Gaza - Proportionality & hypocrisy

Israel is judged by different standards than NATO - why?

YNET

"There is always a cost to defeat an evil. It never comes free, unfortunately. But the cost of failure to defeat a great evil is far higher."

Jamie Shea, NATO spokesman, BBC News, May 31, 1999

It was in these words that the official NATO representative chose to respond to criticism regarding the numerous civilian casualties incurred by the alliance's frequent air attacks during the war in Kosovo between March and June of 1999. He insisted NATO planes bombed only "legitimate designated military targets" and if civilians had died it was because NATO had been forced into military action. Adamant that "we try to do our utmost to ensure that if there are civilians around we do not attack," Shea emphasized that "NATO does not target civilians...let's be perfectly clear about that."

However, hundreds of civilians were killed by a NATO air campaign, code named "Operation Allied Force" - which hit residential neighborhoods, old-aged sanatoriums, hospitals, open markets, columns of fleeing refugees, civilian buses and trains on bridges, and even a foreign embassy.

Exact figures are difficult to come by, but the undisputed minimum is almost 500 civilians deaths (with some estimates putting the toll as high as 1500) - including women, children and the elderly, killed about in 90 documented attacks by an alliance that included the air forces of Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Holland, Italy, Turkey, Spain, the UK, and the US. Up to 150 civilians deaths were reportedly caused by the use of cluster-bombs dropped on, or adjacent to, known civilian areas.

By contrast, the military losses inflicted by NATO on the Serbian forces during almost 80 days of aerial bombardment, unchallenged by any opposing air power, were remarkably low - with most estimates putting the figure at less than 170 killed.

Meanwhile, NATO forces suffered… no combat fatalities! This was mainly due to the decision to conduct high altitude aerial attacks which greatly reduced the danger to NATO military personnel in the air, but dramatically increased it for the Serbian (and Kosovar) civilians on the ground. Moreover, the civilian populations of the countriesparticipating on Operation Allied Force were never attacked or - even threatened - in any way by Serbian forces.

The significance of all this for Israel, beset as it is by a maelstrom criticism and censure regarding its military campaign in Gaza, should be starkly apparent. It raises three trenchant issues which it would fail to address to its great detriment:

1. The irrelevance of proportionality in military engagements
   
2. The unlimited hypocrisy of international politics
   
3. The disastrous incompetence of Israeli international diplomacy [...]

EJF invites 1/3 of world to convert /RaP&Roni

Recipients and Publicity comment to "EJF - offers enlightenment to non-Jews":

It's not just "Art Gib" because as the article tells the readers at its end: "About the Author :- Eternal Jewish Family offers information on Jewish conversion. Art Gib is a freelance writer." This Mr. Art Gib has been writing a lot of upbeat GLIB PR articles in behalf of EJF lately, as if he was promoting a new yummy super-delicious brand of Hagen-Daz ice-cream. He is more than a "freelancer" with all his stuff popping up online it surely seems that he is a well-paid and highly skilled writer on the EJF payroll (just that "freelancer" sounds a lot nicer to the gullible.)

This one takes the cake (or is it a super-dooper scoop of ice-cream that widens the eyes): "While nearly one third of the population of the world is considered Jewish or has Jewish ancestry" (SAY WHAT???) and that to his come on to the gentiles: "If you've always had questions or curiosities, or are considering conversion and want to know more, most of the time all you have to do is ask" (NOT PROSELYTIZING, RIGHT???) with the assurance that: "You'll find that anyone practicing the faith will be more than happy to answer your questions and steer you down the path to spiritual enlightenment" (LIKE WHO, WOULDN'T BE EJF WOULD IT ???)

