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ISRAEL
- HOMOSEXUAL ACTIVITY CAUSE OF EARTHQUAKE, SHAS MK SAYS
 'The Gemara mentions a number
of causes of earthquakes, one of which is homosexuality, which
the Knesset legitimizes,' Benizri says regarding last Friday's
tremor Amnon Meranda Published: 02.20.08 - Israel News - Benizri
Photo: Dan Balilty - The recent earthquake that was felt across
Israel was the result of the "homosexual activity practiced
in the country", Knesset Member Shlomo Benizri said Wednesday.
During a special Knesset session on Israel's preparedness for
the possibility of another earthquake hitting the region, the
Shas member said "the Gemara refers to earthquakes as disasters,
but you are searching only for the practical solutions how to
prevent and repair. "But I no of another way to prevent
earthquakes; the Gemara mentions a number of causes of earthquakes,
one of which is homosexuality, which the Knesset legitimizes,"
Benizri said. An earthquake registering 5.3 on the Richter Scale
was felt by residents across Israel at 12:36 pm Friday. The trembling
lasted for 19 seconds and shook structures in many major towns
and cities. Reports of shaking were received from Nahariya in
the north down to Beersheba. Magen David Adom emergency services
said there were no reports of injuries, but several people suffered
from shock. Last month fellow Shas member Nissim Ze'ev stirred
controversy when he referred to the local gay movement as a "plague
that could destroy Jewish Israel," adding that it should
be treated "just as the Health Ministry dealt with the bird
flu epidemic." Mike Hammel, chairman of the Israeli Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Association commented on Benizri's
remarks saying "it is sad that a religious MK in Israel
doesn't think earthquakes are God-made. "On the other hand,
I suppose we should be flattered he attributes us with such magical
powers," he added. "One must wonder why Shas MKs are
so obsessed with the gay community… we can all recall the
case of the American senator who fiercely spoke out against gays
until it was found he himself was gay." http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3509263,00.html
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- RICE HEADS TO ISRAEL NEXT WEEK AMID GAZA VIOLENCE
- 02/27/2008 - By The Associated Press - U.S. Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice will visit Israel and the Palestinian
territories next week in a bid to push along U.S.-brokered peace
talks complicated by mounting violence in Gaza. State Department
spokesman Tom Casey announced the trip on Wednesday and said
Rice would leave on March 3 for meetings with Prime Minister
Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. She will
then visit Brussels for a NATO foreign ministers meeting before
going home on March 7. "This is part of the follow-up to
the Annapolis process. I am sure she will get a good sense there
from both parties on the state of play of their discussions and
negotiations," Casey told reporters. The United States officially
launched peace talks last November in Annapolis, Maryland, and
U.S. President George W. Bush has said he wants both sides to
agree to a peace treaty by the time he leaves office in January,
2009. Rice conceded in testimony to the U.S. Congress this month
that the talks had been "challenged" by the complicated
situation on the ground in the Palestinian territories, where
Abbas' Fatah movement controls the West Bank and the Islamist
group Hamas has ruled Gaza since last June.
- The surge in Israeli-Palestinian violence along the border
of Gaza has stoked fears both sides could be close to a full-scale
conflict amid public pressure on Olmert to order tougher military
action to deal with rocket attacks from Gaza. "There always
are going to be things that will happen that will try and distract
or sideline parts of these discussions but the important thing
is that in President Abbas and Prime Minister Olmert, we have
two leaders who are committed to moving forward," said Casey.
He said they had made a commitment to conclude a deal by the
end of the year and both Abbas and Olmert continued to abide
by that "ambitious timetable." "For our conversation
is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord
Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be
fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working
whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself"
(Philippians 3:21).
