Philip's posts with tag: zionist
24 June 2008 Shfar'am: A Jewish Town Populated by Arab Late-Comers
by Hillel Fendel
(IsraelNN.com) The city of Shfar'am (pop. 34,000), ten miles east of Haifa, is known today as an Arab city in the Galilee - but it was not always that. Though today it is nearly half-Christian, a third Muslim, and the rest Druze, it was for many years a large Jewish city - and boasted a significant Jewish presence for centuries on end. In a project recounting the Jewish origins and history of many towns in the Land of Israel that are today considered "Arab," historian Dr. Rivka Shpak-Lissak shows that Shfar'am was populated by Jews from the days of Joshua bin Nun, and from the times of the Mishnah up until only 88 years ago. Dr. Shpak-Lissak told Israel National News that she was surprised to learn that Arabs began to settle in many towns that re today considered "Arab" only 300 years ago. "I started to investigate these towns," she wrote on the Omedia site, which is publishing her series in Hebrew, "in order to see if it was true that the Arabs of the Galilee are actually descendants of Jews who converted to Islam. I never imagined that I would find that in most of the towns, the Arabs started to move in only in the 17th and 18th centuries" - well after the Arab conquest in the 7th century. Shfar'am rose to the headlines in the summer of 2005 when a soldier killed four Arabs in a bus, and was then himself killed in a lynching (though the soldier was seen handcuffed and in police custody before he was killed). Hebrew Name Changed to Arabic
Located along the ancient highway between Acco and Nazareth, Shfar'am is named in Hebrew based on the Hebrew words shofar [ram's horn] and am [nation]. Many centuries later it was given the Arabic name Shfa-Amar, for the "health of Al-Amar," referring to an Arab who conquered the city. During the period of the Jewish rebellion against the Romans, at the end of the Second Temple period, Shfar'am was one of the largest Jewish cities in the Galilee. It was later mentioned in the Talmud, and the Sanhedrin (Supreme Jewish Court) was headquartered there during the 2nd century C.E. Christians began to move there during the ensuing centuries, and Moslems moved in after the Muslim conquest in the 7th century. Centuries later, when the Crusaders passed through the Holy Land, Arabs from Shfar'am used their town as a kick-off base to attack them. Later, however, the Crusaders were able to build a fortress in the city.
Jews continued to live there, and records show that Sephardic Jews began to move in towards the end of the 15th century. Subsequently, Bedouin gangs began to gain more power, which they greatly abused, and Christian and Jewish residents began to leave. After the Ottoman Turks conquered the Land in 1516, Jews began to return. In 1525, three Jewish families were listed as living there, and this number grew to 10 within a decade. Jews from Tzfat later moved to Shfar'am, and in the 17th century a synagogue was built on the ruins of an ancient one. Last Jew Left in 1920
In 1761, Shfar'am was conquered by a Bedouin, Dahar Al-Amar, who renamed the city after himself. Over the course of the next century, travelers such as David D'Beth Hillel reported on Jewish life in the city. During the First World War, Jews began to leave because of various difficulties, and Avraham Al-Azri, the last remaining Jew in Shfar'am, left in 1920. Twenty years later, Shfar'am became a base for anti-Jewish Arab forces, and in the War of Independence in 1948, Israel's new army captured the area for the newborn State of Israel. Foreigners vs. Jews in the Holy Land
The bottom line, Dr. Lissak told Israel National News, is that the Arab claim that they have been here for "thousands of years" is far from true. "The goal of all the rulers of the Holy Land, from the times of the Romans and onward, was always to rid the Land of the Jews," she said. "Finally, they succeeded. Many Jews simply left the Land rather than convert to Islam." Dr. Lissak's articles on the towns of Gush Halav and Kafr Kana were summarized here, and on Tzipori and Arabeh here. Other once-Jewish cities in the Land of Israel include Bir'am, Sakhnin and Pekiin.
By Ted Belman  Arab’s play offense while Israelis play defense. Nowhere is this more evident than in the field of propaganda.
