CAFI Newsletter #91
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Fri, 5 Jul 2002 17:56:06 -0400
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* CHRISTIAN ACTION FOR ISRAEL NEWSLETTER #91 *
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"ON YOUR WALLS, O JERUSALEM, I HAVE APPOINTED WATCHMEN"
Isaiah 62:6
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Friday, July 5, 2002
IN THIS ISSUE:
1. FREE PALESTINE CAN BECOME A REALITY
2. A COMMON ENEMY
3. THE “PALESTINIANS”
4. WANTED: MEN OF TRUST!
5. REMEMBERING THE DEATH TRAINS
6. QUOTES TO NOTE
7. HIGHLIGHT ARTICLES
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1. FREE PALESTINE CAN BECOME A REALITY
A plan for peace and democracy.
BY NATAN SHARANSKY - July 3, 2002
JERUSALEM--For many years, a psychological
Rubicon had blocked any hope for achieving a
genuine peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
With his speech last week, President Bush has led
American diplomacy across that Rubicon, and hope
for a genuine peace has finally emerged.
For nearly a decade, the peace process was held
hostage to an idea that has a long pedigree of
failure: that strong leaders can make a strong
peace. Far from seeing a Palestinian regime
unfettered by the constraints imposed by
democratic rule as endangering the peace process,
some even considered such a regime essential for
safeguarding it. As former Prime Minister Yitzhak
Rabin so succinctly put it, the Palestinian
Authority would fight terror unhindered by a
Supreme Court, human rights organizations and
all sorts of bleeding-heart liberals.
That things did not work out as planned is now
clear to everyone. Arafat’s Palestinian Authority
used the power and resources given to it not to
build a better future for Palestinians, but to
construct an infrastructure of terror and
indoctrinate an entire generation of Palestinians
into a culture of death.
Unfortunately, it is still widely believed that
all that is necessary to get the peace process
back on track is to convince him or some other
Palestinian interlocutor that nothing will be
gained through the use of terror. But with his
speech last week, President Bush made clear that
the source of the problem is the nature of the
Palestinian regime, not this or that Palestinian
leader.
The president’s words point to a truth that many
seem to have forgotten: that there is a fundamental
difference between democratic leaders and dictators.
Because democratic leaders are dependent on the
will of the people, they strive to promote peace
and prosperity, opting for war only as a last
resort. By contrast, in dictatorships, external
enemies become the dictator’s lifeblood, enabling him
to divert discontent with his own repressive rule.
Reared in the Soviet Union, I came to understand
that international security and democracy are
inextricably linked. President Bush’s speech
suggests he shares a similar vision. The
question now facing policy makers, both in
Israel and around the world, is how to translate
this vision into a workable peace plan. Two
months ago, I presented just such a plan to
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
The first step would be the establishment of an
international coordinating body. This organization,
headed by the United States, and including those
Arab states that recognize Israel, will be
responsible for establishing a Palestinian
Administrative Authority (PAA) to administer
the areas under Palestinian control during a
three-year transition period. Israel involvement
in this process will be limited to a right to
veto candidates to the PAA who have been
connected to terrorist activities against Israel.
The PAA will be responsible for administering
the day-to-day lives of the Palestinians in
matters such as the economy, law enforcement
and education. Israel will be responsible for
security and freedom of passage in all of the
West Bank, and will retain the right to set up
transition zones and buffer zones to prevent
the resurgence of terror activities.
The PAA will be expected to develop the
infrastructure for Palestinian democratic life.
This must include formulating new educational
programs that inculcate values of peace rather
than terror, securing freedom of political, social
and religious association, and guaranteeing
freedom of speech and freedom of the press. The
distribution of international aid and assistance
will be dependent on ensuring these freedoms.
The coordinating body will dismantle all
Palestinian refugee camps, and a normal existence
will be offered for those evacuated from the camps.
Arab countries, with assistance from the United
Nations, will finance this effort. An international
fund will be established to create and finance
industrial zones, infrastructure projects, and
other economic activities in the PAA.
After a three-year transition period, free
elections will be held in the areas administered
by the PAA. Israel will then negotiate the terms
of a permanent peace with the elected
representatives of the Palestinian people.