Retired pastor/teacher James McCutchan - jmccutchan@aol.com
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- AMERICA IN THE MIDDLE EAST OBAMA TO ISRAELI PAPER I'M A COMMITTED
CHRISTIAN, NOT A MUSLIM
- By Stan Goodenough - February 27, 2008 - United States Democrat
and presidential hopeful Barak Hussein Obama told the Israeli
newspaper Yediot Ahronot in comments published Wednesday that
he is "a committed Christian" and has "never been"
a Muslim. The newspaper, which enjoys the widest readership in
Israel, said it had put a number of questions to Obama because
"his political rivals [had] attempted to paint him as a
pro-Arab Muslim [and] have spread rumors that Obama attended
a madrasa (Islamic religious school) in Indonesia, which served
as a terrorist training camp." One of the questions read:
Some people in Israel and some Jewish American leaders have expressed
concern that you would be more sympathetic to the Arab side because
of your Muslim background.
- How do you respond? Obama replied: "First it is important
to establish the facts. Here are the facts: I am not a Muslim
and I never have been. I never attended a madrasa. I did not
take my oath of office on a Koran. I am a committed Christian.
I lived in Indonesia for four years as a child, where I attended
secular schools. I took my oath of office on our family Bible."
If he is elected President, Obama said, "I will carry with
me to the White House an unshakeable commitment to the security
of Israel and the friendship between the United States and Israel."
A friend he might call himself, but on January 20 the website
israelinsider.com reported that, "as Obama struggled to
articulate his stance on key Mideast issues in dispute,"
he stated that he supported cutting the land of Israel in half.
"The Palestinians have a legitimate concern that a state
have a contiguous coherent mass that would allow the state to
function effectively," he said. Commented israelinsider:
A land corridor between Gaza and the West Bank [sic] would effectively
cut Israel in half, making it incoherent and non-contiguous,
divided into northern and southern portions by the Palestinian
land-mass Obama supports. The Democratic candidate had not explained
why he believed it was legitimate for the "Palestinians"
to have a coherent and contiguous territory at Israel's expense.
Obama also confirmed, in his response to Yediot, that he wants
to "talk" to the Middle East's leading terrorists,
including Iranian megalomaniac and antisemite Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
- a man who repeatedly calls for, and is pursuing weapons to
achieve, Israel's destruction. Interestingly, Fox News reported
Wednesday that one of Obama's favorite films is "Lawrence
of Arabia" - the epic story that, perhaps more than any
other work, established the century-long love affair that persists
between western nations and the Arab world. http://www.jnewswire.com/article/2355
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- WAR IN ISRAEL BY PURIM?
by Dell Sanchez - You may recall that on February 12th a top
terrorist commander named Imad Mughnieh, was killed in a car
bombing in Syria. This has caused an uproar among Muslims. The
Hizbullah overlords are accusing Israel of this bombing but Israel
strongly denies any involvement. As a result, there are serious
reports that as soon as the 40 days of mourning for Mughnieh
are over, the Hizbullah will attack Israel. This 40 day period
ends around the 22nd or 23rd of this month. These dates coincide
with the Jewish Feast of Purim and their Sabbath. You may recall
that the Book of Esther documents the supernatural deliverance
of Israel during the time of Haman the madman. What makes this
more precarious is that Syria and Iran are involved in plans
to join forces with the Hizbullah in what could prove to be another
fierce battle in northern Israel. Reliable sources say that Israel's
role in this assassination means that they are now ready for
a new war against Hizbullah in northern Israel and southern Lebanon.
In a speech last month, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran called Israel
a "dirty microbe" and "savage animal." He
also declared that Israel will be "uprooted" and its
leaders put on trail as he condemned Israel's strikes in the
Gaza Strip. http://www.4sephardim.com/
- http://support.tjci.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=5313
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- PART OF JERUSALEM OFFICIALLY LABELED PA TERRITORY
- IsraelNN.com - February 27, 2008 - Israeli authorities have
placed several signs near the Atarot area in northern Jerusalem
recently warning travelers, “You are entering territory
under the control of the Palestinian Authority. Israelis are
absolutely forbidden to enter!” Approximately 25,000 residents
of Jerusalem, some of them Israeli citizens, live in the areas
now designated as PA territory. Jerusalem Forum chairman Aryeh
King said Wednesday that approximately 1,200 dunams of property
owned by Jews were located beyond the signs. The government violated
laws regarding Jerusalem by putting up the signs, King said.
