Dan Leubitz says.

Age Of Entitlement

2009-06-11T06:02:00.001-07:00

Americans have fallen into a pit of self-delusion and it keeps getting deeper. The delusion is that, whether it be our government, parents, teachers, employers or simply society in general, people are somehow entitled to benefits they did not earn.

When the obamas are serving hot food to people who buy a phone whose cost is the annual wage of those in developing countries.. there is a problem. Michele can feel good about herself while she doles out hot food to a man geared in a 300$ blackberry with 100$ service, but who is paying for that Government hand out? When we are being told by this spending government, that obamas 500 billion per year increase over Bushs spending will jump start the economy, they fail to mention how feeding the entitled is supposed to help.

Who is demonstrating to the poor blackberry universe that they are NOT entitled to hot handouts, and that things in life must be earned. When you take money from Peter to pay Paul, you will always have the support of Paul

Jewish Response To Obamas Speech

2009-06-09T09:27:00.000-07:00

In the land of Pharoh Obama

2009-06-08T12:00:00.000-07:00

The Economy was in shambles, and the world focused on the great empire, the kings ( pharoh) of the last empire decided to heed the recommendations of his jewish financial adviser, greenspan. For a while , this deed found favor in the natives, and the Jewish advisers national homeland.

Time passed, and the pharoh had forgoten all that which was done, and began to treat the Jews with heavy hand. The Jews began to cry out, but Pharoh heard no cry, as he surrounded himself with those who believed as he did.

Pharoh heard that the Jews were getting stronger and that great leadership was about to be born that would compromise his plans. Pharoh decided that if Jews were naturally going to gain strength that he would have put an end to this by any means.

The Pharoh, ordered his henchmen to put a halt to any natural growth, if any Jew were to have a child, that child would not be allowed more room in the families dwelling, Families were to have funds stripped and taxes waged that would make it impossible for the Jewish to have more children.

The Jewish familes cried out, let our people grow!

Pharoh wanted no part in this and the lord made his heart heavy. A plague befell the empire, one that had never occured in its time, death greeted the healthy and young, the strong and mighty. And the Jews cried out ! let our people grow... yet the lord hardened the pharohs heart once again.

One by one the empires largest industries began to tumble, unable to stop the inevitable crisis, the pharoh, tried to empty the coffers in an attempt to halt the hand of g-d. Yet, his efforts proved fruitless as the natives became desperate for work, and the coffers were becoming empty.

Once again the Jews cried out. LET MY PEOPLE GROW...

Story to be continued as time ticks on.

Obamas history lesson

2009-06-07T23:23:00.000-07:00

His eloquence and stage presence seem to take even the academics off guard. For those who remain on steady ground, Obama's romanticized talk of peace and tranquility drops even the finest.

When Obama spoke in Cairo, addressing a moderate Egypt and an extreme axis of evil, he excelled with rule one for any public speaker, know your audience. He began with a consolatory message, with sound bits of not being in a war against islam, meant to disarm those who have been using that mantra to enlist soldiers in that very war.

He spoke of moderation, which may or may have not influenced Lebanons elections to side with the March Alliance.

Yet, he was not simply here as a speaker, he was here as a salesmen, and the US pitch to the extreme voice was scapegoating Israel. In proper form he began with a compliment, by reaffirming the US friendship with Israel, and saying something nice and about the shared ideals between the 2 countries. This of course was met with silence from the floor, but every Bernie & Ruth across the 80% of american Jewry, were no doubt standing in ovation.

Then the other foot hit the floor, now American Jewry all buttered up, Obama begins his historically inaccurate moral equivalency pitch.

Obama began to talk about the Holocaust, and those who negate it.. and then.. the famous words "On the other hand.." In 4 words Obama compared the tragedy of 6 million to the "Resistance" and Intifada of Arabs in Israel. This comparison is very similar to Ahmadinjenad has been saying for years, why should Arabs have to atone for Europes sins? As to suggest that the only reason Israel existed was from the ashes of the Holocaust.

Recall some history
1890 Dryfus Affair
1896 Theodore Herzl wrote Der Judenstaat (The Jewish State, 1896)
1903 Kishinev pogrom Ze'ev Jabotinsky joined the Zionist movement
1917 British issued the Balfour Declaration,
1920, Jabotinsky promotes to establish a modern Jewish state with the help and aid of the British Empire.
1936, Jabotinsky prepared the so-called 'evacuation plan', which called for the evacuation of the entire Jewish population of Poland, Hungary and Romania to Palestine.
1933–1939 HoloCaust
White Paper of 1939
1948 Israel is Born

It is historically accurate to say that the Shoah, (Holocaust) delayed the state of Israel. The dryfus affair and Pogroms prior to Shoah, already had the gears in motion to evacuate the Diaspora. If the British would have allowed more boats to enter then palestine, the world would have different reality.

The State of Israel was born not of the Holocause like Iran & Obama would like you believe, but from the knowledge the world is hostile place when Jews cant defend themselves as an independent people.

ON THE OTHER HAND.
1920 Hebron Massacre ( arabs kill Jewish inhabitants of Hebron)
1936 Arab Revolt against the British led by Haj Amin Al-Husseini.
1948 Declaration of Israel as the Jewish State; British leave Palestine; Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia declared war on Israel.
1964 following an earlier decision of the Arab League, PLO created with goal of the liberation of Palestine through armed struggle.
1967 6- Day war
1971 Surprise attack on the Jewish day of atonement.
1982 Israel strikes PLO terror cells in Lebanon
1993 Oslo

Feel free to insert the thousands of acts of palestinian terror, or as Obama calls it "60 years of suffering" as mapped out here

For Obama to place zionism after the Shoah, is simply towing the arab line in an act to throw Israel to the dogs.

Now Obamas speech moves on to calling for an end to settlements, and Natural growth. Can you imagine, if Israel called an end to natural growth in arab cities? If Israel said as Obamas has, that from here on out, we are going to make if difficult for you to reproduce. If you have a chid, you can not build a room for him, and when that child gets older, he can not live in your city. Every Bernie from NY to Cali would be an uproar, the leftists would yell ethnic cleansing and racism. It would be compared to the Egyptians throwing babies into the Nile.

So I ask, where is the uproar? Obama has asked for UnNatural Shrinkage, to demand Israel take on mother nature herself. Yet the same human rights activists who demand the removal of checkpoints on humanitarian grounds find Obamas demand moral and just.

Even if you believe the settlements are an obstacle to peace, do you 1st create the environment in which israels feel safe and thus unable to hold on to the claim that there is a security risk? Or do you ask Israelis to give up the high positions in "hope" that things will be ok. Obamas mantra as we know, was hope and change, and thus we understand why this convoluted approach is emanating from the former community organizer.

If Israel , as it did with Gaza and Lebanon, pulls out of the west bank, under an arab lull in violence, then upon completion of the pull back, spits in the face of Obama ( as N'Korea s doing now) and launches an attack that rains rockets down on every city. What is the recourse? Do we tell all 350,000 people to go back into their razed homes? Do we ask for a mulligan ? It is simply unheard of that Obama ask Israel to do anything with the settlements until Hamas has been dismantled, Iran neutralized & Moderate arab states open up full diplomacy with Israel.

The Arab world knows as does N' Korea, that Obamas administration is serving dishes of hot words, sprinkled with sanctions which simply feed into the enemies hands. Thus, Obama can not force peace on the arab nations, but he is able to Push israel, and if that is the only pawn he has to play, with 80% of American Jewry behind him, this is a play he wont back down from. Abbas, has said this publicly as have other leaders,, simply wait for Obama to dismantle Israels leadership and the West bank, then we can continue in our "struggle" to dismantle the state of Israel with weapons of demographics and ultimately a war on the a indefensible border.

Obamas speech was written and scoured over, and if nothing he said worried you, then i fear you will accept just about anything he says.

Will the Jews Obsession with Obama outweigh their vestigial ethno-religious pull of affection for the Jewish state.

2009-06-07T03:34:00.000-07:00

Will the Jews Obsession with Obama outweigh their vestigial ethno-religious pull of affection for the Jewish state.?

Obama's insistence on picking a fight with Israel over settlements rather than prioritizing the menace from Iran is puzzling, since more concessions on settlements are unlikely to advance the peace process with a toothless Palestinian Authority or its Hamas rivals, neither of which have much interest in accepting a two-state solution that most Israelis already support. It is as if Obama has decided that pressure aimed at ousting Netanyahu, who was elected in February, is more important than confronting the ayatollahs in Teheran, even if it means the latter will almost certainly be granted the time to advance their nuclear ambitions.. Read More

Obama Speech

2009-06-07T01:10:00.000-07:00

1. Obama doesn't have to use the word terrorist in orderto make the point that it's wrong and we're against it, which he did

Tll today they are scraping through his speech.. you must know that every word he uses is mulled through and had 3 pages of notes behind it. The fact that he used the word "Violent extremists" & "resistance" is tantamount to calling the people who ran their plane into the trade centers by the same very name. There are many that would take offense to that.

2. Obama never at any point compared the Holocaust to the Palestinian situation.

Holocaust reference then:
"On the other hand, it is also undeniable that the Palestinian people -- Muslims and Christians -- have suffered in pursuit of a homeland. For more than 60 years..

