whatever amount you contribute goes directly to
cover the costs involved in this March.
We live in a world practically devoid of the spiritual message
that originally emanated from Holy Jerusalem. Therefore, it
is incumbent on all of us once again to restore the
spirituality that once existed, so that we all can clearly
proclaim the well known Biblical quotation: "Out of
Jerusalem shall come forth the Law, and the word of G-d
from Jerusalem."
Ruth and Nadia Matar
*******************************************************
July 15, 2004
BUSH VS. KERRY - AGAIN
LETTER FROM RUTH MATAR (WOMEN IN GREEN)
JERUSALEM
Thursday, July 15, 2004
Dear Friends,
You wouldn't believe the number of emails I have received
on the question of Bush vs. Kerry in the upcoming
Presidential election, all in response to my last Letter from
Jerusalem. I am always very anxious to read your
responses.
The following are excerpts from a sampling of these letters:
"You have a right to vote for whomever you think is best for
Israel. I don't agree with you about Bush but do agree with
you about Kerry. So I'll be one of those voters who waits till
the last minute or doesn't vote at all." -- S.R.
"This may be the first election in which I vote for a
Republican candidate. I agree with you!" -- N. S.
"It is really sad that Jews here in Israel do not really know
what a "democracy" is and how it works. Jews have had it
driven into their minds after so many centuries that we really
have no rights anywhere, not even in our own Jewish Land.
You post a sign "NO JEWS ALLOWED" and we obey, even if
we bought and paid for our Land and homes, work the
fields, made a beautiful country with a shovel in one hand
and a gun in the other.
We get absolutely nothing but a pat on the head from
America's government for the stupid unilateral withdrawal.
That pat on the head will still be an axe in you head if we
allow the nations to tell us what we need and what is OURS."
--S. M.
"Thank you so much for the info about Kerry's wife. I am
forwarding this to many Christian Zionists. I had almost
decided not to vote for anybody but this info made me
realize I might vote for Bush. Keep up the good work!" -- V.
S.
"One of my main disappointments with Bush is his failure to
move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem. As a 70 year old
Christian Zionist, I view this as capitulation to the Arabs." --
B. A. N.
"I am completely with you, Ruth, in the views you hold.
Thank you for laying it out in front of us. What John Kerry's
record has been and I, too, pray that President Bush's eyes
would be opened to the folly of the disengagement plan and
as a Bible believer, to the plans and promises of Hashem
regarding Israel." --C. G.
"I am a life long registered Republican (now Republican
party activist and precinct committeeman for approximately
seven years) and I voted for George W. Bush in 2000, albeit
reluctantly because I remember his father's term of office,
and how he and Secretary of State Baker treated Israel
during and following the Gulf war...
Ruth is right. Kerry is no friend of Israel's; perhaps he will
be a bitter enemy. Still, I think I will turn the page (which will
be a vote for Kerry as Ruth says) and maybe I will have
maintained my integrity at any rate. Perhaps someone can
convince me otherwise between now and then that I'm doing
the wrong thing. That I'm not doing what God would have
me to do: vote for a president determined to divide His Land.
I've got an open mind, however I feel a sense of betrayal
from this Republican President. " -- S. K.
"My wife was on the Bush for president committee last
election and I had voted for him. This election I have
decided not to vote for President. I believe that Mr. Bush
has sided against God by pushing for the division of God's
Land (c. f. Joel) and I did not want to support indirectly that
Godless agenda. I know I will be held accountable for how I
treat Israel. However, you explained why you will still
support Bush, and because you are aligning yourself with
Bush, and I know you love Israel, I too will vote for him in
this election." --J. P. S.
***
The feeling I get from these letters is that this is going to be
a close election, and that President Bush's reelection is by
no means assured. A surprising number of people,
especially Christian Zionists who are disappointed in
President Bush's attitude toward Israel, are apparently not
planning to vote at all, which of course is a vote for Kerry.
I did not mean last week's Letter from Jerusalem as a
blanket endorsement for President Bush. In fact, it is very
important that Bible believing Christians and Jews
immediately make it clear to President Bush that he should
not take our votes for granted.
At your earliest opportunity, therefore, take pen in hand and
write President Bush a letter, preferably registered, and
express you concerns. (A registered letter will get a reply.
Emails are easily deleted.)
In your letter, ask President Bush to stop sending State
Department envoys, and other emissaries, to make sure that
"illegal Jewish outposts are evacuated." Also, importantly,
President Bush should reign in his Jewish U.S.
Ambassador, Daniel Kurtzer, who has a "hands-on" interest
in seeing Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza
demolished.
Dear Friends, Did you know that Kurtzer was James Baker's
favorite speechwriter, and that he personally coined the
concept "Land for Peace"? In return, James Baker, when
talking to his friends, called Kurtzer "his little Jewboy". How
tragic that Kurtzer, who proclaims himself to be a religious
Jew, seems to believe more in U.S. State Department
guidelines than in the Holy Bible!
Who originally had the chutzpah to declare communities
built by Jews on their own Biblical Land illegal? What
makes Arabs building feverishly all over Judea, Samaria and
Gaza (with generous Saudi financing) legal, and Jews
building on their own Biblical Land illegal?
Joseph Farah, an Arab American syndicated columnist, who
heads WorldNetDaily.com, wrote an illuminating article in
2002 on this issue":
"The word 'settlement' itself is loaded. Who is a 'settler' in
the Mideast? According to the Arabs, only Jews are
"settlers." But that simply is not the case.
"Arafat himself was born in Egypt. He later moved to
Jerusalem. If, at the moment, he is living in the West Bank,
he is a 'settler' there, not a native. Indeed, most of the Arabs
living within the borders of Israel today have come from
some other Arab country at some time in their life. They are
all 'settlers.'
"For instance, just since the beginning of the Oslo Accords,
hundreds of thousands of Arabs have entered the West
Bank or Gaza - and never left. They have come from Jordan,
Egypt and, indirectly, from every other Arab country you can
name - and many non-Arab countries as well. These surely
aren't 'Palestinians.'
"Since 1967, the Arabs have built 261 settlements in the
West Bank. We don't hear much about those settlements.
We hear instead about the number of Jewish settlements
that have been created. We hear how destabilizing they are -
how provocative they are. Yet, by comparison, only 144
Jewish settlements have been built since 1967 - including
those surrounding Jerusalem, in the West Bank and in Gaza.
Why is it that only Jewish construction is destabilizing?"
***
Why indeed is only Jewish construction destabilizing? This
is certainly an important issue to raise in your letter to
President Bush.
An equally important issue is President Bush's support for
Ariel Sharon's Disengagement Plan. It is important that
President Bush realize that he is backing the wrong horse
by supporting Ariel Sharon, because Sharon is fighting for
his political life in a most undemocratic manner with no
holds barred!
The following letter to the Jerusalem Post entitled "Give Us
Back Our Voice" says it all:
"Sir, - In modern Hebrew the word for "voice" (kol) is the
same as the word for "vote". The last few years have shown
us how feeble our voice is, how negligible our winning
votes.
"We on the Right won the last election with the biggest
margin ever for Ariel Sharon. Sharon's policies were the
opposite of the Left's policies of appeasement and retreat.
"Then Sharon experienced change of heart. No matter. We
were offered a referendum in the Likud. We were made to
say (before the referendum) over and over that we would
abide by the results. Sharon agreed. Then we voted. We
won again. Our votes were disregarded.
"A vote was coming up in the Knesset. No matter. Our
Prime Minister fired two ministers, thereby changing the
perceived outcome of the vote.
"During this time another voice of ours - Arutz 7 - was
silenced. Is anyone surprised that the Right is getting
angry?
"Some are now even advocating violence, seeing every
single legitimate alternative blocked ("Settlers group
threatens civil revolt," July 6).
"Here is some advice for those who have suddenly become
aware of the danger in all this anger: Give us back our
democracy. Give us back our votes, and our voice. It is
almost too late.
-- Thelma Jacobson, Petah Tikva"
***
A controversy is now raging in Israel as to who is going to
have to do Sharon's dirty work to transfer Jews from their
homes. Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz declared that the
police, not the army, should be given the evacuation orders.
Defense officials explained Mofaz's position saying soldiers
are meant to fight enemies of the state and not Israel's own
citizens.
Eitam, head of the National Religious Party, claimed that the
IDF is not responsible for fighting Israeli citizens: "The IDF's
job is to protect the borders of the State and to oversee the
security of the citizens... soldiers pledge their allegiance to
the state to fight Israel's enemies and Gush Katif resident
are not the enemy."
Internal Security Minister Tzachi Hanegbi disagreed with
Mofaz, arguing that the police do not have adequate
resources to evacuate the settlers.
Another problem difficult to deal with: What should be done
with soldiers who themselves live in a settlement, or whose
family lives in a settlement that is slated to be evacuated?
It seems that Prime Minister Sharon is having trouble finding
volunteers to do his dirty work!
