New Film - Israel: Rise of the Right

7 Tammuz 5769

Tonight, a couple of friends began alerting me about a film just released by Ilan Mizrahi, "Israel: Rise of the Right."

(AlJazeeraEnglish YouTube) Ilan Mizrahi has spent 16 years photographing and filming right wing Israeli settlers in the West Bank city of Hebron. His film, Israel: Rise of the Right, looks at the followers of Rabbi Meir Kahane, an American-born rabbi and politician who proposed the mass expulsion of Arabs from Israel before he was assassinated in 1990.

I immediately began asking around who this guy was, whether it was a hack job, or worth watching because [as has been said in Rabbi Binyamin Kahane's HY"D name] "We want everyone to think we are crazy. Then maybe they will leave us alone."

The answer I got from my friend, political activist, the "Kalashnikover Rebbe" was quite surprising:

There are a few facts wrong here and there, but it wasn't biased at all, shockingly so. He focused all on Baruch Marzel and Itamar Ben-Gvir. He did not acknowledge the other factions and Kahanists, but not to anyone's detriment.

Ilan Mizrahi has even given over footage which served to exonerate Jews in court. So, so it is clear he is not out to get us.

I think it was a nice job. He filmed us for years. He has even become a "part of the community," and a regular presence at all our "events."

The four parts of the film are embedded below, together totaling 46 minutes. The film is mostly in Hebrew with English subtitles, with narration in English.

Part 1 includes scenes of police treatment of protesters, the court battle to march in the Israeli Arab city of Um Al-Fahm, and the ironic appointment of Baruch Marzel to supervise the balloting in that cities during the Shevat 5769/February, 2009 Israeli Elections.



What I found interesting about Part 2 was that the accusations shouted by Arabs regarding a fascist [Israeli] state are much the same as I would hear [and sometimes say myself] in the [minority] Torah-loyal towns in the Shomron (Samaria). Also,...

1. Many of the "600 extremists" living in Hevron are actually somewhat mamlakhi (state-loyal) with a lot of cognitive dissonance. But, as the local saying goes, "A Hevron mamlakhi is nothing like an Ofra mamlakhi." Hardly extremists, they are simply pushed farther and more often than most other towns.

2. Purim is NOT the "Jewish Halloween." OY!

3. Like in Part 1, I got to see a lot of friends and acquaintances, like Gil'ad Pollack, who once described for me being [completely] strip-searched on the street and in front of female officers. Now, B"H, Gil'ad is married with children, but continues to be moser nefesh (self-sacrificing). Many "hilltop youth" get married young, like in many Haredi communities. Rabbi Meir Kahane HY"D once said that the greatest weapon the Arabs had was,...babies. His followers got the message. Fortunately, leftist and "post-Zionist" secularists did not. The birthrates of religious communities continues to be greater than nonreligious communities.



Part 3 mentions Eden Natan-Zada HY"D. I, myself, did not get to go to Eden's funeral. I knew him, though, I remember him as a sensitive and kind, young man.

This part then shifts to singer Dov Shurin. Apparently, the courts cannot touch him for any "incitement," as he only uses p'suqim (verses) from Tana"kh (Bible). However, we must not get complacent. I believe that it is only a matter of time before the Erev Rav-controlled government of Israel (GOI) attempts to censor Holy texts. Think I am crazy? Former MK Yossi Sarid (Mere"tz) already proposed such a measure back in 1998, to cancel the reading of Megillath Esther on Purim, due to its "racism."

There is mention of the pogrom at Amona. Sultan Knish provides a comprehensive set of Amona videos, I recommend over the limited footage included in this film.

Later, Gil'ad (8:20) provides his perspective on the "Arab-Israeli Conflict."



Part 4 begins with the situation of those Jews who were forcibly removed from their homes in Azza, back in 5765/2005. The film shows their makeshift bomb shelters they have been having to depend on to protect them from the barrage of rockets fired from Hamas in Azza.

This part goes onto the elections, including the election of Dr. Micha'el Ben-Ari (National Union) to Knesseth. (By the way, the Likud Party is not, I repeat not, a right-wing party.*)

The film culminates with the "Flag March" in Um Al-Fahm, the court battle of which was presented in the beginning of Part 1.



Cross-posted on Esser Agaroth.

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*There is no such thing as "right" or "left," only Jewish and un-Jewish.

I'm No Terrorist

15 Sivan 5769

Below is a link to my neighbor Yekutiel's response to being Banned From Britain!. The report is just "OK," but still worth reading this summary of Torah Zionist beliefs. Unfortunately, the article contains some careless mistakes like reporting the K'far Tapu'ah was close to Hevron geographically, when they are actually quite far away from each other.

One would hope that a "Jewish" newspaper would take the time to check it's Jewish facts about Jewish geography, not mention taking the time to proof for Jewish spelling.

