Meir Kehane ... The Messanger Murdered!!

From Sundown, this Shabbat,  18th Cheshvan will be the 22nd Yahrzeit of Rabbi Meir Kehane,  HY”D, Inspirational writer & founder of the Jewish Defence League and Israel’s Kach Party.   With the motto of "Never Again,"  the stated goal of the Jewish Defence League was to protect Jews from anti-Semitism in all its forms everywhere. In 1971, he moved his family to Israel, founding the Kach Political Party, and he was elected to the Knesset in 1984.  In 1986, Kach was inexplicibly and treasonably declared to be a "racist" party by the Israeli government and banned from the Knesset, and, in 1994,  the movement was outlawed completely.  Kahane’s Knesset career was ended by section 7a of Basic Law: The Knesset (1958): “Prevention of Participation of Candidates List.”   Unjust and Unbelievable!!

In 1990, following a speech in Manhattan Meir Kahane was Murdered. The prime suspect, El Sayyid Nosair, was traitorously acquitted of murder but convicted on gun possession charges,  of which he was later convicted only as a result of his participation in the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing.   Kehane is buried in Jerusalem, where Memorial events will be held this coming Sunday in his Merit.  May his Neshama receive an Aliyah!

His very last speech, delivered on the night of November 5th, 1990 ~ Cheshvan, 18th, 5751, at the New York Marriott hotel,  although more than 20 years old rings even more true today than then, and reads like words of Prophecy.  I reproduce here in his honour .....


"I was born in this country, and I can’t recall ever, in my life, as much open and vicious Jew-hatred as I have seen in our time right now, in this country. I travel around from city to city, and in every city Jews tell me it is unbearable. Attacks upon synagogues, attacks upon Jews, all of which are of course buried. Because the synagogue doesn’t want it to be know. The ADL wants to report “there were 55 incidents this year in the United States”, when actually, there were 55 incidents in one hour in the United States. On radio programs which I am on – the telephone calls – open, open (anti-Semitism).

Two Reasons for Increased Anti-Semitism

What has happened? What has happened in natural terms? Of course, in divine terms, the Almighty is ending it for us. But what is happening in natural terms? Two basic changes have taken place in this country over the last twenty years. It began slowly, now it is reaching its crescendo. We have seen the death of what I call the “Auschwitz syndrome”. What is the “Auschwitz syndrome”? After World War II, it was hard to be an anti-Semite, even for an anti-Semite. It was just difficult. And then the years passed – ten years, twenty years, twenty-five years, thirty years, and a generation arose which was not born at that time. And the “Auschwitz syndrome” began to fade away, and the guilt began to fade away. No matter how many Holocaust programs were shown on television, every year they had less and less impact. Indeed, they reach a point whereby they encourage anti-Semitism, whereupon the anti-Semite says: “ Hey, you know, I know Jews, and the Nazis, and they were probably right.” That’s what happens today. It fades away. And to help things along, there was the rise of a strong Israel. Suddenly, Israel was winning. And that allowed the anti-Semite to cut the albatross. Now it was OK. You see, the Jew are Nazis, and they persecute the Palestinians, and now it was OK. So the “Auschwitz syndrome” faded, and it’s gone for all practical purposes. And you hear people speak about the holocaust that the Israelis are perpetrating upon the Palestinians. A Holocaust…So all the Israelis and all the Jews who ever called me a Nazi and didn’t realize that when you call a Jew a Nazi, you cheapen the Holocaust. And you cheapen the concept of Nazi, which is a very unique thing. And by you calling a second Jew a Nazi, what you are telling the world is” Jews can also be Nazis. Foolish people and tiny dwarfs and pygmies, grasshoppers.
    
So the “Auschwitz syndrome” is gone. And another thing has happened. After World War II, and until perhaps ten years ago, the American people lived in an economic luxury such as we have not seen ever in world history. No Roman emperor lived as well as the average American did from World War II on, until fairly recently. Life was good. And when life is good, the anti-Semite hates Jews quietly. It’s not a big deal to him. He hates Jews, but he’s too interested in the Monday night football game. I myself am amazed that so many people are here tonight that don’t want to see the Giants massacre the Colts…

The Economic Crises

So when times are good and he has his job, he has his beer and he has his TV set, he has everything – he hates Jews, but it’s not that important to him. But as the economic sands of time begin to run out, and as things get bad and they get worse and suddenly there is a chill, there is a fear. I can sense a fear in this country – people are afraid of what is going to happen, and they have every right to fear it. This is a country which is on the verge of economic horror, horror. In two years they expect the national debt to go from 3.7 trillion to 5 trillion dollars, so they work for months and months – this fiasco between Congress and this administration – and they say, “we are going to cut 500 million dollars in five years”. Five years! It is a joke – It’s a drop in the bucket. This is a country which is dying because the thing that was saving it was the fact that the Japanese are buying Rockefeller Center, Rockefeller Plaza – don’t be angry. If they stopped buying it, no one is going to cover the national debt. And they are stopping.