This is a historically incorrect moral equivalency. Joe lost 10 dollars, On the other hand John's cat got run over. this denotes that this is a 0 sum game and that both grievances share equal weight.
Also note the time frame 60 years " How were they suffering any more 1 day after israel took over from the British

3. There are many who would like to take Obamas speech as the emotional dribble that it was.. i would love to simply say Islam could live in harmony with the west or that the word "peace" wasnt different then the west.
Salam comes from the word "completeness" ie, that the world will be at peace when everyone adheres to shariah law, and the non believers are either converted or killed

Koran" Lo! those who disbelieve, among the People of the Scripture and the idolaters, will abide in fire of hell. They are the worst of created beings"
... Read More
There is a reason policemen carry a weapon, and not thesaurus. Peace historically has simply been a pause between wars. Obama may have a new way of looking at things, but what is the price if this is incorrect?

Id rather the smoking gun not come in the form on an iranian /nkorea nuke cloud

2009-06-04T12:12:00.001-07:00

“Obama spoke more from his own heart and less from genuine understanding of the direction Islam is taking around the world. Whoever thinks that the establishment of a Palestinian state will stop the war in Darfur, India, Chechnya, and Europe will apparently soon learn that Israel is not willing to be the ‘pound of flesh’ that he wants to throw to the Muslims.”

NoBama, you cant. and wont expel jews from their land

2009-06-04T02:53:00.000-07:00

My name is Zahava Englard. I made aliyah 3 years ago and I live in the Judean Hills, the heartland of Israel. I have one son in the army and yet another scheduled to go in, in the coming year. And, one thing is for sure, my sons did not come to live in this land and join as proud soldiers of Israel’s Defense Forces in order to carry out President Obama’s destructive policy of chasing out our own people from our own land.

We, the Jewish people, the only legitimate heir to the Land of Israel have but one authority to adhere to. And, the last time I checked, God does not reside at the White House, or at the State Department.

Apparently, President Barak Hussein Obama is looking to make new friends. He is looking to make friends with those among the Arab nations who support, train, finance and harbor terrorists. To this end, General Keith Dayton’s term has been extended in order to train the so-called Palestinian army at the U.S. taxpayer’s expense - an army that will indubitably be used against the Jewish people.
To this end, Obama has concocted a Middle Eastern policy borne out of ignorance and arrogance. Ignorance in not realizing that a policy based on apologetic appeasement is translated by the Arab mentality as a posture of weakness. Arrogance, in thinking that he can persuade Iran to relinquish their nuclear agenda by using his electioneering charisma.
To this end, Obama has surrounded himself with delusional anti Israel protagonists such as the likes of John Zogby, Hillary Clinton, Samantha Powers, Emanuel Rahm, and George Mitchell to name a few.

You can go ahead and try to make new friends President Obama. Moreover, at the expense of your own country’s national security, you can continue to ignore the real threat of global jihad from the very creatures you wish to cultivate as allies while you repudiate and isolate Israel, the only true ally the United States has in the Middle East. But, we promise you this, you will not buy your new friends with Jewish blood.

We the Jewish people have survived and stood up to 2000 years worth of nations, empires and various entities who rose to destroy us. Yet, we have not only survived. Indeed, we have risen out of the ashes of Europe and persevered to return with the help of God to our God given land, to re-establish our sovereignty over this Jewish Land- our Land of Israel. What, President Barack Hussein Obama, makes YOU think that you will succeed in destroying us where others have not. I have three words for you in this respect:
NO YOU CAN’T.

We will not lay down our arms; we will not relinquish our land. Apparently they must have skipped over this little fact in your history class back in Indonesia, and that is, while foreign armies and empires may have ransacked and ravaged the land as they passed through here throughout the ages, we, the nation of Israel, are the only people on this earth to have ever established a sovereign state on this, our Holy Land. The land of Israel in its entirety belongs to the Jewish people alone.
The so-called “Two State Solution” is an oxymoron in and of itself. It has become a code word. A code word used by the U.S. State Department, the European Quartet and the Arab conglomerate of terrorists – as a gentleman’s way (if you will) of begetting the destruction of Israel and the Jewish people.

We, the Jewish People of Israel are Jerusalem. We are Haifa, we are Shechem. We are Migron, Judea, Hevron, we are Tel Aviv, we are Takoa, Yitzhar, Maaleh Rechavam, Shdema and we are Kiryat Arbah.

As far as stopping the settlements, President Barak Hussein Obama? NO YOU CAN’T.

Obama unfair moderator

2009-05-30T23:27:00.001-07:00

It is very clear that Obama's policies go against Israel's majority government. To be a broker, you have to be unbiased in objective, to line your team with those who call for the US to cease its funding in Israel, kinda of places you as an unfair broker.

Israel's destiny and policy will be determined by her alone. For any person to believe that... Read More Irans extremism has anything to do with a family adding an extension to his house is simply outlandish. Creating this moral equivalence is faulted at its very root. Telling a population that it cant grow naturally, as a prerequisite to anything is at best absurd. Peace in the region will only occur when Arabs want it.. you have be a friendly neighbor before you're invited in for a drink.

We have seen that when israel opens its doors first ( Lebanon pull back, gaza expulsion ) it is ALWAYS met with violence and rockets. The US should recognize that, and insist on israels neighbors to act like decent neighbors as a pre-requisite.

US Spending

2009-05-30T23:26:00.002-07:00

some of those policies starting from regan had some net benefits like federal revenues growing at a faster pace after the Reagans tax cuts than after the Bush and Clinton tax hikes.

Regan inherited a %20 revenues as a share of GDP, after regan %19.2. There are those who would argue reganomics had less to do with deficits then is assumed. Only once dems took over did personal revenues drop, and thus taxable income as a whole.

The current deficit spending doesnt seem to be doing much. I would think the government would want to decrease its own spending.. get items out of the hands of the government.. decrease its footprint.. & invest in companies that show promise. ... Read More

Socialism is expensive, the question is who pays.

Obama Spending

2009-05-30T23:26:00.001-07:00

Regarding Spending... Bush spent like a man with deep pockets.. and it drove the dems mad.. Yet, Obama plans to spend $4.9 trillion in 2018, about $550 billion higher than the Congressional Budget Office projection.

http://www.cbo.gov/

this 500 BILLION increase in spending is with an expected 300 Billion dollar DECREASE in taxes. The graph shown is grim.. but unless obama does a 180, this graph will continue to worsen.

Regarding the 80% of the USJewry who voted Obama

2009-05-30T23:25:00.000-07:00

Regarding the 80%

Regarding the 'Jewish' Vote
US Jewish Stats.
44 percent dont belong to any Jewish group; ... Read More
28 percent were "moderately affiliated"
---
72% of Jewish voters who have no or little affiliation with anything jewish.

which is probably why ,without coincidence, .. 44% of the same demographic voted for Carter in 1980.

Those who voted for the current administration did so knowing full well the ramifications on Israel.. which is also why only 31% of Israelis call Obama 'pro-Israel'

There is really no argument that the previous administration was friendlier to securing Israels borders & a unified Jerusalem.

It is disheartening that while Korea,Iran & Venezuela mock the US and its inability to enforce anything.. that Obama's dream team, incorrectly concludes that iran and the mid east would become less extreme if Israel capitulates to terror.

But i am an optimist, smart people learn from their mistakes well see how long it takes for this Administration to do so..

Bush's Road map

2009-05-30T23:24:00.000-07:00

'my boy' about road map
.."In light of new realities on the ground, including already existing major Israeli population centers, it is unrealistic that the outcome of final status negotiations will be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949, and all previous efforts to negotiate a two-state solution have reached the same conclusion.... "

Compare this to the current dream team , Hillary Clinton, Susan Rice,Lee Hamilton,Samantha Power, James bakers.., policy on Israel and its borders.
... Read More
Decent article about who to blame:

http://thebulletin.us/articles/2009/05/20/commentary/op-eds/doc4a13e999159c1852234066.txt

2009-05-04T12:11:00.001-07:00

'With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?'

Efrat Tekes

2009-04-30T01:40:00.001-07:00

Just wanted to express a sentiment that i dont think was covered concerning the tekes.

Wanted to preface, that from where i was sitting, people were having a blast.. we were moved from the solemn Yom hazikaron to festive Yom Haatzmaut, by music and multimedia.. from children with their shofrot, to 2 energetic MC's..

This is our 3rd year in the country, and my 2nd time spending Y"H with Efrat.

We ended our day with Efrats tekes, which as a romantic zionist oleh, had my famly sitting with yours, on a hill viewing the sliver of the moon.

We were moved by the solemn programming for yom hazikaron,

We were uplifted by the songs and music ,(although we had to move from our spots as the MC's had the noar jumping out of their collective skins)

We appreciated being there, we appreciated the different walks of life that appeared on stage, and saw the tekes for what it was, not what it was not.

The very next day we went to Eitam..and continued viewing israel in a different light and from different perspectives. We walked the country and thanked hashem for every inch.

Im sure you were able to celebrate the day in many different ways as well.

We all have our suggestions and feelings about the tekes...
but i enjoyed spending the evening with you,
i enjoyed the fireworks and the fire dancer..
i enjoyed watching my childrens faces as each act appeared.

Yes, Things can always be made better.. but i think the day after, when the high of our countries success is still running deep, perhaps, to lighten up a tad.