That's K'far Tapu'ah, not K'far Pitu'ah



The page is too large to embed here for comfortable reading, so please click the image to read the article on-line or to download it.

Thanks to Rafi and Shmu'el for introducing me to Scribd.

Cross-posted on Esser Agaroth.

FBI To Return Seized Material To Jewish Hatikvah Identity Center

4 Nissan 5769

PRESS RELEASE:

The FBI is expected to return over 70 crates of seized material to Jewish Hatikvah Identity Center

When? TODAY SUNDAY March 29, 2009 at 10 AM (EDT)

Where? Self storage facility 41 Flatbush Ave Brooklyn NY 11217

Background: On January 4, 2001 (more than 8 years ago) the FBI seized property with an 18-wheeler truck from the Hatikvah Jewish Identity Center at 1090 Coney Island Ave Brooklyn NY. The reason for the original seizure was a terrorism related investigation into Kach and Kahane Chai.

Now, nine years later the FBI is returning the material. No charges of any kind were brought as a result of this investigation.

The Hatikvah Jewish Identity Center was forced to close in part due to this large seizure of all of its material which included Books, tapes, computers, magazines and office equipment.

For more information contact:

Michael Guzofsky
Former Director of Hatikvah Jewish Identity Center
011-972-544-876-709
guzofskyyekutiel@gmail.com

Cross-posted on Esser Agaroth.

Thank You, Leftists!

21 Adar 5769

(JPost.com) Tristan Anderson, 38, of Oakland, California, was hit in the head by a tear gas canister during a protest against the West Bank security barrier in Nil'in on Friday and underwent surgery at the hospital, near Tel Aviv.

Anderson is on a respirator but in stable condition, the spokeswoman said on condition of anonymity because of the issue's sensitivity.

The protest took place in the West Bank town of Nil'in, near Ramallah, where Palestinians and international backers frequently gather to demonstrate against the security barrier. (Read more...)

(Tip Credit to Debbie Schlussel)

No, I do not intend to shed any tears for this man's hutzpah and idiocy. However, I do hate that fence; it is evil. So, I have to thank the leftists for protesting and otherwise attacking it, albeit for the wrong reasons.

Not only that, but while these leftists are engaging in these protests, there are less of them available to come and harass us in Yehudah and Shomron (Judea and Samaria), uproot and burn our fields and vineyards, and incite the Arabs to doing even more violence than usual.

When such incidents occur on Fridays, it is particularly irritating as we are already occupied with preparing for Shabbath. So, thanks for being in Nil'in, far away from us, on Erev Shabbath.

Besides, fences don't really say "What's on THIS side is ours." Rather, they really say [to the Arabs, the EU, the US, and first and foremost to Israelis], "What's on the other side is NOT ours."

That's why the building of a fence around the town of Itamar, near Shchem (See Genesis 33:18), came to blows, and why towns such as Teq'oa (See 2 Samu'el 14:2) near Beth Lehem

This is not at all an insignificant message. Not only is it a powerful psychological one, but more importantly a religious and spiritual one.

When we build a fence in the middle of our Homeland, not so long after being able to retake it back from the Jordanian occupiers, a task we could only have accomplished with the help and permission of HaQadosh Baruch Hu (The Holy One, Blessed Be He), what message are we sending to Him?

Not the one of gratitude to which He is entitled.

Some would have you believe that the fence is good, because it "saves lives." However, that seems to be because some are using a galuthi (diaspora) logic, and not an halachic (Jewish legal) one.

Even former Head of Merkaz HaRav Yeshivah, and champion of religious, state loyalism, Rabbeinu Tzvi Yehudah Kook ztz"l (photo with Rabbi Me'ir Kahane HY"D at the Western Wall), said that...

One must do everything to delay and to prevent the uprooting of Jewish strongholds.... One must practice self-sacrifice for their sake completely.

Yet, his students Rabbi Dov Lior (Hevron-Qiriyath Arba), Rabbi Zalman Melamed (Beth-El), and [I believe] Rabbi Moshe Tzuri'el (B'nei Braq) have continually had to remind us that "everything" means everything.

Building a fence, former Prime Minister Sharon's defacto border, he continually claimed was never to be a border, is the first step in throwing our God-given and re-given Homeland back in His face.

(May God forbid, and may He save us from ourselves)

And so, I would like to thank the Leftists for protesting that evil "security" fence, so that I can be "occupied" with other issues, not have a gas canister thrown at my head (at least not in Nil'in), and so that less of you are available to incite the Arabs to more violence than usual, and to destroy my neighbors' fields and vineyards.

Cross-posted on Esser Agaroth.

Shabba"k Encounter Update

Erev Shabbat Toldot/Rosh Hodesh Kislev 5769

Here is a brief follow up to My Encounter With The Shabba"k which I have been meaning to write for quite some time. I was prompted to post this by a response to the way I handled the encounter by Talking Loud, Saying Nothing.

