Tenth of Tevet 2018: Jerusalem is Under Siege Again!

With the news about Australia recognizing West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, has anyone noticed the irony that it came within days of the Fast of Tevet?

 

According to II Kings (25:1-4), on the 10th day of the tenth month (Tevet), in the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign, Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian king, began the siege of Jerusalem. The Tenth of Tevet is first referred to, as a fast day, in the Book of Zechariah (8:19), where it is called the “fast of the tenth month.” Jews have mourned this event for over 2,400 years.

 

Jerusalem was besieged, then later captured, and destroyed. It’s been besieged and destroyed many times since. Is the growing diplomatic recognition today of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, the historic justice, the Jewish people have been waiting for?

 

Jerusalem might be special to many throughout the world, but it’s only been the political capital of one nation, the Jewish people, since King David made it the capital city of his kingdom, over 3,000 years ago.

 

During the Israeli War of Independence in 1948, Israel’s nascent army maintained control over the western side of the city, but the eastern part fell to the Jordanians. Because Nasser of Egypt, King Hussein of Jordan, and Salah Jadid of Syria, decided to try and eliminate Israel in 1967, forcing Israel into the Six-Day-War, with Israel's victory, the eastern side of the city returned to Jewish control as well. In 1980, Israel officially annexed the eastern side of the city, in the "The Jerusalem Law."

 

Due to much diplomatic effort by the Israeli government, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced recently, “Australia recognizes West Jerusalem, the seat of the Knesset and many government institutions, as the capital of Israel.”

 

But, and this is the big but, Morrison stressed, the embassy would not move to West Jerusalem until a peace agreement was reached between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. In the mean time, he said that his government would establish an office that would deal with security and trade. Morrison added that a two-state solution is the only way to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, with “aspirations of the Palestinian people for a future state with its capital in East Jerusalem.”

 

Netanyahu has been glaringly silent, the Prime Minister’s Office issued no statement.

 

But Netanyahu is also Minister of Foreign Affairs, and through his proxy, in a tepid response, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon, posted on Twitter: “Israel views the decision of the Australian government to open the Ministry of Economic Affairs in Jerusalem as a step in the right direction.”

 

Yuval Rotem, director general of the Foreign Ministry and a former Israeli ambassador to Canberra, issued a warmer response, tweeting, “I welcome Australia’s announcement recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, reflecting the Jewish people’s historical bond to Jerusalem, and a practical approach to the future of the peace process in our region.”

 

After Morrison’s announcement, the gulf Arab Kingdom of Bahrain, expressed support for Australia's decision to recognize West Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Interestingly, last month, a senior Israeli official said that Israel is in close talks, to establish diplomatic relations with the Gulf state, as part of the growing rapprochement with moderate Arab states, including Oman.

 

This is all part of the larger strategic Sunni-American-Israeli coalition developing, against Shiite Iran.

Bahrain, I might add, is a Shiite-majority citizenry ruled by a small Sunni royal family and business class. Half of its population is foreigners. Bahraini leaders, fear Iran’s threatening presence.

 

Soon after Morrison made his announcement, the Arab League’s Assistant Secretary General for Palestine and the Occupied Arab Territories, Saeed Abu Ali, condemned Australia’s decision as a break with the international community’s position, and disregard of international law. In a statement, he said it was “blatantly biased toward the positions and policies of the Israeli occupation.”

 

In response, Bahrain’s Foreign Minister, Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, criticized the Arab League’s “irresponsible statements,” tweeting, “Australia’s position does not hamper the legitimate demands of the Palestinians, and first and foremost, East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital. It doesn’t contradict the Arab Peace Initiative.”

 

Let’s be clear, “Arab Peace Initiative,” “Palestinian capital,” “Two-State Solution,” means taking the eastern part of Jerusalem, i.e. the Old City, the Kotel/Western Wall, and Temple Mount, away from Jewish control, away from the Jewish people, putting Jerusalem under siege again.

 

But not all Israeli politicians were so subdued in their response to Australia’s announcement.

 

Minister for Regional Cooperation Tzachi Hanegbi tweeted, “Australia is a great friend of Israel and we greatly appreciate our friendship and warm relations. But there is no such thing as ‘West Jerusalem’ and ‘East Jerusalem.’ There is only Jerusalem, the eternal and undivided capital of the State of Israel.”

 

Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein said, “I am surprised by Australia’s recognition of West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and we will continue to insist on this, all of Jerusalem is our capital forever, not just part of it.”

 

Science and Technology Minister Ofir Akunis thanked Canberra, but he too added that, “all of Jerusalem has been our capital for the past 3,000 years.”

 

The PLO’s predictable response was: “The Australian government has decided to join US president Donald Trump and other governments against the implementation of the two-state solution. Jerusalem’s status remains to be discussed, in order to negotiate an agreement. East Jerusalem is an inseparable part of the occupied Palestinian territory, according to international law.”

 

Notice the PLO statement refers to “Jerusalem’s status,” not just the eastern part of the city.

 

Spokesman for the Palestinian Authority cabinet, Yusuf al-Mahmoud, said that “the Australian government’s decision to recognize western Jerusalem as the capital of Israel was a wrong step and showed an incorrect understanding of the political reality and decisions of the international institutions on Jerusalem since 1947.” al-Mahmoud called on other countries not to relocate their embassies to Jerusalem and to recognize the Arab city of Al-Quds as the natural capital of the “State of Palestine” in accordance with UN resolutions that established, “the West Bank and East Jerusalem are part of the Palestinian land occupied by Israel in 1967.” He stressed that, “any state that transfers its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem or recognizes western Jerusalem or the two parts of the city as the capital of the ‘occupying state’ violates international law, and takes a step, which is an attack against the Palestinian people and the Arab and Islamic nation.”

 

Notice, the PA spokesman accuses countries that recognize Israel’s right to “western Jerusalem,” as “an attack against the Palestinian people and the Arab and Islamic nation.”

 

Palestinian chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat added, “From the beginning, we’ve perceived the Australian government’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, as one wherein petty domestic politics steer irresponsible policies that contradict world peace and security. The policies of this Australian administration have done nothing to advance the two-state solution.” Erekat continued, “All of Jerusalem remains a final status issue for negotiations, while East Jerusalem, under international law, is an integral part of the occupied Palestinian territory.”

 

And Erekat repeats the same line, “All of Jerusalem remains a final status issue for negotiations.” Simply put, East Jerusalem is Palestinian and non-negotiable, West Jerusalem is on the chopping block, according to them.

 

Well, let me tell you something, the nearly 4,000 year old Jewish people don’t need anybody’s recognition of Jerusalem, as our capital city. God recognizes it as such. For over 3,000 years, since King David made Jerusalem his capital, it’s been the capital of the Jewish people, whether we’ve had an independent Jewish political entity – kingdom, commonwealth, state – or not. And the Western Wall, it’s been holy to Jews since the destruction of the second temple, nearly two thousand years ago.

 

Now that Jerusalem has been re-unified, Jews aren’t ready to give it up. Jerusalem has never been the capital city of any other people or sovereign entity, and Israeli Jews overwhelmingly agree that it should be kept that way.

