Reality Check: Palestinian-Israeli Coexistence is a Big Lie

The Barkan Industrial Zone massacre, is just days old, and already the moral watchdogs of the Peace Process are wringing their hands, mourning it’s possible demise. “We shall not allow abominable terrorists to harm coexistence,” is the rallying cry.

President Reuven Rivlin addressing the attack said, “I’m appalled and distressed by the horrible terror attack carried out in the Barkan industrial area...This was an attack against the idea of Israelis and Palestinians coexisting, and living peacefully side by side. I call upon the Palestinian leadership to condemn this despicable terror attack...”

Against coexistence? I thought it was an attack against Jews?

Then Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, comparing the attack to the one at the Gush Etzion junction last month, said, “its unfortunate and disappointing to see a terrorist – for the second time in a short period – do damage to prosperous areas of coexistence such as the Barkan Industrial Zone and the shopping mall in Gush Etzion where Ari Fuld was murdered...The appropriate response to the murderous attack in Barkan is to continue to strengthen the joint industrial zones. We shall not allow abominable terrorists to harm coexistence.”

This is how Yedioth Ahronoth, one of Israel’s leading papers, reported, “Over 30,000 Palestinians from the West Bank have work permits for the different industrial zones in the territories or for the Israeli communities. To this day, only a few—less than ten—took advantage of the situation to carry out terror attacks (among them was the attack last month in Gush Etzion), so Israel's policy of differentiating between terrorists and the uninvolved population has proven itself, and that is also why the IDF did not impose a closure on the terrorist's village. Despite the grave attack, the IDF will seek to maintain this policy and the coexistence in the industrial zones, which aids both the Palestinian and Israeli economy.”

An example of how Israeli media obfuscates the Israeli public. Five or ten murderous attacks on Jews is five or ten too many...

While describing the IDF search for the murderer, IDF Spokesperson Brigadier General Ronen Manelis said that the terrorist had a work permit, yet he managed to enter the factory with a rifle, and that needs to be investigated. “The industrial area is a zone of coexistence where Palestinians with work permits are employed alongside Israelis. We’ll review this incident and decide how to proceed from here. Nevertheless, preserving the coexistence is one of the army’s missions,” the IDF Spokesperson went on to say.

Even settler leaders are on the “coexistence” bandwagon.

After the attack, Yossi Dagan, head of the Samarian Regional Council said, “This is a serious incident in an area which symbolizes a bridge of coexistence in the West Bank. More than 8,000 employees work in the Barkan industrial area, with half of them being Jewish and half residents of the Palestinian Authority.”

Notice the emphasis is on how “coexistence” is under threat, as endangered, as the Jews themselves...

Yet a poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR), in September 2018, asked Palestinians to choose between the two-state solution, the one-state solution, or any other third solution, 53% preferred the two-state solution, 24% preferred the one-state solution, and 14% preferred some other solution.

By a 2 to 1 margin, Palestinians want a separate state rather than live with Israelis.

When asked their preferred way out of the current status quo, to “reaching a peace agreement with Israel,” only a very small minority of 14% prefer to keep the status quo.

Clearly smashing the myth of Palestinian support for coexistence...

And, a Jerusalem Media and Communication Center survey, at the end of June 2018, found that more than 61% of Palestinians said they opposed the Oslo Accords (up from 48.3% in March, 2013).

And, that opposition always translates into support for terrorism.

The PSR study also found a large majority, 54% support “resistance” (33% armed attacks and 21% non-violent resistance), to only 39% who think that negotiation is the most effective means of establishing a Palestinian state next to the state of Israel.

Important to note, a Pew poll (Sept. 2013) of global attitudes, surveying the Muslim populations in 11
countries/territories, the only majority to support suicide bombings was found in the West Bank and Gaza. 62% of Palestinian Muslims believe that suicide bombings were often or sometimes justified (37% often, 25% sometimes). Almost double the next closest country, Lebanon with 33% support for suicide bombings.

And, even a Feb. 2014, Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs Summary, wrote themselves: “The demonization of Jews and Israelis, including by the use of antisemitic motifs; the hatred generated by this incitement is a precursor to violence and terrorism, which relies in part on the dehumanization of the target. The denial of Israel's existence and its delegitimization in any borders, in part by denying the existence of a Jewish people and its historic, religious and cultural ties to the land of Israel...encourages violence and harms prospects for peace, as a true resolution of the conflict is not possible until the Palestinians are willing to recognize Israel as the national homeland of the Jewish people.”

Nothing has changed since then. We’re all familiar with Palestinian Authority incitement, and payments to terrorists or their families. So, where exactly is the “coexistence”?

Sarah Vettori, an employee of the Alon factory, who was moderately wounded in the shooting attack, said, “I’ve worked with Arabs for many years, and I'm not afraid. Unfortunately this is not the first and not the last time something like this happens...Obviously, I'll go back to work as usual, I do not think everyone is bad…it’s just the nature of the situation we have in our country. I don’t think it will shake the coexistence we have there…We will all work together and everything will be fine…This is what I am hoping for,” she concluded.

Hope is not a strategy!

Assaf, the manager of the Alon factory, said that he is in charge of 75 Palestinian workers, with whom, he claims, he has a good relationship. “I believe in coexistence, but one [attack] destroys everything.”

