30-Sep-06: An Eve-of-Yom-Kippur Suggestion

For most of the Jewish readers of this blog, the concept of Kapparot is not new. For those to whom it's less familiar, here's a brief description, followed by a practical suggestion.

Kapparot is an ancient and very widely-observed Jewish custom performed on the eve of Yom Kippur, the day of atonement. In its classical traditional form, a live chicken was taken in one's hand, held above a person's head and swung in a circle three times, while the following was spoken: "This is my exchange, my substitute, my atonement; this rooster (or hen) shall go to its death, but I shall go to a good, long life, and to peace." The hope was that the fowl, which was then donated to the poor for food, would take on any misfortune that might otherwise occur to the one who has taken part in the ritual, in punishment for his or her sins.

This custom is not mentioned in the Torah or the Talmud. The first references to it in Jewish literature come only in the ninth century, and already by the middle ages it was the focus of some criticism. The Ramban (Nachmanides), for instance, did not like it but Kabbalists led by the Holy Ari-zal (Harav Yitzhak Luria) saw in it considerable mystical significance. Some scholars and prominent leaders felt that some people would misunderstand the significance of the ritual - the idea that the kapparot ceremony could transfer a person's sins to a bird, and that those sins would then be completely eradicated. They asked: if a ritual can remove a person's sins, what would be the need for Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement? The Mishneh Brurah, a very authoritative twentieth-century codification of Jewish law, reminds us that there is no substitute for sincere repentance. By substituting the death of a fowl, one will (hopefully) appreciate G-d's mercy and be stirred to repentance. By no means, however, does the ritual eradicate one's misdeeds, even though the bird is donated to the poor.

Sensitivity to the needs of animals plays a prominent role in traditional Jewish thought. Rabbi Israel Salanter, one of the most distinguished Orthodox Rabbis of the nineteenth century, failed to appear one Yom Kippur eve to chant the sacred Kol Nidre Prayer. His congregation became concerned, for it was inconceivable that their saintly rabbi would be late or absent on this very holy day. They sent out a search party to look for him. After much time, their rabbi was found in the barn of a Christian neighbor. On his way to the synagogue, Rabbi Salanter had come upon one of his neighbor's calves, lost and tangled in the brush. Seeing that the animal was in distress, he freed it and led it home through many fields and over many hills. His act of mercy represented the rabbi's prayers on that Yom Kippur evening.

While there are some Jews today who will carry out the Kapparot custom with a chicken, controversy or not, most Torah-observant Jews will satisfy their obligation by doing the ritual with money and not with a fowl. Money, perhaps equal to the monetary value of the fowl, is put into a handkerchief which the person swings three times around his or her head while reciting a modified saying :"This money shall go to charity, and I shall go to a good, long life, and to peace." Hence, the heightened sense of repentance can be kept, and perhaps even enhanced, since no bird has to lose its life or suffer for our sake. This substitution, which maintains the tradition of giving charity (the substituted money) to the poor, has been endorsed by many rabbis and is mentioned in many prayer books, including the highly regarded Artscroll Siddur.

This year, as part of its fund-raising efforts, the Malki Foundation printed Kapparot collection boxes to be placed in synagogues on the eve of Yom Kippur, which this year falls on Sunday (tomorrow). The boxes are collapsible, simple, light and easily mailed. Synagogues all over Israel will have such collection boxes, thanks to the positive response of members of the Friends of the Malki Foundation who responded to a letter from Liat Behr, the foundation's executive director, in the past two weeks.

But it's not too late - even if you live outside of Israel. If you are going to be in synagogue on Sunday afternoon for pre-Yom Kippur Mincha, and are willing to place a collection box or pushke where charity-minded people can easily drop their Kapparot money, then please be in touch with the Malki Foundation today or tomorrow. Unless you are in Jerusalem, it's too late for them to send you a printed collection box. But they can email you a nicely designed Word or PDF document, one single page, which you can print on your desktop printer, and then stick it on to a shoe box, a pushke or any other appropriate receptacle. We hope you will agree that this is a simple and painless way to contribute to the very positive work which the Malki Foundation does every day for the benefit of families who care at home for a seriously disabled child. The Malki Foundation is the only organization in Israel who do this work, and they do it with an uncommon degree of efficiency and responsibility.

This being the last days of the Ten Days of Penitence when acts of charity are especially respected, you are also invited to donate directly to Keren Malki. You can do this online right now by credit card. Credit card donations are tax-deductible under Israeli and United States law. Donations by check/cheque are also most welcome, and in many cases are also tax-deductible. All the details of how and where are here on our website. You can also email Liat Behr for more information.

With sincere wishes for a much better year than the one we have just left behind.

30-Sep-06: Yet Again Tonight... Israel Under Rocket Attack

Woman, 76, and boy, 11, injured in Palestinian rocket attack on Sderot

Yediot Aharonot Last update - 21:28 30/09/2006
By Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondent and Reuters
A 76-year-old woman and an 11-year-old boy were lightly wounded Saturday evening when a Qassam rocket struck a fence around a house in the western Negev town of Sderot. The rocket hit four meters from the front door of the house, causing serious damage. The residents of the house were at synagogue at the time of the strike. The injured woman and boy were walking past the house at the time of the strike and were hit by shrapnel. Seven other people were treated for shock. Family members said they would be sleeping with relatives in the town. The Sderot municipality placed guards at the entrance of the house to prevent looting.

Qassam hits house in Sderot; 2 people lightly injured

Haaretz: Firing of Qassam rockets toward Sderot continues: Rocket fired from northern Gaza Strip directly hits house. Two people injured by shrapnel and seven others suffer from shock. In cabinet meeting this week, Dichter says: 'State not providing sufficient response to Sderot residents' Few hours later, another Qassam rocket lands near city
Tova Dadon
Latest Update: 09.30.06, 21:05
Palestinian gunmen fired Saturday evening a Qassam rocket from the northern Gaza Strip toward Israeli territory. The rocket directly hit a house in Sderot. Magen David Adom teams are treating two people wounded by shrapnel and seven others suffering from shock. The rocket landed after the Red Dawn alert system was activated. A few hours after this initial attack, another Qassam rocket was fired by Palestinian gunmen in the northern Gaza Strip. The rocket landed next to the city of Sderot, but the explosion was heard throughout the city. No one was injured.
The Sderot Municipality issued the following statement after the strike: "In wake of the Qassam attack this evening, Mayor Eli Moyal and the municipality's management decided not to comment on the severity of the strike, and will leave this to the prime minister and defense minister, who claim that the Qassam firing leads to whining."
...
The same day, Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter said during a cabinet meeting, "The State of Israel has woken up every day for nearly two months with a 'Good morning, Qassam,' in the Negev. We aren't providing a proper response the residents of Sderot and communities surrounding Gaza. The response of the defense establishment is not befitting of the threat and there needs to be a stronger hand." In response to a question from one of the ministers on Dichter's recommendation on the issue, the internal security minister answered, "We don't need to conquer Gaza, but operations that will create deterrence against the Palestinian Authority and Hamas are required. We must hit where is needed and to charge a price. The government needs to reconsider all of its policies toward Gaza following the continuation of the Qassam attacks."
Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal said to Ynet following Dichter's statements, "Such a government has no moral basis to continue ruling after such dramatic statements. A state that demands us to be law-abiding citizens cannot demand us 'die because we have no solution for you.'"
The sentiment in Sderot, told Moyal, is that the government gave answers and reinforcements to the northern residents and allocated generous budgets to this cause, but to the Qassam-struck city, the state has thrown in the towel. "There is a solution, just as they demolished Beirut in order to defend the north. I am not telling the army what they need to do, but don't leave us the decision about our fate," he said.
Defense Minister Amir Peretz responded to Dichter's claims during the cabinet meeting: "It doesn't matter how many Qassams have been fired and which organization shot them – one Qassam is the same as dozens. Our response will be unequivocal and harsh to every firing. We are continuing to examine additional operations."
Peretz added that the IDF is preparing a series of operations in the Gaza Strip against the trajectory of the fire, including warehouses in which weaponry is stored.
Chief of Staff Dan Halutz said after Dichter's statements, "The firing of even one Qassam is unacceptable to us." Halutz pointed an implied finger at the political echelons as someone who can "made decisions of a different kind." According to him, there is an assessment in the defense establishment as to the preferable paths of action.
First Published: 09.30.06, 19:27

Those words - "The firing of even one Qassam is unacceptable to us" - need to be engraved into the consciences of the foreign journalists reporting on the middle east conflict. Unless, that is, the firing of Qassams into Israel is basically understandable, acceptable and - who knows? - even justified to them. How else to explain the overall absence of reporting of these daily acts of terrorist warfare against Israeli society?

