September 2004
September 1, 2004 Sharon's Dictatorial Policies
September 1, 2004 Dear to the Voice of the People
September 2, 2004 Upcoming Activities
September 3, 2004 What Happens to the "Merely Wounded"
September 5, 2004 Sharon Acting Against Will of Majority
September 6, 2004 Massacre in Beslan
September 7, 2004 Religion is Now a Message of Hate
September 8, 2004 Women in Green Not Deterred by Slashing
September 9, 2004 Upcoming Activities
September 10, 2004 Terrorism Knows No Borders
September 12, 2004 Letter to Mankind
September 14, 2004 Our Wishes for the New Year
September 14, 2004 A Civil War AmongOurselves?
September 15, 2004 The Real 'Root Cause' of Global Terror
September 22, 2004 Letter to the Editor
September 23, 2004 The Lessons of the Holocaust
September 26, 2004 A Trip in Support of Neve Dekalim
September 26, 2004 Who Is Really Inciting?
September 27, 2004 Try to Put Yourself in Our Shoes!
September 29, 2004 Letter to Gideon Ezra
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September 1, 2004
Sharon's Dictatorial Policies
On Sunday, September 5, 2004, at 9:30 a.m., Women in Green will
demonstrate opposite the office of the Prime Minister, during the
time that his Cabinet will be meeting, at the Rose Garden in Jerusalem.
Instead of pushing his ethnic cleansing Disengagement Plan in Gaza,
which would uproot Jews from their homes and destroy their built up
communities in the Promised Land, Sharon should be taking necessary
steps to prevent such recent tragedies that occurred in the double suicide
bus bombings in Beer Sheva.
The Human Chain from Gush Katif to the Western Wall has proven that the
great majority of the electorate is opposed to Sharon's Disengagement
Plan. Twice, on separate occasions, his own Likud Party has rejected such
a move on his part. Sharon, acting as a dictator, nevertheless, is
determined at all costs to proceed with his Jewish Evacuation Plan.
Despite Arab terror and the threat of missiles being fired from Gaza to
adjourning Jewish communities, he is prepared to risk all.
Show, by your appearance at the Demo, that you are against his anti-
democratic practices. Voice your opposition to Sharon's arbitrary and
dangerous encouragement of continued Arab terror. Insist on the
necessary protection for the Jewish People from what has, heretofore,
been Sharon's useless and faulty measures.
Ruth and Nadia Matar
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September 1, 2004
DEAF TO THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE
LETTER FROM RUTH MATAR (WOMEN IN GREEN) JERUSALEM
Wednesday, September 1, 2004
Dear Friends,
Yesterday Palestinian suicide bombers struck, shortly before 3 p.m.,
setting off explosions on two buses in the southern Israeli city of Beer
Sheva, which killed at least 16 and wounded more than 100. Of the
wounded, 16 were children. Twelve people died immediately at the scene,
and four others died while being treated, including a three year old.
Yesterday morning Prime Minister Sharon presented to the Likud MKs a
rushed-up disengagement timetable to implement his plan to uproot the
Jewish residents of Gaza and Northern Samaria and to withdraw all Israeli
presence, even though his plan has not as yet been voted upon by the
Knesset. His so-called "majority" (11-9) in the Cabinet only came about
because he fired two ministers, who were adamantly opposed to
disengagement, just 24 hours before the Cabinet vote.
Immediately after the tragic attack in Beer Sheva, Sharon said that "there is
no connection between this and the Disengagement Plan. This attack will
not derail the Disengagement Plan."
On the other hand, Member of Knesset Tzvi Hendel (National Union Party)
said: "The Prime Minister has a responsibility that is not insignificant, for
this bloodshed. His obsession with evacuation is aiding the terrorists in
killing more and more Jews."
Minister Zevulun Orlev (National Religious Party) said: "Disengagement is
exploding in our faces. Instead of the army investing energy in evacuation,
it should be putting its effort into fighting terror."
The majority of Israelis have no doubt that there is a connection between
yesterday's tragic attack and Sharon's Disengagement Plan. Neither do the
Arabs have any doubt. They have learned that terror is the most effective
tool in their plan to eliminate the Jewish State.
Hundreds of Arabs in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza, celebrated the double
suicide bombings, marching in the streets, opening fire into the air and
shouting "Allahu Akbar" (God is great.) Sweets were handed out to the
crowd as a sign of jubilation. Yasser Arafat told the celebrants in the town
of Solfit: "We will march towards Jerusalem, we will sacrifice millions of
martyrs. Jerusalem is the capital of the state of Palestine."
We often hear that Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East.
However, Ariel Sharon's dictatorial maneuvering has revealed to us how
easily Israel's democracy can be breached.
200,000 people participating in the Human Chain from Gush Katif to the
Western Wall proved that the great majority of the Israeli electorate is
opposed to Sharon's Disengagement Plan. His own Likud Party has
handed him two important severe defeats on his unilateral Disengagement
Plan from Gaza. The first one was the Likud Referendum, May 2, 2004,
which Sharon had promised to honor, but which he subsequently ignored,
even though the Likud members' vote went against him by 19.5%.
The second stinging defeat was a vote by the Likud Convention against the
Disengagement Plan, two weeks ago, on August 18, 2004.
But Sharon marches ahead, seemingly oblivious to anything that blocks
his way towards the implementation of his plans. Defeats within his own
party are mere distractions to be ignored. Papa Sharon knows what it best
for Israel!
It is important to understand that, under present Israeli law, no one in the
last election was able to cast a vote for Sharon, but only for the Likud
Party. The Likud Party is certainly against unilateral withdrawal. That was
the centerpiece of Labor's policy under Amram Mitzna, who was soundly
defeated. And, of course, the Likud Party's platform is against the creation
of a Palestinian state.
Thus, Sharon has no mandate. The mandate conferred by the election
victory belongs to the Likud Party, not to Ariel Sharon.
The Sharon who campaigned before the elections that he was going to
protect the Israeli People from Arab terror, is not the same Sharon who is
now planning to transfer Jews from their homes. Sharon has done a 180
degree turn, and has made the platform of the Left his new religion. What
is Sharon's unilateral Disengagement Plan, but an exact replica of Labor's
platform in the last election? This leftist platform which was so
overwhelmingly rejected by the Israeli People?
Sharon's policy now is a continuation of Oslo, only worse. I am quoting
here from a few articles which Sharon wrote, when he was a Likud Knesset
Member, while Yitzchak Rabin was the Prime Minister of Israel. Especially
interesting, in the present circumstances, is his article "Deaf to the voice of
the People".
The Jewish Press, August 11, 1995
"The dangers of cooperation" by Ariel Sharon
"As a soldier and commander who has fought in every one of Israel's wars
in the most desperate and fateful battles and campaigns, I say that a
General Staff which fights Jewish women and children whose safety has
been abandoned by the government… and which cooperates with its worst
extremes against part of its own people, can no longer win. It will not be
capable of standing up to the real foes, should it have to."
Jerusalem Post, August 18, 1995
"Amazing role reversal" by Ariel Sharon
"True, the IDF hasn't yet withdrawn. But this can change within a short
time: and we must prepare for it, in case these communities are abandoned
by the government… the Jewish towns and villages in Judea, Samaria and
Gaza are the last line of defense before the armistice lines of 1949.
"To help the Jewish residents across the Green Line doesn't mean forming
an underground or an armed militia. It means defending and preserving
life. Nothing could be more legal, moral, honorable or right."
Jerusalem Post, November 17, 1995
"Pain must not obscure judgment" by Ariel Sharon
"The settlers aren't 'a cancer in the body politic' as the left has called
them… Even three percent of the population is entitled to protection. Their
settlements were set up by every government of Israel. They are citizens
and tax payers; they all serve in the IDF; some serve in the most elite
combat units…"
The Yesha Report, No. 33, August, 1995
"Deaf to the Voice of the People" by Ariel Sharon
"Government ministers, public figures and columnists have abandoned all
affairs of state and are busying themselves with one issue: the danger of
isolation facing the Jewish residents of Yesha if they continue in their
struggle against the government… What are they worried about? Or
perhaps this just goes to show how taken by surprise they are by their own
loss of touch with the sensibilities of extensive success of the general
public. They haven't grasped what is actually going on, in the grass roots,
and now it has finally dawned on them. History has witnessed, time and
time again, how callous and alienated governments have, slowly but surely,
crumbled. It has happened to many tyrants in the past."
***
There's no doubt that Sharon has become completely "Deaf to the voice of
the people." He keeps repeating, at every opportunity: "I will do whatever I
have to do. They [the Likud Party] will not tie my hands. The
Disengagement Plan will be carried out, period." Deputy Minister Michael
Ratzon, one of the leaders of the anti-withdrawal camp in the Likud,
disagrees with Sharon's attitude. Ratzon told his fellow Likud members, "I
heard the Prime Minister say that nothing will stop him - and I say to him:
The majority will stop you. The Likud has a majority against the
disengagement."
I pray that not only the majority of the Likud Party, but the majority of the
Jewish People, will rise up and stop Sharon from executing his evil plans
of transferring Jews from their homes built on the Land promised them by
G-d as an everlasting inheritance.
With Blessings and Love for Israel,
Ruth Matar
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September 2, 2004
UPCOMING ACTIVITIES
Dear friends, as you can imagine, we have a lot of work ahead. PM Sharon,
in real dictatorial fashion, is pushing ahead with his ethnic cleansing plan
of Jews- against the will of the majority of our people and without
government or Knesset approval. Nothing fazes him, not even the
massacre of 16 Jews in Beersheva by Arab terrorists and the wounding of
many more. The following is a list of the many things that need to be done.
1) REMINDER: SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 5th at 9:15am Demonstration in
Jerusalem at the Rose Gardens while the Cabinet is meeting. BRING
SHOFARS!! As you know, Jews traditionally blow the shofar when danger
is ahead. Today, the most dangerous man for Israel is PM Ariel Sharon. It is
fitting, in this month of Elul, to demonstrate outside his office- blowing the
shofar and demanding to bring down the PM and send him home to his
farm where he can retire.
2) Bombard the offices of SELA and of Jonathan Bassi, head of Sela, with
phones and faxes see below for numbers.
The newly established S.E.L.A.office is to deal with the practicalities of the
expulsion of Jews from Eretz Yisrael headed by Mr. Bassi of the religious
kibbutz Sdeh Eliahu. Keep the employees of the Jerusalem S.E.L.A office,
based at Kanfei Nesharim St. in Givat Shaul Jerusalem,, busy so that they
don't have time to plan the execution of the expulsion of Jews from any
parts of Israel.
S.E.L.A. Office tel. 972-25311028
fax. 0972-2-6529217 tel. 025311169
there is no email available- please make the effort to fax him, even from
abroad -the more faxes of protest, the better.
In fact, Arutz 7 reported on Nadia Matar's correspondence with Jonathan
Bassi, as follows:
Date sent: Wed, 01 Sep 2004 16:57:52 +0200
From: Arutz-7 Editor
news@IsraelNationalNews.com
4. MEETING BETWEEN BASSI AND MATAR?
Can there be a meeting of the minds between the head of the
Disengagement Evacuation Authority and the leader of a Land of Israel
grassroots organization? Not if one of them tries to destroy the other's
home. So says Nadia Matar, co-chairperson of Women in Green, regarding
the possibility of a meeting between her and Yonatan Bassi, who heads the
newly formed Evacuation Authority.
The story began last Thursday when Matar wrote an article entitled,
"Shukran ['Thank You,' in Arabic], Yonatan Bassi." Written tongue-in-
cheek as if from a Hamas commander, the article states: "For years we've
been trying to get rid of Al-Yahud [the Jews] from our holy land. We tried
war and terrorists and shahids exploding in Al-Yahud's buses, and nothing
worked! We thought they would run away, but those stubborn Jews
remained undeterred and kept on building - for every Jew we murdered,
they built another town, another street, another building. We even started
to despair. We started to think that maybe we
could never defeat Al-Yahud and we would have to give up our dream of
destroying Israel and getting rid of all the Jews from here. Some of us,
may Allah have mercy, even said that we should leave and look for another
country!
"But then, for the sake of the merciful and great Allah, Ariel Sharon came
along! Only Allah knows what happened to him, but one thing is clear: He
started doing that which we had long been dreaming of, but couldn't do:
Getting rid of Al-Yahud from the lands of Falestin [Palestine]! First of all
from Gaza and Shomron, then we'll keep on killing and murdering Al-
Yahud, and thus we'll ensure that they'll leave every place - Jaffa, Tiberias,
the Galilee, the Negev, etc., and of course Al-Quds [Jerusalem]. Ariel
Sharon couldn't do it alone without your help, Mr. Bassi. We therefore wish
to thank you. Shukran, Mr. Bassi!"