It seems many in Israel are mesmerized with the idea of “coexistence” even if it is only one-sided. Only Jews seem to dream of it. In contrast to the Jews fawning for coexistence:

The Hamas terror organization welcomed the terror attack, “The Barkan shooting is a new chapter in our resistance in the West Bank...The incident has proven that the attempts of the Palestinian Authority to normalize relations with the Zionist occupier are unsuccessful...The Palestinian youth want confrontation.”

Daoud Shehab, an Islamic Jihad spokesman, described the shooting attack as reply to “Israel’s war crimes in Gaza, Jerusalem, the Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar and the damage Israel causes to the al-Aqsa mosque...We call on our people to rise up against the settlements terror until the West Bank is free from it.”

At least Hamas and Islamic Jihad are openly honest. Is anybody listening?

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that Ashraf Na’alwa, who carried out the Barkan attack, will receive payments from the PA. “The Palestinian terrorist who murdered Kim Levengrond Yehezkel & Ziv Hajbi will be paid a monthly salary for life by the PA, thus incentivizing more murderous terrorism against Israelis.”

So, Fatah and the PA are obviously against “coexistence” too...

But there are some sane voices out there. Education Minister Naftali Bennett stated: “While Israel endures terrible sadness, Hamas is handing out candies and Abbas is looking after salaries. We must stop this celebration. The State of Israel is obliged to ensure the security of its citizens. We must restore the deterrence.”

And, Minister Yuval Steinitz, responded to the attack in Barkan by saying, “This is another deadly terrorist attack...the basic reason is clear: The anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli education from kindergarten [on] for hatred against Jews, against Israelis – from kindergarten in the Palestinian Authority – at the end of the day, Abu Mazen is to be blamed, because these are the messages of his education system for kids when they are 1, 2, 3 years old.”

When one side dreams of peace and coexistence and the other side doesn’t, that’s a prescription for Asymmetrical Warfare, that’s a prescription for disaster. It lulls the Israeli public into a state of defenselessness.

Israel needs a Reality Check. Palestinian-Israeli Coexistence is a Big Lie!

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

Trump & Palestine vs. Genesis, Rashi & The Land of Israel

The G-d of Israel does have a sense of Humor. Juxtaposing Pres. Trump’s recent UN press conference where he spoke of his two-state plan, followed within ten days, by G-d’s opinion of that plan.

A few days ago, millions of Jews around Israel and the Jewish world, danced with Sefer Torahs for Simchat Torah. And, this Shabbat, all across the Jewish world, the yearly Sabbath Torah reading will begin anew with Bereshit, the beginning of the Book of Genesis.

The most basic commentary on the Torah, printed in almost all Hebrew editions, is that of Rashi – Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaki – the famous 11th century French Biblical and Talmudic commentator.

In the beginning, literally, of Genesis, Rashi asks a question, “Why does the Torah start with the story of creation? Since the Torah is a book of laws for the Jewish People, why doesn't it begin with the first law given by G-d to the Jews, the law for establishing a calendar?”

He answers, the Torah starts with the creation narrative to establish that G-d is the Master of the Universe. Then, Rashi says the most amazing thing that still resonates almost a thousand years later. Based on earlier sources and a thorough knowledge of the meaning of Judaism, Rashi says, “So that if the nations come to Israel and say, you are thieves – in Hebrew, she-kevash-tem, you conquered and occupied – the land from the nations living there, you can tell them that all the universe is G-d's, He created it and gave it to the nations, and when He decided, He took it from them and gave it to us.”

Three things have become starkly clear in our era:

First, that Rashi’s explanation of the Torah has in fact come true. Jews have returned to the Land of Israel, but the UN and many nations claim, as Rashi explained they would, that we stole the land from others, namely the so-called Palestinians.

Second, the Israeli Left uses the same Hebrew root/term – kibush, occupation – to denigrate the miraculous victory of the 1967 Six-Day War. It is the same term, “occupation”, used by most of the world in their criticism of Israeli policies in the “territories,” Judea and Samaria.

Even Ariel Sharon used it at one point to justify his withdrawal from Gaza. It is the language of self-hating Jews – those disconnected from Jewish history and tradition – and the Judeo-paths among the nations. Occupation is when you steal someone else’s land.

The Jewish People liberated parts of the Land of Israel, their Promised Homeland, in stages, first in 1948 and then in 1967 with G-d’s help. The Jewish People didn’t “steal” anything.

And finally, that the only basis for the Jewish People’s national life in their homeland is G-d’s promise as set down in the Bible; not history, not security, but G-d's promise to their forefathers. Only, being rooted in Jewish tradition will guarantee long-term survival, as it did in nearly 2,000 years of exile.

Rashi told the Jewish People, “He took it from them and gave it to us.” And, that’s what every Jewish leader should continuously broadcast on the world stage.

In a recent UN press conference Trump said:

“Well I'd love to be able to make a deal with the Israelis and the Palestinians. You know, my whole life I was told that's the toughest deal...but we're going to take care of that too. Every possible thing is tough about that. I think we're going to make a deal...”

“So at one of our many meetings today, I was with Bibi Netanyahu, a man who I have a lot of respect for. A man who's been extremely nice to me, very happy that I did the whole thing with Jerusalem and the embassy, which by the way we got open in four months...”

And, what is Trump expecting in return?

Trump continued, “...one of the reporters...asked about the one state two state, and I said I think the two state will happen, I think it's [one] way more difficult because it's a real estate deal, because you need meets and bounds and you need lots of carve outs and lots of everything. It's actually a little tougher deal, but another way it works better because you have people governing themselves and – so they asked me about that. I said well I think the two state will happen, I think we're going to go down the two state road...”

