Rambling ...

I'm an Irish Girl, A Dubliner, with the 'Gift of the Gab' ... I like to talk & to tell you things. In Celtic times news, views and comment were carried from place to place by wandering Seanachaí ~ Storytellers ~ who relied on their host's hospitality and appreciation. I will need that from you too, as I venture to share Politics, Poetry, Laughter, Love, Life & everything in-between ... from Bog to Blog!!


Wednesday, September 26, 2012

A Haunted Hallelujah!!




Today, was Yom Ha'Kippurim,  a day spent in Shul and away from the wider world of the goyim,  (and any world news or events!)   And tomorrow is in Rembrance of the Yom Kippur War Dead of 1973, and I shall definitely want to comment on that.  So,  it seems somehow appropriate to post this tonight ~ I have wanted to acknowledge, or at least mention since last Shabbat that it was musician, poet, author, auteur & Jew, Leonard Cohen's birthday then.  He turned 78.


And Aryeh Leib Ha'Cohen is Jew of some level of Observance at least.  Tainted perhaps by his fame & notriety.  Nevertheless,  he is a Jew.


In Tel Aviv, Israel, on 24th September, 2009 three days after Cohen's 75th birthday, at Ramat Gan Stadium,  Cohen's first performance in Israel since 1980, sold out in less than 24 hours.  It was announced that the proceeds from the sale of the 47,000 tickets would go into a charitable fund in partnership with Amnesty International and would be used by Israeli 'Peace' groups for projects providing health services to children and families of those killed in the 'conflict'.  Not a Strategy I would endorse at all.   However,  Amnesty International withdrew from any involvement with the concert and its proceeds and boycotted Cohen.  Amnesty International later stated that its withdrawal was not due to such boycott but The palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) led the call for the boycott, claiming that Cohen was "intent on whitewashing Israel's colonial apartheid regime by performing in Israel."    WTG Sir!!!!!

On 24th September at the Ramat Gan concert,  as a result of this furore, Cohen was highly emotional about the Israeli  organisation 'Bereaved Families for Peace'.     Again, not what I would endorse personally, but he demonstrates Ahavat Yisrael for sure.  He mentioned the organization twice,  saying "It was a while ago that I first heard of the work of the 'Bereaved Parents for Peace'. That there was this coalition of palestinian and Israeli families who had lost so much in the conflict and whose depth of suffering had compelled them to reach across the border into the houses of the enemy.  Into the houses of those, to locate them who had suffered as much as they had, and then to stand with them in aching confraternity, a witness to an understanding that is beyond peace and that is beyond confrontation. So, this is not about forgiving and forgetting, this is not about laying down one's arms in a time of war, this is not even about peace, although, G*d willing, it could be a beginning. This is about a response to human grief.  A radical, unique and holy, holy, holy response to human suffering.  Baruch Ha'Shem, thank G*d, I bow my head in respect to the nobility of this enterprise."    


At the end of the show he issued the crowd a Bracha,  the 'Birkat Kohanim'  in fact  ......  although 'iffy' to do at his concert.   He is supposedly Shomer Shabbos though,  and definitely does not play on Yom Kippur!   And in fact his maternal grandfather is the noted Talmudic scholar, Rabbi Solomon Klonitsky-Kline of Lithuanian Jewish ancestry.   His paternal grandfather, whose family had emigrated from Poland, was Lyon Cohen, founding president of the Canadian Jewish Congress.   Not only does he remember his 'roots' and foundation, but his writings (aside from the hippy dippy content in the 60's & 70's)  reflect his Judaism,  if not his traditional Jewishness.   He has written extraordinary poetry, fiction and lyrics ~ he wrote a musical favourite of mine, the now infamous 'Halleluiah', although I admit to Jeff Buckley's version blowing his right out of the water.  Retired and Revamped his career after a management rip off.  I have respect for Leonard Cohen and his work right accross the spectrum.   Yom Huledat Same'ach!!!!!

I could extend this blog muchly ..... but I'm tired.  So it's just a comment in passing.   Ships in the night, Social impact of his Songs notwithstanding!

Sometimes I still waken to the sultry strains of 'Suzanne' on Sunday mornings in the Galus, laziness suppressing a smile  as I stretch into  the luzury of a leisurely 'lie in' or sip Lemon tea on a Sunny Sunday.   It 's an ipod Staple.  And it was written & recorded right at the start of his career ... in 1967.  Timeless.  Like the Man himself!


"If it be your will
That I speak no more
And my voice be still
As it was before
I will speak no more
I shall abide until
I am spoken for
If it be your will.


If it be your will
That a voice be true
From this broken hill
I will sing to you
From this broken hill
All your praises they shall ring
If it be your will
To let me sing ..... "


Tuesday, September 25, 2012

An Awesome Atonement .... it's Yom Ha' Kippurim!!!




 Unusually, This is NOT my work ... it is a Yom Kippur Posting I 'stole' from Arutz Sheva, because I thought it was excellent ..... inspirational and instructive!  And I don't know how many of you would have seen it otherwise.  It says all I want to say & much more, but I shall add an introduction!!!!

Today, Erev Yom Ha' Kippurim is phenomonally busy for me ... from Kapporos before Shaccarit, two meals and then a meal for after the fast & preparation for Shabbos on Friday.  Special Day at Shaccarit too with Yahrtzeit tefillos & brachot for my parents.  I baked some Honey Cake and drank Vodka!!  And Apologies I needed to extend personally and by mail.  But, mostly that is why I wanted to post here today because I want to say that I know there are probably many things I've said in my blog, people I may have hurt, and things I could have worded differently. If you feel that I have wronged you in any way with my writing, I ask sincerely for your forgiveness.  It does not mean that I back away from where I stated what is Emes or Truth per Torah.  I do not .... but if I have inadvertently hurt you because of my clumsiness in compiling this blog,  then I want to know about it so that I can take responsibility for it and offer you the deep, sincere and personal apology that you deserve.  I care, not just with the motivation of Yom Kippur .... so message me, please.


 
The most Solemn, Special day of the year begins Tuesday evening at Sundown. A time to daven, to think about who we are and where we are going. Chatima Tova!!

"Since Rosh Hashannah, many of Israel's Egged buses have had the computerized signs above the driver alternating between the vehicles' destination and the words "Chatima Tova" ~ "be sealed for a good year".

Israel radio closes its broadcasts preceding the Yom Kippur fast with the same words, said by one announcer to another and to all of Israel.  That is one of the special things about Israel. With all its differences and tensions between the secular and religious, the State of Israel is essentially closed down on Yom Kippur, with no public transportation or electronic broadcasts, and practically no open stores or services. The trains stop at 11, buses several hours later, and the IDF shuts off Palestinian Arab entrances to Jewish areas. Everyone tells everyone "chatima tova" as the phone lines jam. Even the airspace is closed.