Express your concerns through the proper channels, get involved for the years to come.. and allow one of the few days Efrat gets together as a yishuv to resonate.

I want to thank those involved for preparing the event, thank those who secured the event.. Any event that is prepared is bound to insult & complement, bound to bring praise and condemnation.. applause and Jeers.. and knowing that in advance and preparing the event anyway takes a a thick skin.. we thank you for what im sure was weeks of preparation.

On topic, Nadia put together a great event on Eitam, with very little time to prepare.. music, and events.... Being at both events really gave us the full experience.

In conclusion;) I was moved by seeing efrat on one hill, i was moved and privileged to spend an evening commemorating & celebrating with you,our neighbors.

Dan Leubitz

Durban II reply

2009-04-28T03:18:00.000-07:00

Reply to:
http://nohjott.blogspot.com/2009/04/racist-israel-vs-durban-conference.html

Too many faulted arguements to address, but lets take on a few shall we:

1."anti-Zionist are not anti-Semitic. "

An anti-zionist would say "israel shouldnt exist"
as a country for whatever reason they subscribe to. There are Christian Zionists and others who this group would appose.

Anti-semetic would say" The Holocaust didnt happen, or to the extent dictated in history" notables are David Duke (KKK)

Figures like Ahmadinejad, attempt to blur the line and to use Anti-zionist comments to hide his anti-semetic "wipe them off the map" agenda's.

2. .., who chooses a small group of people over the rest of his children,

though you attempt to place this religious thought on zionist jews, Jews being a chosen people is a basic tenant of Judaism it self.

All religious jews, thank g-d for choosing them as a chosen people and say a prayer of thanks 3 times a week.

To target this belief is targeting Judiasm as a whole.

It is no secret that the Koran permits the very evil that you project to Judaism.

"O Prophet! Exhort the believers to fight. If there are 20 steadfast men among you, they shall vanquish 200; and if there are a hundred, they shall rout a thousand unbelievers, for they are devoid of understanding. - 8:65"

The unbelievers among the People of the Book and the pagans shall burn forever in the fire of hell. They are the vilest of all creatures. - 98:51

Islam has proven to not just be a religion of words, as can been seen with wars in every single 22 arab countries.. especially Darfur.

Even within arab camps, Sunni Vs. Shite, Hamas Vs Plo.. Jordan Vs. palestinians. death and destruction and dying in the name of islam prevails.

It is hard to introspect into the evil that has grown like a cancer within Islam. The number of deaths that have been associated with Israel, occur in a single day in countries like Darfur by the hands of muslims..

No religion is without fault.. but the desire to correct oneself should be first, then the world around you.

2009-04-24T04:49:00.001-07:00

You can keep the change: United States President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are considering taking steps against Israel if it takes military action against Iran's nuclear threat,

2009-04-21T14:06:00.001-07:00

Own your very own Mootoon cartoon signed by the artist! http://ping.fm/xy1CL

2009-04-21T07:13:00.001-07:00

Iran further distances itself as it assaults Eli Wiesel, though protestors returned calls of racist to Iran. http://ping.fm/QVjG6

2009-04-21T07:07:00.001-07:00

Durban ii cake: http://ping.fm/b9eAb

2009-03-23T04:19:00.001-07:00

thought of the day.The problem with socialism, is that you eventually run out of other peoples' money.

2009-03-14T11:50:00.001-07:00

is watching blazing saddles

2009-03-08T10:58:00.001-07:00

who remembers http://ping.fm/2k38p

2009-03-03T13:59:00.003-08:00

Happy squre root day.. next one is 4 -4 -2016

2009-03-03T13:59:00.001-08:00

Happy Square root day

2009-03-02T06:14:00.001-08:00

The Obama Administration Double-Deals On Israel. flip flops on Durbin II .. this is what he meant by "change"

2009-02-25T03:13:00.001-08:00

3 days till Depeche Mode Tour of the Universe tickets go on sale...who is in?

2009-02-22T13:00:00.001-08:00

is reading on how America is going to participate in Durbin 2... so thats what he meant by 'change'

2009-02-19T14:22:00.001-08:00

looks like the wedding is over.. Obama Disapproval rating has jumped 9%+ - since his election..

2009-02-16T01:35:00.001-08:00

i can relate : http://ping.fm/SULDm

2009-02-02T04:38:00.001-08:00

unconventional best man speech http://ping.fm/PKxbA

2009-01-22T15:05:00.001-08:00

for a moment thought George Michael was named US Mideast Envoy...

2009-01-22T14:21:00.001-08:00

sex bomb is not a trashy song

2009-01-22T11:59:00.001-08:00

now this is funny : http://ping.fm/XI5zC

2009-01-22T11:12:00.001-08:00

Please Digg: http://ping.fm/w7bIg

2009-01-20T08:52:00.000-08:00

Hamas breaks cease fire yet again as on Tuesday mortars were launched into israel, israel has responded.

2009-01-16T02:40:00.001-08:00

anti air craft found in gazan places of worship http://ping.fm/h82d4

2009-01-14T02:57:00.001-08:00

watch israel transfer hundreds of trucks worth of humanitarian goods to gaza while under fire http://ping.fm/yEji9

2009-01-11T22:58:00.001-08:00

hamas boobytraps school: http://ping.fm/qu5Qq

2009-01-09T05:05:00.001-08:00

anyone have access to lexisnexis or like to get archive of: [FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, MAY 18, 1994] Despite Peace Pact, Jerusalem's Holy Sites Keep Passions burning

Old article from 1994

2009-01-09T04:35:00.000-08:00

YASSER ARAFAT (Senate - May 18, 1994)

[Page: S5912]

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I have informed the managers of my interest in speaking for just a few moments on a matter of substantial importance. I shall be brief because I know the managers want to proceed with the bill.

I want to call my colleagues' attention to a tape recording of PLO Chief Yasser Arafat urging a holy war on Jerusalem which poses a clear and present danger of additional violence, notwithstanding the commitments of the PLO and Arafat in the Israeli-PLO accord and which threatens peace in the Mideast.

This is a matter that the Congress of the United States and the Senate of the United States and really all Americans are going to have to be concerned about in light of what is happening in the Mideast and in light of the very substantial commitments which the Israelis have made in the Israeli-PLO accord and which the United States has made in backing up that accord.

We are going to have to be insistent and make no mistake about our demands that the commitments of the PLO be maintained. What has apparently happened here, from all the news reports, is that when Arafat was in Johannesburg attending the inauguration of President Nelson Mandela, he was speaking in a mosque where they could not understand Arabic. Arafat spoke in English and talked about a jihad or a holy war in order to retake Jerusalem. And now Arafat apparently in Oslo today has said that the jihad, which is the word for a holy war, was really meant to be an effort to peacefully take Jerusalem.

Mr. President, that simply does not wash. You have a very volatile situation in the Mideast at the present time.

In an extensive article in today's New York Times which cites the violence, there is the report of the shooting to death of two Israeli settlers by Islamic militants just south of the West Bank town of Hebron. There is a reference in this article to the at-risk position of some 5,000 Israeli settlers on the Gaza Strip, and a citation and the reference here to some 130,000 settlers in Israeli-held territory which will be turned over to the PLO, and an especially high-risk situation for some 450 settlers referred to in this perennial flash point where religious and nationalistic feelings are especially intense.

The mayor of Jerusalem, Mayor Ehud Olmert, has called upon Arafat for a specific apology and for a specific declaration that the PLO will be following and observing their commitments under the Israeli-PLO accord.

Mr. President, there has been very substantial evidence of violations by the PLO. They have been logged by the Zionist Organization of America, by the national president, Mr. Morton A. Klein, a very distinguished Philadelphian who brings these matters to my attention with regularity, and to others in this body. And I, in turn, bring these matters to the attention of my colleagues.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that at the conclusion of my comments a full statement of the Associated Press dispatch from May 17 be printed in the Congressional Record which recites the background of the tape recording of Arafat's call for a holy war; that the summary of the ZOA reports on violations for the week of May 4 through May 11 and the week of May 11 through May 18 be included in the Record, together with the article from the New York Times from today, May 18, which sets forth in some detail the background of what will enable me to abbreviate my comments at the present time.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

(See exhibit 1.)

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, there is a somewhat longer article which appears in today's Wall Street Journal which details the background of the controversy over the holy sites and sets forth in some detail the concerns of Jerusalem's Mayor Ehud Olmert about Arafat's vow to pray in Jerusalem, which is a matter of some historical importance, and puts in perspective the current controversy.

I ask unanimous consent that be printed in the Record at the conclusion of my remarks as well.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

(See exhibit 2.)

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, in essence, we are facing a situation of tremendous tension. I am concerned about it as a U.S. Senator. I am concerned about it also in terms of the reports which I have received a few months ago from relatives who live in Jerusalem. Within the past hour and a half I talked to my sister, Hilda Specter Morgenstern and her husband, Arthur Morgenstern, who relate to me the on-the-spot concerns in Jerusalem about what is happening.

It was a historic moment when President Clinton--and I again compliment him for what he did on September 13 of last year in bringing together Arafat and Rabin on the White House lawn. It was a moment for me of some mixed emotions seeing Arafat honored at the White House of the United States of America after his long, notorious record for terrorism, including the murder of the U.S. Charge d'Affaires in 1974, and for the PLO's complicity, and Arafat's personal complicity, for the murder of Mr. Klinghoffer on the Achille Lauro and for what has happened.