“And I'm glad I got it out and Jared, who's so involved, he loves Israel. He loves Israel. But he's also going to be very fair with the Palestinians. He understands it takes two people to be happy, two groups of people to be happy.”

Another Jewish traitor to the Land of Israel?

“Everybody’s got to be happy and that’s why it’s so tough, because there’s been so much hatred and anger for so many years, that’s what probably the number one ingredient of toughness is. But they asked me, I said I think it’s going to be a two state. And you know what I did today? By saying that, I put it out there. And if you ask most of the people in Israel, they agree with that...”

Not true, a recent study conducted by the Left-leaning Tami Steinmetz Center for Peace Research at Tel Aviv University, found only 43% of Israeli Jews support the two-state solution, a 20-year low. Even among the Israeli Jewish Left, support fell from 83% to 66%.

Trump continued, “But nobody wanted to say it. It’s a big thing to put it out, it’s a very big thing to put it out. Now bottom line, if the Israelis and the Palestinians want one state – that’s OK with me. If they want two states, that’s OK with me. I’m happy if they’re happy. I’m a facilitator, I want to see if I can get a deal done so that people don’t get killed anymore.”

“When we had – in Saudi Arabia, we had one of the great conferences in history...we had, I believe 58 Muslim countries – their leaders, the kings, the Emirs, the absolute leaders from every – there was nobody in second place, they were the leaders of the whole thing.”

“And unbeknownst to anybody else people would come up to me individual – it wasn’t a set up, they’d come up to me and say, “sir, you can’t have peace in the Middle East without peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians.” I said why, what difference – why does that matter so much?

They said, “it just is impossible to make peace in the Middle East unless you have between the Israelis..” so I heard that from...the King of Saudi Arabia whose a great guy...And then, somebody else came up and he wasn’t told, “oh go up and say it,” I know where they’re coming from.”

So, Trump is sympathetic to the Arab position?

He continued, “And I must have had 12 leaders say it, and they just said it. And I started to realize that peace between Israel and the Palestinians for the Middle East is a very important thing and we’re trying very hard to get it. I think probably two state[s] is more likely, but you know, if they do a single, if they do a double, I’m OK with it if they’re both happy. If they’re both happy, I’m OK with either. I think the two state is more likely...”

Trump thinks its going to be two states...

A true Jewish leader needs to stand up, not frightened of Trump or anyone, and declare, “The Master of the Universe took it from them and gave it to us.” The Promised Land belongs to the Jews exclusively, and not to any other nation.

Any Israeli prime minister who can't get on TV, go to the UN General Assembly, or any other meeting with world leaders and say these words, should quit, before rejecting the promises of G-d and participating in a process to help another group take over part of the Land of Israel.

As King David said, “If I forget you Jerusalem” - a term for the entire Land of Israel - “let my right hand wither” - rather than sign any false peace agreement - “let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth....” (Psalms 137: 5-6) rather than agree to foreigners taking over part of the Jewish People's homeland.

Why lie to the Palestinians? Why make them believe they are right, that Israel “stole” their land? Why participate in a peace process? Why fool them into believing that Israel will give them land and a state?

Netanyahu, should tell the world, “He took it from them and gave it to us.”

What’s most important for Israeli leaders and the world to understand is, that no matter what the Israeli government decides to do, it has no Religious Legitimacy in Judaism. No Israeli leader or government has the moral, historical, or spiritual right to take away parts of the Promised Land from the Jewish People and give it to others. It’s not theirs to do with as they please; the Land of Israel is an inheritance from G-d and it is not for one generation to decide what to do with it. It is also for all future generations of Jews. It will never be accepted by Jews steeped in their heritage and tradition, or by G-d.

“Ani Ma'amin...” I believe with complete faith in the coming of the Messiah, and even if he takes a long time to come, I believe every day, he’s coming! It is one of the thirteen principles of faith as codified by Maimonides. The Jews will get back their homeland; the Palestinians will not have a state. So why start now, so close to his coming?

The Land of Israel was promised to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their descendants, the Jews.

The Master of the Universe told them that even though their children will suffer terrible exiles – an educational and cleansing process – in the end, He would bring them home. In the 1948 War of Independence, G-d gave political sovereignty to the Jews for the first time in almost 2,000 years. In the 1967 Six-Day War, G-d returned the Holy City of Jerusalem in its entirety – including eastern Jerusalem and the Temple Mount – to the Jewish People. Hebron – Judaism’s second holiest city – with the Cave of the Patriarchs, the burial place of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and King David’s first capital city, before Jerusalem – was returned as well. Truthfully, Judea and Samaria – the so-called West Bank – is drenched in Jewish history and Jewish holy sites. That’s why it’s commonly referred to as the “Biblical Heartland”.

The Jewish People have been brought home.

Those who have built their world-view on security needs and have claimed that we cannot allow a Palestinian state to come into existence because of that, have missed the point. The Palestinians, and the world, are playing the “Peace Card”. Even if they promised up and down, that there would be a thousand years of “Peace”, how can Israel spurn G-d’s promise?

Members of the ruling Likud Party and the National Camp have for years based their claim to the “occupied territories” on historical claim, and, more importantly, have said that for security reasons, they couldn’t give them away. Rather than remind everyone of the Biblical Promise and that it’s non-negotiable.

