PALESTINIAN HATRED AND INCITEMENT ARE THE REAL OBSTACLES TO PEACE.

PALESTINIAN HATRED AND INCITEMENT ARE THE REAL OBSTACLES TO PEACE, by Barry Shaw.

Thank goodness we have Itamar Marcus and Palestine Media Watch standing vigil over the constant pronouncements within Palestinian society that are conditioning their people for a future of hate and violence.

The exposure of everything that is being spoken, printed, shown on their TV screens, preached in their mosques, educated in their schools, promoted in their civil, cultural, and sporting events, dedicated in their official ceremonies, consecrated in their new street and squares, point to one thing. They are for confrontation and violence and against peace with Israel.

Everything emanating from the Palestinian society, from their Fatah-led Authority to Hamas displays a clear case of incitement and anti-Semitism against the Jewish state.

Incitement against the Jewish people is not new. Nazi incitement was a tactic employed as a step towards their Final Solution. Palestinian incitement, and their delegitimisation campaigns, are tactics towards the ultimate elimination of the Jewish state.

In one recent Fatah celebration marking their anniversary their message was that Palestinian children are created so that their blood will be “fertilizer” to saturate the land. So much for Palestinian Authority moderation!

Incitement is rampant within the Palestinian Authority. It conditions their people from children to adults to hate and kill Jews. The Palestinian Authority Mufti of Jerusalem, Muhammed Hussein, gave a speech at another Fatah event. It was broadcast on the official Palestinian TV. He said, “Kill the Jews!” Quoting from a notorious Hadith that is Article 7 of the Hamas Charter, this Fatah imam publicly declared

“The time will not come until the Muslims will fight the Jews and kill them, until the Jews hide behind the rocks and trees which will cry out ‘Oh Muslim, there is a Jew hiding behind me. Come and kill him!”

Most world governments were silent in the face of the Palestinian Mufti’s call to kill Jews. What, I wonder, has been the response of Muslim and Christian leaders in the interfaith world? Well, nothing actually. At least, I haven’t heard of any protests. Their silence has been significant. Interfaith has been increasingly used as a tool to progress the Islamic agenda onto the non-believers who have become appeasers to their cause. Instead of facing down Islamic anti-Semitism, the lay leaders lie down in supine supplication to the powerful religion of Islam.

We witness a total lack of concern to the anti-Semitic incitement to kill Jews coming from Palestinian religious leaders to the Ayatollahs in Iran, the religious head of Hizbollah in Beirut to  the spoutings of Qaradawi, the omnipotent Islamic spiritual leader to those that are electing the Muslim Brotherhood throughout the crescent of the Islamic Winter.

Back in history, Haj Amin al-Husseini, the self appointed Grand Mufti of Jerusalem met Hitler, and created the Muslim militia in advance of imposing the Jewish genocide in the Holy Land with the help of Nazi Germany. The very day that Hitler came to power the Mufti proposed to the German Consul in Jerusalem that they “join in a treaty against the Jews.”  

Today, the official Palestinian Authority newspaper, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, and the official Palestinian TV channel print and air the infamous Hadith calling for Jewish annihilation. They refer to Jews as “pigs and apes.” The elimination of the Jews still ranks high in Palestinian ambitions.

Building a house in Gilo, or extending a bedroom in Ariel, causes great international condemnation. Building Palestinian streets and squares, named in honour of terrorists and suicide bombers, draws barely a yawn.

Israeli officials have been reluctant to make a big deal over Palestinian incitement. They continue the bluff of framing the Palestinian Authority as “peace partners” despite all the evidence to the contrary. The Israeli Government should stop this pretence and openly demand that the Palestinian Authority desist from incitement to hatred and violence and anti-Semitic rhetoric. They should even go so far as to bring official complaint to the United Nations and to the International Criminal Court in the Hague for these are crimes against humanity.

This incitement is not only a serious obstacle to peace, it is also clear evidence that, domestically, the Palestinians have a long term objective that is completely opposed to the notion of peace. They have no intention of reaching, or abiding by, any permanent solution that recognises Israel’s right to exist as a democratic Jewish state. How can they agree to such as proposal? They hate Jews and want to kill them.  Let’s get real. Israel is, for them, an Islamic Arab Palestine.

Earlier in February, the Irish Foreign Minister, Eamonn Gilmore, no great friend of Israel, was in Ramallah and Jerusalem. He admitted, during a pause in his criticism of Israel, that Palestinian incitement is poisoning the atmosphere. A similar message was made by Canada’s Foreign Minister, John Baird, who is a true and staunch friend of Israel.