But when the Israelis and Prime Minister Rabin are willing to make this arrangement, it seems to me the United States ought to be supportive. But when these acts of violence continue, and when Arafat, the signatory to these arrangements, who has made the promises all around the world, promises which I heard personally when a good many Senators had a chance to meet with Arafat, it seems to me that this is something which the Senate has to focus on, the Congress has to focus on, and America has to focus on to see to it that these commitments that Arafat has made are lived up to;

and that we not permit him to talk where he thinks he is off the record, talking secretly and talking about the jihad, a holy war, and we have to insist that those commitments be maintained.

I thank my colleagues for these few moments.

I yield the floor.

[Page: S5913]

Exhibit 1

From the Wall Street Journal, May 18, 1994

[FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, MAY 18, 1994]

Despite Peace Pact, Jerusalem's Holy Sites Keep Passions Burning

(BY PETER WALDMAN)

Jerusalem: In a few weeks, shortly after he settles into his new home in Jericho, Yasser Arafat hopes to make the 30-minute drive through the Judean hills to pray here at the al-Aqsa mosque.

Ehud Olmert, Jerusalem's mayor, has vowed to rally 500,000 Jews to stop him. Bloodshed from an Arafat pilgrimage, the mayor has predicted, will cause `10 times' more victims than February's Hebron massacre, in which a Jewish extremist killed 30 Palestinians.

With the signing of the Gaza-Jericho peace pact in Cairo, the Israeli and Palestinian haggling over postage stamps and passports is nearly finished for now. But as the pique over Mr. Arafat's proposed pilgrimage to Jerusalem suggests, the most volatile issues between Muslim and Jew remain far from resolved. Chief among them is the abiding dispute over the spot here known to Jews as the Temple Mount. The ancient stone plaza, where King Solomon's temple once stood, holds the Aqsa mosque and the gold-plated Dome of the Rock, Islam's third-holiest shrine.

AGE-OLD CONFLICT

As Mr. Arafat and the PLO edge ever closer to Jerusalem, this age-old conflict is only getting more explosive.

`In very, very sanguine terms,' says Joel Lerner, an Israeli and self-described freelance scholar, `if the Hebron incident derailed the peace process for a month, a vaguely similar operation on the Temple Mount would derail it forever.'

Mr. Lerner, an Orthodox Jew from New York, ought to know. He has spent six of the past 20 years in Israeli prisons for conspiring to blow up the Dome of the Rock and for plotting a religious coup against the Israeli government.

As hard as the peace negotiators have tried, the scared and the secular cannot be separated in the holy land. In Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin, the PLO and Israel have come close. Both leaders are pragmatic centrists who have long eschewed religious zealotry. But their peace treaty, based on their common secular ground and focusing on things like police powers, education and taxes, necessarily skirts the religious heart of the conflict: Who, in the end, will rule the holy sites in
Jerusalem? Until that dispute is resolved, coexistence will remain dicey.

In the Cairo agreement, `Religious Affairs' are relegated to item No. 15 in a 38-point list of powers being transferred to the Palestinians. The accord pledges free access to all religious sites in the PLO's domain. Beyond that, it preserves Israeli control over an ancient synagogue in Jericho, and grants Palestinians power over a 13th-century mosque near Jericho where Muslims believe Moses is buried. Finally, on at least three occasions a year, it gives pilgrims the right to visit, `under the Palestinian flag,' the site called al-Maghtas on the Jordan River, the spot where John the Baptist is believed to have baptized Jesus.

The accord doesn't mention Jerusalem or its sacred sites--dilemmas that the PLO and Israel have agreed to postpone until `final-status negotiations' begin in two years. Despite Mr. Arafat's often-expressed desire to pray at the Aqsa mosque, Oded Ben-Ami, a spokesman for Prime Minister Rabin, says the PLO leader has not raised the issue of a visit and that, for the moment, such a pilgrimage remains `hypothetical.'

Still, swords have already been drawn. In an overpowering image of where Mr. Arafat believes he is heading, a massive color photograph of the Dome of the Rock papers the wall behind his desk in Tunis. Jordan's King Hussein, who has never renounced custody of the Jerusalem shrines since losing them in the 1967 war, has commissioned archaeologists to prove Jerusalem was an Arab city before Jews settled here 3,000 years ago. And in his cave-like office beneath the Dome of the Rock, Sheik Mohammed Said al-Jamel, the cleric in charge, heaps scorn on Jewish claims to the Temple Mount. `All that they believe is superstition,' he says.

Nor are militant Jews watching all this from the sidelines. Since the Hebron massacre, police have detained a dozen or so alleged Jewish extremists without charges, and revoked the gun permits of some 50 others. But these people comprise just a small fraction of the thousands of ardent, messianic Jews living in Israel and the occupied territories.

For the messianists, the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 and its expansion to its biblical borders in 1967 began nothing less than a process of divine redemption that must now continue at all costs.

The heart and soul of messianic Judaism is the 3,000-year-old Temple Mount, or what Muslims call in Arabic al Haram ash
Sharif. The tree-lined rectangular area, roughly the size of three football fields, is so hotly contested by Muslims and Jews that no Israeli government, since capturing the site in 1967, has had the nerve to seize it from its Muslim administrators.

To messianic Jews, continued Muslim control of the Temple Mount constitutes an insufferable indignity.

`Until the holy of holies is under our sovereignty, it means we're still living in the Diaspora,' say Rabbi Shlomo Goren, one of Israel's pre-eminent religious figures and the army rabbi who blew the shofar, or ram's horn, when Israeli troops captured the Temple Mount in 1967. `It means we are not yet living in a Jewish state.'

Jews believe the Temple Mount is where Abraham bound his son Isaac for sacrifice, where Solomon erected the so-called First Temple for prayer and animal offerings, and where it was later rebuilt by Herod the Great.

After the Romans destroyed the Second Temple in 70 A.D., Jews have longed to rebuild a third one. Many messianic Jews believe a third temple is a prerequisite for the coming of the Messiah.

`Since the Romans destroyed the Second Temple, it's as if Judaism has had its heart extracted and is living on borrowed time,' says Mr. Lerner.

There is one big problem: For the past 1,200 years, the Temple Mount has been the foundation of the Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock, which covers the spot from where Muslims believe Mohammed ascended to heaven on a staircase of light. Jews haven't been allowed to pray regularly at the site for at least a millennium.

That is why Mr. Arafat's plans to pray on the Temple Mount pose such an affront to many Jews today. Not only does the PLO leader remain reviled in Israel for directing terrorism against the Jewish state, but equally important, his claim to Jerusalem threatens to interfere with Jewish destiny, messianic Jews believe. Jerusalem's Mayor Olmert recently expressed this fear in a different way to the Jerusalem Report magazine, warning that if Mr. Arafat ascends the Temple Mount to pray, he will declare a Palestinian state and never leave.

To counterattack, militant Jews have embarked on a campaign to get Muslims off the Temple Mount once and for all.

`We are living at a time when God is correcting the mistakes of history,' says Gershon Salomon, a history professor and leader of Temple Mount Faithful, a Jewish group dedicated to wresting control of the sacred site. `Al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock must be removed back to Mecca, the place from where they came. We will rebuild them stone by stone. We have the means to do it.'

Though the Temple Mount has become a lightning rod for Jewish extremists, most less-religious Jews--inside and outside Israel--don't give the sacred site much thought these days. The Reform movement's prayer book doesn't even mention the ancient temple rituals, although nearly
one-quarter of the Torah's 613 laws deal with the temple's animal sacrifices, writes Rabbi Joseph Telushkin in his book, `Jewish Literacy.' The Conservative denomination's prayer book celebrates the temple cult as part of ancient Judaism, but expresses no desire to reinstate it.

Only Orthodox Jews continue to pray regularly for the rebuilding of the temple and for animal sacrifices to be offered there again. But even many of these observant Jews find the prospect of reviving animal offerings, on the eve of the 21st century, a bit far-fetched.

`It would be hard for me, as a mainstream Orthodox rabbi, to assume that if the temple was rebuilt, we'd pick up where we were 2,000 years ago,' says Rabbi Michah Halpern, a historian in Jerusalem. Rather, he says, it is the act of `yearning' for the third temple and the Messiah that counts. `We are not involved in the actual building processes themselves,' he says.

This modern reticence made it easy for then-Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan, shortly after Israel's 1967 victory, to return control of the Temple Mount to its Jordanian-run Islamic board, called the waqf. At the time, many rabbis were warning Jews to stay off the Temple Mount anyway, lest they commit the `arrogance of arrogance' of treading on the `holy of holies,' where in ancient times only the high priest was allowed to go. (Nobody knows precisely where the hollowed ground lies.) The waqf took back the keys; few Jews complained.

But over the years, Temple Mount experts, including Rabbi Goren, published diagrams of the ancient site showing the many areas where Jews could safely roam. The messianists, whose numbers have steadily grown since 1967, had their calling: Take back the Temple Mount.

Small groups sprang up to lead Jewish worshipers on to the mount in defiance of the waqf. Israeli police had to seal off ancient tunnels discovered under the site to foil Jewish efforts to raze the Muslim shrines. Nearby, a yeshiva, a religious school, was founded to train future priests for duties in a rebuilt temple. And the Temple Institute, funded in part by the Israeli government, reproduced all the necessary biblical trappings--from sacrificial urns and altars to priestly vestments and breastplates--to perform the temple rituals again. Suddenly, Jews, who had waited millenniums to restore the temple, were beginning the process themselves.