30-Sep-06: Finally, Something Worth Watching on Television

This is something quite special.

David Aaronovitch , a columnist for the Times newspaper in London, has made a first-class documentary which was shown on Britain's Channel 5 last week under the title "Don't Get Me Started: No Excuses for Terror". It directly confronts the central issue that vexes the authors of this blog: the transparent hypocrisy of political activists and media sources who have dumbed-down the middle east conflict in order to make it fit an anti-Israel, anti-Jewish narrative and outlook on life.

Harry's Place posted it to YouTube and summarizes it this way:

David Aaronovitch: No Excuses For Terror. Who is really responsible for the suicide bombers that target us? Is it the fault of George Bush or Tony Blair? Are we all somehow to blame? David Aaronovitch, journalist and commentator, has had enough of this argument. He asks how we've got to the point where British Socialists support Islamofascist Terrorism. Aaronovitch explains where the left have gone wrong on Israel, Palestine, the War in Iraq and the War on Terror.

The 45-minute documentary is posted on You Tube. Each of the links below should get you to its four parts:

Aaronovitch on Channel 5 (Part 1 of 4) 09:58 mins

Aaronovitch on Channel 5 (Part 2 of 4) 09:58 mins

Aaronovitch on Channel 5 (Part 3 of 4) 09:46 mins

Aaronovitch on Channel 5 (Part 4 of 4) 09:57 mins

The film is not a pro-Israel polemic nor a right-wing bash of the left-wing. It's thought-provoking and intelligent television - highly worth the investment of time and brain-cycles. And appropriately blunt on the dangers that Islamic terror and the blend of stupidity and malevolence exhibited by Hizbollah/Hamas supporters in Western societies pose to those Western societies.

29-Sep-06: Gaza Rockets Hit Israel Thursday Night

Qassam rocket lands in Sderot; no injuries

Palestinians fire rocket from north Gaza into Israel; police say Qassam landed in open field near western Negev town; Red Dawn alert system did not identify launching
Tova Dadon
Published (Yediot Aharonot): 09.28.06, 21:18
Palestinians in north Gaza fired a Qassam rocket toward Israel Thursday evening. Police sources said the rocket apparently landed in an open field near the western Negev city of Sderot; no injuries or damage were reported in the incident. The Red Dawn alert system failed to identify the rocket launching, but residents said the blast was heard load and clear.

Each of these rocket attacks is an act of war. That they have become a daily event in the lives of Israelis living in towns that have never been in dispute, have never been "occupied" only makes the situation more unacceptable, more absurd.

28-Sep-06: Terrorism? Child's Play

In his excellent "Letter from Israel" blog, David Frankfurter points out the unwanted consequences of uncritical, unaudited and uncontrolled European material aid to the Palestinian Arabs. David writes today that:

Materials captured by the IDF in Lebanon reveal that the Palestinians have finally found a successful export product. Indeed, one created by a home grown industry nurtured and encouraged by European taxpayer funded aid monies. Hezbollah has learned from the Palestinians the value of hate material aimed at children. It uses colouring and picture/story books to instill the virtue of killing Jews and joining the "resistance" at an early age. Here (at right) is an example. A few crayons will add colour to Hezbollah soldiers crossing the border, abducting Israeli soldiers. The Funding for Peace Coalition and Palestinian Media Watch have long documented the way internationally funded budgets of official Palestinian Authority institutions were used to ensure that education to terror starts early. The headline in this morning's Israeli Yediot Aharonot newspaper announces the reward the Palestinians are receiving for this knowledge and skills transfer: "Hizbollah is preparing Hamas for a battle with Israel in Gaza."

What Palestinian Arab society has done, with eyes wide open over a period of generations, to its own children is both a crime and its own punishment - a crime and a punishment of historical proportions.

As parents of a child actually, physically (not nearly, not virtually) murdered by the pathological savages created by that enterprise, we feel the need to endlessly remind people of the powerful truth contained in the words of a wise old woman. Golda Meir famously said: "We'll have peace with the Arabs when they learn to love their own children more than they hate us."

It hasn't happened. And as important resources like Teach Kids Peace show, it does not look like happening anytime soon.

27-Sep-06: Scenes from Israel's Homeland Defence

Far from the headlines, there's plenty going on in Israel's ongoing war with the forces of terror in, near and around our home-towns.

Early this morning (Wednesday), the Israel Air Force targeted a house in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. The Israel Defense Forces said it had attacked a house used as cover to dig a weapons smuggling tunnel under the border with Egypt. The house belonged to a known weapons dealer called Sammy al-Shaer. In accordance with standard Israeli defence Forces practice, the army phoned al-Shaer 15 minutes before the initial raid and told him to clear out of the house. He and his family promptly did.

No injuries came from the initial strike which leveled the house. Children immediately gathered to look at the rubble when the second part of the air strike took place. This time, it appears, a 14-year-old girl was killed and other children (according to some reports 7, according to others 10) were injured, Gaza hospital officials are quoted saying.

In the Balata "refugee camp", next to Nablus in the West Bank, IDF soldiers - accompanied by Shin Bet agents - seized a 10 kg explosives belt, the kind of barbaric weaponry responsible for hundreds of cold-blooded murders of innocent Israelis. In a resulting exchange of fire with IDF soldiers, three Palestinian Arab gunmen were injured. Palestinians sources, however, said they did not know of any casualties. Balata has long been identified as one of the major concentrations of civilian-targeted terrorist activity by Palestinian Arab groups. Yediot Aharonot reports that

The incident began when the forces encircled a building in which wanted Palestinians were hiding; gunmen inside proceeded to open fire at the forces and threw explosive devices at them. There were no injuries to the IDF forces, who returned fire. At least three gunmen were injured during the exchange of fire; their condition remains unclear. The army said two Palestinians wanted by the Israeli security establishment were apprehended during the operation; a search conducted after the arrests revealed the explosive belt hidden between garbage cans outside the building. Sappers were dispatched to perform a controlled-detonation of the belt.
Major Meir, the deputy commander of the 101st Paratroopers Battalion, told Ynet, “I said to my troops following the operation ‘you saved the lives of at least 20 people in Netanya’”. The paratroopers returned to Nablus just three weeks ago after taking part in the Lebanon war. Major Meir continued: “As part of the constant pressure applied on the terror organizations and terror centers in Nablus we carried out an operation overnight to arrest wanted Palestinians. When the force arrived at the building gunmen hurled explosive devices that luckily did not strike the troops; three gunmen were inured in the ensuing gunfight.
“A major terror attack was thwarted here just before Yom Kippur,” he said. “There are numerous warnings originating from Nablus and we are doing all we can to prevent the attacks.”
...A senior Central Command officer told Ynet recently that “Nablus was and remains a West Bank terror hub and there arte repeated attempts to carry out attacks against Israeli targets.” According to the officer, these attempts have intensified in the aftermath of the war in Lebanon, mainly on the part of Islamic Jihad. Defense Minister Amir Peretz said Tuesday that over the past two weeks the security establishment succeeded in preventing 10 suicide attacks planned by terrorists in the West Bank.

Also overnight, IDF soldiers arrested 19 wanted Palestinian Arab terror suspects in arrest raids in various towns in the West Bank region.

26-Sep-06: Israel Under Gaza Rocket Fire Again This Morning

Tuesday: 2 Qassam rockets land in Sderot causing power outage; young woman injured

Published: 09.26.06, 07:42
Armed Palestinians shot two Qassam rockets from northern Gaza at Israeli territory. The rockets hit Sderot causing a power outage throughout the city. There has been no report of injuries.
A young woman was injured as a result of the rocket hit in the center of the city and there are a number of shock victims at the site. Another rocket landed in yard of a private house. No injuries were reported in the second incident.

26-Sep-06: Mainly Ignored by Media, Hezbollah's Lebanese Opponents

Ignored by the media, Lebanese Christians are entitled to ask themselves, if we hold a demonstration and tens of thousands of us take part, but the mainstream media mainly ignore us, did the rally actually take place?