 

I’ve been warning about this process that’s unfolding before our eyes, for a while already.

 

Remember candidate Donald Trump said, “A lot will have to do with Israel and whether or not Israel wants to make the deal – whether or not Israel’s willing to sacrifice certain things.”

 

And, in Dec. 2017, when Trump “recognized” Jerusalem, as Israel’s capital, he didn’t say “undivided capital.” Trump also said then, “Jerusalem is today, and must remain, a place where Jews pray at the Western Wall, where Christians walk the Stations of the Cross, and where Muslims worship at Al-Aqsa Mosque.”

 

Hence, preserving the status quo of the Old City and Temple Mount. A status quo that denigrates Jewish Rights. Is recognizing Israeli control, over western Jerusalem only, and intending to re-divide the city, Trump’s real plan?

 

Many Israeli politicians were enamored by Trump’s unclear recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, at the time. But I warned then, that the promised building of a new American embassy compound, by itself, in the Talpiot neighborhood of Jerusalem – on the western side of the city – does not preclude the division of Jerusalem. Giving eastern Jerusalem – liberated from Jordan in 1967 – to the Palestinians for the capital of their state, is still possible.

 

Don’t forget, Trump has still insisted, no “Jerusalem, Israel” on US Passports, of American citizens born there.

 

One think-tank analyst, John Sitilides, has suggested that Trump may be withholding putting “Jerusalem, Israel” on passports, due to his much-anticipated Mideast peace plan, rumored to be out in February 2019. “President Trump has recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, but is now emphasizing his support for a two-state solution, and is withholding on the passport issue to maximize US leverage as his diplomatic negotiating team finalizes its proposals. He has publicly stated that Israel must be more flexible now that Jerusalem has been recognized.”

 

Since America’s embassy move, the Israeli government has been discussing with some ten other countries, moving their embassies to Jerusalem, including those of Brazil, the Czech Republic, Romania, and Honduras.

 

We now see the spoiled fruit of those efforts, Australia’s Morrison, more clearly than Trump himself, enunciated support for Israeli control over West Jerusalem only. Are these the hidden thoughts, of the many countries thinking of moving their embassies to Jerusalem?

 

It’s the Tenth of Tevet, and Jerusalem is under siege again!

Ariel Natan Pasko, an independent analyst and consultant, has a Master's Degree specializing in International Relations, Political Economy & Policy Analysis. His articles appear regularly on numerous news/views and think-tank websites and in newspapers. His latest articles can also be read on his archive: The Think Tank by Ariel Natan Pasko.

(c) 2018/5779 Pasko

Ocasio-Cortez, Auntie Gringa, and Jewish Ancestry

Recently, Ocasio-Cortez speaking during a Hanukkah celebration, at the Jackson Heights Jewish Center claimed, “One of the things that we discovered about ourselves is that a very, very long time ago, generations and generations ago, my family consisted of Sephardic Jews.” Sephardic Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492, and settled in the Middle East, North Africa, Southern Europe, and later the Western Hemisphere.

 

Ocasio-Cortez explained that she was descended from Jews who fled Spain during the Spanish Inquisition, when “many people were forced to convert on the exterior to Catholicism but on the interior continued to practice their faith.” Although she has identified as Catholic, she said her understanding of her ancestry came from “doing a lot of family trees in the last couple of years.”

 

“A strong group of people, strong-willed, that were determined to continue living life as they wanted to, decided to get on a boat and leave Spain,” she continued, “Some of those people landed in Puerto Rico,” where her mother was born, her father is also Puerto Rican, although born in America.

 

Well, if Ocasio-Cortez wants to claim Jewish ancestry, she better be ready for it!

 

What did Ocasio-Cortez think would happen, when she compared Jewish Holocaust-era refugees to the Central American migrants, “the caravan,” seeking to enter America today?

She obviously never gave it much thought.

If she wants to attribute connection to the “tribe,” she should learn some of “her history,” throw off her shackles from the Galut/Exile, and identify openly with the struggle of her own people, the Jews, including their return to the ancient homeland they were forcibly exiled from, Israel.

 

Don't be an Auntie Gringa!

 

Gringo (m.) or gringa (f.), is a derogatory term, a foreigner from the perspective of Spanish and Portuguese-speaking culture. Like an Uncle Tom, it was originally used in Spain to degrade any foreign, non-native speakers of Spanish, like the Sephardic Jews of old.

 

The derogatory term “Morranos” in Spanish, literally, “pigs,” was also used to refer to Jews. Probably because of the Jewish prohibition against eating pig meat. Ironically, in Mexican cuisine today, a gringa is a flour tortilla, with al pastor pork meat and cheese, served with chilli sauce.

 

Listen, the Catholic Hispanic world hated you Alexandria, that is Jews, in the Iberian peninsula and later Hispanic New World. Stop pandering to the Hispanics, those people who inquisitioned, tortured, burnt (the last as late as 1850 in Mexico), murdered, and exiled your people.

 

Stop identifying with the oppressor.

 

Ocasio-Cortez has been outspoken, and ignorantly anti-Israel since her campaign. While Gazans were rioting, burning down Israeli crops with flaming kites, attacking Israeli security personnel along the Gaza-Israel border, and sending into Israel explodable balloons, Ocasio-Cortez running against Rep. Joseph Crowley in the primaries, condemned the deaths of a few Palestinians on the border, as a “massacre,” ignoring what was happening to “her own people.”

 

In July, she criticized the “occupation of Palestine,” but then admitted later, she was “not the expert” on the issue.

 

In the past, many Jewish converts to other faiths, like Pablo Christiani have caused the Jewish people endless suffering. So too, have descendants of converts, like Tomás de Torquemada, the first Grand Inquisitor, during the Spanish Inquisition, Karl Marx and possibly even Adolph Hitler.

The children of a Jewish father but not mother, making them non-Jews according to Jewish law, sometimes cause great problems too.

 

Take Frank Collin, a follower of George Lincoln Rockwell, and founder/leader of the National Socialist Party of America in Chicago during the 1970s. Collin’s father, Max Frank Collin, born Max Simon Cohn, was a Holocaust survivor who had changed his name from Cohen to Collin. Frank Collin’s mother was a Catholic. Frank Collin tormented Jews in the “Skokie Affair,” when his NSPA threatened to march in Skokie, IL, a town where one in six Jews were Holocaust survivors. The notoriety gained from this incident btw, led to the NSPA being spoofed later, in the 1980 film, The Blues Brothers.

 

Ocasio-Cortez, get off the fence (or is that a wall you're on), you have to decide, are you part of the problem, or part of the solution. Are you identifying with the oppressors of Jews or coming back home?

 

Don’t think you can use the, “I’m descended from Jews” line, as a shield to deflect accusations of anti-Semitism or anti-Israelism. African-American comedians and rappers, can say “nigger, nigger, nigger,” and not be accused of racism, while others would be, but you Alexandria, we really don’t know about.

 

Why not convert, observe Torah and Mitzvot (why they hated us so much), and move back to Israel, your ancestral homeland, where you can live as a free, proud, open Jewess and help in a historic project, the rebuilding of Jewish civilization. Then we’ll know for sure that you’re Jewish.

