Happy Pesach!

For over three millenium Jews have been celebrating their exodus from Egypt. Later we celebrate receiving the Torah and wandering through the desert for 40 years. Arrival to the Promised Land deserves similar attention and should have greater emphasis by our spiritual leaders. Many Jews do not even know what Eretz-Israel represents!

Travesty of US Jerusalem Policy

by Timothy M. Phelps

The Supreme Court weighed into one of the thorniest issues in the Middle East conflict - who has sovereignty over Jerusalem - ruling that courts have the power to decide whether Congress can order that passports for US citizens born there list "Israel" as their birthplace.

The justices, ruling 8 to 1 on Monday, passed the decision back to a lower court. So Menachem Binyamin Zivotofsky, now 9, will have to wait to find out what his passport will look like.

The US has long taken the position that sovereignty over Jerusalem, which Israelis and Palestinians both claim as their capital, must be resolved in negotiations, so the government does not recognize Israeli sovereignty there. But in 2002, Congress passed a bill urging that the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv be relocated to Jerusalem and ordering that "Israel" should be listed as the birthplace for those born in the city who request it. (Why on request only? This is another ‘politically correct’ step back - Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, full stop!)

The George W. Bush and Obama administrations argued that the law was unconstitutional because it impinged on the president's right to conduct foreign policy.

Bush said in a statement while he was signing the bill that he would not enforce the provision because it would "impermissibly interfere with the president's constitutional authority to ...speak for the nation in international affairs and determine the terms on which recognition is given to foreign states."

Zivotofsky was born at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in West Jerusalem shortly after the law was enacted. His parents, Ari and Naomi, argue that is it unfair to allow about 100,000 Americans born in cities that the US recognizes as being under Israeli sovereignty to have their passports list Israel as their birthplace, but not the 50,000 or so Americans born in Jerusalem. The State Department listed his birthplace only as "Jerusalem."

Food for Thought. by Steven Shamrak

Some Jews are vigorously objecting to ideas expressed in my letters, even after I send them supporting facts. Being born in a Communist country, without alternative sources of information, I was heavily indoctrinated by government propaganda. It takes time and dedicated effort to change false beliefs and attitudes to which we became attached! But how long are those Jews, who are living in the world with access to freely available information, be prepared to remain slaves to international anti-Semitic propaganda? Isn’t it time to create your own opinion, based on facts, not delusion or self-hate?

US Blaming Israel for Rising Fuel Prices

The Obama administration is blaming Israel for the recent rise in global crude oil prices. Satloff, executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said that the Israeli leadership saw Washington as attributing the higher gas prices to “Israel’s posturing” on Iran. He added that the officials told him the Obama administration was staging a campaign to undermine Israel. “I cannot underscore how deep and visceral the (Israeli) comments of the leaking that came out of Washington were,” Satloff said (Fake war, in violation of international laws, against imaginary WMD, waged by America in Iraq, has nothing to do with high oil price? But, Israel is not allowed protect itself against the real nuclear threat from Iran - what hypocrisy!)

Red Crescent and PA Olympic Games Policy

The Shin Bet and IDF have arrested 13 members of a terror cell that fired at IDF soldiers near Ramallah on January 20. Some of the arrested terrorists were employees of the Red Crescent emergency service. Among those arrested is Omar Abu Rawis, 22, who is a Red Crescent employee and also the goalkeeper in the team that is to represent the PA in the upcoming Olympics.

‘Friend’ Undermines Israel Efforts

The unconfirmed report in Foreign Policy magazine suggested deepening co-operation between Israel and the Caucasian republic, which shares a border with Iran. It said that Israel and Azerbaijan secured a $1.6bn arms deal in February, which included the pledged sale of drones and anti-aircraft missile systems to Baku. "The Israelis have bought an airfield, and the airfield is called Azerbaijan," an unnamed senior US administration official was quoted as saying. Americans may have leaked the news in an effort to sabotage Israel’s attempt to stop nuclear armed Iran.

PA Has 'No Problem' Arresting Journalists

In February, an official from the PA Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technology accused a number of news sites of “broadcasting sedition and lies to break up the structure of Palestinian society”. “It is our right to defend ourselves against this malicious and suspicious campaign,” the official claimed. There is “no law in Palestine criminalizing this work.” “Any journalist is allowed to publish any information he wants to, after proving it with evidence rather than basing it on (rumors on) Facebook and other networking sites,” Al Maghni said. (Something Israel needs to learn from our enemies and start defending itself “against this malicious and suspicious campaign”!)