President Bush would be wise not to appear to support
Sharon's defeatist schemes. The Israeli Prime Minister
desperately holds on to power by any undemocratic means
available.
Doesn't President Bush realize that Sharon's Unilateral
Disengagement Plan entails dragging 8,000 Jews out of their
homes, just as the Nazis did on Krystall Nacht? Doesn't
President Bush realize that women and children being
forcibly removed from their homes, with their husbands and
fathers physically subdued while trying to defend their
family -- will make for ugly scenes on CNN and Fox? This
behavior on the part of the Sharon government will not give
the impression of democracy in action.
If President Bush agrees with Sharon's Disengagement Plan,
he, as well as Sharon, tells the World that Jews are not
allowed to live in parts of their Biblical Homeland. In effect,
President Bush then agrees that Jews can legitimately be
banned from France, or Germany, or Belgium, or any place
else in the world.
Do tell President Bush in your letter, not to believe for one
minute the so-called opinion polls that the Israeli majority
supports Sharon, as the Israeli media is solidly controlled by
the Left.
Also President Bush throwing Israel to the Arab wolves,
such as Saudi Arabia, has not sated the appetite of the
Arabs one bit. They are still clamoring to be paid in Israeli
coin for their "friendship".
In spite of my concerns about President Bush, I want to
repeat that John Kerry is a much worse choice, both for
America and Israel.
Of course, the war in Iraq is a central issue in this election
year. Kerry keeps blaming President Bush for failing to win
Security Council approval for the war in Iraq. However,
voters should pay attention to the latest information on the
Oil for Food scandal, which already reveals much corruption
on the part of European countries and Russia, and bears
directly on the debate whether the continued "containment"
of Saddam was ever an option. It certainly will be harder to
blame President Bush for failing to win Security Council
approval for military action if three of that body's
"Permanent Five" (France is one of them) are found to have
been effectively on Saddam's payroll.
Even with this information John Kerry keeps telling us that,
within two weeks after being inaugurated, he wants to treat
the UN as a full partner. This is dangerous not only for
Israel, but also for America.
I reiterate: with regard to the Holy Land, President Bush
should use the Bible as his guide. I still have hope that
George W. Bush, in spite of his family's oil interests, can be
made to realize that a large part of his Christian
constituency, as well as Bible believing Jews, feel very
strongly about the Holy Land. It is your and my
responsibility to make President Bush aware that he does
not as yet have our votes in his hip pocket in this very close
election.
With Blessings and Love for Israel,
Ruth Matar
P.S. You might find an article online in The New Republic
entitled "Hebrew Lessons" interesting. It can be viewed at
http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?pt=DoRaziGko2Q5yaBS%2B
SkYCz%3D%3D
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July 16, 2004
CAIR's Phony Petition
by Daniel Pipes, New York
Sunday, July 13, 2004
The killing by an Islamist group in early May of Nick Berg, an
American civilian working in Iraq, was so barbarous that it
put the heat even on American Islamists. In response, the
Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations
launched a petition called "Not in the Name of Islam," by
which it hoped to "disassociate the faith of Islam from the
violent acts of a few Muslims."
On the surface, this statement "against terrorism" appears
impressive: "We, the undersigned Muslims, wish to state
clearly that those who commit acts of terror, murder and
cruelty in the name of Islam are not only destroying
innocent lives, but are also betraying the values of the faith
they claim to represent.
"No injustice done to Muslims," it goes on, "can ever justify
the massacre of innocent people, and no act of terror will
ever serve the cause of Islam. We repudiate and dissociate
ourselves from any Muslim group or individual who commits
such brutal and un-Islamic acts. We refuse to allow our faith
to be held hostage by the criminal actions of a tiny minority
acting outside the teachings of both the Quran and the
Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him."
A Koranic passage (4:135) then follows to establish that this
is not just CAIR's viewpoint: "Oh you who believe, stand up
firmly for justice, as witnesses to God, even if it be against
yourselves, or your parents, or your kin, and whether it be
against rich or poor; for God can best protect both. Do not
follow any passion, lest you not be just. And if you distort or
decline to do justice, verily God is well-acquainted with all
that you do."
The chairman of CAIR's board, Omar Ahmad, whose idea
this petition was, expressed his hope that it "will
demonstrate once and for all that Muslims in America and
throughout the Islamic world reject violence committed in
the name of Islam."
The petition indeed won CAIR a fistful of kudos. Among
others, the Associated Press, United Press International,
Religion News Service, Washington Post, and Philadelphia
Inquirer wrote admiringly of it. I found not a single skeptical
word on the topic.
But a close look finds this petition lacking in several ways.
CAIR vaguely condemns "terror, murder and cruelty in Islam
s name " but a genuine condemnation would name names
and cite incidents. This is crucial because CAIR has shown,
for example, that Islamist suicide bombings against
Russians, Israelis, and Indians do not fit its definition of
terrorism.
CAIR is silent in this text about supporting counterterrorism
efforts, and for good reason. It consistently opposes both
the means (such as the Patriot Act, special registration for
foreign visitors) and ends of counterterrorism (the arrest of
Sami Al-Arian, conviction of the Buffalo Seven, seizure of
Holy Land Foundation assets).
The Koranic passage CAIR quotes about "stand up firmly for
justice" is not about issuing press releases or signing
petitions. "Standing up for justice should mean taking real
action." Stephen Schwartz, a Sufi, tells me. "In today's
situation, that translates into identifying and helping arrest
Muslim evildoers by driving them from the community;
outlining a straight path of moderation; and making clear
one's loyalty to America."
A petition is a "solemn supplication or request to a superior
authority," so the obvious question arises: to whom is this
CAIR "petition" addressed? Nobody it is just an abstract
statement. It might carry some weight were it addressed to
Hamas, Al-Qaeda, or the extremists in Iraq. Addressed to no
one, it amounts to just another CAIR bleating about being
"against terrorism."
CAIR claims over 650,000 signatures, but following its usual
unaccountable ways, it makes no names available for public
inspection. This practice is particularly suspect at a time
when websites such as www.petitiononline.com have made
it possible to see and count each name on a petition. Until
CAIR makes the 650,000 names available, this figure should
not be accepted.
In conclusion, "Not in the Name of Islam" seeks to clean up
Islam's image without doing anything of substance. It
manages to do two things at once: impress naïve
Westerners without upsetting anyone in Hamas, Al-Qaeda,
the Iraqi Islamist organizations, or other violent groups. In
this, the petition initiative fits CAIR's well-established
pattern of obfuscation and insincerity.
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July 17, 2004
The Holiness of the Temple Mount is Derived from Judaism
The holiness of Jerusalem is Biblical, and has deep and
ancient roots. When one thinks of Israel, the Bible comes to
mind immediately. The ties between the present
communities located in Judea and Samaria, and their
Biblical roots, are clearly demonstrated by a Map which
some members of Women in Green have researched and
meticulously prepared. The Bible has come alive once
again with the creation of the State of Israel, and that is the
major significance of Israel_s establishment.
The special spiritual and moral gifts that the Jewish People
gave to the world through their Biblical leaders and
Prophets, is well known. All you have to do is read the
_Book of Books_. In the Bible, the holiness of Jerusalem is
emphasized.
It is because of the holiness of the Temple Mount in Judaism
that the Muslims have built their Al-Aksa Mosque there, as
well as the Golden Dome. Judaism had been in existence
for several thousand years, before Mohammed founded the
Muslim religion in the seventh century. It was because the
Jews built their First and Second Temples for the one G-d of
the Universe on the Temple Mount, that the Muslims chose
this site for their own edifices. It is therefore ironic indeed,
that the Muslims do not allow Jews to now pray on this
Temple Mount.
The Walk around the Walls of the Old City of Jerusalem,
therefore, takes on great significance. The people of the
world must react to the Muslim intolerance of preventing
freedom of religion on the Temple Mount. It was on this
Mount, that the L-rd of the Universe resided. It is this Mount
that Judaism sanctifies as its Holiest Site. It is there that the
Third Temple is destined to be built.
Even if you cannot be present in Jerusalem for the Walk,
make a donation to symbolically have a representative in
your place and stead. The present number of 100,000
participants can and should be tremendously increased.
The Walk around the Walls of the Old City should be widely
publicized, on radio, television, and in the newspapers
throughout the world. The enormous expense of such
advertisements will make the spiritual potential of this Walk
more readily realized. When you contribute to cover such
advertisement costs, you are promoting the spiritual nature
and holiness of Jerusalem.
There is a desperate need by everyone for a spiritual
message that must emanate from the Holy City of
Jerusalem. The One G-d of the Universe must be hallowed
from there and everywhere else. It should be done in a
Third Temple, which must be built as soon as possible.
Ruth and Nadia Matar
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July 18, 2004
UPCOMING ACTIVITIES
1) WIG's FIRST REPORT ON 'MACHSOMWATCH'
Tuesday, July 20th we will go with our cars and strengthen
our soldiers at the different checkpoints around Jerusalem.