The dollar is a weak dollar today. Can you imagine: The Israeli shekel has held its own against the dollar now for a year. Don’t clap! It doesn’t mean that the Israeli shekel is strong. The shekel is weak; the dollar is just as weak. The Japanese don’t want dollars anymore, they want German marks. And they’re investing now in South Korea, Thailand, Singapore. The banks here are shaking, they’re tottering. In their greed, in the 1960’s and 70’s, they gave loans to anybody. The Congo came – you want money, take the money. Mexico came – take 100 million dollars – take, take it, take. Suddenly, the Congo couldn’t pay back. If that’s what a banker is…did he expect the Congo to ever pay back in total? So hundreds of millions of bad loans are being held by major banks: Chase Manhattan, Citicorp – and they are in deep, deep trouble today. And on top of that, suddenly the real estate market has collapsed and they are now holding several more hundred million dollars of bad mortgages. That’s the tragedy. That’s why suddenly, there’s a hurry talk bout Chase merging with City.
There’s a myth that your money is insured for $100,000. If the FDIC had 60 cents for every hundred dollars that you have, I’ll swim back to Israel. There is a myth that they are going to bail out the Savings & Loan with 40 billion dollars. If they can make it with less than half a trillion, it will be a miracle.

So for years, the new economists said, “Don’t worry about deficits, it doesn’t matter. Deficits don’t matter? I know that when my bank account is in deficit, it matters to me. The bank calls me up and says, “Rav Kahane, we have a little problem. Would you like to come and cover it?” A city can go a little deeper into debt than I can, and a state deeper yet, and a country can go a little deeper yet; but, in the end you have to pay the piper. So, America has lived beyond its means – extra credit, credit cards – and give anybody credit, give kids credit cards – anybody. Now it’s time to pay the piper, there is no money, there is no money. And should the economic collapse come it is the Jew who will be blamed. It is the Jew. You can hear it already. You can small it in the air.
The Racial tension – In all Colors

I was on a radio program in Chicago. Every single caller blamed the Gulf oil crisis on the Jews. Every single call. What you have now is the getting together of all these crises – the economic crisis, the racial crisis – and there is a serious racial crisis in the country. It’s a serious one. It is a dangerous one. Whites hate Blacks and Blacks hate Whites and they both hate Jews. It is a terrible, terrible thing. It’s not just Whites and Blacks. Now in the West, it’s the Hispanics and the Anglos – tremendous crises, which only proves all the more the myth of the melting pot. Uh nechtiga tag –what melting pot? A melting pot is fine until there is a terrible crisis and then two “objects’ occupy the same job at the same time. That’s a law of physics, which I’ve changed a bit…

So it’s not an accident that Jesse Helms is now putting on TV ads talking about the unfairness of quotas. Quotas are unfair. Of course, that is his trump card. People are angry about quotas and affirmative action, etc. And Blacks are angry. You think that Blacks have no argument? You think they are all bad? – that everything the Blacks do is wrong? You think that Bob Grant is your kind of guy? G-d forbid! This Jew-hating fascist type. That he says something good many, many times –you’re right. You think that bad people don’t often say correct things? Of course they do – but watch him, watch him and be careful of such people! People who are anti-Black will always be anti-Jewish too. One doesn’t have to love Farrakhan or Jesse Jackson to realize that he should be careful of racism of all kinds – White and Black – be careful, because we get stuck in the middle. Because the Whites and Blacks hate us both.

The Pre-War Depression: Not a Criteria

We have a serious problem – the economic crisis cannot be averted. There is no way. This country is in for terrible, terrible times. People tell me in the depression it was also bad. It’s true. But first of all, who knows what would have happened in this country if World War II had not ended the depression? If you think that Roosevelt ended it, you don’t know history. World War II ended it. It gave jobs finally, but more to the point, it was a different era back then. The American people at that time were a much stronger people in character. Today, after 40-50 years of good life and soft life, and the materialistic life, people are into themselves. Unbelievable ego. Everything is me, me – my life, my body, my-me, my-mine. People are incapable today of making sacrifices and that’s the great, great difference between today and what happened in the depression. The person who is fairly poor and gets poorer – not so terrible. The person who has it and lost it becomes a wild animal, a raging animal. He’ll not accept it and will look for a scapegoat. He’ll look for some target to blame. We Jews are the most visible, the most highly visible in terms of power, in terms of money. Of course, Wasps have more money than Jews have. Certainly, Jews are not into U.S. Steel and banking and so on, and the real, real money is not Jewish money, but that doesn’t matter because Jews are in those professions that are most visible.