The signs prove the government is acting to make its policy of
splitting Jerusalem a reality, he said. King said he plans to
lead a tour on Thursday in areas that fall within the municipal
boundaries of Jerusalem but are in practice controlled by the
Palestinian Authority. The tour will begin at the Kalandia checkpoint
at 12 p.m. and end in the biblical village of Mitzpa. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/142319
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- "Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious
appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ: (Titus 2:13).
U.S.: PEACE TALKS MUST GO ON DESPITE J'LEM MASSACRE
March 7, 2008 By Shlomo Shamir, Haaretz Corresponent, Haaretz
Service and News Agencies
The White House on Friday urged Israel and the Palestinian Authority
continue peace talks despite a shooting attack in a Jerusalem
yeshiva in which eight students, most aged 15 to 19, were killed
on Thursday. "The most important thing is that the peace
process continue and that the parties are committed to it,"
a White House spokesman said. "There's nothing to explain
that an attack of this nature ... deserves anything less than
condemnation," the spokesman added. The U.S. had previously
said Libya - currently chairing the Security Council - blocked
the United Nations from condemning the killing as a "terrorist
attack", calling for "balanced action". The attack
was greeted with celebrations in Hamas-controlled Gaza, where
an IDF offensive that ended on Monday killed more than 100 Palestinians,
including many civilians. The IDF offensive was aimed at halting
rocket fire from Gaza at the Israel town of Sderot and other
communities near the Gaza border which killed three Israelis
and injured dozens.
"It was extremely disheartening to see people in the streets
in Gaza and elsewhere celebrating (the Jerusalem massacre). That
was fairly disgusting actually," the spokesman said. Israel
said peace talks would continue with Palestinian President Mahmoud
Abbas, who denounced Thursday's attack. British Prime Minister
Gordon Brown on Friday joined the international calls to condemn
the incident, declaring that the world must combine forces to
stop those looking to derail the Middle East peace process through
violent means. "Those who wish to stop the peace process
by violence should be stopped from doing so by the combined voices
of people throughout the world," he said, adding: "The
way to answer those people of violence is to move forward the
peace process as quickly as possible."
WATCH AND KNOW - One of these days, perhaps even this Fall, we're
going to hear that an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians
has been reached. Also the date for a formal public confirmation
ceremony will be announced. Remember, the confirmation of Israel's
"covenant with many for one week" (Dan. 9:27) marks
the first day of the seven years of tribulation. Based on past
performance, such as Israel's treaties with Egypt; Jordan; and
the Oslo agreements, the announcement of the public confirmation
ceremony always came several days in advance of the event. So,
let's say that on or about October 14th, we hear that a confirmation
ceremony is set for October 20th. We would then know that the
Church would be caught up to meet Christ in the air on October
19th, as it's impossible for the Church to enter the tribulation.
Remember, after His death and resurrection back to glory, Jesus
gave the Church updated revelation: "If therefore thou shalt
not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not
know what hour I will come upon thee" (Rev. 3:3).
THEREFORE WATCH AND KNOW the hour of His coming (Rev. 3:3)!!
WATCH for Israel's covenant confirmation ceremony and KNOW the
time of the Rapture. "For the Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and
with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first;
then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together
with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so
shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another
with these words" (I Thessalonians 4:16-18). Retired pastor/teacher
JamesMcCutchan
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THE NEW BUSH DOCTRINE
April 1, 2008 - By: Jim Hutchens - For the Record (March/April
2008) - This issue of the Jerusalem Connection focuses on what
can only be described as The New Bush Doctrine regarding Israel.
Jeff Jacoby in his article, Death of the Bush Doctrine, (p.6)
describes this with chilling clarity, so does Daniel Pipes in
Bush’s Middle East Hopes (p.8), and Cal Thomas in Misplaced
Faith. (p.10). These, and others, are disturbingly on target
and should serve as a call to action for all Christian Zionists.
- Jacoby for example, charges that President Bush has abandoned
his own policy, the “Bush Doctrine,” the one he strongly
delivered in a blunt 2001 warning to sponsors of Islamic Jihadism,
“You are either with us or you are with the terrorists.”
That powerful warning is silent and as a result, the Bush Doctrine
is dead. In other words he really didn’t mean what he said.
