Shabbat Shalom letter from Jerusalem

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Friday, 17th December, 2010

Shabbat Shalom and a wonderful Advent as the Christian world joyously moves toward Christmas Festivities

The United States feels that it is far from the fighting in the Middle East yet Ahmedinejads proxy is right on their doorstep and building an arsenal that should really concern the United States Government and the people of the USA. Chavez is not a joke, Chavez is a very, very dangerous megalomaniac who is willing to lie down with snakes to gain world domination.
Chavez gets better missiles http://www.cufi.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Brogs_blog

“Decoy Jew” is a new phrase in the Netherlands. Jews are no longer safe in major Dutch cities such as Amsterdam. Since 1999, Jewish organizations in the Netherlands have been complaining that Jews who walk the Dutch streets wearing skullcaps risk verbal and physical attacks by young Muslims. Being insulted, spat at or attacked are some of the risks associated with being recognizable as a Jew. It is often said that the Jews are the canary in the coalmine. When the Jews feel compelled to leave, the light of freedom is being extinguished. Something is badly wrong when the police need to deploy “decoy Jews.” Once again, the spectre of anti-Semitism is haunting Europe. If the Europeans do not stand with the Jews, they deserve no freedom themselves and cities such as Amsterdam and Antwerp will soon be Islamic cities. http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/4470

Kissinger, Court Jews and Anti-Semites by Isi Leibler

Few would be shocked with details of further anti-Semitic outbursts by former president Richard Nixon revealed in the latest transcripts of tapes released from the Nixon library. He was a vulgar man whose foul mouthing extended beyond Jews to Afro-Americans, Irish-Americans, Italian-Americans and other ethnic groups.

It is nevertheless ironic that Nixon's name tends to enrage most Jews who view him as an evil psychotic, whilst they continue to adore President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who during the Holocaust, denied entry to the US to Jews who could have been saved and was personally responsible for vetoing all efforts to intervene on behalf of European Jews being butchered by the Nazis. In fact, one could say that he acted in accordance with the Kissinger formula that "putting Jews into gas chambers was not an American concern."..............

To me, Nixon was the president who, despite his unsavory character and negative traits, will be recorded in history as the leader who during the 1973 Yom Kippur War overruled his Jewish Secretary of State who sought to delay arms to Israel in order to boost Sadat and make Israel more pliable in negotiating with the Egyptians. Nixon's massive weapons airlift provided Israel with desperately needed arms. That he harbored dark prejudices against American Jews [who voted overwhelmingly against him] but admired Israelis, is ultimately of minor consequence. We should remain eternally grateful to him for having avoided countless additional Israeli casualties and possibly even having averted a disaster for the Jewish State. http://wordfromjerusalem.com/?p=2629

Richard Holbrooke, American Diplomat supreme, who achieved the Dayton Accords which brought an end to the war in Bosnia, passed away this week. Dore Gold considers how very different the Middle East would look - If Holbrooke had been given the Israel-Palestinian file. http://www.jpost.com/Features/FrontLines/Article.aspx?id=199793

MK David Rotem was furious that the IDF conversions supervised by the Chief Rabbi of the IDF were being undermined by Rabbis whose children never went into the army or served Israel. His bill received a vast majority in the Knesset vote to accept IDF conversions. It is not acceptable that young people serve their country in IDF yet become second class citizens and have their conversions revoked retroactively. http://www.unitedjerusalem.org/index2.asp?id=1387253&Date=12/16/2010
Rabbis, raise your voices against extremism Isi Leibler http://wordfromjerusalem.com/?p=2624

While Israel is handing out free Christmas trees, and the Mayor of Jerusalem and Prime Minister Netanyahu are meeting and greeting leaders of Jerusalems 52 Christian denominations and preparing Jerusalem for the influx of Christian Tourism for the Holy Festival of Christmas; in almost all other countries in the Middle East Christians are oppressed and even killed. http://www.christiansofiraq.com/iraqswar-onchristians.html

Even more terrifying is the evidence given by captured Al Qaeeda operatives in Iraq of concrete plans for terror attacks in Europe and the USA over the Christmas period. Foul plans to kill on this joyous occasion makes me angry. When will we wake up? When will the idiotic need to kowtow, fawn and lick the boots of those very countries which threaten our very existence end? http://www.investigativeproject.org/2415/international-al-qaida-plots-include-us-as-target

Finally and at last I have been venturing out and meeting people again as my ankle allows me to do more and more things. It was so exciting for me to finally meet Barry Shaw and his beautiful wife Carol who came to the Inbal Hotel for the Honest Reporting conference (which I didn't make!). Barry is a wonderful writer and “hasbara” man who lives in Netanya – he wrote the now famous letter about Boycotting Israel -http://www.takeapen.org/english/Articles/Art04012005.htm
On Monday we were invited by Albert Dadon AM, Chairman of the Australia Israel Leadership Forum to a Dinner at the King David Hotel. Among the guests were Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and the wonderful Australian Ambassatrix to Israel Andrea Faulkner. Paul Israel is the appropriately named representative of the Forum in Israel and does a grand job of putting everything together. The event was greatly oversubscribed but it was to our advantage since we found ourselves at the same table as Itamar Marcus, one of my hasbara heroes, who runs the outstanding Palestinian Media Watch. http://www.palwatch.org/ I am happy to tell you that Itamar has decided to take on the plight of Christians in the Middle East as one of the NGO's projects.

On Tuesday we went to our lovely friends the Resslers in Tel Aviv for an amazing dinner at which we met a lovely couple from Texas here to set up the Israeli gas prospecting, the President of the Diplomatic Women and just delightful people. Life is becoming so much more than my bed and the orthopaedic surgeon!!!

Jerusalem is closing down. Zvi has gone to a rehearsal for his choir and I have finished the cooking and preparation for Shabbat. The bright skies are turning a gentler blue and the skyline becomes sharper as the sun goes down in the sky. The horrendous rains and sandstorms of last weekend are past and the city is sparkling again. The aromas rise and every Kurdish Israeli sits down to a Friday lunch of Kubeh soup, the aroma of Chicken soup and kneidlach sit on my senses together with the stuffed vegetables and spicy fish of the Eastern Jews. Life here is amazing, as varied as the culinary delights! Next week I will hopefully tell you of my visit to Shouk Mahane Yehuda with Judith.
I wish you a Shabbat Shalom and peaceful Sabbath, and pray that we will all have a truly joyous holiday period whereby our enemies will be recognised and the world will understand that the battle has nothing to do with a few houses being built in Jerusalem
With much love
Sheila

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