*********

At the conclusion of my meeting with the Shabba"k (General Security Services) agents, a couple of days before Yom Kippur, they asked me not to say to tell anyone that they wanted to see me again. They seemed a bit surprised that I had already mentioned to people that they wanted to meet with me. I simply said that I had to tell my boss at work, in case I was late coming in.

They then said that I should only mention anything else if asked, and if asked, that I should tell people that the meeting was about the announcement found near the attack on Prof. Sternhell.

Obviously something was up. I doubt that I part of any greater plan, but rather just being tested to see if I could be "turned," and be of some use to them.

I followed the advice I had received ages ago, which was to tell anyone and everyone. And now, I am of no use to them.

These agents never ended up calling me in for a follow up meeting. Whether they ever intended to or not, I don't know.

Now as to why I met with them in the first place, everything happened so quickly, that I didn't have the opportunity to seek any guidance. I feared that if I called anyone on the phone I would be compromising them. I even thought that my phone was bugged, as I received my first phone call from them just when I began using a cell phone I borrowed, I later discovered had been in the Shabba"k's possession at one time.

After discussing the various events with those having experience with such matters, it seems more likely that the Shabba"k simply knew who I was, from living in K'far Tapu'ah and from my associations, and if anything tapped into my line.

After failing to obtain advice, I decided to go into the meeting. The main reason I decided to do so was an attempt to feel more in control than by not going in. This was one strategy I learned in Tapu'ah from seasoned Shabba"k targets. It felt better to me than worrying about when they were going to come and get me. Not everyone agrees with this strategy. Although I believe it worked for me. I added to this by mentally preparing myself to accept the worst case scenarios.

I have known people to lose their jobs due to a Shabba"k interview, lose security clearance and thus job opportunities, lose a weapons license, to undergoing sleep deprivation for a few days. Yep. Most people would call this a form torture.

Now, I believe the next time, when and if they decide to "invite me" in for another "visit..." involuntarily, I will be more level-headed to deal with the situation because of my past experience with them and with police.

Talking about my experience helped in a lot of the traditional ways. I discovered that many more Jews were "invited" into meet with the Shabba"k. The more I talked about my experience, the less anxious and isolated I felt. I didn't realize just how people I knew who were interrogated over the same presenting issue. It was as if they were trying to make some sort of quota.

Several Ramba"mim, Jews who hold by the Ramba"m, were some of those also targeted this time around. Some have claimed that Ramba"mim and those with Breslover influence in Yo"Sh (Judea and Samaria) are numbers one and two on the Shabba"k's "most dangerous" list. Whereas "Kanahists" and "Chabbadniks" seem to be farther down on their list. Who knows? But what all of these groups have in common is that their loyalties do not lie with the "almighty state" leHavdil; they lie elsewhere. And this both disturbs and perplexes the powers that be.

There is no question that the Shabba"k's recent interrogations will add to their research data base of settler profiling, to assist them in dealing with any resistance to future attempts to Jews from the homes and towns. Yitzhar and Hevron, as well as smaller towns such as Adei Ad near Shiloh, are their current laboratories, where they observe the reactions to various strategies.

How do settlers react to leftist provocation? How do they react to police entrapment? How do they react to Arabs who are egged on by [un-] Jews? These are some of the questions being asked during their research.

There is, of course, also the greater issue of general state loyalty. As the religious population increases, and attempts to infuse the country with goyim from the Former Soviet Union and the U. S. are running out of steam, new strategies are needed to combat what the Eruv Rav government sees as a threat to their control: The Torah. Shabba"k laboratory experiments will be considered useful in their pursuits to maintain power.

Observations are made at Haredi protests against grave desecration, the gay parade, and autopsies. Once the government feels it has a handle on the settlers, the Haredim will be the focus of their next targets. It's too bad that they don't realize this.

To conclude, I would like to pass on some advice from the Honenu Legal Defense Fund, when confronted by the Shabba"k. It was relayed to me by one of my Ramba"mi friends. According to him, it is advised only to say the following four things, in order:

1. I have not committed any crime.
2. I do not trust you.
3. I do not believe in you.
4. And so, I will not speak with you.

They emphasize the importance of providing the reasons why you will not speak with them, before you actually say that you will not speak to them.

I also consulted a lawyer with experience in these matters, who, after chastising me for speaking to the Shabba"k in the first place, said that I was under no legal obligation to talk with them.

Anyone, leftists included, still believe that we don't live in a police state? Sure, leftists may agree with their actions, but what if the shoe were on the other foot?

Cross-posted on Esser Agaroth.

Rav Kahane ZTZ"L HY"D Memorial - 18 Years

12 Marhheshvan 5769

(Click to enlarge)

An azkarah (memorial) will be held for Rav Me'ir Kahane ZTZ"L HY"D, marking 18 years following his murder.