So now EJF is inviting "nearly one third of the population of the world" (oh, they can also deny it by saying it was "Mr Gib" the shmo who wrote it) that he and EJF "consider" to be "Jewish" to join up and become Jewish with ultra-holier-than-thou conversions managed by EJF (and this, after accusing Bomzer and Rabbi Drukman of going overboard), with Rabbi Tropper running a "yeshiva" and educational programs for ove TWO BILLION people/"Jews" (the world's population is about 6 and half billion at present), that's greater than any false messianic movement in world history, with Rabbi Tropper at its epicenter as the "ultimate leader of all the halachic converts" -- you know, that should be a lot of fun (for Rabbi Tropper and his partner Tom Kaplan at least, who will have then materialized their delusional megalomaniacal dream!

No wonder Rabbi Eisenstein has walked away from Tropper and EJF because it is inconceivable that anyone in the Torah world wishes to lure over TWO BILLION gentiles into Torah true Judaism under the "auspices" of EJF.

Some things are best left for Eliyahu Hanovi and the true Mashiach to accomplish, but obviously the Tropper-Kaplan duo don't think so. Get ready for the fireworks on this one!

Roni comment to RaP's comment to post "EJF - offers enlightenment to non-Jews":

"that he and EJF "consider" to be "Jewish" to join up and become Jewish with ultra-holier-than-thou conversions managed by EJF (and this, after accusing Bomzer and Rabbi Drukman of going overboard)".

After all your treatises (while I agree that this article is misleading -even if he is not seeking converts; just making accessible for someone to ask about it- ) he does NOT bring goyim into klal yisroel; his organization does not engage in converting not intermarried couples. we do NOT have the crime of bringing goyim into klal yisroel and destroying kedushat yisroel!

Whereas RHB and some others, seek fake converts by their representatives, and deceive the Jewish people and the prospective covnerts by "converting" falsely: for without kabbalat hamitzvot the conversions is NULL AND VOID! (besides that the conversion may be invalidated due to exorbitant fees!). So ?RHB's converts are goyim and he brings goyim into klal yisroel (and at the same time fostering intermarriage) when he converts a girlfriend who wants to marry a Jew, and makes mockery of the conversion process and meaning itself by converting a shikssah so that her boss can marry her and abandon her husband and children.

Talis for a soldier

YNet reports:

כשרב גדוד 13 בגולני הגיע לבקר את החיילים הפצועים בבתי החולים, הוא נדהם לגלות כי כמעט אצל כולם מבצבצות ציציות

מתחת לחלוק. "השכפ"ץ שסידרת לנו הציל את חיינו", הודו לו. גם בפגישה עם
הלוחמים בשטח הבחין הרב הצבאי באחוזים לא רגילים מהם הלובשים ציצית חאקי
מתחת למדים. הפעם טענו החיילים: "אנחנו רוצים כבר לצאת להלחם עם החברים
שלנו, אבל בגלל השמירה הזו לא קורה כלום. המחבלים פשוט לא באים". מאוחר
יותר הבין כי מקבילו, רב גדוד 12 (במיל') שמואל קאופמן, דאג ל"שירותרום"
ספונטני ברדיו קול חי לגיוס אלפי ציציות, נוכח הביקוש הגבוה בקרב הלוחמים
לקראת הכניסה לעזה.


הרב קאופמן פנה לעיתונאי ידידיה מאיר וסיפר לו כי מאות חיילים,
דתיים וחילונים, מבקשים ממנו ציציות שיגנו עליהם בקרב. למחרת הזכיר מאיר
בתכנית הבוקר "התעוררות" כמה פעמים את מצוקת הרבנים הצבאיים, הרגילים לספק
בשגרה מספר מצומצם של ציציות לחיילים הדתיים וכעת מתקשים לעמוד בעומס,
והשאיר מספר טלפון לתורמים המעוניינים לסייע.

למחרת כבר דיווח רב הגדוד על אם שכולה שתרמה 40 ציציות, "כוח של שלושה
רכבים מרעננה" עם 500, משלוח נוסף של 700 גופיות-ציצית מירושלים, גברת עם
מבטא אמריקני שהבטיחה תרומ

.  

[...]