Departure at 9:30am from the Inbal hotel.
Call Anita to register at 050-5-777254
A few days ago, Women in Green published its first report
on its campaign for the protection of our dear IDf soldiers at
the checkpoints. Our report gives a detailed expose of the
harm the extreme left wing women of Machsomwatch cause
and prove that those women endanger the security of the
soldiers and of the citizens of Israel. You can find the entire
report (in Hebrew) on our WIG hebrew site at
www.womeningreen.org.il or on rotter.net
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July 20, 2004
Tisha B'Av, 5764
We all are in desperate need of the Hebrew Prophets, and
their moral and humane message. The Arab propensity to
lie has engulfed us all. Supplied with oil money wisely
invested in the communications industry, immorality reigns.
Accordingly, there is no serious criticism in the media of the
worst inhumane actions by purported human beings.
Beheading humans has become, more or less, accepted as a
means of vengeance. At least the tendency is to be less
shocked or disgusted when one hears of such occurrences.
It no longer horrifies, as it once did.
That is why we so need the spirituality that the Walk around
the Old City Walls in Holy Jerusalem provides. We are
reminded on this occasion that moral behavior is a requisite
for all mankind, and that there is a just G-d who sits in
judgment of human behavior. That our great requirement
today is drawing close to the Almighty, and as the Prophet
Micah told us what the L-rd required from us: To deal justly,
to love mercy and walk humbly with Him. (Micah 6;8)
We remember the glory that once was when the Temple
stood on the Temple Mount, and the L-rd of the Universe
was worshipped here in Holy Jerusalem with joy and
thanksgiving. Thus we walk in silence on this day of
mourning, carrying only the symbol of Israel, its flag. That
flag represents the glorious Jewish Heritage which has
persevered and survived for more than 3,500 years. Truth,
goodness, justice and civility must reign once again
between human beings in this mixed up world, as a
prerequisite for there being peace on this earth.
Participate in any way you can in this spiritual occasion, and
encourage by your financial support such a spiritual Event.
Have a Walker represent you in the Walk around the Walls of
the Old City and thereby make your personal contribution to
a world that is more spiritual. The moral standards that
emanate from Jerusalem are very much needed in a
directionless world. All of us must draw near to the Eternal
One, and thereby receive His much needed blessings.
Ruth and Nadia Matar
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July 22, 2004
DO NOT LET JEWISH HISTORY BE ERASED!
DO NOT LET JEWISH GRAVES BE DESECRATED!
LETTER FROM RUTH MATAR (WOMEN IN GREEN)
JERUSALEM
Thursday, July 22, 2004
Dear Friends,
The other day I turned on the radio and I heard Ariel Sharon
say in his heavily accented English: "The Disengagement
Plan is the most important item on our agenda, AND WITH
G-D'S HELP WE SHALL SUCCEED!"
What incredible chutzpah! Sharon well knows that the
Almighty promised His Holy Land to the Jewish People.
This Promise certainly includes Judea, Samaria and Gaza!
He can't really seriously be calling for G-d's help. Does he
not realize that G-d does not change his Word? Sharon
might be justified in calling on his newly found godless
cronies - Shimon Peres, Yossi Sarid, Tommy Lapid, et al - to
come and help him. Sharon's statement is the height of
attempted obfuscation bordering on blasphemy.
Ok, let's again make this clear once and for all! Gaza is
Jewish land promised by Hashem in the Bible as an
everlasting inheritance; it was in fact apportioned to the
Tribe of Judah (Joshua 15:47 and Judges 1:18) as part of
Israel's eternal patrimony.
A few examples of the Jewish presence in Gaza since
Biblical times:
* A beautiful remnant of a mosaic floor dated 508/509 CE of a
Gaza Synagogue, pictured King David playing the harp.
King David's name was rendered in Hebrew letters.
* One of the big Mosques in Gaza has a pillar that had the
name Chananya Bar-Yaakov (an important figure from the
days of the Hasmoneans) engraved on it. Above his name
was a picture of a Menorah with a Shofar on one side, and
an Esrog on the other.
* There is an old neighborhood in Gaza which is called by
the Arabs, to this day, "Charat al-Yahud" - neighborhood of
the Jews.
* Israel Ben Moses Najara (1555-1625) was the prominent
Rabbi of Gaza during his lifetime. Throughout the years
after his death, many Jews came to pray at his grave.
Most physical evidence of the Jewish presence in Gaza
since Biblical times has been deliberately erased by the
Arabs, especially at the time of the first Intifada (1987-1993).
The Arabs feel that if they erase such physical evidence,
they will be able to convince the world of their Big Lie, that
they are the original inhabitants of the Holy Land.
Rabbi Najara was not only the Rabbi of Gaza, but he was
also a famous poet. The following is a translation of one of
his most well-known poems "Yoh Ribbon Olam ve-
Allemayya", a poem that appears in the Jewish prayer book,
and is sung every Sabbath:
"Lord of all worlds! All Your creatures praise You. Even if
we lived a thousand years, we could not recount the extent
of Your greatness. God, save Your people from their exile
and rebuild the Temple, and there, in Jerusalem, we will
really be able to sing to You!"
The poetry of Rabbi Najara is beautiful, inspiring and a
tribute to Hashem. But poetry can also be vile, inciteful and
a call to terror and violence. One of the most famous Arabs
poets today is Mahmoud Darwish, whose poems deal mainly
with the Arabs Jewish conflict. (By the way, Yossi Sarid
who was Minister of Education under Prime Minister Ehud
Barak, made the incredible demand that the poetry of
Darwish become part of the curriculum for Jewish children.)
The following are lines from one of Darwish's most popular
poems:
"DIG UP YOUR DEAD
TAKE THEIR BONES WITH YOU
AND LEAVE FROM OUR LAND"
Desecration of Jewish graves occurred already while Ehud
Barak was Prime Minister. Ehud Barak allowed the burning
and vandalizing of graves such as the Tombs of Joseph and
Joshua in Samaria, and Jewish graves in Hebron.
Now, shamefully, Prime Minister Sharon is planning to make
Mahmoud Darwish's poem even more of a reality. Shame on
you Ariel Sharon! Would you even contemplate digging up
the bones of your beloved wife Lilly? Or of your son who
died at a young age?
The widely accepted and most important code of Jewish
law, The Shulchan Aruch, states as follows (Yoreh Dea,
363:1):
"You are not allowed to remove the dead and the bones, not
from a respectful grave to a respectful grave, not from a
disrespectful grave to a disrespectful grave, and not from a
disrespectful grave to a respectful one. (It goes without
saying that it is not allowed to remove from a respectful
grave to a disrespectful one.) The only cases where transfer
of the dead would be allowed are if it was the will of the
deceased, or if the remains are being transferred to Israel."
Member of Knesset Gila Finkelstein of the National Religious
Party delivered a speech in the Knesset on July 7, 2004,
which dealt with the human suffering of Sharon's
Disengagement Plan:
"The subject we are dealing with is very painful, perhaps the
most painful in the history of the State of Israel: the
uprooting of thousands of Jews from their homes and the
land on which they built their lives and families over the
course of decades. How symbolic it is that this session is
taking place as we begin the 'Three Weeks' mourning period
during which we grieve over the Destruction of the Temple
and the onset of the Exile...
"Fellow Knesset Members, it is only natural that a tense
argument also rages around the question of who will carry
out this dreadful evacuation [- the police, or the army]? Who
will be the ones to enter the homes and remove their
inhabitants?
"Who will lift up the three Cohen family children - those
heroic youngsters from Kfar Darom who lost legs [in a
murderous Palestinian terror attack on a school bus - ed.] -
and take them out of their house, the house to which they
returned after the attack when they made a courageous
decision to show that terrorism had not won?
"Who will knock on the door of Chana Bart - that gentle but
determined woman who defeated terrorism, who managed to
give birth even after she was so seriously wounded - and
ask her to wheel herself over in her wheelchair to the special
bus waiting for her outside?
"Who will help David Hatuel [whose pregnant wife and four
children were murdered by Palestinian terrorists] to fold up
all his memories into his suitcases? And who will pile on to
the evacuation trucks all those men, women and children,
our brothers and sisters, the flesh of our flesh? This will be
an impossible psychological burden, one that is liable,
Heaven forbid, to be the lot of both the evacuees and the
evacuators!
"I shake as I imagine the unit that will come to remove the
dead from their graves, including the victims of murderous
Arab terrorism. On whom is it possible to place such a
terrible mission, accompanied by its psychological tensions
and eternal scars?
"I'm unable to find an answer to this question: On whom can
the mission of emptying the homes be placed? Of taking
the pictures down from the walls, and of removing the
mezuzuot from the doorposts? What about the Torah scrolls
and the synagogues? Who will make the final check to
ensure that nothing was left behind, before the bulldozers
come in and turn the life and vitality that was there into a
pile of ruins?