 

Alexandria, come out of the closet, and bring your menorah!

 

Ariel Natan Pasko, an independent analyst and consultant, has a Master's Degree specializing in International Relations, Political Economy & Policy Analysis. His articles appear regularly on numerous news/views and think-tank websites and in newspapers. His latest articles can also be read on his archive: The Think Tank by Ariel Natan Pasko.

(c) 2018/5779 Pasko

Ocasio-Cortez, Auntie Gringa, and Sex Trafficking in Colombia

What’s the connection between Democratic congresswoman-elect, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the recent bust of Israelis in Columbia? They are both a Shanda. Yiddish for a disgrace, a shame, a terrible embarrassment, a scandal.

About the Israelis, they were arrested for running a prostitution ring, allegedly scouting local schools and recruiting women and young girls from poor backgrounds. Under the guise of a tourist company, offering tour packages from Israel and elsewhere, to Colombia, they offered holiday packages, which included lodging, drug-fuelled private yacht tours and parties, with “sex slaves.” According to Colombian authorities, the profits made from pimping, was used to invest into businesses and real estate. Testimony from the victims, revealed that a sex worker usually received between 200 and 400 Colombian pesos ($0.06-$0.13), for “their ability to tolerate the harassment of Israeli tourists.”

Lest you think, its only Israelis, know that Columbia has become a hub for sex trafficking. Due to Venezuela’s failed socialist experiment next door, with near economic collapse and medicine shortages, more than two million Venezuelans have fled since 2015. Many are targeted by human traffickers in Colombia’s border areas, transporting Venezuelan women for example, to other countries. Police have found migrant women working in bars and spas across Latin America, including Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, and Panama.

But, its still a shame some Israelis were involved…

Recently, Ocasio-Cortez speaking during a Hanukkah celebration, at the Jackson Heights Jewish Center claimed, “One of the things that we discovered about ourselves is that a very, very long time ago, generations and generations ago, my family consisted of Sephardic Jews.” Sephardic Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492, and settled in the Middle East, North Africa, Southern Europe, and later the Western Hemisphere.

Ocasio-Cortez explained that she was descended from Jews who fled Spain during the Spanish Inquisition, when “many people were forced to convert on the exterior to Catholicism but on the interior continued to practice their faith.” Although she has identified as Catholic, she said her understanding of her ancestry came from “doing a lot of family trees in the last couple of years.”

“A strong group of people, strong-willed, that were determined to continue living life as they wanted to, decided to get on a boat and leave Spain,” she continued, “Some of those people landed in Puerto Rico,” where her mother was born, her father is also Puerto Rican, although born in America.

By-the-way if Ocasio-Cortez wants to claim Jewish ancestry, she better be ready for Jewish self-criticism!

Ocasio-Cortez is similar to the women and girls in Columbia, used as “sex slaves.” Dumb and Dumber! What did they think they were getting themselves into when foreign men were offering them money and drugs to go to “parties”? What did Ocasio-Cortez think would happen, when she compared Jewish Holocaust-era refugees to the Central American migrants, “the caravan,” seeking to enter America today?

Neither thought too much, period.

And like the Israeli traffickers, by openly admitting to Jewish ancestry, Ocasio-Cortez has brought disrepute to all Jews and Israel, because of her “self-hating,” Israel-bashing.

Like those sex “slaves,” if she wants to attribute connection to the “tribe,” she should learn some of “her history,” throw off her shackles from the Galut/Exile, and identify openly with the struggle of her own people, the Jews, including their return to the ancient homeland they were forcibly exiled from, Israel.

Stop being an Auntie Gringa!

Gringo (m.) or gringa (f.), is a derogatory term, a foreigner from the perspective of Spanish and Portuguese-speaking culture. Like an Uncle Tom, it was originally used in Spain to degrade any foreign, non-native speakers of Spanish, like the Sephardic Jews of old.

The derogatory term “Morranos” in Spanish, literally, “pigs,” was also used to refer to Jews. Probably because of the Jewish prohibition against eating pig meat. Ironically, in Mexican cuisine today, a gringa is a flour tortilla, with al pastor pork meat and cheese, served with chilli sauce.

Listen, the Catholic Hispanic world hated you Alexandria, that is Jews, in the Iberian peninsula and later Hispanic New World. Stop kissing up to the Hispanics, those people who inquisitioned, tortured, burnt (the last as late as 1850 in Mexico), murdered, and exiled your people.

Stop identifying with the oppressor, Auntie Gringa...

Ocasio-Cortez has been outspoken, and ignorantly anti-Israel since her campaign. While Gazans were rioting, burning down Israeli crops with flaming kites, attacking Israeli security personnel along the Gaza-Israel border, and sending into Israel explodable balloons, Ocasio-Cortez running against Rep. Joseph Crowley in the primaries, condemned the deaths of a few Palestinians on the border, as a “massacre,” ignoring what was happening to “her own people.” In July, she criticized the “occupation of Palestine,” but then admitted later, she was “not the expert” on the issue.

In the past, many Jewish converts to other faiths, like Pablo Christiani have caused the Jewish people endless suffering. So too, have descendants of converts, like Tomás de Torquemada, the first Grand Inquisitor, during the Spanish Inquisition, Karl Marx and possibly even Adolph Hitler.

The children of a Jewish father but not mother, making them non-Jews according to Jewish law, sometimes cause great problems too.

 

Take Frank Collin, a follower of George Lincoln Rockwell, and founder/leader of the National Socialist Party of America in Chicago during the 1970s. Collin’s father, Max Frank Collin, born Max Simon Cohn, was a Holocaust survivor who had changed his name from Cohen to Collin. Frank Collin’s mother was a Catholic. Frank Collin tormented Jews in the “Skokie Affair,” when his NSPA threatened to march in Skokie, IL, a town where one in six Jews were Holocaust survivors. The notoriety gained from this incident btw, led to the NSPA being spoofed later, in the 1980 film, The Blues Brothers.

Ocasio-Cortez, get off the fence (or is that a wall you're on), you have to decide, are you part of the problem, or part of the solution. Are you identifying with the oppressors of Jews or coming back home?

Don’t think you can use the, “I’m descended from Jews” line, as a shield to deflect accusations of anti-Semitism or anti-Israelism. African-American comedians and rappers, can say “nigger, nigger, nigger,” and not be accused of racism, while others would be, but you Alexandria, we really don’t know about.

Why not convert, observe Torah and Mitzvot (why they hated us so much), and move back to Israel, your ancestral homeland, where you can live as a free, proud, open Jewess and help in a historic project, the rebuilding of Jewish civilization. Then we’ll know for sure that you’re Jewish.

Alexandria, come out of the closet, and bring your menorah too.

Make your “ancestors” proud, complete the circle!

 

Ariel Natan Pasko, an independent analyst and consultant, has a Master's Degree specializing in International Relations, Political Economy & Policy Analysis. His articles appear regularly on numerous news/views and think-tank websites and in newspapers. His latest articles can also be read on his archive: The Think Tank by Ariel Natan Pasko.
(c) 2018/5779 Pasko

F*** The Jews, and Where was George H.W. Bush?