But first I want to look at the negotiations. Can anyone tell me what the Israelis are demanding. I’m waiting. On the other hand,the Arabs are demanding the holy city in Jerusalem, the greenline as the border and the “right of return”. It seems Israel is always struggling to meet their demands in part, hoping it will suffice. No such struggle on the part of the Arabs, Just the reiteration of their demands. They have a sense of entitlement while the Israelis have a sense of indebtedness. That’s no way to win a ball game.
The Arabs always rejected the State of Israel and in the seventies made a conscious decision to convince the world to do likewise. So they began a propaganda war to demonize and delegitimate Israel and Zionism. The infamous, Zionism is Racism, resolution at the UN was the first volley. David Matas, famed human rights lawyer from Canada, in his excellent book Aftershock, written in 2002, reviewed the attacks on Jews and Israel throughout the world, and asked how could this happen sixty years after the Holocaust? He answers, “The root cause of the revival of antisemitism is anti-Zionism. Zionism is the expression of the right to self determination of the Jewish people  . Anti-Zionism, by definition, denies and rejects this right by denying the right to a state by the Jewish people. Anti-Zionism is a form of racism. It is the specific denial to the Jewish people of the basic right to which all people of the world are entitled. Israel exists because of the Holocaust, because of antisemitism and as a place of refuge for Jews fleeing persecution, for the cultural survival of the Jewish people and their right to self-determination, because of the ties of the Jewish people to the land of Israel, and because of international acceptance and recognition. The logic of anti-Zionism requires attacking each and every one of these reasons for the existence of Israel.” Thus the Holocaust is denied or trivialized and the creation of Israel is discredited as western colonialism or a “mistake”, if you will. In addition, the Arabs have created a narrative to compete with the Jewish narrative. The Arabs deny that both the First and Second Temple were located at or near the Temple Mount. In their narrative they have the roots and rights in and to the land and the Jews virtually no connection to it. They also deny the peoplehood of the Jews while at the same time claiming their own and their right to self determination. Beyond that, they attack the Jews or Israel for every on the worst crimes known to man. Their charges are not at all based in reality. It doesn’t matter if there is any evidence to support them, nor that they are outrageous or perverse. They will distort facts or fraudulently present “facts” to support their allegations. They also misrepresent the law in order to more easily conclude that Israelis have committed a crime, or better still, a war crime. The list of “crimes” include; perpetrating genocide or another holocaust, ethnic cleansing, the commission of war crimes for disproportionality, intentionally killing innocents and creating an humanitarian disaster. They are relentless in stigmatizing Israel as an Apartheid State so that they can create a worldwide movement to delegitimate Israel similar to the movement that undermined a real apartheid regime, namely South Africa. Once again, to do this, the reality and the nature of an Apartheid regime are distorted and falsified. Their lies also include the following; - the occupation is illegal
- the settlements are illegal
- Judea and Samaria are Palestinian lands
- Israel is the aggressor
- Jerusalem is holy to Islam
- the Arabs support a two-state solution
- the Jews want to take over the world pursuant to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion
David Matas and others have convincingly debunked all of these lies. The Arabs follow Goebbels dictum to a “T”, “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” The phrase, “big lie”, was also used in a report prepared during the war by the United States Office of Strategic Services in describing Hitler’s psychological profile. His primary rules were: never allow the public to cool off; never admit a fault or wrong; never concede that there may be some good in your enemy; never leave room for alternatives; never accept blame; concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong; people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it. This too they follow to a “T”. Its only natural since Haj Amin al Husseini, the father of militant Palestinian Arab nationalism, a previously unknown concept, was a close confident of Hitler and asked of him to acknowledge the Arab right … to settle the question of Jewish elements in Palestine and other Arab countries in accordance with the national and racial interests of the Arabs and along the lines similar to those used to solve the Jewish question in Germany and Italy. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. What the Israeli government must do is to challenge every one of these lies at every opportunity. That’s what its PR should be about and not the babes on the beach. That is playing offense.