How to Gauge anti-Semitism: Go to a Bar

So in the bars, it sits the jealousy and the envy of the Jews which leads to hate. The tragedy as I’ve said a million times is that the average Jewish leader in this country has no idea what people say ago about Jews in bars, because the average Jew doesn’t go into a bar – and he should; he should be compelled to go into a bar. Every rabbi before getting “smicha”, before being ordained, should be compelled to go into a bar and find out what the real world is like. It isn’t a joke. I’m serious. To hide in some little ghetto, you never know what the world is. They hate us with a passion out there, with a virulence which is frightening to see and to hear. On every radio program I go on, I hear, “why should we give you guys three billion dollars a year”? Anytime some fellow from the Israeli consulate is asked that question, he comes up with the answer, “well, we help you too, etc.” Baloney! The only way to get rid of that question is to answer as I do, “I don’t want the money! I want Israel to be a free enterprise state and allow private enterprise to flourish and then we don’t want your money, I don’t want your charity.” So, that of course gets rid of the question, but it doesn’t get rid of the anti-Semite. He’ll go home mutter in his beer and pretzels. He’s still there. He’s still there.

Role of the Prophet – To See It and say It

The rabbis tell us that G-d told Moses and Aaron. “I’ll make you Jewish leaders on one condition that if they throw stones at you, you’ll accept it.” Rather to be pelted with stones and not with dollars. That’s what a Jewish leader has to be! Say the bitter truth, even though they won’t like you. They won’t like you; they’ll attack you, but tell the Jews the truth if you love them. If you love Jews, tell them the things which will make them angry, but which can save their lives. That’s what you have to do! Think carefully about what I’m saying, and that is why we created this group called ZEERO, Zionist Emergency Evacuation Rescue Organization. It’s a name that provokes. And we hope that as we spread this idea it will provoke Jewish leaders to attack so we can debate the controversy that arises. People will say he’s right; he’s wrong, and so on. Of course, this is probably the worst thing you can ever tell any Jewish leader, any Federation leader – that he should leave here, and go to Israel. What’ill do there? .

The rabbis say: “Who is wise? He who sees the future”. It’s no big deal to see “today.” A Jewish leader has to see tomorrow.

Living in Israel – Difficult; Living Elsewhere – Impossible!

It is coming here! It is coming here! Friday night I spoke in Brooklyn in shul, and I had to walk through Bensonhurst, a white neighborhood – nice people, because they’re white…Watching the people, the kids, you can smell the violence, you can see the hate, you can see the envy – frustrated, bored, looking for action. You can see it. Those are the potential mobs. And G-d forbid, we will see it. So ZEERO is a very serious project of Kach, and I mean a serious one. And I know how hard it is to go to Israel – it is really hard. Hard to make a living. My son goes into the army every single year. It’s dangerous and so on. All of it is true. Everything that’s all true. That’s all true. It’s hard to live in Israel, but it will be impossible to live here, and if we go to Israel, at least there we can change the country. Of course we can change it and make it better and make it tremendous and make it safe. Of curse we can do that if we have the power in the government, but here there is nothing you can do to change it, it’s out of our hands. We are a minority and we are strangers here. We’re stranger in this land, no matter how many years we’ve been here.

It’s not an accident that so few German Jews survived the camps. The Polish Jew did better. Why? Because the Polish Jew wasn’t surprised. It didn’t shock him that gentiles could behave like this. It didn’t surprise him, so he wasn’t shattered inside, he wasn’t’ broken. But the German Jew was psychologically shattered. How could this be? I’m a German. I’m a German. How could it be? How can you do this to me? The Pole knew he was a Jew. The German was broken because his whole illusion was shattered. And that’s how the American Jew lives. “I’m an American”. It’s the gentile who will teach you so quickly that you’re a Jew.

It’s no just in the bars, in the working class bars the anti-Semitism that you see. When you see the news media and their attitude towards Israel; it’s not anti-Israel – it’s anti-Semitism. Do you know why they hate Jews? Because among intellectuals there is a jealousy of Jews. When Truman Capote, the famous author, a sickness, a disease who represents all that is sick about Western culture – when he spoke about the publishing business being a Jewish mafia – you can see the jealousy. [He writes] how Jews are over represented in publishing, in broadcast, in movies, etc. Of course it’s so – they have talent. Untalented people don’t like to think it is because of talent. They like to think they run it because their friends, their uncles, their aunts and so on and so forth. The hate runs across the board. You can see Peter Jennings’ anti-Semitism. You can see it! And when I hold press conferences in Israel and I see them sitting around, you can watch them all – the hatred".


Perceptive? ..... Undoubtedly!   Prophetic?? .... I'll let you decide!!!!

The Weeping Woman .... Rachel Immeniu!

 
"Rachel cries for her children, she will not be comforted…"

This Shabbat, Saturday, the 11th day of Cheshvan in the Hebrew calendar, is traditionally observed as the Yahrzeit of Rachel Immeniu, marking the anniversary of her death some 3,600 years ago. Rachel's husband Yaakov buried her on the side of the road, and according to the prophet Yerimayhu,  Rachel later wept as "her children" were exiled from the land of Israel.  Rachel was Yaakov's most beloved wife and was the principal of his household and thus the principal of the entire house of Israel.  Thus, Rachel is considered a special figure for Segulot & Davening.  'Mama Rochel'  is such a special lady that not only do we light a yahrzeit candle in her honour ~ it is a Mitzvah to honour our parents ~ but we commemerate the 11th of Chesvan as Jewish Mothers Day in her honour and we recommit to her guidance in our lives as Jewish women.