This day, highest of the High Holidays ~ Yom Kippur ~ is to begin on Tuesday night, and Jews around the world will fast for 25 hours on the solemn day that ends the Ten Days of Penitence.  Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is a Divinely-designated day that the Torah explains “will atone for you [plural] to purify you from all your sins before G-d.” Such atonement, however, is not automatic and must be accompanied by teshuvah, a serious process that must include introspection, admission of sins, remorse, and a commitment not to repeat them.

One must also appease and ask forgiveness from those he has harmed or insulted over the year. One must also forgive those who are sorry for hurting us. To err is human and can be forgiven, the refusal to forgive, however, is not forgivable.  Many people visit the graves of their parents on the days before Yom Kippur, in preparation for the Yizkor service memorializing lost parents which is said during the fast. The prayers for Yom Kippur, which begin with the Kol Nidre prayer said at night, then take up most of the day, are replete with the various concepts of t'shuvah, as well as acknowledgement of G-d’s goodness in affording mortals this opportunity to exonerate and improve themselves. One of the dramatic prayers is a review of the High Priest's preparations and yearly entering the Holy of Holies in the Temple, during which the each member of the congregation prostrates himself before G-d.  There is also a Piyyut, a liturgical poem, recalling the ten martyrs killed by the Romans, one of whom was Rabbi Akiva.

The fast begins just before sundown on Tuesday and ends some 25 hours later, after the special Ne’ilah (locking, signifying that the gates of heaven are to be locked at the end of the fast)  prayer,  said standing.   At the prayer's end, the S'hma Yisrael ~ Hear O Israel Ha'Shem is our G-d, Ha'Shem is One ~ is recited aloud by the entire congregation, followed by another two verses, including sevenfold loud repetition of the words "G-d is Ha'Shem".  The end of the fast is signalled by a dramatic, lone shofar-blast and the immediate singing of "Next year in rebuilt Jerusalem". In many Israeli synagogues, this is a signal for joyous dancing as the fast's end signals a lightening of spirits.

In addition to eating and drinking, also forbidden on this day are wearing leather shoes, washing up, make-up and perfumes, and marital relations.    The prohibitions notwithstanding, the day is also onsidered a festive day, in that we celebrate G-d’s beneficence in going against natural law and allowing us to revoke and nullify our misdeeds. It is also a “day of friendship and love," according to the prayer liturgy.

The day of the eve of Yom Kippur, the 9th of the Jewish month of Tishrei, is also considered a special day, and we are required to eat and drink even more than we normally do. "Whoever eats and drinks on the 9th,” the Talmud states enigmatically, “is as [meritorious as] if he had fasted on both the 9th and the 10th." The custom of Kaparot is done on the 9th.  Bicycling on main roads and city streets has become a popular pastime on the holy day, to the dismay of many, as there is no motor-vehicle traffic to be seen.  



Even more prevalent on this day are prayer services. Organizations make arrangements for secular-friendly prayer services around the country, which have become extremely popular and well-attended in recent years. The PR Ministry has arranged for tens of thousands of Yom Kippur prayer books, called Machzorim, to be given free to those attending its scores of special services  for the secular. The Ayelet Hashachar organization has arranged scores of services on kibbutzim that are user-friendly to the secular. Chabad is doing the same in hundreds of spots throughout Israel.

Israelis who are old enough to remember Yom Kippur 1973, recall how people were shocked to see cars driving down the streets in the early afternoon. They were rounding up soldiers as the Yom Kippur War had broken out during the day ~ almost all of the soldiers, religious and secular, were at their local synagogues and army cars went from synagogue to synagogue with lists, while sirens wailed shortly afterwards in Jerusalem and worshipers raced to shelters.  Memorial services for the war's fallen soldiers will be held on Thursday, BeZerat Ha'Shem.

One of the most dramatic prayers in the Ashkenazi Machzor on Rosh Hashannah and Yom Kippur is Unetane Tokef, written by Rabbi Amnon of Mayence in the Middle Ages, which includes the words .... "You, the Almighty, recall everything we have forgotten, and the book You open has our lives before You...the angels tremble and say 'Today is the Day of Judgment'.. Who will live and who will die..who by water and who by fire..."


May we and all Israel be inscribed for a happy, healthy, prosperous & peaceful New Year.  G'mar Chatima Tova!!!

The Original Arutz Sheva Posting is here ..... HERE!!

Monday, September 24, 2012

Yahrzeit Days ....




During the week just past ~ 18th and 22nd of September, (2nd & 6th of Tishrei) respectively,  fell both of my Parents' Yahrzeits. (OBM)  They passed on within the same week ~ although not in the same year.  I lit a yahrzeit candle for both in accordance with Jewish tradition ~ Minhag & Mitzvah.  May their Neshamot receive an Aliyah.  Both were appropriately remembered on the respective day.  It was Rosh Ha'Shanah for my Father's yahrzeit and Shabbos for my Mom's, and the Jewish Day of Davening for Mosiach yesterday, so posting wasn't possible as I have done in previous years per my duty of Zachor.  So I am posting this in remembrance today in lieu.  Their gravesite was visited, although I was not in a postion to personally do this.  I will however pledge to make a Siyum for next year & visit their graves personally for the yahrzeits.  And Yizkor shall be recited this coming Yom Kippur.

It is also Minhag to ask for and receive lekach (sweet honey cake ~ signifying a sweet year) from my Shul Gabbai erev Yom Kippur, so that if it has been decreed, G-d forbid, that during the year I should need to resort to a handout from others, the decree should be satisfied with this asking for food.  The Lubavitcher Rebbe adds a deeper insight to this "asking for lekach" on the eve of Yom Kippur  ~  it instills in us the recognition that all of the sustenance that we receive throughout the year, including that which we supposedly "earn" by our own powers and endeavors, is in truth a gift from Ha'Shem, who has inscribed my name in His book of Sustenance for the coming year  .... "He who nourishes the entire world with in His goodness, with grace, with benevolence and with compassion."   And in memory of my Father I shall pass around  a vodka toast & a L'Chaim ....  I shall bring both Honey Cake & Vodka for a tikkun in memory and honour of my parents following Shaccarit on erev Yom Kippur,  Be'Zerat Ha'Shem.


O G*d, guard me for I have taken refuge in You.
You should say to Ha'Shem "You are my Master; my good is not incumbent upon You.
For the holy ones who are in the earth, and the mighty ones in whom is all my delight.
May the sorrows of those who hasten after another deity increase;
I will not pour their libations of blood, nor will I take their names upon my lips.
Ha'Shem is my allotted portion and my cup;
You guide my destiny.
Portions have fallen to me in pleasant places; even the inheritance pleases me."



I will bless Ha'Shem, Who counseled me; even at night my conscience instructs me.
I have placed Ha'shem before me constantly; because He is at my right hand, I will not falter.
Therefore, my heart rejoiced, and my soul was glad; even my flesh shall dwell in safety.
For You shall not forsake my soul to the grave; You shall not allow Your pious one to see the pit.
You shall let me know the way of life, the fullness of joys in Your presence. 

There is pleasantness in Your right hand forever.



Sunday, September 23, 2012

Geluah vs. Galut!!

This is an AMAZING Video .....  a perfect follow up to today's earlier posting.