The plan outlined above recognizes that in the
climate of fear, hatred and death that Arafat
has created, it will be difficult, if not
impossible, to find leaders who dare to work
openly for peace. In order to enable such leaders
to emerge and allow Palestinians to freely
express their views in a democratic climate, a
transition period is absolutely necessary. During
this period, Palestinians can lay the foundations
of democratic life and combat the effects of
years of propaganda and incitement. Just as Germany
and Japan had to undergo a process of
rehabilitation in order to rejoin the
international community following World War II,
so today Palestinian society must undergo
a transformation.
I hope that we will not be sidetracked once
again by accepting Arafat’s phony promises of
reform or legitimating his call for snap elections.
This will only serve to perpetuate dictatorial
rule that will preclude the possibility of peace.
Everyone who genuinely wants peace in our region
should now heed the president’s call and work
toward reforming Palestinian society. For only
if the Palestinians are truly free can we hope
to achieve peace and stability in the Middle East.
Mr. Sharansky, a former Soviet dissident,
is deputy prime minister of Israel.
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2. A COMMON ENEMY
New York Post - July 5, 2002
Anyone who still thinks America and Israel are
fighting two separate wars on terror should think
carefully about yesterday's horror show at L.A.
International Airport. True, as of yesterday
evening, U.S. law-enforcement officials were
saying there was no evidence the attack - in
which a gunman killed two people and injured
several others - was terrorism.
The shooting may well have been, as FBI Special
Agent Richard Garcia called it, "an isolated incident."
On the other hand, Israeli officials - all too
familiar with terrorist attacks - saw all the
classic signs.
"Organizations, primarily Islamic extremist
organizations, are planning to hit Israeli targets
outside [Israel]. And an airport is a preferred
target," Israeli Transport Minister Efraim Sneh said.
The attack occurred, after all, at the ticket
counter of an Israeli airline, El Al.
At a U.S. airport.
On July 4.
While Americans coast-to-coast were bracing
for something.
Anti-American, anti-Israeli terrorists couldn't
have dreamed of a more fitting scenario.
Meanwhile, earlier this week, Yasser Arafat's
al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade warned that it would
"strike at Zionist and American interests and
installations" throughout the world if
Washington isn't nicer to its leader.
What horrible thing is America doing to Arafat?
Well, President Bush suggested that a change in
Palestinian leadership and institutions would
be good for peace - and for Palestinians.
Which, of course, is obvious - but it didn't
sit well with Arafat and his thugs. And whether
they're Palestinian militants or radical Islamic
fundamentalists, terrorists know only one thing:
terror.
Clearly, as the world was reminded yesterday,
Israel and the United States are in this fight
- together.
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3. THE “PALESTINIANS”
By Prof. Paul Eidelberg
Let us clearly understand the nature and goal of
Israel’s enemies, the “Palestinians.” First, no less
than 68% of these Arabs OPENLY exalt suicide bombers,
and a much larger percentage is committed to Israel’s
extermination. These two related facts make these
Muslims more barbaric than the Nazis!
Second, the leader of these Islamic Nazis, Yasser
Arafat, has a very simple objective, and that is
to kill as many Jews as possible, especially women
and children—women because they bear children, and
children because they will some day become soldiers.
Now, we see that Arafat and his PLO-Palestinian
Authority have trained innumerable Arabs, including
a generation of Arab children, to be or become
suicide bombers. Suppose this Nobel Peace
Laureate and his “Palestinian” minions field 2,500
suicide bombers during the next 12 months, and that
10% or 250 succeed (God forbid) in their murderous
objective. Leaving aside the likelihood of an
eventual “mega” terrorist attack, but bearing in
mind that many suicide bombers will inevitably be
equipped with less detectable and yet deadlier
explosives—suppose each homocide bomb kills, on an
average, 30 Jews and wounds 300 more. That means
7,500 Jews dead as well as 75,500 Jews wounded—
of whom tens of thousands will be physically and
psychologically disabled. In addition, many
thousands who witness Jews blown to bits will
also be psychologically disabled—will suffer
Post Traumatic Syndrome Disorders.
The country will collapse.