“Go to hell.” That’s what George W. answered a reporter, when questioned about what he planned to tell the Israelis, as he was about to leave on his 1998 Middle East trip. Was he joking? Let’s remember, W. previously had said in 1993, “heaven is open only to those who accept Jesus Christ,” while discussing his decision to become “born again,” as reported in the Houston Post at the time.

And let’s not forget W’s heavy campaigning in Michigan (home of the largest Arab-American community) before the 2000 election, his family’s oil interests, and deep ties with the Arab community in America and the Middle East. Then, there was W’s open support for a Palestinian state during his presidency, the first American president to come out of the closet on the issue.

As the saying goes, “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

So, after a cursory look at George W. Bush’s attitudes to Jews, and Israel, let’s look at his recently fallen father, George H.W. Bush, his friends and family.

Well, for starters, there’s the company H.W. kept, infamous James Baker who said, “F*** the Jews, they didn’t vote for us anyways.” James Baker was George H.W. Bush’s Secretary of State.

Why didn’t H.W. criticize Baker’s statement?

And H.W. let Baker publicly berate Israeli PM Yitzhak Shamir, “When you’re serious about peace, call us,” giving the number for the White House switchboard. Later, as a friend of the family, he acted as a political advisor to Jeb Bush, when he ran for governor in Florida.

George H.W. Bush will go down in Jewish History, disgraced, as the American president who forced Israel into a truly subservient position and endangered millions of Jews.

During the 1991 Gulf War, Shamir wanted the communication codes, so that Israeli pilots could contact their American counterparts, and avoid a friendly fire scenario. Bush refused, forcing Shamir’s hand, not to respond to Saddam Hussein’s scud missile fire on Israel. Bush sent patriot missiles, and insisted that Israel let America take care of it. That’s probably the main turning point, in the Israeli mentality, from “we fight our own wars,” to a growing sense of dependence on Uncle Sam.

As the late Rabbi Meir Kahane quipped, “Once we were people who had faith in the burning bush, and now we depend upon George Bush?”

H.W. also pushed off an Israeli $10 billion aid request for loan guarantees, to help settle the million plus Soviet Jewish refugees flooding Israel, after the fall of the Iron Curtain. He insisted Israel stop building “settlements,” and extorted from Shamir, an agreement that Israel would participate in the 1991 Madrid “peace” Conference. Which led to the Oslo Process, the Palestinian Authority, Arafat’s return, and the Death Machine, Israelis suffer with today. After a more amiable quisling was elected in Israel in 1992, Yitzhak Rabin, the loan guarantees went through.

But even George HW’s apples didn’t fall far…

The accusations against HW’s father, Sen. Prescott Bush, go well beyond dislike for Jews and discriminatory practices that were typical of New England WASP culture back then. It seems his father, was involved with Hitler’s financiers in the later 1920s and 1930s.

Prescott Bush was co-founder and a director of at a New York bank, Union Banking Corp. (UBC), where German businessmen who supported the Nazis, stashed away millions. According to documents from the US National Archives made public in 2003, Bush was still a director at the bank, when its assets were frozen under the Trading With the Enemy Act in 1942.

It seems, the UBC was not so much a “bank” at all, but a “clearing house” for the many assets and enterprises, of German industrialist Fritz Thyssen, who later admitted to his role, in helping to finance the Third Reich.

The documents also reveal that Prescott Bush worked for, and was later a partner in, Brown Brothers Harriman (BBH). By the late 1930s, both BBH, which claimed to be the world’s largest private investment bank, and UBC, had bought and shipped millions of dollars of gold, fuel, steel, coal and US treasury bonds to Nazi Germany, feeding and financing Hitler’s military build-up.

On October 20, 1942, the alien property custodian, seized the assets of the UBC, of which Prescott Bush was a director. After checking their books, further seizures were made against two affiliates, the Holland-American Trading Corporation, and the Seamless Steel Equipment Corporation. In November, the Silesian-American Company, another of Prescott Bush’s ventures, was also seized.

Bush owned an interest in the Consolidated Silesian Steel Company (CSSC), based in mineral rich Silesia on the German-Polish border. During the war, the company made use of Jewish slave labor from the concentration camps, including Auschwitz.

Two former Jewish slave laborers, at Auschwitz, brought a class action petition to The Hague, for damages against the Bush family, “From April 1944 on, the American Air Force could have destroyed the camp with air raids, as well as the railway bridges and railway lines from Hungary to Auschwitz. The murder of about 400,000 Hungarian Holocaust victims could have been prevented.”

Their argument, on January 22, 1944, Pres. Franklin Roosevelt signed an executive order, calling on the government to take all measures to rescue European Jews. The lawyers in the petition claimed, the order was ignored, because of pressure brought by a group of large American companies, including BBH, where Prescott Bush was a director. The petition went nowhere.

John Loftus, a former US Nazi war crimes prosecutor in the 70s, who is associated with the Florida Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg, said that Prescott Bush’s business dealings were similar to what other American and British businessmen were doing at the time.

They bought Nazi stocks.

“This was the mechanism by which Hitler was funded to come to power, this was the mechanism by which the Third Reich’s defense industry was re-armed, this was the mechanism by which Nazi profits were repatriated back to the American owners, this was the mechanism by which investigations into the financial laundering of the Third Reich were blunted. The UBC was a holding company for the Nazis, for Fritz Thyssen,” Loftus explained. Loftus has said that the late senator’s actions, should have been grounds for prosecution for giving aid and comfort to the enemy.

It seems that the money Prescott Bush made from all his business dealings with the Nazis, including benefiting from Jewish slave labor, helped to establish the Bush family fortune, and set up its political dynasty.

So, let’s play connect the dots.

You have George H.W. Bush’s father, Prescott, possibly a Nazi sympathizer, in the least, having accumulated a fortune working with them, financially benefiting from Jewish slave labor too. And this, even after the US enters the war against Nazi Germany. Post-war he runs for politics, gets elected senator, and can also set up his kids to run.

Then, H.W., who weakens Israel’s defense posture, by forcing dependence on America. He withholds loan guarantees to help Israel absorb the massive wave of Soviet Jews (said to be the equivalent of America absorbing France). And, he pushes Israel into the false peace process, that began at the Madrid Conference in 1991, endangering Israel.

And HW’s son, George W. Bush, who doesn’t think Jews will get an afterlife, and admits that America, Israel’s “ally,” the “even-handed broker,” wants the “peace process” to end with a Palestinian state, further endangering over six million Jews in Israel.

It seems the roots of the family tree are rotten to the core. The trunk is severely damaged with mold, and the branches and leaves, give off a terrible odor…

What a family legacy!

Ariel Natan Pasko, an independent analyst and consultant, has a Master’s Degree specializing in International Relations, Political Economy & Policy Analysis. His articles appear regularly on numerous news/views and think-tank websites and in newspapers. His latest articles can also be read on his archive: The Think Tank by Ariel Natan Pasko.
(c) 2018/5779 Pasko

Hebron, Ben-Gurion, and UNESCO

David Ben-Gurion’s 45th Yahrtzeit (the anniversary of his death) just passed. Modern Israel’s first prime minister, not only contributed to the founding of the state, but the enrichment of the Hebrew language and Israeli mentality. He coined two well known phrases, “It doesn’t matter what the goyim [nations] say, but what the Jews do,” and “Um-Shmum.”