Mossa'ei Shabbath Qodesh Parshath Wayira
Saturday night, Nov. 15, 2008, 7:30
K'far Tapu'ah Central Synagogue

*Torah learning le'illui nishmath HaRav
*Hiddushei Torah of the Rav
*Stories of the Rav
*Melaweh Malkah meal

Adv. Gershon Mesiqa Samaria Area Council Head	Rabbi Baruch Kahane
Rabbi Dr. Michael Ben-Ari	Rabbi Shmu'el HaCohen Rav of K'far Tapu'ah

Additional Rabbis and Community Leaders

Musical accompaniment will be provided by Yerachmiel "Rocky" Ziegler and his band "Optimystical," and singer Ari Ben-Yam.

For more information on the azkarah, limited Shabbath guest space in Tapu'ah, and transportation from Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv, contact Yekutiel by phone: 054-4876909.

From Tel-Aviv/B'nei Braq, take Dan bus #186 or #286 to Ariel, then tremp from the [northern entrance]. See the Dan On-Line Schedule.

Cross-posted on Esser Agaroth.

RABBI KAHANE VS. EHUD OLMERT

Blogmaster's Comment: Watch this historic exchange and then you decide what has taken place over the past twenty years and whose assessment for the future of Israel is correct. It is sad that the likes of Ehud Olmert are still in power.

Right-Wingers Hack Palestinian Web Sites!

Blogmaster's observation: Those who were attacked by this right-wing(?) group are making more of this "digital attack" than the Government makes of the breaking of the cease-fire by more rocket barrages and the attempted murder of innocent Israeli citizens. Maybe it is time for more individuals to express themselves in support of Zionism and a "Jewish" Israel. Just my 2 shekels worth...

26/06/2008


Rightist hackers embed nationalist symbols on pro-Palestinian Web sites















By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent



Rightists on Thursday hacked into three Web sites associated with the Israeli Arab and Palestinan causes, and embedded on their pages an image of the Israeli flag, the words to the Israeli national anthem and the symbol of an outlawed ultra-rightist movement.

The perpetrators hacked into the Web site of the Israeli Arab Balad party; Arabs48.com, an Arabic-language site; and Mahsom.com, which is written in Hebrew. Both site represent the Israeli Arab and Palestinian cause.

In addition to the flag and the words of "Hatikva," the hackers embedded the symbol of the Kach movement, an ultra-rightist organization founded by Rabbi Meir Kahane that was banned from the Knesset in 1988 and later deemed a terrorist organization by Israel. The symbol appeared with the words "Kahane was right."

Pictures were also embedded on the sites showing Palestinian children strapped with explosives under the words "murderers from birth."

In a statement also printed on the site, the rightists wrote, "This site was hacked into due to its blatantly anti-Zionist contents. Israel is not interested in people like you who are burdens on the process of proper decision-making in the government. If you oppose what you call the 'Israeli occupation' then there's no place for you here."

Arabs48.com, which is popular in Arab states and in Israel, prints news on Israel and the Middle East from a pro-Palestinian, pan-Arabist perspective. Mahsom.com is a self-proclaimed alternative media source meant for a primarily Jewish audience.

The manager of Arabs48.com, Az a-Din Badran, said in response that the "hacking of the site is intended to sabotage the a central media outlet, which provides a critical and different look at everything connected to the Arab-Israeli conflict. It seems that the exposure enjoyed by the site, in Israel and in the Arab world, drives the right-wing crazy."

"The site is constantly suffering from repeated hack attempts, which have interfered in the past with the regular maintenance of the site, but not to this extent. We view with great severity the attempt to silence the site, which reflects factual and analytical loyalty to the Arab and Palestinian perspective in the ongoing conflict. The Kahane terrorists and their followers from the Israeli-Zionist right will not weaken our power, like they haven't in the past," the statement continued.
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עמוד ראשי >> חדשות
עבריינים מהימין הקיצוני פרצו לאתרים "מחסום" ו"ערב 48"


מאז הקמתו של "מחסום" לפני שלוש שנים, ניסו עבריינים מהימין הקיצוני להשבית את פעולתו שוב ושוב. הפעם הציפו הפורצים את האתר בסמל כהנא-חי ותצלום של ילדים פלסטינים עם הכותרת "רוצחים מלידה". חבר הנהלת "מחסום", מחמוד מרזוק: "הם לא יצליחו להשתיק את הקול שלנו"
מאת: מערכת מחסום, 26.06.2008
עבריינים מהימין הקיצוני פרצו היום (חמישי) לאתרים "מחסום ו"ערב 48". בדף הבית של שני האתרים השאירו העבריינים את סמל התנועה כהנא-חי, דגל ישראל והכיתוב "כהנא צדק", נוסף למלות ומנגינת "התקווה". הפורצים השאירו הודעה בדף הראשי של שני האתרים, שבה נכתב כי "האתר נפרץ עקב תכניו האנטי-ציוניים [...] ישראל אינה חפצה באנשים כמוכם". כמו כן הציבו הפורצים תצלום של ילדים פלסטינים תחת הכותרת "רוצחים מלידה" ואיחולי מוות לכל הערבים.