The Israeli Left, in contrast, has argued for quite some time that control over Judea and Samaria is a security liability and not an asset. They have argued that the only true security is in “Peace” with the Arabs and not the status quo. American presidents, from Clinton to Obama, have basically said the same thing. Trump is following in their footsteps…

The Likud, the National Camp, the Yesha Council, and all those on the “Israeli Right,” who can’t bring themselves to base their claim on the Biblical Promise, have missed the point.

The Israeli Left never had it. The world, well what can we say? Except, “He took it from them and gave it to us.” There is no spiritual legitimacy to retreat from the Land of Israel. There is no spiritual legitimacy in refusing to graciously receive G-d's Promised Land, and fight to keep it. There is no spiritual legitimacy to any of these so-called “Peace” agreements, Oslo, the Roadmap, or the “Trump Plan.”

Netanyahu, tell the world the truth, “He took it from them and gave it to us!”

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

Wave Your Jewish Jedi Lightsaber For a Week

Have you picked up your Jewish Jedi Lightsaber this week?

Have you connected to the Force/HaShem/G-d, lately?

After 40 days of Teshuva/soul-searching, righting wrongs and cleaning out your shadows, culminating in a 25 Hr. fast to eliminate the dark side from yourself, you are now ready to become a Jewish Jedi Warrior.

Jew, Yehudi, Jehudi, Jedi… Get it?

When morning comes, and dawn breaks, focus that outer and inner light. Pick up your Jewish Jedi Lightsaber/Lulav & Etrog. Time to go to Jedi training school, either Beit Midrash or Beit Knesset, Yeshiva or Synagogue, to meditate/daven/pray, go deep into yourself, your soul, and connect to the Force/HaShem.

When its time to sing Songs of Praise to the Force/Hallel; pick up that Lightsaber and externalize the Light you’ve been focusing; by making a Bracha/mindful focused affirmation of intention.

Waving your Lulav/Lightsaber in six directions, back/forth/up/down/right/left (every warrior must connect with his own inner path), you create a holy space/hyper-cube, with you at the center, in Devekut/blissfully focused, cleaving to HaShem/the Force of all Good in the universe.

With all your effort, you’re now ready to do the Dance of the Jewish Jedi Warrior.

During the Hoshana Songs, the doors of the House of the Holy Scroll/the Aron HaKodesh, are opened up. Revealing the Scroll of Truth/the Holy Torah. Time to praise and connect to the Force, while marching/dancing around the central reading table. This enables you to further bring down, connect to, focus, and externalize the Light of the Force. 

His Light, becomes your light. His Light pulses through you, your Lulav, and out into the street, your neighborhood, community, and the world. And, when you leave Jedi training school for the day, you’re re-energized and re-JEW-venated to bring HaShem’s Light and Love, His Goodness, Blessing, and Joy, to all whom you meet.

Have you picked up your Jewish Jedi Lightsaber this Sukkot?

 

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) 2018/5778 Pasko

The TIPH of the Iceberg: Foreign Occupation of Israel

Foreign occupation in the Land of Israel? It conjures up visions of the Maccabean Revolt against the Syrian Greeks, the Jewish Uprising against the Romans, and the modern Hebrew Rebellion against the British. Historically, Jews don’t take kindly to foreign occupiers in their homeland.

Since 1994, I’ve been complaining about TIPH, the Temporary International Presence in Hebron, that anti-Israel/pro-Palestinian foreign occupier watchdog group, patrolling in Israel.

Temporary? Almost twenty five years is not temporary.

Enough is enough! It’s time for the Israeli government to kick them out of the City of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And, let’s not forget, that Hebron was also David’s capital city, for almost seven years, before Jerusalem. Hebron is the second holiest city in Judaism, after Jerusalem.

But, the threat of invasion from foreign troops or “observers,” continues...

Just recently, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, has spoken about sending armed UN peacekeepers as one of four proposals, for safeguarding so-called Palestinians, that live under “Israeli occupation” in Gaza. First, let me remind you, that Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005.

He also offered an alternative, “armed forces from a group of like-minded states operating under a United Nations mandate,” (from the 47 Muslim-majority states in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, for example?). It sounds a lot like a plan for an Islamic invasion of the Land of Israel, under UN/international legitimacy.

Gaza, or better, Hamastan, is occupied not by Israel, but an Islamic terrorist organization called Hamas. A parasitic group, that has fed off the misery of the Gazans since 2007.

In response to UNSG Guterres proposal, Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon said, that “the only protection the Palestinian people need is from their own leadership. The Palestinian Authority incites its people to attack Jews, and the terrorist organization Hamas uses the Gazan public as hostages and risks the lives of residents for terror,” explained Danon. “Instead of suggesting ways to protect the Palestinian people from Israel, the UN should instead hold the Palestinian leadership accountable for continually endangering its own people.”

Hamas, is a group that for over fifteen years, has indiscriminately launched rockets, mortars, and missiles, into civilian Israeli cities, towns and villages. And more recently, has flown flammable kites and exploding balloons, wantonly burning crops and starting out-of-control wildfires in Israel.

Israel has the absolute right to Jewish self-defense. If someone doesn’t like it, too bad!

We saw what happened, during the Holocaust, when Jews couldn’t defend themselves. That will never be allowed to happen again. No foreign occupier, be they so-called Palestinians, remnants of the Arab Imperialist Wars of the 7^th century, or 20^th century Arab colonial settlers in the Land of Israel, can take that right away.

So too, no UN Occupation Troops, “peacekeepers,” or TIPH “observers,” from Italy, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and Turkey, should be allowed in the Land of Israel.