From the first day of the year, the 1st day of Tishrei, the 11th day of Cheshvan is the 41st day. 41 is the numerical value of the Hebrew word "eim," which means "mother," thus the 11th of Cheshvan is truly the Jewish Mother's Day.  Also , it is significant that conception is actualised in Shamayim as a reality on the 40th day from conception.  This is the day the soul enters the child and the 'sex' is determined.   This is also the day the bashert , or life 'match' or partner ~ of the same neshama ~ is chosen in Shamayim.  It is the day the pregnancy ~ life is breathed into the embryo & it becomes a fetus ~  is actualised and acknowledged in Judaism.

The figure of our matriarch Rachel is the one most associated in Kabbalah with the building of Jewish nature, the inbred character of an individual who walks willingly and naturally in the Ha'Shems Derech.   Jewish nature and character, best exemplified by the patriarchs and matriarchs, calls upon an individual to perform G‑d's will out of his or her own accord, a state described by the sages as "acting without dictation [from Above]."   Just as our matriarch Ahava, "the mother of all life,"   is the mother of human nature,   so our matriarch Rachel is the mother of our unique Jewish nature.  The month of Cheshvan is thus the time to recommit to our mother's guidance and reconstitute our Jewish nature and character.

And so, at least 100,000 Jews ~ mostly women ~ are expected to visit Kever Rachel  ~ Rachel's Tomb ~  this weekend.  Her burial site,  located between Y'rushalayim  and Beit l'chem,  has been venerated by Jews for centuries.  Rachel's tomb is Judaism's third-holiest site, has been the scene of prayer and pilgrimage for more than three thousand years.  In 1622,  the Ottoman governor of Jerusalem permitted Jews to build walls and a dome over the grave, and they still stand today .... although further fortified and enclosed today.  

Rachel constantly mourns over the exile of her children, the Jewish people,  in fact, Rachel lost her own spiritual luxury ~ She gave up her place next to her husband a second time when, instead of a burial spot in the family plot in Hevron, she accepted a lonely burial,  on the side of a deserted road. She did this in order to be there for her children who would live tens of centuries later ....... Rachel is the quintessential Jewish mother, sacrificing for our well-being and security. This feeling of limitless love and motherly concern is what draws people to her tomb to this day.   In addition, Rachel herself was childless for many years before she was granted children. Women who are suffering from infertility, in particular, travel to her tomb to pray.

 

Rachel, the beloved wife of the third Patriarch, Ya'acov,  actually died in child birth on the way to Hevron returning to his family's home. They set out from Bayt-El,  but when they were still some distance from Efrat, Rachel went into childbirth, and she had hard labour. When her labour was at it's hardest, the midwife said to her, "Have no fear, for it's a living child you bear, another boy for you." But as she breathed her last, as she was dying, she named him Ben-Oni, but his father called him Benyamin.  So Rachel died. She was buried on the road to Efrat ~ now Beit l'chem.  Over her grave Ya'acov set up a pillar, it is the pillar at Rachel's grave to this day.  ~ Torah, Parshat Vayishlach  ~ Bereshis 35:16-21 ~


Ya'acov buried Rachel at this spot, rather than a the family burial plot at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hevron, (which has incidentally also been declared a 'mosque' by the UN) because he foresaw that his descendants would pass this site during the the forced exile to Babylon in the year 423 B.C.E.  And then Rachel would pray for their safety and ultimate return, as it's written ~ Rachel, weeping for her children, she refuses to be comforted for her children who are gone. Thus said HaShem ~ 'Restrain your voice from weeping, your eyes from shedding tears for there is reward for your labour' declares HaShem. 'They shall return from the enemy's land and there is hope for the future' declares HaShem  'Your children shall return to their own country'   ~  Yiramiyahy 3:15-17 ~

So Ya'acov set up a monument over her lonely grave site so that exiled Jews would recognize it and pray and be comforted as they were being led into captivity. Ancient writings describe the grave marker as 12 stones that represented the 12 tribes of Israel with one large stone that symbolized Ya'akov.

Since the time of her burial the Tomb of Rachel has always been a special place for prayer. To this very day, men and women go to Rachel's Tomb to shed tears and beg "Momma Rochel" to intercede with Ha'Shem on their behalf ~ for the health of a loved one or for Divine intervention for those in need. Rachel, the childless woman who ultimately became mother of the Jewish People, has become a special symbol of hope for childless women ~ teaching them the power of prayer. Hundreds of requests are sent every month to the Committee For Rachel's Tomb from Jews world wide, requesting prayers to be said on behalf of the ill, the childless and those in need of a special blessing.