חבר הנהלת "מחסום", מחמוד מרזוק: "מדובר בפריצה מכוונת שנועדה לחבל בכלי תקשורת חשוב המציב פרספקטיבה ביקורתית למתרחש בישראל, בשטחים הכבושים ובעולם הערבי, מנקודת מבטם של הפלסטינים אזרחי ישראל. התכנים האמיצים, השיח הדמוקרטי האזרחי וההשפעה של אתר 'מחסום' העבירו את אנשי הימין הקיצוני על דעתם. אין זו הפעם הראשונה שאנשי ימין מנסים לפרוץ ולחבל באתר, אולם זו הפעם הראשונה שהאתר נפרץ בממדים כאלה. מדובר בניסיון חמור להשתיק את הקול השפוי והדמוקרטי. הפורעים לא יצליחו להשתיק את הקול שלנו. תוך זמן קצר יחזור האתר לפעול, ושום פעולת טרור לא תרתיע אותנו ולא תרפה את ידינו", אמר מרזוק.
מנהל ועורך אתר "מחסום", נוואף עתאמנה, אומר כי מאז עלה האתר לרשת, לפני יותר משלוש שנים, נעשו נסיונות חוזרים ונשנים להשתיק אותו. "השיח האזרחי הנאור והדמוקרטי של האתר מפחיד את גורמי הימין, שאינם מבינים את שפת הדמוקרטיה. מלכתחילה היה ברור לנו שיהיו נסיונות כאלה. על רקע הגזענות הגואה בישראל זה היה די צפוי. אנחנו נמשיך בפעילות ובשליחות שלנו ונמשיך לשדר אותם תכנים", אומר עתאמנה. ----------------------------------
http://www.arabs48.com/display.x?cid=6&sid=5&id=55076
قوى "كهانا حاي" المتطرفة اقتحمت موقعي "عرب 48" و"محسوم" وتحرّض على الفلسطينيين!
26/06/2008 19:58
تمكنت قوى "كهانا حاي" اليمينية المهووسة، صباح اليوم الخميس، باقتحام موقع "عرب 48" ، وموقع "محسوم" بالعبرية الذي يطرح وجهة نظر بديلة للقراء اليهود (www.mahsom.com) ، وبث مضامين يمنية تحريضية على الفلسطينيين!وفي الصفحة التي بثها مقتحمو الموقع نشروا كلمات النشيد الوطني الإسرائيلي "هتكفاه"، إلى جانب شعار حركة كاخ التي أسسها اليميني المتطرف مئير كهانا وشعار حركة "كهانا حاي"، وهي مكملة نهج حركة "كاخ".وقد كتب مقتحمو الموقع بالانجليزية: "أنتم قتلة قساة يشكلون الخطر على جميع العالم، وتشكلون الخطر على الأطفال، وأطفالكم أيضًا، تقتلون بلا سبب، تختطفون الجنود الإسرائيليين، تطلقون النار على مواطنين إسرائيليين أبرياء، تقتلون وتقتلون وتقتلون. نحن نتمنى لكم جميعًا موتا مؤلما وموجعا"!وفي رد إدارة الموقع على هذه العملية السافلة، جاء: "إنّ اقتحام موقع عرب 48 يستهدف تعطيل عمل وسيلة إعلام مركزية تطرح وجهة نظر نقدية ومغايرة في كل ما يتعلق بالنزاع العربي-الإسرائيلي، لوجهة النظر الإسرائيلية والصهيونية. ويبدو أن الانكشاف الذي يحظى به الموقع، في البلاد والعالم العربي، حمل رجال اليمين المتطرف على خطوتهم المهووسة".وأضافت إدارة الموقع: "الموقع يعاني منذ فترة محاولات اقتحام متكررة، أثرت على عمله الجاري في السابق، إلا أنّ أثر المحاولات لم يكن كبيرًا كما في هذه المرة. ونحن ننظر بعين الخطورة إلى محاولة إسكات صوت هذا الموقع الذي يعكس الوقائع والتحليلات الوطنية والمهنية، من وجهة نظر فلسطينية مُطلعة ومتابعة. مُخرّبو حركة كهانا من اليمين الصهيوني لن ينجحوا في تثبيط عزيمتنا، كما لم ينجحوا في السابق".

The Real "Religious Zionist"

There has been a lot of buzz concerning Caroline Glick's The Two-Pronged Assault on Religious Zionist.

As usual, Glick makes several good points, supported by her keen observations and logical deductions.

Yet, her piece prompted me to provide my Esser Agaroth on what I believe to be a deeper issue here, who is a Religious Zionist.

I know that the following rabbis did not asked to be dragged into this debate, at least not on this blog. However, I would like to start off with a few rabbinic examples of Religious Zionists.