Think about it for a moment, Norway, the country that brought Israel, the Oslo fiasco, euphemistically called the “peace process.” Switzerland, international banking center and beneficiary from Holocaust-era dormant Jewish bank accounts. And, Islamist Turkey, well what can be said about Islamist Turkey, rival to Iran for leadership in the region, and vociferously anti-Israel. These countries “observers” patrol, Hebron, the City of the Patriarchs?

In July, during a tour organized by the radical left-wing organization, Breaking the Silence, TIPH personnel visited the Jewish neighborhood of Tel Rumeida, in violation of the TIPH mandate. While there, a Swiss TIPH legal counsel was filmed hitting a young Jewish boy. Afterwards, Switzerland’s ambassador to Israel, Jean-Daniel Ruch, sent an “apology” to the Jewish community of Hebron. But, his letter started off by blaming the settlers, “Though this was no doubt preceded by some provocation on the side of the settlers...” he wrote.

Highhanded abuse from the foreign overlords...

Some days later, MK Shuli Moalem-Refaeli, Chairwoman of the Jewish Home Knesset faction, called on PM Netanyahu to remove TIPH from Israel, after another video was released. In the video, two TIPH “observers” can be seen, one puncturing the tires of a Jewish resident’s car in Hebron, while the second stands guard. The same Swiss “observer” who hit the child was involved.

Moalem-Refaeli said, “This is not the first time that their [TIPH] people have been documented working against the people of the Jewish community in Hebron, and who knows what other injustices were not recorded? Instead of serving as a factor that is supposed to calm the area, they are doing the opposite.” She called the extension of the group’s presence “absurd” and “pointless.”

In fact, TIPH was never meant to be neutral, but pro-Palestinian, read it’s mandate:

1. “to promote by their presence a feeling of security to the Palestinians of Hebron;

2. to help promote stability and an appropriate environment conducive to the enhancement of the well-being of the Palestinians of Hebron and their economic development;

3. to observe the enhancement of peace and prosperity among Palestinians;

4. to assist in the promotion and execution of projects initiated by the donor countries;

5. to encourage economic development and growth in Hebron;

6. to provide reports as set out in paragraph 7 [of the Agreement on the Temporary international Presence in the City of Hebron]; and

7. to coordinate its activities with the Israeli and Palestinian authorities.”

Even Karin Aggestam, who served with TIPH in the year 2000, admitted in her groundbreaking analysis, published in the Cambridge Review of International Affairs (2001), that TIPH is not expected to be neutral. Since its mandate is to monitor the welfare of the Palestinian residents of Hebron in recognition of “the existing asymmetry between Israelis and Palestinians. Israeli authorities and particularly Israeli settlers, who have never accepted TIPH’s presence, have frequently accused TIPH of having a Palestinian bias. The Palestinian civilian population often feel frustrated at TIPH’s practice of observing rather than actively intervening.”

Well, now we know with video evidence, that, that last statement is patently false, TIPH does actively intervene for the Arabs, as Jewish residents of Hebron have been complaining about for years.

The TIPH mandate was originally set-up under a left-wing Rabin government, it’s renewed every three months by agreement of the State of Israel, and first with the PLO, then later the Palestinian Authority.

But why would a right-wing Netanyahu-led government continue to extend their mandate?

It could easily be dissolved. It’s about time, enough is enough.

First came TIPH, they were called “observers,” and who protested? Then came armed UN troops, and they were called “peacekeepers.” Again silence. Finally, a Muslim-led internationally sanctioned expeditionary force came to invade the Land of Israel…

Time to fight back, before it’s too late. Say no to foreign occupation in the Land of Israel!

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) 2018/5778 Pasko

The Torah’s National Structure in the Jewish Nation-State of Israel

This week’s Torah reading is Parshat Shoftim, yet just a few weeks ago, the Jewish people observed Tisha B’Av, mourning the destruction of the first and second temples. It seems God gave us some more time to learn all the laws of the Beit HaMikdash. Seventy years after Israeli political independence, fifty years after liberating Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, and the Third Temple still hasn’t been built? That’s certainly something to mourn over. But is fasting and saying Kinot/dirges, the only thing there is to do?

The Yalkut Shimoni – a midrash – on the Book of First Samuel (106) teaches us an awesome lesson about the Churban/destruction and exile by the Romans, Rabbi Simeon Bar Menasya said, “Israel was only exiled after it rejected the following three things, Malchut Shamayim/the Kingdom of Heaven, Malchut Beit David/Kingship from the House of David, and the Beit HaMikdash/the Holy Temple.

So we learn from this, that the cause of the exile of the Jewish people, was because we took too lightly, Torah observance (God’s rule), we should have demanded a rightful Davidic descendant be appointed as king, once the Maccabees drove out the Syrian Greeks, and Jews didn’t care enough about the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.

A variant text in the Yalkut Shimoni explains from a different angle, why the Roman exile would be so long, as opposed to the limited seventy years of Babylonian exile, after the destruction of the First Temple. Rabbi Simeon Bar Menasya predicted, “In the future the following three things will be despised by Israel, the Kingdom of Heaven, David’s kingdom [the Messiah], and the building of the [Third] Temple.”

By the attitudes and behavior of most Jews today; the rampant secularization and assimilation; apathy about the Messianic concept and the Temple; Rabbi Simeon’s prediction seems to have come true.