Bassi, a member of the Kibbutz Sdeh Eliyahu in the Jordan Valley, phoned
Matar that night and requested to meet with her to discuss their
differences. Matar told him that she would do so only if there was even a
small chance that he might change his mind. "I would like to meet with
you," she told Bassi, "but not simply so that afterwards we can 'agree to
disagree' - just like the photograph that appeared of you and Amnon
Shapira [who had very sharp criticism of Bassi for agreeing to take the
position] shaking hands."
The next day, Bassi faxed to Matar a letter of response. He wrote that he
had recently met with other Jews with whom he vehemently disagrees:
Anti-Zionists from the famous Yeshivat Toldot Aharon, Lubavitchers who
say that the Rebbe did not die, and even those Jews who eat pig: "We are
all Jews, and we meet even with those who disagree with us. The Torah of
Israel has many faces. Why, then, can you not meet with me without pre-
conditions? Incidentally, I will not begin my practical work before the
government makes a formal decision to approve compensation for
residents, and I will not pay out any compensation until the Knesset passes
the appropriate law."
Matar responded after the Sabbath as follows: "Yes, of course I conduct
dialogue with Jews of all stripes, even those who support Sharon's
expulsion plan. Even in my family, we have all types, yet we all love each
other. Why? Because each one respects the other and does not try to
force his lifestyle on them. None of us try to destroy the life-works of the
other. But believe me that if one of my relatives would inform me that he is
heading a body that is planning to force me to eat pig and that he is not
willing to change his mind, and that he is planning to do it - albeit with a
'heavy heart and with emotional solidarity with me' - by force with soldiers
and policemen - you can understand that I will not sit with him to hear why
it's good for me to eat pig. I would instead tell him clearly that he will not
succeed, and that I plan to organize the entire family against him in order to
resist this criminal act."
"Here, then, is the difference, Yonatan. You don't just represent 'another
opinion.' You have moved on to the next stage - the execution stage, the
one at which you cooperate with the government which is planning to force
upon an entire public an extreme-left policy of uprooting and expulsion."
Matar then cited a passage from the most recent weekly Torah portion
describing the yibum procedure. A man whose brother has died childless
is asked to either marry the widow and thus "build up a name for his
brother," or to suffer an ignominious ceremony of removing his shoe and
being spat upon for not wishing to do so. "The elders are willing to sit and
talk with the recalcitrant brother for as long as the hope exists that he will
build up his brother's name. But the moment he makes it clear that he will
not do so, the Torah dictates a public ceremony of humiliation. How much
more so must we act with someone who cooperates with the tearing down
of his brothers' entire life-works, entire communities and the destruction of
families and giving over the inheritance of our fathers to our enemies. I
therefore beg you once again: Resign from your debased position, in order
that you avoid humiliation and excommunication, and in order that you and
your descendants not be remembered even more disgracefully than [the
recalcitrant brother]."
And on the same subject:
3) SAY NO TO ALLOCATION of 7 million NIS to SELA: Sharon will ask
Members of the Knesset for transfer $'s on Monday, September 6th, the
Finance Committee in the Knesset will discuss an allocation of 7 million
NIS for the newly set up Disengagement Administration (SELA). This is a
working group set up by Sharon to plan the details: how exactly the brave
Jews of Gush Katif are to be dragged from their homes.
Please contact the Knesset members who sit in this committee (particulars
below) and ask them: a. To come to the meeting. b. Not to be passive -- to
protest and bang on the table; c. to vote against the allocation for the
Disengagement Administration. To ask them: HOW CAN THE
GOVERNMENT ALLOCATE FUNDS FOR THE UPROOTING OF JEWS WHEN
THE KNESSET HAS NOT YET APPROVED THE UPROOTING??? This
mostly anti-democratic action must be stopped.
The email addresses of the Members of the Knesset in the Finance
Committee are:
RAVRAHAM@KNESSET.GOV.IL
BELON@KNESSET.GOV.IL
DBENLULU@KNESSET.GOV.IL
MGORLOVSKI@KNESSET.GOV.il
NDAHAN@KNESSET.GOV.IL
HKATZ@KNESSET.GOV.IL
YLITZMAN@KNESSET.GOV.IL
ARA@KNESSET.GOV..IL
GSAAR@KNESSET.GOV.IL
Ruhama Avraham 02 6753360 Daniel Ben-Lulu 02 6496456 Michael
Guralovsky 026496013 Nissan Dahan 6753908 02 Haim Katz 02 6496525
Yakov Litzman 02 6753743 Nissan Slomianski 02 6496531 Ayub Kara 02
6496541 Gideon Saar 6753542 02
4) FREE ITZIK PASS AND MATTI SHEVO!!
Itzik Pass (father of baby Shalhevet murdered three years ago by an Arab
sniper in Hebron) and his brother-in-law Matti Shevo are in jail for almost a
year, accused of illegally owning weapons - they are supposed to be in jail
for two years. Unlike other prisoners (rapists, murders, Arab terrorists, etc.)
they are not allowed to go home on vacation days - despite their
impeccable behavior. In addition - the jail authority refuses to consider
shortening their sentence by a third - usually done with all other prisoners.
The public is asked to:
a) fax President Katsav and ask him to pardon the two - they sat in jail
enough without ever having done a crime!! President Katsav phone: 972-2-
6707211 and fax: 972-2-5671314
b) join their family members in a vigil every Saturday Night in front of the
presidents house in KIRYAT MALACHI (Jabotinsky street corner Raziel
street), from 10:00 pm until 11:00 pm
Ruth and Nadia Matar
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September 3, 2004
WHAT HAPPENS TO THE "MERELY WOUNDED"
By Louis Rene Beres, Ph.D. and Michael L. Messing, M.D.
There are times on this endlessly bleeding planet where the survivors of
terror-violence must surely envy the dead. One such time is the recurring
occasion of Palestinian suicide bombing. Finding heroism and sacredness
in the exploded bodies of despised "infidels," the Palestinian suicide
bomber absolutely abhors any sense of humane civilizational limits For
him or for her, "God's Will" is now easily discovered in the broken and
charred corpses of "enemy" women and children. This morning Palestinian
suicide bombers blew up two buses in Be'er Sheva, Israel. The initial count
was 12 killed and 100 wounded. What "meanings" lie behind these twin bus
attacks?
The Palestinian terrorist wants, above all, to transform Israeli pain into
Palestinian power. He reasons, carefully, that such pain must point
recognizably toward the victim's death, but he always takes steps to ensure
that even "survivors" will suffer terribly. Violating the inviolable, he also
declares with unspeakable cruelty that no Jew can ever be or feel immune.
Although he contends convincingly in the arena of world public opinion
that the enemy is entirely political, that the enemy is the "Zionist," it is
evident in all of his writings and! holy teachings that the enemy is actually
defined along religious lines. For him the enemy, at least the main enemy,
is any and every Jew on the face of the earth.
The cruelty is palpable. During the routine rotation of a radiologist in a
busy city hospital, the variety of patient problems reveal just another
difficult workday. But things are now very different in Be'er Sheva's
hospital. In recent years, with the recurrent waves of suicide bombings,
unique and hideous trauma, evident on radiographic images, has become a
"regular" part of the Israeli physician's practice in many hospitals across
the country.
X-rays of suicide bombing victims often show hundreds of metallic
fragments, ranging in size from millimeters to whole nails, grotesquely
embedded in the victims' bodies - literally from head to foot. What had been
created originally for constructive purposes has been transformed by Arab
terrorists into the very deadliest of destructive projectiles. Nails, screws,
nuts and ball-bearings are packed by the suicide bombers into their
explosive vests to maximize lethal effects and to inflict unimaginable pain
and suffering on Jewish bodies. These perversely transformed objects,
usually after being dipped in rat poison or other available toxins, are
propelled with the force of bullets, penetrating skin, flesh and bone with a
furious indifference to all notions of minimal human decency.
The nails fly head first, presenting themselves in a strangely surreal yet
orderly arrangement within the victims' bodies. Many are embedded "only"
to the depth of their entrance sites. Others burrow their way in more
deeply, and lodge under the skin where the examining physician can
actually touch and feel their alien presence. Others must be removed after
hours of meticulous exploration. Still others enter the body far deeper,
perforating and lacerating vital organs at random. CT scans of these
victims' heads show blood, air, metal and bone fragments displacing
normal brain tissue.
The "lucky" patient who survives the initial explosive insult may often
require extensive surgery to repair damaged organs. Others may sustain
fractures, burns, amputations, vascular injuries, paralysis, blindness or
brain damage. A collapsed lung or perforated colon what would ordinarily
be considered a major injury - is now taken as a blessing for these merely
"wounded" victims of Palestinian terrorism. Although some of the victims
recover physically and return to a "normal" life, many more require a
lifetime of ongoing rehabilitation. Some are assuredly impaired
permanently. And all suffer serious psychological effects that need to be
treated. Post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety affect not
only the victims of the attack, but all of Israeli society. Anecdotal reports
have indicated a dramatic rise in the use of prescription antidepressants
and sedatives. How could it be otherwise, in a society living under constant
attack by those who cry out:"When the martyr dies a martyr's death, he
attains the height of bliss."
The Palestinian "martyr's" unheroic weapon has now literally and
figuratively penetrated the hearts and souls as well as the bodies of an
entire nation. Too often, unfortunately, television and print media are
unable or unwilling to transmit the full human measure of such penetration
to viewers and readers. The result is that too few people all over the world
are able to understand the true horror of the Palestinian suicide bomber.
For them, Israeli "wounded" are little more than an anesthetized statistic,
an abstract list of numbers that elicits barely a nodding sigh of concern.
It is already too late to transform those Arab terrorists who would blow
themselves up to murder Jewish men, women and children, but their
uniquely hideous methods must at last be acknowledged. For the
Palestinian suicide bomber, violence and the sacred are unambiguously
intertwined. This homicidal terrorist believes without hesitation that there
can be no greater glory for a Muslim than inflicting measureless pain upon
all Jews.
With such a profane belief, even the most elementary standards of armed
conflict are easily set aside in favor of purely sadistic violence and
celebrations of mass murder. Hearing the lamentations of its citizens
agonized cries that no people should ever be made to utter - the State of
Israel now has an undeniable obligation to listen closely and to defend
itself. Here in the United States we should also pay close attention, for as
we already know all too well, we are not immune to suicide terror attacks.
------------------------------
LOUIS RENE BERES, Ph.D., was educated at Princeton and is the author of
ten books dealing with terrorism and international law. He is a Professor at
Purdue University..
MICHAEL L. MESSING, M.D., is a radiologist trained at Cook County
Hospital and Northwestern University in Chicago. He has on several
occasions volunteered in Israeli hospitals to aid victims of suicide
bombings.
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September 5, 2004
Sharon Is Acting Against The Will of the Majority
Women in Green demonstrated this morning opposite the Prime Minister's
Office where the Cabinet was then meeting, to protest Sharon's planned
deportation program. Men were blowing the shofar in the traditional
manner, to give the proper warning to all of us that Sharon has become a
danger to Israel. We were praying as we will do on the upcoming Holiday
of Rosh Hashana - that the New Year will put an end to this evil government
which hopefully will no longer be functioning in the very near future.
The signs that we carried had very important messages. A sample of them
read: "Sharon, the Dictator should go home", "No to the transfer of Jews",
"Sharon is worse than Beilin", "Sharon Caves in to Terror!", "Sharon is
Implementing the Hamas Platform"....
In the background we had a tableau in which three of our women were
dressed up as Peres, Sharon and Arafat - Sharon and Peres were hugging
Arafat and handing him the Land of Israel - Arafat was holding a sign
saying: "Shukran Ariel Sharon- Thank you Ariel Sharon for all that you are
doing in our behalf."
Speaking to the media, Nadia Matar asked how would the People in Russia
react if President Putin would, after yesterday's massacre, announce that
he is willing to cave in to Muslim Terrorists' demands. That he would give
over the whole area to the Muslim Chechens. The people would certainly
rise up and bring him down accusing him of rewarding terror. But, that is
exactly what is going on in Israel. The Islamic terrorists of Hamas, Fatah,
the PLO and other Jihad groups have succeeded in murdering over 1300
Jews since Oslo and wounding tens of thousands. Instead of being strong
and building new communities for each Jew murdered, Ariel Sharon is
capitulating and agrees - AGAINST THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE - to uproot
the Jews from its historical Biblical homeland, thus rewarding terror and
inviting more terror.