Rabbi Yisrael Ariel shlit"a of the Temple Institute and Sanhedrin is arrested for having the audacity to discuss halachoth (Jewish Laws) which are contrary to Israeli Law.

Now that's "religious," but is it "Zionist?"

The late, great Rabbi Avraham Shapira ztz"l, Rosh Yeshivath Merkaz HaRav Kook, took a clear stance that soldiers in the IDF should refuse orders which contravene halachah, like kicking Jews out of their homes, and assisting the government to turn over Jewish-controlled land to goyim, even more so, Arabs which have sworn to destroy us.

He even publicly ripped up the opposing opinion of another popular rabbi. There are those who have tried, unsuccessfully, to suppress this story. But Yes, Rabbi Shapira most definitely did do this.

I say yes, as Rabbi Moshe Tzuri'el shlit"a reminds us: "Zionism is simply a part of the Torah." Now that's "religious" AND "Zionist." I would expect nothing less from someone who was in the same class at Merkaz HaRav Kook Yeshivah with Rabbi Dov Lior shlit"a and Rabbi Zalman Melamed shlit"a who led the last stand in Azza at the K'far Darom synagogue.* No one could argue that was "Zionist," or could they?

Other rabbis are called before a beth din, accept upon themselves its authority, say they're coming, then don't show up. That doesn't sound very "religious" to me. Does it sound very "Zionist?"

I don't know. I suppose it depends upon what your definition of "Zionist" is.

Then, of course, we have the YeSh"A Council, which makes secret deals with the government to evacuate Jewish strongholds in Yehudah and Shomron (Judea and Samaria). And then lies about it. Now THAT doesn't sound very Zionist. It doesn't sound very religious either. That's because it's not. Neither is beating up religious Zionists, and then lying about that, too.

It certainly does not sound like the YeSh"A Council, which receives its budget directly from the Office of the Prime Minister, is very religious or Zionist.

If "Zionist" means that you believe in Zion as the Jewish Homeland then my friend, the Hassidishe rabbi in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Me'ah Sha'arim, would consider himself a "Zionist." However, if your definition of "Zionist" is Shimon Peres's definition of "Zionist," then you can count him out.

Truly the only meaningful disagreement in hashqafah (perspective) between the religious Zionist and the religious non-Zionist vis-a-vis the Jewish Homeland is not the "where;" it's the "when," "how," and "by whom." Do we take an active part in staking claim to Israel as the Jewish Homeland, the concept of which originates from our Holy Torah? Or is our action to be manifested in prayer and learning Torah alone, waiting for the Mashiah to come and do everything else?

Unfortunately, this difference seems to be played up more than the similarities between the communities. Community leaders across the board are guilty of this, including the secular left, which has a penchant for "mixing in."

Unfortunately, Caroline Click is right. There is an alliance between the non-Zionist and the left wing. I would correct her on one minor [probably unintentional], nit-picky point. It is the leadership of the religious non-Zionist community which maintains the alliance. On Glick's side, voting records tend to indicate that this leadership reflects the opinions of their communities.

I can answer that.

The Belzer Rebbe shlit"a tells his hassidim, "You have the right to vote, but not the right to choose."

How many Belzer and Gerer hassidim and Litvaks have told me they would gladly vote for Baruch Marzel, for example? A lot. I know that they are honest, because in the same moment they tell me that they can't go against their Rebbes. Thus their pipe dreams of rebeldom fade away.

I am not saying that Baruch Marzel is the answer. I am only using him as an example. Just as many of the mamlachtim are unsatisfied with what they're getting, or rather what they're not getting, from their so-called religious Zionist rabbis, and are thus having to search elsewhere, such as in Breslov or Breslov-influenced communities, the non-Zionist youth and young adults are also searching outside of their communities for the answers to their answered questions. "Da'as Torah," which unfortunately has become a glorified substitute for "because I said so," () is becoming an increasingly unsatisfactory response to their halachic questions.

Rabbi Me'ir Kahane hy"d said that when you ask a halachic question, you are entitled to a halachic answer, and "Da'as Torah"

(Watch, as all kinds of "religious Zionists" run away, screaming in horror, as I single-handedly dash all of their PR hopes to de-demonize the settlers, simply by mentioning "his" name.)

But, I digress....

So, what does it mean to be "Religious Zionist?"

I'll tell you what being a "Religious Zionist" inherently does NOT mean. It does NOT mean blind and undying loyalty to the "almighty" (leHavdil) state, in particular a state which increasing shows distain for the Torah, the ONLY justification the Jewish People have for laying claim to Israel as its homeland.

Blind loyalty to the state equated with "Zionist" is the most profound and fundamental error made my both the mamlachti majority of "religious" Zionists and the religious non-Zionists.

Confused? You should be. That's the whole point, to get you to worry about words and labels, to confuse you with hashqafah so that you are prevented from getting down to the nuts and bolts to the actual halachah of how we are to relate to the Land, to those currently have power over it, and to those you are supposed to have power over it.

