CAFI Newsletter #100

[cafi-list@christianactionforisrael.org]

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* CHRISTIAN ACTION FOR ISRAEL NEWSLETTER  #100 *
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"ON YOUR WALLS, O JERUSALEM, I HAVE APPOINTED WATCHMEN"
Isaiah 62:6
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               Friday, September 6, 2002

Christian Action for Israel wishes all our friends
"SHANA TOVAH" - A VERY HAPPY JEWISH NEW YEAR!

IN THIS ISSUE:

  1.    A SEPTEMBER 11TH CRITIQUE
  2.    THE END OF THE BEGINNING
  3.    ROSH HASHANAH 5763: HOPE FROM ISRAEL
  4.    9/11 WAS AN ACT OF WAR
  5.    QUOTES TO NOTE
  6.    HIGHLIGHT ARTICLES

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PLEASE HELP US SUPPORT ISRAEL

http://christianactionforisrael.org/donations.html

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   1.   A SEPTEMBER 11TH CRITIQUE

Everyone from The Boss to Hanan Ashrawi are denouncing
the attacks, but neither wants to talk about the
cause behind them.

By Avi Davis/Jewsweek Magazine

In Canto V of Dante's Divine Comedy, the traveler,
entering the Inferno, meets the ghost of Francesca De
Rimini who tells him that: "there is no greater pain
than to remember a happy time when one is in misery."
Those words should resonate for Americans today. Twelve
months after a devastating attack on the country's largest
city, an economic meltdown, accounting scandals that have
shaken the foundations of the American economy, and an
inconclusive war in Central Asia, the American people
certainly do have reason to remember happier times.

But Americans have passed through such periods of
grief before and the record reveals that mourning, if
unchecked, can rapidly transform into an industry of
its own. No one needs prophetic vision to predict that
we will soon be deluged with September 11 eulogies.
Such portentous phrases as 'dividing line in history,'
'the loss of innocence,' 'historical cataclysm' and
'this generation's Pearl Harbor' will doubtlessly be
scrambling for attention on your computer screen,
proving that the memory of 9/11 has already begun
its fade into vapid cliché.

That is not to deny the legitimacy of those
pronouncements. They are all accurate. September 11,
2001 is a day that no one in this generation will forget.
It is a historical milestone that will largely shape the
future of the United States. But protest should be
raised with the current obsession for remembering the
day only for its victims and neglecting entirely the
subject of who the killers were and the reasons for
their unprovoked assault. Television documentaries,
talk shows, news programs and radio hosts have ably
highlighted the harrowing individual tragedies of the
day. Politicians regale us with lessons to be learned
from the attacks. But no major artist, news commentator,
talk show host, or author has had the courage to
publicly castigate the radical Islamic forces who
destroyed so many innocent lives or called to account
Muslim American leaders in this country whose
reaction has been nothing if not muted.

If there is a predominant feature of American life
it is the unwillingness to challenge the liberal
orthodoxy of cultural relativism. Testing a minority
to live up to its professed humanitarianism or assigning
responsibility to a group for a criminal act is,
according to current mores, beyond the pale of
acceptability. But the failure to acknowledge the
source of the September 11th atrocities and the fact
of their hidden support in this country by many
ordinary Muslims, is turning such political
correctness into an obscene self-parody.

The examples abound: A fired Muslim professor at a
South Florida university with proven fund raising
ties to Muslim extremists can win the unified support
of academia for his reinstatement. A cultural icon
such as Bruce Springsteen dedicates an entire album
to the events of September 11th, but has not one
word to say either on record or in interview about
the forces that caused them. Colorado College President
Richard Celeste's invites Palestinian spokesperson
Hanan Ashrawi as a keynote speaker at a conference
commemorating September 11th -- seemingly oblivious
to the fact that Palestinians danced in the street
on the day of the attacks.

An equally persistent problem resides in our education
system. The National Education Association lesson plan
on addressing the events of 9/11 urges teachers to
"address the issue of blame factually" but hedges when
it adds "blaming is especially difficult in terrorist
situations because someone is at fault. In this
country all people are innocent until solid, reliable
evidence from the legal authorities proves otherwise."
It seems a standard trope of liberal philosophy that
no one is ever truly guilty because mitigating
circumstances can always be found to upgrade the
judgment. In a later section, while urging its
teachers to discuss historical instances of
American intolerance, the NEA's suggested curriculum
has no recommendation about how to address Muslim
intolerance or how to show that the events of
September 11th were precipitated by an annihilationist
philosophy that targets innocent men, women and children.