Lebanese Christians Protest Hezbollah

By HUSSEIN DAKROUB, Associated Press Writer Sun Sep 24, 10:34 PM ET
BEIRUT, Lebanon - An anti-Syrian Christian leader dismissed Hezbollah's claims of victory in its war with Israel as tens of thousands of his supporters rallied Sunday in a show of strength that highlighted Lebanon's sharp divisions. The rally north of Beirut came just two days after a massive gathering by the rival Shiite Muslim Hezbollah that attracted hundreds of thousands. The two sides have been at sharp odds over the future of the Lebanese government since this summer's Israeli-Hezbollah war.
Samir Geagea, a notorious former leader of a Christian militia, scoffed at Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah's declaration that his guerrillas achieved "a victory" against Israel. "I don't feel victory because the majority of the Lebanese people do not feel victory. Rather, they feel that a major catastrophe had befallen them and made their present and future uncertain," he said. Hezbollah's fight with Israel sent its support soaring among Shiites. But a large sector — particularly among Christians and Sunni Muslims — opposes Hezbollah and resents it for provoking the monthlong fight by capturing two Israeli soldiers on July 12. The war killed hundreds of Lebanese civilians and left part of the country's infrastructure in ruins, causing billions of dollars in damage to the economy.
Geagea, who served more than a decade in prison on multiple counts of murder dating to the 1975-90 civil war, backs the Western-leaning government of Prime Minister Fuad Saniora. His party is a member of the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority in Lebanon. Geagea's supporters, waving his pictures and the white, red and green flag of his Lebanese Forces Party, arrived in buses and cars at the shrine of the Virgin Mary in the town of Harissa, about 15 miles north of Beirut. Addressing his supporters after a mass to commemorate Christian militiamen killed in the civil war, Geagea rejected Nasrallah's vow to keep his weapons, saying the guerrilla group was blocking the establishment of "a strong and capable (Lebanese) state" for which Nasrallah was calling.
"When we find a solution to (the issue of Hezbollah's) weapons, then it will be possible to establish the state as it should be," he said.
Geagea, who backs Hezbollah's disarmament, implicitly accused the Iranian- and Syrian-backed group of running "a state within a state" in south Lebanon.
"How can a state be established while there is a mini-state (within its borders)? How can this state be established while every day arms and ammunitions are smuggled (to Hezbollah) under its (the state's) nose?" he said.
... Hezbollah's push for a stronger political role could deepen tensions in a country already sharply divided over the war.
Geagea rejected Nasrallah's call for a new government, defending Saniora's administration. Despite "some loopholes and defects," it is for the first time "a Lebanese, sovereign and independent one," he said.
Syria dominated Lebanon for nearly three decades before it withdrew its troops last year under heavy international pressure following the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Syria is accused of involvement in Hariri's death, which it denies.
Geagea was arrested in April 1994 and his group was banned after a church bombing killed 10 people. He was later acquitted in the bombing but sentenced to three life terms on several other murder counts, including the killing of pro-Syrian Prime Minister Rashid Karami. Geagea served 11 years in prison before he was released in July 2005, when Lebanon's parliament approved a motion to pardon him. He was leader of the Lebanese Forces — the country's most powerful Christian militia during the Lebanese civil war. Israel backed the militia during that conflict and the Israeli invasion in 1982 to expel Palestinian guerrillas.

Hezbollah has invested $100,000 in English-language billboards proclaiming its 'victory' all over French and Arabic speaking Beirut. Why English? Newsweek knows why.

Convincing its Islamicist supporters and its Iranian and Syrian sponsors of its "miraculous" "victory" is far more important than the shortcomings of reality. Fantasy is a terribly dangerous thing in a place where soldiers where no uniforms, where the enemy's houses and kindergartens are a prime target and where damage to the homeland and to the Lebanese economy and to the lives of hundreds of fellow Arabs means - in Nasrallah's eyes - absolutely nothing. Perceptions, as demagogues like Nasrallah know, are everything.

25-Sep-06: On Radical Islam and the Global Economy

Writing his weekly column on economic issues in the Jerusalem Post, the business journalist Pinchas Landau makes some original and worthwhile observations (in an accompanying note he calls them mildly apocalyptic) about Islam and the central role its plays in some relation to certain issues that you find surprising:

Looking back over the outgoing Jewish year, it is plain that the outstanding global events shared a common theme – they all involved radical Islam. These events were (a) the publication of and (belated – the fuss started two months later) uproar over the Mohammed cartoons in Denmark; (b) the Israeli campaign against Hezbollah; (c) the protests following the Pope's reference to Mohammed and his legacy in a lecture last week.

Of these, the last seems to me by far the most important, both in itself and because it confirms and extends the implications arising from the others. This conclusion is being borne out by the fallout from 'the Pope incident', as expresssed in every kind of communications medium – but most especially in the rapidly-growing 'blogosphere'. Whereas the response of the West, primarily its secular majority but also its religious minority, to the cartoons was dominated by confusion, embarrassment and ultimately surrender; and whereas the response of the West to the second Lebanon war was, overwhelmingly, to blame Israel and the Jews for causing trouble; this time is very different... The intensity of the response across the Moslem world tells its own story and reinforces the message from the earlier round of rage, inspired by the Mohammed cartoon.

Ironically, the secular world – from neo-liberals to Marxists to post-modernists – has been more shaken by the Moslem fury that followed 'the Pope incident', than it was by the backlash to the Mohammed cartoons. They and other neutral parties – such as Jews, Protestants and even Hindus – to this clash between Roman Catholicism and Islam seem to grasp implicitly that this is not funny, nor is their traditional dislike of the Catholic Church an excuse for some schadenfreude. On the contrary: people finally realised that there is a global war going on after all, and that, despite all protestations to the contrary, it is about religion.

Until this week, enormous efforts have been expended in 'the West' – a very loose term that in this context includes Japan, Russia and probably even China – to deny that the world has a problem with the extremist versions of Islam, which now dominate the Moslem world and agenda. This epiphanic moment is only partially due to 'the Pope incident' and is probably more the cumulative outcome of all the 'incidents' over the last year and indeed decade.

What has all this to do with the global economy? A great deal, actually. 'The Pope incident' may prove to be the turning-point for Europe, when it finally realises that it has a choice between seeking to preserve the culture it developed over the last 1000-1500 years – which is, at root, a Christian culture – and between rolling over and dying under a Moslem demographic and cultural onslaught. If so, everything now taken for granted by economists – such as the primacy of mainstream socio-economic issues in the political life of 'the West', and especially of European Union countries – goes out of the window. When you are fighting for your national, cultural -- let alone spiritual -- existence, inflation targets and debt: GDP ratios become less, dare one say, sacrosanct.

As for the Israeli economy, the idea that we are in peril has reasserted itself powerfully these last two months and is beginning to impact economic and social policy making. But if 'the Pope incident' proves to be the precursor to an anti-Moslem backlash in Europe, the continent's Jews will surely revert to their historic role of being caught in the middle. Expect, therefore, to hear a lot more French in your neighborhood soon.

The whole column's here.

25-Sep-06: If This is What Religious Tolerance Means, You Can Keep It

Courtesy of the ever-reliable Palestinian Media Watch, here at right is a cartoon that appears in the current (25th September 2006) edition of Al Risala, the official magazine of Hamas, published weekly in Gaza. For the near-sighted or unimaginative, it depicts Pope Benedict XVI brandishing a nazi swastika while wearing a scarf made up American and Danish flags. The Danish connection recalls the cartoons published last year in Denmark, the publication of which so enraged Islamic mobs on every continent that they rioted in the name of tolerance and injured pride, causing many deaths.

In a similar, peace-loving, tolerance-promoting vein, official Palestinian Authority Television, controlled by the 'moderate' Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah organization, went to air this past Friday (22nd September 2006) with coverage of the Friday sermon delivered to the faithful by Hamas religious leader, Osama Al-Mazini. The sermon calls the Pope "criminal and arrogant," "ignorant and stupid," and warns him that his punishment awaits. Allah, the preacher thundered, does not necessarily punish the wicked immediately, but waits "until a day when eyes will stare (in terror)."

"The second message is for the criminal Benedict the 16th, the Vatican Pope. For this ignorant and stupid Pope, who has no one to attack besides Islam and the Prophet [Muhammad], may the Creator have mercy on him and protect him. He [the Pope] characterized Islam as a cruel religion, and characterized Muhammad, may the Creator have mercy on him and protect him, as a cruel man, spilling blood, who strove to kill. This hostile Pope refuses to apologize to Muslims; and, instead of apologizing he blames the Muslims for not understanding, thereby adding crime upon crime. This arrogant Pope sees the Muslims as too inferior that he should apologize to them. To this arrogant Pope - criminal and arrogant - this message is from Allah the Elevated and the Exalted, as it was said: 'Think not that Allah is unaware of what the wicked do. He but gives them a respite until a day when eyes will stare (in terror).' [Sura14:42]"

BBC World meanwhile leads this evening's news bulletins with a story headed: "Pope stresses respect for Muslims".