The palestinian authority has claimed that Rachel's Tomb is holy to Muslims as the site of a mosque called the Bilal Bin Rabah Mosque.   Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovich, Rabbi of the Western Wall, has termed the decision “outrageous”.  “They have never said in the past that this was a Muslim holy site. The [UN] organization responsible for heritage has turned heritage into politics.”   Israel should think carefully about whether or not to cooperate with UNESCO in the future, he said.  Israel's Foreign Ministry has also denounced the UNESCO ruling.  Danny Ayalon will have no truck with this trash.  Under Ottoman rule, Rachel's Tomb was a Jewish site.  Only in 1996 did the PA begin to call the site the 'Bilal Bin Rabah Mosque', he said.

 From the Byzantine period until the 1800's Rachel's Tomb consisted of a tiny domed structure. It was Sir Moses Montifeori who renovated the Tomb in 1841 and added on an anteroom and enclosed the dome over the grave marker so that pilgrims could find shelter from the elements. The town of Bethlehem has grown several fold and where once Mother Rachel's Tomb was in an open area on the road side, today it stands in the centre of the town with one of the main streets passing right next to it.

Since 1948 Muslims have created their own cemetery surrounding the building on three sides. For political purposes, Muslims claim that Rachel's Tomb is one of their burial plots and that it contains a Muslim notable rather than Mother Rachel. This is absolute hogwash ..... it is a fabrication made up after the Jewish State of Israel was declared & stands alongside that other fiction, the 'palestinian' people!!

 This land has treasonably been granted to Arafat & the 'palestinian' people. The tomb has been enlarged & encased for it's protection as we see in the modern photograph above. The new Rachel's Tomb consists of the previous structure housed within the expanded and reinforced edifice. New additions include the 2 guard towers in the above picture. This new Rachel's Tomb complex is a modern and stately building that has been designed to protect the tomb and those inside, yet it's interior retains the intimacy and unique serenity that has been characteristic of Rachel's Tomb.

Tens of thousands of Jews will today visit Rachel's Tomb to mark the Matriarch's Yartheit  The tomb is located within Bethlehem city limits, but remained under Israeli control when the rest of Bethlehem was transferred to Palestinian Authority control.  Journalist Nadav Shragai, writing for Yisrael Hayom, noted that Muslims living in the land of Israel have historically referred to Rachel's Tomb as “Kubat Rahel,” the Arabic term for “Rachel's Tomb.”

Rachel's Tomb is a living symbol of Ha'Shem's promise to Rachel that her children will return to the Land Of Israel. Jewish life today thrives in Rachel's Tomb. In these days, despite the on-going war of attrition people still go to recite Tehillim, daven and learn Torah. Classes by renowned Jewish speakers are held there. Rachel's Tomb has also become a place of joy as Britot and Bar/Bat Mitzvah celebrations are held within it's walls. The Committee For Rachel's Tomb is sponsoring the Rachel's Tomb Educational Centre which reaches out to the thousands of teenagers visiting Israel and to Israeli students,  teaching Jewish heritage through the legacy of the Matriarch Rachel and the Twelve Tribes of Israel.

And Ha'Shem answered Rachel's tears .... "Restrain your voice from weeping,  "Hold back your eyes from their tears.  For your work has its reward and your children shall return to their border."
~ Yirmiayhau 31.16 ~

Rocket Rain Requires Retribution!!!!

  " I woke up to blasts, held my baby close. We hear sirens and wonder what'll happen ~ this is our reality".   ~ Ashkelon business owner staying by shelter for safety ~ 


Since this morning,  Hamas, the 'palestinian' terrorist Government of the Gaza Strip has fired 78 missiles into the civilian South of Israel, injuring 5 people, 2 of them critically.  School has been cancelled and 1 million residents have been instructed to remain in sheltered places.  A House on Kibbutz Reim suffered a direct hit, and several others have been damaged.  Lt. Col. Avital Leibovich of the IDF Spokesman’s unit  informs that Two foreign nationals ~ Thai farm workers from the Kissufim area ~ were critically wounded by rocket fire and three or four additional civilians are suffering from lighter injuries.  Dozens more, especially children,  have been traumatised and are suffering PTSD symptoms.   The Home Front Command has ordered all civilians in the region to stay near their air-raid shelters and safe rooms as, due to their proximity to the Gaza Strip, they have only 15 seconds in which to find cover.

Lt. Col. Leibovich of the IDF stressed that all the targets of today’s rocket fire into Israel were, once again, civilian targets including small agricultural communities. She also noted that the majority of the rocket fire took place ~ as is frequently the case ~ during the early morning when children are on their way to school and adults travelling to work. Property damage was widespread, with at least one home sustaining a direct hit. The explosion occurred several feet from a man and wife who were eating breakfast, but the angle of the rocket caused the shrapnel to fly in the opposite direction, sparing the couple from injuries.   All schools and kindergartens in the area are closed.  Traffic is being reported as unusually light in the city.