This is the objective of the “Palestinians,” and
this is why the Israel Defense Forces must regain
and retain complete control of the areas which
criminally irresponsible Israeli governments have
turned over to the “Palestinians.” These
“Palestinians,” far from deserving independent
statehood, deserve to be conquered, just as Nazi
Germany was conquered. Only then will it be
possible, after at least one generation, to
transform these savages into civilized human
beings. But then they will NOT deserve to have a
democratic state of their own on Jewish soil!
Not at all. Jews have suffered more than enough
from these monsters. Jews and Jews alone
have a God-given right to Eretz Yisrael,
Israel’s ruling elites—secular and religious—
have dismally failed to assert this right. It is
they who created the fictitious Palestinian people.
It is they who resurrected Yasser Arafat. It is
they who created suicide bombers – all this by
failing to transform into public policy the miracle
of the Six Day War, that is, by failing to
incorporate, by explicit law, Judea, Samaria, and
Gaza into the State of Israel. By failing to do so,
these elites instilled or reinforced in these Arabs
(and in countless others) the falsehood that
this land belongs to Ishmael’s descendants.
Even now, after the murder of 561 Jews in the last
21 months, the Sharon government, which is morally
responsible for most of these deaths, continues
its half-hearted policy of weeding out terrorists.
President George W. Bush, in his unprecedented
speech of June 24, has (again) given Israel’s
government the green light to eliminate Arafat
and his PLO-Palestinian Authority (which Mr. Sharon
should have done immediately after September 11
and could then have done within one week).
I repeat: the “Palestinians” must be conquered,
else they will never be “democratized.” No security
fence can stop them from training suicide bombers
to murder Jews, and many will succeed in doing so.
No security fence will prevent them from acquiring
more and deadlier weapons—and then they will the
more readily target Jewish communities in Judea,
Samaria, and Gaza. A security fence will only
intensify their contempt for Israel, knowing that
Israel’s government has the power to conquer them
but refrains from doing so. A security fence will
make them more desperate, more insane, more
convinced of the justice of their cause, for which
they will train more and more suicide bombers.
However much one may praise President Bush for
denouncing, by implication, Yasser Arafat and
publicly calling for a “different Palestinian
leadership,” Israel must take its destiny into
its own hands. This will require a different
Israeli leadership, one wholeheartedly dedicated
to the noble heritage and world-historical
mission of the Jewish People. Lacking such
leadership, Israel will fail to conquer its
implacable and genocidal enemies.
Failing this, Israel will collapse.
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4. WANTED: MEN OF TRUST!
by Rabbi Chanan Porat
Arutz Sheva Israel National Radio
<http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
originally published in M'at Min HaOr
In This Article:
1. Why Get Involved?
2. You Said It!
3. In Awe of Speech
4. Men of Trust
WHY GET INVOLVED?
This week's Torah portion includes the interesting law
of vows and oaths: "A man who makes a vow to G-d.
he shall not violate his word; whatever comes out of
his mouth he must do" (Num. 30,3). This law has a
fascinating aspect, the likes of which is not found
in any other commandment in the Torah.
In general, the commandments are a clear expression
of the Divine will: G-d determines what is forbidden
and what is permitted, what we must do and what we
must not do. But when it comes to vows and oaths,
suddenly it is *man's* will that counts! A person
takes upon himself new obligations or prohibitions,
and merely by speaking his desire [with certain
qualifications; see below], these become Torah
precepts, with all that they entail.
The question then asks itself: Why must the Torah
"get involved" in that which a person takes upon
himself? Why does the Torah not let him "stew in
his own juice" and take care of his own agenda?
Furthermore, the Torah is generally not happy with
additional prohibitions. Our Sages teach [Jerusalem
Talmud, Tr. Nedarim (Vows) 9,1], "Is it not enough
for you what the Torah has forbidden, that you must
come and add more prohibitions?" Why, then, are a
person's mere words turned into Torah prohibitions
and obligations?
YOU SAID IT!
To answer this, we must establish that the Torah
is actually not as much concerned with the "content"
of a person's vows or oaths, as it is with the
very fact that he made them. The Torah demands of
a person that he be true to his word and not violate
that which he uttered with his lips. The key word
here is, "He shall not *violate* his word." . Rashi,
based on the Sifri, explains that the meaning is
that he shall not "profane" his word; he shall not
make it "secular." We find a similar expression in
the prophecy of Ezekiel (39, 7).
