What are Leftists so Scared of at Ir David Dig?

The Ir David dig is the private archeological excavations at the site of the City of David. This privately funded research has unearthed numerous interesting discoveries as well as the standard artifacts, potteries, utensils, and similar artifacts. The recent attempts to bring a halt to the research and digging at the site through the court system has spurred MK Yisrael Hasson (Kadima) to propose a law before the Knesset that would formerly legalize private, not-for-profit archeological excavations in an attempt to put an end to the over-the-top hysteria over this one particular site. Now, a group of 150 archaeologists and students sent a petition to Environment Minister Gilad Erdan and Sport and Culture Minister Limor Livnat asking them to drop their support for this law claiming it will allow for the politicization of archeology in Israel. They claim that “privatization of archaeology” would be the death knell of archaeology in Israel. This is hyper-hysteria as there are already numerous private digs being operated currently and such has been the case for as long as many can remember. What is disturbing is this entire dust-up began only recently as the research at the City of David dig has revealed some artifacts that, surprisingly enough, have proven enlightening and to affirm some of the history written in the Bible. Apparently, this automatically transforms this research from being scientific into some form of political activism as it has shown that there really were Jews and Jewish Kings and Priests and an actual City of David, and this is something these leftists cannot allow to see the light of day.

Normally, something like this I might let pass as it does not, on the surface, appear to be a story with much of an implication beyond those concerns of a few academics and history enthusiasts, but this time it just rang a bell as being the perfect story to reveal the hatred and complete disdain for anything of true and pure Jewish heritage that so infuriates the leftist Jews who always want to apologize for their Jewish existence. This whole affair really begs the question of what is it the Leftists are so scared of that might come from this actually wonderful research being carried out at a truly historically important Jewish, yes, I dare say it again, Jewish site? The actions of these leftists wishing to prevent any proof of Jewish attachment to the land of Israel are absolutely baffling. These are the same people who will demonstrate at the drop of a hat for the rights of the make-believe “Palestinian people” but will move heaven and earth, or not move earth in this case, to prevent any historical or, and this is their worst fear, religious binding to Eretz Yisroel of the Jewish people. These are the same people who will claim in highest indignation that the lands of Judah have no connection to Jews. Where do they think the word Jew comes from if not the tribe of Judah and the lands occupied by said tribe since the end of the Exodus is beyond me.

The attempts to close down this one archeological dig at Ir David failed in the courts, yet that did not slow down the assault by the left. You simply reword your complaint and back to the courts. Eventually, this tactic will bankrupt those you are attempting to prevent and that alone will stop their abhorrent actions. So, as they were revving up for their next assault, a Minister of the Knesset saw reason and proposed a law to prevent their continued harassment. Oh the pain and suffering this must have caused in the coffee shops in central Tel Aviv. The angst, the gnashing of teeth, the foaming rage, how dare anybody use the rule of law against the masters of legal lynching. When this law passes its final reading, hopefully in the nearest possible future, expect challenge upon challenge to be brought before the Israeli High Court until this evil law, which will allow research proving that the Israelites were a real people who lived in these lands, is ruled to be the affront to sensibilities it truly must be. How can any responsible leftist allow something to continue that might upset their Arab allies and actually prove that Jewish is more than an evil title they are ashamed to be labeled with.

Get over it and try just once to understand that those religious Jews in the funny clothing are practicing their ancient and truly enlightened religion in the land of its birth, the land promised to them and, somewhat unfortunately, to you by a higher power. Another little fact you may find troubling is that the settlers are residing in their ancestral areas and Judea and Samaria were and should remain as part of historic and modern Israel and not be used to form some mythical place that’s sole purpose will be a base from which to kill you and other Jews. And, as much as it might pain you and your distaste for anything more Jewish than speaking Hebrew, the Jewish people belong to this land and the land belongs to the L-rd our G-d who has tasked us to care for His land and has instructed us that it is not to be divided up by man. Learn and live with it.

Beyond the Cusp

Is Israel Too Accepting?

The answer to the question asking if Israel is too accepting will depend entirely on the politics and side of the greater Arab Israeli conflict of the person. Those against Israel or on the extreme left or the extreme right will answer that Israel is not accepting enough. Most leftists and a fair number of centrists and those with no opinion on the Middle East affairs, if such a person exists, will take a hedging fence-sitting view of Israel that is probably about as accepting as one can expect. The remaining centrists and those on the right and supporters of Israel answer that Israel is too accepting for her own good. What is worse is that all these people are correct after you weigh the facts using their particular lens to view them. So, what are some of the facts?