"The Defense Minister says that the soldiers are unable to
bear such a burden. He is right! The job of IDF soldiers is
to wage war against the country's enemies, and to maintain
security and peace for Israel's citizens. How can we give
them the job of evacuating and removing pioneer settlers?
"The Minister of Public Security declares: The police are
also unable to bear this load. And he too is right! Policemen
are not made of different human material than anyone else.
They too will not be able to withstand the emotional and
psychological pressure.
"Both of them are right! Because neither the soldiers, nor
the police, nor any Israeli could stand up to this job without
having its sights and sound pursuing him for the rest of his
life!
"I have been informed that a special unit is being
established for this evacuation mission. The hidden and
not-hidden assumption is that if we train a special force, and
provide it with 'mental preparation,' and guide and train it for
a few months - in the end, this unit will be able to carry out
this mission without batting an eyelash. These soldiers or
police will be able to separate absolutely between their
emotions and the beliefs on which they were raised, and the
mission they must carry out.
"To this naive and problematic idea, I say the following, as
one who has been involved in education for many years:
"Do not destroy the souls of our youth! Don't destroy the
souls of our soldiers and our policemen, don't try to turn
them into unfeeling robots, and don't teach them how to
evacuate Jews from their homes without emotion. If you do
this, you will destroy their souls from within - the souls of
the soldiers and policemen, and the soul of the entire
society.
"I am sure that my words are not foreign to those on the
Left. They have said... countless times, 'The occupation
corrupts.'... I would like to say, 'The expulsion corrupts,' at
least to the same extent, if not more.
"Therefore, Mr. Speaker, I propose that the task of
evacuating the residents be placed neither on the police nor
on the soldiers. It should instead be buried altogether."
***
The Jews of Gaza have been targeted by more than 4,200
Palestinian rockets and mortar shells in the past four years.
They have been demonized and delegitimized by the media,
disparaged by the left, and threatened with expulsion by
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
Despite the threat of withdrawal hanging over their heads, it
turns out that in the first six months of 2004, the number of
Jews living in Gaza actually soared, growing at a rate three
times faster than last year. (By the way, Sharon has made it
clear that anybody who moves to Gaza now, will not be
compensated.)
I firmly believe that, as long as we remain confident in
Hashem and the justness of our cause, no power in the
world can dislodge us from our Land, our Biblical
patrimony.
As Menachem Begin noted in his book "The Revolt", "FAITH
IS PERHAPS STRONGER THAN REALITY, FOR FAITH
ITSELF CREATES REALITY."
With Blessings and Love for Israel,
Ruth Matar
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July 22, 2004
Bodansky's Revelations: Part II
By Prof. Paul Eidelberg
Throughout 2002 and before it launched its attack on Iraq in
March 2003, the United States sought to gain the
cooperation of various Arab regimes. The attempt was futile
and revealed the ignorance of the Bush administration even
as regards seemingly pro-American Arab states.
The elimination of Saddam Hussein could not but pose a
threat to the autocratic nature of these states. Besides, and
as Bodansky points out, "For the Saudis, any semblance of
cooperating with the United States in the occupation and
destruction of Baghdad - regardless of the fact that they
hated Saddam Hussein - was sacrilegious" (p. 62).
Moreover, U.S. occupation of oil-rich Iraq and the
establishment of a pro-American Iraqi government would
undermine Saudi influence and importance in Washington.
This also applies to Egypt, a key player in the Middle East.
Despite these obvious facts, the Bush administration, while
preparing for "Operation Iraqi Freedom," insisted that Israel
maintain a "low profile" and act with restraint vis-a-vis
Arafat's Palestinian Authority. To placate Washington,
prime minister Ariel Sharon, on September 29, instructed the
Israel Defense Forces to comply with American requests to
ease the siege of Arafat, and to withdraw from Arafat's
compound in Ramallah. Even more significant, Sharon
bowed to Washington, at Israel's expense, by not exposing
Arafat's connection with Saddam Hussein. "It is impossible
to say no to our big friend [the United States]," Sharon told
the newspaper Yediot Aharanot.
But this is precisely what Arabs states were saying to
Washington, including Egypt, which receives two billion
dollars each year in U.S. military aid. In November, Cairo
said no even to "Washington's request for special security
measures in the Suez Canal during the passage of navy
warships on their way to the Persian Gulf" (p. 62).
While receiving nothing from Egypt, the U.S. received
crucial intelligence about Iraq from Israel. Yet Washington
expected Israel not to become involved in any military
campaign to topple Saddam, regardless of any sort of attack
on the Jewish state. It mattered not to the administration
that Israel had documentary evidence that Iraq was directly
responsible for Palestinian terrorism. The evidence showed
that Saddam and Arafat, acting in collusion, ordered suicide
bombings in Israel to distract Washington from its war plans
against Saddam's regime.
Nevertheless, Washington applied constant pressure on
Jerusalem to make concessions to Arafat, and warned
Sharon not to do anything once the war started "even if Iraq
launched missiles at the tiny state"! Jews were expected to
bleed for their big American friend. And bleed they did.
Some 130 Jews had to be murdered by Palestinian terrorists
in March 2002 before Prime Minister Sharon screwed up
enough courage to launch "Operation Defensive Shield."
Moreover, the operation was terminated before the IDF could
completely destroy the weapon factories in Jenin, the venue
for suicide bombers. Jews had to be reduced to body parts
to placate the United States, or rather, to preserve Ariel
Sharon's "friendly" relations with George W. Bush.
Here, a slight digression. While Israel dutifully supplied the
U.S. with intelligence about Iraq - intelligence that would
save American lives_Jonathan Pollard languishes in prison
for having (illegally) supplied Israel with such intelligence,
but which Washington withheld in violation of the Strategic
Cooperation Agreement between the two countries. Jewish
blood is cheaper than American blood_or so we must
conclude not only from Washington's attitude toward Israel,
but also from the submissive attitude of Israel's prime
minister, Ariel Sharon.
After a mid-October meeting with Bush who called Sharon a
"close friend" and affirmed Israel's right to self-defense,
"Sharon came out of the Oval Office," writes Bodansky,
"deeply insulted and personally hurt when, at the last
minute, a six-page _position paper' on the future of the
Middle East that included veiled threats to Jerusalem was
stuffed into his hand." Bodansky goes on to say:
Sharon had not expected "his friend" Bush to sandbag him,
especially in light of Sharon's close cooperation with
America, even at the cost of Israeli lives. Despite Sharon's
indignity, Israel made unilateral concessions to the
Palestinians that enabled greater movement to would-be
martyrs and bomb-makers. As a result, Israeli citizens
suffered some of the most lethal strikes in recent memory,
including, on the morning of Sharon's meeting with Bush, a
bus bombing in which fourteen civilians were killed and
close to fifty wounded (p. 65).
Some critics will say - and rightly say - Israel desperately
needs a prime minister that can say no to Washington and
uphold Israel's interests. But has the Knesset nothing to
say in this matter? Isn't the Knesset also responsible for the
well-being of the Jewish people? And if the Knesset lacks
the power to constraint the prime minister, must there not
be some deadly flaw in Israel's system of government?
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July 23, 2004
Instant Spiritual Gratification
It is a world of Arab violence, where a Jewish Judge is killed
because he seemingly allowed a lien to be put on
Palestinian Authority funds. It seems that the Arab
Authority might be held responsible for Arab terrorist
activity which destroyed Egged buses and killed innocent
Israeli civilians. The Moslem approach by their Leaders and
Clerics to Arab violence and inhumane killings has, in effect,
encouraged the continuation of Arab terrorism in Israel and
elsewhere.
All you have to do is objectively examine what is occurring
to the civilian populace in Israel today, and the total absence
of Moslem condemnation of what the Arabs are doing there,
to come to only one conclusion: The Moslems will not
criticize their fellow Moslems, under any circumstances,
morally, or otherwise. Certainly, asking where in the Koran
it is written that permits such immoral atrocities to be
committed, will not result in your receiving any satisfactory
answers.
Nor will you find any basis for the discriminatory practice of
the Moslems on the Temple Mount. Moslems will not permit
either Jews or Christians to pray there. The fact is that
intolerance of other religions is basic to Moslem theology,
and is strictly observed by all practicing Moslems. Other
religions are assigned an inferior status wherever Moslems
control any country. Even where they do not control a
country such as in Israel, they practice such discrimination
wherever they are able.
That is why Women in Green are emphasizing this ironic
aspect of the Moslem position on the Temple Mount. Where
the Jewish Temples once stood, and despite the fact that the
Moslems chose this site as holy because the Jews
considered it holy, they are denying the right of the Jews to
pray there. We do not have, unfortunately, the kind of
Jewish leadership which has the necessary faith to stand up
to this Moslem arrogance. Notwithstanding, the basic
democratic concept of freedom of religion requires that we
have the right to pray at the holiest site in Judaism. We
shall moreover, insist on our right to build the Third Temple
there.