Ben-Gurion wrote in 1970, about the Jews historical connection to Hebron, home of the patriarchs and David’s first capital before Jerusalem, and then pointed out, “…we will make a great and awful mistake if we fail to settle Hebron, neighbor and predecessor of Jerusalem, with a large Jewish settlement, constantly growing and expanding, very soon.”

Well, that resettling has occurred, and like Ben-Gurion, who said, “It doesn’t matter what the goyim say, but what the Jews do,” over 800,000 visitors annually go to Hebron-Kiryat Arba, and to the Ma’arah (Cave of the Patriarchs).

A few weeks ago, Hebron-Kiryat Arba celebrated it’s annual Shabbat Hevron. Jews came from all over, to connect to their forefathers and foremothers, their roots and the roots of the Davidic kingdom.

Over 40,000 Jews voting with their feet, went to Hebron-Kiryat Arba in Judea, including Jerusalem Affairs Minister Ze’ev Elkin and Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, who was also acting prime minister at the time, while Netanyahu spent the weekend in Europe. This more than quadrupled the Jewish population.

For more than a day, Hebron-Kiryat Arba became a city of over 50,000 strong.

The occasion was the Torah reading, Chayei Sarah (the life of Sarah). In it, we learned that the matriarch Sarah, has died in Kiryat Arba, which is Hebron (Genesis 23:2). Then, Abraham bought a burial place for his dear wife Sarah and buried her there (Genesis 23:16-20).

That place is called today, the Tomb or Cave of the Patriarchs, or Ma’arat HaMachpelah. One of the most fought over holy sites in the world, and the second holiest place in Judaism, after the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

But, why should it be fought over?

The Bible clearly tells everyone, that Abraham purchased it. The cave and surrounding field, became the Jewish homestead and family burial plot. Abraham’s purchase included the land around the cave, and we find all the patriarchs living in Hebron. Abraham and Sarah are buried there. So, too are Isaac, Rebecca, Jacob and Leah. Its well documented (Genesis 49:29-32, 50:12-13).

Who could contest it?

The “Palestinians,” and Arab/Muslim world, for one. And, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for another.

For example in 2010, a report by UNESCO, labeled Kever Rachel or Rachel’s Tomb, a mosque. Imagine that? Its clearly documented that Rachel died and was buried by Jacob “…On the road to Efrat, which is Bethlehem. Jacob set up a monument over her grave; its the tomb of Rachel’s grave until today” (Genesis 35:19-20). And, Jews have been going there to pray for millennia.

And, in October 2016, UNESCO passed a resolution denying Jewish ties to holy sites in Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount (site of two Jewish temples) and the Western Wall. The resolution referred to the area using only their Arabic names, stating their importance to Islam. Tunisia and Lebanon proposed the resolution on behalf of the Palestinian Authority and Jordan.

At the time, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon castigated UNESCO for the move, “The absurdity continues, and UNESCO has adopted yet another ridiculous decision that is completely disconnected from reality. UNESCO embarrassed itself by marching to the tune of the Palestinian pipers. All attempts to deny our heritage, distort history and disconnect the Jewish people from our capital and our homeland are doomed to fail.”

Then, in July 2017, UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee declared the old city of Hebron (where King David ruled before Jerusalem, I Kings 2:11), and the Tomb of the Patriarchs, “Palestinian” heritage sites.

In December 2017, Israel announced that it intended to withdraw from UNESCO, after the US made a similar announcement, primarily because of UNESCO’s continuous anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli behavior.

PM Netanyahu in September 2018, explained why he would not attend a UNESCO sponsored conference on anti-Semitism, “Since 2009, UNESCO has passed 71 resolutions condemning Israel and only two resolutions condemning all other countries combined. This is simply outrageous. Anti-Semitism once discriminated against and defamed the Jewish people. Today it distinguishes against and defames the Jewish state.”

Then at the beginning of October 2018, the PX Commission of the Executive Board of UNESCO, adopted the following resolution:

III. The two Palestinian sites of Al-Haram Al-Ibrahimi/Tomb of the Patriarchs in Al-Khalil/Hebron and the Bilal Ibn Rabah Mosque/Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem

13. “Reaffirms that the two concerned sites located in Al-Khalil/Hebron and in Bethlehem are an integral part of the Occupied Palestinian Territory…”

“Occupied Palestinian Territory?”

14. “Deplores the ongoing Israeli excavations, works, construction of private roads for settlers and of a Wall inside the Old City of Al-Khalil/Hebron…”

15. “Regrets the visual impact of the Wall on the site of Bilal Ibn Rabah Mosque/Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem…”

Anything Israel does do, such as new roads and walls, are security precautions, to protect Jews from ongoing Arab attacks.

The resolutions were submitted by Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar and Sudan, and approved, within minutes after the beginning of the commission’s meeting, without much discussion or debate, rubber-stamping the Palestinian’s request.

Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, responded to the resolution, saying “This is further evidence, for anyone who did not understand why the United States and Israel withdrew from UNESCO, that again proves that UNESCO is a body based on lies and biases, and is deliberately acting against us. The State of Israel will not be a member of an organization that is trying to rewrite history and willing to be manipulated by our enemies.”

Issuing a Press Release in response, in late October, The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), “…expressed concern about two resolutions recently adopted by a commission of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).”

Commissioner Gary Bauer cautioned, “At the same time, Resolution 28 describes holy sites in Hebron/al-Khalil and Bethlehem solely as ‘Palestinian sites’” And continued, “The idea that there’s a question about the Jewish historical presence in the Holy Land and specifically at these sites is unacceptable and diminishes the religious rights of the Jewish people. UNESCO has no business pronouncing on territorial sovereignty or arbitrating territorial disputes.”

The new French, Jewish, self-declared leftist, Director General of UNESCO, Audrey Azoulay, appointed in November 2017, has claimed to be trying to “reform” the organization. When she was brought in, she said she would try to eliminate the endemic culture of anti-Semitism and anti-Israelism at UNESCO. She has been working hard, to prevent the withdrawal of the US and Israel, which is to take effect at the end of 2018. But since this latest resolution was passed on her watch, she seems largely ineffectual.

If the members of UNESCO don’t know how to open up a Bible and read about Abraham’s purchase of the Ma’arah, Sarah’s burial there, and later, how it becomes the family burial tomb; If UNESCO members hate Jews and Israel so much, and want to deny their rights in the Land of Israel, then Israel doesn’t belong in UNESCO. Don’t subject Israeli diplomats to associate with a bunch of illiterates, filled with hatred and lies.

As David Ben-Gurion said,“Um-Shmum.”

In 1955, the Israeli cabinet discussed Defense Minister Ben-Gurion’s plan to take over the Gaza Strip from Egypt, because of increasing terror attacks originating from there. PM Moshe Sharett, worrying about the UN response, pointed out that if it hadn’t been for the UN resolution of 1947, the State of Israel would not have been founded. Ben-Gurion shouted, “Not at all! Only the daring of the Jews founded this country, and not some Um-Shmum resolution.”