EJF - offers enlightenment to non-Jews

Articlearchive Art Gib writing for EJF

While nearly one third of the population of the world is considered Jewish or has Jewish ancestry, Judaism is a religion not understood very well by those who don't practice in the modern world. Sure, we know about Hanukkah and Passover, but what are the basic foundations of this worldwide faith.

If you've always had questions or curiosities, or are considering conversion and want to know more, most of the time all you have to do is ask. Here are some of the basic precepts and beliefs of Judaism.[...]

Judaism is a traditional and ancient religion that is practiced by many, but understood by few who don't share the faith. If you have questions or need further clarification on the Jewish faith or conversion, contact a support group near you or even your local Jewish community center or synagogue. You'll find that anyone practicing the faith will be more than happy to answer your questions and steer you down the path to spiritual enlightenment.

Prayer protects the heart

NYTimes reports

[...]Reducing chronic stress is another important factor. The Interheart study, which examined the effects of stress in more than 27,000 people, found that stress more than doubled the risk of heart attacks.

Dr. Joel Okner, a cardiologist in Chicago, and Jeremy Clorfene, a cardiac psychologist, the authors of “The No Bull Book on Heart Disease” (Sterling, 2009), note that getting enough sleep improves the ability to manage stress.

Practicing the relaxation response once or twice a day by breathing deeply and rhythmically in a quiet place with eyes closed and muscles relaxed can help cool the hottest blood. Other techniques Dr. Ozner recommends include meditation, prayer, yoga, self-hypnosis, laughter, taking a midday nap, getting a dog or cat, taking up a hobby and exercising regularly.[...]

Jewish spirituality - the secret weapon

JPost writes:

Two soldiers made their way through the winding streets of Gaza City, carefully watching for booby traps. Their objective was to hunt down Hamas terrorists and locate caches of Kassam and Grad rockets and other arms.

As they deliberated whether to turn left or right at an intersection, a woman dressed from head to foot in black appeared from out of nowhere.

"Go this way," she said, pointing to the right. For some reason, the two soldiers listened to her.

After proceeding for a few seconds, the pair heard a large explosion behind them, in the direction they had almost taken. A rigged house blew up, destroying everything in the vicinity.

The two soldiers asked the woman dressed in black who she was.

"I am the Matriarch Rachel," she said, referring to the beloved wife of Jacob.

This story, whether true or not, is being circulated in religious circles - via Internet forums, SMS, e-mail and word of mouth - and is fast becoming an urban legend.

There is a tendency among the faithful to introduce metaphysical dimensions to the fighting in Gaza. Two-and-a-half weeks into Operation Cast Lead, religious faith has been integral to many soldiers' morale.

"We are being swamped with demands, from religious and secular, kibbutzniks and yeshiva students, Sephardim and Ashkenazim," for the names of soldiers to pray for, said Rabbanit Grossman, director of the Jewish Information Center in the capital's Mea She'arim neighborhood. The haredi organization has created a special "prayer hotline" for
soldiers.

The initiative, backed by the Bostoner rebbe, Rabbi Levi Yitzhak Horovitz, and Rehovot Chief Rabbi Simcha Hakohen Kook, pairs a soldier involved in the Gaza fighting with a supplicant who prays for that soldier's health and welfare.

Only soldiers who are interested in the service - or whose family members or friends are interested - are being singled out for this special spiritual protection from Hamas terrorists.

Thousands, Grossman said, have contacted the Jewish Information Center, which has publicized the service via word-of-mouth and e-mail.

People from all walks of the religious community, from the religious-Zionist Bnei Akiva to the anti-Zionist Eda Hahareidit, have volunteered to pray for the soldiers, said Grossman.

"Our prayer-sayers include yeshiva students at the Mir, Kol Torah, Ponevezh and Hebron, residents of Mea She'arim, students at Beit Ya'acov seminaries as well as national-religious yeshiva high schools and ulpanot," said Grossman, who preferred not to give her first name because "good deeds are best left hidden."

"Soldiers from all walks of life and from a variety of backgrounds, both religious and secular, have asked that we pray for them," she said.