`When you say the Messiah will rebuild the temple later on,' says the institute's Rabbi Chaim Richman, `you're basically shirking the responsibility yourself.'

The temple cause spread to non-Jews as well. In Canton, Miss., a Christian preacher and cattle breeder named Clyde Lott, after reading Genesis one night, contacted his state's trade office to find out if Israel had the red cows it would need to perform proper, biblical purification rites in a third temple. It didn't. Over the past five years, Mr. Lott, working with the Temple Institute and some American
Christian backers, has developed a breed of red cow that he hopes will spawn `the livestock restoration' of Israel, he says. The first shipment of 500 cows is due to arrive in Israel in November.

The temple's messianic calling dove-tailed with the calling of another group of zealots: Israel's few-thousand unalloyed, anti-Arab fanatics. Today, the prospect of Mr. Arafat moving to Jericho and praying in Jerusalem has made these people more agitated than ever.

`Zionism and Arab nationalism are diametrically opposed; you can't wish that away,' says Israel `Keith' Fuchs, co-founder of the Temple Mount Yeshiva, a militant Jewish school which recently had to shut down after both its top rabbis were detained by police. Mr. Fuchs, 30, has been in and out of police custody since he was 16. He and his Temple Mount cohorts provide a telling picture of the passions, and dangers, looming ahead.

For Mr. Fuchs, it all started in Santa Monica, Calif., he says, where his family moved from Brooklyn in 1978. One afternoon, another child kicked his little sister and called her `a Jew bitch.' Soon after, Mr. Fuchs joined militant Rabbi Meir Kahane's Jewish Defense League, and was arrested several times for fighting with American Muslims and neo-Nazis. He moved to Israel in 1982, only to serve 22 months in prison for shooting up an Arab bus near Hebron. Later, he was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, but never charged, in connection with several bombings in the U.S., including the deaths of an Arab-American activist and a suspected Nazi war criminal.

Last fall, Mr. Fuchs helped start the Temple Mount Yeshiva with Rabbi Avraham Toledano, a former leader of the late Rabbi Kahane's Kach party. Rabbi Toledano was arrested at the Tel Aviv airport in November with weapons, bomb-making gear and $50,000 in cash in his luggage. A third yeshiva founder, Baruch Ben-Yosef, born Andy Green in Brooklyn, was detained without charges in March. A long-ball hitter in the Jerusalem softball league, Mr. Ben-Yosef, 35, has served several prison terms for attempting to bomb Arab targets, including the Dome of the Rock.

Their yeshiva attracted a mix of a dozen or so veteran messianists and spiritual seekers, most drawn to it by the doting charm of Mr. Ben-Yosef.

On their daily trips to the Temple Mount, the yeshiva students were kept from praying by Israeli police. But they were allowed to march around the plaza, shadowed by waqf guards, who radioed for reinforcements whenever prayer was suspected. A student was once hauled off for rubbing his eyes, a gesture of worship, the guards said. This spring, the yeshiva had planned a guerrilla sacrifice of a lamb on the Temple Mount for Passover, which would have been the first real Passover lamb in 2,000 years, students claim. But those plans, like the yeshiva itself, fell
apart after Mr. Ben-Yosef's arrest.

Now, the students are moving on to other activities. Mr. Fuchs, the former JDL activist, has retreated to his computer-graphics company in Jerusalem, though he still carries a concealed pistol--with a permit--under his jacket. Daniel Leubitz, 19, is going home to Cleveland to start a local JDL chapter to combat `black anti-Semitism,' he says.

`We've spent many dollars on the phone' from Cleveland, says Mr. Leubitz's worried mother, Amalia, `reminding Dan that Abraham had doors on all sides of his tent to welcome all people.'

To Sean Casper, chairman of the Movement to Rebuild the Third Temple, the `mindboggling' thing isn't that Mr. Arafat may soon pray on the Temple Mount but that Israel may let him. `This country has never had a problem doing what it wants to do,' he says. `Our problem is we don't know what we want.'

Mr. Casper, a lawyer who represents several of the Jewish militants in detention, doesn't think it would take much to shake things up. `It would be easier to blow up al-Aqsa than it was to kill 30 people in the Hebron mosque,' he says. `If I wanted to, I could do it myself.'

-- --

[Page: S5914]

Exhibit 2

From the New York Times International, May 18, 1994

[FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL, MAY 18, 1994]

Islamic Militants Slay 2 Settlers in Hebron

(BY CLYDE HABERMAN)

Hebron, Israeli-Occupied West Bank: Two Israeli settlers were shot to death today by Islamic militants just south of this West Bank town, and Israel's army commander warned that the violence might be a foretaste of what settlements would face under Palestinian self-rule in the Gaza Strip.

The question of what, if anything, to do about Jewish settlements in Gaza and the West Bank has been relatively muted lately.

But the killings today, which followed clashes in Hebron on Monday that left at least a dozen Palestinians wounded by settlers and soldiers, made clear that the issue is very much alive and is a factor in the success or failure of the exercise in Palestinian self-government that has begun in Gaza and Jericho.

DOUBTS ABOUT THE ACCORD

Settlers and other Israelis who question Israel's wisdom in signing the self-rule agreement with the Palestine Liberation Organization are likely to have deeper doubts after the attack today. Two Jews were killed and a third seriously wounded in the head in an ambush as they drove south of Hebron, an area still under Israeli control. An armed wing of the Hamas group of Islamic militants claimed responsibility.

Later, the army chief of staff, Lieut. Gen. Ehud Barak, cautioned that the attack today was probably not the last, either in the West Bank or in Gaza.

His remarks were significant because security for roughly 5,000 Israeli settlers in the Gaza Strip--most in a cluster of outposts known as Gush Qatif, along the Mediterranean coast--is a basic component of the Israeli-P.L.O. agreement.

For many Israelis, a critical test of the accord is whether those settlers stay safe on their islands in a sea of hostility. They were unlikely to be reassured after hearing General Barak say today, `I don't rule out terrorist attacks on the roads to Gush Qatif.'

While Israeli forces are largely pulling out of Gaza, they will remain at border crossings and in newly created buffer zones around the settlements, patrolling roads with Palestinian police officers to assure that Jews there move safely between their homes and Israel.

The troop withdrawal from the rest of Gaza, under way in earnest for a week, may be completed on Wednesday. Today, the Israelis formally handed over civil authority in Gaza to the Palestinians, as they did in Jericho on Friday, but a government is not yet in place, and so no real changes in daily life are expected right away.

For Palestinians, the fighting in Hebron on Monday, rekindled their calls for removing the estimated 130,000 settlers in Israeli-held territories, especially the 450 in this perennial flash point, where religious and nationalist feelings are intense.

The settlements are such a delicate issue that negotiations on their fate have been delayed by Israel and the P.L.O: presumably for at least two years, although under their agreement the matter could be raised at any point.

But the question clearly will not go away. That was guaranteed by the Hebron massacre on Feb. 25, when a settler killed at least 29 Palestinians at prayer. After that, Israeli Cabinet ministers said they were ready to evict the Jews from Hebron for security reasons. But Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, while unsympathetic to the Hebron settlers, insisted that the issue was not now on his agenda.

Although the matter then receded from public attention, its immediacy was reaffirmed when a group of armed settlers here walked to a religious site on Monday, the Jewish holiday of Shabuoth, and got into an argument with Arabs near a mosque.

What happened is not clear. The Jews say that the Arabs threw stones and that they fired their guns in self-protection. Arabs say that the Jews attacked first and that only then did they respond with rocks.

Either way, the incident reignited a town that does not need much to throw it into turmoil. At least a dozen and perhaps as many as 18 Palestinians were shot in the fighting, both by settlers and by Israeli soldiers who showed up and become embroiled in their own clashes with the Arabs.

At a weekly meeting today, some Cabinet ministers accused the settlers of having been provocative with their Monday walk through town, which army officers said had not been coordinated with them in advance, as required.

The Israeli radio quoted Mr. Rabin as having called the settlers' actions unjustified, and other officers were troubled by reports that the Hebron Jews, after hearing about the killings today, walked through the main Palestinian market, overturning stands and destroying merchandise.

SHARON DEFENDS SETTLERS

Hebron's Mayor, Mustafa Natshe, called the settlers `detonators' ready to explode, and demanded that they be removed. But Ariel Sharon, the former Defense Minister, defended the right of Jews to be in Hebron and to defend themselves when attacked. `What are you expecting--that they should step quietly, or maybe that they should run away?' he said.

In the hope of reducing tensions, at least for now, the army sealed off Hebron to outsiders and put the town under curfew. Among those under restrictions were the 160 members of an observer force of Norwegians, Danes and Italians that was created after the massacre, ostensibly to protect local residents and help keep the town calm.

But the clashes on Monday underscored how limited in power this force is. Its members carry no weapons, they have no police function sand if the Israeli Army restricts their movements--as it did on Monday and today--there is not much for them to do except to file reports to an Israeli-Palestinian committee and to their governments.

`We're just sitting in our foxholes,' said Bjarno Sorensen, a spokesman for the force. The situation was `a little bit frustrating,' he acknowledged, but he said the monitors hoped `to be on the move again soon.'