Jacoby further charges that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
was chosen to announce its death when she declared, “The
administration had abandoned the most fundamental condition of
its support of Palestinian statehood namely, an end to Palestinian
terror.” Did we hear that correctly? The Palestinians do
not have to stop terrorism against Israel? America will support
a terrorist Palestinian statehood? Jacoby rightly concludes,
“Rice’s explanation was as striking for its candor
as for its moral blindness.”
- The Road Map to Peace Continued: http://support.tjci.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=5305
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- THE GAZA BOMBSHELL
- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and President George
W. Bush, whose secret Palestinian intervention backfired in a
big way.
- After failing to anticipate Hamas's victory over Fatah in
the 2006 Palestinian election, the White House cooked up yet
another scandalously covert and self-defeating Middle East debacle.
. . President Bush, Condoleezza Rice, and Deputy National-Security
Adviser Elliott Abrams backed an armed force under Fatah strongman
Muhammad Dahlan, touching off a bloody civil war in Gaza and
leaving Hamas stronger than ever. . . I've seen the video. .
. It shows abu Dan kneeling, his hands bound behind his back,
and screaming as his captors pummel him with a black iron rod.
"I lost all the skin on my back from the beatings,"
he says. "Instead of medicine, they poured perfume on my
wounds. It felt as if they had taken a sword to my injuries".
. . The video reveals a bare room with white walls and a black-and-white
tiled floor, where abu Dan's father is forced to sit and listen
to his son's shrieks of pain. Afterward, abu Dan says, he and
two of the others were driven to a market square. "They
told us they were going to kill us. They made us sit on the ground."
He rolls up the legs of his trousers to display the circular
scars that are evidence of what happened next: "They shot
our knees and feet?five bullets each. I spent four months in
a wheelchair."
- Abu Dan had no way of knowing it, but his tormentors had
a secret ally: the administration of President George W. Bush...
Full story: http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/04/gaza200804
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- IRAN, ISRAEL AND ARMILUS-THE ANTICHRIST
by Stephen Yulish PhD -  Midrash
Ge'ullah states that "Satan Armilus is whom the Gentiles
call antichrist but there is no proof of Christian influence."
Imagine, the Jews claiming the antichrist for themselves and
denying any Christian influence? That is amazing and ultimately
so sad. The name Armilus is thought to come from the Roman name
Romulus because the Jews hated Rome for destroying the Second
Temple and decimating Jerusalem. The Encyclopedia Judaica states
that Satan Armilus will have hold of the terrestrial world but
Messiah will have control of heaven and eternal kingdom. Armilus's
evil deeds are described in the Midrash Ge'ullah. He will be
"the least of kings, son a bondwoman, monstrous in appearance".
He will be born of a beautiful virgin, born of a stone. This
was probably from a Roman legend by Virgil that in Rome a marble
statue of a beautiful maiden formed not by human hands but by
God was defiled by the wicked sons of Belial and would come and
lie with her and impregnate the stone and thus create Satan Armilus.
He will be 12 cubits tall and two cubits broad with a space between
his eyes which are crooked and red. His hair is golden and the
soles of his feet are green. He also will have two heads. In
my novel, Invasion: Israel, I created a fictional representative
of this Jewish Antichrist, Satan Armilus, as a Dr. Sam Armilus,
who embodied many of these characteristics.
- My Dr.Armilus was of Jewish ancestry and was also a homosexual
as the Prophet Daniel intimated. He will deceive the entire world
into believing that He is God and will reign over the entire
world. He will come with 10 kings together and fight over Jerusalem.
He will slay Messiah ben Joseph and many other righteous men.
Armilus will banish Israel to the wilderness and there be great
distress for them and they will have to hide in caves. He will
take the stone from which he was born and make her the chief
of all idolatry. All will bow down to her and pour out libations
to her. No one can look on her face for any reason. Is this the
abomination of desolation mentioned in the Bible?
- This marble virgin motif was a result of Virgil's story popular
in Rome coupled with the Christianity story of the Immaculate
Conception and the worship of images both of which the Jews rejected.