The easiest fact that is most evident is that Israel will accept any person who has proof of their Jewish heritage as a citizen virtually without exception or hesitation. Where such is an obvious sign of something of which Israel is extremely acceptive, many will hold that this is a sign of Israeli exclusion. The fact that anyone who is Japanese has an easier effort to become a citizen of their original homeland of Japan, a Chinese has less difficulty returning and receiving citizenship of China, a Frenchman of France and on and on, for Israel accepting Jews is viewed by many as being racially bias and a form of Apartheid. Israel has accepted with full rights of citizenship the vast majority of Arabs who remained loyal and did not flee at the behest of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem nor take up arms against the Jewish State during the War for Independence when six Arab armies attacked with genocidal intents and demanded that every Arab leave the nascent Israel to enable the conquering armies, victory was assured for the attacking armies in their minds and most minds elsewhere at the outset, to simply murder every single person who was left behind. Many in the world will condemn Israel on this count, and in two completely different ways. The first is that claim that despite the existence of Muslim and Christian Arabs serving in the IDF, owners of businesses, full right to vote, equal rights in all matters public and private, as members of the Knesset, who hold Judgeships to include one who sat on the Israeli High Court, and having been chosen to be in the Cabinet of Prime Ministers, will claim that Muslims and Arabs are discriminated against and have no rights in Israeli society. The second group say, so what, Israel still has not accepted the now five million plus refugees and their descendants who had left or taken up arms against the Jewish State at her birth, despite that in any other country such people would be considered traitors and barred from citizenship. After the American War for Independence all those who had openly remained loyal to the British Crown either fled or were forced to leave the new country of America as they had the fact of their undesirability impressed upon them. Yet, this same action by Israel is still being debated to this day of whether or not Israel has the right to exclude those who supported by actions the destruction of the state upon its founding.

Additionally, Israel has accepted uncounted numbers of refugees from as distant places as Somalia and Darfur who have crossed great distances and most every one of them has crossed other Muslim and Arab countries, usually including Egypt, where they faced either certain death of incarceration or being returned to their country of origin which amounts to a death sentence yet have been allowed to remain in Israel. The vast majorities of these refugees are not Jewish and are in fact Muslims, yet they have found more acceptance in Israel than they would have anywhere else in the Muslim World, thus they set out intent on reaching Israel of all places. It has only recently become an issue of concern in Israel as the numbers are reaching staggering levels and the ability of such a small country to absorb so many refugees who have little in common with the existing society is creating some harsh realities and difficulties. Despite the numbers of these refugees Israel has already taken in, they are now castigated as being racist by not simply allowing these refugees to continue to immigrate illegally in untold numbers endlessly. Many of those condemning Israel do so knowing that should this influx of refugees continue it would completely change the Jewish make-up of the country and erase the Jewish culture from majority status, the exact goal they are wishing to achieve.

When it comes to aiding peoples in lands both distant and close, friendly or not so friendly, whenever there is a catastrophe, Israel is among the first nations to offer assistance. After the devastating earthquake in Haiti Israel had a field hospital replete with surgical facilities, neonatal intensive care, maternity ward, and trauma center set up as well as specially trained disaster search and rescue units within the first week, well ahead of any other country despite Haiti being half a world away. The same was true after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan months later. Israel also sponsors the Save a Child’s Heart Program out of the Wolfson Medical Center located in Holon, Israel. Through this program children from everywhere in the world including every Muslim country, though those treated from many of these countries are transported through a cooperating third country to mask where the services have been provided, where children with heart defects needing special treatments and surgeries often not available elsewhere are treated and transported free of charge. This program also includes sending Israeli children’s heart specialists to other countries to teach foreign doctors these lifesaving techniques also at no charge. Those who claim Israel is not accepting or does anything of merit tend to disregard such efforts.
I could go on but know there is little use as those who hold Israel to standards beyond that of any other country and judge Jews by a set of measures guaranteed that they will not measure up are never going to have their minds changed. This has been proven time and time again but I will only bother to mention one such instance. For those who are deeply caught in the snares of Israeli-phobia, here is verification that this is indeed a true story that actually happened. Wafa al-Biri, a 21-year-old Palestinian woman from a Gaza refugee camp survive burns over 45 percent of her body from a gas cooker which had blown up while she was making dinner. Unable to do anything for her at the hospital in Gaza, she was transferred to the Soroka Hospital in Beersheva, Israel where they found her to have infected burn wounds as the treatment she received in Gaza was poorly administered and her burns were dressed incorrectly. Upon her return for a follow-up visit to check on her progress from the skin grafts and other treatments, she carried a 20-pound bomb inside her underwear and her target was the outpatient clinic of Soroka hospital where the doctors and medical staff who saved her life worked. She was stopped at the Gaza Israel crossing and the guards determined her actions seemed irregular and she was discovered before being able to deliver and explode her devise. Please take the time to go and read the whole story at Front Page Magazine. Also, keep in mind this is simply just one such story out of many, it is just one of the most illustrative.