As we walk around the Walls of the Old City, we recall with
pride the magnificent accomplishments of the Jewish
People towards making this world more spiritual. Not only
did this people give the concept that there is only One G-d in
this Universe, but it gave to the world the Book of Books,
the Bible. In that Bible, the Ten Commandments are basic
requirements of minimum human behavior. We have also
contributed the concept of an all seeing G-d judging our
behavior, and that moral rectitude must accompany our
every action.
The spiritual nature of the Walk is therefore extremely
important, and those who are contributing financially to
make it possible are deserving of praise. Make the effort to
join with us, either directly or indirectly by sponsoring a
Walker. The spiritual gratification is almost instantaneous.
Ruth and Nadia Matar
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July 25, 2004
Jonathan Pollard's Family To Join Human Chain From Gaza
Women in Green call upon all who care about Israel's
survival as a Jewish State, to join today's human chain from
Gush Katif to Jerusalem. We are deeply moved and honored
to have with us, as part of the chain, Jonathan Pollard's
sister and brother-in-law.
Together with hundreds of thousands, we will remind the
world that Gush Katif, Northern Shomron, and Jerusalem are
one. The human chain will prove that all Jews are
responsible for one another. Jonathan Pollard, the Jews of
Gush Katif, and the Jews of Northern Shomron are victims
of the Sharon government. The People of Israel will be
holding hands and declare: we will protect all Jews around
the world and fight for their right to live in all of Eretz
Yisrael, our Biblical Promised Homeland, given by Hashem
to the Jewish people.
Sunday evening, July 25th, corresponds to the 8th of Av,
which is Jonathan Pollard's 50th birthday. As an honorary
member of the Gaza Coast Regional Council, the Gush Katif
Human Chain event is Jonathan's spiritual birthday party.
The human chain will bring together more than one hundred
thousand people, holding hands from Gush Katif to the
Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Jonathan's sister and brother-
in-law, Laura and Fred Shainbaum, will be joining the
Women in Green to participate in this historic event.
Nothing would give Jonathan more pleasure on his 50th
birthday, this Sunday, than to know that a hundred thousand
of his brothers and sisters are joining together to hold
hands in celebration of our eternal connection to the Land of
Israel, and in defense of the
inalienable right of all Jews to live securely in all parts of the
Land.
May the unity of our People shown by Gush Katif Human
Chain, be a blessing for all of Israel. May Jonathan's
spiritual birthday party, commemorated by this Human
Chain, gain us the merit to be blessed with a true and lasting
genuine peace in this Land. May Jonathan Pollard celebrate
his 51st birthday actually living in Jerusalem, in freedom.
Amen!
Jonathan Pollard invites all of Israel to come to his
upcoming birthday party! Here are the details again:
When: Sunday June 25, 2004, between 5 PM to 7 PM
Where: The Corner of King George and Jaffa Streets,
Jerusalem. Join Women in Green there, together with Laura
and Fred Shainbaum.
No gifts please. Prayers and flags only!
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July 25, 2004
Drawing Near to Your Maker!
If Jerusalem is the spiritual center of the whole world, why is
it that the State of Israel, which considers Jerusalem as its
holy Capital, is nevertheless continuously maligned in the
United Nations, and almost unanimously voted against on
practically every issue dealing with the Holy Land?
Why is it that the bestial and inhumane actions of the Arabs
are not openly condemned as evil by the nations of the
world, who profess to live in accordance with the moral
principles taught by the Hebrew Prophets. Those questions
are not easily answered. Nor is the conduct of the media
and so called "world opinion" readily explainable. You are
not going to get understandable answers from Women in
Green on these questions. They are as bewildered as you
are by these conundrums, and perplexities.
What you are going to hear about however, is the attempt by
Women in Green to reach you and have you touched by the
spirituality of their upcoming Walk around the Walls of the
Old City of Holy Jerusalem. We want you to be moved
spiritually by the fact that both of the Temples which housed
the presence of the L-rd of the Universe, were destroyed on
the same exact day, the 9th day of the Hebrew month of Av.
What meaning does that fact have? Do we mortals fail
sometimes in our attempts to morally fulfill G-d's
Commandments? Do we sometimes lose perspective, and
make of our rituals the ultimate goal, rather than a means to
draw closer to G-d? Do our Temples, synagogues and
churches, lose sight of their purpose, which is to draw
nearer to our One G-d.
We may never fully understand the reason why our Temples
were destroyed on the same day, many centuries apart.
Notwithstanding, we can ask of the L-rd, that He allow us to
pray on the Temple Mount, and to build a Third Temple to
glorify His Name. One thing is certain. We become much
better human beings when we are spiritually oriented.
For this purpose, the Walk around the Old City Walls of
Jerusalem has much meaning, and should be joined by
everyone, without exception. Whether you are here
personally, or by proxy by means of financially hiring a
Walker in your place and stead, it will prove to be an
uplifting experience for you. You will be counted among the
faithful of the world. It is an honor you do not want to miss.
It is an opportunity to, draw closer to your Maker!
Ruth and Nadia Matar
*******************************************************
July 27, 2004
This speech by Nadia Matar, Chairperson, Women in Green,
at the Tisha B'Av Evening Walk around the Old City Walls of
Jerusalem was delivered in Hebrew. The following is an
English translation thereof.
Return the Israeli Flag to the Temple Mount!
On June 7, 1967, our paratroopers broke through the Lions'
Gate, and liberated the entire Old City. At ten o'clock in the
morning, three paratroopers, following Motta Gur's orders,
climbed to the top of the Mosque of the Dome and unfurled
an Israeli flag over it. Four hours later, at two p.m., Defense
Minister Moshe Dayan arrived, surrounded by his entourage.
Nadav Shragai writes in his book The Contested Mount:
"Dayan was immersed in his thoughts when the IDF Chief
Prosecutor Meir Shamgar drew his attention to the fact that
the Israeli flag had been raised over the Temple Mount since
the morning. Dayan ordered that it immediately be lowered.
Then Dayan spotted a paratrooper company that was
preparing for permanent deployment in the northern part of
the Temple Mount, and he ordered that they, too, be
removed from the Mount.
"GOC Central Command Uzi Narkiss sought to persuade
Dayan, and he reminded him that
Jordan, as well, had kept a military unit on the Mount to
maintain order. Dayan was not convinced. He told Narkiss
that it seemed to him that the place had to be entrusted to
the Muslims." Several days later, Dayan decided finally that
the place and its administration were to be entrusted to the
Muslim Wakf. At the same time, he decided to insist that
Jews be allowed to visit the Temple Mount, but not pray
there. Later on, Dayan gave an explanation for his
scandalous decision - a decision that proved to all just how
much Dayan was an assimilated Jew and an ignoramus. He
explained that, "since for the Muslims the Temple Mount is a
Muslim mosque for prayer, while for Jews it is merely a
historical site recalling the past, the Arabs are not to be
disturbed in acting there as they do now, and the right of the
Muslims to control it must be recognized."
A few weeks later, on Tisha B'Av 1967, 1897 years after the
destruction of the Second Temple, Rabbi Goren, may the
memory of the righteous be for a blessing, with several
dozen other Jews, entered the Temple Mount plaza, where
Jews -according to halacha-were permitted to be. They
brought with them a shofar (ram's horn) and a Torah Ark
with a Torah scroll, and they conducted the afternoon prayer
service. This afternoon prayer service on the Temple Mount
aroused a public storm in Israel and abroad. The media
launched unbridled agitation against Rabbi Goren's initiative
to renew Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount, and his
request to conduct a mass prayer service on the Sabbath
following Tisha B'Av was categorically rejected. The
government told Rabbi Goren in no uncertain terms: If
Jewish worshipers were to ascend the Temple Mount, they
would be evacuated by security forces.
In response to this terrible decree, Rabbi Goren wrote a
letter to the Ministerial Committee for the Safeguarding of
the Holy Places. His words could have been written today,
almost forty years after we liberated the place of our Temple,
while, to our shame, the Temple Mount is still closed to
Jewish prayer. The following are a few passages from his
letter:
"Honored Ministers! Your decision by which you forbid me,
as an individual, and the Jews as a whole, from praying on
the Temple Mount shocked me to the depths of my soul. It
follows from your decision that the only place in the world in
which an express and specific ban has been placed on the
Jew, as a Jew, to pray, is Mount Moriah, the mount of the
Lord to which all of Israel's prayers are directed, the location
of the nation's Holy of Holies. [...]
"From the destruction of the Second Temple until three
hundred years ago, the prayers of Jews on the Temple
Mount did not cease. [...] The uniqueness of the Kotel
(Western Wall) as a place of prayer is a historical innovation,
and is not more than three hundred years old. It began after
the decrees and limitations placed by the Muslim rulers on
the Jews, and the abrogation of the 'synagogue' [...] that had
existed for centuries on the Temple Mount. [...] In no manner
or form is the Western Wall entitled to be a substitute for the
mount of the Lord. The prayers at the Wall symbolize the
exile of the people and its expulsion from the Temple Mount,
while our prayers on the Temple Mount represent the return
of the people to its land and the place of its Temple.