Women in Green represent the majority of the people in Israel. Sharon has
seized control of this Government and is attempting to pursue his anti-
Biblical Plan, and to force Jews to leave their Promised Land, and to ethnic
cleanse them from Gaza. His dictatorial methods will not succeed.
This morning was just a rehearsal for the huge demonstration to take place
on Monday, September 13. That is the day before the Cabinet is to meet
and vote for or against Sharon's Disengagement Plan. The actions of
Sharon of late are incompatible with a democracy. The United States
should be in the forefront of those who are critical of his anti-democratic
behavior. He is behaving like he was still a general in the army, rather than
as a leader of the ancient Jewish People. He is stubbornly defying the Will
of the Majority in the only democracy in the entire Middle East.
Ruth and Nadia Matar
*******************************************************
September 6, 2004
Massacre in Beslan
In the name of Allah the merciful and the kind
Why not call a spade a spade? Why such a childish reluctance among most
political commentators to tell it like it is that neither "mercenaries" nor
'international terrorism' was responsible for the dastardly and murderous
attack on school girls and boys, and their parents and teachers, in
Southern Russia. What united those cruel and cowardly terrorists was that
THEY WERE ALL FELLOW MUSLIMS, and for that reason came to one
another's aid. Why can't we, or daren't we, say this? It is so absolutely
clear, whether in Beslan, or in the horrifying and ongoing genocidal murder
of the South Sudanese - many of them Christian - or at the terrifying attack
on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, that it is Muslims who are
behind these massacres and responsible for them.
When we look to the Philippines and the massacres suffered there by the
poor Philippine , we see that the perpetrators are Muslims. When we look
to the massacres in Bali, or Kenya, on the Metro in Madrid which cost 200
Spaniards their lives - again, those responsible for these beastly deed were
all Muslims. Not mercenaries, not international terrorists - but Muslims. Not
even just extremist Muslims - just Muslims. Until we are prepared to say it
in this brutally honest way - there will never be reform in thought,
philosophy or practice of what Islam has sanctified from its very inception:
war and the sword, which it unashamedly calls "holy war".
Unless there is repentance and a total foreswearing of the sanctification of
this gory terrorism and jihad in the name of Allah, (as, today, multitudes of
Christians who have foresworn and repented of the bloodshed of their
crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, the Holocaust and other black pages in
Church history) - we need to speak out this message loudly and clearly:
That unless ISLAM and ISLAMIC scholars condemn, not only in words but
in forceful resolutions, the use of terror and killing as a means to force the
nations of the world to submit to the will of Islam, there will be no
accommodation with such an ideology. It is them that have to change, not
those of us who tell them what we see - ugly terror in the name of ISLAMIC
brotherhood designed to bring the whole world into submission to Allah.
Now if some people would object - and sadly there are many such nitwits -
that this terror has nothing to do with the ISLAMIC religion as such, but
only with some extremist elements in ISLAM, and furthermore that ISLAM
itself is a peaceful and tolerant religion, I think we need to be absolutely
clear and straight about it - also if we want any chance to win this huge, all
encompassing fight. I think we all owe it to the countless men, women and
children already brutally and mercilessly massacred, (and this in the name
of the, repeatedly called, all merciful Allah) all over the world. So, let us
ask some questions here:
Wasn't Yasir Arafat, after all his terrorism, considered a moderate by the
stupid, self-deceived western world, when in OSLO he was awarded the
Nobel prize of peace? Wasn't the same argument used then that is used
today, that he, albeit a Muslim and a master and initiator of terror, was not
so much the problem, but that it was his even more dangerous fellows, the
Hammas and Hizbollah - "the extremists"!
Wasn't Saddam Hussein, a Muslim who called himself "the most faithful
servant of Allah", considered a moderate, so that in the beginning, seen
through these rosy spectacles by the West, he received weapons from
France (the nuclear reactor!) and even the United States, because the real
fanatics then were seen as belonging to camp of Khomeini and Iran? A
Khomeini, who at his beginning was described by President Carter as 'a
holy man,' and by his spokesmen in the United Nations, Andrew Young, as
"a saint," before the eyes of at least some honest people were opened to
see that he was more of a devil.
The Chechen Muslim rebels, are they moderate? What about the Bosnian
Muslims? Who are the Muslim moderates? Arafat, Khomeini, Saddam
Hussein, Muammar Gadaffi, the Saudi government, which has been funding
and supporting much Muslim terror all over the world, also because of the
strong Wahabi influence in Saudi Arabia? Fifteen of the 19 suicide
terrorists involved in the 11 September were Saudi Muslims.
Now, I do believe, that by stating these realities we actually bring this
terrifying problem of ISLAMIC terror one step nearer to its solution,
because we are willing to put ISLAM on the defensive, so that it knows that
its game is up; if they want our acceptance, then Muslims, and not our
opinion about them, have to change. And they have to change drastically in
order to win our shocked and deeply wounded confidence.
We owe it to the immense suffering just experienced by the Russian
children, mothers, fathers and teachers. We owe it to the multitude of
others - the Sudanese, Philippines, and Spaniards; the Americans who
threw themselves, in pure agony, out of the skyscrapers rather than be
burnt alive; we owe it to all those sitting in planes or quietly eating their
pizzas in Israeli restaurants; we owe it to those who, from now on, have to
live as semi-invalids, crushed and in deep sorrow because they never
again will be able - except by divine miracle - to enjoy life with their
crippled bodies.
If, therefore, there are Muslims and Muslim leaders who still wish to insist
that they are peace-loving and tolerant, and absolutely against these
Muslim-perpetrated acts of hate-filled genocide and massacre, then they
have a tremendous opportunity to demonstrate this today, by forming a
united, Muslim military force from these moderate Muslim countries, and
stop the genocide of South Sudanese Christians by the Muslim Sudanese
government. Then they can prove to the world that, indeed, there are
Muslim nations that are willing to fight against Muslim terror and genocide.
Let us wait and see how many, truly moderate, peace-loving, Muslim
leaders will come forward for this.
Finally, one would truly hope that, after this terrifying experience of terror
which especially these Russian children had to go through, Russia will
heed the voice of the international community and no longer play with fire
by giving Iran, the very sponsor of such terrorism, the nuclear help and
know-how to make its much desired ISLAMIC nuclear bomb, thus
threatening the whole region, not just with terror as Iran already does
today, but also with genocide; all in the name of its blend of ISLAM.
Let not Russia think for a moment after this massacre that it can play both
sides with impunity. It will have to choose - either it is for terror or against
it. Russia cannot have it both ways.
Jan Willem van der Hoeven, Director
International Christian Zionist Center
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September 7, 2004
INNOCENT RELIGION IS NOW A MESSAGE OF HATE
Given the particularly horrific attacks by Islamic terrorists in the past
week in Russia, Israel and Iraq, I am sending you an extraordinary piece of
self-critical commentary by a prestigious Arab journalist that is almost
unprecedented. The commentary is right on target. It is sober reading. It
faults mainstream Islamic leaders and clergy for fostering a religious
culture that sanctions violence.
The piece should be required reading for the editorial apologists of
militant Islam at the New York Times, the LA Times, and the Chicago
Tribune
who have recently criticized the decision by the Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) to deny Islamic "scholar" Tariq Ramadan a visa to the
United
States to teach at Notre Dame. DHS did the right thing in stopping
Ramadan--who professes moderation but is in fact a savy purveyor of
Islamic
extremism -- from getting a visa to pollute the minds off young Americans.
Similarly, the attached piece comes only two days after the Associated
Press filed a story on September 3 on radical cleric Yousef Al-Qaradawi,
who, as the author noted below, just issued a fatwa calling for the killing
of Americans. The AP story however characterized Al-Qaradawi as
someone
"whose voice carries considerable weight in the Islamic world [and] is
considered a moderate figure who has condemned violence." Nothing
could be
further from the truth; Qaradawai has been justifying suicide bombings
against "infidels" for years.
One of the reasons why Islamic terrorism continues to fester is that we in
the West have indulged extremists or fallen for their deception. That is
the real lesson of 9-11. Not flow-charts. Not redesigned
bureaucracies. But the pervasiveness of Islamic militancy within the
Islamic world, a fact that some in the United States continue to deny with
the connivance of "mainstream" Islamic leaders who live here and who, in
a
twist of reality, assert that "Islam is under assault" or that anti-terror
policies of the US is "anti-Muslim." No, the spread of Islamic extremism
is the problem. And those who contend otherwise are wittingly and
unwittingly allowing the purveyors of Islamic extremism to effectively deny
any culpability in this murderous ideology.
Steve Emerson
Executive Director
The Investigative Project
=====
'INNOCENT RELIGION IS NOW A MESSAGE OF HATE'
by Abdel Rahman al-Rashed General manager of Al- Arabiya news channel.
His
article appeared in the Arabic paper Al-Sharq Al-Awsat.
It is a certain fact that not all Muslims are terrorists, but it is equally
certain, and exceptionally painful, that almost all terrorists are
Muslims. The hostage-takers of children in Beslan, North Ossetia, were
Muslims. The other hostage-takers and subsequent murderers of the
Nepalese
chefs and workers in Iraq were also Muslims. Those involved in rape and
murder in Darfur, Sudan, are Muslims, with other Muslims chosen to be
their
victims. Those responsible for the attacks on residential towers in Riyadh
and Khobar were Muslims. The two women who crashed two airliners last
week
were also Muslims.
Bin Laden is a Muslim. The majority of those who manned the suicide
bombings against buses, vehicles, schools, houses and buildings, all over
the world, were Muslim.
What a pathetic record. What an abominable "achievement". Does all this
tell us anything about ourselves, our societies and our culture? These
images, when put together, or taken separately, are shameful and
degrading.
But let us start with putting an end to a history of denial. Let us
acknowledge their reality, instead of denying them and seeking to justify
them with sound and fury signifying nothing.
For it would be easy to cure ourselves if we realise the seriousness of our
sickness. Self-cure starts with self-realisation and confession. We should
then run after our terrorist sons, in the full knowledge that they are the
sour grapes of a deformed culture.
Let us listen to Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the Sheikh - the Qatar-based radical
Egyptian cleric - and hear him recite his "fatwa" about the religious
permissibility of killing civilian Americans in Iraq. Let us contemplate
the incident of this religious Sheikh allowing, nay even calling for, the
murder of civilians.
This ailing Sheikh, in his last days, with two daughters studying in
"infidel" Britain, soliciting children to kill innocent civilians.
How could this Sheikh face the mother of the youthful Nick Berg, who was
slaughtered in Iraq because he wanted to build communication towers in
that
ravished country? How can we believe him when he tells us that Islam is
the
religion of mercy and peace while he is turning it into a religion of blood
and slaughter?
In a different era, we used to consider the extremists, with nationalist or
Leftist leanings, a menace and a source of corruption because of their
adoption of violence as a means of discourse and their involvement in
murder as an easy shortcut to their objectives. At that time, the mosque
used to be a haven, and the voice of religion used to be that of peace and
reconciliation. Religious sermons were warm behests for a moral order and
an ethical life.
Then came the Neo-Muslims. An innocent and benevolent religion, whose
verses prohibit the felling of trees in the absence of urgent necessity,
that calls murder the most heinous of crimes, that says explicitly that if
you kill one person you have killed humanity as a whole, has been turned
into a global message of hate and a universal war cry.
We can't call those who take schoolchildren as hostages our own. We
cannot
tolerate in our midst those who abduct journalists, murder civilians,
explode buses; we cannot accept them as related to us, whatever the
sufferings they claim to justify their criminal deeds. These are the people
who have smeared Islam and stained its image. We cannot clear our
names
unless we own up to the shameful fact that terrorism has become an
Islamic
enterprise; an almost exclusive monopoly, implemented by Muslim men
and
women. We cannot redeem our extremist youths, who commit all these
heinous
crimes, without confronting the Sheikhs who thought it ennobling to
re-invent themselves as revolutionary ideologues, sending other people's
sons and daughters to certain death, while sending their own children to
European and American schools and colleges.
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September 8, 2004
(Below is to be found a portion of the Arutz 7 News for Wednesday, Sept 8,
2004.)
WOMEN IN GREEN NOT DETERRED BY TIRE-SLASHING
Members of the grassroots Women in Green movement had their cars
vandalized
this morning while showing support for the soldiers guarding the
entrances
to Jerusalem.
The group of women makes weekly trips to the Jerusalem checkpoints,
offering moral support as well as cold drinks and snacks to the IDF
personnel stationed there. The roadblocks are the last line of defense
between hostile PA-controlled areas and downtown Jerusalem.