UM is Hebrew for United Nations (HaUmot HaMeuchadot), and Shmum, is a term of belittlement. You get the point, Ben-Gurion didn’t think much of the UN. And, neither should Israel today…

At the end of December 2018, Israel’s intended withdrawal from UNESCO becomes official. Let’s hope PM Netanyahu keeps his word.

Israel quit UNESCO, make Ben-Gurion proud!

Ariel Natan Pasko, an independent analyst and consultant, has a Master’s Degree specializing in International Relations, Political Economy & Policy Analysis. His articles appear regularly on numerous news/views and think-tank websites and in newspapers. His latest articles can also be read on his archive: The Think Tank by Ariel Natan Pasko.
(c) 2018/5779 Pasko

 

Israel Quit UNESCO, Um-Shmum, Make Ben-Gurion Proud!

Bus load after bus load brought Jewish spiritual tourists into Hebron-Kiryat Arba last Friday afternoon. You could feel the electricity, this Shabbat was going to be different. A quiet excitement filled the air. Soon tents were sprouting up on the lawns between buildings, like mushrooms after a good rain. Homes were filled with guests. Schools and gymnasiums turned into makeshift hostels. Separate sleeping arrangements were set up for yeshiva guys and seminary girls, sleeping on mattresses on the floor. Cars at first filled the parking lots, then overflowed into double parking, and finally onto the sidewalks.

In the end, over 40,000 Jews voted with their feet, coming out to Hebron-Kiryat Arba in Judea, more than quadrupling the Jewish population, including Jerusalem Affairs Minister Ze’ev Elkin and Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, who was also acting prime minister, while Netanyahu spent the weekend in Europe. For more than a day, Hebron-Kiryat Arba became a city of over 50,000 strong.

What caused this vast human migration? The annual, Shabbat Hevron! Jews came to connect to their forefathers and foremothers, their roots and the roots of the Davidic kingdom.

This past Sabbath Torah reading, was Parshat Chayei Sarah (the life of Sarah). In it, we learn that the matriarch Sarah, has died in Kiryat Arba, which is Hebron (Genesis 23:2). Then, Abraham buys a burial place for his dear wife Sarah and buries her there (Genesis 23:16-20). That place is called today, the Tomb or Cave of the Patriarchs, or Ma’arat HaMachpelah. One of the most fought over holy sites in the world, and the second holiest place in Judaism, after the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

But, why should it be fought over?

The Bible clearly tells everyone, that Abraham purchased it. The cave and surrounding field, became the Jewish homestead and family burial plot. Abraham’s purchase included the land around the cave, and we find all the patriarchs living in Hebron. Abraham and Sarah are buried there. So, too are Isaac, Rebecca, Jacob and Leah. Its well documented (Genesis 49:29-32, 50:12-13).

Who could contest it?

The “Palestinians,” and Arab/Muslim world, for one. And, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for another.

“Um-Shmum,” as David Ben-Gurion said. In 1955, the Israeli cabinet discussed Defense Minister Ben-Gurion’s plan to take over the Gaza Strip from Egypt, because of increasing terror attacks originating from there. PM Moshe Sharett, worrying about the UN response, pointed out that if it hadn’t been for the UN resolution of 1947, the State of Israel would not have been founded. Ben-Gurion shouted, “Not at all! Only the daring of the Jews founded this country, and not some Um-Shmum resolution.”

UM is Hebrew for United Nations, and Shmum, is a term of belittlement. You get the point, Ben-Gurion didn’t think much of the UN. And, neither should Israel today…

There they go again, “Um-Shmum,” UNESCO, with new anti-Israel resolutions, denying Jewish rights, as usual.

For example in 2010, a report by UNESCO, labeled Kever Rachel or Rachel’s Tomb, a mosque. Imagine that? Its clearly documented that Rachel died and was buried by Jacob “...On the road to Efrat, which is Bethlehem. Jacob set up a monument over her grave; its the tomb of Rachel’s grave until today” (Genesis 35:19-20). And, Jews have been going there to pray for millennia.

And, in October 2016, UNESCO passed a resolution denying Jewish ties to holy sites in Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount (site of two Jewish temples) and the Western Wall. The resolution referred to the area using only their Arabic names, stating their importance to Islam. The resolution passed 10 to 2, with 8 abstentions. Tunisia and Lebanon proposed the resolution on behalf of the Palestinian Authority and Jordan.

At the time, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon castigated UNESCO for the move, “The absurdity continues, and UNESCO has adopted yet another ridiculous decision that is completely disconnected from reality. UNESCO embarrassed itself by marching to the tune of the Palestinian pipers. All attempts to deny our heritage, distort history and disconnect the Jewish people from our capital and our homeland are doomed to fail.”

Then, in July 2017, UNESCO's World Heritage Committee declared the old city of Hebron (where King David ruled before Jerusalem, I Kings 2:11), and the Tomb of the Patriarchs, “Palestinian” heritage sites.

In December 2017, Israel announced that it intended to withdraw from UNESCO, after the US made a similar announcement, primarily because of UNESCO’s continuous anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli behavior.

PM Netanyahu in September 2018, explained why he would not attend a UNESCO sponsored conference on anti-Semitism, “Since 2009, UNESCO has passed 71 resolutions condemning Israel and only two resolutions condemning all other countries combined. This is simply outrageous. Anti-Semitism once discriminated against and defamed the Jewish people. Today it distinguishes against and defames the Jewish state.”

Then at the beginning of October 2018, the PX Commission of the Executive Board of UNESCO, adopted the following resolution:

III. The two Palestinian sites of Al-Haram Al-Ibrahimi/Tomb of the Patriarchs in Al-Khalil/Hebron and the Bilal Ibn Rabah Mosque/Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem
13. Reaffirms that the two concerned sites located in Al-Khalil/Hebron and in Bethlehem are an integral part of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and shares the conviction affirmed by the international community that the two sites are of religious significance for Judaism, Christianity and Islam;
 
“Occupied Palestinian Territory?” Liars, its liberated Judea, tribe of Judah, belongs to Jews, get it.

14. Deplores the ongoing Israeli excavations, works, construction of private roads for settlers and of a Wall inside the Old City of Al-Khalil/Hebron which are illegal under international law and harmfully affect the authenticity and integrity of the site, and the subsequent denial of freedom of movement and freedom of access to places of worship and asks Israel, the occupying Power, to end all violations which are not in conformity with the provisions of relevant UNESCO conventions, resolutions and decisions;

15. Regrets the visual impact of the Wall on the site of Bilal Ibn Rabah Mosque/Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem as well as the strict ban on access of Palestinian Christian and Muslim worshippers to the site, and demands that the Israeli authorities restore the original character of the landscape around the site and lift the ban on access to it;

Anything Israel does do, is a security precaution, to protect Jews from ongoing Arab attacks.

The resolutions were submitted by Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar and Sudan, and were approved several minutes after the beginning of the commission’s meeting, without much discussion or debate, rubber-stamping the Palestinian’s request.

Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, responded to the resolution, saying “This is further evidence, for anyone who did not understand why the United States and Israel withdrew from UNESCO, that again proves that UNESCO is a body based on lies and biases, and is deliberately acting against us. The State of Israel will not be a member of an organization that is trying to rewrite history and willing to be manipulated by our enemies.”