"Who could conceive that Israel's security forces would be
compelled to obstruct Jews from praying before the Lord,
when the Temple Mount is under the government of Israel?
And is this our situation now, after our dazzling victory? Did
we await this, that the government of Israel would
discriminate between Jew and Muslim, and place guards
lest, Heaven forbid, Jewish prayer would be uttered on the
Temple Mount, about which the Prophets prophesied, 'For
My House shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples'
[Isaiah 56:7]?"
"Jewish history shall not forgive us for this. My request,"
Rabbi Goren ends his letter, "is to open wide the gates of
the Temple Mount to all Jews and for everyone in the world.
Save the Holy of Holies of the nation, do not hand over the
Temple Mount to those who defile it. Signed in grief, in
hope, and in blessing, Shlomo Goren, General, Chief Rabbi
of Israel."
My friends, the State of Israel exists for 56 years. Of these,
we were truly, in the words of the Hatikvah, "a free people in
its land" only for four hours. Those four hours were those in
which the Israeli flag waved above the Temple Mount. For,
as Uri Zevi Greenberg knew, whoever controls the Temple
Mount controls all of Eretz Israel. Anyone with any sense
knows that the Temple Mount is not holy for Muslims. The
only reason why they are building mosques there is because
this is the people of Israel's most sanctified spot, and their
goal is to prevent us from gaining a foothold there. Turning
the Temple Mount compound into a Muslim place of prayer
is therefore not a religious act, but a political and warlike
act, a sort of spiritual terrorist attack against the Jews.
The order to lower the Israeli flag from the Temple Mount in
'67 constituted the beginning of the continued withdrawal
from, and collapse by Israel's governments to the Arab
enemy. There is a clear and direct connection between the
removal of the Israeli flag from the Temple Mount in '67 and
the retreat from Yamit, from there to the criminal Oslo
accords, from there to the Wye agreements, and from there
to Ariel Sharon's ethnic cleansing plan to deport Jews and
hand over broad portions of the soil of our homeland to the
enemy. Obviously, anyone who abandons the Temple
Mount, the very heart of the Jewish people, will eventually
hand over the rest of the homeland to that same Arab foe.
Rabbi Yisrael Rosen writes in his book Kumu Ve-Na'aleh
(Come, Let Us Go Up) that our hold on Jerusalem is to be
regarded as a barometer of the degree of the national revival
of the people of Israel. A debased hold on Jerusalem hints
at national subservience. Firm adherence to Jerusalem
means standing with head held high and with dignity.
According to this barometer, the national revival of Israel
today seems at first extremely low. The children of Israel's
adversaries play soccer in the place of our Temple; the Arab
enemy engages in the destruction of all the antiquities and
Jewish traces at the site, without interference and with our
full governmental compliance. This is really depressing and
frustrating.
But here comes the good news. We, the people, are capable
of changing the situation! Admittedly, we have many weak
and tired political leaders, who are no different from the ten
spies who slandered the Land of Israel. Those scouts were
afraid. They did not believe or have the faith that we could
conquer our Land. As is common knowledge, it was
specifically for the sin of the spies that we were punished.
G-d turned the day on which the Land was besmirched by
these messengers, which fell on the ninth of Av, into a day
of destruction and mourning. Today, we must correct this
sin! Today, the people of Israel rejects the way our people
reacted in the wilderness. Then, the response of the people
was to believe the ten spies, to weep, to complain, and to
tearfully implore Moses to return to Egypt. Yesterday we
had a magnificent human chain, with more than two hundred
thousand participants, from Gush Katif to the Temple Mount.
Today, we have tens of thousands participants in the Walk,
who encircle the Temple Mount as a bride encircles her
groom under the wedding canopy. This Walk has been held
for ten years in succession now, and just grows from year to
year. All of this demonstrates that the majority of the people
received the genes of Caleb ben Yefuneh and Joshua ben
Nun, who believed in the justness of our Cause, and who did
not fear to say "We will certainly go up, and we shall gain
possession of it, for we shall surely overcome it" (Numbers
13:30).
We must deliver an unequivocal message to all the
politicians today who, once again, slander the Land and are
willing to surrender parts of it: This shall not come to pass.
The people shall not allow you, even if you cook up a
majority in the Knesset and the government. The majority of
the people of Israel, throughout the ages, clearly say: "The
Land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel, in accordance
with the Torah of Israel, and no one has the right to cede it."
Don't delude yourselves: yesterday we stood in the human
chain like nice and very disciplined children, and today we
are holding a quiet and respectable march - but you should
know that for us the Land of Israel is like our child, and if,
Heaven forbid, the patently illegal order should come to take
our child from us, the masses that we saw yesterday in the
human chain, and today in this Walk will be forced to react
as a lioness defending her cubs against criminal and
murderous hunters.
With G-d's help, we will not have to face such harsh
situations. With G-d's help, in the coming months we will
succeed in sending home, to early retirement, all the
political leaders who today are betraying Zionism and
Judaism, and thereby bury their plan of destruction. In their
place we shall find true, proud Jewish leaders, leaders who
shall fearlessly proclaim throughout the whole world: "The
Land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel, in accordance
with the Torah of Israel" - leaders whose first action will be
to expunge the national shame from the Temple Mount. In
other words, leaders who will remove the foreign intruder
and who will return the Israeli flag over the Temple Mount,
the very heart of our sanctity. This way, and only this way,
with G-d's help, will the complete Redemption come,
speedily and in our days, Amen.
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*******************************************************
July 28, 2004
Taken from Arutz 7 News of Tuesday, July 27
....4. RABBI GOREN AND THE MOUNT At last night's
traditional silent march around the walls of the Old City of
Jerusalem (see below), Women in Green's Nadia Matar
described the modern history of Jewish prayer on the
Temple Mount:
"On Tisha B'Av in 1967, 1,897 years after the destruction of
the Second Temple, Rabbi Shlomo Goren [IDF Chief Rabbi
and Maj.-General, who later became Chief Rabbi of Israel],
may the memory of the righteous be for a blessing, entered
the Temple Mount Plaza with several dozen other Jews, to
an area where Jewish Law permitted them to be. They
brought with them a shofar [ram's horn] and a Torah Ark
with a Torah scroll, and they conducted the afternoon prayer
service. This prayer service on the Temple Mount aroused a
public storm in Israel and abroad. The media launched
unbridled agitation against Rabbi Goren's initiative to renew
Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount, and his request to
conduct a mass prayer service on the Sabbath following
Tisha B'Av was categorically rejected. The government told
Rabbi Goren in no uncertain terms: If Jewish worshipers
ascend the Temple Mount, they would be evacuated by
security forces.
"In response to this terrible decree, Rabbi Goren wrote a
letter to the Ministerial Committee for the Safeguarding of
the Holy Places. His words could have been written today,
almost forty years after we liberated the place of our Temple,
while, to our shame, the Temple Mount is still closed to
Jewish prayer. The following are a few passages from his
letter:
'Honored Ministers! Your decision by which you forbid
me, as an individual, and the Jews as a whole, from praying
on the Temple Mount shocked me to the depths of my soul.
Your decision means that the only place in the world in
which an express and specific ban has been placed on the
Jew, as a Jew, to pray, is Mount Moriah, the mount of the L-
rd to which all of Israel's prayers are directed, the location of
the nation's Holy of Holies...
'From the destruction of the Second Temple until three
hundred years ago, the prayers of Jews on the Temple
Mount did not cease... The uniqueness of the Kotel (Western
Wall) as a place of prayer is a historical innovation, and is
not more than three hundred years old. It began after the
decrees and limitations placed by the Muslim rulers on the
Jews, and the abrogation of the 'synagogue' ... that had
existed for centuries on the Temple Mount... In no manner or
form is the Western Wall entitled to be a substitute for the
Mount of the Lord. The prayers at the Wall symbolize the
exile of the people and its expulsion from the Temple Mount,
while our prayers on the Temple Mount represent the return
of the people to its land and the place of its Temple.
'Who could conceive that Israel's security forces would
be compelled to obstruct Jews from praying before the Lord,
when the Temple Mount is under the government of Israel?
And is this our situation now, after our dazzling victory? Is
this what we waited for - that the government of Israel would
discriminate between Jew and Muslim, and place guards
lest, Heaven forbid, Jewish prayer would be uttered on the
Temple Mount, about which the Prophets prophesied, 'For
My House shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples'
[Isaiah 56:7]? Jewish history shall not forgive us for this.
'My request is to open wide the gates of the Temple
Mount to all Jews and for everyone in the world. Save the
Holy of Holies of the nation, do not hand over the Temple
Mount to those who defile it. 'Signed in grief, in hope,
and in blessing, Shlomo Goren, General, Chief Rabbi of
Israel.'"