Recently, Women in Green activists have also been distributing
informational leaflets that outline soldiers' rights when dealing with the
harassment or incitement of extreme-left organizations. The soldiers are
particularly subject to this treatment from "Machsom Watch" - a women's
group that targets checkpoint soldiers and threatens them with legal action
if their search of Arabs wishing to cross into Israel's pre-1967 borders is
deemed by them to be "too thorough."
This morning, the Women in Green activists paid a successful visit to the
checkpoint at the southern entrance to Jerusalem, just outside of
Bethlehem. They then made their way to the A-Ram checkpoint at the city' s
northern entrance. Nadia Matar, co-founder of Women in Green, told Israel
National Radio's Malkah Fleisher what happened next: "We parked our cars
nearby and walked to the IDF checkpoint, where we were for 10 minutes.
When
we came back, we found that every tire on all [three] of our cars had been
slashed."
Matar was speaking as she waited with 15 other activists at a nearby
mechanic's garage for their cars to be repaired. "We were not in the middle
of Ramallah," she stressed, "but were rather parked in a neighborhood
within Jerusalem's municipal boundaries. This is an area that is populated
by Israeli-Arabs who hold Israeli citizenship and identification cards, but
actively support the enemy. Obviously our work supporting the soldiers
does
not please them."
Matar said that Women in Green will continue to expand its efforts in
support of IDF soldiers manning checkpoints across Israel, and promised
they would not be deterred by Arab violence or vandalism: "If they think
they will scare us off, they are wrong. Next time, we'll come with 30 cars
instead of three"
Ruth and Nadia Matar
*******************************************************
September 9, 2004
UPCOMING ACTIVITIES
1) WIG Campaign in Support of the soldiers and border policemen at the
IDF checkpoints
On Wednesday, September 8, a delegation of some 14 Women in Green, in
3 cars, went to strengthen the soldiers and border policemen at the
different checkpoints around Jerusalem. We started with the soldiers at the
entrance to Bethlehem, giving them cold drinks and leaflets reminding
them of their legal rights, thus helping them to cope with the daily
harassment of the pro-Arab extreme left wing Israeli groups like
Machsomwatch.
We thanked them for doing such important work and were reminded that
last week's terror attack in Beersheva had happened because the political
echelon had demanded that the army withdrew its checkpoints around
Hebron, in order to make the life of the Arabs easier. This insane step cost
the lives of 16 Israelis.
After Bethlehem we went to the Aram checkpoint, parking our 3 cars some
20 meters away from the soldiers. Upon coming back from the checkpoint,
we were shocked to see that local Arabs had slashed the tires on the right
of all 3 cars!!! We were stuck there for an hour and a half waiting for our
cars to be towed to the garage. At the garage, the mechanic showed us
that the attack on our cars had been done with a very sharp and strong
knife. We had already described in our email release on Wednesday,
September 8, the details of that Arab attack. We therefore do not need to
repeat those details.
However, this project can only be continued with your financial help. Even
before the expenses of these tires being slashed by the Arabs, this
campaign for the soldiers can only be continued with your assistance.
Donations made out to the Central Fund for Israel, and sent to Central Fund
For Israel, 980 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10018, are IRS
approved for those filing income tax returns in the United States.
2) CHANGE OF DATE FOR MASS RALLY!!
There will be a MASS DEMONSTRATION in JERUSALEM on SUNDAY,
SEPT. 12, 2004 AT 19:00, and not as previously reported. This change was
made by Yesha subsequent to its original announcement. It is Yesha who
is sponsoring this Event.
It is most important that the public come out in great numbers. This
demonstration will be a display of strength against the heavy handedness
of Sharon. It is meant to show that the overwhelming majority of the
electorate is opposed to the Disengagement Plan of Sharon.
At the end of the demonstration, there will be a march with torches from
Zion Square to the
Prime Minister's Residence in Jerusalem.
This demonstration will take place two days before the Cabinet Meeting,
which will decide on whether or not to evict the settlers and if so to give
them compensation for their removal from Gush Katif and Northern
Shomron. It is also one day before the assembly of the Central Committee
of the National Religious Party, which will decide on whether or not to leave
the present government.
Ruth and Nadia Matar
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September 10, 2004
TERRORISM KNOWS NO BORDERS
LETTER FROM RUTH MATAR (WOMEN IN GREEN) JERUSALEM
Thursday, September 9, 2004
Dear Friends,
The bloody ending of last week's siege at school No. 1 in Beslan in
Southern Russia has shocked the entire civilized world. The murderers
were Chechens, along with Arabs believed to be allied with al-Qaeda.
There was general agreement amongst political commentators: Islamic
terrorists have set a new low by holding hostage and ultimately killing
hundreds of children- boys and girls taken hostage when they arrived for
the first day of the new school year. The ultimate cruelty: the Muslim
terrorists denied the children so much as a sip of water over the three days
they held them hostage, before their slaughter by rigged explosives and
sniper fire.
The following is a quote from an article in the Wall Street Journal: "The
depravity of this is hard to believe but believe it we must. For it is the new
reality of the current age in which innocents are specifically targeted by
Muslim terrorists in the name of some Islamic cause."
But was this indeed a "new" low for Islamic terrorism? Unfortunately not!
Sadly, the Arab-Israeli conflict, has for many years been treated as an
utterly disconnected conflict by the world, and not part of the Islamic Jihad
(Holy War). People tend not to remember terror attacks against innocent
civilians, especially when such terrorism takes place against Jewish
victims. Some examples:
* On May 15, 1974, terrorists from the Democratic front for the Liberation of
Palestine broke into a high school in Ma'alot in Northern Israel. Twenty six
innocent people, including 21 school children were murdered and a further
66 wounded. When the Muslim terrorists attacked the Israeli school in
Ma'alot, they were not only equipped with Russian arms, but they had
Soviet political support as well.
* In December of 1968, even before the Ma'alot massacre, Yasser Arafat's
Palestine Liberation Organization machine-gunned an El Al aircraft at
Athens airport.
* In February of 1969, Palestinian terrorists attacked an El Al 707 on the
runway at Zurich airport.
* In September 1970, planes from TWA, Swiss Air and BOAC - plus more
than 400 hostages - were hijacked by the Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine and taken to Jordan (Black September).
* In 1972 the Israeli Olympic team was murdered by Arafat's terrorists.
* In 1988 Libyan agents planted a bomb aboard Pan Am Flight #103 which
exploded over Lockerbie in Scotland, with the loss of 270 lives.
These are only some of the early examples of Muslim terrorism against
Jews, even before the Oslo Accords were signed in 1993. Since the naive
(or worse) Oslo architects invited Arafat and his henchmen to come to
Judea and Samaria as their peace partners, more than 1,400 had been
murdered by Islamic terrorists.
Jews have not been safe outside of Israel either. For example, on July 18,
1994 a bomb exploded at the Jewish Community Center at Buenos Aires
killing 85 people and wounding hundreds. This deadly anti-Semitic attack
occurred ten years ago. There were strong indications that the terrorists
were Muslim, supported and abetted by Syria and Iran.
On November 16, 2003, at least 20 people were killed and over 250 injured
when car bombs shattered two Istanbul synagogues as worshippers
celebrated the Sabbath in the mostly Muslim nation of Turkey. Turkish
officials said they could not rule out a role by Osama Bin Laden's al Queda,
blamed for attacks on other Jewish targets around the world in the
previous 18 months.
Where and when did all this Islamic terrorism start? Yasser Arafat is often
deservedly called the father of modern terrorism. He was the first to use
terror against civilian aircraft. He was the first to equip suicide bombers
with deadly explosive belts and to send them to blow themselves up in
buses, cafes, wedding halls and hotels, wherever they could kill a
maximum number of Jews. Israel has been the testing ground for the
detailed planning of successful terrorist warfare. For this accomplishment
Arafat was awarded the Nobel Prize of Peace in Oslo in 1994.
The world has become quite indifferent to the spilling of Jewish blood.
Jewish blood has become cheap. In many quarters Muslim terrorism
against Jews was "understood" as having been undertaken by "desperate"
Palestinians. What was unfortunately not realized, is that once it becomes
acceptable for the ends to justify the means, then what starts with the
Jews, will ultimately extend to other places and other people. President
George W. Bush has apparently understood this. The political leaders of
Russia, Spain, Germany and France, and many other nations are slow
learners. Hopefully they are now beginning to understand it?
It is time that the so-called Free World faced up to the fact that Muslim
terrorism knows no borders. That this terrorism will not be content with
only Jewish blood.
The following words of Pastor Martin Niemoeller, one of the most respected
Protestant leaders in Germany, who himself perished in Auschwitz, are
inscribed above the entrance to Yad VaShem, the Holocaust Memorial
Museum in Jerusalem.
First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me--
and there was no one left to speak out for me.
May we all have a good year of health and happiness and may we be
inscribed in the Book of Life. May G-d's promises for His Holy Land be
fulfilled.
With Blessings and Love for Israel,
Ruth Matar
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September 12, 2004
Letter to Mankind
Dear fellow human,
Today humanity is being challenged. Unthinkable atrocities take place on a
daily basis. There is an evil force at work that aims to destroy us. The
agents of this evil respect nothing; not even the lives of children. Every day
there are bombings, every day innocent people are targeted and murdered.
It seems as if we are helpless. But we are not! The ancient Chinese sage
Sun Zi said, "Know your enemy and you won't be defeated". Do we know
our enemy? If we don't, then we are doomed. Terrorism is not an ideology,
it is a tool; but the terrorists kill for an ideology. They call that ideology
Islam.
The entire world, both Muslims and non-Muslims claim that the terrorists
have hijacked "the religion of peace" and Islam does not advocate violence
and terror. Who is right? Do the terrorists understand Islam better, or do
those who decry them? The answer to this question is the key to our
victory, and failure to find that key will result in our loss and death will be
upon us. The key is in the Quran and the history of Islam. Those of us who
know Islam, know that the understanding of the terrorists of Islam is
correct.
They are doing nothing that their prophet did not do and did not encourage
his followers to do. Murders, assassinations, beheadings, massacres and
sacrilege of the dead "to delight the hearts of the believers" were all
practiced by Muhammad, were taught by him and were observed by
Muslims throughout the history. If ever truth has mattered, it is now! This
is the time that we have to call a spade a spade. This is the time that we
have to find the root of the problem and eradicate it. The root of Islamic
terrorism is Islam. The proof of that is the Quran.
We are a group of ex-Muslims who have seen the face the of evil and have
risen to warn the world. No matter how painful the truth may be, only truth
can set us free. Why this much denial? Why so much obstinacy? How
many more innocent lives should be lost before YOU open your eyes? A
nuclear disaster is upon us. This will happen. It is not a question of "if" but
"when". Oblivious of that, the world is digging its head deeper in the sand.
We urge the Muslims to leave Islam.
Stop with excuses, justifications and rationalizations. Stop dividing
mankind in "us" vs. "them" and Muslims vs. Kafirs. We are One people,
One mankind! Muhammad was not a messenger of God. It is time that we
end this insanity and face the truth. The terrorists take their moral support
and the validation for their actions from you. Your very adherence to their
cult of death is a nod of approval for their crimes against humanity. We
also urge the non-Muslims to stop being politically correct lest they hurt
the Muslims' sensitivity. To Hell with their sensibilities! Let us save their
lives, and the lives of millions of innocent people.
Millions, if not billions of lives will be lost if we do nothing. Time is running
out! "All it takes for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing." Do
something! Send this message to everyone in your address book and ask
them to do the same. Defeat Islam and stop terrorism. This is your world,
save it. The ex-Muslim Movement www.faithfreedom.org
Sincerely, Nomie Darwish - www.nomiedarwish.com
*******************************************************
September 14, 2004
Women For Israel's Tomorrow: Our Wishes for the New Year
With the upcoming New Year, Israel, as usual, is faced with extremely grave
and serious problems. Our secular Jewish leadership is prepared to ethnic
cleanse Gaza of its Jewish population, despite the Biblical promise of the
G-d of Israel to give Gaza and Northern Samaria to the Jewish people as an
eternal inheritance. The Sharon Disengagement Plan is in defiance of this
Biblical promise. Moreover, in addition, the Sharon plan jeopardizes the
adjacent Jewish Communities, because missiles continually will be fired by
the Arabs from Gaza.
Despite what appears to be inordinately difficult problems, we must
approach the New Year with a very positive attitude.
We have every confidence that the G-d of Israel will not permit the Sharon
Disengagement Plan to materialize in this New Year. However, we must
assert our vigorous opposition to the undemocratic path that Sharon is
following.