   The Iron Dome missile defence system intercepted seven rockets fired from Gaza this Wednesday morning towards the southern port city of Ashkelon.  Thirteen more rockets caused widespread damage locally where they fell.   On Wednesday afternoon, the Iron Dome system near Ashkelon intercepted another Grad Katyusha missile, the eighth to be destroyed in less than 24 hours.  Gaza terrorists fired a barrage of eight rockets and mortar shells at the Ashkelon Regional Council district between noon and 1:30 p.m., but miraculously no one was physically injured in the attack. Numerous residents, however, were traumatized by this terror, and those who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) resulting from previous attacks had symptoms triggered by the barrage. 

Lt. Col. Leibovich also gave details of the IDF’s responses to the rocket attacks ..... At midnight last night the IDF targeted a rocket-launching squad comprising three Hamas terrorists.  At 5 a.m. this morning the IDF targeted another squad which had just launched a rocket. At 7 a.m. the IDF targeted a rocket launching site: one of the pits dug by the terrorists in which the rocket-launcher is placed.  And at 8:20 a.m. the IDF targeted a weapons smuggling tunnel and other sites in the northern Gaza Strip.  The IDF’s retaliatory strikes killed at least one terrorist, the day after three others were struck down by aerial bombings.  Throughout the morning, Israeli aircraft again raided northern Gaza, targeting a "terror tunnel" and other sites, as ground troops fired at "terror activity sites"  in some cases with tank shells.     The IDF continues to retaliate, but officers readily admit they cannot prevent a massive onslaught of rockets, unless the military carries out a large-scale operation and possibly a ground incursion of Gaza.   My only response to this is ....... WHAT ARE THEY WAITING FOR??????   


Operation Cast Lead II is Long Overdue........  These Attacks are Acts of War.  Accordingly, War needs to be declared on these terrorists!!


Defence Minister Ehud Barak issued the usual warnings to Hamas that if it does not cease firing, it will bear the consequences. But, he did not spell out what measures would be taken, but ground invasions, such as that in the Operation Cast Lead operation four years ago, have been the only vehicle to curtail rocket attacks.  After each withdrawal, the attacks resume, whether immediately or several weeks later, as has been the experience since the government expelled all Jews from Gaza and withdrew all military personnel in the summer of 2005.   And today's attacks and counter–attacks are the largest surge in violence since June.  The latest escalation began on Tuesday evening, shortly after the end of a high-profile visit to Gaza by the emir of Qatar, who was the first foreign leader to visit Gaza since Hamas ousted Fatah leaders from the area five years ago.  He brought with him $250 million earmarked for public projects, but said, “We would be happy if Gaza is built up and produces jobs". It is unthinkable that the emir of Qatar can come and give millions of dollars and they shoot rockets as a result.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, today toured an Iron Dome battery near Ashkelon. During the tour he made the following remarks .... "We neither chose nor initiated this escalation but if it continues we are prepared for much more extensive and deeper action. In any case, we will continue with preventative operations. Whoever intends to attack Israeli citizens needs to know that he will bear the consequences. Today, I decided to accept a joint recommendation, along with Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Home Front Defense Minister Avi Dichter, to complete the protection for residents of the south. As you know, we are protected up to 4.5 kilometers from the border with the Gaza Strip and we are protected up to a range of 7 kilometers thanks to Iron Dome batteries like the one you see here behind me, and we will continue to add Iron Dome batteries, which are operating very well. On the seam between 4.5 kilometers of full protection and the 7 kilometers afforded by Iron Dome, there is an area in which only educational institutions are protected, and I have decided today – following the staff work that I received – to adopt protection for this entire area, between 4.5 and 7 kilometers, and thus we will complete the defense of the residents of the south."
Why do the IDF continually supply Gaza  with Food and every requirement for life ??????

Different tactics now need to be tried. Like turning off the electric supply to Gaza. Like turning off the water supply. It is supplied by Israel. Like enforcing a total embargo by land and by sea. Nothing goes in, nothing goes out. By shutting down access to the Temple Mount to Arabs in Israel. By putting the PA hierarchy in Ramallah under seige. By assassinating the Hamas leadership, one after the next after the next. Same with convicted Arab prisoners held in Israeli jails. By returning Israeli's to their surrendered homes in Gush Katif and other sites in Gaza.  And most of all be resuming the "ground operations"  it successfully engaged in 2008's 'Operation Cast Lead'.  It's time for Cast Lead II to commence.

Why are 'palestinian' supplies allowed in to Gaza? Why are "ambulances" allowed out?   This happened this afternoon with two Gaza residents attending appointments in Israeli hospitals for treatments.  Who knows what they are capable of carrying into Israeli cities.  Why allow it??

And of course the  world's media are reporting it under the headline "Israel strikes Gaza in response to rockets", which gives the impression Israel is the aggressor.   What else???   

Haunted by the Holocaust ... Poland in Pictures!!

She has such natural beauty, she could pass for a movie star.
She smiles, her demeanour relaxed. In normal times, this young woman would surely have enjoyed a bright and happy future, perhaps with a  husband, children, grandchildren.
But soon after this photograph was taken, she would face almost certain death.