"Just the other day an entire battalion of soldiers, just about to enter Gaza, gave us all of their names. They passed the phone from one to the other, secular and religious - not one of them refused.[...]

Arabs & Jew Hatred (anti-Semitism)

Wall Street Journal - Referred by Jersey Girl

[...]  Jews around Europe are increasingly under attack since Israel decided two weeks ago to defend itself after years of rocket fire at its civilian population. There have been arson attempts on synagogues in Britain, Belgium and Germany. Police last week arrested Muslim protesters who wanted to enter the Jewish quarter in Antwerp. Several Danish schools with large Muslim student bodies say they won't enroll Jewish kids because they can't guarantee the children's safety. In France, a group of teenagers attacked a 14-year-old girl last week, calling her "dirty Jew" while kicking her.

At rallies in Germany and the Netherlands over the past two weeks, protesters shouted, "Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the Gas." In Amsterdam,Socialist lawmaker Harry van Bommel and Greta Duisenberg, widow of the first European Central Bank president, marched at the front of one such "peace" demonstration. They didn't join in the background chorus calling for another Holocaust. Instead, they chanted, "Intifada, Intifada, Free Palestine." Mr. Van Bommel later insisted this wasn't a call for Jewish blood but for "civil disobedience" -- a laughable defense given that terrorists during the last intifada murdered more than 1,000 Israelis.

Most of the anti-Jewish violence and protests in Europe come from immigrants. In what may have been a Freudian recognition of the changing face of Europe, CNN two weeks ago used footage of anti-Israeli protesters in London in a report about the growing anger in the "Arab and Muslim world." The mythical Arab Street now reaches deep into Paris, London, Berlin and Madrid.

After a burning car was rammed into a gate outside a synagogue in Toulouse last week, President Nicolas Sarkozy issued a statement that was as morally confused as his judgment of Israel's Gaza offensive. Mr. Sarkozy, who condemned both Hamas terror and Israel's attempt to stop it, also blurred the distinction between the victims and perpetrators of anti-Semitism in. [...]

Ramban - Love neighbor as yourself

I am having difficulty understanding the Ramban's commentary to Vayirka (19:18). He starts out saying that the commandment cannot be understood literally because the heart can not love another as oneself. Then he concludes by saying that this commandment is to remove the jealousy from your heart so that there is no limitation on the love you have for another person. This seems to be a direct contradiction.

Vayikra (19:18): [R' Chavel's translation]. AND THOU SHALT LOVE THY NEIGHBOR AS THYSELF. This is an expression by way of overstatement, for a human heart is not able to accept a command to love one’s neighbor as oneself. Moreover, Rabbi Akiba has already come and taught, 86 “Your life takes precedence over the life of your fellow-being.” Rather, the commandment of the Torah means that one is to love one’s fellow being in all matters, as one loves all good for oneself. 87 It is possible that since it does not say “and thou shalt love ‘eth rei’acha’ 88 as thyself,” but instead it likened them in the word ‘l’rei’acha ‘ [which literally means “to” thy neighbor], and similarly it states with reference to a proselyte, and thou shalt love ‘10’ (him) [but literally: “to” him] as thyself; 89 that the meaning thereof is to equate the love of both [himself and his neighbor, or himself and the proselyte] in his mind. For sometimes a person will love his neighhbor in certain matters, such as doing good to him in material wealth but not with wisdom and similar matters. But if he loves him completely, he will want his beloved friend to gain riches, properties, honor, knowledge and wisdom. However [because of human nature] he will still not want him to be his equal, for there will always be a desire in his heart that he should have more of these good thIngs than his neIghbor. Therefore Scripture commanded that this degrading jealousy should not exist in his heart, but instead a person should love to do abundance of good for his fellow-being as he does for himself, and he should place no limitations upon his love for him. It is for this reason that it is said of Jonathan’s [love for David] “for he loved him as he loved his own soul” 90 because Jonathan had removed [altogether] the attribute of jealousy from his heart, and he said [to David], and thou shalt be king over Israel 91 etc.