At the end, Messiah ben David will come and defeat Armilus's
500,000 hosts and bring deliverance for Israel and the kingdom
of heaven will come over the entire earth. Once again this concept
of the Antichrist in Jewish lore is one which is foreign to most
Jews let alone most Christians. It is akin to the Jew who says
that Jesus never existed because there is no record of him other
than the New Testament. When it is pointed out that not only
does the Talmud speak of Him but it talks of His being put to
death for blasphemy and sorcery. "Jesus of Nazareth was
going to be stoned for sorcery. A plea went out for anyone to
plead on his behalf and nobody responded so he was hanged on
a tree on the eve of Passover" (b.sanhedrin 43a. t.sanhedrin
10:11, g.sanhedrin 7:16. 67a). Moses Maimonides the medieval
Jewish sage also spoke of Jesus in his Mishneh Torah where he
spoke of "Jesus of Nazareth who aspired to be the Messiah
and was executed by the court (Sanhedrin)". So the Jewish
person must be shown that his assumptions about Jesus and probably
likewise the Jewish Antichrist are false. Most Christians as
well, will not believe that Jewish extra biblical Midrashim and
legends speak of Satan Armilus as the Antichrist and that they
claimed that it was not a result of Christian influence.
- These medieval Jewish storytellers spoke of two Messiahs.
The first Messiah, son of Joseph who will be pierced by Satan
Armilus (sounds like Jesus doesn't it?), in the end time battle
of Gog and Magog and then Armilus would be defeated by Messiah
son of David (Second coming of Christ,) who would usher in Kingdom
of God. Many Jews will be deceived to believe that the appearance
of Armilus, the Jewish Antichrist, is actually their Messiah.
The Muslims will also be deceived to believe that the return
of the Mahdi is their Messianic savior rather than the antichrist.
Ironically both the Muslims and the Jews will be deceived in
the end of days. Continued: http://www.ufodigest.com/news/0207/antichrist2.html
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- FOR THE RECORD: A REVOLUTIONARY PROPOSAL
March 4, 2008 Professor Eidelberg - Filed under: Democratic Methods
• Representation — eidelberg @
Tomorrow I leave on a three-week lecture tour of the United States.
My primary topic will be “What Can You Do To Save Israel?”
Before I leave, let me set the record straight and propose a
very modest political revolution. Back in January 1988, one month
after the Shamir government failed to quell the first intifada,
I wrote an article in The Jewish Press calling for the establishment
of a “government in exile.” As a political scientist
who has seriously studied Machiavelli, I harbored not the slightest
thought or hope that any prominent person would adopt this far-fetched
proposal. After all, the great Aristotle taught politics is the
art of the possible. An impossible proposal is not a political
proposal; it nothing more than propaganda, at best having some
pedagogical value or intention. I understood quite well that
no one would act on my proposal, but that it was worthwhile floating
the idea that Israel’s existing government, having failed
to secure the lives of its citizens, forfeited its legitimacy
and was no longer worthy of public support or loyalty. Having
studied public opinion however, this political scientist knew
that very few people would draw that politically disturbing conclusion,
let alone act on it, especially in view of the fact that that
Israel’s reputation as a democracy dulls the wits of its
citizens—learned and unlearned, military and civilian. Addicted
to peace and commodious living, democracy dulls the martial virtues
and as well as the sense of national honor. Political scientist
in Israel avoid such politically incorrect truths
- So, when I proposed a government in exile, my intention was
to shame the government in the eyes of the public. I wanted to
convey to our people that Israel was in a desperate situation,
and that if drastic remedial action were not take soon, Israel
would eventually later cease to exist. What followed, however—or
what continued to distract the public was the flood of futile
articles, which—even if some were perceptive—accomplished
and could accomplish nothing. Internet, the democratic media
par excellence, is utterly afflicted by Greshem’s law: The
bad drives out the good. Internet may well be the most anti-revolutionary
medium ever invented by man, for it allows every Tom, Dick, and
Harry to afflict the pubic with his or her futile and frivolous
opinions. To be fair, however, Internet also allows intelligent
and civic-minded people to circumvent the left-wing dominated
media and get their views circulated at home and abroad. In any
event, polls indicate that as much as 90% of the people know
that Israel’s government is corrupt and spineless. We don’t
need journalists to tell us this day, after day, after day. We
knew this long before Sderot, which only brought this deadly
as well as ignominious state of affairs closer to home. We know
that one prime minister after another has betrayed us, that one
is worse than another. Repeated analysis only perpetuates paralysis.