Obama Invites Islamic Terrorism to US

Barack Obama just gave thousands of Syrian Muslims - most of them either sympathizers with Hezbollah or the Muslim Brotherhood - permission to stay in the United States forever. He granted all of them Temporary Protected Status (TPS), so they cannot be deported or even arrested by Immigration.

How to Abuse a Wife and Take over the World on Sale

After it was revealed that a book advising Muslim men how to abuse and control their wives is being sold in a Toronto bookstore, other controversial Muslim books have been discovered for sale in Canada. One Islamic bookstore in East Toronto is selling books that urge Muslims to usurp the Western world and install an Islamic State in its place. (Why not just let Saudi/Wahhabi imams into Western countries and surrender to Islamic barbarism?)

Islamic Assault on Europe is ‘Multicultural’

France has expelled an Algerian Islamist extremist and a radical Muslim preacher from Mali, and is in the process of deporting a Saudi Muslim prayer leader. Extremist Muslims from abroad are being targeted as part of a French crackdown after deadly March attacks in the southwest city of Toulouse by a 23-year-old claiming links to al-Qaida. The French Interior Ministry said that it has plans to expel others, including a Tunisian militant and a Turkish imam. (In Britain, the Muslim population is 3% - Muslims in jail is at least 11%. Islam is terrorising the West not just spiritually, but criminally as well!)

Barak Evicts Jews from their Newly Purchased Home

On the orders of Defence Minister Ehud Barak, Israeli police and soldiers cleared a Hebron house of its recent Jewish residents situated near the Tomb of the Patriarchs. The eviction took Jewish residents by surprise, as only hours earlier Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, asked the army to delay the eviction until 25 April to give the settlers time to prove a legal claim to the house. (On many occasions, despite overwhelming evidence of their legal ownership of the properties in Judea and Samaria, the Israeli Defence Minister, driven by the policies of his leftist party, does not allow Jews to live freely on Jewish land. But, he does not care to verify legal documents of Arabs land ownerships!) - Please sign this Petition

The Game is still On - for How Long Must Israel Endure it?

Tehran is seeking a postponement of nuclear negotiations with world powers set for April 13-14 in Istanbul. Washington and Jerusalem see Iran’s manoeuvres guided by objective: Having the venue removed from Istanbul buys a couple more months before the diplomatic crunch - hence delaying any military option that Israel or possibly America may choose to exercise if its last-chance of diplomacy fails.

Quote of the Week:

“And it was when Joshua was in Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and saw, and, behold, a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand; and Joshua went to him, and said to him, Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” - Joshua, chapter 5.13 - Time of mediocrity and self-servicing has passed! Israeli politicians, rabbis and Jewish leaders around the world must ask themselves the same question - “are you for us?” If not, they must step down!

'Settlements' are Legal, Look at the UN Documents

by Elad Benari

Dr. Meir Rosenne, former Israeli ambassador to the United States and France, said on Wednesday that the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria are legal and that this is true under international law…

Dr. Rosenne noted that “the PA is not a country. It has a Palestinian Authority and Hamas which controls Gaza but they have no country. All UN documents dealing with Resolution 242 do not mention the word Palestinian.”

He added that although some people may not be aware of this, under international law the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria have full legal status.

“American jurists such as former ICJ President Stephen Schwebel have said that Israel has more rights to Judea and Samaria,” said Rosenne. “Any legal expert who looks at the UN documents will see that there is no such concept as the West Bank or the occupied territories, but rather Judea and Samaria. That is the terminology that appears in the most official documents.”

Dr. Rosenne added that according to the Geneva Convention, all the Jewish communities are legal, saying, “Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention says that an occupying power cannot forcibly move citizens to occupied territory. This was true during World War II when the Germans forcefully moved German citizens to occupied Polish territories. In our case, Israel never occupied Judea and Samaria. Judea and Samaria is an area that has never belonged to another country. Jordanian occupation was never recognized, just as the Egyptian occupation of Gaza was not recognized... The settlers never forcibly entered anywhere, nor were they moved there, so they are perfectly legal.”

He also noted that, according to the Geneva Convention, terrorists imprisoned in Israel should not be considered prisoners of war. “The Geneva Convention states that a prisoner of war is a man who openly carried weapons and wore uniforms and respected the laws of war,” said Rosenne. “The terrorists do not carry arms openly, they do not have uniforms and they do not respect the laws of war when they kill children. They are not party to the conflict because no Arab state has adopted them. Nevertheless, Israel allows every terrorist to meet with an attorney.” (Did he say those ideas publicly, when he was an Israeli ambassador? The problem is not with the knowledge of these legal facts, but with Israel’s leaders who do not use them openly to rebuke international pressure)