May this New Year return the Jewish People to the boundless faith and
trust in G-d in whom their forefathers believed without reservation.
May this New Year be the beginning of the redemption of our People.
May this New Year inspire everyone to live in accordance with the moral
principles that the Almighty gave to the entire world, through the Prophets
of Israel.
May this New Year be a blessing to you and your family, and may it bring
long life and good health to all of you.
May the New Year inspire all of us to draw closer to the Almighty, and
dedicate our lives to His service!
Ruth and Nadia Matar
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September 14, 2004
Is This What We Need Today, A Civil War AmongOurselves?
Mr. Sharon, you are causing a dangerous split among your people - not
those who after all the terrorism and loss of life they already have suffered
did the very thing that you in your younger days told them to do, to settle in
their historic land. They should not now be sacrificed on the altar of you
trying to please the West with the hope that you thereby can save some
parts of Eretz Israel. It will not work and deep down in your heart you must
know it.
It is not the ones who oppose your disengagement plan that should be
scolded for being non-democratic! They did in an entirely democratic way
express their opinion already at least twice. It is you - that by forcing your
plan on an unwilling governing party that cause the split - and immense
suffering to those who are the best and most courageous among your
people. Those who did obey your lead when you Arik Sharon told them in
days gone by to settle the land. And they did!
By forcing your own plan upon a party which two or three times has
already voted it down, you are causing a very dangerous split among your
own people at a moment that they should unite, also behind those who
were courageous enough to follow your own advice from that time to settle
in their land. They who have suffered the brunt of all this terror - they
should not now be terrorized to evacuate from their lovingly built houses
because you are intent not to listen to the wish of your people!
Anyone, therefore, who has the best for Israel in mind will now, while there
is still time, stop this mad drive of disengagement from the Gaza strip to
prevent a situation of war and dangerous dispute to erupt among the
Israelis, thus weakening them - as so many times in their past history -
before the very enemies who are waiting to destroy us again. For the sake
of the unity of your people - so fragile as it is - stop this disengagement
plan, Mr. Sharon. It will lead to nowhere - only to the division of your land
and people!
One only has to listen to the cry of Noam Namir, a young girl from N'vei
Dekalim in Gush Katif speaking at the just held mass rally in Jerusalem, to
realize how very deep a wound will be caused by this mistaken plan of
evacuation for a Judenrein Gaza. This is what she said:
"How could you threaten to throw me out of my home in Israel, after my
grandmother was expelled from her home in Poland, my grandfather was
thrown out of Spain, and my father was exiled from the Sinai town of
Yamit? I don't know how any Jewish soldier or police officer could bring
himself to throw my family and me out of our house!"
May it all be stopped before it will bring us to the point of no return!
Jan Willem van der Hoeven, Director
International Christian Zionist Center
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September 15, 2004
The real 'root cause' of global terror
by EVELYN GORDON
Jerusalem Post - September 14, 2004
Apologists for terrorism like to seek its "root causes." And they have a
point: The terror now sweeping Russia and Iraq was not born in a vacuum.
Where they err is in identifying these "root causes" as the military
campaigns in Iraq and Chechnya, when thousands of similar campaigns
have not sparked similar terrorist responses. If today's campaigns do, it is
primarily because the world and Russia and America above all has
taught the terrorists that murdering women and children is an effective way
to advance political goals.
Most of the tactics now being used by Iraqis and Chechens were invented
by the Palestinians. It was the PLO that invented airline terrorism, with a
wave of hijackings in the 1970s; it was Hamas that turned suicide
bombings into standard practice; even the grisly Chechen takeover of a
school in Beslan this month aped the PLO's takeover of a school in Ma'alot
in 1974. But such acts, far from discrediting either the perpetrators or their
cause, turned Palestinian statehood into an international cause celebre.
When the PLO was founded in 1964 with the goal, incidentally, of a
Palestinian state instead of Israel, which did not yet have the territories no
one was talking about such a state. Even after Israel captured the West
Bank and Gaza from Jordan and Egypt, nobody advocated a Palestinian
state in those territories; the world expected Israel to keep part of this land
(that is why, according to its drafters, UN Resolution 242 demands the
return of "territories" rather than "the territories") and return the rest to
Jordan and Egypt.
Forty years later, a Palestinian state in every inch of the West Bank and
Gaza has become an international consensus. And this achievement was
not in spite of Palestinian terror but because of it: Many peoples with equal
or better claims to statehood, from Tibetans to Iraqi Kurds, have sought
independence without resorting to terror; yet their aspirations at best elicit
lip-service support from the world, and often outright opposition. The
Palestinians' success lay in persuading the international community that
peace depends on meeting their demands.
Not only did the world adopt the terrorists' cause, but it also adopted the
terrorists themselves. The PLO has official observer status at the UN and
diplomatic legations worldwide. And Hamas, which does not even pretend
to aspire to peaceful coexistence with Israel, is banned by only a handful of
states.
Russia's responsibility for the success of Palestinian terror is obvious: In
its former incarnation as the Soviet Union, it was the terrorists' main
sponsor and financier. It supplied money and arms to states such as Syria
and Egypt in full knowledge that some would be given to the PLO. It also
used its superpower status to push the Palestinians' demands in forums
such as the UN, thereby granting them successes they could never have
achieved on their own. Today, the material aid has halted, but the knee-jerk
diplomatic backing continues.
America, in contrast, never openly abetted terror. Yet as the world's second
and today, only superpower, it determined the success or failure of
Palestinian terror in a way that far greater panderers, such as Europe,
never could. And it chose to crown it with success.
In 1988, America formally recognized the PLO as "the official representative
of the Palestinian people" and allowed it to open a diplomatic legation in
Washington. True, the PLO said it would "renounce terror" but it was
headed by the same people responsible for the Ma'alot school massacre,
the Munich Olympics massacre, numerous airplane and bus hijackings,
and other atrocities. Nor had the Palestinians ever democratically chosen
the PLO as their representative. It was Washington's choice to reward the
perpetrators of 24 years of murder and mayhem with diplomatic
recognition and backing for a state instead of declaring them beyond the
pale.
Five years later, after the Oslo Accords created the Palestinian Authority
headed by that same PLO leadership Palestinian terror against Israel
reached new heights. Most, admittedly, was perpetrated by Hamas, but it
was the PA that refused to arrest the perpetrators, crack down on their
funding, or even stop lauding the suicide bombers as "martyrs." But the
US, rather than withdrawing diplomatic recognition or halting funding,
instead pressed Israel to offer further and faster concessions.
Nor did this policy cease even in 2000, when the Palestinians responded to
Israel's offer of a state in more than 90% of the territories with a full-blown
terrorist war. Bill Clinton rewarded the terror by pressuring Israel to raise
its offer yet again (to 97%, including the Temple Mount). And his
successor, George W. Bush, rewarded it further by making Palestinian
statehood, for the first time, an explicit US foreign policy goal.
Even today, while the Bush administration boycotts Yasser Arafat, it holds
talks with PA officials who answer directly to him. The PA and PLO still
have diplomatic legations in Washington, even though a major terrorist
group, the Aksa Martyrs Brigades, is openly affiliated with Fatah, the ruling
movement in both. And Washington continues to back the PA's territorial
demands through the road map, while condemning Israeli efforts to fight
terror in the PA's stead.
Iraqi and Chechen terrorists both have clear political aims: The Chechens
want Russia out so they can establish an Islamic dictatorship in Chechnya;
the Iraqis want America out so they can establish either a Ba'athist or
Islamic (there are two competing groups) dictatorship in Iraq. And in an age
of global communications, neither Iraqis nor Chechens can help noticing
that each new round of Palestinian terror has led to greater international
pressure on Israel to accede to Palestinian demands. The conclusion is
obvious: To succeed, they should adopt Palestinian tactics.
Only by proving that terrorism does not pay can the US and Russia reverse
this eminently logical conclusion. And they can do this only by finally
penalizing Palestinian terror rather than rewarding it. Otherwise, expect to
see ever more terrorism worldwide because that has proven to be the
winning tactic.
The writer is a veteran journalist and commentator.
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September 22, 2004
(Below is found a letter which was sent by Ruth Matar to the Editor of the
Jerusalem Post following an Editorial that appeared in that paper, on
September 22, 2004.)
Editor of the Jerusalem Post:
Your editorial today was not only "disgusting" but extremely unfair. Nadia
Matar never said that "our leaders were latter day Nazis" or anything
remotely resembling that comparison. She merely sent to the head of the
Evacuation Authority, Jonathan Bassi, a copy of the letter that the
Judenrat (Jewish Council) sent to the Jews of Berlin in 1942, and noted
that this letter is "chillingly similar to the one you plan to send." She
also said, which is true, that Bassi's actions were worse than those of the
Judenrat which was forced to write to the Jews in Berlin to obey Germans
orders. Bassi, as Nadia correctly points out, was under no threat to his
life or limb when he assumed his position as head of Sharon's Evacuation
Authority. Bassi's decision to be head of that post was purely
voluntary. That is why Nadia said it was even worse than what the
Judenrat
had done. Your reading into her comments your deliberate distortions of
her words is unpardonable, and reveals your blatant and continual
prejudice
against Women for Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green.) You should be
thoroughly ashamed of yourself!
Ruth Matar, Co-chair of Women in Green
*******************************************************
September 23, 2004
THE LESSONS OF THE HOLOCAUST
LETTER FROM RUTH MATAR (WOMEN IN GREEN) JERUSALEM
Thursday, September 23, 2004
Dear Friends,
The greatest tragedy of the present situation in Israel is that Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon attempts to completely crush the democratic process. For
good reason has he been nicknamed "The Bulldozer".
He was elected on a platform completely contrary to the policies which he
is presently trying to enforce on the Israeli public. Without any prior
warning or justification Sharon is now advising us that we must follow him
in what he previously told us would be suicidal behavior, namely to retreat
from our Land in the face of terror and war! All this in the face of Hamas,
Hezbollah and Arafat openly fighting for the spoils of Sharon's anticipated
perfidy, that is who will get the fruits of the labor of the Jews in the
communities from which they are to be forcibly expelled. And all this in the
face of Egypt merrily winking at the terrorists' continued massive
smuggling of weapons from Egypt to Gaza.
The national consensus, and that included Sharon himself, as well as the
commanders of the army, the police and the intelligence services, was that
there must be no retreat until the war has been won.
And now Sharon has announced that he has decided it is best for the
country to abandon 8,500 Jews from Gaza and Northern Shomron. No
reason given. Just in true dictatorial fashion Sharon says he knows what's
best for Israel.
But Sharon is trying to do all this without a mandate! It is erroneous to
think that the Israeli People overwhelmingly voted for him personally in the
last election. It must be understood that the Israeli system is different from
the American system, where we vote directly for the President. In Israel,
the vote is for the Party. And the leader of the party which receives the
majority of votes, becomes Prime Minister, if he can successfully put
together a coalition within a given amount of time. The Likud Party won the
last election overwhelmingly with a platform of "No to a Palestinian State",
and "No Concessions to the Arab Enemy".
Sharon's Unilateral Disengagement Plan has been soundly rejected by his
own Likud Party.
* On May 3, 2004 the entire Likud membership voted against Sharon's
Disengagement Plan with a 19.5% majority, a humiliating defeat for the
Prime Minister.
* On August 19, 2004 the Likud Convention voted against Sharon's plan to
bring the Labor Party into his Government, to bolster his reduced majority
in the Knesset. This additional defeat was by a wide margin.
* As recently as last Tuesday, September 21, 2004, the majority of the next
Likud Convention attendees enthusiastically and loudly booed Ariel Sharon
when he said: "The Disengagement Plan that has been decided upon by the
Government has commenced and is underway, and the plan will be carried
out exactly according to the timetable decided on by the Government".
Sharon's statement that the Disengagement Plan has been decided upon
by the Government, is an outright, and it may be assumed, deliberate
misrepresentation. Yes, the cabinet has given its approval, but only after
Sharon fired those of his Ministers who had announced that they planned
to vote against the Plan. Sharon then appointed such Ministers who could
be counted on to be his yes-men.
Please note: The Israeli Knesset (Parliament) of 120 members has not yet
been given the opportunity to vote on Sharon's Disengagement Plan.
Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Education Minister Limor Livnat and
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom have now called for a national referendum
on this vital issue. But officials from the Prime Minister's office recently
declared brazenly on Israeli television, Channel 2, that a national
referendum is no longer considered "because the Government might lose".
This is supposed to be Israeli democracy in action?