The pundits are anesthetizing the public. Is it any wonder we
have witnessed the death of outrage?
- So what is to be done? If I call for a revolution, I will
be asked how can this be initiated? Well, let me offer one suggestion—which
of course will not be adopted by any non-parliamentary group
or Zionist organization preoccupied by its own interests or limited
by its own political myopia. I propose that each and every non-parliamentary
nationalist and religious groups loudly and incessantly call
for one thing: The very thing the world renowned professor Bernard
Lewis urged at last month’s Jerusalem Summit: Demand that
members of the Knesset be individually elected by and accountable
to the voters in constituency elections! Just this one thing—and
the revolution will have started! And suppose the above mentioned
non-parliamentary groups and Zionist organizations do not respond
to this call—this one thing necessary? What next? Well,
for the sake of Israel: Just stop supporting them! They’ll
get the message!
http://foundation1.org/wp-en/2008/03/04/for-the-record-a-revolutionary-proposal/
 25-02-8_Eidelberg.mp3
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- IS THE U.S. ALLY OF ISRAEL?
- is_the_us_ally_of_israel.pdf
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- ZION FIRST - THE VATICAN'S NEW CRUSADE FOR JERUSALEM
- Barry Chamish -
 http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3557853190547322236
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- AN INVENTION CALLED 'THE JEWISH PEOPLE'
February 28, 2008 Israel's Declaration of Independence states
that the Jewish people arose in the Land of Israel and was exiled
from its homeland. Every Israeli schoolchild is taught that this
happened during the period of Roman rule, in 70 CE. The nation
remained loyal to its land, to which it began to return after
two millennia of exile. Wrong, says the historian Shlomo Zand,
in one of the most fascinating and challenging books published
here in a long time. There never was a Jewish people, only a
Jewish religion, and the exile also never happened?hence there
was no return. . According to Zand, the Romans did not generally
exile whole nations, and most of the Jews were permitted to remain
in the country. The number of those exiled was at most tens of
thousands. When the country was conquered by the Arabs, many
of the Jews converted to Islam and were assimilated among the
conquerors. . . 30 years before the Declaration of Independence,
[this thesis] was espoused by David Ben-Gurion, Yitzhak Ben-Zvi
and others. The first Jews of Ashkenaz (Germany) did not come
from the Land of Israel and did not reach Eastern Europe from
Germany, but became Jews in the Khazar Kingdom in the Caucasus.
. . We find, then, that the members of a variety of peoples and
races, blond and black, brown and yellow, became Jews in large
numbers. According to Zand, the Zionist need to devise for them
a shared ethnicity and historical continuity produced a long
series of inventions and fictions, along with an invocation of
racist theses. Some were concocted in the minds of those who
conceived the Zionist movement, while others were offered as
the findings of genetic studies conducted in Israel. . . Full
story: haaretz.com
The Thirteenth
Tribe
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- PEACE PROCESS - TROUBLING TURNAROUND AT OLMERT-ABBAS MEETING
By Stan Goodenough - May 05, 2008 - After initial reports indicated
a negative outcome, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and PLO
chief terrorist Mahmoud Abbas reportedly held an unexpectedly
successful meeting in Jerusalem Monday morning, with officials
saying they had suddenly made "considerable progress."
Maps depicting the areas of Israel's historic lands being demanded
by the Palestinian Arabs for their state were brought to the
meeting, which was held at Olmert's official residence shortly
after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice ended a two-day
visit to the land. According to The Jerusalem Post, after "warmly"
embracing Abbas, a man responsible for the deaths and wounding
of untold numbers of Israeli Jews - Olmert told him Israel now
realized the need to make "tangible" changes in Samaria
and Judea because it was necessary that the months of peace talks
be accompanied by actions on the ground. Abbas' aides said earlier
the PA chairman was contemplating resigning within a few months
unless noticeable progress was made towards the creation of "Palestine."