Ted Belman
+1 416 256 7597
Right, Religious MKs Give Pres. Bush Higher Marks Than PM Olmert by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz
May 18, '08
(IsraelNN.com) In reaction to the speeches of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and US President George Bush at a special Knesset session on Thursday, Knesset Members from right-wing and religious parties had far more praise for the US President than for the Prime Minister. Minister of Communications Ariel Atias (Shas) declared Bush's speech to be more "right-wing" than that of Olmert. The American premier "emphasized God's name several times, as well as God's giving of the Land of Israel to the People of Israel," Atias noted. Chairman of the Likud faction in Knesset, MK Gideon Saar, said, "Bush's speech was important because it clarified the damage and the errors of the policy of concessions, especially when he referred to the right of the Jewish People to the Land of Israel. I would like to hear Israel's leaders speaking more often in those terms." MK Reuven Rivlin (Likud) said, "In contrast to the Prime Minister, who is ready to concede in the blink of an eye the vital interests of Israel for various reasons, the US President appears as someone fulfilling the Zionist dream and as someone unwilling to concede a single Zionist principle." In a joint statement, Knesset Members Tzvi Hendel and Uri Ariel (National Union), who got up and left the Knesset hall in the midst of Prime Minister Olmert's speech, said, "The Prime Minister is using a celebratory occasion in which we are honoring the President of the United States to emphasize disputes in our society and to promote a political agenda which most of the Israeli public disagrees with." MK Hendel added that it would be best if Olmert would learn national pride and Zionism from President Bush. MK Arieh Eldad even suggested that, "since Olmert will soon be ending his term and in light of Bush's Zionist speech, perhaps it would be possible to suggest that Bush serve as a temporary replacement for Olmert." More seriously, MK Eldad commented that in his speech, Prime Minster Olmert "continued behaving like a bankrupt criminal, signing bad checks, while President Bush publicly put him to shame when he said that there is no need to make concessions to terrorism and to negotiate with organizations that declare their intention to destroy Israel." Chairman of the National Religious Party (NRP), MK Zevulun Orlev, said that "Bush taught Olmert a lesson in Zionism and leadership. His speech was that of an NRP member and his unconditional support for Israel is moving. I hope that he will act to free [Jonathan] Pollard towards the end of his term."
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| Bibi Feeling the Heat | |  The fact that Bibi is going to such great and absurd extremes to disqualify Moshe Feiglin from the race shows that he is feeling the heat. Although he started the race completely confident in his easy victory, the daily polls that he takes reveal a startlingly different picture. Just today, a Likud internet poll shows Moshe Feiglin with over 50% support. Bibi trails behind him with over 40% support and Danino is far behind. The phone polls that Bibi takes verify this trend. Let's keep up the good work! Manhigut Yehudit needs your help now more than ever. You can also help create the Jewish majority revolution. Now is the time to support Manhigut Yehudit. Click here for our on line secure donation form. If you are in Israel, now is the time to volunteer to help. For more information, call (Israel) 02-996-1123. |
 Theater J's Shattering 'Pangs of the Messiah' By Peter Marks Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, June 30, 2007; Page C01 The corrosive effects of perpetual crisis wear almost as meaningfully on an audience as they do on the characters of "Pangs of the Messiah," Motti Lerner's heated and ultimately heartbreaking portrait of a besieged Jewish settlement on the West Bank. The time in which this provocative Israeli playwright sets his drama is a few years into the future, but the scenario he unfolds feels entwined with the tragic here and now. In the play, at the Goldman Theater, a peace accord is about to be signed in Washington between the Israeli government and the Palestinians that will cede the West Bank to a formal state of Palestine -- a change that will mean the enforced removal of Shmuel (Michael Tolaydo) and his fellow settlers from the hilly enclave to which they have dedicated their lives. From left, Joel Reuben Ganz, Lindsay Haynes, Alexander Strain and Laura Giannarelli in Motti Lerner's updated drama about Jewish settlers in a near future forced to move from a new Palestine. (By Stan Barouh -- Theater J) Lerner lays out the spectrum of passionate reactions within Shmuel's circle to convulsive, swiftly evolving political events in ways that give intriguing complexity to a people and a movement often painted as a monolithic cadre of occupiers. The playwright's tale is apocalyptic