How does the Sharon Government explain their fear that a growing majority
might not vote for the Disengagement Plan in a national referendum? Of
course, they blame the "inciters", i.e. Israelis who disagree with the plan to
forcibly drag 8,500 Jews out of their homes. And the Israeli leftist media is
enthusiastically helping the Sharon government in this endeavor.
It is extraordinary how the Israeli left , with a few exceptions, passionately
hated Ariel Sharon as long as he was in the forefront of building Jewish
communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. Now that he is intent to expel
the Jews from the very communities which he helped build, an equally
passionate love affair has developed between Sharon and his erstwhile
leftist detractors.
Nadia Matar, co-chair of Women in Green, has apparently been chosen and
designated as the chief "inciter". In fact, Internal Security Minister Gideon
Ezra says that Nadia is a threat to internal security, and has ordered the
police to bring her in for questioning, even before Yom Kippur. In addition,
Internal Security Minister Gideon Ezra wants Attorney General Mazuz to
investigate if Nadia is guilty of criminal incitement.
What is Nadia's "crime"? Nadia Matar had the "audacity" to send to
Jonathan Bassi, the man appointed by Ariel Sharon to be head of the
Evacuation Agency, a response to his draft letter to the Gush Katif
residents, who are to be deported from their homes, together with a letter
written by the Judenrat (Jewish Council) to the Jews of Berlin in Germany
in 1942.
Nadia noted that the 1942 documents ended with an emotional plea by the
Berlin Jewish leadership to behave calmly and thus ease the process of
deportation. Nadia further accused Bassi that he is a modern-day version
of the Judenrat and is, in fact much worse. During the Holocaust the
deportation of Jews was forced upon community leaders by the Nazis,
whereas Bassi's decision to head the Evacuation Agency was purely
voluntary. Bassi, as Nadia correctly points out, was under no threat to his
life or limb when he assumed his position as head of Sharon's Evacuation
Authority.
Tomorrow you will receive an essay by email written by Nadia Matar
herself, in which she describes these two letters in detail, and her
motivation for sending them to Jonathan Bassi. Nadia noted that the
Judenrat letter was "chillingly similar" to the one Bassi planned to send to
the Jewish Gush Katif residents.
Many public figures and media pundits protested the use of the Holocaust
comparison.
Avner Shalev, head of the Yad Vashem Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes'
Remembrance Authority, on Monday last lambasted comparisons made by
Matar between Israel's plan to dismantle Jewish settlements in Gaza and
events of the Holocaust as "a distortion of history and the cheapening of
the Shoah." He further stated that "the use of the Holocaust to advance
political positions is irresponsible, disrespectful and distorts historical
facts."
But in 1998 Avner Shalev apparently felt differently. He lobbied for the idea
that Arafat should be allowed to visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial
Museum in Jerusalem, but said that he understood that official visits from
dignitaries were determined only by the Foreign Ministry. Was his desire to
invite the murderer Arafat to Yad Vashem not political?
On the contrary, shouldn't we learn from the Holocaust never again to allow
ourselves to be expelled from our homes and again be evacuated and
powerless to resist as the German Jews were in 1942?
Nadia and I are both, in a sense, Holocaust survivors. Members of both our
families were murdered by the Nazis. Should we not learn lessons from
what happened? It is not enough to visit Holocaust museums all over the
world (even Germany has such a museum), to sorrowfully study what many
of us believe was a one-time terrible and tragic occurrence?
The Holocaust was not a one-time event. The Jews over the ages have
suffered various Holocausts and Expulsions. Examples are the Spanish
Inquisition and Expulsion, the Crusaders murdering all the Jews on their
way to the Holy Land, and the many countries where Jews were murdered,
expelled, even though in some cases subsequently readmitted. More
recently the Muslim countries have violently expelled virtually all of their
once blossoming Jewish communities.
Only with the fulfillment of the Biblical Prophecy of the Jewish return to our
Promised Land have we been able to feel some safety.
However, if Ariel Sharon succeeds in the forced deportation and ethnic
cleansing of the 8,500 Jews now living in Biblical Gaza and Northern
Samaria, many countries, in order to appease their rapidly growing Muslim
population, may well do what Ariel Sharon plans to do to his own People.
With G-d's help, we must defeat Sharon's evil Unilateral Disengagement
Plan which is really just a plan of forced deportation and ethnic cleansing
of Israeli Jewry.
With Blessings and Love for Israel,
Ruth Matar
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September 26, 2004
A Trip in Support of the Residents of Neve Dekalim
Join us on a trip to Neve Dekalim this Tuesday Morning, September 28, to
encourage the residents of this important "frontier" community.
Neve Dekalim, like other communities in Gush Katif, has been under daily
attacks from Arab missiles and mortars. We mourn the loss of Tiferet
Tratner, who was an American citizen, and who was murdered from such a
missile on Friday morning, just before Yom Kippur, the Holiest day of the
Jewish Calendar.
We want to mourn with Neve Dekalim this loss of one of their daughters.
We also bemoan the fact that the Sharon Government is not doing enough
to protect those living in all of Gush Katif against these continual Arab
attacks.
Women in Green and Gamla Will not Fall Again are urging you to join with
us on this important occasion. The residents of Neve Dekalim are
desperately in need of encouragement. We shall give out baskets to its
residents, along with letters of support to its brave families.
There will be a bullet proof bus leaving the Inbal (formerly the Laromme)
Hotel at 9 AM, Tuesday morning, September 28. The cost of the trip is 30
NIS roundtrip. Approximate time of our return will be 3 PM.
Please call our office TODAY to make your required reservation on the bus.
You can also call Nadia directly at 050-5500834 or Anita at 050-5777254, for
this purpose.
Ruth and Nadia Matar
*******************************************************
September 26, 2004
(Below is an English translation of the article that Nadia prepared in
connection with the announced intention of the Minister of Internal
Security, Gideon Ezra, who publicly announced that Nadia would be
interrogated by the police before Yom Kippur. That did not happen. The
essay contains a list of quotes, and is therefore longer than usual.
However it is a must for members of the National Camp to use in case he or
she is accused of "incitement.")
What Is Really Shocking, and Who Is Really Inciting?
Last week I sent a letter to the head of the Deportation Administration, Mr.
Yonatan Bassi, in which I wrote that the fact that he plans to send a
personal letter to each of the inhabitants of Gush Katif designated for
transfer, and that his letter contains a "personal appeal and initial
explanation of the evacuation process," fills me with chilling associations
from the Holocaust. I attached to my letter one that had been written by the
Berlin Judenrat in 1942 to the Jewish community, with details and
explanations of the approaching deportation. I wrote to Bassi that, in my
opinion, the document from 1942 was chillingly similar to the letter that he
was about to send. I further stated that I believe that "Yonatan Bassi is a
much worse version of the Judenrat in the Holocaust, for then in the
Holocaust, this was forced upon those Jewish leaders by the Nazis, and it
is very difficult for us to judge them today. But today no one stands with a
pistol to Bassi's head and forces him to cooperate with the deportation of
the Jews of Gush Katif and northern Samaria." I added that "whoever aids
in the deportation of the Jews of Gush Katif and northern Samaria in
actuality aids an anti-Semitic act, and will be so remembered to everlasting
abhorrence." I concluded the letter with an emotional appeal to Bassi that
"he still can resign from his contemptible position and enter Yom Kippur,
the Day of Judgment, clean and at peace with his conscience, without
being part of the modern Judenrat - the Deportation Administration" (the
entire letter in Hebrew and the letter from 1942, also in Hebrew, can be seen
at the Hebrew language Women in Green web site:
www.womeningreen.org.il.
The letter received wide exposure, and I must admit - I am shocked. I am
shocked by the responses of the establishment and the state media. All cry
out to high heaven, because of the use of the strong epithet I applied to
Bassi - while, on the other hand, no one is disturbed by the criminal act
that Ariel Sharon seeks to commit, with Bassi's help, against which I cry
out in my letter: the brutal deportation of Jews from their inheritance and
their homes - most of whom are already the third generation on the land -
men, women, and children, against their will, solely because they are Jews.
This will be accompanied by the razing of their homes, the elimination of
their lives' undertaking, the destruction of scores of synagogues, ritual
baths, kindergartens, libraries, and schools; the disinterment of dozens of
bodies from the cemeteries - many of them, the victims of Arab terror. And
the trauma of ethnic cleansing will be followed by the ultimate crime: the
handing over of all the Judenrein territory to the Arab enemy, territory that
is the inheritance of our forefathers, that they were given by G-d, and that
no Jew is permitted to give away. This is a national crime that will
(correctly) be interpreted by the Arab enemy as a victory for terror, and will
incite it to continue to murder Jews in Israel and throughout the world,
knowing that these murders will result in additional "disengagement" plans
- and this time from Netanyah, Haderah, Askhelon, Beersheva, Tel Aviv,
and Jerusalem.
Instead of this terrifying scenario shaking every Jew to the very depths of
his soul, instead of this scenario causing every public figure in Israel - the
politicians, the Rabbis, civil rights activists, journalists, and others - from
stopping their everyday routine to cry for help "Gevalt!", instead of this
scenario resulting in a general strike by the entire country until the
despicable plan is shelved, instead of all that, this is accepted naturally,
with frightening tranquility. Yes, they "express sorrow and identification
with those earmarked for uprooting and transfer, "but there is no shock, no
outcry of "Gevalt," no proclamation that this is inconceivable, as if this
were a heavenly decree! And about what is everyone alarmed? About the
victim daring to call the hangman names!!
Just imagine the response in Israel and the world if the French government
were to declare that "because of the great antagonism between Muslims
and Jews in Paris, all the Jews must leave Paris by the end of 2005." All the
houses of the Jews, the synagogues, the schools, and all other Jewish
properties in Paris would be put at the disposal of the Muslim community.
Jews who would oppose the evacuation would be forcibly placed in
internment camps by the French security forces. Just imagine the
response in Israel and the world if the Israeli Prime Minister were to declare
that "by the end of 2005 there will no longer be any Arabs in Israel." Every
Arab who would dare to resist the evacuation would be removed forcibly by
the security forces and would be arrested. In each of the cases depicted
above, a worldwide outcry would result. Everyone would compare the
decree to the Holocaust period. Derogatory epithets would be hurled at
those implementing the deportation, and the entire country would be
disrupted by violent demonstrations, that would be organized
spontaneously as soon as the plan became known.
And I ask: how is it that when Prime Minister Ariel Sharon proclaims to the
entire world that "by the end of 2005 there will no longer be any Jews in
Gaza," and even adds that the operation to deport Jews, simply because
they are Jews, is not limited to Gaza, but also that additional extensive
portions of our land, our homeland, will be handed over to the Arab enemy
and become Judenrein - this is accepted without an upheaval similar to the
outcry that would arise in response to either of these two scenarios?
One woman answered this question and told me: "Because Ariel Sharon is
a Jew and this is a government of Jews, and so they are permitted." To
which I respond: To the contrary! This is even more horrendous, just
because this is a Jewish government! Master of the Universe, after two
thousand years of Exile during which the worst of anti-Semites persecuted
the Jews, expelled us, murdered us, burnt us, we have finally returned to
the portion of our forefathers, to the Promised Land, and we established
the State of Israel "to be a free people in our land" - and, oh, the horror of
it! here, too, we are deported because we are Jews. This time it is not the
Romans who are committing the crime, but our Jewish brothers! This is a
crime for which there can be no atonement.
The late Shmuel Shnitzer already wrote about this in 1990, in an article in
Maariv (February 23, 1990) entitled "The Racists": If we are the people of
the Bible, if "the Land of Israel was the birthplace of the Jewish people" (in
the words of the Israeli Proclamation of Independence), if this land is the
land of the dreams, longings, and prayers of the people of Israel
throughout all the generations of its exile and dispersion, how is it possible
to determine, specifically now, that some areas are outside the bounds of
the Children of Israel? In the places where the residence of Jews must be
stopped, in the past the kings of Israel were enthroned, the prophets of
Israel delivered their message of morality and justice, the freedom fighters
of Israel shed their blood in the defense of their homeland. And there, of all
the lands in the world, will be established the only area in the modern world
in which the residence of Jews will be prohibited? I do not think that
discrimination against Jews and the determination of areas within the Land
of Israel as Judenrein, in which Jews may not live, becomes more
respectable due to the fact that some Jews consent to this. For me, the true
nature of all the restrictions of the "except for Jews" type is not in
question. Whoever champions them, whoever preaches on their behalf,
whoever bases his political theory on them, has to be capable of explaining
why this anti-Jewish discrimination is any better or more valid than the old
type that the world vomited up in revulsion 45 years ago.