But there is a third variant text, that gives the solution, how to end the exile. Rabbi Simeon Bar Menasya said, “Israel will not see a sign of the redemption until they repent and demand the following three things, the Kingdom of Heaven, David’s kingdom [the Messiah], and the building of the [Third] Temple.”

To remedy the situation, end exile and bring redemption, Jews must be taught to understand the value of these three things, then begin to demand them, and work to achieve them.

What does all this have to do with Parshat Shoftim? Well, actually quite a lot. This week’s reading, maps out for us, the ideal national structure, the policies of the Jewish people in the Land of Israel, that Jews should be striving for today: Malchut/Kingdom, Sanhedrin/Torah, Nevuah/Prophecy, and Kehunah/Temple.

In the parsha, we encounter the Mitzvot/commandments, to establish a Torah-based Legal System (Deut. 16:18) and recognize G-d’s prophets (Deut. 18:15) - the Kingdom of Heaven; to appoint a king, and the laws of war (Deut. 17:14-20, 20:1-20) – David’s Kingdom; and issues dealing with the Priests and Levites (Deut. 18:1) – the Temple.

So, in fact, Rabbi Simeon was telling the Jewish people, to be redeemed, we need to implement those Mitzvot/policies that will re-build the ideal national structure in the Land of Israel.

What might some of these policy goals be? They can be summarized as kingdom and war; law, righteous justice, prosperity; and spirituality.

1. Israel needs a strongly pro-Jewish government. Better yet, how about exploring a kingdom? While waiting for the Son of David to arrive (and we should be petitioning Heaven constantly), the Torah empowers the Jewish people to establish a temporary government. The Maccabees had a kingdom. Monarchy provides a type of stability that democracy doesn't. With the rise of Islamo-fascism worldwide, Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and particularly Iran, ISIS, and Hamastan threatening parts of the Land of Israel, a very strong hand must be used by Israel to defend its people and interests. Something that the current Israeli democracy seems to have trouble with. The conclusions of an earlier article of mine, “There is Only a Military Solution”, ring truer today than ever. In war, you fight to win. Its time to tell Jews the truth: the Arabs in Israel, the so-called “Palestinians”, are Amalek trying to replace us in our homeland, the Jewish Nation-State of Israel. This is total war, a zero-sum game; there will be only one winner, the Jewish people.

2. The legal system of Israel should be brought in line with the values of the Torah. Semicha/classical biblical ordination, has been recently revived. Rabbi Moshe Halberstam, a senior Rabbi on the Edah HaChareidit Rabbinical Court in Jerusalem, was the first to receive Semicha. A nascent Sanhedrin, a working Jewish Supreme Court according to Torah Law, is beginning to come into existence through the efforts of many rabbis and lay leaders. Rabbi Adin Steinzaltz, served as Nasi/President from 2004-2008. A society based on Torah Law will both free up the economy in key ways and establish healthy limits to economic activity, stressing other values beyond consumer consumption and wealth accumulation. It will encourage chesed (acts of kindness) and tzedek (righteousness and justice) through the social sector, building prosperity without hurting the poor and the weak. The final stage of ingathering the exiles will then be accomplished, bringing historical justice to the Jewish people. A just, prosperous, God-Centered Society is the goal. Pursuing spirituality will take center-stage, thus laying the foundation for the return of Prophecy and establishing Israel as a true, “Or LaGoyim/light unto the nations,” as envisioned by the prophet Isaiah.

3. We need to clean those insults to our religion, the so-called dome and mosque, off the Temple Mount. Jewish spiritual rebirth demands complete control over our holiest places in the Land of Israel. Let's think really big. It's time to build the Third Temple on the Temple Mount. There are Torah sources allowing it to be done before the Messiah comes. Building God’s House, would be the greatest Kiddush HaShem/Sanctification of His Name/expression of His Power & Rulership in this world, imaginable.

Let’s start before Rosh HaShanah, the Jewish New Year and Coronation Day for the King of the Universe!

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) 2018/5778 Pasko

Hamas’s Theater of the Absurd: “Cannibals in Gaza”

A few weeks ago, I turned on my computer, and saw the most outrageous video of the year. The ‘brave’ teenage and twenty-something Palestinian ‘revolutionaries’ in Gaza, ‘resisting the occupation’ by the border fence, throwing rocks at the IDF, then retreating behind what looks to be a boy of 4-5 years old.

Brave Palestinian revolutionaries, using little children as Human Shields.

In another scene, a small boy is seen kicking and flailing his arms trying to escape someone wearing a Red Crescent vest, who seems to be trying to put him in the line of fire. Then there’s the photo of the baby in a diaper, holding a rock. Or, the video of four guys carrying someone off in a stretcher, and after they think they’re out of camera range, stop, and the ‘wounded one’ gets off, and picks up a rock to throw.

Hamas’s latest Theater of the Absurd production: “Cannibals in Gaza,” was in full swing.

Sure, the loony Left will say, “they are training them to participate in the Palestinian Revolution.” But by what standards of humanity are they behaving? Certainly not what we thought we had evolved to by the 21^st Century.

But Hamas continued this production for weeks, using the Arabs in Gaza as cannon fodder. Since then, there has been the spurious Palestinian claim, that an eight month old baby named Lila Randur, who was brought to the scene of the riots, died from inhaling tear gas. Also, Hamas refused to allow into Gaza, Israeli trucks with medical supplies. For what purpose? To boost the body count?

About the baby, IDF Spokesperson Major-General Avihai Adre’i responded that, “testimonies collected by the IDF, undermine the credibility of the Gazan Ministry of Health’s announcement regarding the death of the baby.”