Pope Benedict XVI has expressed "total and profound respect" for the Muslim faith, as he attempts to defuse a row between Islam and the Catholic Church. He made the remarks in a meeting with envoys from the Muslim world, weeks after a speech in Germany prompted an angry reaction by some Muslims... In the space of just half an hour, the pontiff made a brief speech to envoys before greeting them individually, but there was no general discussion. Muslim leaders had been demanding an unequivocal apology from the Pope for his words. Ambassadors from 21 countries and a representative from the Arab League attended, as well as Islamic representatives in Italy... "I would like today to stress my total and profound respect for all Muslims," the Pope said in the speech. He called for "sincere and respectful dialogue", adding that Christians and Muslims alike must reject all forms of violence and respect religious liberty. Correspondents say the latter was a reference to restrictions on the church's activity in some Muslim countries. "Since the beginning of my pontificate I have had occasion to express my wish to continue to establish bridges of friendship with believers of all religions, showing particularly my appreciation in the belief in dialogue between Muslims and Christians... The inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue between Christians and Muslims is, in effect, a vital necessity, on which a large part of our future depends."
But in a BBC interview, the ambassador of Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim nation, pointed out that the Pope had not referred directly to the speech which sparked the controversy. "We had hoped that there would have been a dialogue, but that was not the case," Bambang Prayitno said. "There was no dialogue between the Pope and the guests... In general, we were actually a bit surprised that the meeting was a short one and just like that."
...The [Pope's offending 14th Century] quote says: "Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." The Pope said his real intention had been to "explain that religion and violence do not go together, but religion and reason do".

Far be it from us to criticize the Vatican's foreign relations strategy, but if we were Catholics, we would be cringing with embarrassment and purple with humiliation.

25-Sep-06: Monday Morning - Rockets Falling Again

2 Qassam rockets land in south

Palestinians fire rockets from northern Gaza Strip; no injuries reported
Tova Dadon (09.25.06, 08:03)
Palestinians fired two Qassam rockets from the northern Gaza Strip on Monday morning.
The IDF Spokesperson's Office told Ynet that one of the rockets landed between the Saad Junction and the Gevim Junction in the Negev. The landing spot of the second rocket has not been located yet. There were no reports of injuries.
The Sderot Municipality spokesman reported that the Red Color alert system was activated in the southern town once a report was received on the launching of the rockets.
On Saturday, Palestinians fired a Qassam rocket from the northern Gaza Strip. The rocket landed near the community of Mavkiim, south of Ashkelon. There were no reports of injuries, but the road suffered damage. The Israel Defense Forces continue to operate in the Qassam launching area in a bid to halt the fire. On Thursday, Palestinians fired five Qassam rockets at Israel , one of them hitting the Sapir College in Shaar Hanegev and another causing heavy damage to a house in Sderot.
The Sderot Municipality said in a statement: "In the past two weeks Qassams have been fired in fixed hours between 6 and 9 a.m., which are critical hours during which students leave for school and adults leave for work. We have also noticed that the rockets themselves have become more sophisticated, causing more serious damage."

It's plain that news editors all over the media universe have chosen to treat these daily, murderous attacks as hum-drum and unworthy of being mentioned. The same folk tend, however, to wake up when the Israeli military locate and eliminate the perpetrators and their equipment. That's when those iconic images of robed Gazan women, wailing and with their arms raised skywards, or poverty-stricken Gazan children playing in the ruins, are dusted off and inserted into the news reporting.

Something is seriously wrong with the way an ongoing terror war against a civilian population is allowed to become muzak. Whose interests are being served by this, and why is it continuing with so little protest from people who understand its cost?

22-Sep-06: This is What People Who Are "Desperate" Do In Norway

Apologists for terror in general, and for the Palestinian Arab brand of savagery in particular, like to express their pseudo-criticism in terms like "Well, these people are desperate" and "What else would you do when faced with imperialism / colonialism / occupation?"

For those of us in touch with the facts, and with sufficient intelligence to separate self-serving ignorance from self-serving arrogance, this is rubbish.

Case in point: the report below of Islamicists caught preparing to explode a Scandinavian synagogue, and kill innocent people. This has nothing to do with desperation, occupation or politics. It's hatred. That's always at the root of terrorism.

Those who understand this are in a state of growing horror at the ostrich-like know-nothingness of those who don't.

Norway taped plot to blow up US, Israel embassies

22 Sep 2006 12:48:47 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Camilla Bergsli
OSLO, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Norwegian prosecutors unveiled on Friday evidence against four men detained on suspicion of plotting to blow up the U.S. and Israeli embassies and of participating in a shooting at the Oslo synagogue [we've added an old photo of it to this blog page, at right] last weekend.
Prosecutor Unni Fries told a court the Norwegian secret services had bugged the car of the main suspect and recorded conversations between the men planning the attacks.
"They spoke in detail about how to attack the synagogue and the U.S. and Israeli embassies," Fries said, asking the court to detain all four suspects for four weeks without visitors or other contact with the outside world.
Early on Sunday morning at least 10 shots fired from an automatic weapon hit Oslo's only synagogue. No one was hurt in the shooting, the most serious in a string of attacks in recent months on the Nordic country's small Jewish community.
Police have identified the detainees only as men between the ages of 20 and 30. Defence lawyers, who said their clients were innocent, said one suspect was of Turkish origin, two had Pakistani backgrounds and one was a native Norwegian.
Fries said the main suspect had "expressed extreme Islamist views" and was briefly detained during this summer's World Cup by German police, who found drawings of rockets in his car.
During a trip to Britain in June he was reported to have told his girlfriend over the telephone that he "felt that he had to act", Fries said. She did not say whether prosecutors were linking the suspects with any extremist organisation.
The U.S. embassy said in a statement that it was watching developments closely and would cooperate fully with Norwegian authorities.
"We are deeply concerned about the emerging information on these planned terrorist attacks," ambassador Ben Whitney said. "This situation reflects the importance of having the necessary legal tools to prevent terrorism."
The four men could face jail terms of up to 12 years if convicted of conspiring to carry out acts of terror.

12 years!!?

22-Sep-06: Most Of Us Already Get Too Many New Year Greetings So...

We won't take more than a moment to wish you and your loved ones a year that is the fulfillment of the prayers you offer at Rosh Hashana (Jewish New Year). And to point you to a letter, like several others, received at the Malki Foundation's offices this week from a parent whose child is being helped by the Malki Foundation. (Well over a thousand families in Israel - among them Christians, Jews and Moslems - are currently supported by the Malki Foundation. Its programs provide those families with the practical means to care at home for a child with special needs.) Please click here to read it - it's short and lovely. We can't think of a better way to go into the High Holyday season.

21-Sep-06: Some Annual Statistics

Every year on the day before Rosh Hashana, Jewish new year's day, the government here makes an announcement of Israel's updated population statistics. As of this New Year, the number stands at just a few thousand below 7 million people. Population growth in 2005 was 1.8%. This is about the same as in 2004 and 2003.

5.3 million Israelis are Jewish and 1.4 million Israelis are Arabs. And a total of 1.2 million Israelis have re-settled (generally successfully) in Israel from the countries of the former Soviet Union.

Life expectancy: For all Israelis, it's 79.5 years. For female Israelis, it's 81.7 years. For male Israelis, 77.3 years. Israel's overall population density is 313 persons per sq km, and its overall literacy rate is 96%.

Israel's economy: Its gross domestic product (GDP, based on purchasing power) is US$154.5 billion. In 1980, it was US$23.2 billion.

Per capita, this means UAS$24,600 (the 2005 estimate). Egypt by comparison, with its 74 million people in 2005, produced GDP of US$4,158.

Between the time the state was established in the late 1940's and 1997, Israel's GDP grew annually by 7%. Its GDP per capita in 1948 was 30% of that of the United States. Fifty years later, the proportion was 65% of American per capita GDP.

In 2005, Israel had a current-account surplus of $3.8 billion. Its exports to the world in 2005 amounted to US$40.1 billion.

We plan to go look for, and then publish here, some comparative statistics showing how Israel's statistical profile compares with its own early-days performance (the country was re-established after a 2,000 year interruption only 58 years ago), and with that of the various Arab entities. There's an unforgiveable tendency to swallow whole the data which are trotted out at every opportunity to justify the desperation and lack of alternative (to teaching their children to blow themselves up) of the Palestinian Arabs. But not today.

21-Sep-06: More Rockets on Israel, More Absence of Media Reporting

Qassam rocket lands in Sderot; no injuries reported

Published: 09.21.06, 07:14
Palestinian gunmen fired two Qassam rockets from the northern Gaza Strip toward Israel. One of the rockets landed in the southern town of Sderot, causing damage to a water pipe. The second rocket landed in an open area near the city. There were no injuries in both incidents.

Sderot: Building hit by Qassam rocket may collapse

Published: 09.21.06, 08:17
A Qassam rocket that landed in the southern town of Sderot early Thursday destroyed the water infrastructure of a residential building and split one of the four pillars of the building. An engineer from the municipality said that the damage to the building made it hazardous for residents and in danger of collapsing.