-- --

[Page: S5915]

Arafat Call for Jihad Could Threaten Peace Accord

Jerusalem.--A tape recording of PLO chief Yasser Arafat urging a `holy war' for Jerusalem could stall progress towards full Palestinian autonomy, Prime Minister Yatzhak Rabin said Tuesday.

The tape was played by Israel radio which said it received Arafat's May 10th speech at a mosque in Johannesburg from the South African Jewish community.

`You have to understand our main battle isn't how much we can achieve from them here or there. Our main battle is Jerusalem,' Arafat said.

He added that Israel had promised in a letter that Jerusalem could be discussed three years from now, when negotiations begin over a permanent settlement.

`You have to come and to fight and to start a Jihad to liberate Jerusalem, the historical shrine. And this is very important,' Arafat said.

Rabin said Arafat's comments violated the peace agreement signed in Cairo on May 4 that led to the implementation of autonomy.

`If he indeed called for a Jihad this is a grave violation to what he committed himself to in the letter to me he wrote and signed that led to the mutual recognition of Israel and the PLO,' Rabin said.

`If this is indeed his call it will put into question the continuation of the process between us and the Palestinians. We will not be able to accept a violation of a PLO commitment not to be involved in violence and terror,' he added.

Rabin added that Israel, in its accord with the PLO, agreed the issue of Jerusalem, holy to Jews, Christians and Muslims, could be raised when negotiations on a permanent settlement began.

Israel captured the Arab eastern sector of Jerusalem from Jordan during the 1967 Mideast war and later annexed it as part of its capital. The Palestinians see east Jerusalem as capital of their would-be state.

Rabin has repeatedly said that Jerusalem is not up for negotiation. On the question of Jerusalem, unlike the West Bank or Gaza Strip, Israelis are almost unanimous in opposing any territorial compromise.

Still fresh in their minds is pre-1967 Israel, when Jordanians banned Jews from their most holy site, the Western Wall.

Following the broadcast of Arafat's comments, the right-wing National Religious Party tabled a no-confidence motion in Parliament. Opposition parties demanded that the government release all secret annexes to its May 4th autonomy agreement with the PLO.

Rabin has denied any secret agreements.

Members of Rabin's Labor party faction in Parliament also protested Arafat's comments and demanded a government response.

`If such things were really said, believe me, there will be a very determined and aggressive response,' Police Minister Moshe Shahal said.

Deputy Defense Minister Mordechai Gur said that Arafat's comments could stem from the staunch opposition he faces on the Palestinian front but added that Israel would not allow the PLO chief to damage its credibility.

Uri Dromi, head of the Government Press Office, said he hoped Arafat would deny what `he allegedly said in the mosque' to allow the peace process to go forward.

`Up until now we have reason to be optimistic about the smooth transfer of authority and we hope that statements or expressions like he allegedly said in the mosque will not undermine the peace process,' Dromi said.

-- --

Zionist Organization of America,
New York, NY, May 12, 1994.
To: Senator Arlen Specter
From: Morton A. Klein, National President, Zionist Organization of America.

1. May 10, 1994: Arab terrorists fired at least 10 shots into an Israeli civilian bus near the Arab village of Mezrat-Asharkia, in the administered territories. Three passengers were wounded by the gunfire. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a faction of the PLO, claimed responsibility for the attack.* Yasser Arafat has neither condemned the attack, nor taken any steps to `discipline' the PFLP.

2. May 4-11, 1994: Yasser Arafat gave no speeches encouraging the Palestinian Arabs to refrain from violence.

3. May 4-11, 1994: Yasser Arafat did not convene the Palestine National Council to delete those clauses in the Palestine National Covenant that call for the destruction of Israel.

-- --

Zionist Organization of America,
New York, NY. May 18, 1994.
To: Senator Arlen Specter,
From: Morton A. Klein, National President, Zionist Organization of America.

1. May 12, 1994: Arab terrorists shot at an Israeli truck driver near the Israeli town of Mogaz, in the Gaza Strip. The driver was wounded. Hamas, a non-PLO group, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Yasser Arafat did not condemn the attack.

2. May 12, 1994: Arab terrorists shot at Israeli soldiers near the Jabaliya refugee camp, in the Gaza Strip. None of the soldiers were wounded; when the Israelis returned fire, one of the terrorists was wounded. Responsibility for the attack was not immediately determined.

Yasser Arafat did not condemn the attack.

3. May 15, 1994: Arab terrorists in a van opened fire at Israeli bystanders were wounded. Hamas, a non-PLO group, claimed responsibility for the attack. Yasser Arafat did not condemn the attack.

4. May 17, 1994: Arab terrorists shot at an Israeli civilian auto travelling south of Hebron. Two Israelis were killed, and a third was seriously wounded. Hamas, a non-PLO group, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Yasser Arafat did not condemn the attack.

5. May 17, 1994: Israel Radio played a tape recording of a speech by Yasser Arafat in a mosque in Johannesburg, South Africa, on May 10, 1994, in which Arafat urged Arabs to launch a `holy war' to conquer Jerusalem.

6. May 11-18, 1994: Yasser Arafat gave no speeches encouraging the Palestinian Arabs to refrain from violence.

7. May 11-18, 1994: Yasser Arafat did not convene the Palestine National Council to delete those clauses in the Palestine National Covenant that call for the destruction of Israel.

2009-01-08T10:37:00.001-08:00

if you have a joomla 1.5 site.. make sure you update.. pretty bad SQL hack

2008-12-30T05:50:00.001-08:00

http://ping.fm/ZqYQI IDF youtube channel

2008-11-26T05:20:00.001-08:00

oy http://ping.fm/DmWPE

2008-11-25T09:28:00.001-08:00

anyone know where to get torrent files of israeli tv?

2008-11-25T09:24:00.001-08:00

Just put up this site to offer private health insurance for residents of Florida www.quotes-florida-health-insurance.com

2008-11-18T06:06:00.001-08:00

$1 USD = $642,371,437,695,221,000 Zimbabwean Dollars

2008-11-18T05:54:00.001-08:00

Now is the time to call upon the President:Free Jonathan Pollard!Call: 202-456 -1111 or 202-456-1414 leave a message at the white house

Efrat Weather

2008-11-12T09:50:00.000-08:00

Data coming from my weather station mounted on my roof;)

2008-11-08T09:21:00.001-08:00

Rahm Emanuel, President-elect Barack Obama's new Jewish Chief of Staff, was active in the Oslo negotiations and choreographed the Rabin-Arafat handshake at the White House. Whoever thinks he is a good idea..think again

2008-11-06T13:41:00.001-08:00

Daniel is watching the dow drop 7% since obamas win..Worst Two-Day Slump Since 1987

2008-11-06T10:51:00.001-08:00

nervous that a former israeli is now close to the white house, joins the ranks ofCaspar Weinberger, who imprisoned pollard, Kissinger who was quoted " "We Can Reduce Israel's Size" Only a non israeli can deconstruct the israel and east jerusalem, and not be considered an enemy of israel or an antisemite. putting a leftwing israeli in the whitehouse is the begining of the end of a United Jerusalem. Israel's only hope to defend itself against Obama, is Netanyahu.

Election Thoughts

2008-11-05T00:48:00.000-08:00

So as many i reflect on this past US Election... and although my hopes were with McCain, i knew his chances.. and knew the odds.
Much of the odds has to do with America being primed for non white male president for the past 8 years.. As a country, we had to be exposed the possibility, we had to at least get it into our minds that it was possible.
Since we don't offer trial runs for presidents, we had to be exposed to this in our imagination, and what a better medium then media.

So we are first exposed to a Hilary run, and possible presidency with the 2005 show commander in chief. Although the show had a short run it, the media wanted us to stick our toes in the pool of a female presidency. This show didn't do so well, and neither did hilary.

Though the media had another test... and this was with the hit show 24.

In this series of high drama, the show introduces for the first time an African American president, who is well liked by the staffers, and generally made to be likable by the viewers... in stark contrast the the "white male" presidents who the show introduces later like Charles Logan. This white president is made to be hated by the viewers and involved in shady business.

So the tables were set, the American public was tuning in
daily to either eventuality by the democrat contenders.
Regardless of the outcome, we were conditioned, we were prepped.
Once snag however, meet Sara Palin. With all the good feelings about females in the office created by the media, Ms. Palin was about to walk into party and take advantage of the set table.

The media begins to deconstruct the sentiment toward women in the white house and does so in a hurry. SNL brings out Tina Fay to portray Palin as simple and unfit. They play on her accent, they play on her country personality, they begin to add Hilary impersonates to deconstruct the image that they themselves placed in our minds.
Sara Palins favor falls fast and American pubic begin to classify the Governor of Alaska as no beter then Dan Quayle.
Leaving us classically conditioned to be suspect of older white males and fond of handsome black presidents.
So why many of us feel warm and fuzzy about Obama, i would suggest staying away from bells.. and we may begin to salivate.

2008-10-31T01:19:00.001-07:00

Dont understand Obamas tax plan... http://ping.fm/xq9uF

2008-10-31T01:12:00.001-07:00

if you agree with this.. you should vote Obama: Obama: “Israel has no God-given right to occupy Palestine” said by obama to Khalidi .. otherwise knows as.. bye bye jerusalem, Hebron, Bethlehem..