I may be accused of wanting my cake and eating it, too. But at least I don't hand out cake to reward the soldier for kicking me out of my house.

The point I am attempting to drive home here is that there are many Jews who refer to themselves as "Religious Zionists." Yet, there are clearly two camps, not one: The Torah Zionist camp, headed by the rabbis mentioned above, and the "Mamlachti" camp led by rabbis such as Yuval Cherlow mentioned by Caroline Glick. Admittedly, the "Mamlachti" camp is clearly the majority. We must ask ourselves why. "Loyalty" apparently has its rewards.

The Hesder Yeshiva program faces constant threats of funding cuts, discrimination against the soldiers it produces. Hesder Yeshivah soldiers are now unable to serve in the prestigious Golani and Paratrooper brigades. Soldiers have also received disciplinary actions for refusing to participate in mixed-gender events. Such actions wouldn't have anything to do with the many Hesder Yeshivah Heads signing declarations in support of refusing orders to evacuate Gaza and the Northern Shomron, would it?

Meanwhile, the "mamlachti" pre-IDF "Mechinah" Program flourishes.

No doubt I will be accused of encouraging the various rifts within the Jewish People to continue, contradicting the efforts of others to unify Jews.

Ask yourself this question: What is the value of Jewish unity, if we are unified and moving the wrong direction? Israel was pretty unified around the Golden Calf. And we are still paying the price for it.

In addition, I am hoping that by clarifying some terms which thrown around quite freely, that those like-minded individuals out there, struggling with the insanity of blind and undying loyalty to any non-Torah entity, will finally realize that they are not alone. And there is no requirement to call yourself a "Religious Zionist" to be a part of this unity.

However you choose to self-identify, if your loyalties lie with the Holy One, Blessed Be He, and His Torah, EVEN when that contravenes the dictates of the State [and state] Of Israel, and you believe that Israel is the Jewish Homeland, because HaShem gave it to us, and 60 years ago began to give it back to us, then you are a real Religious Zionist.

*********

* Rabbi Dov Lior is the Chief Rabbi of Qiriyath Arba-Hevron. Rabbi Zalman Melamed is co-Chief Rabbi of Beth-El and the Rosh Yeshivath Beth-El

Cross-posted on Esser Agaroth

5 NOVEMBER 1990 - THE BEGINNING OF JIHAD IN AMERICA

The Beginning Of Jihad On American Soil

When did radical Islamist terrorists first strike in the United States? Some may guess 9/11; others paying more attention would say 1993, in the first attack on the World Trade Center. The second guess comes closer, but in fact it began in Manhattan in 1990, with an assassination that has largely been forgotten. Andrew McCarthy, who prosecuted the terrorists that conducted the 1993 attack, reminds us of the first Islamist terrorist attack in the US:
At the time, the most radical proponent of Jewish migration to Israel was Rabbi Meir Kahane, who in the late 1960’s had founded the Jewish Defense League (JDL) in New York. The JDL had been responsible for several terrorist attacks against Soviet targets in the United States, attacks ostensibly aimed at coercing the Soviets to free Russian Jews to move to Israel. After emigrating to Israel himself, Kahane was elected to the Knesset, occupying a seat until the late 1980’s when his party, Kach, was disbarred for anti-Arab racism. (Among other things, Kahane had called for the expulsion of non-Jews from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.)
During October and November 1990, Kahane embarked on a speaking tour of the United States. On the evening of November 5, he appeared in a ballroom at the Marriott Hotel in midtown Manhattan. Fifty or sixty people were in attendance for the two-hour lecture, including [Sayyid] Nosair and two associates: Mohammed Salameh and Bilal Alkasi.
At the conclusion of his speech, Kahane mingled with audience members near the podium. Nosair approached, concealing a .357 magnum Sturm Ruger revolver, fully loaded with hollow-point rounds, its barrel shortened, the sight filed down (to avoid inadvertent hooking on clothing at the moment of truth), and the serial number obliterated—the trademarks of an assassin. Worming his way into a small knot of people, Nosair suddenly drew from a distance of about seven feet, pumping two shots into Kahane and killing him instantly.
Who was Sayyid Nosair? He was no random nutcase or fanatic, as portrayed at the time, incensed by Kahane's rhetoric. He helped build the radical Islamist terrorist cell run by Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, the "blind sheikh" now serving a life sentence in Stillwater, thanks to McCarthy's prosecution. At the time, Nosair worked in a Manhattan court as a maintenance technician, but joined an existing terror cell after hearing Abdel Rahman speak at his mosque in 1990.
The cell had already been identified as a problem by the FBI prior to Abdel Rahman's arrival in the US in early 1990. Thanks to some inept work at the INS, the blind sheikh got a green card before they realized that his name appeared on their lists of exclusions. Afterwards, they couldn't find cause to revoke his permanent-resident status. Abdel Rahman used this to his advantage, taking over control of the cell and telling its members that the time had arrived to wage war against the US.
If the FBI discovered this, it wouldn't have surprised them. They already knew that the cell had something planned; they had been watching them for at least a year, and had already discovered in 1989 that the cell had turned the mosque into a weapons depot. They continued to watch the men, including Nosair, until July 23rd, 1990, when they openly challenged the surveillance agents and accused them of religious bigotry. The FBI ended the surveillance, and the men continued to train -- and Kahane became their first victim.
After the assassination, one might have expected all of this evidence and surveillance to arouse deep suspicions of conspiracies and future terrorist attacks. However, authorities went out of their way to assure everyone that Nosair was just a "lone deranged gunman", in the words of the NYPD. The FBI, which had plenty of evidence pointing in the opposite direction, ignored it completely. The Bush 41 administration did nothing to pursue a trove of evidence from Nosair that something larger could be afoot in Abdel Rahman's cell, and surveillance apparently remained off-limits.
Be sure to read the entire essay from McCarthy. After doing so, ask yourself how much we have learned since Kahane's assassination -- and how much we have forgotten since 9/11.