Geulah, meaning redemption or deliverance, is what we celebrate on Pesach .... Usually!  On the last days of Pesach, we especially mark the Redemption of Israel from the Egyptian armies at the Red Sea.

Literally Gaal means to cover or protect (See Iyov 3:4), which is what Ha'Shem provides for his people,  Am Yisrael.   Galut,  Exile,  the opposite of Geulah, comes from the root meaning to uncover.  Galut is the uncovering, or denuding, of the land of Israel of its inhabitants.  In direct oppostion to "He who dwells in the covert of the Most High will lodge in the shadow of the Almighty ..... With His wing He will cover you, and under His wings you will take refuge" ~ Tehilla 91.1 &4 ~ But, Galus does not leave Yisrael without the enitre protection of Ha'Shem.  Geulah refers to liberation both from alien masters and from strange gds. A Geulah Shleimah, complete redemption,  which is what Moshiach shall provide (Talmud Berachot 13a).


Today, we as Klal Yisroel called for Redemption and for Moshiach.  Yearning for Mashaich and Geulah is of such importance that according to the Talmud (Shabbat 31a), one of the very first questions that a Neshama is asked when facing the Heavenly Court is ....  "Did you yearn for the Geulah?"    The Midrash (Yalkut Shimoni, Tehillim 736) says that "if the Jewish people have no merit other than their yearning for the Geula haShaleima—they are worthy of being redeemed for that alone!"


Time & Tefillos in Tandem!!



  
Please Tell ALL YOUR JEWISH FRIENDS/FAMILY About This .....

For the first time in Jewish History, on Sunday September 23rd, 2012 (Tishrei 7, 5773), three days before Yom Kippur,  and  AT THE SAME INSTANT ALL OVER THE WORLD (Based on Israel Time 17:00, New York 11:00, Los Angeles 8:00, London 16:00, Paris 17:00, Sydney 1:00 Sept 24)

The entire Jewish People are invited to be united through an intense Worldwide Davening to demand Peace in Israel and in the world, through the Redemption announced in our tradition, with the coming of Mashiach.   JUST TO BE CLEAR HERE ... MOSHIACH IS NOT j-sus ~ js-us is an IDOL!!!!


And NON JEWS are NOT invited!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

Ignorant IDOLATORS DO NOT ADD TO OUR DAVENING, THEY DIMINISH IT. If you are not a JEW, don't do it!   You CANNOT CONNECT to our Communal Neshama .... it is ONE with each other & with Ha'Shem!


With blessings of Rabbonim from all over the world Ashkenazim, Sephardim, Chassidim (in France Chief Rabbi Yossef Haim Sitruk,  Rabbi David Pinto... Miami ~ Rabbis Lipskar, Oziel, Galamidi, Koskas...Also Rabbi Lazer Brody).  And in Israel (Rabbi Kaniewsky, Rabbi Karelitz).

This is such an important occasion.  Set your Alarm ..... Please dont let it Slip by!   It is the first time since the Diaspora that the nation of Israel will Daven at the same time for Moshiach.  The first step to the end of Spiritual Diaspora.   Every single JEW needs to participate.  The communal Neshamot of the Nation of Yisrael,  B'nei Yisrael,  children of Ya'acov have great power,  Earth Shattering power in the ears of Ha'Shem,  the likes of which has not been felt on earth in 3,000 years, until today, B"H!!    Not Since Sinai !!!!!  Just think about how much power we will have when we are joined with thousands & thousands of Jews (there are 13.5 millions of us in the world) all over the world, all at the same time,  during aseret y'mei teshuva in between Rosh Ha'Shana and Yom Kippur!

We will to tell Ha'Shem that we are tired of galus, and that we NEED Mashiach THIS YEAR.   NOW!!!!   Halacha forbids conjecture about when Moshiach will come.  But, Halacha also demands that we prepare ourselves for His immediate arrival.  We must all do t'shuva before Yom Kippur,  so there's no time like today.  The Gemara (tractate Sanhedrin 97b) says that the Klal Israel (aka the Jewish People) will be redeemed as soon as they make t'shuva, in other words, return to Hashem and the ways of His Torah.   T'shuva, Tefillos & Tzedaka is the route to Moshiach.  


Please take this seriously.  YOU could be the impetus for the coming of Moshiach.

What to do ..... Everyone is invited to give some tsedaka (one Dollar, Euro or Shekel) before saying the following.  Then, At the same instant, everyone will start the short prayer that can be said in any language alone, with family or in a Synagogue .....

"Master of the Universe,  We, the children of Israel, ask you to send Mashiach to redeem us, now and with mercy, from exile and all suffering, to reveal your Name in the world and to bring peace."



תפילת עברית
" ריבונו של עולם,
אנו בני ישראל מבקשים שמשיח צדקנו יגאל אותנו עכשיו מהגלות ברחמים, לשים סוף לכל סבל, לגלות את שמך ולהביא שלום לעולם."


The Official Website for this Wonderous Day of Davening is ......  http://www.alljewsasone.com/

G'mar Chatimah Tova le Kulam!!!!


Friday, September 21, 2012

Awesome!!!!



I adore the Maccabeats ..... that much is entirely obvious, methinks!

Yeshiva University's "Spontaenous Youtube Sensation".   This track and all Maccabeats music is recorded  'A Capella'.   Millions have heard and seen their catchy creations online. The result has been dozens of feature stories in print, dozens of stories broadcast on local radio and TV, and even a live performance on national television, and a dinner at the White House.  A cappella is a long tradition at universities. It reflects a love of music, shared fun and the ability to create and concoct harmonies. And the Maccabeats LOVE what they do ..... Awesome.  So appropriate in these Days of Awe!


We are now in what is known in Judaism as the 'Days of Awe' .... the ten day period starting with Rosh Ha'Shanah and ending with Yom Kippur are commonly known as the Days of Awe ~ Yamim Noraim. This is a time for serious introspection, a time to consider the Avoierot of the previous year and turn back to Ha'shem before Yom Kippur.  A process known as T'shuva.   Ha'Shem has "books" that he writes our names in, decreeing & writing down who will live and who will die, who will have a good life and who will have a bad life, for the next year. These books are written in on Rosh Ha'Shanah, but our actions during the Days of Awe can alter this decree.  The actions that change the decree are threefold ~ teshuvah, tefilah and tzedakah. These books are opened on Rosh Ha'Shanah & sealed on Yom Kippur and so become our final decree & destiny for the coming year.  


G'mar Chatimah Tovah!! ...... May you be inscribed/Sealed for a good year!

This track is a parody of "Good Life" by OneRepublic.