A Gazan doctor told the Associated Press, that the baby, was known to have had a preexisting medical condition, and that he did not believe her death was caused by tear gas.

But think about this. Even if it’s true that the baby died from tear gas, what kind of parents would bring an eight month old baby, deliberately to the front lines of a war zone? And, using a dead baby as a prop, or, is that propaganda weapon against Israel?

Where are all the child’s rights activists of the world? Why aren’t they crying out at the abusive behavior of the Palestinians toward their children?

Soon after the bloodiest clashes, which saw 62 Palestinians killed, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit, announced that after a joint investigation conducted by the IDF and the General Security Service, at least 24 of those killed, in the Gaza border riots, were terrorists affiliated mostly with Hamas, and a few from Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Proving the Israeli claim true, later, Hamas Politburo member Salah Bardaweil boasted, in an interview with the Palestinian Baladna news outlet, “In the last rounds of confrontations, if 62 people were martyred, 50 of them were Hamas.”

IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said in response, “This proves what so many have tried to ignore, Hamas is behind these riots, and the branding of the riots as ‘peaceful protests’ couldn’t be further from the truth.”

Then, Iranian backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad claimed, that three members of its Saraya al-Quds military wing, were killed by Israeli forces in Khan Younis. So 53 of the 62 killed by IDF sharpshooters and others, were in fact ‘fighters’ intending violence, not peaceful protesters. The production must go on, it doesn’t matter that over 2,500 ‘actors’ were injured.

One rioter, who was captured by IDF soldiers after breaching the border fence and infiltrating into Israel, told the IDF that Hamas stage-managed the border riots to stay in power.

“Hamas organized the demonstrations so that people would not ‘turn’ on them,” he claimed, explaining that the humanitarian situation in Gaza has gotten so bad that Hamas planned out the ‘March of Return’ protests to let people blow off steam, and did it in a way that would get them publicity. A few dead Palestinians, who cares.

“Hamas controls everything in the strip. Hamas sends us messages to our Facebook accounts and to our cellphones. They come to mosques handing leaflet saying to go to the fence. When there's electricity, and televisions can be turned on, all you can see is the march. People got worn down and bored, and I'm one of those people,” he said.

The detainee backed Israel's claim, that Hamas uses women and children as human shields in the riots. “They tell women to go forward. They say to the woman: Go ahead, you are a woman, and the Israeli army does not shoot at women. They tell small children: Go ahead, the army does not shoot at small children. They tell a child to go ahead and he goes, it’s a little boy. They deceive him,” he complained.

While the IDF has indeed explicitly instructed not to fire at women or children, it has dropped leaflets and in other ways, urged Palestinians to refrain from coming near the fence, saying they are putting themselves in danger by doing so.

PM Benjamin Netanyahu stressed that sometimes harming civilians is inevitable. “They’re [Hamas] pushing civilians, women, children into the line of fire with the hope of creating casualties,” Netanyahu explained. “We try to minimize casualties. They’re trying to incur casualties in order to put pressure on Israel, which is horrible.”

DM Avigdor Liberman taking part in a Gaza Division situation briefing – together with Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot and Southern Command Chief Eyal Zamir – said that, “The Hamas leadership are a bunch of cannibals, who treat their children as weapons. They have rockets, personal weapons, and another type of weapon, children and [other] people.”

“Their goal is to lift Gaza’s blockade, not to build an economy or hold talks about coexistence, but rather to smuggle weapons [into Gaza] and create a Hezbollah-type model,” he stressed.

Yet, international media coverage has overwhelmingly portrayed the Palestinian ‘narrative,’ blaming Israel, instead of reporting the truth, that Hamas produced this horror show, “Cannibals in Gaza.”

The usual obligatory responses followed this Theater of the Absurd, politicians condemning Israel for ‘overreacting,’ summoning the Israeli Ambassador, urging restraint, and then Turkey and South Africa withdrawing their ambassadors in protest. Turkey and South Africa, such bastions of peace and moderation.

One exception has been the American administration, Nikki Haley has been wonderfully truthful in the UN, pointing out that no other country in the Security Council, would have acted as restrained as Israel.

But unfortunately, people like US Senators Dianne Feinstein and Bernie Sanders, have run to accuse Israel of using excessive force. Sanders has also accused the IDF of killing innocent people. He should check his facts before he runs to condemn Israel.

Bye-the-way, unless you’re an animal rights activist, vegetarian, or PETA supporter, someone who cries out for the suffering of every little one of G-d’s creatures, don’t be a hypocrite, don't cry for them when we have to kill them, they’re terrorists, and not quite human, they’re cannibals!

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) 2018/5778 Pasko

Korban Pesach and Israel’s Redemption

The Palestinian Authority recently condemned Israel for allowing Jews to “worship” near the Davidson Complex, in the vicinity of the Temple Mount. Denouncing the Jerusalem District Court decision, to allow Temple Mount Activists to re-enact the bringing of the Korban Pesach – Passover Offering – near the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism, the Palestinian Authority called the re-enactment a “dangerous precedent.”

Also, Sheikh Ekrima Sabri, Imam of Al-Aqsa Mosque, conflating previously planned Land Day protests with the Korban Pesach ceremony said recently, “We will not recognize the court’s decision because it has no right to discuss this subject. The decision harms and provokes the faithful, especially as this Friday marks Land Day.”