Neither Google News nor Yahoo News know much about this right now. They generally know little about earlier daily rocket attacks either, other than what is carried in the three main Israeli papers (Jerusalem Post, Haaretz, Yediot Aharonot).

For the record (according to Wikipedia), Sderot (Hebrew: שדרות) is a city in the Southern District of Israel. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), at the end of 2004 the city had a total population of 19,900. It is not part of any occupied territory, and never has been. Ordinary people have been killed and injured in Sderot for months, as a result of terrorist rocket attacks from Gaza where the Palestinian Authority of Mahmoud Abbas (with its multiple, overlapping police forces, army and private militias) is in charge.

Some questions for concerned readers to ponder.

1. Why are these daily rocket attacks on an Israeli city un-reported in the media that serve your community?
2. How many rocket "hits" would it take before this would be regarded as a war-like attack worthy of a war-like response to prevent it from happening again, and to protect the civilians living in the targeted area? How many dead people would there have to be?
3. What if the terrorists taking responsibility for these daily rocket attacks were part of an identifiable political organization? An organization headed by the Palestinian prime minister? Would that be worth reporting? (At least one paper thinks so.)

With utter certainty, we can say that when Israel's military finds the rocket firing devices, the people who operate those devices, and the houses and workshops where those devices are made and stored, the steps taken by the IDF will get significant coverage. This will include radio interviews with the 'victims', graphic photographs of arms-raised-heavenwards women wailing at the site of a ruined building, and disdainful headlines and reports of "Israeli occupation forces" "once again" attacking "defenceless", "desperate" Gazan Arabs.

That reporting is the real cycle of violence.

20-Sep-06: Malki's Legacy

Several papers, including Brooklyn's The Jewish Press, have picked up a syndicated story originally published by Israel21C. We're taking the liberty of reprinting it here because Malki, whose legacy is described here, is our daughter. She was murdered five years ago.

Malki's Legacy
Sima Borkovski
[Originally published by Israel21C]
Published in the Jewish Press, September 20, 2006

On August 9, 2001, two days after Malki Chana Roth returned from summer camp for disabled children where she volunteered as a guide, the 15-year-old Jerusalem resident was murdered together with her best friend and 13 other Israelis in a terror attack on the city’s Sbarro restaurant.

Her grieving parents, who aspired to keep her memory alive for generations to come, turned her memory into a living vision called The Malki Foundation, which is benefiting thousands of Israelis of every persuasion.

“Malki always had a special place in her heart for weak and disabled children,” says Arnold Roth, Malki’s father. “Ever since she was 11 years old, Malki devoted hours of her time taking care of her disabled younger sister, Haya Elisheva. These special characteristics of hers stood at the base of our decision to establish a foundation dedicated to helping other parents of disabled children in her memory.”

Keren Malki (in English, the Malki Foundation), founded in 2001, aims to assist parents of disabled children who wish to raise their children at home rather than in an institution – and as a consequence face many hardships and various bureaucratic hurdles. Sadly the public health systems do not make life easy on these families and they are encouraged to place their children in a home where “all their needs will be taken care of.”

“My wife, Frimet, and I visited several such institutions following the public health systems’ recommendations. Our impression was equally bad and we even came to tears as we left one of these places,” said Roth.

“It was then when we decided to keep our child at home in spite of the great difficulties and the lack of financial support from the state. No parent wishes for his son or daughter to be born severely disabled, but once such a child is born the challenges faced by the family are enormous. Our intention is for Keren Malki to assist them right where the state fails to do so.”

In 2003 the Roths launched a partnership with Kesher, a well-established and respected Israeli social welfare organization with years of experience helping families of children with special needs.

“The Kesher team answers calls on Keren Malki’s behalf and advises them on what steps they should take in order to begin their process with us. Since my wife and I had our own share of struggles with the bureaucratic system, we can fully understand the anguish of the families. However, there is one condition: parents must first use the treatments their child is entitled under the law and only then approach us for additional assistance. We also advise them never to yield to the system’s negative approach toward them.”

One good example of assistance that is needed is when children living at home are deprived of therapies. Due to constant financial pressure on Israeli health funds supported by the state – which are responsible for these services – the authorities often seek ways to reduce their commitment. As a result, many disabled children are deprived of their right for essential paramedical care.

After a child reaches the age of three, the level of services he is entitled to drops dramatically and parents have no other choice but to pay for private therapists. Since very few families can sustain this expense on an ongoing basis, receiving financial help is crucial. Families can receive up to 80% of their expenses. The “Therapies in Home” program acknowledges any kind of therapy treatment, as long as the therapist providing the service is a licensed professional and the child resides in the family home.

An additional service includes providing various equipment, such as wheelchairs, standers and other items needed by a disabled child. In 2003, Keren Malki launched a joint venture with the renowned organization Yad Sarah, establishing its own well-equipped warehouse within the Yad Sarah headquarters building in Jerusalem for the benefit of the families.

Keren Malki is an independent organization solely funded by donations, mostly raised by Arnold Roth himself and several “Friends” associations they established. The largest one is based in Melbourne, Australia, where Roth emigrated from (and where Malki was born). Two other “Friends” associations were established in the United States and Germany.

Keren Malki’s policy is to offer its services to everyone who seeks it, no matter their religion. “There are more than 400 Arab families with disabled children who we helped. As a result of their custom to marry within the [extended] family, the percentage of disabled children in Arab villages is relatively high,” explains Roth.

Keren Malki has already empowered 1,300 families with disabled children. However, the Roth family itself was immensely strengthened by the mere fact of keeping their child’s memory alive. “Acting upon her death helped us feel less hopeless,” says Arnold Roth. Apparently, one of the great ways of helping yourself is reaching out your hand and helping others.

If you're accustomed to making donations to causes that do some good in the world, we can recommend the Malki Foundation highly. It has a total staff of one, Liat Behr, who serves as the foundation's dedicated Executive Director. Almost everything else that the Malki Foundation does is done by volunteers. Its cost-effectiveness is outstanding, and it makes a huge difference to the lives of many hundreds of families: Christian, Moslem, Jewish and non-committal. The Talmud says that the Holy One created mankind on the first day of the month Tishri, which we mark this coming Friday night. Thus Rosh Hashanah commemorates the creation of the human race. It is a time for cleansing and renewal, a chance to receive forgiveness and clear the slate. And a fine time to make a charitable donation.

To our Jewish readers, a reminder that giving charity in the Rosh Hashana New Year period that is upon us now is one of the three traditional ways - along with repentance and prayer (Teshuva, Tefillah, Tzedakah) - of preparing for the coming year.

Donations to the Malki Foundation are tax-deductible in many cases, and can be made on-line via a secure donations page. Please check here to see how this works.

20-Sep-06: Addressing Islamic Grievances - A Road Map

Many fair-minded, thinking individuals are vexed by the endless turmoil visited on the rest of us by Moslem mobs. This is as true today in Israel as it is in France, Australia, Indonesia, Thailand, the United States, Panama, Nigeria, South Africa and almost any other country you can think of.

What can be done, and what can we expect in the future?

Weighing in today on these issues is a political leader who happens to straddle both worlds; that of of Islam by reason of it being the state religion of the country he rules, and the west by reason of his being a strategic ally of the United States.

So far only Agence France Press seems to have picked up on the speech made by Pakistan's President General Pervaz Musharraf at yesterday's opening session of the UN General Assembly. It's carried in several of this morning's Australian newspapers and, as far as we can tell, nowhere else so far. That's a pity because his words, while strident, are clear and definite. They give us some insight into what it's going to take to live in peacable relations with Moslems. As he makes clear, they have a real agenda... for the rest of us.

Musharaff's main points.

• We need to bridge, through dialogue and understanding, the growing divide between the Islamic and Western worlds. How? By a global ban on the defamation of Islam.
• We must have an end to racial and religious discrimination against Muslims.
• Because personalities of high standing are evidently oblivious of Muslim sensitivities, we must prohibit the defamation of Islam. (He clearly had Pope Benedict XVI in mind. But not only.)
• We must eliminate terrorism comprehensively. How? A two-pronged strategy combining the conventional anti-terror fight with efforts to resolve conflicts afflicting the Islamic world.
• "Across the Muslim world, old conflicts and new campaigns of military intervention have spawned a deep sense of desperation and injustice... Each new battleground involving an Islamic state has served as a new breeding ground for extremists and terrorists. Indiscriminate bombings, civilian casualties, torture, human rights abuses, racial slurs and discrimination only add to the challenge of defeating terrorism." (Somewhere in his analysis, there's evidently some cause and some effect. We somehow doubt that the rest of us would agree with him on which is which.)
• "Unless we end foreign occupation and suppression of Muslim peoples, terrorism and extremism will continue to find recruits among alienated Muslims in various parts of the world."