"Woke up and realized yesterday
Think it's a bummer end of the summer
Kinda nervous that we're almost there
At the days of awe

Prayers in a language that I don't know
Standing for hours and hours more
I wish that someone would please tell me-e-e-e
What it is we're praying for

Oh put me in the book of good life
I just wanna live the good life
This could really be a good life, good life

Say oh, we've got feelings that we should fight
Make sure that we're choosing right
Gotta earn my own place in
The book of good life

Time for reflection on the past year
Time to figure out what we're doing here
Replace the guilt with inspiration
And everything is clear

Life in the present, the here and now
Easier than regret and planning out
Living in the moment, lasts for a moment
Got my future to think about

When you're sitting there in shul
Wishing it was over
You gotta take a beat
And let it all sink in

Oh put me in the book of good life
I just wanna live the good life
This could really be a good life, good life

Say oh, we've got feelings that we should fight
Make sure that we're choosing right
Gotta earn my own place in
The book of good life

Hopefully
This year will bring us happiness and peace
Hopefully
Sensitivity to others will increase
Hopefully
We'll open our eyes and think more consciously
Cuz Hopefully
We'll go from where we are to where we want to be

Oh put me in the book of good life
I just wanna live the good life
This could really be a good life, good life

Say oh, we've got feelings that we should fight
Make sure that we're choosing right
Gotta earn my own place in
The book of good life

Oh yeah
Book of Good life
Ooh

Listen
Time for reflection on the past year
Time to figure out what we're doing here
Replace the guilt with inspiration
And everything is clear

Life in the present seems more fun
Easier than regret, what's done is done
Living in the moment, lasts for a moment
Shana Tova to everyone".


Lyrics by Immanuel Shalev and David Block.   The Maccabeat's site is ....
http://www.maccabeats.com/



Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Avinu Malkeinu ....




This is soooo hauntingly beautiful.    
And so relevant for Rosh HaShanah  ....  G'mar  Chatimah Tovah!


Avinu malkeinu sh'ma kolenu
Avinu malkeinu chatanu l'faneycha
Avinu malkeinu chamol aleynu
Ve'al olaleynu vetapeinu

Avinu malkeinu
Kaleh dever
vecherev vera'av mealeynu
Avinu malkeinu
kaleh chol tsar
Umastin mealeynu

Avinu malkeinu
Avinu malkeinu
Kat'veinu besefer chayim tovim
Avinu malkeinu chadesh aleynu
Chadesh aleynu shanah tovah

Sh'ma kolenu
Sh'ma kolenu
Sh'ma kolenu

Avinu malkeinu

Avinu malkeinu
Chadesh aleynu shanah tovah

Avinu malkeinu
Sh'ma kolenu
Sh'ma kolenu
Sh'ma kolenu
Sh'ma kolenu



Please Play!


Friday, September 14, 2012

L'Shanah Tovah!!!

The New Year is here. Rosh Hashanah ...... Shana tovah u'metukah.  And Shabbat Shalom!!
Mitzvah Gedolah Le'hiyot Besimcha Tamid ~Rabbi Nachmann of Breslaw.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Muslim Movie Massacre!!




AS THE DAY PROGRESSED YESTERDAY NEWS EMERGED THAT SAM BACILE, WAS NOT A REAL NAME AND THAT THIS MAN WAS NEITHER AN ISRAELI NOR A JEW.  I HAVE DECIDED TO ADD THIS IMPORTANT ADDENDUM RATHER THAN AMEND THE ORIGINAL BLOG.  THIS MAN IS AN AMERICAN AND XTIAN AND IT SEEMS THE INTENTION WAS TO SMEAR JEWS WITH BEING THE CAUSE OF THE DEATHS OF THE AMERICANS IN BENGHAZI.  HIDEOUS TO THE CORE AS WERE THE DEATHS OF AMBASSADOR STEVENS ET AL.  NOT SURPRISED ..... SEE PARAGRAPH ONE COMMENTS PENNED YESTERDAY.  THE TRIGGER FOR THE ATTACK HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS BAD B MOVIE, BUT RATHER WAS SPURRED BY 9/11.   The points in the Original Blog remain valid!


US Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed in Libya  on Tuesday night, September 11th,  in an attack by marauding muslims on the US Consulate in Benghazi.  The protesters said they were angry over a film they said ridiculed the founder of Islam,  the Prophet mohammed.   The film was produced by an Israeli-American,  Sam Bacile,  with expatriate members of Egypt's xtian minority who are residents in the United States. (I'm just waiting on Jews & Israel to be blamed for this in some way .... is Bacile a Jew??)   This murderous muslim mob set fire to the building in Benghazi during the attack and  Rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) were fired at the consulate too.   Ambassador Stevens and a group of embassy employees went to the consulate to try to evacuate staff still there as the building came under attack by the mob firing machine guns and rocket propelled grenades issued from a nearby farm.  Cars were attacked with RPG's as well.  And the Ambassador (no word on the other 3 Americans) was raped & sodomised in the street .... yay islam, huh???



The Libyan attack came in the wake of a protest in which demonstrators waving black banners stormed the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, tore down the American flag and torched it.  Protesters tore down the American flag and then hung a flag with the slogan “there is no gd but Allah”  ~ the flag of Jihad ~ in its place.   Witnesses said that Egyptian police at the scene did litttle to stop the rioters' advance to the Embassy walls, which are usually cordoned off.   At least 2,000 people stood at the foot of the walls surrounding the embassy as about 20 of the rioters scaled the walls.  Rioters also drew anti-American graffiti on the wall and demanded that the United States end its presence in Egypt.   U.S. Marines prevented the rioters from entering the Embassy compound and eventually, the army arrived to prevent the mob from entering the embassy as took place at the Israeli Embassy in Cairo last year.    Both attacks occurred on the eleventh anniversary of September 11th, 2001, when the landscape of NYC was jettisoned by islamists. 



 
Just prior to these attacks, the U.S. released an apologetic appeasing statement saying ....  "The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims ~ as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions. Today, the 11th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, Americans are honoring our patriots and those who serve our nation as the fitting response to the enemies of democracy. Respect for religious beliefs is a cornerstone of American democracy. We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others."

Why the Apparent Apology and such Appeasement?    It did nothing to head off this murderous muslim mob, nor did it prevent the murder of four innocent Americans last nite. In addition to Stevens,  Foreign Service officer Sean Smith, a husband and father of two who had previously served in Iraq, South Africa, Canada and the Hague, was also killed. Two other US personnel killed in Libya were not yet being identified publicly pending notification of their next of kin, Clinton said today.  They were Marines.
 
The two-hour controversial film in dispute, entitled “Innocence of Muslims depicts the prophet mohammed sleeping with women,  and as a feckless philanderer who approved of child sexual abuse,  talking about killing children and referring to a donkey as “the first Muslim animal”  apparently.    An English-language 13-minute trailer on YouTube shows an amateur cast performing a wooden dialogue of insults disguised as revelations about muhammad, whose obedient followers are presented as a cadre of goons.   This film seems just sad,  a lame attempt at satire and totally ineffective, but it is not too far from Fact.  Mohammed WAS a paedophile,  Allah is an IDOL and islam IS Blasphemous.  Where is the lie here??   It is truth and it needs to be stated  .....  long & loud!!  