Mohammad Momani, Jordanian Minister of State for Media Affairs, also condemned the Israeli decision to allow the re-enactment. Momani demanded that Israel stop all actions that offend Muslims worldwide and fuel religious conflict and extremism in the region.

Similarly, in a statement published last Pesach, Sheikh Muhammad Hussein, Palestinian Authority Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, said that if Jews ‘’...hold Pesach (Passover), religious ceremonies on the Temple Mount...and continue attacks against the Muslim and Palestinian holy sites...it will turn the entire region into a ticking time bomb and cause a religious war, who’s results cannot be fathomed.”

Basically, he threatened war if Jews tried to fulfill their religious commitments. And, Temple Mount activists did re-enact the Passover Offering, again this year, as they do every year. About 1,500 people participated, the most ever, including Rabbi Aryeh Stern, the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem as well as Yehudah Glick, a Likud MK.

In fact, every red-blooded, living, committed Jew desires the return of the Bet HaMikdash – the Holy Temple, the House of God – on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. But even before that, Korban Pesach, the Passover Offering, can be brought. There are no halachic – Jewish Law – problems, to prevent it from being carried out properly. Every year at the Passover Seder – as a reminder of Korban Pesach – we substitute the Afikoman at the end.

But we could be doing the real thing, what God commanded Jews to do in the Torah!

Quiz time: What do 1948, 1967, 1973, in fact every situation of total war where the modern State of Israel was fully committed to victory, have in common? The God of Israel gave victory to the Jewish people.

“HaShem Ish Milchama...’’ God is the Lord of War (Exodus 15:3). This was sung by the Jewish people on the seventh day of Passover, after they crossed the sea, and after the God of Israel drowned the Egyptian Army in that sea.

Why do I remind you of this? Because I find it a joke, when Arabs, Muslims, Palestinians, ISIS, Iranians, etc. regularly threaten a religious war, as if that isn’t what’s been going on already, since the beginning of Zionism, Kibbutz Galiyot – the prophesied return of the Jewish people to the Land of their forefathers, the Land of Israel – and with all of Israel’s wars.

Interestingly, there is a similarity between Korban Pesach and Israel’s redemptive process unfolding before our eyes today.

The Passover Offering, unlike all other Korbanot – offerings – can be brought even if the majority of the nation is Tamei – Ritually Impure. So too, Israel’s Redemption comes whether the Jewish People are religiously observant or not. See Talmud Sanhedrin 97b, where Rabbi Yehoshua insists that “even if Am Yisrael does not do Teshuva – repentance – they will be redeemed.” So, God has His own plan...

Whether Jews of little belief understand it or not, every stabbing, every shooting, every act of terror and war by Arabs and Muslims against Jews, is a part of a long religious war taking place. That’s how they understand it.

Well, let me tell you, there are Jews who understand this too!

AND, YOU DON’T SCARE US WITH YOUR THREATS!

“...A religious war, who’s results cannot be fathomed,” Hussein quipped. Well, we know what the results will be, just like every other war against the State of Israel, victory for the Jewish people again. See Talmud Megillah 17b, “The beginning of redemption comes through wars.”

“HaShem Ish Milchama...’’ The God of Israel is a Warrior, the Lord is his name (Exodus 15:3).

This is the same Sheikh Hussein, who declared back in August 2016, that the entire city of Jerusalem belongs to Islam and the Arabs, and must be defended against the Jews. Hussein asserted then that “each floor of the holy city, every remnant of the city, and every centimeter, attest to the fact that it is an Arab and Islamic city, whose roots lie deep in history and culture.”

So, we’re familiar with his constant rewriting of history, lies and incitement to violence. Other PA leaders from Abbas on down, have mouthed these lies also, even claiming ridiculously, to be Canaanites or Philistines. But, everyone in the world knows Jerusalem is the capital of the Jewish people, whether they like to admit it or not. America, to their credit, recently admitted it.

What prompted this outburst of the mufti last year? The mere attempt to re-enact Korban Pesach – not even the real thing – by the Temple Institute and other Temple Mount organizations, near, but not on, the Temple mount in Jerusalem.

Maybe we should be bringing the real Passover Offering on the Temple Mount, instead of just re-enacting it nearby?

As thieves and occupiers of someone else’s inheritance, the so-called Palestinians, rightfully fear the process of history unfolding in our days. Their Islamic lies, their claim of God’s rejection of the Jewish people, are regularly being proven false, by the ongoing redemptive process of Israel, taking place today.

The Korban Pesach, I might add, represents complete faith in the God of Israel and his redemptive process and total rejection of any fear of the gentile. In Egypt, sheep were worshiped, yet the Children of Israel were commanded by God, to tie up sheep in a publicly visible way, so that the Egyptians could see what was happening to their “god.” Then later to sacrifice and roast the sheep, for the first Pesach Seder, to show the complete impotence of the Egyptian god. The next day, the Jews left Egypt in broad daylight, heads held high, so that the whole world could see Israel’s redemption.

The Egyptians could do nothing to stop them.

The same is true today, of the current redemptive process taking place; the Arabs, the Muslims, Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, the EU, the UN, no one can stop it. Rewriting history, lies, terror, war or threats of war, will not stop the forward march of the Jewish people toward their destiny.
The God of Israel, wants all his creatures to live in peace, and create a world of good, but not at any cost, evil and lies must be vanquished first.

“HaShem Ish Milchama...’’ God is the Master of War (Exodus 15:3).

Happy Passover!

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) 2018/5778 Pasko