Any commemoration of last years' terrible events must
therefore involve not only a remembrance of the dead but
the concomitant denunciation of militant Islam. It
demands that moderate American Muslim clerics stand
in their mosques and on public platforms throughout
the country denouncing radical Islam and painting it
as a scourge. And in the name of the thousands who
perished, we must stop making excuses for American
citizens -– including academics, pundits and black
political leaders, who trade in conspiracy theories
about CIA or Mossad complicity in the events of that
day. They are abusing the privileges of democracy.

At the conclusion of the first part of the Divine Comedy,
the traveler emerges from the Inferno to remark, in a
burst of enthusiasm and relief, "Then we emerged to see
the stars again." If the stars above the American sky
are ever to seem bright again, we should all understand
and recognize the evil awaiting yet another opportunity
to destroy innocent human life. Calling terror for
what it is and the terrorists for who they are, is
the first step on the road to our psychological recovery.
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   2.    THE END OF THE BEGINNING

The Jerusalem Post  -  Sep. 5, 2002

The year 5762 will be remembered as an
exceptionally trying one for the Jewish state.
Continuously clouded by a deliberate, open, and
systematic Palestinian effort to target Israel's
civilian population, the year that ends today exacted
a heavy price in blood and money.

The killing of hundreds of innocent Israelis and the
maiming of thousands more; the repeated killings of
children and the frequent orphaning of many children;
the growth of strategic threats from Iran, Iraq, Syria,
and Hizbullah; and the resurgence in Europe of verbal
vilification and physical attacks against Jews, all
brought to many minds grim thoughts about a return to
medieval Jewish fate.

The security crisis was further exacerbated by a
severe economic recession. The mass layoffs in the
hi-tech sector which plagued even such flagships as
ECI, Amdocs, and Gilat and the unemployment rate's
crossing of the 10-percent threshold for the first time
in more than a decade, brought home the message that
business, even for the better-educated and better-off,
is not as usual.

Taken together, these disparate fronts spelled crisis
on such a scale that whether out of concern or wishful
thinking some began questioning whether Israel had
returned to the struggle for survival that accompanied
the first years of the state.

Yet as the year progressed we proved that the
enemy's estimation of our weakness was
exaggerated, and that our resources as a society
were greater than even many Israelis might have
guessed. Following the Seder-night massacre in
Netanya, and the IDF's consequent counterattack,
the psychological tide was turned.

No, terror attacks were and remain far from over, but
Israeli society surprised many by enlisting en masse
to defend itself and attack its enemies. The
enthusiasm and dedication with which thousands of
reservists joined the battle was similar only to the spirit
that characterized the warriors of 1973 and 1967, who
also left abruptly and resolutely their middle-class
routines in order to fight enemies who threatened to
destroy the Jewish state.

Back in the big cities, as the public finally understood
the nature of the threat at stake, previous
self-flagellation about ostensibly missed diplomatic
opportunities gave way to a defiance much like
Britain's during the German blitz: Blown-up restaurants
were rebuilt, security guards were posted outside
numerous businesses, and customers returned to fill
previously empty malls, cafes, and stores. The
government, at the same time, efficiently restored
budgetary discipline and the shekel's stability, and
recently began seeing the first buds of economic
recovery.

The public's behavior reflected a consensus,
highlighted by an unexpectedly high functioning unity
government, that the current war is not Israel's fault;
that it is about Israel's very existence; and that it
must be won, even if only after a protracted and costly
struggle.

The new Israeli sense of strategic clarity and national
resolve were aided by a growing recognition in the
West, inspired by US President George W. Bush, that
the root of Middle East instability is not the
Arab-Israeli conflict, but the region's lack of freedom.

Symbolically, the Netanya terror attack that heralded
the change in Israelis' attitude toward the current war
was carried out just when Jews worldwide were
celebrating their ancestors' defeat of despotism and
gospel of freedom.

As it turned out, the average Israeli was convinced that
this war is not over whether the border will pass to the
east or west of this or that hill, but about the two things
that even peace-crusading author Amos Oz once said
he is prepared to die for: freedom and life. In the
current situation, the life at stake is Israel's and the
freedom, its neighbors'. The enemy's failure to
understand Pessah's deep symbolism when it chose
to kill elderly Jews during a seder ceremony was not
exceptional. In staging two of its subsequent attacks
near mounts Meron and Scopus, it once again
reminded Israelis of what this war is really about.