It is important to note that in order for vows and
oaths to take on the status of Biblical commandments,
they must be formulated with specific language, as
elaborated on in Tr. Nedarim. However, any clear
obligation that a person takes upon himself verbally
has some status of a vow. For instance, the law is
that if a person says, "I will arise and study
such-and-such chapter in the Torah or tractate," this
is considered a "great vow for the G-d of Israel"
(Shulchan Arukh Y.D. 23,5). The Shach adds that even
if here merely says, "I will study," he has taken
upon himself an obligation of a vow. Similar
examples can be found in Sh. Ar. Y.D. 237, 5
and elsewhere.
IN AWE OF SPEECH
"Wondrous is speech," Rabbi A.I. Kook writes
(Orot HaKodesh 3, p.44), "and awesome in its action."
In this spirit, let us add: "Holy is speech, and
holy is the obligation not to profane it." We can
thus understand the call of King David, "Who shall
ascend to the mountain of the L-rd? And who shall
arise His holy place? He that has clean hands and
a pure heart, who has not taken My name in vain, nor
sworn deceitfully" (Psalms 24, 3-4). The requirements
of "clean hands" and "pure heart" are clear and
understandable, but why is there such an emphasis on
not taking G-d's name in vain or swearing deceitfully?
These are, after all, straightforward prohibitions that
are not only the lot of those who "stand in His place."
It appears that King David wishes to emphasize that
whoever wishes to ascend to G-d's mountain, and
specifically he who would arise and stand - i.e.,
keep strong hold and not fall - in His holy place,
must meet the challenges and missions that he set
for himself. Those who are eligible to ascend to G-d's
mountain are only those who vowed to be clean of hands
and pure of heart - and did not violate this oath!
They are those who promised, and also know how
to keep the promise!
MEN OF TRUST
In these Three Weeks of Mourning for Jerusalem and
the Holy Temples, we must know that mourning alone
is not sufficient! We must delve into and uncover
the reasons for the destruction - for the key to
repairing this ongoing national crisis lies in
knowing how to repair that where we went wrong.
Among the sins that caused the destruction of
Jerusalem, our Sages [Tr. Shabbat 119a] count the
cessation of "men of trust." The Talmud explains
that these are men in whose words and promises
confidence can be placed; they are men of truth.
For Jerusalem is the "city of truth," and words of
lies and deceit uproot its very foundations.
In his work Kol HaTor, R' Hillel of Shklov wrote in
the name of his teacher, the Gaon of Vilna, that the
way to redemption is the restoration of Men of Trust
to Jerusalem. "Let us establish Men of Complete Truth
in our holy city," he wrote, "for without this, there
is absolutely no value to all our efforts [in trying
to rebuild society in the Land of Israel],
Heaven forbid."
The real way, then, to revamp and rebuild our society
is not just by building another home or neighborhood,
or by adding another settlement or outpost. These are
all very important - but at the same time we must
strive to "repair our hearts." We must work to build
a "society of trust" that is rooted in integrity and
mutual confidence and faith. Its members must be
people of truth, and their words must be inviolable!
Rabbi Chanan Porat of Kibbutz Kfar Etzion is a founding
member of the Yesha settlement movement Gush Emunim, a
long-time Knesset Member, and editor of the weekly
Torah publication M'at Min Haor.
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5. REMEMBERING THE DEATH TRAINS
IASI, ROMANIA: JUNE 28-30, 1941
Baruch Cohen
“The loss of memory threatens the very existence
of human society.”
---Elie Wiesel
[In 1565, Iasi became the capital of Moldavia. The Iasi
Jewish community, established in the 16th century, was
known for its Jewish intellectuals, its rabbis, its
Zionist activities, and its Jewish theatre. The city was
known as a center for antisemitic activity, and its Jews
suffered from pogroms initiated by Romanian students in
1899 and 1923. In 1923, the Christian National Defense
League was created; it was the forerunner of the
infamous Iron Guard, founded in 1930. Iasi was
proclaimed by the fascist-Nazi regime of Ion Antonescu to
be the capital of the Iron Guard (September 8, 1940).]