Issuing a Press Release in response, in late October, The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), “...expressed concern about two resolutions recently adopted by a commission of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).”

“On October 10, 2018, the Programme and External Relations Commission of UNESCO’s Executive Board adopted Resolutions 28 and 29 concerning religious sites in the Holy Land. USCIRF appreciates the Commission’s efforts to affirm, correctly, that these sites ‘are of religious significance for Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.’ At the same time, Resolution 28 describes holy sites in Hebron/al-Khalil and Bethlehem solely as ‘Palestinian sites’.”

“Commissioner Gary Bauer cautioned, ‘The idea that there’s a question about the Jewish historical presence in the Holy Land and specifically at these sites is unacceptable and diminishes the religious rights of the Jewish people. UNESCO has no business pronouncing on territorial sovereignty or arbitrating territorial disputes.’”

The new French Jewish Leftist Director General of UNESCO, Audrey Azoulay, appointed in November 2017, has claimed to be trying to “reform” the organization. When she was brought in, she said she would try to eliminate the endemic culture of anti-Semitism and anti-Israelism at UNESCO. She has been working hard, to prevent the withdrawal of the US and Israel, which is to take effect at the end of 2018. But since this latest resolution was passed on her watch, she seems largely ineffectual.


If the members of UNESCO don’t know how to open up a Bible and read about Abraham’s purchase of the Ma’arah, Sarah’s burial there, and later, how it becomes the family burial tomb; If UNESCO members hate Jews and Israel so much, and want to deny their rights in the Land of Israel, then Israel doesn’t belong in UNESCO. Don’t subject Israeli diplomats to associate with a bunch of illiterates, filled with hatred and lies.

About Hebron, Ben-Gurion wrote in 1970, “...we will make a great and awful mistake if we fail to settle Hebron, neighbor and predecessor of Jerusalem, with a large Jewish settlement, constantly growing and expanding, very soon.” Like Ben-Gurion, the over 800,000 visitors annually to Hebron-Kiryat Arba, and to the Ma’arah, know the truth.

Israel Quit UNESCO, Um-Shmum, make Ben-Gurion proud!

Ariel Natan Pasko, an independent analyst and consultant, has a Master's Degree specializing in International Relations, Political Economy & Policy Analysis. His articles appear regularly on numerous news/views and think-tank websites and in newspapers. His latest articles can also be read on his archive: The Think Tank by Ariel Natan Pasko.
(c) 2018/5779 Pasko

Pity Yitzhak Rabin Wasn’t Israel’s Trump!

Yep, its that time of year again, when the Left, accuse more than half of Israel (the Right), for killing former PM Yitzhak Rabin. To prove my point, even centrist Yair Lapid of Yesh Atid, was booed and jeered, when he told a recent memorial rally in Tel Aviv, “not all of the right-wing killed Rabin.”

This annual charade, this orchestrated political frenzy, of remembering Rabin, has lasted about two weeks in Israel, due to the discrepancy between his Yahrtzeit (death date in the Hebrew calendar) and the day of his murder, Nov. 4th in the secular calendar.

Education Minister, Naftali Bennett blasted the Tel Aviv rally calling it a “shameful leftist protest.” In response to the crowds loud heckling of Minister of Regional Cooperation Tzachi Hanegbi’s speech at the event, Bennett wrote: “Booing against Hanegbi. The right did not kill Rabin, Yigal Amir did.”

“As a leader on the right who opposes a Palestinian state, I am tired of the annual false accusations from the left.” Bennett added, “The lesson from the extreme left, its the right's fault.”

The Left “religiously” bemoans every year, how the “Rabin Legacy” is disappearing. There might be some truth to that. According to a recent opinion poll from the Jewish People Policy Institute, only about 15 percent of Israeli Jews planned to attend memorial events dedicated to Rabin this year. The numbers continue to decline, year after year.

But why? Maybe people are tired of being berated by the Left? Maybe the Left has a distorted memory of Rabin?

But what’s not disappearing so fast, is memory of his quick wit, foul mouth, and the vitriol he threw at his opponents regularly.

Who can forget Rabin’s diatribe against citizens living on the Golan Heights, when he started “Peace” talks with Syria, “They can spin around and around like propellers...” Imagine what the situation in the north would be like today, if Israel had given away the Golan.

Or, Rabin calling suffering Israelis, hiding in bomb shelters, “Crybabies,” because they complained about coming under Hezbollah rocket fire in northern Israel, and called on the Israeli government to put an end to the missile attacks.

Earlier in his career, Rabin called the nascent Samarian town of Kedumim “a bloated fart.” And said, “Gush Emunim [the religious Zionist settlement movement]...is comparable to a cancer in the tissue of Israel’s democratic society.”

Name calling political opponents, seems to be something, Rabin and Trump both have in common.

But, that’s probably the only thing they have in common. What they don’t have in common is drinking, smoking, and womanizing. Rabin was a chain-smoker, and evidently an alcoholic too. Ezer Weizman revealed, that Rabin had suffered a collapse on the eve of the Six Day War and was temporarily relieved of his duties. Trump never touched the stuff. But he has touched a few women in his day. Whereas, Rabin seems to have been a faithful husband.

Leah Rabin and her husband certainly were like minded,“Sometimes I think, despite the fact that we are Jewish and the right is Jewish, that it would be easier to find a common language with Palestinians and Arabs,” she told an interviewer once. “Because we [the right and left in Israel] live on two different planets.” In contrast to her rebuke of the Israeli Right, after Rabin’s murder, she said she was moved by the condolences offered by PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat.

Imagine that, good “friend,” and terrorist mastermind Arafat?

And who can forget Rabin’s disgustingly coarse description, of victims of Palestinian suicide bombings, as “Korbanot L’Shalom” (sacrifices for peace), while Jews died, and the nation screamed out in pain.

“The Peace Process must go on at all costs,” could have been Rabin’s slogan.

Contrast that, with Trump’s response to the Nazi-like slaughter of 11 innocent American Jews in Pittsburgh attending Sabbath services, recently:

“I want to address the horrible shooting that took place earlier today. The hearts of all Americans are filled with grief following the monstrous killing of Jewish Americans at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. You’ve all seen it, we’ve been watching it, It’s horrible...”

“This evil anti-Semitic attack is an assault on all of us. It’s an assault on humanity. It will require all of us working together to extract the hateful poison of anti-Semitism from our world. This was an anti-Semitic attack at its worst. The scourge of anti-Semitism cannot be ignored, cannot be tolerated, and it cannot be allowed to continue. We can’t allow it to continue. It must be confronted and condemned everywhere it rears its very ugly head.”

“We must stand with our Jewish brothers and sisters to defeat anti-Semitism and vanquish, the forces of hate, that’s what it is. Through the centuries, the Jews have endured terrible persecution, and you know that, we’ve all read it, we’ve studied it. They’ve gone through a lot and those seeking their destruction, we will seek their [the anti-Semites] destruction.”