5. 10TH ANNUAL TISHA BAV MARCH ENCIRCLES
JERUSALEMS OLD CITY WALLS Last night marked the
10th anniversary of the revival the ancient custom of
encircling the walls of Jerusalem's Old City on the eve of
Tisha B'Av - the 9th day of the Jewish month of Av, the day
the first and second Temples were destroyed.
The revival of the ancient custom was initiated by the
Women In Green organization, headed by Nadia and Ruth
Matar. They first requested a permit from the Jerusalem
Police in 1994 to allow the march, but were turned down on
the grounds that such a march through eastern Jerusalem
would constitute a provocation. Women in Green then
turned to Israel's High Court, which ruled that the march
could take place, but only with 500 women wearing
identifiable green hats. Whoever marched in addition to
those 500 would have to march as an individual, the Court
ruled.
The march has grown steadily over the past decade, and last
night's encirclement of the walls attracted more than 10,000
participants. The silent march was preceded by the
traditional reading of Eichah (the Book of Lamentations) in
the large plaza that abuts Jerusalem's City Hall.
Knesset members "still loyal to the Land of Israel," in Nadia
Matar's words, as well as rabbis took part in the march.
They addressed the crowd opposite Lions Gate, where IDF
Paratroopers entered the Old City in 1967 to liberate the
Temple Mount.
"We stand here on the 9th of Av not only to mourn the
destruction of our first and second Temples," said former
Cabinet Minister Rabbi Benny Elon (National Union). "The
Fast of the 9th of Av also marks the day when the twelve
spies sent to scout out the Land of Israel returned, with ten
of them saying that the Land was unconquerable, and two of
them insisting the opposite: 'Arise, let us conquer it, for God
is with us.'"
"We see from this biblical episode that what is right is not
decided by the majority," said Elon. "On Tisha B'Av we are
prohibited from greeting one another, in order to set each
person apart with only himself and the Creator. This is so
that each Jew can look beyond the loud slogans of the tired
majority, break away from the flock and decide on his own
what is right for the eternal Nation of Israel."
Other speakers included MK Dr. Aryeh Eldad (National
Union) and Har Nof's Rabbi Shalom Gold of the Aloh Naaleh
organization, which encourages North American rabbis to
make Aliyah (immigrate to Israel) together with their
congregations.
Women in Green's co-founder Nadia Matar delivered a
stirring speech that echoed through the City of David, below
the Old City. She said,
"On June 7, 1967, our paratroopers broke through the Lions
Gate, and liberated the entire Old City. At 10 AM, three
paratroopers, following General Motta Gur's orders, climbed
to the top of the Dome of the Rock and unfurled an Israeli
flag over it. Four hours later, at 2 PM, Defense Minister
Moshe Dayan arrived, surrounded by his entourage. Nadav
Shragai writes in his book The Contested Mount:
'Dayan was immersed in his thoughts when IDF Chief
Prosecutor Meir Shamgar drew his attention to the fact that
the Israeli flag had been raised over the Temple Mount since
the morning. Dayan ordered that it immediately be lowered.
Then Dayan spotted a paratrooper company that was
preparing for permanent deployment in the northern part of
the Temple Mount, and he ordered that they, too, be
removed from the Mount.
'Central Region Commander Uzi Narkiss sought to
persuade Dayan, reminding him that Jordan, as well, had
kept a military unit on the Mount to maintain order. Dayan
was not convinced. He told Narkiss that it seemed to him
that the place had to be entrusted to the Muslims.'
"Several days later, Dayan decided finally that the place and
its administration were to be entrusted to the Muslim Waqf.
At the same time, he decided to insist that Jews be allowed
to visit the Temple Mount, but not pray there. Later on,
Dayan gave an explanation for his scandalous decision - a
decision that proved to all just how much Dayan was an
assimilated Jew and an ignoramus. He explained that, 'since
for the Muslims the Temple Mount is a Muslim mosque for
prayer, while for Jews it is merely a historical site recalling
the past, the Arabs are not to be disturbed in acting there as
they do now, and the right of the Muslims to control it must
be recognized.'
"My friends, the State of Israel exists for 56 years. Of these,
we were truly, in the words of the HaTikvah, Israel's national
anthem, a 'free people in its land' only for four hours. Those
four hours were those in which the Israeli flag waved above
the Temple Mount. [It is] as the poet Uri Tzvi Greenberg
knew, that whoever controls the Temple Mount controls all
of the Land of Israel.
"The order to lower the Israeli flag from the Temple Mount in
'67 constituted the beginning of the continued withdrawal
and collapse by Israel's governments to the Arab enemy.
There is a clear and direct connection between the removal
of the Israeli flag from the Temple Mount in '67 and the
retreat from Yamit, from there to the criminal Oslo accords,
from there to the Wye agreements, and from there to Ariel
Sharon's ethnic cleansing plan to deport Jews and hand
over vast portions of our homeland to the enemy.
Obviously, anyone who abandons the Temple Mount, the
very heart of the Jewish people, will eventually hand over
the rest of the homeland to that same Arab foe.
"But there is also good news. We, the people, are capable of
changing the situation. Admittedly, we have many weak and
tired political leaders, who are no different from the ten
spies who slandered the Land of Israel. Those scouts were
afraid. They did not believe or have the faith that we could
conquer our Land. As is common knowledge, it was
specifically for the sin of the spies that we were punished.
G-d turned the day on which the Land was besmirched by
these messengers, which fell on the ninth of Av, into a day
of destruction and mourning. Today, we must correct this
sin. Today, the People of Israel rejects the way our people
reacted in the wilderness. Then, the response of the people
was to believe the ten spies, to weep, to complain, and to
tearfully implore Moses to return to Egypt.
"Yesterday we had a magnificent human chain, with more
than 200,000 participants, from Gush Katif to the Temple
Mount. Today, we have tens of thousands participants in
the Walk, who encircle the Temple Mount as a bride
encircles her groom under the wedding canopy. This Walk
has been held for ten years in succession now, and just
grows from year to year. All of this demonstrates that the
majority of the people received the genes of Caleb ben
Yefuneh and Joshua ben Nun, who believed in the justness
of our Cause, and who did not fear to say, 'We will certainly
go up, and we shall gain possession of it, for we shall surely
overcome it' (Numbers 13:30).
"We must deliver an unequivocal message to all the
politicians today who, once again, slander the Land and are
willing to surrender parts of it: This shall not come to pass.
The people shall not allow you, even if you cook up a
majority in the Knesset and the government. The majority of
the people of Israel, throughout the ages, clearly say: 'The
Land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel, in accordance
with the Torah of Israel, and no one has the right to cede it.'
Don't delude yourselves: Yesterday we stood in the human
chain like nice and very disciplined children, and today we
are holding a quiet and respectable march - but you should
know that for us the Land of Israel is like our child, and if,
Heaven forbid, the patently illegal order should come to take
our child from us, the masses that we saw yesterday in the
human chain, and today in this Walk, will be forced to react
as a lioness defending her cubs against criminal and
murderous hunters.
"With G-d's help, we will not have to face such harsh
situations. With G-d's help, in the coming months we will
succeed in sending home, to early retirement, all the
political leaders who today are betraying Zionism and
Judaism, and thereby bury their plan of destruction. In their
place we shall find true, proud Jewish leaders, leaders who
shall fearlessly proclaim throughout the whole world: 'The
Land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel, in accordance
with the Torah of Israel.'" Psalm 137 about Jerusalem was
read aloud, a shofar was blown, and the marchers then
continued to the Kotel, the western wall of the Temple
Mount. Well over 100,000 people visited the Wall last night
and today, reciting the liturgical Kinnot lamenting the
destruction, exile, and other catastrophes Israel has
undergone.
*********
One supporters' reaction: Nadia, You are so strong. It was
an excellent article but the way you delivered the speech
last night was so much more powerful. You gave all of us
there a lot of strength. You make me proud to be a Woman
in Green! - Scott
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*******************************************************
July 29, 2004
THE STRUGGLE AGAINST PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL
SUBJUGATION
LETTER FROM RUTH MATAR (WOMEN IN GREEN)
JERUSALEM
Thursday, July 29, 2004
Dear Friends,
A "post-Zionist leftist oligarchy" (consisting of the Sharon
Government, the courts, and the leftist media) is trying to
subjugate the People of Israel, both physically and
spiritually.
This "post-Zionist leftist oligarchy" is trying to convince the
People that the only way that Israel can survive is by
continual retreat from our Land. The battle cry is: "We must
transfer the Jews from Biblical Gaza and Samaria. ... The
Arabs are just too numerous. ... We have a severe
demographic problem. ... The Arabs are soon going to be
the overwhelming majority. We must, therefore, transfer the
Jews from Gaza and Northern Samaria for the good of the
rest of the nation."
Whether this is the real reason for Sharon's shameful
Unilateral Disengagement Plan, we are in no position to
know. Why does Sharon want to disengage from the very
people whom he encouraged to build their homes in Biblical
Gaza, Samaria and Judea? After all, he spent many years of
his life building up these communities. Is it possible that
Ariel Sharon who we once considered to be a Lion of Judah,
has lost all his courage in his old age?