Accordingly, in order to upset the entire system, I wrote what I did to Bassi.
Since I have learned from the Internet that I might shortly have to undergo
questioning by the police for my statements, I therefore wish to defend my
letter, and show that there is nothing wrong, or inciting, in the epithets and
the comparison that I used. I will show that it is not I who should be put on
trial, but other prominent public figures.
My use of the word "Judenrat" and my stating to Bassi that "you are worse
than the Judenrat of that time" resulted in two types of harsh criticism
directed against me by the media and by the establishment. The first
charge raised against me is that the use of Holocaust terminology is unfit
and forbidden. The second, that my letter constitutes incitement to harm
Bassi.
I wish to relate to both charges, to categorically deny them, and to indicate
the hypocrisy of my critics:
1) The use of Holocaust terminology: The Jewish public in Israel and the
world, from the left and the right, is divided on the question of the
permissibility of the use of Holocaust terminology. Is it legitimate to
compare then and now? Doesn't the use of terms from, and comparisons
with, the Holocaust diminish the horrors of the destruction of European
Jewry? Some say that the entire subject of the Holocaust is untouchable. It
is sacred, and we are not allowed to use any word that recalls the
Holocaust, because there is no situation today that can be comparable to
what was then. I respect those who hold such an opinion, and I know that I
cannot convince them to think otherwise. Since, however, they do not
have a monopoly on the Holocaust, I am entitled to disagree with them and
maintain that it is very important to make comparisons, to draw
conclusions, and to act so that there will not be another Holocaust.
I was born and raised in Belgium. A considerable portion of my family was
destroyed in the Holocaust. Throughout my childhood I heard from my
grandparents about the stories and about the horrors. Already at a young
age I made a promise to myself to do everything so that it would not
happen again, that I would act so that the murder of my family would not
have been for nothing, that I would do everything not to forget, and not to
forgive.
In my humble opinion, the Holocaust is an event that could recur, in some
form or other, if we do not open our eyes and understand that the Nazi
monster is still breathing, and attempting to continue what Hitler, may his
memory be blotted out, did not have time to finish. I am speaking of the
Arabs around us, who have been trying, even from before the
establishment of the State of Israel, to eliminate any Jewish existence in
Eretz Israel, regardless of our borders. The Arabs have been murdering us
on a daily basis from the days of the pogroms in 1929 (when it could not be
claimed that we were "occupiers"). They slaughter Jews at every
opportunity, whether in war or in terror attack, cold-bloodedly firing at the
heads of Jewish infants. Muslim suicide bombers explode buses, pizza
parlors, and discotheques full of Jews. It is they who are the modern
version of the Nazis. Every thinking person knows, or should know, that
Hitler's legacy plays a starring role in the Muslim world. Hitler's book Mein
Kampf is a bestseller in all the Arab countries. Everyone knows, or should
know, that the hero of the Arabs, Haj Amin el-Husseini, was Hitler's close
friend, and together they planned the Holocaust of the Jews of Eretz Israel.
Every intelligent person knows, or should know, that all the wars and terror
attacks by the Arabs against us have the same goal: the total destruction of
the State of Israel, and the elimination of all its Jewish inhabitants. Every
intelligent person knows, or should know, that every sign of weakness,
submission, or retreat by Israel will encourage the Nazi-Arab enemy and
incite him to engage in more and more terror.
Consequently, every political plan that will merely play into the hands of
the Nazi-Arab enemy and bring him closer to his final goal, that is, the
removal of the Jews from Israel and the elimination of the Jewish state, is a
dangerous plan against which we must sound the alarm. While, during the
Holocaust, the Jews of the Judenrat played into the hands of the Nazi foe
when they (unwillingly) collaborated and aided in the deportation of the
Jews (without knowing the destination of the transports); today, Sharon's
deportation plan also plays into the hands of the Nazi-Arab enemy, incites
him to murder more and more Jews, and is liable - if, Heaven forbid, it were
to be realized - to result in tens of thousands of murdered Jews, by
Katushas and rockets fired from Gaza and northern Samaria to the densely
populated centers in Gush Dan. In addition, Sharon's plan would give fuel
to the antisemites in the world. They would rightfully say: "If a Jewish
government can uproot Jews and deport them from their historic
homeland; we in Europe can do the same and deport our Jews far away
from here". Thus, in my eyes, the comparison between Yonatan Bassi (and
Ariel Sharon) and the Judenrat is definitely appropriate. With the proviso
that Bassi and Sharon constitute a much more horrible version, since,
unlike the Judenrat of then, today, there is no one holding a gun to Sharon
and Bassi's forehead and demanding that they commit the deportation
crime.
People like Minister Sharansky, who claimed that I compared the
government of Israel with the Nazi regime, are wrong and deceptive. I
would never compare Jew and Nazi! As I said, the Arabs who murder us
today should remind us of the Nazis then. And Jews who play into the
hands of the Nazi-Arab enemy with political plans that are the realization of
the Hamas platform (the expulsion of Jews from Eretz Israel) should remind
us of the Judenrat, in a more terrible version.
All those who have joined the outcry should recall the words of Ariel
Sharon from nine years ago, when he was interviewed by the Kfar Habad
magazine. On the agenda at the time was the declaration by the then Prime
Minister, Yitzhak Rabin, that within the framework of Oslo it might be
necessary to evacuate several settlements. When Ariel Sharon was asked
about this, he issued a clear statement: "I am happy to say that nothing will
be of avail to the government and its aims: the settlers do not intend to
move from these places." When he was asked: "If so, then what response
from them do you expect when an attempt will be made to evacuate the
settlements?", Sharon continued: "This is inconceivable. [...] This would be
an extremely grave matter. In my opinion, people will not leave, and I think
that the government has to think well where this decision will lead. This will
result in the most severe consequences [...] to civil war."
Mr. Sharon also had a clear definition of the government and its head, who
were capable of even conceiving of the possibility of a withdrawal and the
evacuation of settlements. Sharon also said in the same interview:
"It must be understood that this government and those heading it have
fallen prey to insanity, and have lost all restraint. [...] Although we must not
compare any current situation with the Holocaust, I nevertheless want to
recall that before the Holocaust, as well [...] the Jewish leadership said
then: There is no alternative.": "We are talking about cooperation between
two people - Peres and Rabin - who, in any other country, would be put on
trial in court. [...] I call here for all the parties to abandon their acting like
beautiful people and to go forth, once and for all, to a battle that will bring
about the fall of this disastrous government! [...] If, Heaven forbid, the
government were to realize its plans, the public would have to blame itself
for not having the powers of the spirit to arise and do what must be done.
Already a year and a half ago I called for popular passive, unarmed
resistance. If it were possible to conduct a silent demonstration of 50,000
people around the government ministries for ten days, this wanting
government would already fall. [...] Defense of life is the most legal thing,
and passive popular resistance, without weapons, is one of the ways to do
this in democratic regimes. The Likud must lead the struggle against the
government's policy, and fully support the settlers, who are defending, not
only their homes, but the people as a whole."
If, nine years ago, none other than the Prime Minister himself compared the
Rabin-Peres government to a Judenrat, because of their willingness to
expel Jews from the Land of Israel, why, all of a sudden, is it forbidden to
compare the government of Sharon and his aides, such as Yonatan Bassi,
with a Judenrat?
Here is the place to cry out against the hypocrisy of those attacking me. In
my letter I did not compare Bassi or Sharon to the Nazis, but to the Jewish
Judenrat. Notwithstanding this, everyone in the media fell on me, crying
out to the heavens. In contrast, the list of public figures from the Israeli left
who compared Jews to Nazis is extremely long - and they were not
attacked, neither by Yad Vashem nor by government ministers. They, of
course, will not be placed on trial. The following reminder is a short
selection from this lengthy list:
- A few months ago: Justice Minister Tommy Lapid, after seeing on
television a picture of an Arab woman crying next to the ruins of her house,
the house of Arab terrorists: "She reminds me of my grandmother in the
1930s." In other words, Lapid compared our dear soldiers to Nazis.
- Prof. Yeshayahu Leibowitz: "IDF soldiers are Judeo-Nazis."
- Prof. Moshe Zimmerman, from the Hebrew University: "The children of
Hebron are Hitlerjugend."
- Uzi Benzamin, Haaretz, 2002: "The behavior of those who are called the
'youth of the hills' among the settlers is reminiscent of that of the
skinheads in Europe and the US."
- Prof. Michael Harsegor, Haaretz, September 1996: "The leaders of the
ultra-Orthodox are the enemies of democracy, no less than the blackshirts
or the heads of the National Socialist Workers' Party [the full name of the
Nazi party]."
- Shulamit Aloni, Maariv, December 2002: "Eli Yishai (as Interior Minister)
acts in accordance with the Nuremberg Laws [...] the [PR] film [by the Shas
party] reminds me of a Nazi propaganda film."
- Haaretz, May 1996: "The editors of Der Stuermer [the newspaper of the
Nazi party] would enjoy reading these headlines [from the Likud election
propaganda]."
- the newspaper of the Tel Aviv University student organization, May 2002:
"Citizen, religion is your enemy, it is incumbent upon every Israeli citizen to
fight it. [...] When a person chooses to believe these lies, he throws man's
essence into the garbage can. [...] Others will come and say that this makes
[a person feel] good. [...] Many of those who joined the Nazi Party also
experienced spiritual elevation and joy."
- Yedioth Ahronoth, Shlomo Gazit: "The religious soldiers remind me of the
Nazis."
- Kidmah ("Progress"!), January 2003: "A general statement may be made
of the ideological settlers, that they are much worse than any neo-Nazi in
Austria."
- For many years the sculptor Yigal Tomarkin has made statements and
engaged in acts that anti-Semites would not be ashamed to utter or do. For
example, in 1980 he brought a pig enwrapped in tefilin to Malkhei Yisrael
Square, in protest against the settlements. Some of his utterances that are
reminiscent of leading anti-Semites: "When I see the ultra-Orthodox, I
understand the Nazis," or "I identify the religious by their smell." In 1988 he
won the Sussman prize by Yad Vashem(!) for his works relating to the
Holocaust, but the awarding of the prize was canceled due to protests
against him. Despite all his anti-Semitic statements, Tomarkin recently
received the Israel Prize for sculpture from Education Minister Limor
Livnat.
2) Now that we have shown that there definitely is cause for a historical
comparison between the Bassi letter to the residents of Gush Katif and the
letter from the Judenrat to the Jews of Berlin, and we have demonstrated
that many others in the public sphere in Israel use terminology from the
period of the Holocaust, we must attack the second argument against my
letter: as if my statements constitute incitement to violence.
The following is the relevant section of the Penal Code, 1977 (as amended
in Amendment no. 66, on May 22, 2002): 144d2. Incitement to Violence or
Terror [amendment: 2002(3)] (a) One who publicly calls to commit an act of
violence or terror, or issues a statement of praise, sympathy, or
encouragement for an act of violence or terror, support of it or
identification with it (in this section: inciting publication), and in
accordance with the content of the inciting publication and the
circumstances in which it was publicized, there is a real possibility that it
will lead to the performance of an act of violence or terror, is punishable by
five years imprisonment. (b)In this section, "an act of violence or terror" is
an offense that harms a person's body or places a person in danger of
death or in danger of serious injury.
In other words, a call that is liable to constitute the offense of incitement
must include an explicit call for inflicting serious bodily injury to someone.
What connection does this have to my letter to Bassi, in which all I did was
draw a historical parallel between two documents, and appeal to Bassi to
resign from his contemptible position?
But now that the subject of incitement has entered the public discourse - I
wish to direct the attention of Police Minister Gideon Ezra and the Attorney-
General to clear calls of incitement to murder and violence, that for some
reason have not been subject to any legal treatment. The inciters have not
yet been questioned or placed on trial. Could this ensue from the fact that
the inciters are situated on the left side of the Israeli political map? The
following is a collection from among a lengthy list of such incitement
(some of the quotations were found in the archives of the Hatzofeh
newspaper):
- Prof. Zeev Sternhal, Haaretz, May 11, 2001: justifies Arab terror against
settlers, calls upon the Arabs to murder settlers, and encourages them to
place explosive charges, but only on the eastern side of the Green Line.
"There is no doubt regarding the legitimacy of the 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." The Women in Green movement lodged a complaint with the police
against Sternhal, accusing him of encouraging an act of terror and
incitement to murder settlers. The response of the police was: "there is no
criminal guilt" in Sternhal's statements.
- Yonatan Gefen, Maariv, May 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." Here, as well, the police decided that there was no need to
investigate these statements.
