Shabbat Shalom letter

100806



8th August 2010.



Shabbat Shalom



Am I the only person who thinks the world has gone crazy? It strikes me that lemmings are sane in comparison to the political and diplomatic cliff jumping which has been going on lately! Here are some examples…..



1. Israel asks UNIFIL for permission to repair border fence since UNIFIL cannot do so because they have no mandate to enter Israel or no-man's-land. The Lebanese Army picks upon the moment that Israel repairs the fence, from inside Israeli territory, to bring in its snipers to shoot two officers overseeing the workers killing one while seriously injuring the other. It was not a chance incident since the Lebanese army had brought along its media cameramen to film the scene! The foreign media blamed Israel for daring to shoot back and the UNIFIL people begged "both sides" to calm down. Lt Col Dov Harari was a real leader who at 45 could have asked for easier reserve duty but was deeply attached to his unit. Dov Harari is survived by his wife and four children. May his soul rest in peace as we all give thanks to him and his ilk for protecting us from the evil to our north. PM Netanyahu clearly asked the world to condemn Lebanese action. The most probable motive behind the incident was to detract media attention from the Hariri investigation. In the meantime Grad rockets fell on Ashkelon without a word of dismay or censure from tat same media. If you are an advertiser demand change or withdraw your advertising; if you own shares in a company which advertises do the same!



2. The first stage of approval for the Islamic Centre at the site of Ground Zero has been passed by the commission. If Americans - Jew and Christian, white, black and brown, do not get on their soap boxes and scream out of the insanity of their representatives - particularly New York Mayor Bloomberg - then you deserve all you get. Ground Zero is a blessed place where the ashes of those who died are interred and to allow the building of a Mosque is not only diabolical bad taste, it allows spiritual control to escape your hands.



3. President Peres is out of favour with the British leadership for calling them innately anti-Israel! Thank you Mr President – thank you for telling the Foreign Office and the BBC, both institutional, both Arabist, exactly what we all think! To prove his point look who has just been appointed to high position in the Foreign Office….. Simon Fraser who was sacked from his former position because of is pro-Palestinian stance. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/7920336/New-Foreign-Office-chief-Simon-Fraser-left-job-over-love-affair-with-PLO-official.html



4. British PM David Cameron stood up in Turkey denouncing Israel and demanded that the EEC accept Turkey into their club.

Shout and yell - these are YOUR representatives not someone on high who is allowed to do his own thing! Write letters – DO NOT TELL ME YOU WROTE ONCE AND DIDN'T GET A REPLY….WRITE A HUNDRED LETTERS IF YOU MUST! Make them polite or they will go in the bin but make them proud and determined and express your demands to bring forth a result.



5. Medicins sans Frontieres the French based organisation of doctors who go to war zones and famine to save lives, decided to shun the Israeli doctors who came all the way to Congo to save the lives of burn victims...... humanitarian to all but Jews? MSF has an apparent problem with one democratic Jewish State but is quite at ease with the existence and actions of 56 dysfunctional & corrupt Islamic states. As one critic has put it well, "These are Doctors With Borders - but without scruples." http://theredhunter.com/2009/04/doctors_without_borders_running_cover_for_terrorists.php



6. An attempt on the life of Ahmedinejad? Highly unlikely much more likely an attempt to save himself from his disfavour among his people.



7. Israeli Arabs, Members of Knesset travelled to the UK and reiterated their claim, very loudly, that Israel an Apartheid State. Are they insensitive or ignorant as to what really happened during South Africa's cruel Apartheid era? If Israel were really racist would they be Members of Knesset? Paradox, oxymoron or darned chutzpah? http://www.thejc.com/node/36323



8. Next time anyone talks to you about the Palestinian refugees show them this http://amanpour.blogs.cnn.com/2010/04/06/the-last-jews-of-baghdad/ and remember the nearly 900,000 Jewish refugees from Arab lands who are not recognized by any international organisations.





Brenda Kattan is one of my very favourite people. An exceptional spokesperson for Israel, her nobility of person and speech have survived Durban and many difficult forums. Brenda is an advocate of building ourselves an Israeli or better still, a Jewish Al Jazeera to put forward our point of view and reach a huge audience. http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-EdContributors/Article.aspx?id=183552 Brenda – love the idea but whither the money if people are apathetic about saving themselves? Maybe we should call it El haEmet?



Nick Cohen (non-Jewish, British, Left, Writer) in a brilliant article called Homage to Pilar Rahola trying to understand the idiocy and banality of leftist rationale on Israel and the Jews. http://standpointmag.co.uk/node/3117





Standwithus, gosh I can't praise them enough. Did you read about the amazing Humanitarian Medical Conference they held in July? It was organized by a group of Standwithus Fellows studying at Tel Aviv University. See the video and be very proud of our young people. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSiI_ZgzuAE



This week has been so hot that we only go to places that have AC!! The Israel Museum has reopened its doors after 4 years of total remodelling. It is now entirely indoors precluding that tiresome if beautiful walk out in the searing heat. The halls are enormous and the exhibits astonishing – from the Roman headstone for a 14 year old spinster (!) to the painted wooden Sukkah; from Herod's central heating pipes to the all of the 3 monotheistic religions; from the ancient synagogue of Soussia (called an illegal Jewish settlement by the UN and USA) to my favourite exhibit inside the Judaica halls – the Synagogues brought to the museum piece by piece and rebuilt lovingly. From Suriname, where Jews who fled Holland settled; Germany, Italy where Jews taken as slaves by Rome settled, Cochin where Jews who fled Russia settled – so much history. My favourite was from near Bamburg in Germany. Made of untreated simple planks of wood, each plank was lovingly painted in a very naïve pattern of flowers sowing the love put into this house of prayer. I strongly advise a visit to this museum – not just its Judaica but its outstanding modern and traditional art too. http://www.english.imjnet.org.il/htmls/home.aspx



Nattie and Merav are about to come to see us so Zvi is rushing from his Parliament at Angel's Bakery in the Petrol Station and I must bid you farewell to greet our lovely friends.



Dear Friends, Shabbat Shalom and please remember



ZIONISM IS NOT A DIRTY WORD; ZIONISM IS JEWISH PRIDE. We are one tiny weeny stretch of land in a huge mass of 56 Moslem States. A tiny country of enormous achievements.



With much love from Jerusalem

Sheila