Whatever Sharon's reasons for his complete change of
heart, he has now arbitrarily and dictatorially decided on a
different direction. To achieve his own designs, Sharon is
employing the most unconscionable use of power.
The Jews who have built their homes in Biblical Gaza and
Northern Samaria, did so with the encouragement of
successive Israeli governments. Sharon himself, when he
was Minister of National Infrastructure between the years
1996-1998 under Benjamin Netanyahu as Prime Minister,
encouraged people to settle the Jewish Land. In any case,
Sharon's now wanting to expel these people from their
homes, is a prime example of Sharon's desire to physically
subjugate the Jewish People.
Just as detrimental as physical subjugation, or maybe even
more detrimental, is his attempt at spiritual suppression.
Sharon has become like one of the ten spies in the Bible,
who brought to the Children of Israel an evil report on the
Land that they had spied out, saying:
"The Land through which we have passed, to spy it out, is a
Land that devours its inhabitants! All the people that we saw
in it were huge! There we saw the Nephilim, the sons of the
giant from among the Nephilim; we were like grasshoppers
in our eyes, and so we were in their eyes!" (Numbers 13:32-
33)
Is Sharon's ambition now to be the Prime Minister of a
nation of grasshoppers?
Sharon went up to the Temple Mount in September of 2000.
A new war of terror started immediately, which had been
planned by Arafat for several months. This war against the
Jewish People is still going on and has already claimed
more Jewish lives in four years, than in the seven years
between 1993 (the beginning of Oslo) and 2000. Sharon
promised the Jewish People security, but engaged only in a
tit for tat policy, rather than going all out to defeat the Arab
enemy.
Even though Sharon supposedly defied the whole Arab
world by going up to the Temple Mount in September of
2000, he then forbade Jews and Christians to visit this
holiest of places until August of 2003. Sharon no longer
seemed to show any interest whatsoever in claiming Jewish
ownership of the Temple Mount, which is the holiest place in
the Jewish religion.
He permitted the Arabs to build additions to their Mosques
using heavy machinery, and looked away when the Arabs
wantonly destroyed Jewish artifacts from the First and
Second Temple periods. This was done deliberately by the
Arabs to destroy any evidence of prior Jewish presence on
the Temple Mount. (Some such artifacts, which had not
been destroyed, have turned up on the world antiquity
market at tremendous financial gain for the Arabs.)
When Israeli archeologists warned Sharon of dangerous
cracks in the Southern Wall of the Temple Mount, and
cautioned against the Southern Wall's imminent collapse,
the Sharon government called in Jordanian engineers to do
the necessary repairs. This in spite of the fact that Israel
has engineers who are just as good, and probably better.
Was this Sharon's way of disavowing his interest in the
Temple Mount as a Jewish Holy place?
Since June 7, 1967, when the Temple Mount was liberated,
only Muslims have been allowed to pray on the Temple
Mount, by order of then Defense Minister Moshe Dayan.
Dayan insisted that Jews be allowed to visit the Temple
Mount, but not to pray there. Dayan gave an explanation for
his scandalous decision as follows: Since for the Muslims
the Temple Mount is a Muslim Mosque for prayer, while for
Jews it is merely a historical site recalling the past, the
Arabs are not to be disturbed in acting there as they do now,
and the right of the Muslims to control it must be
recognized. How sad that Dayan was an assimilated Jew
and completely ignorant of Jewish religion and unfeeling
toward Jewish tradition.
Dayan's terrible decision is still in place. Only Muslims are
allowed to pray on the Jewish Temple Mount, and Jews and
Christians are forbidden to do so. They are even forbidden
to move their lips in prayer!
This year Tisha B'AV started on Monday evening, July 26,
2004. Hundreds of people from across the country had
planned on ascending the Holy Mount. They found out that
the Temple Mount - Judaism's holiest site - was again closed
to Jews, this even on Tisha B'Av while Jews are mourning
the destruction of the First and Second Temples. Why did
Sharon allow Internal Security Minister Tzachi Hanegbi to
close the Temple Mount to Jews on Tisha B'AV? The
reason, again, was the Muslim threats of violence if Jews
were allowed to visit.
If this is not spiritual suppression and subjugation, I don't
know what is!
On Sunday evening we were part of a magnificent human
chain, with more than two hundred thousand participants,
from Gush Katif to the Temple Mount. On Monday evening,
Women in Green organized the reading of Eicha
(Lamentations) at Safra Square and a Walk around the Old
City Walls, with tens of thousands participants. This Walk
has been held for ten years in succession, and just grows
from year to year.
In front of the Lions Gate, where Israeli paratroopers in June
of 1967 liberated the entire Old City, Women in Green's co-
founder Nadia Matar made a stirring speech which touched
our hearts and brought tears to our eyes:
"We must deliver an unequivocal message to all the
politicians today who, once again, slander the Land and are
willing to surrender parts of it: This shall not come to pass.
The people shall not allow you, even if you cook up a
majority in the Knesset and the government. The majority of
the People of Israel, throughout the ages, clearly say: 'The
Land of Israel belongs to the People of Israel, in accordance
with the Torah of Israel, and no one has the right to cede it.'
Don't delude yourselves: yesterday we stood in the human
chain like nice and very disciplined children, and today we
are holding a quiet and respectable march - but you should
know that for us the Land of Israel is like our child, and if,
Heaven forbid, the patently illegal order should come to take
our child from us, the masses that we saw yesterday in the
human chain, and today in this Walk, will be forced to react
as a lioness defending her cubs against criminal and
murderous hunters.
"With G-d's help, we will not have to face such harsh
situations. With G-d's help, in the coming months we will
succeed in sending home, to early retirement, all the
political leaders who today are betraying Zionism and
Judaism, and thereby bury their plan of destruction. In their
place we shall find true, proud Jewish leaders, leaders who
shall fearlessly proclaim throughout the whole world: 'The
Land of Israel belongs to the People of Israel, in accordance
with the Torah of Israel'"
***
Dear Friends: May we be worthy of redemption and May the
Third Temple be built, soon, and in our days.
With Blessings and Love for Israel,
Ruth Matar
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*******************************************************
July 30, 2004
In The Service of the Almighty !
Listening to John Kerry at the Democratic Convention in
Boston, espouse the principles that should guide his
presidency if he were to be elected, one was struck by the
fact that much of what he said could have been taken right
out of our Bible. Justice, optimism, equality, hard work,
fearlessness, and above all faith, are human qualities that
the Bible extols. If he proved true to his words, actually he
would be a true servant of the L-rd, and would be fulfilling
His Will on this earth.
Unfortunately, we have witnessed that even those with the
best of intentions, and not strong enough to fulfill G-_s Will
as the Bible tells us over and over again. We mortals
sometimes do not measure up to expectations. We do not
always act as we are required to do, and what the Bible
expects us to do. After all, the history of mankind
beginning with his expulsion from the Garden of Eden, is
not one of consistency, and does not always confirm that
we mortals have acted morally correct. Even the wisest
amongst us, has his shortcomings.
Nevertheless, the Kerry speech was impressive, and on the
right track. It revealed an intention to benefit Americans
who are part of mankind, and to literally perform acts which
are in the service of the L-rd. Whether he eventually
performs in accordance with his pronouncements, the fact
that he proclaims his intent to unite and benefit most of the
American People is in itself an important first step in their
behalf. When and if he is elected, and the opportunity to
perform in the service of the L-rd becomes relevant, only
then can we see whether he measures up to his declared
intentions. Sadly, the track record of politicians has not
been good in that regard.
On the other hand, the track record of George W. Bush has
not been exemplary. True, his actions in removing the evil
threat of Sadaam Hussein were commendable, and has been
accomplished. However, his actions in the Holy Land has
been in defiance of G-d's Will as expressed in the Bible. To
persist on advocating that the Arabs have a state within
Biblical Israel amounts to blasphemy, and is against what it
clearly states in the Bible. We pray that President Bush
comes to his senses, and decides to act in behalf of the L-
rd, and not in behalf of Saudi Arabia. That Arab country is
promoting and financially supporting policies which are
inimical to the continued existence of Judaic- Christian
values..
Whoever is elected President of the United States, it is vital
that he acts strictly in accordance with the Will of G-d as
expressed in the Bible. The Bible has been the essential
source of inspiration and guidance for all American
Presidents since the founding of that glorious democratic
state. The founders were well versed in the Bible and took
their guidance for their lives, and values from that Holy
Book. The inspiration that John Kerry had before the
Democratic Convention, had its roots in that very Bible.
President Bush would be wise to follow the wisdom that is
revealed in the Book of Books. He must cease advocating
the Saudi :Road Map" and once again return to the faith of
the Evangelicals who were responsible for his election four
years ago. All of us must realize that we are at our best
when we are in the service of the Almighty!.
Michael Levi Matar
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