Beyond the Cusp

Can Any Muslim State Make a Lasting Peace with Israel?

Truth be told, the query should be, “Can any dictatorial governance as is prevalent in the Middle East and Northern Africa make a lasting peace with any other government, especially those which are not Islamic?” The immediate, knee jerk reaction is a definitive “No!” That negative response would apply to most of the countries worldwide with the sole exceptions being those governments based upon a democratic or republican form of government where the rule of law takes precedence over the rule of man. As long as the government of any country is centered and based on a human being and not upon a guiding written philosophy and that individual, possibly including a small cadre of supporters, is above the law, then no treaty with said government and the country it represents is even worth the paper it is written upon. The most recent proof comes from Egypt and the fall of Mubarak with the ensuing calls for reneging and dissolving the Camp David Accords treaty with Israel and the abrogation of Egypt’s treaties with the United States among others. Imagine if Israel had signed a treaty as well with Syria in which peaceful relations were offered in exchange for Israel returning the Golan Heights. Does anybody believe such a treaty would survive should Bashar Assad be removed from power?

In all honesty, the peace between Israel and Egypt was not truly embraced by most Egyptians and had basically been abrogated in spirit if not in principle from the beginning. The same can be said about the Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Such also applied to Hamas, Islamic Jihad, al Qaeda linked Jund Ansar Allah, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the other even lesser known terror groups emanating out of the Palestinian communities. Every group other than the Palestinian Authority claimed they were not responsible to be held to the terms of a treaty signed by the Palestinian Authority and the PLO despite the fact said treaty was signed with the understood intent of applying to the Palestinian people and thus every single one of these groups rooted in Palestinian society. Even the Palestinian Authority has enforced the terms of the Oslo Accords in only the most empty of gestures when pretending to heed the demands made of them. Despite their complete disregard for any limitation or requirement placed upon the Palestinians, every one of the myriad of terror groups and representative organizations will shrilly demand every iota of demands be enforced upon Israel, even to include those which were predicated on terms that required the Palestinians first coming in compliance in order for these terms to be applied.

The motto of those representing the Palestinians in particular and most governance in that area of the world could easily be “All applies to you and none upon me.” This is not surprising once one understands the fundamentals of Islamic thinking and the rules of the game as presented in the Koran. Where most ancient writings, especially those of philosophical or religious nature, contain ideas and rules that are contradictory of one another, the Koran appears to contain two separate sets of doctrine which are at total odds with one another. Those who study the Koran will eventually realize that it was truly written in two sections from two different times and opposite conditions. The first verses were written in the early period, referred to as the Mecca Koran, and the last set of verses, referred to as the Medina Koran. The first verses written in Mecca are very meek and full of an understanding philosophy with inclusive terminology that was very tolerant of others who were not Muslims. The Mecca portion of the Koran was in response to Mohammad not having a great following and being a very small minority who were subject to be under the rule of non-Muslims.

Later, the Medina phase of Mohammad’s life he is found to have gained a sizeable following of followers who had come from a somewhat violent section of society. Many of Mohammad’s followers were caravan raiders who made their living through raiding caravans and making off with their goods, money, and whatever they could carry. This led to a set of laws which would be suitable to support such a lifestyle and actually encourage such acts. This is where the idea that a kafir, a nonbeliever of Islam, was born. In the Medina Koran a kafir was considered a lesser person upon who scorn and misery was to be piled. The kafir had no rights or legal recourse against a true follower of Mohammad and thus was subject to murderous raids where everything they owned was legally taken and whose life was worthless to that of a true believer. The Medina Koran was written from a position of total power where Mohammed was a warlord with complete control over the immediate areas as they were under his rule. It was the writings of the second parts of the Koran, the Medina Koran, that was and is still followed by the majority of Muslims and what served Islam well during their expansion across much of Western Asia, the Middle East, Northern Africa and into both ends of Europe and is resurgent today with the intent of completing the conquest by any and all means necessary of the entire world and imposing Islam on every person.

