Two Highlights and "The News"

First some highlights from yesterday. After going in to the office for a few hours yesterday, I found myself in J'lem late afternoon to wait for Andy for an event later that evening (see below). At about 6pm, I realized that I still had to daven Mincha and I asked in a Falafel store on King George if the guy knew of any minyan in the immediate area. He sent me over to Agripas saying that he was sure there would be one in the vicinity, but he did not know exactly where. At the first little hole-in-the-wall store that I saw which was selling Tefillin, Mezuzot, etc, I stopped in and asked him as well. He asked me what time it was, and I told him 6:10pm. He told me to come back in 20 minutes as there is a minyan for Mincha IN HIS STORE at 6:30. Sure enough, at 6:30pm, about 20 people came pouring in to this 3 square meter shop with many of us (myself included) standing outside on Agripas to daven. It was so interesting to watch that as we began, people would walk by and say "Hey, a minyan for Mincha!," and they would run over and join in. I found that little incident so great...



The "event" that evening was a הרמת כוסית (a toast) held a the office of the mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat. Andy and I joined about 100 others who made Aliya in the past few months (to the Greater Jerusalem area) for this evening. We began by standing on the balcony on top of the building affording us a 360 degree view of the city....make that THE city. The song Yerushalayim shel Zahav went through my mind as, in my mind's eye, I watched soldiers capturing the Old City in June 1967. It was a most magnificent view of a most magnificent city! The event was sponsored by Nefesh B'nefesh and was well attended. They mentioned last night that this summer alone 3000 people made Aliya! Yasher Koach!!



And now for the news...



I am sitting with a copy of today's and yesterday's Jerusalem Post sitting next to me. Below I present to you a list of headlines exactly as they are printed with my providing only a little commentary afterwards:

* 500 Palestinian damage suits filed against Israel since 2000

* Saudis won't engage Israel until it ends occupation

* London anti-Israel rally moved following threats by far-right wing group

* Anti-semitic attacks hit Argentina and Russia

* Bin Laden says 9/11 was in retaliation for US support of Israel

* "You should have buried me" tearful Rona Ramon tells her son at funeral

* UN probe alleged Israeli crimes against humanity in Gaza

* UN report cites Israel's "deliberate and intentional" war crimes in Gaza

* IDF accused of unjustifiably killing civilians in Gaza offensive

* "No light at end of tunnel" says family of Schalit

* 3 UK Moslems jailed for liquid bomb threat

As far as the summary of the "key findings" of this report about Israel in Gaza, allow me to summarize THAT summary:

Israel must do anything in its power to put itself in a position of existential suicide; they must retreat to the borders they held while enslaved in Egypt; they must take responsibility for any death within 10,000 miles of their borders; they must allow all muderers to be freed from any jail; Israel should allow Palestinians free access to all areas of Israel (while providing that any Israeli that goes into Palestinian land will be arrested and dealt with in a most severe way.)

The Palestinians on the other hand must promise to not put too much starch in their laundry and not to jaywalk. THAT will surely bring peace to the region.



Now, if you think I am exaggerating this a little, open up any legitimate newspaper and look for a summary of the recommendations of this so-called committee of the UN. Notice the "one extreme to another" treatment of Jews vs Palestinians. Tell you what...I will save you the time of looking it up. Here is a link to the Jerusalem Post where the "Key Recommendations" are listed:
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1251804580149&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

As I mentioned once before in Chicago...it was the proper title to give to this body politic overlooking the East River...the United Nations. It is proper, both in terms of the NAME and in terms of the abbrevation, the UN. They are indeed UNITED...united to be a force against the State of Israel. Rockets fall on Sderot and Israel is a war criminal. People are beheaded in Saudi Arabia and Israel is the war criminal. Women are murdered in Arab countries in so-called honor killings and Israel is the war criminal; Palestinians who aid Israel are taken out to a public square and hanged and Israel is the war criminal. Yes, they are indeed United against us.
And the abbrevation? The "UN." If you look up the prefix of the two letters "un-" you get the following definition: a prefix meaning “not,” freely used as an English formative, giving negative or opposite force in adjectives and their derivative adverbs and nouns. How fitting for the UN...they are UN-fair, UN-reliable, UN-bending, UN-ceasing in their campaign against Israel, UN-abashed, and the list goes on and on!

So, that is the report from Israel for today. I need to go back to my "occupied" home in the "settlement" of Maale Adumim and get to work. Hmmm....a "settlement." I did not realize that a city the size of Maale Adumim (33,000+ bli ayin hara) and having all of the facilities and services that we have, qualifies as a "settlement." Did you ever notice that the media NEVER refers to ANY Arab village as a settlement!?!?!?