“And when you have crimes like this, whether its this one or another one, on another group, we have to bring back the death penalty, they have to pay the ultimate price. They have to pay the ultimate price, they can’t do this. They can't do this to our country, we must draw a line in the sand, and say very strongly, never again. Tonight, everyone in this arena and every citizen across the land sends our prayers to the victims and their families. And we all do.”

Quite a contrast with Rabin’s “Korbanot L’Shalom,” after Jews suffered from murderous Palestinian anti-Semitism.

The Talmud, Yoma 22b, can provide a framework to understand what’s going on, R. Huna explained: “Saul sinned once and it brought calamity upon him [he lost his kingship], David sinned twice and it did not bring evil upon him. What was the one sin of Saul? The affair with Agag [not killing the Amalekite king after capturing him in war]. What were the two sins of David? The sin against Uriah and that of taking a census, counting the people to which he was enticed.”

Both of David’s sins were considered personal, and he kept his right to the kingship, while Saul’s one sin was of a national-political nature, and therefor he lost the right to rule.

Similarly, Trump’s name calling is of a personal-attack nature, so too his other indiscretions were personal.

But, with Rabin, the name calling was meant to delegitimize vast numbers, whole sectors of the Israeli population, so that he could carry out his ill-conceived political policies. And so too today, the Left’s annual “Guilt-In,” which is meant to cower and shut-up, those who disagree with their delusional “peace” policies.

And, let’s not forget the “Rabin Legacy.” After firing on the ship, the Altelana in 1948, Rabin, commanding soldiers on the shore, ordered the fledgling IDF to open-fire on defenseless Irgunists in the water, fleeing the sinking ship, killing many.

Much Jewish blood was on his hands...

While Trump has sworn to protect Americans, beefing-up America’s defense posture and pursuing an “America First” agenda; in contrast, Rabin helped establish a Palestinian beachhead on the Israeli body politic, a terrorist mini-state in our midst, that has led to thousands of deaths.

So, Trump like King David, has had personal failings, but that didn’t cause either of them to lose leadership. With all that could be said against Trump, at least he has tried to defend America from external enemies, and protect Americans, from internal enemies as well.

That couldn’t be said of the “Rabin Legacy.”

Rabin’s sins were of a national-political nature, issues of war, peace, and the land of Israel, just like that of King Saul, and so too, like Saul, he fell. 

Pity Yitzhak Rabin didn’t put “Israel First.”

Pity Yitzhak Rabin wasn’t Israel’s Trump!

Ariel Natan Pasko, an independent analyst and consultant, has a Master's Degree specializing in International Relations, Political Economy & Policy Analysis. His articles appear regularly on numerous news/views and think-tank websites and in newspapers. His latest articles can also be read on his archive: The Think Tank by Ariel Natan Pasko.
(c) 2018/5779 Pasko

Yitzhak Rabin was Israel’s Trump, Only Worse

Yep, its that time of year again, when almost half of Israel (the Left), accuse the other half of Israel (the Right), for killing former PM Yitzhak Rabin. This annual charade, this orchestrated political frenzy lasts about two weeks, due to the usual discrepancy between his Yahrtzeit (death date in the Hebrew calendar) and the day of his murder, Nov. 4th in the secular calendar.

 

The Left religiously bemoans every year, the loss of the “Peace Process,” and how the “Rabin Legacy” is disappearing. There might be some truth to that. According to a recent opinion poll from the Jewish People Policy Institute, only about 15 percent of Israeli Jews planned to attend memorial events dedicated to Rabin.

 

But what’s not disappearing so fast, is memory of his quick wit. Who can forget Rabin’s diatribe, “They can spin around and around like propellers...”

 

Or, Rabin calling suffering Israelis hiding in bomb shelters, “Crybabies,” because they complained about coming under Hezbollah rocket fire in northern Israel, and called on the Israeli government to put an end to the missile attacks.

 

Earlier in his career, Rabin called the nascent Samarian town of Kedumim “a bloated fart.” And said, “Gush Emunim [the religious Zionist settlement movement]...is comparable to a cancer in the tissue of Israel’s democratic society.”

Rabin regularly belittled Israelis who left the country for greener pastures. He would routinely call Israeli emigrants, “nefolet she nemushot” (the fallout of weaklings).

 

And who can forget his disgustingly coarse description, of victims of suicide bombings as, “Korbanot L’Shalom” (sacrifices for peace), while the nation bled, and screamed out in pain.

 

“The Peace Process must go on at all costs,” could have been his slogan.

 

Name-calling political opponents seems to be something, Rabin and Trump both have in common.

 

Then, there’s their pursuit of the delusionary “Peace Deal,” between Israelis and Palestinians.

 

What they don’t have in common is drinking, smoking, and womanizing. Rabin was a chain-smoker, and evidently an alcoholic too. Trump never touched the stuff. But he has touched a few women in his day. Whereas, Rabin seems to have been a faithful husband.

 

Leah Rabin and her husband certainly were like minded,“Sometimes I think, despite the fact that we are Jewish and the right is Jewish, that it would be easier to find a common language with Palestinians and Arabs,” she told an interviewer once. “Because we [the right and left in Israel] live on two different planets.” In contrast to her rebuke of the Israeli Right, after Rabin’s murder, she said she was moved by the condolences offered by PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat.

The Talmud, Yoma 22b, will shed some light, R. Huna explained: “Saul sinned once and it brought calamity upon him [he lost his kingship], David sinned twice and it did not bring evil upon him. What was the one sin of Saul? The affair with Agag [not killing the Amalekite king]. What were the two sins of David? The sin against Uriah and that of counting the people to which he was enticed.”
 

Both of David’s sins were considered personal, and he kept the kingship, while Saul’s one sin was of a national-political nature, and therefor he lost the right to rule.
 

Similarly, Trump’s name calling is of a personal-attack nature, so too his other indiscretions were personal.
 

But, with Rabin, the name-calling was meant to delegitimize vast numbers, whole sectors of the Israeli population, so that he could carry out his ill-conceived political policies.
 

And, let’s not forget the “Rabin Legacy.” After firing on the ship, the Altelana in 1948, Rabin, commanding soldiers on the shore, ordered the fledgling IDF to open-fire on defenseless Irgunists in the water, fleeing the sinking ship, killing many.
 

Much Jewish blood was on his hands...
 

While Trump has sworn to protect Americans, beefing-up America’s defense posture and pursuing an “America First” agenda; Rabin helped establish a Palestinian beachhead on the Israeli body politic, a terrorist mini-state in our midst, that has led to thousands of deaths.
 

So, Trump like King David, has had personal failings, but that didn’t cause them the loss of leadership. With all that could be said against Trump, at least he tries to defend America, and protect Americans, from external enemies.
 

That couldn’t be said of the “Rabin Legacy.” Rabin’s sins were of a national-political nature, just like King Saul, and so too, like Saul, he fell. 
 

Pity Yitzhak Rabin didn’t put “Israel First.”

 

Ariel Natan Pasko, an independent analyst and consultant, has a Master's Degree specializing in International Relations, Political Economy & Policy Analysis. His articles appear regularly on numerous news/views and think-tank websites and in newspapers. His latest articles can also be read on his archive: The Think Tank by Ariel Natan Pasko.

(c) 2018/5779 Pasko