Mount Scopus is where early Zionists came to build
an intellectual center for the benefit of the entire
Middle East. No place better symbolizes the peaceful
intentions with which the Jews returned to their
ancestral land. Mount Meron is where second-century
sage Rabbi Shimon bar-Yohai escaped Rome's
wrath, as it sought to eradicate the Jewish faith in
general, and kill him in particular. Some two millennia
later, with Rome long in history's dustbin, the faith and
spirit for which bar-Yohai fought remain intact, indeed
vibrant, both within and beyond Israel.
Considering this, as well as prospects for imminent
American action to promote freedom in the Middle
East, Israelis can cautiously hope that 5762 will be
remembered as a turning point in their struggle with
Middle Eastern despotism.
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   3.   ROSH HASHANAH 5763: HOPE FROM ISRAEL

By Debbie Berman  September 6, 2002

It has been a difficult year in Israel. Many here, as in the
United States, have been personally affected by terrorism
to a degree never before experienced. And yet here we
find ourselves on the eve of another new year, regrouping
our strengths, healing our wounds and dusting off one of
the most well guarded, tried and true secret Israeli
weapons: hope.

Celebrations of Rosh Hashanah will take many different
forms in Israel this year, ranging from synagogue prayer
services, to lavish family feasts with traditional holiday
delicacies, to camping out at alternative music festivals. But
the thoughts and contemplative inner eye of Israelis will
focus on common themes during this Rosh Hashanah.

Following are some of the things Israelis are thinking about
during these days of spiritual reckoning: visions of the
coming year that reverberate in our hearts. Despite our
collective pain, we have not forgotten how to envision
better times.

We hope for a year of safety, when we can re-claim our
buses, shopping centers and cafes without fear of
bombers, bullets, and bombs - when our children can travel
to school safely, when we can walk freely in our city
streets.

We hope for a year of strength for security personnel - for
the IDF soldiers, police and border police forces, security
guards, and rescue workers who give their all to protect us
from the forces of evil that seek to harm us.

We hope for a year of renewed economic growth and
stability based on Israeli products, Israeli achievements
and Israeli innovations, reduced unemployment and
restored pride of the nation's working class.

We hope for a year of honest dialogue among diverse
Israeli factions, for secular and religious, right and left to
come together and seek common ground upon which our
shared future may be built.

We hope for a year of renewed tourism, where old friends
and supporters of Israel will re-discover the wonder and
beauty of an Israeli holiday, and take back the message
that life, leisure and culture are alive and thriving here in
this old-new land.

We hope for a year of honest international media coverage
of Israel where the facts about daily events here are
reported accurately, enabling empathy for our position as
continued targets for terrorist attacks, defending ourselves
and our families.

We hope for a year of successful, smooth absorption of
new immigrants to Israel, who have arrived from North
America, Argentina, the former Soviet Union, Ethiopia,
France and Yemen. In a year when international
anti-Semitism was on the rise, Israel proved that it was still
the Jewish homeland, offering all Jews the chance to build a
new life here.

We hope for a year of wise leadership, where elected
officials rise above petty political feuds and direct the
nation through this critical period, and serve us in a real
Government of National Unity- inspiring cooperation of the
splintered groups among us.

And finally we hope for a year of peace - for Israel, her
neighbors, and all citizens of the world. May we never
again know the atrocities that this year has forced upon us.
May this be the year which ushers in a new era of
cooperation among individuals and peoples, where good
triumphs over evil and tranquility reigns in our region.

It can't hurt to hope.
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   4.   9/11 WAS AN ACT OF WAR

WASHINGTON--Whenever I hear Sept. 11 referred to as
just a tragedy, I wince. The San Francisco Earthquake
was a tragedy. The Johnstown Flood was a tragedy.
Hurricane Andrew was a tragedy. A tragedy is an act
of God. Sept. 11 was no act of God.

It was an act of man. An act of war.

Yes, Sept. 11 occasioned many tragedies--many terrible
deaths, many terrible injuries, many terrible sorrows.
These tragedies elicit a deep compassion and a shared
grief. Which is why this coming Sept. 11 will be a day
of compassion and grief; of sorrow and remembrance;
of celebration, too, of the courage and sacrifice of
the heroes of that day.