We can't help feeling that Musharraf's road map would have benefitted immeasurably from just the teensiest, tiniest suggestion of Islamic introspection and responsibility. The barbaric acts of savagery carried out not only by Moslems but in the name of Islam, and to the general applause of Moslem rank-and-file and religious and secular leaders alike ought to have featured somewhere in this globally-prominent politician's outlook.

The silences and the missed opportunities speak far more eloquently in these difficult times than any road maps , non-negotiable demands or eloquent speeches emanating from the ranks of Moslem politicians, clergy and thinkers.

20-Sep-06: Gaza's Unreported Terror War on Israel Continues

Far from the latte-laden attention of mainstream media editors, photographers and reporters, the war of rockets and explosives directed at Israelis continues in Gaza, almost entirely unreported in the pages of anything you are likely to read or on any television screen.

Several hours ago, Wednesday morning, a 15-year-old boy suffered moderate injuries when a Qassam rocket hit the grounds of one of the kibbutzim in the Western Negev. He's now in Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon after a piece of shrapnel struck his chest. A woman was treated for shock. The kibbutz’s greenhouses and tomato crop suffered severe damage.

A second Qassam landed in the greenhouses of Kibbutz Erez that borders the Gaza Strip; fortunately no casualties or damage. In Sderot, loud explosions sent residents into air-raid shelters and protected rooms.

Yediot Aharonot quotes Gil Taasa, head of security at Kibbutz Nativ Ha’asara, located near Wednesday’s rocket landing sites, saying:

“The Israeli government has been ignoring the Qassam fire for six years now, and it is clear that we will eventually have to go to war to stop the rocket-fire, as was the case in Lebanon – but it will be too late because the Palestinians are constantly arming themselves; we should act now before an inquiry commission is set up in a few years to investigate the matter.”

Earlier this morning, the Israel Air Force carried out a strike on a house in the militant stronghold of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip early, causing no casualties. The attack targeted a house which field intelligence established was being used as a weapons-storage facility. As is the usual practice when Israel attacks the terrorists, residents in the vicinity of the house were warned to leave the building well-enough in advance for this to be done, and it was done - hence no injuries. Haaretz quotes witnesses saying the house, which was destroyed, belonged to a Palestinian militant.

This morning's air attack on Rafah is likely to get some press mentions. The now-daily rocket attacks on undisputed, unoccupied Israeli towns and communes and the people who carry out their peaceful, constructive lives within them, will be largely ignored. (Reuters proves us right this morning.) This absence of contextually-sound, accurate reporting of events is at the root of terror's success in this ongoing war.

Update: Credit is claimed by this group of self-justifying savages.

19-Sep-06: High Alert Again in Jerusalem, Center

Basing themselves - as usual - on concrete intelligence reports, the authorities in Israel declared a high-level terrorism alert today. The second of the two main-roads (called Route 443) that serve Jerusalem in the direction of Tel-Aviv has been shut down for some hours by police road-blocks during the middle of the day. Security check-points have been thrown up at the entrance to Jerusalem, in the Latrun area on Highway One (the main arterial route serving Israel's capital) and in the Modi'in area. No reports of arrests at this stage.

UPATE: Haaretz now (1.45pm Tuesday) says that the police have called off the terror alert.

Meanwhile Yediot Aharonot is reporting the terror alert still in effect at 2pm. They write:

"Police have also beefed up security in central Israel, and the alert level in the Sharon area has also been raised for fear of an infiltration by a terrorist. Security forces are in possession of 16 specific warnings on intentions to carry out attacks. The warnings mainly originate from the Samaria (north West Bank) area and Gaza, and refer to suicide bombings, kidnappings and shooting attacks. Vehicles are being checked and buildups in traffic have been noticed in the area, in addition to the existing jams following the ongoing roadwork in the capital. Police Chief Moshe Karadi announced ahead of the New Year that police will increase its activities throughout the country due to concerns of terror attacks. Working in a number of circles, thousands of police, Border Guard officers and volunteers from the Civil Guard, backed by IDF soldiers, will take part during the New Year in security measures at markets, synagogues and entertainment districts. The security operations will take place from the green line area and into the inner cities."

That the mainstream foreign media routinely don't report this does not change the fact that terror and dealing with the threats and attacks of Palestinian Arabs on our lives are part of the daily agenda for millions of Israelis.

19-Sep-06: For the Birds

And now a bonus for our loyal readers. Click here to get Al-Jazeera's insight into what the Pope really had in mind when he made his scholarly speech in Germany last week. It's not every day the rest of us get to view a page that's written entirely in Arabic and still manage to understand most of it. On reflection, "understand" might not be quite the right word, but the message they want to convey is straight-forward enough. Tip: the page is animated and slow, so be prepared to stick around for a minute or so while it runs its course.

18-Sep-06: Rare Moslem Voice: "Islamic Moderates Have Given In... They Will Be The Primary Victims"

As we said earlier, we're waiting for your invited contributions quoting Moslem leaders' calls for tolerance, forebearance, non-violence, understanding. Hello, is this mike working? Hello? Hello? Maybe our email is down.

Ah, here's one... and a very powerful and articulate one at that: Magdi Allam (pictured right) is an Egyptian-born Moslem, raised in Italy, and one of the leading journalists in Italy today. Deputy Editor of Corriere della Sera, one of Italy's leading newspapers, and an Arab and Islamic affairs commentator, he's an author as well as a prolific journalist and editor. Allam has consistently spoken out against extremism and in favour of tolerance and is one of the leaders in the fight for coexistence between civilizations. He has said: "A positive dialogue with moderate Islam is both possible and necessary". How tragic that he's so notable for having said such an obvious thing.

The Historical Truth

By Magdi Allam in the Corriere della Sera (September 15, 2006)

It is sad and worrying that Muslims have given birth to an international united front to attack the Pope and ask for public apologies. From Bin Laden to the Muslim Brotherhood, from Pakistan to Turkey, from al-Jazeera to al-Arabiya, the transversal and universal alliance, which has already come into being following the Danish cartoons affair, has reappeared, reaffirming very clearly that the root of evil is like a blind and prevailing ideology which outrages the faith and darkens the minds of many Muslims.

Why do not Muslims, especially the so-called moderates, react with such strength and intensity against the real and eternal desecrators of Islam ­ that is, the Islamic terrorists who kill other Muslims in the name of the same God, radical Muslims who legitimize the destruction of Israel and brainwash ordinary Muslims into martyrdom? Why do they now believe they must start a kind of Islamic "holy war" against the head of the [Catholic] Church who has the right to respectfully express his views about Islam, all the while with clarity on the evident difference between the two religions?

The pope's quoting the Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Paleologus, regarding the expansion of Islam through the sword, either during the time of Mohammed and on the Arab Peninsula and after him, elsewhere, underlines an undeniable historical truth. The Quran itself states it; furthermore, the forced conversion of the entire Byzantine Empire, to Islam in the East and South of Mediterranean, and the further expansion northwards in Europe and Eastwards in Asia, demonstrates the point made by the Byzantine Emperor.

It is foolish to deny the truth, as it can only cause deranged reaction. In the mid-Nineties one of the most prominent scholars of Islamic studies, the Egyptian Mohammed said al-Ashmawi, told me that he did not approve the Arab tribes' military conquest of Christian lands in the Mediterranean and that he would have preferred Islam to expand peacefully, like it did in South-Eastern Asia.

The Pope is threatened because he has said things that every single honest and rational Muslim should accept: the historical truth.

Time has come for both the West and Christianity to stop thinking that they are the source of all that happens ­ good or evil ­ within Islam as well as around the world. The ideology of hate is an ancestral reality at the core of Islam; it has been so since its inception, due to its' refusal to recognize and respect the plurality of religious communities ­ a natural thing since in Islam the relationship between the believer and God is personal and there is no unique spiritual guide who embodies the absolute dogmas of faith. In fact, since the defeat of the Arab armies in the June 5th, 1967 war, the situation has been worsening while Islamic extremism has been on the rise starting from Iran to Indonesia, to the point where the advance of global Islamic terrorism has turned the West into a "Kamikaze factory".

This is the tragic truth of the ideology of hate which binds all Muslims who are obsessed with anti-Americanism, anti-West and the prejudicial denial of Israel's right to exist. They are able to find many pretexts to rage ­ from Israeli occupation, to the U.S.-led coalition into Iraq, to the cartoons about Mohammed and even the Pope's words. Nevertheless the problem is at the root of Islam itself, an Islam which extremists turned from a faith in God into an ideology aiming for a theocratic and totalitarian order to impose on everyone who is not like them. And I am really scared when I realize that even the so-called moderates have given in to a "holy war" where they will be the primary victims.