UPDATE: Or did it come ten years earlier, almost to the day?

On the evening of July 21, 1980, in Washington, D.C., Dawud Salahuddin, a twenty-nine-year-old African-American convert to Islam who was born David Theodore Belfield, prepared to commit murder. In an empty office at the Iranian Interest Section of the Algerian Embassy, on Wisconsin Avenue, where he worked as a security guard, he loaded a Browning semi-automatic pistol, test-fired it out a window into an alleyway, and stashed it in a gym bag. Then he went to sleep on a couch. The Iranian Embassy had been closed down a few months earlier, as United States relations with Iran continued to deteriorate after the overthrow of the Shah, in early 1979, the installation of the repressive regime of Ayatollah Khomeini, and the ongoing hostage crisis at the American Embassy in Tehran.
The next morning, Salahuddin woke before dawn and prayed. He walked along Wisconsin Avenue to a designated spot, where a friend, also an African-American and a Muslim, met him in a rental car, and together they drove northwest, toward the Maryland border. In the passenger seat, Salahuddin changed into a mailman's uniform and put on a pair of cotton gloves. He stuffed the pistol into a large Jiffy bag. On Idaho Avenue not far from the National Cathedral, another friend, a postal worker, was waiting with a mail-delivery jeep. Salahuddin drove the jeep by himself to Bethesda, Maryland. He stopped at a pay phone outside a diner to call the home of Ali Akbar Tabatabai, a former press attaché at the Iranian Embassy in Washington, who had become an outspoken opponent of Ayatollah Khomeini. When Tabatabai answered, Salahuddin hung up. Minutes later, at around eleven-forty, he parked the jeep in front of Tabatabai's house, on a quiet cul-de-sac, and walked to the door carrying what looked like two special-delivery packages. He held one package, a decoy crammed with newspapers, in front; it obscured the second package, inside which Salahuddin held the pistol in his right hand, his finger on the trigger. The house was used as a meeting place for the Iran Freedom Foundation, a counter-revolutionary group, and one of Tabatabai's associates answered the door. Salahuddin asked for Tabatabai—saying that the delivery required his signature—and when he appeared Salahuddin shot him three times in the abdomen and fled. Forty-five minutes later, at 12:34 P.M., Tabatabai was pronounced dead at Suburban Hospital.
Salahuddin had been keeping a high profile, associating publicly with known Muslim radicals, and the police and the F.B.I. had been aware of him for some time. The morning after the killing, the authorities in Montgomery County, Maryland, obtained a warrant for David Theodore Belfield's arrest on a charge of murder. The plot, which involved many accomplices and dubious alibis, had unravelled quickly. The homicide report described the shooting as a "political assassination," and noted that "the deceased was the founder of an organization whose goal was the overthrow of the present regime in Iran." The killing fit into an over-all scheme of violence precipitated by political upheaval in the Muslim world. In a July 29, 1980, editorial, the Washington Post said the murder in Bethesda was "part of a wider pattern" in which insecure Persian Gulf governments "turn to the gun to rid themselves of their expatriate opponents." Eleven days before Salahuddin murdered Tabatabai, gunmen in Paris, posing as reporters, had tried to kill Shahpur Bakhtiar, the last Prime Minister of Iran under the Shah (a later attempt, in 1991, succeeded), and, in December of 1979, a nephew of the Shah had been assassinated, also in Paris.
Salahuddin now lives in Iran, and has since a week after this assassination. He openly talks of attacking American targets if given the opportunity, and told New Yorker that he had tried to figure out how to "crater the White House" twenty-five years before al-Qaeda attempted it. His life ambition is to bring America to its knees. The question is whether he acted on his own, or whether Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini ordered the hit. (via CapQ reader Shivan M)
Posted by Ed Morrissey on February 22, 2008 10:26 AM