 Bacile’s film was dubbed into Egyptian Arabic by someone he doesn’t know, but he speaks enough Arabic to confirm that the translation is accurate, and was added to YouTube earlier this week.    Bacile spoke from an undisclosed location this morning,  remaining defiant and calling Islam a “cancer.”    Theo Van Gogh was a Dutch filmmaker killed by a muslim in 2004 after making a film that was perceived as insulting to Islam.  They have a history of such appalling behaviour ......  A Danish Cartoonist was similarly threatened two years ago.  Ronald Reagan, when he was US President knew how to handle the Lybian islamists in 1986 after a terrorist attack on a disco in Germany by islamic terror.  He did not issue an appeasing statement, He bombed Tripoli & Benghazi.   This is the approach needed with such terror, not a nicey nicey apology in other words.    Libyan Deputy Prime Minister Mustafa Abu Shagur  has suggested it is America's own fault for not withdrawing it's staff or increasing security  ~ "They are to blame simply for not withdrawing their personnel from the premises"  he said  ..... huh?????

 I think we should spread this movie around and make it viral,  insulting islam some more in these inane islamists view.  It is perfectly acceptable for them to demean Jews though all over the internet ~ only islamist feelings count, huh??? 



Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Eleven Years ..... it's That Day in September!!



Today, 11th September 2012,  we mark Eleven years since That September day in 2001 when the world changed.  It's important to Remember and it is important to understand that hatred of the West is still widespread throughout the Muslim world. It was with Israel first, from it's very inception as a state in modern times,  then it spread it's wings to the world on this now infamous day. This is true of our unique understanding that  G*d is One.  It is is true of much of Israeli Innovation ~ the cellphone, the laptop, the flash drive, medical devices and medicines ~  and this is true of terrorism too with which Israel lives daily ..... not just on a singular day or date.   

America is today rightfully remembering That September 11th when 3,047 souls,  including 343 Firefighters, were brutally murdered by "Inspired" islamic terrorists. I'm remembering & Honouring the Fallen, & the Rescue Responders too,  as I do annually on this date.  But the world should also remember that every night,  the people of Southern Israel are terrorized anew by rocket fire from Gaza,  paid for and encouraged by those same islamists who daily make speeches about exterminating Jews,  and who danced in the streets of Gaza & Brooklyn on That September day itself, rejoicing America's dead.


In the decade since this attrocity, hundreds of thousands have been killed by Islamic terrorists.  Eretz Yisrael is constantly under attack, the residents of Sderot and other places in Israel matter too. This is the level of terror those in Israel live with every day ...... Yet, what has been done to stop Islamic terrorism?   The World is about to Award them Statehood on the Soil of Eretz Yisrael. A Reward??   Wake Up World!!

I am reposting my previous thoughts, written much nearer in time and thought to that September 11th, 2001.  The day the world changed for me and my conciousness leapt forward.  The true nature of islam indellibly carved itself on my conciousness.



It was Eleven years ago.  Today.  I was 18 & in University in the UK on September 11th,  2001.  An Academic Life I Loved in London.  It was Tuesday.  A Beautiful Early Autumn Day.  I began the day with a walk & then intended to complete my reading of 'The Guardian' from the previous Sunday with a coffee. I read an article praising the Burqua & looking at the position of women in the Islamic world. It was an apologist position, positively in favour of Burqua wearing.  I was considering this article when I got a cellphone call telling me that a plane had hit the WTC in NYC.  My first thoughts were that it must be a private plane lost, then my friend suggested it looked bigger than that. It was 1.15 GMT or 9.15 am in New York.

I abandoned prep plans for my next lecture & headed to the Student lounge to see the news on tv. I arrived just in time to see the second plane strike the South Tower. I immediately understood.

I remember the tower burning,  then the second tower struck.  I remember the horrific vision, surreal, of men and women leaping and falling to their deaths from the burning towers. The only choice left to them, how to die.  I remember the scream of sirens, and the screams of onlookers.  I remember the resolute faces of rescue workers. I remember the burning towers falling. 

The horror was immediate and unmistakable .....  it occurred in what we have learned to call real time, and in real space. For we,  who were made witnesses by the long lens of television, the events were seen as through a glass, brightly. Their reality was visible but not palpable. It took hours to begin to comprehend their magnitude.  It is took days for the defensive numbness they induced to wear off.   It has taken not months ~ or years ~ to measure their impact and meaning.  It has taken much longer that that .... A Decade just to get here.  And we have not reached there yet.    The  pain, the grief, the lives lost and families devastated, the sheer barbaric ingenuity of evil. The scar that wrought in our humanity is still unhealed.

Today, The Eleventh Anniversary of this Attrocity,  we remember the innocent victims of September 11, 2001.  Those trapped in the Towers.   Is there anyone who hasn’t played out the nightmare of having been trapped in one of the towers?   Is there anyone who hasn’t wondered if she would have had the superhuman composure to call and comfort a loved one while relegating her own terrors to the background?   Dozens of phone calls home were placed from the towers between the moment that the first plane hit and the time that the north tower collapsed. When words should have been most impossible to find, there were words.  Words of fear, and words of love,  and consolation.  And it is with words that today I recall & remember ...... 

I remember the rescuers ~ real heroes ~ who rushed into those burning towers,  or stayed there despite the mortal danger & gave their lives, and those who now suffer illness because they were there, trying to help. I remember the heroes on Flight 93 who fought back, armed only with courage in the face of death. And I remember every member of the armed forces, our defenders, who have given life and limb and the minutes and days of their lives, to protect us.   Since that terrible day, I have struggled to understand. The lives lost that day, and since then in my defence, the suffering of the injured and wounded, the grief of those who lost loved ones, demanded no less.  I have learned much, and I have begun to understand.

I remember three firemen defiantly raising the American flag ~ the flag of freedom ~ on a pile of smoking rubble. I remember the celebrations in the streets of Gaza as they danced and passed around candies in celebration,  (before Arafat threatened death to any who dared broadcast such images). And the 'palestinians' were hardly alone in rejoicing at the death and destruction wrought by the murdering terrorist jihadi that day. It happened throughout the Arab & Islamic world. 

In fact,  it happened throughout history.  It is Arab behaviour.  It is taught to Arab children & today's generation of Arab children are still rioting & raping today.  Still Slaying in brutality & still dancing in the Streets at Death.  Today.  One decade On.  I daresay it will be a similar story two decades on,  or ten decades on!

There is a book (one of a series) by the infamous British Historian Eric Hobsbawm, defining the long 19th Century,  which came to a close with the declaration of WWI in 1918.  And another, the short twentieth one.  That sure came to an end at 9.15am on September 11th, 2001.  Francis Fukuyama said in a famous essay that it was the beginning of the end of history ..... It has been said that the world changed.  The world did not change on September 11, 2001. Our view of the world changed.   At least mine did!!    It was as if a monstrous kaleidoscope had been turned, and an entirely different vision of the world was presented to me. In this horrific vision, we were suddenly surrounded by enemies unknown, their evil motives and goals beyond our comprehension. But they had been there all along, and they were not hiding.  We simply did not see them for the evil they are or the threat they represent.  I had a thought just an hour before about how the burqua possibly evened the 'playing field' for the unpretty girls!!!