רמב"ן (ויקרא יט:יז) וטעם ואהבת לרעך כמוך - הפלגה, כי לא יקבל לב האדם שיאהוב את חבירו כאהבתו את נפשו, ועוד שכבר בא רבי עקיבא ולמד חייך קודמין לחיי חבירך (ב"מ סב א): אלא מצות התורה שיאהב חבירו בכל ענין כאשר יאהב את נפשו בכל הטוב. ויתכן בעבור שלא אמר "ואהבת את רעך כמוך", והשוה אותם במלת "לרעך", וכן ואהבת לו כמוך (פסוק לד) דגר, שיהיה פירושו להשוות אהבת שניהם בדעתו, כי פעמים שיאהב אדם את רעהו בדברים ידועים להטיבו בעושר ולא בחכמה וכיוצא בזה, ואם יהיה אוהבו בכל יחפוץ שיזכה רעהו האהוב לו בעושר ובנכסים וכבוד ובדעת ובחכמה, ולא שישוה אליו אבל יהיה חפץ בלבו לעולם שיהיה הוא יותר ממנו בכל טובה, ויצוה הכתוב שלא תהיה פחיתות הקנאה הזאת בלבו, אבל יאהב ברבות הטובה לחבירו כאשר אדם עושה לנפשו ולא יתן שיעורין באהבה. ועל כן אמר ביהונתן (ש"א כ יז) כי אהבת נפשו אהבו, בעבור שהסיר מדת הקנאה מלבו ואמר (שם כג יז) ואתה תמלוך על ישראל וגו':

Hamas - religious not national struggle

The Times [See also Wall Street Journal referred by Jersey Girl]

The conflict in Gaza has been triggered by Israel's belief that the status quo has become intolerable and should be overturned.

There are several reasons why Israel felt it could not live with the situation in Gaza. The most immediate is the rocket attacks by Hamas that have made life for nearly a tenth of Israelis an exercise in anxiety. Also a factor is that Hamas, since it staged its putsch two years ago, has closed Gaza to all Palestinian groups that have accepted a two-state solution. This makes it impossible for Israel and the administration of President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) in the West Bank to restart negotiations that could lead to the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

More importantly, perhaps, Hamas has forged an alliance with Iran based on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's strategy of “wiping Israel off the map”. Tehran's investment in Hamas is large enough to have given it a decisive say in shaping the group's strategy. Israelis see Hamas as one of the two arms of a pincer, along with Iranian-funded Hezbollah in Lebanon, that Tehran is building against them.

Thus, Israel's war aims are clear: end the rocket attacks, reopen Gaza to other Palestinian parties and eliminate the Iranian presence. This means creating a new status quo in which Hamas is not the dominant party in Gaza.

Some commentators have claimed that the cause of the current war is Israel's occupation. But Gaza - until last weekend - was the one bit of Arab territory nominally under Israeli occupation that was free of Israeli settlers and troops. Yet, most of Israel's troubles, in the form of rocket attacks and suicide operations, came from Gaza. At the other end of the spectrum, the Golan Heights, under Israeli occupation since 1967, have been as quiet as a churchyard despite the presence of large numbers of Israeli settlers and troops.

Hamas, as its charter and political literature make clear, does not want an end to Israeli occupation. It wants the end of Israel. That is because Hamas is part of a pan-Islamist movement with global messianic ambitions. Creating a Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank is not its aim. A branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas dreams of world dominion for its version of Islam rather than a mini-state in 5,000 square kilometres of barren land in a geopolitical backyard.[...]

Gaza - Who is winning?

Time Magazine:

[...] For in the end, the only thing that is certain is that every symbol of Hamas' rule in Gaza, every government building, police station, and office block has been replaced by a very large hole. It will take years for Hamas to re-build Gaza's infrastructure and to offer basic services to the war-dazed 1.5 million Palestinians inside the sealed-off territory.

R' Bomzer censured by Vaad for Conversion