2008-10-31T01:07:00.001-07:00

wow http://ping.fm/aEQKo

2008-10-30T12:38:00.001-07:00

is excited about getting his vineyard together next week

2008-10-30T12:37:00.001-07:00

were the iran quakes underground nuke tests? they say they were.. http://ping.fm/8n04m

2008-10-30T12:31:00.003-07:00

whats obama and Rashid Khalid have in common? the media does not want you to know http://ping.fm/q4EIV

2008-10-30T12:31:00.001-07:00

whats obama and Rashid Khalid have in common? the media does not want you to know

2008-10-30T01:25:00.001-07:00

http://ping.fm/9QfC6 Obama and the PLO love affair

2008-10-28T01:09:00.001-07:00

I voted today! sent in my absentee ballot! Obama's name was still on the ballot.... oh well .

2008-10-17T01:00:00.001-07:00

The bank returned a cheque to me this morning, stamped: 'insufficient funds.' Is it them or me?

2008-10-12T16:10:00.001-07:00

http://ping.fm/CASLh Dems started this whole crisis

2008-10-08T00:31:00.001-07:00

If you gathered up all the wealth in the world, and redistributed it evenly to all people. . .within 5 years the same people would control all the wealth, and the same people would be poor.

2008-10-07T10:01:00.001-07:00

2nd member of jews for obama.. as a member,I am going to do is sell myself a loan on a house I can't afford, the second thing I'm doing is calling myself a victim of the housing scam

2008-10-07T08:16:00.001-07:00

Not surprised that the recent IDF x generals for Obama video was a fraud.. http://ping.fm/pK6lA

2008-10-04T22:25:00.001-07:00

time change ...now 1 hour back.. yay

2008-10-02T04:36:00.001-07:00

anyone know of a script that i can allow WAN users to view my media collection on my mac mini via streaming media?

2008-10-02T04:11:00.001-07:00

Freddie and Fannie used huge lobbying budgets and political contributions to keep regulators off their backs. #1 recipient, John Kerry #2 Obama .. sad state of affairs... ;(

2008-10-02T03:43:00.001-07:00

thanks

2008-10-02T03:34:00.001-07:00

sneezed

2008-09-29T06:42:00.001-07:00

http://ping.fm/yd846

2008-09-29T05:24:00.001-07:00

Signing out for the holiday.. happy new year!

Who is a Jewish terrorist?

2008-09-28T23:35:00.000-07:00

Press release by Women in Green
Who is a Jewish terrorist?

In reaction to the renewed witch hunt against the national camp by the extreme left that rules in the government, the media, the judicial and the police- after the so-called attack against a leftist public figure (attack that reminded us of the days of agent provocateur Avishi Raviv who planned different provocations in order to besmirch the national camp and allow blood libels to be spread like for instance the creation of the fictitious Eyal group and the poster of Yitzhak Rabin in SS uniform),
We would like to suggest who really should be called a "Jewish terrorist":

· A Jew who shakes the bloody hands of mass murderer Yasser Arafat and Abbu Mazzen and collaborates with them-shouldn't be called a Jewish terrorist?
· A Jew who gives weapons, ammunition and cities of refuge to the PLO- shouldn't be called a Jewish terrorist?
· A Jew who releases Arab murderers from prison and throws innocent Jews to prison-shouldn't be called a Jewish terrorist?
· The Jew who expels Jews from their homeland and creates a State and a army for the Arab enemy-shouldn't be called a Jewish terrorist?
· The Jew who planned and pushed forward the Oslo agreement which cost us 1500 Jewish victims and thousands of wounded-shouldn't be called a Jewish terrorist?

Blessings for the New Year:
May this year be the end of the rule of the "Jewish terrorists"
Shana Tova

Nadia Matar- Ruth Matar- Anita Finkelstein

2008-09-28T11:29:00.001-07:00

umm dont think arizona knows the game started

2008-09-28T10:56:00.001-07:00

nothin like watching Jets vs Arizona on slingbox at 9 at night

2008-09-28T03:52:00.001-07:00

oops.. if i update twitter which updats ping.. which updates twitter.. which updates ping

2008-09-28T03:50:00.001-07:00

Headed out to town, after adding yet even more tools in an attempt to get off facebook for good;)

Facebook, youre now #7 in my life

2008-09-28T03:15:00.000-07:00

So what happens when facebook kicks you off? well if you were like me, you lose your friends, photos, away messages, poker score, email history comments, photo tags.. and trying to get your facebook reinstated is worthless. After a few days of wondering if you can kick the FB habit, you realize you not addicted to facebook per say youre addicted to social networking.

So you create another FB account, and on topic, FB terms of service state that once booted, you can NEVER create another account, and it seems every so often they check back to ensure you remained banned. This just furthers my need to ensure when that happens i can restore at a click of a button..

So lets break down facebook and its de-centralized alternative:

Photos - Flickr.com
Status - Twitter.com
Posts / notes - Blogger.com
Aggregated feed - friendfeed.com
Video - youtube.com

now the social network:
You can export your FB buddies: http://www.new.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=6751187779&ref=s

but i have yet to find a place to import them... which means if you get booted, youll have the list, but will have to add them 1 by 1.

i have also begun to see who in my facebook exists in Linkedin.com and plaxo.com and perhaps a good way to retain your network in case of a FB Blow out.

in short, its never a good idea to keep your stuff in 1 place, and anyone who has any other ideas to assist in unifying a decentralized life, please comment.

until then.

I have since learned my lesson and begun my to decentralize everything,

.012 072 Smile Internet VOIP saga

2008-04-06T04:37:00.000-07:00

So i am trying to change my SIP service to 012... and well its been 3 weeks.. and they cant figure out asterisk, ( the #1 open source VOIP platform) after 3 weeks my patience has worn thin.. argh.. .

Koby,
There is no reason why I am unable to make outgoing calls through 012.. My server and settings are fine as I continually get and make calls from callcentric, if you have a non standard configuration.. Then that on your end to provide proper documentation and setup files ( as every other VISP ive used have done). I call your cell and the main line, and even your own telephone systems is broken as it forwards to unknown extensions. . And when it does work, it just rings..

This is not the customer service I expect, though it is the customer service ive was told I would get from 012 by other companies that ive spoken with. I am very close to simply continuing using a US based provider.. As it works, and they answer, and total setup time was literally 10 minutes.. Minutes, not days. Here again are my log files..

I do not have time for you guys to learn on the job... If you cant figure it out... Then there are those who can.
Dan

Leubitz Wedding

2008-01-10T10:14:00.001-08:00

While watching Bush come to israel and attempt to play "fair" and suggest israel leave half the country as a peace gesture to people pledged to kill us, it was nice to get out and attend the wedding of the long lost leubitz's who we only reunited with recently.

I might add, that on the way to the wedding i got pulled over by a traffic cop, for driving with my fog lights on.. when i tried to explain that is quite dark on this backroad.. and in america, where im from... when its dark.. we turn the lights on.. the cop said "this is not america."

Upside Down Macbook pro

2007-11-05T03:47:00.000-08:00

So i gave in to upgrade fever... decided lets install this new version of OSX on my fairly new Macbook PRO.
Step 1, insert DVD.. a high speed whizzing sound begins.. this thing is spinning faster then that turbo prop i took to baltimore. Clearly the DVD has issues...
Step 2. I insert DVD to my minimac, and like a lean mean machine.. it digests it and spins with a light purr of a Japanese import. A big X lights the screen and we're ready to roll.. clearly it not the DVD..
Step 3. typed: macbook pro leopard dvd dual layer" into google.. and im not the only one.. only advise given is to flip the mac and install...no way..

step 4. Flip the mac and install.. no kidding it finds DVD though navigating the screens is like drawing in a mirror...

Step 5. I cant seem to hold this long enough and after 30% the dvd is gone.

Step 6. using the DVD disk utils i use a parallels partition and restore the leopard dmg to that drive... reboot while holding option.. selected that option, and install again

step 7. install says " about a minute" thats what i tell y wife when she yells for me to come down.. and the minute took just about as much time... 20 minutes later.. i rebooted on my own.. and chose the real partition and poof.. it worked.

time lapse: too damn long.

The Office as told by phil

2007-10-29T05:52:00.000-07:00

Maayan and sukkot

2007-10-02T13:06:00.001-07:00

,
originally uploaded by Leubitz.

EITAM

2007-10-02T12:07:00.000-07:00

MY INTERVIEW:
LINK
mms://msmedia.a7.org/arutz7/shows/we/week070930-2.mp3
DOWNLOAD
http://msmedia.a7.org:82/arutz7/shows/we/week070930-2.mp3

ARTICLE

Leubitz can!

2007-09-17T17:38:00.001-07:00

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!

And we dance

2007-09-17T16:45:00.001-07:00

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!

Moshe Feiglin visits Efrat

2007-08-07T12:06:00.000-07:00

ust before the Likud Elections Committee rejected a request on Monday to disqualify Moshe Feiglin from running for Likud leader, Feiglin arrived in Beit El for an interview with Arutz-7.

Another request to disqualify Feiglin, head of the Likud's Manhigut Yehudit (Jewish Leadership) faction, from running in the upcoming party primaries has also been submitted to the Likud Court. The case will be heard on Thursday. Likud member Mishael Ben-Ami, who submitted the request, charges that Feiglin has called for Jewish Law to become the law of the land, and promotes "dangerous ideological refusal [in the army]."