How niaeve was I????

We must learn to comprehend the evil motives and goals behind 9/11, and the evil men who advance them. I use the word evil, for evil exists. We just have to remember a little further back to recall the horrors of the Holocaust at Nazi Hands.  These men too were truly evil & failing to recognize their essential wickedness, if we do that, we too will suffer the evil fate they plan for us.  Not just for Jews this time.  A Holocaust for All Humanity.   These men believe in Global Jihad and the establishment of a Worldwide Caliphate under Sharia law. In this evil vision, we are all of us,  slaves.  That is if you are not Jewish like me ..... for me there is no leave to breathe.  Jews are less than human in Islamic eyes .... Subhuman,  & we are to be Slain completely as a people.  Wiped from the face of the World.  According to the tenets of their beliefs,  humanity has but three options.  All humanity  must convert to Islam, or accept second-class citizenship, pay a tax for the privilege, and submit to their rule and their law. Or All must die. There are no other alternatives.

This war upon the rest of humanity, this jihad, did not begin on September 11th, 2001. It began centuries ago. It began even before the 'christian' Crusades,  which were equally 'considerate' of lives btw.  It is a fundamental tenet of Islam that all the societies of so-called infidels should made subject to the Caliphate, by any means. And while some would have us believe that only a small minority of Muslims supports this jihad, the silence of so many Muslims in the face of this evil belies such claims.  The Qu'ran itself proclaims that silence is assent. In fact, it is a tenet of Islam that no duty of truth or fairness is due to infidels, and deceit in the service of jihad is no sin. Therefore even the words of the apologists for Islam, those who deny the inherent evil, are untrustworthy. Their protestations of innocence and benevolence cannot be taken at face value. We must judge them by their actions alone, and be not deceived.   And History Attests to their Actions.

In some ways, I will forever feel unworthy of the sacrifices that others have made to preserve and protect me & my way of life.  Do we not have a duty to do what we can, lest their sacrifices be in vain?  Europe is once again appeasing the malevolent aggressor.   America is too .....   Does the 11th of September not matter??  Where is the 'safe haven'  promised for our people, for Jews???   Apparently not even our historic homeland,  granted by Ha'Shem himself .... Eretz Yisrael!!

We must never Forget, we must never Forgive & we must never Surrender.  It is the only fitting tribute we can give to those who sacrificed so much on that day in September.

Today, I will remember .......  We Owe the Dead No Less.

I was in London in September 2001, and this was one occasion where the British Anthem was forsaken and replaced at Buckingham Palace.  I don't know of any other occasion .... it floods my senses with memory and makes me cry!!


Monday, September 10, 2012

Music Monday ~ RHCP in Israel!



One of my very favourite bands play Israel tonight ..... Red Hot Chilli Peppers.   The Red Hot Chili Peppers concert in Tel Aviv will take place in HaYarkon Park in the north of the city tonite,  September 10th. The concert will be part of the band’s tour to celebrate their latest, and tenth album and the first time that the band have played in Israel.   Pressure has been exerted from the usual leftist idiot troop to cancel as other anti semitic artists have,  a lie was even spread that the lads would be playing to a segregated audience in order to hurt ticket sales,  but the band arrived last night in Eretz Yisrael ready to perform, B"H.  WTG Guys!!!!

Pictured above is Slane Castle in Ireland where RCHP have headlined on August 23rd, 2003, (and I am somewhere in the crowd!!!).  And below is their performance there of one of my very favourite of their songs, Californication.

"Little girls from Ireland
Dream of silver screen quotations
And if you want these kind of dreams
It's Californication ..... "



Sunday, September 9, 2012

A September Sunday in S'derot!




Sunday morning terror to open the new week .... Two rockets were launched at Southern Israel this morning. One struck the roof of a house in Netivot (over 26,500 residents) and destroyed it completely. Seven civilians were hurt in this attack. Due to the threat of rockets, school has been cancelled for the children of Be'er Sheva and Ashdod because of missile attacks. How many countries this week around the world are cancelling school because of falling projectiles?   Then blaming those on whom the rockets rain????





Two Iranian made Grad missiles were fired overnight by 'palestinian' terrorists in Gaza to Southern Israeli town of Netivot.  One hit this house in Netivot, destroying it ~ thankfully no-one was inside. The residents heard the warning sirens (15 seconds) and got out in time ......   “This was a miracle,” said Grad missile attack survivor Pinny Azoulai,  who was saved by an early-warning siren and a quick escape from his bedroom. The rocket slammed into one home and damaged a neighbouring house.  Azoulai told Army Radio on Sunday morning that he was sleeping at the time of the attack. 




“I heard the siren and jumped out of bed and then ran to the entrance of the house,” He then decided he would be better protected in the bathroom, a move which may have saved his life.    “Just as I entered the bathroom, there was a loud explosion. My heart still is beating fast,” he said. He was surrounded by the debris of the collapsed house, which was a total loss. Azoulai still suffers from ringing in his ears.   His brother Yuval said, “His escape was a miracle. We have lived in this reality for a long time," he added. “This was a direct hit on the house, and we will not be living here for a long time.”



Ten people were treated for shock and physical injuries in the missile strikes on Netivot and later on Be’er Sheva, where the rocket fell in an open area.  Three people in Be’er Sheva suffered injuries when they fell while running to bomb shelters. Seven people, four in Be’er Sheva and three in Netivot, were treated for shock, and three people were evacuated to Soroka Medical Center in Be’er Sheva, according to Magen David Adom.   Schools in Netivot and Be'er Sheva were cancelled for children today.   Fifteen Seconds is not enough time to save yourself .... especially if you do not live near a Shelter.  Lot's of apartment blocks do not have them and the neighbourhood shelter is most often more than 15 seconds away.   What happens if you are pregnant, have toddlers or babies, are elderly or disabled.  Then it is under the stairs or crouching in a basement, which is often more than 15 seconds away too.    I'll tell you what happens ..... you cry out loudly to Ha'Shem.  You pray.  There is no other choice.  Could you evacuate your home in 15 seconds or less, or find effective cover in this time.  Could you make this ...... Olympic Sprinters can't!!



 
This is life in Israel.  And we are demonized for it.  Told we are the monsters.   Would you be happy to live like this villified by the world.  What can you do??? ..... Support Israel.  Always.
Say Tehillim
(Psalms) against Tillim (Rockets).  In the Ancient Armies of Eretz Yisrael Torah Scholars preceeded them to victory reciting Tehillim.  We too can replicate this today ..... Please say the following tehilim  6, 20, 46, 51, 70 and 120.  Todah!!



Thursday, September 6, 2012

The Cringeworthy Corrie Comparison!!



I just discovered something completely sickening in cyberland, to add to the perverse photo manipulation and fraud of the Corrie Camp last week.  It appears that Corrie is being in some way likened to Anne Frank, a Shoah victim, whose "Diary of a Young Girl" has been inspirational to millions.  A Comparison sickening to the Core!