- Sheike Levi, Yedioth Tikshoret, November 2003: "The settlers are lunatics,
I get angry even if I only hear about them. [...] I cannot tolerate small
children with peyot [sidelocks], that they have a mori [a traditional
Yemenite teacher], who teaches them to be Yemenites and not Israelis. I
wanted to grab their mori and break his bones."
- 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."
- Michael Roeh, Meretz faction, June 1998: "We have established anti-ultra-
Orthodox reconnaissance units that will knock off the heads of the ultra-
Orthodox."
- Yonatan Gefen, Maariv, 1996: dreams of the assassination of Netanyahu:
"I was angry, and I wrote that I had a wet dream that I shot Bibbi Netanyahu
twice. They didn't print this. And why is it permitted to print [...], while they
continually reject my wet dream about rubbing out Bibbi Netanyahu?"
- Hadashot newspaper, October 1992: "The ultra-Orthodox should be hung
from electric poles."
- Haolam Hazeh, Uri Avneri, November 1988: "The time has come to bury
them [the settlers]."
- Davar, Zeev Sternhal, April 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."
- Yoel Marcus, Haaretz, July 9, 2004, an article entitled "Don't Try and
Frighten Us with Bloodshed": "They should not try to frighten a nation -
tens of thousands of whose sons were killed in wars to ensure its very
existence - with [the prospect of] the shedding of blood in the cause of
peace."
MK Abu Vilan, from the Yahad party, in an interview with Ari Shavit,
Haaretz, September 5, 2004: "If, Heaven forbid, they will force us, we will be
compelled to open fire [against the settlers]. [...] It will be necessary to pull
the trigger, slowly, responsibly, coolheadedly, and intelligently."
Ami Ayalon, the former head of the General Security Service, in an
interview in Yedioth Ahronoth, November 14, 2003: suggests killing, in cold
blood, the "problematic" settlers who would refuse to willingly be
evacuated of their own free will: "I will say this in clear words: 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." Anyone who is
familiar with the Altalena episode (in which sixteen Jews, Ben-Gurion's
political rivals, who were swimming, unarmed, in the sea towards the coast,
were coldbloodedly murdered by the Palmah under the command of
Yitzhak Rabin) knows that the call to conduct an "Altalena" against a
political rival is incitement to murder that rival. The Women in Green
lodged a complaint with the Attorney-General for Ayalon's inciting
statements. Talia Sasson wrote in her reply: "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. As was noted,
I did not find any transgression in these statements." In other words, Talia
Sasson, on behalf of the State Attorney's Office, justifies the cold blooded
murder of settlers, just because they would refuse to be evacuated of their
own free will.
In light of all the above, the conclusion to be drawn is unequivocal: the
offensive launched against my letter has a single purpose - this is a
Bolshevik attempt to stifle the National Camp, and prevent it from
expressing its strong opposition to Ariel Sharon's deportation plan, a plan
that Sharon is dictatorially imposing on the public, against the wishes of
the majority of the people. In the last elections, a majority of the people
voted for Sharon, because he convinced us that Amram Mitzna's unilateral
withdrawal plan from Gaza would be disastrous for the country. To our
amazement, after his victory, Sharon decided to push through Amram
Mitzna's plan! In this manner Sharon stole our votes and deceived the
people!
The broad support from the people that I received in light of the blatant
attempt to block my freedom of expression - the many telephone calls, the
e-mails, and the faxes of support and encouragement - prove to me, once
again, that the majority of the public has a healthy spirit, loves the Jewish
People, and loves its Homeland and its Heritage. Our problem is with our
weak and galut (diaspora-like) political leadership, which demeans itself
before the enemy in an attempt to curry favor. This is a political leadership
lacking a Jewish backbone, without roots, without values, without loyalty
to the people of Israel, the Torah of Israel, and the Land of Israel.
This corrupt leadership will never succeed in silencing us. We shall
continue to proclaim before the whole world: Eretz Israel belongs to the
People of Israel, in accordance with the Torah of Israel, and no Jew has the
right to hand it over to the enemy. With God's help, the people of Israel
shall be victorious. I will conclude with Ariel Sharon's words from nine
years ago, in the interview in Kfar Habad:
"On the occasion of the New Year, I want to address the people (not the
government, because there's no one to talk to there): In this difficult hour,
you must reveal courage and spiritual powers, and understand that if you
desire independent existence, you must be prepared to struggle for Eretz
Israel. Eretz Israel is the 'desirable land,' but it is also a harsh land in which
we must contend, both with ourselves and with our brothers. I naturally
would want to wish you all that true peace, tranquility, and security would
reign here - but what the Jews really need as the new year approaches is to
return to themselves, to walk with Jewish pride, and to act as a real people;
and above all, to be ready for the struggle as the time of testing
approaches. I want to wish the entire Jewish people, in Israel and in the
Diaspora, that this shall truly be a good year, and that we will finally see the
light at the end of the tunnel, with the removal of the current government
and the establishment of a Jewish government that shall act as such in all
realms."
To these words by Ariel Sharon from nine years ago, we can only add:
Amen, May it be G-d's Will!.
Nadia Matar
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September 27, 2004
TRY TO PUT YOURSELF IN OUR SHOES!
LETTER FROM RUTH MATAR (WOMEN IN GREEN) JERUSALEM
Monday, September 27, 2004
Dear Friends,
I received numerous replies to my Letter from Jerusalem of September 23.
The following reply upset me greatly, especially since it came from a good
friend of Women in Green, who supports us. I have changed the name of
the city and state where our friend lives, because I do not want to divulge
his identity, without his permission.
This letter made me painfully aware that even our good friends who live
abroad are not able to put themselves in our shoes, because they do not
have all the information that we have. The U.S. State our friend lives in was
one of the thirteen colonies, and I have therefore chosen another one of the
erstwhile colonies, Rhode Island, because one of its cities, Newport, has
the oldest Synagogue in the United States, founded in 1763. The remnants
of the Gaza Synagogues, by the way, are much older, because Jews have
been in Gaza since Biblical times. (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.)
The following is the letter from our United States friend in its entirety:
Dear Ruth and Nadia,
In your latest letter you wrote; (Thurs Sept 23, 04) "a letter written by the
Judenrat (Jewish Council) to the Jews of Berlin in Germany in 1942.
Nadia noted that the 1942 documents ended with an emotional plea by the
Berlin Jewish leadership to behave calmly and thus ease the process of
deportation.
Up to here I have no quarrel with you as it is simply stating historical facts
and makes a auspicious point with deafening clarity.
"Nadia further accused Bassi that he is a modern-day version of the
Judenrat and is, in fact much worse. During the Holocaust the deportation
of Jews was forced .......etc. .....he assumed his position as head of
Sharon's Evacuation Authority."
This was an unnecessary accusation and personal attack. You made your
point in the first paragraph and then let it spill over into a rant. Too bad.
Now you gave the opposing side the "crazy - fringy " ammunition that they
were looking for, because, the settlers, Yevarech otam Hashem, [G-d
should bless them. --R.M.] at worst will be moved to the Negev and the
Galil and compensated with hundreds of thousands of dollars per family
and all the compassion that Jews have typically afforded to their brethren
be it, Soviet, Ethiopian, Yemenite, Iraqi, Ma'apilim, etc. Not the best
situation, as we would prefer to hold onto any and all territories won with
blood, but Bassi and the Government are not sending them inot exile to
concentration camps and not even to refugee camps. Again, not an
appropriate reference by you to the Nazis who sent the Jews off to the
death camps.
Again, I send these criticisms with deepest respect and admiration for Ruth
and Nadia, WIG, the Settlers, Zahal and Am Yisrael with greetings and
salutations for G'mar HAtima Tova.
Truly ,
A friend
Newport, Rhode Island [My substitution -- R.M.]
* * *
And this is my reply:
Dear Friend,
Thank you for your letter and also for your support in the past. I know that
you write your criticism as a friend.
Nadia's comparison of Jonathan Bassi is not a comparison to the Nazis.
The comparison is between Bassi's 2004 letter to his fellow Jews in Gaza
and the 1942 letter of the Jewish Council (Judenrat) to the Jews of Berlin,
asking them "to cooperate with the Germans and to leave in an orderly
fashion."
How would you feel if your fellow Jewish Americans decided that it was in
the interest of the rest of the country to drag your family out of its home, in
order to make Rhode Island Judenrein, even though your family has
resided there for many generations? And if your grandparents and great-
grandparents were buried in a Newport, Rhode Island cemetery, and your
government had made an agreement to remove Jewish remains from their
graves in this cemetery, would you agree to let this be done? I am sure
you would object vociferously, even if you would get "hundreds of
thousands of dollars" for your family and all the compassion of Jews in the
other 49 States, and even compassion from the all the Jews in the whole
world.
Also, it seems to be generally ignored that Ariel Sharon is also at the same
time planning to "unilaterally disengage" from Northern Samaria
communities, and to make this area Judenrein as well. Sharon's Plan
unfortunately may spell the beginning of the end for Biblical Gaza, Judea
and Samaria as part of Israel.
Worst of all, Sharon has no mandate whatsoever, and in true dictatorial
fashion refuses to let the Israeli people decide democratically the important
question of their country's future.
Cordially,
Ruth Matar
* * *
Dear Friends, I would very much like to know what you think about this
correspondence.
With Blessings and Love from Jerusalem and Wishes for a Wonderful
Sukkot Holiday,
Ruth Matar
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September 29, 2004
(Below is found a letter of one of our members of Women in Green which
she
wrote to then Minister of Tourism, now Minister of Internal Security,
Gideon Ezra. She apparently is known in Likud circles.)
Gefen Family
40 Kaplan Street
Kiryat Ono, 55293, Israel
20 September 2004
Mr. Gideon Ezra, Minister of Tourism
Ministry of Tourism
Jerusalem
Sir:
Lately you have become a great disappointment to many Likudniks, who,
like
myself, once thought very well of you. Your reaction to Nadia Matar's
CORRECT and HONEST appraisal of the catastrophic situation awaiting
ALL of
us, including yourself, because of the catastrophic behavior of yet another
catastrophic government, can only be described as hysterical and
childishly
spiteful.
If you think Mrs. Matar should be investigated for "incitement", I offer
you another name to add to such an investigation... TRUDY GEFEN. In fact,
there are thousands, even thousands of thousands, of other names who
you
might find yourself calling to be put under "investigation" simply for
having the same opinions as Mrs. Matar concerning the unethical step of
expelling Israelis, mothers, fathers, grandparents, teenagers, small
children and babies from their homes in sections of the Land of
Israel. Moreover, it is a further Arab expansion and occupation of our
Land.
What's more, there is a certain proportion of Israel's population,
especially in Extremist Left and Arab circles who should have been
investigated long ago, NOT ONLY for "incitement" but also for anti-Israel
activities bordering upon treason! (e.g. Gush-Shalom, Peace Now, the
Women
In Black, "refuseniks", "intellectuals", the Media, entertainers, and a
goodly number of politicians, such as Ran Cohen, A. Villan, Yossi Sarid,
Arab MKs who express their support of our genocide at the hands of those
Arab-Nazi terrorists. Avraham Poraz justifies "anti-Semitism", and Tommy
Lapid constantly "abuses" the Holocaust for "political goals" to name but a
few.) The pro-Arab activities and incitement which constantly issues forth
from some of these sectors is indeed based on racial intolerance and bias,
which is frequently expressed in the most viciously hate-filled
manner. This racism is directed, not towards the Arabs, but rather towards
the Jewish-Israeli public, and especially the consistently maligned
"Right". It is also directed against the PIONEERS of Judea, Samaria, Gaza,
and the Golan who are Israel's most dedicated, courageous and ethical
segment of the entire population.
Make no mistake, if Mrs. Matar is "investigated" simply for expressing her
views, then I will be waiting for the 3 A.M. knock on my door, too!
Invariably, impetuous political statements and reactions can lead to
unintended situations. These situations can only too quickly get out of
hand, and end up with unexpected and undesirable and anti-democratic
results. Let's hope there will be no such results following your knee-jerk
reaction to Mrs. Matar's correct analysis of what transferring Jews from
their homes in their own Homeland really stands for.
I hope you will reconsider, and even apologize, for your unprecedented
attack upon a loyal citizen who was merely expressing publicly what 75%
of
the Israeli public anyway harbors deep down inside themselves. Unlike
Mrs.
Matar, most of them are not able to put into proper words their true
feelings.
Sincerely yours,
T.Gefen L/S
(Mrs. Trudy Gefen is a Member of Likud, but wonders whether or not it is
heading headlong into oblivion because of its stepping into the "Left" or
Labor's disastrous boots!!!!)
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