The search for rational, reasonable Moslem voices goes on. But this one needs to get circulated far and wide.

18-Sep-06: Who's Behind the Pope's Attack on Islam? The Iranians Know

Since we're all currently ruminating on how threatened the world's billion or so Moslems are by the recent words of the Pope quoting the 600 year-old words of an obscure Catholic philosopher, we're indebted to Tom Gross for getting to the rootest of root causes.

Iranian newspapers says U.S. and Israel behind pope’s comments

The Iranian daily Jomhuri Islami claimed that Israel and the United States dictated the pope's comments to distract attention from the recent war between Israel and Hizbullah.

The newspaper commented that "the reality is that if we do not consider Pope Benedict XVI to be ignorant of Islam, then his remarks against Islam are a dictat that the Zionists and the Americans have written (for him) and have submitted to him... The American and the Zionist aim is to undermine the glorious triumph of Islam's children of Lebanese Hizbullah, which annulled the undefeatable legend of the Israeli army and foiled the Satanic and colonialist American plot."

Another Iranian daily newspaper, Kayhan, argued that "There are many signs that show that Pope Benedict XVI's remarks regarding the great prophet of Islam are a link in a connected chain of a Zionist-American project... The project, which was created and executed by the Zionist minority, aims at creating confrontation between the followers of the two great divine religions."

As we learned from the tragic affair of the Danish cartoons, this is all far from being a joke. People die when the Moslem mobs are unleashed.

18-Sep-06: "We shall break the cross and spill the wine..."

They're getting more rational by the minute...

Qaeda-led group vows "jihad" over Pope's speech

Mon Sep 18, 2006 6:04am ET173
DUBAI (Reuters) - An Iraqi militant group led by al Qaeda vowed a war against the "worshippers of the cross" in response to a recent speech by Pope Benedict on Islam that sparked anger across the Muslim world. "We tell the worshipper of the cross (the Pope) that you and the West will be defeated, as is the case in Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya," said an Internet statement by the Mujahideen Shura Council, an umbrella group led by Iraq's branch of al Qaeda.
"We shall break the cross and spill the wine... God will (help) Muslims to conquer Rome. ... God enable us to slit their throats, and make their money and descendants the bounty of the mujahideen," said the statement. It was posted on Sunday on an Internet site often used by al Qaeda and other militant groups. Pope Benedict said on Sunday he was deeply sorry Muslims had been offended by his use of a Medieval quotation on Islam and violence. The remarks outraged Muslims and triggered protests and attacks on churches in several Arab towns.
Another militant group in Iraq, Ansar al-Sunnah, also vowed to fight Christians in retaliation.
"You will only see our swords until you go back to God's true faith Islam," it said in a separate Internet statement. Al Qaeda in Iraq and other militant groups have staged suicide bombings and killings of foreign forces and members of the U.S.-allied government and security forces.

We're preparing a separate blog entry for the myriads, the reams, the torrents of Moslem voices from all over the globe calling for restraint, understanding, forebearance, patience and tolerance. If you come across such a voice, we'll be glad if you'd share it with us.

Finally for readers who ask: What's this affair got to do with this ongoing war? Everything.

18-Sep-06: Don't Get Into a Philosophical Argument with These People

Here's what happens when you have a philosophical disagreement with Islamic mobs. So imagine what it means to have a really life-and-death existential struggle over land, history, religion, everything.

AP/Washington Post
Palestinian Muslims Attack Five Christian Churches - Ali Daraghmeh

Palestinians wielding guns and firebombs attacked five churches in the West Bank and Gaza on Saturday, following remarks by Pope Benedict XVI that angered many Muslims. The attacks left church doors charred and walls pockmarked with bullet holes and scorched by firebombs. At least five firebombs hit Nablus' Anglican church and firebombings left black scorch marks on the walls and windows of Greek Orthodox churches as well. Later Saturday, four masked gunmen doused the main doors of Nablus' Roman and Greek Catholic churches with lighter fluid, then set them afire. They also opened fire on the buildings. In Gaza City, militants opened fire at a Greek Orthodox church. Explosive devices were set off at the same Gaza church on Friday.
George Awad, a cleric at the Greek Orthodox church in Nablus, said he and other Christians have apologized for the pope's remarks and urged Muslims to use restraint. "There is no reason to burn our churches," he said.

Nun killed after Pope's speech

The attack may have been in response to the remarks. Meanwhile, the pope says he is sorry for the anger he sparked.
Associated Press and Los Angeles Times
MOGADISHU, Somalia - An elderly Italian nun who devoted her life to helping the sick in Africa was shot dead by two gunmen at a hospital Sunday in an attack possibly linked to worldwide Muslim anger toward Pope Benedict XVI and his recent comments on Islam.
Sister Leonella, 65, was shot in the back four times by pistol-wielding attackers as she left the Austrian-run S.O.S. hospital. Her bodyguard was also slain.

Shots fired at Oslo synagogue - police

17 Sep 2006 09:45:29 GMT
Source: Reuters
OSLO, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Norwegian police said gunshots were fired at a synagogue in Oslo early on Sunday, the national news agency NTB reported.
It said armed police had sealed off the area around the synagogue in central Oslo. It did not report any injuries from the incident at around 2.30 a.m. (0030 GMT).
"We have searched the area with police dogs to secure any evidence, but we have still not found the perpetrator," police official Bjoern Oelstad was quoted as saying by NTB.
Norwegian police were not immediately available to comment.
The Mosaic Religious Community, which owns the synagogue, had asked for better protection of its property following threats and after the site was vandalised in early August.

Gazans warn pope to accept Islam

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
Citing the words of the Prophet Muhammad, Muslim religious leaders in the Gaza Strip on Sunday warned Pope Benedict XVI that he must "accept" Islam if he wanted to live in peace.
The warning, the first of its kind, came as many Christians in the West Bank expressed anger over a spate of attacks on churches in protest against remarks made by the pope about the Muslims and the Prophet Muhammad.
Two more churches in the West Bank were targeted on Sunday in protest against the pope's remarks, bringing to seven the number of churches that have been attacked over the past three days.
In Tulkarm, arsonists set fire to the only Orthodox church in the area, causing heavy damage to the 150-year-old structure. Local residents said the attack occurred shortly after 4 a.m, when a number of assailants forced their way into the church and tossed several fire bombs into the building.
Some Christian families said they were living in fear because of the attacks and called on the Palestinian Authority to do its utmost to protect churches and Christians.
At a press conference in Gaza City, a number of Muslim clerics said the pope's statements were "the result of his hatred for Islam and not the result of ignorance."
One of them, Dr. Imad Hamto, called on the pope to "repent and ask for forgiveness." He added: "We want to use the words of the Prophet Muhammad and tell the pope: 'Aslim Taslam'" Aslim Taslam is a phrase that was taken from the letters sent by the Prophet Muhammad to the chiefs of tribes in his times in which he reportedly urged them to convert to Islam to spare their lives.
Some Muslim scholars, however, have endorsed a more moderate interpretation of the term, arguing that its real meaning was that those who surrendered to the will of God would find peace.
Hamto and his colleagues accused Christians of "resorting to the power of the sword in Afghanistan, Lebanon, Iraq and Palestine."
They also called on the pope to direct his words to the Jews who, they claimed, were "spreading corruption and destruction."

Islam Peaceful, Pope Deserves Reactions (Turkey)

Who says we're violent?

By Karina Dunger and Andrew Carswell
September 18, 2006 12:00
The Daily Telegraph
MUSLIM fanatics burned an effigy of the Pope, a Catholic nun was shot dead and terrorist organisation al-Qaeda called for holy war as protesters against Benedict XVI's comments linking Islam with violence resorted to just that.
Elderly Italian nun Sister Leonella was shot at a children's hospital in the Islamist-controlled Somali capital in an attack linked to the Pope's comments last week linking Islam to violence.
Two gunman entered the Austrian-funded SOS Hospital in Mogadishu's Huriwa District on Sunday and ambushed the nun, opening fire with pistols before killing a Somali bodyguard and escaping in the ensuing confusion, witnesses said.
In the Shi'ite city of Basra in Iraq, about 150 demonstrators demanding an apology by the Pope burnt his effigy. The agitators also burned German, US, and Israeli flags.
"No to aggression! We gagged the Pope!," the angry crowd chanted. The protest was organised by supporters of hardline Shi'ite cleric Mahmoud Al Hasani, who demanded the Pope and the Vatican be put on trial under UN Security Council resolutions.