But we would pay such homage had the World Trade
Center and the Pentagon collapsed in an earthquake.
They did not. And because they did not, more is
required than mere homage and respect. Not just
sorrow, but renewed anger. Not just consolation, but
renewed determination. And not, God help us, ``closure,''
that clarion call to passivity and resignation, but
open-ended action against those who perpetrated
Sept. 11 and those who would perpetrate the
next Sept. 11.

The temptation on any anniversary is just to look back.
But on Dec. 7, 1942, the country did not just look
back on the sunken Arizona. It looked forward to
the destruction of Japan.

Mourning alone cannot fully honor the murdered.
Justice must be done as well. The dead of last Sept. 11
cannot be adequately honored unless we remember not
just that they died, but at whose hands they died.
It means remembering that Sept. 11 was a declaration
of war, a war we did not seek but one we cannot avoid.

We would like to avoid it. We are tempted to see the
war on terrorism as, variously and alternately, won,
unwinnable, tangled, indecisive, self-defeating--anything
that takes away its immediacy and its urgency.

It is a healthy instinct in the American soul. Despite
the current braying of Europeans and Arabs, Americans
are quite averse to war. We have a history of doing
what we can to avoid it.

It took three years for the United States to enter
World War I. It took a surprise attack to get us into
World War II. As for the Cold War, we refused even to
face its reality until it had been going on for two
years. And after getting burned in Korea and Vietnam,
America reverted to form. If Saddam had not invaded
Kuwait in 1990 and if we had not been dragged kicking
and screaming into Kosovo, we would now be celebrating
the Thirty Years' Peace.

It stands to reason. A continental nation protected
by vast oceans and friendly neighbors has no great
desire to go abroad in search of monsters. This is
why when Osama bin Laden and radical Islam declared
war on the United States in the 1990s, we ignored it.
We ignored the declaration as we ignored the
provocations--the first attack on the World Trade
Center, the embassy bombings in Africa, the attack
on the USS Cole.

After each outrage, a grim president would declare
himself aggrieved and pledge not to rest until those
responsible were brought to justice. A few FBI agents
would then be dispatched to Yemen or some such, a
few cruise missiles would land in some desert,
and soon he, and we, would return to our repose.

Sept. 11 was different. Yet so deep were these pacific
habits of thought that in the first hours high
administration officials reverted to the old language
of crime, pledging to bring the killers to justice.
It soon became clear, however, that the challenge of
radical Islam was a matter not of law enforcement but
of war. President Bush's address to the Congress nine
days later ratified that truth. This time we would
not just ``bring our enemies to justice.'' We would
``bring justice to our enemies.'' This was war.
We would engage it.

This proposition was too obvious for anyone serious
to protest. No one serious did. The war in Afghanistan
enjoyed breathtakingly broad national support.

Yet here we are a year later, and things are different.
It doesn't feel like war. The very suddenness and
relative painlessness of the victory in Afghanistan,
coupled with the fact that at home no second shoe
dropped, has helped return us to a state of
suspension, of confusion.

We feel the uncertainty. But our enemies do not.

Which is why the challenge of this Sept. 11 is to
remember the feeling of last Sept. 11.

Not just the pain, but the danger. It endures. And
so it will until we have destroyed those who did the
deed, those who support them and those who would
emulate them.
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   5.   QUOTES TO NOTE

   "Think of all the countries that said,
   'Well, we don't have enough evidence.'
   'Mein Kampf' had been written. Hitler had
    indicated what he intended to do. 'Maybe he
    won't attack us.' Well, there are millions dead
    because of the miscalculations."

US Sec. of Defense Donald Rumsfeld discussing Iraq
in an interview with Fox News:
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   6.    HIGHLIGHT ARTICLES ON OUR SITE

SAVE THE TEMPLE MOUNT
The Temple Mount in Jerusalem -- holiest spot on
Earth for Jews and ranking up there in sanctity also
for Christians and Muslims -- may soon come
partly crashing down.
http://christianactionforisrael.org/isreport/sept02/save.html

LESSONS FROM THE MUNICH MASSACRE   The massacre at
the Olympic games opened a new chapter in the war
on terrorism. Five of the Black Septembrists were
killed during the firefight and three were captured,
but they were only the foot-soldiers of terror.
Israel's then prime minister, Golda Meir, was
resolved to go after the architects of the Munich
massacre. This led to the much-debated policy of
targeted assassinations.
http://christianactionforisrael.org/isreport/sept02/munich.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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