These are AMAZING Pictures .... Hitler's photographer Hugo Jaeger took these photographs in a disused sugar factory turned makeshift Ghetto in the Polish town of Kutno at various times in 1939 and 1940, although he is usually is associated with depicting the 'glory' of the third reich.  This local ghetto was liquidated in early spring of 1942 and most of the Jews here pictures were gassed in Auschwitz.  Poland's Jewry & Culture are no more today .... So this is a Sad & Special Posting!

 Hugo Jaeger's photographs normally celebrate the glory and triumphalism of the Third Reich yet the remarkable colour images I have reproduced here were taken by the Führer’s personal photographer, a loyal follower given unprecedented access to the Third Reich’s elite.   Hugo Jaeger was allowed to travel with Hitler to record his appearances at rallies, intimate parties and in private moments. More usually he dedicated himself to lionising his leader and what the Nazis regarded as their most triumphant moments.  


Here, it appears, he seems simply to have been fascinated by faces from a different faith in a country under siege. He is said not to have shared Hitler’s unqualified hatred of Jews. Hence, whether he intended it or not, Jaeger’s camera captured an atmosphere rarely seen before horror and carnage overtook it.   Kutno, 75 miles west of Warsaw, had been bombarded and turned into a ghetto soon after Hitler’s invasion in September 1939.
After so many years, it is impossible to know for certain why so many people in the photographs are smiling.   None appears to have been forced to pose,  none seems to display any fear.    Its sugar factory would be  surrounded by barbed wire and used to imprison 8,000 Jews, crammed into appalling conditions.   Some would die of infection or starvation. Others would not live through the bitter cold of the winter.  The ghetto existed until 1942, when most of its surviving inhabitants were sent to death camps.  To the best of my knowledge no one in these pictures survived the horrors of the War.

Incredibly, these photographs did.  The Kutno ghetto was ‘liquidated’ as part of the Final Solution in the spring of 1942.  In 1945, as the Allies advanced into Germany, Jaeger knew he would be arrested and tried as a war criminal if he was caught with so many intimate photos of the defeated Führer.  So after secreting them, initially in a leather suitcase, he buried them in airtight glass jars outside Munich, returning from time to time to check they were safe.  Two decades after the war ended, he sold them to Life magazine in 1965.  Now,  the pictures have gone online at Life.com. Despite attempts to identify some of the subjects, no record was ever found of the smiling young woman or any of the citizens depicted here.  Historians said it would be astonishing if she or any had survived. At least the camera immortalised them.   These photos have been released to mark the official establishment of the Warsaw Ghetto in October 1940 and the entire set are on display at Life.com HERE!!

Watch with me ......    Each Photograph is individually captioned!


CLICK ON THE IMAGES FOR FULL RESOLUTION & CLARITY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

An elderly man with a yellow Star ~ denoting Jew fixed to his chest, speaks with German officers as he and other Jews are Rounded up!

In their tattered rags the two boys smile for the camera, but the man in the centre, most probably their father, has a look of distrust etched across his face for the foreign camera

 

These young Jewish girls couldn't possibly have imagined the horrors that lay ahead as they pose outside their tent in another haunting photograph taken by the ardent Nazi Hugo Jaeger

Jewish inhabitants of the Kutno Ghetto stand near a car which has been converted into a makeshift house in early 1940

An elderly Jewish woman bends over her stove while a man, his Star badge clearly visible, watches over her in the Kutno Ghetto

A Jewish woman uses a washing board to clean clothes in the Kutno

While most Jaeger's photographs focus on the glory and triumphalism of the Reich, here he has chosen instead to capture the misery of the conquered people instead

 

A young woman clutches a jug as she escorts an elderly Jewish Scholar through the Kutno Ghetto in early 1940. One of the Saddest Images

Life .... An Ariel View!

With their clean clothes and hair neatly coiffured, these three young women do not, at first glance, appear anything like Jaeger's other subjects. But look closer and you find their star as on the coat of the girl on the left

In 1942, as part of Hitler's 'final solution' the Nazis began Operation Reinhardt, the plan to eliminate all of Poland's Jews. In the spring of 1942 the Kutno Ghetto itself was 'liquidated'

No one in the above pictures survived.  All perished in Auschwicz.   All Statistics ~ Some of Six Million!



 Taken from the Daily Mail ..... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2219304/Haunting-smile-girl-facing-Holocaust-How-Hitlers-PERSONAL-photographer-captured-history-plight-Jews-Nazi-occupied-Poland.html

What A Difference A Year Makes!!

I have blogged very regularly about the captivity of Gilad Shalit since I first became aware of his kidnapping & continuing captivity sometime in early 2007, the year after his abduction.  I blogged every birthday and the anniversary of his kidnap.  Also annually on Pesach (Pidyon Shvuyim) because it was always appropriate and on 4th July anniversaries, because it was not only Independance Day in America, but because it was the anniversary of Operation Thunderbolt, when the IDF rescued more than 100 of our people held hostage at Entebbe Airport in Uganda.  It seemed a similar scenario to me and I always likened the two.  It makes me Smile today to Salute the first anniversary of his release and return home, B"H!!