Between thirty-three and thirty-nine cattle cars
bearing 2,400 to 2,600 Jews from the Romanian city of
Iasi were evacuated. The cars were designed to transport
freight and had no windows. With bayonets and rifle butts,
the captors pushed between eighty and 200 Jews into each
car. Many of the people began their journey already gravely
wounded. The guards nailed slats over the small ventilation
shutters. Breathing became increasingly difficult as the
hours passed. The military took special pride in
“decorating” the cars with signs: Communist Jews,
Killers of Romanian and German Soldiers.
The train left Iasi on Monday, June 30, 1941, under the
guard of a police detachment. It arrived at Tirgu-Trumos
after seventeen hours. The guards had forbidden anyone to
open the doors, to air out the cars, or to offer anything
to drink. Everyone shared one experience: many went mad
and died raving. Trains stopped at certain stations,
the cars standing still, in the sun, serving as ovens
slowly baking their human cargo.
The “death train” captives had covered close to five
hundred kilometers over a period of six and one-half
days of intense heat. Most of the time there was no water.
The train yielded ten corpses at Marasesti, 654 at
Targu-Frumos, 327 at Miresti, 300 at Sardani, 53 at
Roman, 40 at Inotesti, 25 at Calarasi. The second train
left on June 30. In it, 1,902 Jews boarded eighteen
cattle cars. Upon arrival at Podul Iloaei, 1,194 were
dead and were buried in the local cemetery. The 708
surviving Jews were locked up in synagogues.
The total number of victims of the Iasi pogrom
and its aftermath can never be determined. Some sources
state the figure of 13,266, including 180 children and
40 women. No official number was ever established.
Remember. Itgadal v’Itkadash…
Source: M. Carp, The Black Book [Cartea Neagra].
Bucharest: Diogene Publishing (1996), in Romanian;
Radu Ioanid, The Holocaust in Romania. Chicago:
Ivan Dee, 2000 (published in association with the
U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum).
(Baruch Cohen is Research Chairman
at the Canadian Institute for Jewish Research)
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6. QUOTES TO NOTE
“The Fatah organization and Al-Aqsa Brigades
call upon all Palestinian organizations…to attack
Zionist and American targets everywhere in
response to U.S. efforts to remove the
legitimate leadership of the Palestinian people.”
—Statement attributed to Yasser Arafat’s Fatah
movement [Yasser Arafat later distanced himself from
the statement, saying it was not made in his name.]
(Jer. Post; albawaba.com, July 2)
“I was informed of no house arrest order. I went out
of my house, behaving normally, and no one stopped me.”
—Hamas founder and spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin,
participating in an anti-American demonstration in Gaza
last Friday. Yassin had ostensibly been placed under
“house arrest” by Yasser Arafat in a supposed attempt
by the P.A. leader to crack down on terrorism.
[According to a U.S. State Department spokesman,
“the incident proved the so-called ‘revolving door
policy’ pursued by the P.A.”] (International Herald
Tribune, June 29-30; New York Times, June 29)
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7. HIGHLIGHT ARTICLES ON OUR SITE
SOLE BROTHERS
It is this kind of pro-Israel fervor that makes it so
hard to turn away the Christian hand being extended to
us at a time when so many others - including so-called
"friends and allies" - have abandoned us in our moment
of need, swallowing whole the lies and mistruths being
maliciously spread about us.
http://christianactionforisrael.org/isreport/july02/brothers.html
JIHAD AND HUMAN RIGHTS TODAY
In the Judeo-Christian tradition, wars, because they
imply the acts of killing, are hateful and peace is
praised. In the jihadist ideology, it is war that is
praised, along with the killing of the infidels.
http://christianactionforisrael.org/islam/jihad.html
FOLLOW THE EURO TRAIL
The EU has been the PA's big-hearted sugar daddy;
Yasser's bountiful and boundless papa bear - the
deepest honeypot the Palestinians could ever hope for.
http://christianactionforisrael.org/isreport/july02/euro.html
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For more great reading, visit our new EDITORIAL ARCHIVE
http://christianactionforisrael.org/previous.html
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A PALESTINIAN STATE ?
Is It Inevitable? - Or Is It A Disastrous Idea?
http://christianactionforisrael.org/palstate.html
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Become a WITNESS TO THE NATIONS and let them know what
great things our Lord is doing for Israel and what great
things He will continue to do for her, His firstborn.
http://christianactionforisrael.org/witness/home1.html
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