In response, Feiglin filed a criminal complaint with the police against Ben-Ami, saying the request is based totally on lies. Feiglin assumes that the request to disqualify him stems from the camp of incumbent party leader Binyamin Netanyahu, and that it indicates that Netanyahu is "in a panic over my candidacy."

Feiglin plans to appeal if he is not allowed to run. He says he will appeal first within the Likud, and if necessary, even to the Supreme Court.

The Likud primaries will take place on August 14; Netanyahu and Beitar activist Danny Danon are the other candidates.

My visit to Sderot

2007-07-19T04:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday i took a tour with standing together stogether.org to see the devastation first hand. Upon arrival the guide gave us a rocket attack lesson, demonstration which way the rockets are being fired from and how to seek shelter. Apparently shrapnel shoots upwards, so lying on the floor should protect you from flying shards.

Upon exiting we were brought to a house that was hit just yesterday, the rocket slammed into the roof exploded and came out the exterior wall, the family was still in shock as she broke down and todl us that they were already having financial mess, the kids are staying in a refugee hotel and that she simply doesnt know what to do with herself. She felt the government has abandoned here.

We then went to visit the daycare, which has moved into th bomb shelter. there some 100 kids sleep eat and play inside the shelter never taking more kids out that they cant bring back inside in the 13 seconds notice they have before strikes.

We came with bags of candys to offer these children soem reprieve from their already stressfull lives and i guess every bit helps.. the whole experience was heartbreaking

The Pool

2007-07-02T10:17:00.000-07:00

Well the flying pool is no more.. so we got this nifty 15 foot diameter pool.. that well fits me.. this puppy is not gonna end up in bet lechem so easily..

Yishuv NOW!

2007-06-29T07:31:00.000-07:00

please watch. and pass on.

www.yishuvnow.com

The Office from scranton to... efrat?

2007-06-28T14:32:00.001-07:00

,
originally uploaded by Leubitz.

Efrat comedy night brought in acts from all over the us, any even Dwayne from the office... whod have thunk it.. his tag line.." a barry white impression with.. ooh baby.. take your scarf off" referring to the orthodox head covering

andi and i at ben breskys wedding

2007-06-28T14:17:00.001-07:00

,
originally uploaded by Leubitz.

Cherry picking on friday

2007-06-28T14:15:00.001-07:00

,
originally uploaded by Leubitz.

Took the kids cherry picking.. who says our kids arent well red

Gabis gan graduation

2007-06-21T11:42:00.000-07:00

If there was a single gift i would remember giving my children, if there was one event that i could look back on if there was a moment in time where I could say without question was when my children began their journey in the right direction, it would be our Aliyah.

Granted there are times when the longing for friends and family becomes painful, or when you pass a cafe, and cant find a decent cup of 'normal' coffee. There are moments that are chalked up as an 'israeli moment' that can only be described by that description. Yet the pains of the field become joy with the harvest. Watching our children finish their first year of school , watching what they have learned, and listening to their songs that they sing.. is the largest of joys.
As we get closer to our 1 year aliyah anniversary, and see our children speaking hebrew, playing and participating in a jewish school, we remember the pains of field, simply to appreciate the current joys of the harvest.

Urgent funds needed for settling new hill!

2007-06-21T00:53:00.000-07:00

We are going up to the Eitam and we need your help!

The land war is raging throughout the State of Israel
Jewish land is being consistently and illegally procured by Arabs who are supported and funded by leftist elements and countries that aid and abet terrorists,
attempting to squeeze in the Jewish communities and trap us within our small borders.

We Jews, on the other hand are not allowed to build anywhere in Yehuda and Shomron. Draconian, white-paper like rules prevent us not only from building new communities but even from expanding for natural growth.

At present, we are in the midst of a battle to save what is the bastion of Gush Etzion from falling into enemy hands.

Situated in the center of Gush Etzion is Givat HaEitam, a hill, spanning 1700 dunams. It is the 8th hill of Efrat, designated as such in the original municipal boundaries and intended for 2500 housing units.

It is a hill that commands all approaches and its very position connects Gush Etzion East to Gush Etzion West.

The Eitam towers over the Za-atra pass that leads to Har Choma, a mere 8 minute drive, and likewise has a commanding view over the Hevron-Jerusalem highway, the main artery to Kfar Etzion, Bat Ayin, Alon Shvut, Migdal Oz, Elazar, Efrat and Neveh Daniel.

So strategic is this hill, that should it fall into enemy hands, Efrat and the rest of Gush Etzion would be in imminent danger should a missile launcher be placed at its peak.
Furthermore, approaches to Jerusalem would be cut off, leaving the southern gate to our capital completely vulnerable.

Whoever controls Givat HaEitam controls the roads to Jerusalem.

One need not be a military strategist to comprehend what all this means.
And yet, the present government has decided to cut off the Eitam hill and abandon it beyond the "fence" to the Arabs.

We have also just learned that the northern entrance to Efrat will be lost to us, since the Arabs successfully, albeit illegally, built over 100 homes in that precise area,. The government, rather than follow the rule of law and demolish their illegal structures, is building the fence around these illegal homes to accommodate them.

We cannot afford to allow the same thing to happen to the Eitam. We cannot and must not relinquish this hill.

Therefore, we are going up to settle the Eitam!
The Efrat Action Committee has seen to it to have a Jewish presence on the Eitam as often as possible until we can make it permanent.

On Yom HaAtzmaut, close to 1000 people, with Israeli flags in hand, hiked up to the Eitam. Mayor Eli Mizrachi and Efrat’s Chief Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, took part in the event. Both agreed on the importance of the struggle for the Eitam. Rabbi Riskin stressed to all those gathered that for the sake of Gush Etzion and Yerushalayim, Givat HaEitam must remain in our hands. (Please See link to the article on Arutz Sheva) http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/122228

Again, a large group of us went up on Yom Yerushalayim, and members of the committee continue to go on a weekly basis.

A date was chosen for the official going up and settling of the Eitam hill:
Please G-d Wednesday, the tenth of Av, July 25th, 2007
Along with the number of families who have committed to being the nucleus of the Eitam, people from all over Gush Etzion and from throughout the country will be going up with them to help set the foundations of the Eitam community in place. You may recall, that in the summer of 1995, Givat HaDagan was saved from falling into enemy hands in much the same manner.

Our Yeshua will not come from our hopelessly weak and incompetent government. It must come from us. And G-d is watching. Our efforts on behalf of Eretz Yisrael are registered in Malchut Shomayim.
We cannot remain prisoners in our own silence nor sluggish in our actions.
These are our roads, our homes, our communities. This is our land, and these are our hills. Future efforts will be made throughout Yehuda and Shomron to protect what is rightfully ours.

This can succeed. But we need your help. .
Please be a part of the struggle for our land.

Funds are needed for land preparation, shelter, food , shomrim/security needs, a generator, and basic necessities to create a permanent Jewish presence on the Eitam. Help support the brave families who have volunteered to pioneer this most strategic hill of Gush Etzion.

This is not ONLY about Efrat; this is NOT ONLY about the security of Gush Etzion and Yerushalayim. THIS IS A RETURN OF THE PEOPLE TO THE BASIC ZIONIST VALUES THAT MADE THE CREATION OF ISRAEL POSSIBLE. THIS IS OUR ANSWER TO THE GOVERNMENT'S POLICY OF ABANDONMENT AND RETREAT. TO SAVE ISRAEL, WE MUST ADVANCE AND NOT RETREAT, WE MUST SETTLE AND NOT EXPEL, WE MUST CLAIM OUR LAND AND NOT ABANDON IT TO OUR ENEMIES. This is a struggle for ERETZ YISRAEL and your contributions will help!
Please be as generous as you possibly can, and pass this information along to other email lists here in Israel and in chutz l'aretz as well!

For contributions in dollar checks, please contact Zahava at 201-692-3655, or, if calling from within Israel, 052-484-6034.

For contributions in shekel, checks can be made out to
Women for Israel's Tomorrow, ***Remember to EARMARK the check EITAM.***
You may mail the shekel checks to:

In Israel: Women for Israel's Tomorrow, POB 1269, Efrat, 90435, Israel
Thank you and Tizku L'mitzvot

Pool taken hostage

2007-06-21T00:44:00.001-07:00

Bought the kids this 8 foot pool.. and placed it on our porch on the top floor.. (with a view of bethlehem) ..kids loved it.. and why wouldnt they...? Sunday am i comeout to see if the water had evaporated.. and well the whole pool did.

the wind here is quite strong as wind accross the mediteranian blasts across the costal plain and slams into the first mountain range ie the judean mountains ie. efrat ie my porch.

Drove around efrat looking for now the first arial pool and the bugger is gone.. i fear the worst.. ive been waiting for a ransom note from the neighboring arab community.. but so far .. no sign of life... i fear big blue might be gone.. how do i explain this senseless act to the kids..

in the words of an ol friend alon... next time get an anchor.. guess the kids will have to swim around the sand bags;)

brothers son gets hair cut

2007-06-17T12:12:00.000-07:00

Brit Of Yakov Yosef Akiba

2007-06-15T07:14:00.000-07:00

Andis cousins brit mila