Rachel Corrie, a twenty-three-year-old American from Olympia, Washington, died in Gaza in March 2003 when, as a member of the leftist International Solidarity Movement (ISM), tried to obstruct an IDF bulldozer that  was destroying rocket  launchers in overgrown brush near an unoccupied arab 'palestinian'  structure, which concealed tunnels.  Last Week, an Israeli Court concluded that her death was an accident, which she herself contributed to causing.  The driver, in the 10 foot-high bulldozer with its limited visual field, could not see Corrie, who was hidden by a mound of dirt whilst standing in a trench in the Closed Military Security Zone.  The Israeli autopsy report determined that she had been killed by a blow to the head from debris probably dislodged by the bulldozer.   And the Court confirmed this with Judge Oded Gershon  ruling that she "consciously put herself in harm's way" by ignoring warning after warning.  "She did not distance herself from the area, as any thinking person would have done."

However, the ISM and other activists insisted the driver had seen Corrie, and intentionally killed her.  They released two photographs for evidence. Both of these I have reproduced before in a previous blog, but look again ...... The first showed Corrie standing in full view of the bulldozer, shouting at the driver through a bullhorn she was holding. In the second photo, she lay crumpled on the ground in front of the bulldozer.  Within hours of the photos’ release, observers noticed from the position of the sun that the two photos had been taken hours apart, not minutes as was claimed,  and that the bulldozer in the first picture was not the same as the one in the second.  Other questions surrounded her death:  had she died on the spot, in the ambulance or in the hospital emergency room; did the Gazan doctor do all he could to save her?


Corrie Before & After .....


Despite these questions, the ISM and other anti-Israel activists seized upon Rachel’s death for public relations purposes. The young American instantly became their poster child, an alleged symbol of youthful idealism, 'palestinian' victimization, and Israeli brutality.  As a Hamas terrorist said at Rachel’s funeral, ‘Her death serves me more than it served her… Her death will bring more attention than the other 2,000 martyrs.’….”  And just a point, these Brutal Hamas terrorists  charge the local Gazan population a $3,000 tax for such of Gaza’s 150 tunnels ~ the very kinds of tunnels Rachel was trying to protect.  Wasn't Rachel really ripe fodder for the ISM??

Corrie was the first American to be hailed as a palestinian martyr.  It is not surprising that these 'peace' activists
refuse to even entertain the possibility that her death was an accident. If it were, she would no longer be a useful symbol for indicting Israel’s self-defence measures and its very right to exist.  That is their cause & their goal.  A Judenrein Middle East.     This ISM is an arab terrorist led organization which callously recruited idealistic, naïve “internationals”  like Rachel to break Israeli law, violate IDF security zones, indoctrinate with its innacurate version of the conflict, and to groom them as future speakers for its anti-Israel cause. While soothing volunteers by insisting that ISM engaged only in non-violent resistance, the organization nonetheless defended and abetted Hamas violence (its website affirmed the “right to armed resistance against occupation”) and was committed to dismantling Israel’s defence measures which were intended to prevent the mass murder of Israelis on a regular basis.   The ISM intentionally exploited the idealism of young white middle class foreigners like Rachel Corrie and misled them into believing violating Israeli law and military security was not illegal, and intentionally put them in extremely dangerous situations, like the one in which Rachel stupidly forfeited her life.
  Her life story and death situation bear NO  resemblance to the tragic life and death of  Anne Frank.

 


This picture and the table above, again a correlation with Corrie and Anne Frank I found on a friend's website .....  Five Minutes For Israel.    David Guy of the above goes further than I in the comparative photos of other Shoah victims at his site and how they are crudely manipulated by those arabs, calling themselves 'palestinians'  who occupy the land of Yisrael.   He states .....  "If Anne Frank (b.1929) was alive in  2003 she most likely would have been a grandmother in Israel worrying about the safety of her grandson fighting the fascists whom Rachel Corrie died to protect. About seventy-five per cent (75%) of Jews in Holland perished at the hands of the Nazis and Dutch collaborators and after the war, for a period, Dutch Jews were the largest Western aliya group. Even had she not come to Israel, she would have recognised Hamas’s genocidal language,  immediately."    Absolutely!

Corrie's  parents, who had never shown interest in Israeli affairs before are now regulars on the international anti-Israel lecture circuit and are following in their daughter's predjudiced footsteps.  See them pictured below with International terror advocate Yasser Arafat.  Their lack of curiosity about the ISM and their wholesale acceptance of its propaganda are startling, especially given that the ISM put their daughter in danger.  Nor has evidence that the ISM activists sheltered known suicide bombers and terrorists, and was barred from entering Israel, dampened their defence of that organization.  Instead of using their bitter experience as a warning to parents of other would-be ISM recruits, they are using their position as bereaved parents to win sympathy for the group most responsible for their daughter’s death. 


Perhaps that's an even greater tragedy than their exploitation of  their daughter, Rachel Corrie's  preventable death.



Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Mourning Munich!!




Today is the 40th anniversary of the Munich Olympics Massacre of 11 Israeli athletes. They were tortured, maimed & murdered after being taken hostage by members of the 'palestinian' militant group, Black September, on September 5th, 1972, in their Olympic Village accomodation.  They came to Munich in 1972 to compete as athletes in the Olympics, they came in peace and went home in coffins, massacred in the Olympic Village and during hostage negotiations. The 2012 Summer Olympics have come to an end, with no official recognition of these 11 Israeli Athletes & the Olympic charter, ideals and 'family' lie tattered and torn as the anti semitism of the IOC is exposed.  These men were sons, fathers, uncles, brothers, friends, teammates, athletes.   The above photograph is of the surviving Israeli team members in mourning in 1972.  The World Refused to Remember for just one minute.   We as Jews have a duty of Zachor ..... so today I am reproducing a blog I wrote 2 years ago in Memory of those Massacred at Munich.
 



From August Anniversaries to A September Story ...... Actually, September holds an Array of 'Anniversaries' for me ..... Both my Parents (of  Blessed Memory) Yahrzeits are this month,  18th & 22nd of September, respectively.  It is thus a Month of Mourning for Me.  September 11th will be a day forever etched in my mind,  as I recall the searing Images impressed there by Islam.  And September also holds the memory of yet another Massacre, in Munich, Germany.  An Olympic Orgy of Murder & Mayhem,  which occurred 39 years ago today ..... 5th/6th September, 1972.
 
The 1972 Olympics in Münich were the second occasion that Germany hosted the event. The first time, in 1936, was deeply political, as Hitler and the Nazi party used the event for a stage-managed propaganda display of their supposedly 'Model' society. After the horrors of war, Germany was not initially allowed to compete in the Games, and when it did so it was eventually to be as a team split between the Westernised Federal Republic of Germany, and the Soviet-dominated German Democratic Republic of East Germany.

1972 was an opportunity for the Germans to erase from memory the 'Nazi' Games, and instead replace them with a Games held in a carefree spirit. Security was light, and spending was concentrated on having fun, reflected in an abstract 'happy' logo for the games.