Palestine is the name intended for the Arab state the international
community is working to establish in the biblical heartland of
the Jewish people. Ha'aretz reported that a senior Israeli official
had told Army Radio that during the meeting, Olmert and Abbas
made "significant progress on the borders issue" -
the issue of where the borders of the new "Palestine"
would lie in relation to what would be left of Israel. Abbas'
authority is also being challenged by Hamas, which violently
wrested control of Gaza from the PLO last year and is spreading
its influence across Samaria and Judea. Officials in the Prime
Minister's Office said "these were the most serious talks
the sides have ever conducted," according to Ynetnews. Commentators
wondered whether Olmert was trying to bolster Abbas in the face
of the opposition against him, or whether the Israeli leader
had perhaps been spurred to make sudden concessions because his
own position is threatened in a new police investigation. Continued:
http://www.jnewswire.com/article/2436
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- US VP CHENEY HEADING FOR THE MIDDLE EAST
- By Stan Goodenough - March 10, 2008 - United States Vice
President Richard Cheney is due to visit the Middle East in the
coming days, according to Fox News Monday. - Cheney is scheduled
to meet in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
and in Ramallah with PLO chief terrorist Mahmoud Abbas. But while
he will visit with these two leaders, Fox News analysts said,
the Vice President does not plan to "encroach" on Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice's "turf" and will not meddle
with efforts to carve a "State of Palestine" out of
Israel's biblical homeland. A statement released by Cheney's
office said "President Bush has asked the vice president
to travel to Oman, Saudi Arabia, Israel, the West Bank, and Turkey
for discussions with these key partners on issues of mutual interest,"
Cheney's office stated. The main focus of Cheney's visit is understood
to be the Iranian nuclear threat. http://www.jnewswire.com/topic/america
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- MCCAIN, CANDIDACY ASSURED, COMING TO ISRAEL
- By Stan Goodenough - March 10, 2008 - Days after securing
the nomination to run for president of the United States, US
Senator John McCain will be coming to Israel, a country with
which every American leader since at least Jimmy Carter has found
himself entangled. According to a report Sunday in the Hebrew-language
newspaper Ma'ariv, the purpose of McCain's March 18 visit is
to garner support from American Jewry for his White House bid.
The decorated US war veteran, celebrated Vietnam POW and longtime
lawmaker plans to meet in Israel with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert,
Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.
McCain, who last week received the endorsement of hi-profile
pro-Israel evangelical leader John Hagee, has stood staunchly
with Israel in the past, rejecting international condemnation
of the Jewish state for engaging Hizb'allah in the 2006 Second
Lebanon War. In the same year he denied the authenticity of an
article in the leftist Israeli daily Ha'aretz which said he planned
to micromanage the Arab-Israeli conflict and that he supported
Israel's retreat to the 1967 borders. In fact, according to The
Jewish Press (May 17, 2006),
- "McCain sounded a pessimistic note on the viability
of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, at least in the short term.
'There can be no comprehensive peace accord between Israel and
the Palestinians until the Palestinians recognize Israel, forswear
forever the use of violence, recognize their previous agreements,
and reform their internal institutions,' he said," adding
that 'with the election of Hamas, this process has taken a huge
step backward, and it’s simply impossible to push today
for a comprehensive accord.'" On July 17 last year, McCain
told a Christian audience in Washington, DC, that Israel "is
literally surrounded by enemies bent on its destruction...[and]
"is probably under more duress and more difficulties than
perhaps they have ever been in the history of that country. "If
we [the United States] fail in Israel," he asked, "where
will we succeed?" As positive as his statements sound, Zionists
believe the bottom line is really whether McCain will support
and continue efforts to implement President George W. Bush's
two-state solution, which aims at stealing historic Jewish lands
for the creation of an Arab state. Meanwhile, according to Fox
News, the Democratic candidate, Senator Hilary Clinton, who is
still fighting it out with Senator Barak Hussein Obama has indicated
no willingness to head to the Middle East at this stage. http://www.jnewswire.com/topic/america
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