And Sgt Gilad Shalit was Released exactly One Year Ago today ~ 18th October, 2011.

Gilad (19 at the time of his abduction, 25 at the time of his release) was born on August 28, 1986. The son of Aviva and Noam Shalit, brother to Yoel and Hadas and both an Israeli and French citizen. Gilad was kidnapped when his army unit was attached by Hamas terrorists on June 25th, 2006.  Gilad was born in Nahariya but was raised from the age of two in Mitzpe Hila in the western Galilee. He graduated with distinction from the science class of Manor Kabri High School and began his military service about a year before his abduction ~ at the end of July 2005.  Despite a low medical profile, he preferred to serve in a combat unit, and followed his elder brother Yoel into the Armoured Corps.

On June 25th, 2006, Shalit, then a corporal, was captured in a cross border raid near the Kerem Shalom crossing to the Gaza Strip by palestinian terrorists and was held hostage by Hamas since that time until this day last year. During the attack, in which the terrorists dug underneath the border before emerging and subsequently spraying automatic fire and grenades, two IDF soldiers ( Pavel Slutsker and Chanan Barak, z'l) were killed and three other soldier were also wounded.  Gilad too was wounded when captured.

The IDF released this statement on his capture ..... "At 5:40 AM, a squad of terrorists from the Hamas and Popular Resistance Committee organizations, infiltrated into Israeli territory in the area of the Kerem Shalom and Sufa border crossings through a tunnel that was dug from the area of Rafah. The terrorists, under cover of mortar and anti-tank missile fire, attacked a number of military targets, among them a tank. IDF forces immediately responded in force, from which at least two of the terrorists were killed.  This terror attack was perpetrated with help from Hamas generals and had the go ahead from the Hamas leadership. The IDF subsequently holds the Palestinian Authority and the Hamas as responsible for this dastardly attack and for the fate of the kidnapped soldier".

The IDF immediately launched Operation Summer Rains in which infantry units advanced into Gaza in an attempt to secure the release the immediate release of Shalit. The operation though was unsuccessful and within a matter of weeks the Hezbollah abduction of soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev into Lebanon turned Israel's attention to their northern flank. Israel initially stated that it would not negotiate for the release of Shalit, but international intervention from Egypt, Germany and the European Union resulted in eventual efforts to work out an exchange deal.

On August 28th, 2011, Israel marked Shalit's twenty-fifth birthday,  his sixth in captivity.  In anticipation of his birthday, Shalit's parents ~ who had begun camping outside the Prime Minister's residence in Jerusalem as a sign of public protest more than a year earlier in 2010 ~ released a letter they hoped would reach Gilad.  In the letter, his parents wrote, "You must believe that we do not forget you, we do not forget the fact that next Sunday you will be 25 years old, that this is your sixth birthday in captivity, that more than a fifth of your young life has been spent in a dungeon, a Hamas pit."

The last sign of life released by Hamas had been in October 2009 when the terrorist organization released a video of the soldier in which a gaunt & subdued Shalit could be seen reading a written message that called on Prime Minister Netanyahu to do everything in his power to free him.  Hamas shrank from providing any other proof that Shalit was still alive despite repeated requests to do so.

Finally, on October 11th, 2011, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the signing of an  exchange deal to secure the release of Shalit. Put together with help from German mediators and the Egyptian government, the deal stipulates that Israel will release 1,027 palestinian prisoners in a staggered move over the following months. The Government approved the agreement by a large majority in its Cabinet of 26 ministers in favour and 3 against.  So, one Jewish life is worth 1,000 arab lives ..... and it was they who set this perameter.  Israel must remember it for the future!

During the discussions outlines were heard by the heads of the security services, Director of the Shin Bet Yoram Cohen, Chief of Staff Benny Gantz, Director of the Mossad Tamir Pardo. and the Prime Minister's special envoy to the negotiations David Meidan, presented the agreement and its various aspects and expressed their support in it.   But,  the decision to release mass murderers of Jews & Israeli's who would return to their genocidal goals upon release was a bitter and rancorous one. And,  Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu acknowledged .....  "This is a difficult decision to make, but a leadership is examined in moments like these, in its ability to make difficult decisions. I am bringing Gilad Shalit home, to his parents Noam and Aviva, his brother Yoel, his sister Hadas, his grandfather Zvi, and the people of Israel."

In the early afternoon of October 18th, 2011, One year ago today,  Sergeant Gilad Shalit was set free and returned to Israel and his waiting parents after 1,940 days in Hamas captivity.  Preliminary medical and psychological exams were performed on Shalit at an IDF base in the south of the country and he was deemed healthy and strong enough to meet his parents and travel home.  Shalit was promoted to the rank of Sergeant first class,  his Freedom purchased. Gilad is the first captured Israeli soldier to be released alive in 26 years.

I think the photographs above show the effect of his year at home ..... Shalom Gilad Shalit!!!!