What makes this more difficult for people to discern is the fact that the Koran is not compiled in any seemingly congruent manner. It is not chronological as is the Jewish Bible nor is it separated by authors with a feeling of chronological order as is the Christian Bible. The Koran is arranged in a manner so as to generally place the longer chapters earlier in the Koran and the shorter ones appearing towards the end. This ordering of the Sura left much room for interpretation as to which of the contradictory verses were the original and the final verse on the particular subject. This was important as the later verses were considered more accurate and thus valid and replacing the earlier verse which was presumed to have as much weight. This leaves the more strident and empowering of the followers of Islam verses as the ones to be followed and considered applicable while relenting the more passive and tolerant verses as being overturned and no longer as important. This has led to a unique and tactically advantageous use of the two virtually separate and contradictory sets of laws set forth in the Koran which is evident even today. Muslims have learned over the centuries that when they are few in number and living in lands controlled by kafir, they then follow and stress the verses of the Mecca Koran relating their position to be similar to that of Mohammad when he lived in his youth in Mecca. As the Muslims grow in numbers and strength, they begin to slowly transform from the passivity of the Mecca Koran to the more desirous Sura of the Medina Koran. When they have reached the point they are able to take over the ruling power, then the Medina Koran is used as it now is advantageous and the Mecca Koran is officially left as the Medina Koran can now be allowed to supercede with the followers of Islam in full control. Through this method, the Muslims make very polite, affable and accommodating initially as their numbers are small and their power weak. As their power and influence increases along with their numbers, then begins the slow transformation. The end game is the imposition of Sharia and the institution of Islam as the religion of the state that they now control.

This is another part of why there is no term in Islamic thought for a permanent ceasefire and end to hostilities. The dictates of Islam allow only for a Hudna which may not last more than ten years. After ten years, hostilities must be resumed and should the followers of Islam still find themselves in the weaker position, then they may, after feeling the cold realities of defeat, enter another Hudna. During the time of the Hudna, the non-Muslims are to be led to believe that it is actually a real ceasefire and a treaty of peace. Thus, the non-Muslim party is held to passivity and not allowed under Islam to reinitiate hostile actions. On the other hand, Muslims may violate the Hudna at any time should they feel they are of sufficient power to now win the battle. No warning or notice is required for the other party before the initial attack. This way, if the attack does not go well, the Muslims can reenter the state of calm under the Hudna. This will lead to the followers of Islam being allowed to attack periodically and expect there to not be any repercussions or attacks in return for their minor infringements. This is the closest one can come to having a permanent peace with those following the Islamic rules of war. As pointed out earlier, it can be translated as I can do whatever I wish and you may be allowed to simply sit there and take it.

Those who have not seen this in the so-called “cycle of violence” between Israel and the Muslims on all her borders are willfully blind. Just since January of this year the lopsided application of Islamic warfare has been evident in Israel. There have been between nine-hundred and one-thousand rocket and mortar attacks between January 1 and August 1 of this year. During this time there was a Hudna in place. Israel responded to many of these attacks though often the Israeli response was one target or maybe two following a day that had five or more attacks upon Israeli towns and cities. Israeli attacks were most often aimed and hitting weapons storages areas, rocket manufacturing shops, and either smuggling tunnels or infiltration tunnels planned to be used in further attacks upon Israelis, most often civilians. The rocket and mortar attacks from Gaza were aimed towards populated areas. Proof of the targets chosen from Gaza came when a laser guided antitank missile completely destroyed a large bright yellow school bus severely wounding the drives and murdering one teenage student who remained to be dropped off. Yet, the only attacks that seem to come to the attention of the world are those done in response by Israel. The United Nations General Assembly passes resolution upon resolution against Israel with rarely a word of condemnation for the attacks made against Israel by Palestinians. I could go on forever, but either you know these facts or you are one of the people who believe Israel and the Jews are out to rule the world and deserve whatever comes their way. This is the situation and this will remain the situation until the world wakes and seeks truth or the end is brought nigh and those who have heaped their scorn upon the Jews will need to repent and seek forgiveness.

On the Egyptian front, which is very similar to the Lebanese front, what was once peace will once again turn to violence against Israel. The problem for Egypt is that any major attack would involve a noticeable shift in troops, material, and heavy weapons across a large expanse of desert which means it will be seen coming literally from miles away. But the same will hold with one sole difference between the Egyptian border once the Muslim Brotherhood takes control in Egypt and the Lebanese border now that Hezballah has taken control of their government; terror attack, skirmishes, rockets and mortars with ambush attacks expected from both sides. Lebanon is more likely to push so far as to call for open warfare though Egypt may not have a choice as they may have to give the people they educated with pure hatred what they demand, war on the Jews for the sake of the Palestinians. That difference is one side attacking is Sunni and the other Shiite, and both will be deadly and blamed on Israel by the UN, EU, and many, many others.

Beyond the Cusp