As the Telegraph says: Who says they're violent? Anyone who says they're violent gets a bullet in the head, so shuddup already.

17-Sep-06: Israel Under Rocket Attack Once Again

Sunday morning, and already the rockets of the terrorists have started their week's work.

Haaretz reports that one person is injured and two others are treated for shock as a result of two rocket attacks this morning. The first, at 7am, lands in a residential part of Sderot, the Israeli town that has never been "occupied territory" or otherwise disputed - it's 100% civilian, 100% Israeli, 100% a terror target. Houses and cars are damaged. The second rocket twenty minutes later crashed into Kibbutz Gevim, an agricultural settlement nearby, killing dozens of chickens and causing damage to equipment.

Yediot Aharonot says three Qassam rockets were fired into Israel from the northern Gaza Strip on Friday morning. Two landed in the agricultural hothouses of Kibbutz Nativ Ha'asara in the western Negev, while the third exploded in an open field near Shaar Hanegev. In both incidents no one was injured.

On average, ten rockets a week have been crashing into Israeli targets over the last five months. This ongoing terrorist initiative remains barely reported by the mainstream media, who choose to ignore it entirely when reporting on Israeli measures (like Friday's) to eliminate the terrorists and their arsenals.

17-Sep-06: Did He or Didn't He? Meet the Press.

One speech, followed by one press statement. And another Rashomon moment.

So... did the Pope apologize? Does the Pope regret he made his comments? Or certain passages from the comments? Or the reactions, or the hurt feelings, or the offence to Islam? All of these versions of his state of mind and of his press announcement can be found in the media this morning - along with all their mutual contradictions. Pay particular attention to the headlines below - that's all that many people read.

One might imagine that the reporters, editors and headline writers could agree on the correct interpretation of a simple very well-publicized speech and announcement. But like almost everything else on their pages and in their stories, there's a significant element of personal agenda, of prejudice, of ignorance and of politics.

In other words, exactly what we see every day in the media's reporting of this ongoing war.

Pope sorry his Islam speech found offensive
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican said on Saturday the Pope was sorry Muslims had been offended by a speech whose meaning had been misconstrued, but Morocco withdrew its ambassador as anger at his words flared on. "The Holy Father thus sincerely regrets that certain passages of his address could have sounded offensive to the sensitivities of the Muslim faithful," Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone said in a statement.

Pope Apologizes for Offense Caused by Islam Comments
By Flavia Krause-Jackson and Andrew Frye
Sept. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Pope Benedict XVI apologized today for causing offense to Muslims with comments he made in a university lecture this week implicitly linking Islam to violence, and reiterated his respect for the Islamic religion. The apology, on the Vatican Web site, comes after Muslim groups worldwide protested and Pakistan's parliament called on the pontiff to issue a retraction. Some Muslims welcomed the apology, with others saying it might not go far enough.

Pope sorry, says Vatican
Rashmee Roshan Lall 17 Sep, 2006 0043hrs
LONDON: The Vatican said on Saturday the Pope is 'very sorry' and 'deeply upset' that his remarks on Islam offended Muslims but press and public opinion throughout Europe indicated Benedict XVI may need to say the words himself to stamp out the spreading flames of fury.

Pope Stops Short of Apology to Muslims
By FRANCES D'EMILIO : Associated Press Writer
Sep 17, 2006 : 12:44 am ET
VATICAN CITY -- Pope Benedict XVI "sincerely regrets" offending Muslims with his reference to an obscure medieval text that characterizes some of the teachings of Islam's founder as "evil and inhuman," the Vatican said Saturday. But the statement stopped short of the apology demanded by Islamic leaders around the globe, and anger among Muslims remained intense. Palestinians attacked five churches in the West Bank and Gaza over the pope's remarks Tuesday in a speech to university professors in his native Germany.

Vatican fails to appease Muslims
Posted on Sun, Sep. 17, 2006
Statement explaining pope’s remarks doesn’t quell protests; five churches firebombed
From Wire Reports
CAIRO, Egypt — The Vatican issued a mildly worded apology Saturday after remarks by Pope Benedict XVI outraged Muslims around the world. But protests continued, including firebombing of churches in the Palestinian territories. The pope “sincerely regrets that certain passages of his address could have sounded offensive to the sensitivities of the Muslim faithful,” Deputy Pope Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone said. The pope meant only to stress his “clear and radical rejection of religiously motivated violence,” Bertone said.

Pope says sorry for ‘offending’ Muslims
VATICAN CITY, Sept 16: The Vatican said on Saturday Pope Benedict was sorry that Muslims had been offended by a speech whose meaning had been misconstrued, but Morocco withdrew its ambassador as anger at his words flared on. “The Holy Father thus sincerely regrets that certain passages of his address could have sounded offensive to the sensitivities of the Muslim faithful,” Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone said in a statement. But Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood rejected the the statement. “This (saying sorry) does not constitute an apology. The Vatican Secretary of State says that the pope is sorry because his statements had been badly interpreted, but there is no bad interpretation,” Abdel Moneim Abul Futuh, a senior official, said. “The pope made a mistake, he must recognise his mistake and apologise.”

Palestinians open fire inside Nablus church
The Vatican issued a statement Saturday saying that the pope was "extremely sorry" for the offence his comments had caused.

Pope says he `regrets' Islam comments
CHORUS OF DISAPPROVAL: Despite assurances from the Vatican that Benedict XVI respected Islam, many prominent Muslims worldwide were critical of the pontiff
AP , VATICAN CITY
Sunday, Sep 17, 2006,Page 6
Pope Benedict XVI "sincerely regrets" that Muslims have been offended by some of his words in a recent speech in Germany, the Vatican said yesterday amid demands for apologies from much of the Islamic world and some reports of violence. The new Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, said... The pope "thus sincerely regrets that certain passages of his address could have sounded offensive to the sensitivities of the Muslim faithful and should have been interpreted in a manner that in no way corresponds to his intentions," Bertone said in a statement. "Indeed it was he who, before the religious fervor of Muslim believers, warned secularized Western culture to guard against 'the contempt for God and the cynicism that considers mockery of the sacred to be an exercise of freedom,"' Bertone said, citing words from another speech that Benedict gave during the German trip. The cardinal's statement stopped short of any apology for what the pope said.

Pope 'sorry' for offence to Islam
Pope Benedict XVI has said he is sorry that a speech in which he referred to Islam has offended Muslims. In a statement read out by a senior Vatican official, the Pope said he respected Islam and hoped Muslims would understand the true sense of his words.

Pope apologises but more needed: Muslim groups
Agence France-Presse
Vatican City, September 17, 2006
Pope Benedict XVI's statement, that he regretted causing any offence to Muslims fell short of an apology, Islamic groups said... The head of the Roman Catholic Church on Saturday said he "sincerely regretted" that he may have offended Muslims, but stopped short of retracting his words. The Muslim world seethed with fury over Pope's comments, which critics said linked violence and Islam. Reacting to Pope's statement, Muslim groups in Egypt said Benedict had not been sufficiently contrite. "This is not an apology. The Vatican secretary seems content to confirm that the Pope is sorry because his remarks were misinterpreted. But they were not misinterpreted," said Abdel Moneim Abul Futuh, a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood group. "Pope made a mistake, he must recognise it and apologise," he added. In Jordan, Zaki bin Arshid, general secretary of the Islamic Action Front—one of the country's most influential political parties—said Benedict's comments on Saturday were "a step in the right direction, but not enough". "The apologies must be accompanied by clear and calming letters," he continued, adding, "if Pope's declarations were just an error, then an apology will be sufficient." But he continued that he hoped the remarks made in the speech were "not the Pope's or the Roman Catholic Church's real views, because then the situation would be very serious."

17 September 2006
POPE 'SO SORRY' FOR MUSLIM OUTRAGE
By Vincent Moss Political Editor
THE Pope said sorry yesterday after Muslims erupted in fury over his comments on Islam. Pope Benedict XVI sparked global outrage by quoting an ancient text linking the Prophet Mohammed with "evil and inhuman" things.

Pope Benedict XVI Apologizes for Offending Muslims
Pope Benedict XVI apologized for causing any offence to Muslims following the furious reaction across the Islamic world over a speech where the Pope linked Islam and violence.

Sadly, the street mobs won't, in the end, care much whether he apologized or regretted; whether he took back his words or clarified them; whether he didn't mean to offend or whether he was conducting a crusade. Mobs don't respond to press statements. They're out there on the streets, serving the ambitions and political agendas of the religious and secular leaders who pull their strings, delivering a message of hatred, intolerance and threat.

A pity the editors, reporters, photographers and headline writers don't seem able to capture that insight.