That isn't to say that there were not security preparations. Famously, Dr. Georg Sieber prepared a set of worst-case scenarios for the Games, which included an eerily accurate prediction of exactly what transpired. One of his scenarios was of a highjacked plane being crashed into the stadium, (echoes of another September morning here), but it was scenario 21 ~ terrorists with sympathies for the palestinian cause breaking into the Olympic Village and kidnapping members of the Israeli Olympic squad ~ that actually happened!

Although it was still a few years before rolling 24 hour news channels were developed, the fact that the attack happened at the Olympic Village meant there was plenty of media around. The 1936 Games had been relayed on big screens within Berlin, and the 1948 Games had been the first shown live on TV. Since then, media coverage had increased exponentially, with the 1964 Games from Tokyo being the first time live pictures were broadcast over the Pacific from Japan to the USA.

The 1972 hostage crisis unfolded live on television screens around the globe. The Münich Massacre was one of the first "made for television" terrorist atrocities designed to bring attention to the Palestinian cause. On several occasions during the crisis it seemed that the kidnappers were able to follow police preparations to tackle them by simply turing on their television sets. Images of the murderers from the world's TV screens became one of the defining images of international terrorism.

Moshe Weinberg and Yossef Romano (OBM) were murdered prior to the scene of the hostage crisis being shifted to a military airport at Fürstenfeldbruck. It was there that a totally inept failed rescue attempt ended up with the 9 remaining Israeli hostages being murdered.

At first the Games continued during the crisis, but eventually they were halted for a few hours. When they were re-started, it was with a memorial service held in the Olympic Stadium, attended by many of the competing athletes. Ten nations opposed to the existence of the State of Israel requested that their flags not be flown at half-mast during the ceremony. As disrespectful as this was to the spirit of Olympic competition, the IOC acquiesced and granted this request. The massacre of 11 Israeli athletes was not considered sufficiently serious to merit cancelling or postponing of the Olympics. Truly, the world cares nothing for Jewish Blood!

“Incredibly, they're going on with it,” Jim Murray of the Los Angeles Times wrote at the time. “It's almost like having a dance at Dachau.” ...... WWII Death Camp, less than 10 miles away!

Not all the athletes stayed however, and the Israeli team did not continue to compete in the Games. The entire Egyptian team withdrew as well. The destination the terrorists had asked to be flown to was Cairo, and the Egyptian team felt there would be bad feeling directed towards them.

"You give a party, and someone is killed at the party, you don't continue the party. I'm going home."
   
~ Jos Hermens, Athlete ~

It didn't take long though, for most the sportsmen and women of the Games to get their usual sense of priorities back. Just 4 days after the 11 Israelis were murdered, all of the political dissent at the Games was focussed back on the Cold War & the fight for medals. Why would anyone want a medal from such tainted games??

A palestinian guerrilla group, the Black September Organization claimed responsibility for the killing of the eleven Israeli's in Munich. The Fatah originated in 1957 and boasted an estimated membership of over 11,000 by the late 1980's. The United States Department of State's 1988 publication of Terrorist Group Profiles, describes the Fatah as the military arm of the palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Fatah is an acronym spelled backwards representing Harakat al-Tahrir al Filistini. The phrase translates as palestine Liberation Movement. Former Fatah leader Yasir Arafat assumed leadership of the PLO in 1969. The Fatah utilized the name Black September Organization from approximately 1971 to 1974. Some sources speculate that Arafat utilized the name to distance himself and the PLO from the actions of the BSO, in a bid to hunt a certain respectability among the International community. Many terrorist experts speculate that Arafat controlled Black September and utilized it as his primary military force.


In September 1970, King Hussein's military forced the group out of Jordan and into Lebanon. The expulsion of Fatah from Jordan and Egypt severely limited the group's ability to launch cross-border operations into Israel. Thus, the Fatah resorted to increased terrorist activities as a means to attack Israel. Black September conducted nine major terrorist attacks in 1971 and early 1972 prior to the Munich Olympic incident. Dedicated to armed struggle, its goal has never changed .... unable to defeat Israel militarily, however, the Arab strategy is to demonize and delegitimize, creating yet another Arab palestinian state, in addition to Jordan. In order to accomplish this, it concocted a narrative, an identity and ethos to compete with Zionism and Jewish history .....  Palestinianism!!

It is widely believed that a subsequent Lufthansa 'hijack' in West Germany, where the perpetrators called for the release of the surviving Münich terrorists was rather convenient for the German authorities. They were able to swiftly hand the suspects over to Libya, and avoid the embarrassment of a trial which might expose their failure to prevent the kidnapping and the deaths of the Israelis. In scenes that are lamentably, still depressingly familiar today, those who had murdered unarmed civilians were treated as heroes of war upon their return to their Arab homelands. It was followed up by a world-wide effort to legitimize the Terrorist Arafat which directly lead to the Oslo Accord, & to negotiations to carve up Eretz Israel in the guise of 'peace negotiations'. Bassam Abu Sharif, a member of the PFLP at the time, said the motive for the operation in Munich was to attract publicity for the palestinian cause and to win the release of palestinian prisoners. It suceeded & Israel has been demonised.


Don't be Deluded .... those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it!!  This is an apt description of the present decision of the UN,  as well as most of the terrorist appeasing governments of the world,  involved even today in 'peace' talks with those who proclaim the perpetrators of this murder in Munich as heroes & whose avowed goal is a Judenrein Middle East.   It seems they are to be handed a 'State of palestine' as a reward for their Murderous efforts over the last century.  A Universal Declaration to this effect is to be issued this month in New York ..... Of course a Declaration & a State are not exactly synonomous concepts!!

The Massacre at Munich was one of Islam's most gruesome displays of its signature contribution to civilization in the twentieth century. Its cold-blooded brutality is pure Islam, as surely as it's Murderous Mayhem forever changed the New York skyline on yet another September day.   New York would do well to remember this,  this September day !!!




 Let us today Remember the 11 Israeli team members taken hostage and subsequently Murdered in Munich, on the 40th Anniversary of their Slaying ....

1) wrestling referee Yossef Gutfreund (inset), age 40;
2) wrestling coach Moshe Weinberg, 33;
3) weightlifter Yossef Romano, 31;
4) weightlifter David Berger, 28;
5) weightlifter Ze'ev Friedman, 28;
6) wrestler Eliezer Halfin, 24;
7) track coach Amitzur Shapira, 40;
8) shooting coach Kehat Shorr, 53;
9) wrestler Mark Slavin, 18;
10) fencing coach Andre Spitzer, 27;
& 11) weightlifting judge Yakov Springer, 51.



"When I was a kid, my father used to say 'Our greatest hopes and our worst fears are seldom realized.' Our worst fears have been realized tonight. They’ve now said that there were eleven hostages. Two were killed in their rooms yesterday morning, nine were killed at the airport tonight. They’re all gone!" 
~  Jim McKay, ABC journalist for the Olympic Games, Munich, Germany, September 1972 ~ 


 And tomorrow .....  An Anniversary Album.  The Pictures will tell the tale!