rather than sympathetic -- it's about the inexorable pull of extremism, and the amplification of suffering to which radical beliefs inevitably lead. Yet, regardless of your preconceptions, Lerner compels you to see not only the array of viewpoints on the side of the Israeli settlers but also the faces. The play is a visit with those who reside in the vicinity of doom, in a neighborhood that seems both sun-kissed and cursed. Director Sinai Peter's splendid production for Theater J -- featuring sharply drawn performances by, among others, Tolaydo, Laura Giannarelli as Shmuel's wife, Amalia, and Alexander Strain as their fragile son, Nadav -- marks the play's first performance in English, according to the company. (The fine translation is by Anthony Berris.) Lerner wrote it in Hebrew 20 years ago, when its title was "Waiting for the Messiah"; in addition to modifying the title, he has updated events and specified the year as 2012. However, the fictional political developments he describes in "Pangs of the Messiah," as reported throughout by the voice of an actual newsman, Dan Raviv, never seem outlandish. (That the play holds up after two decades speaks as much as anything to the intractability of the issues it examines.) In contrast to Lerner's fascinating if hyperbolic "Murder of Isaac," a piece set in a post-traumatic-stress ward among the disabled veterans of all of Israel's wars -- and which had an American premiere last year at Baltimore's Center Stage -- "Pangs" frames its arguments in fairly sober and naturalistic terms. The setting is the sleek hilltop home of Shmuel, a rabbi and a leader of the settlement, who, Lerner suggests, is the embodiment of a paradox. He's both spiritual and practical. He's enough of a moderate to be on speaking terms with Israel's conciliatory-seeming prime minister, yet sufficiently devout in his investment in a Jewish state that includes the West Bank. As the prospects for the peace agreement intensify, so do the fissures in Shmuel's family; the settlers appear to be more furious at their own government than at their Arab neighbors. Hard-liners such as Shmuel's son Avner (John Johnston) and son-in-law Benny (Joel Reuben Ganz) -- the latter having been in prison for killing Palestinians with roadside bombs -- agitate for resistance against the Israeli army, while Avner's wife, Tirtzah (Becky Peters), argues vehemently against any kind of violence. Caught in the middle are the innocents, such as Strain's tenderly rendered Nadav, a simple soul who is joyously engaged in the building of his own home, and who does not quite grasp the huge moral and political implications that this normally mundane activity has acquired. The ideal audience for "Pangs" might be one with some familiarity with Israeli politics. Sorting out the ideological branches of Shmuel's family tree becomes a bit labored in Lerner's more schematic first act. We learn, for instance, that Avner and Tirtzah have just arrived from Washington, where Avner had some role representing the settlers' interests. It takes some time, too, to understand all the facets of Shmuel's responsibilities in a community fragmenting over the potential peace treaty. But these concerns are allayed in the second act, as the momentum of outside events accelerates and Shmuel must try to reconcile the precepts of his faith with the struggle over his settlement's destiny. Set designer Kinereth Kisch picturesquely realizes Shmuel's world: a living room full of glass and light overlooking a handsome valley of modern houses. In bright costumes by Dalia Penn that look as if they were inspired by citrus groves, the family members shuffle in and out in nonstop rotation, coming to rest only when the flickering of a TV news broadcast catches their eyes. It's as if their nerves are so frayed that they cannot bear to engage one another for more than a few minutes at a time. The director and actors bring Shmuel's family to vibrant life, from Lindsay Haynes's terrific Chava, broken by worry that husband Benny will return to a life of terrorism, to Giannarelli's excellent Amalia, wed as much to a man's religious dream as the man himself. Ganz, Johnston, Peters and Norman Aronovic contribute solidly. And the exceptional Tolaydo takes us resonantly with him on Shmuel's path from adroit mover and shaker to anguished bystander. While it might be helpful to know something about the Middle East at the outset of "Pangs of the Messiah," Lerner's shattering conclusion requires no information at all. It's the universal handbook of human frailty that is his poignant guide, and ours. By Motti Lerner. Directed by Sinai Peter. Lighting, Martha Mountain; composer, Hannah Hakohen; sound, Clay Teunis. About 2 hours 15 minutes. At Goldman Theater, D.C. Jewish Community Center, 1529 16th St. NW. Call 800-494-TIXS or visit http://www.boxofficetickets.com.
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Arab’s play offense while Israelis play defense. Nowhere is this more evident than in the field of propaganda. 