During the Israeli-Palestinian talks hosted by the King of Jordan in Amman, Israeli negotiator, Yizchak Molcho, presented Saeb Erekat, the Palestinian negotiator a copy of “Deception: Betraying the Peace Process”.  This is a book published by Palestinian Media Watch that is packed with Palestinian incitement and anti-Semitic statements that have found outlets through their official channels. These include “Kill a Jew and go to Heaven!” Molcho delivered it to show how the Palestinian leaders were fostering anti-Israel and anti-Jewish attitudes run counter to a peace process.  Erekat stormed out of the negotiating room. It is interesting to note that Erekat, in August 2010, furiously and rightly objected to Rabbi Ovadia Yosef’s wish for “a plague on Mahmoud Abbas and all the Palestinian people.” His remarks were inexcusable and rare in Israeli society. Erekat said it was “an absolute insult to our efforts to progress the peace process.” He was right. It, therefore, became hypocritical when he ignores, and even participates in, the constant official Palestinian incitement against Jews and Israelis. Indeed, he is guilty of incitement himself with his gross exaggeration when he accused the IDF of a “massacre” in Jenin in 2002 during Operation Defensive Shield. He also publicly accused Israel of totally destroying a refugee camp’ when he knew this was untrue.

Today we see the Islamisation of anti-Semitism using religious aspersions against Jews as a rallying cry and a weapon of their political purposes. The battering ram in this campaign has been Palestinian incitement against Jews and Israel couched in nationalistic and religious terms.

Experts say that peace will bring about a change of image. This is incorrect. A change of image will bring about peace. Peace is not possible unless and until the Palestinians, the Arabs, the Islamists, and their helpers, desist from their hate campaigns and incitements.

Israel, the Jewish State, is not going away. Get used to it.

Barry Shaw is the author of ISRAEL - RECLAIMING THE NARRATIVE.
Available in paperback from AuthorHouse
http://bookstore.authorhouse.com/Products/SKU-000531342/ISRAEL-RECLAIMING-THE-NARRATIVE.aspx

WHICH TARGET IN IRAN? NUCLEAR FACILITIES? OR REGIME CHANGE?

WHICH TARGET IN IRAN?  NUCLEAR FACILITIES? OR REGIME CHANGE? by Barry Shaw,. Author of Israel-Reclaiming the Narrative.

Regime change in the Middle East seems to be flavor of the month. Tunisia, Yemen, Egypt, Libya, Syria. Bahrain, and the threat to the Arab kingdoms, all are hitting the headlines and, generally, have been welcomed.

One country seems to off the radar in the international discourse of regime change, and that country is undoubtedly the one nation that truly warrants regime change, namely Iran.

All the other countries are minor players compared with the main partner in the axis of evil. Iran is the great regional destabilize. It is the main sponsor of Middle East and global terror. It is, arguably, the greatest human rights abuser. Its record of repression, suppression, torture, rape, and executions against its own people is appalling. It is a real threat to peace and security in the region and the world. Its leaders have, repeatedly, threatened to wipe another nation off the face of the earth. Such a regime has absolutely no legitimacy to continue to remain in power.

It can be said that the world has a duty and obligation to remove the leaders of such an evil and threatening regime. Such a change would make a critical, strategic, difference to the long term stability of the region and the world at large and offer hope for a reduction of terror and violence generally.

The call to destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities has been growing for over a decade. The time is rapidly approaching when such an attack in increasingly likely however complicated and tactically difficult it may seem to execute. Any attack to remove or reduce Iran’s nuclear capability is perceived to simply delay their overall drive to attain nuclear weapon status, not to remove their ability to threaten the region and the world. Any military attack on their nuclear and weapon assets that will leave their leadership in statu would be detrimental to future regional development.

Given the choice of having a nuclear weapon or remaining in power, Tehran would decisively choose to remain in power, and that would be awful for the Iranian people and bad for the world. Whichever way you look at it, the removal of their nuclear threat would not turn the Ayatollahs into Mother Theresa overnight. The insult of being forced to remove their big ace to regional dominance would lead them to adopt other covert ways of imposing themselves in the region. They would also seek to strike out at their enemies be it Israel, America, the West, Sunnis, or others perceived as standing in their way, such as Turkey. So a non-nuclear Iran would continue to be a threat to world peace and security.

Taking all of the above into consideration, regime change looks the best option. Some equate Iran’s contribution to world terror to be greater than that of Al Qaeda and from Saudi Arabia. If it was legitimate to knock off Bin Laden isn’t it equally legitimate to “cut off the head of the snake”, as the King of Saudi Arabia cutely put it? What he meant was regime change in Tehran.

The benefits of forcing an Iranian regime change, even by force, are huge. The most immediate beneficiary would be the people of Iran. Back in 2009 and 2010 they rose up in their thousands to overthrow their leaders. They failed. The West, full of lip service but zero operational support, failed them badly, and left them victims to the brutal repression of the Tehran theocratic tyrants.

A second beneficiary would be Israel. Israel has been living under the looming mushroom cloud for a decade or more. Only the removal of either the nuclear threat or the Iranian regime would remove that threat for the people of Israel.

A regime change would benefit most of the Arab and Muslim nations in the Middle East. They have been looking with increasing nervousness at the march to nuclear supremacy by a Shiite Iran.

The free world has only recently learned to understand that a nuclear Iran is not solely an Israeli concern. With reports that Iran is developing a rocket fuel capable of carrying a warhead the distance of ten thousand kilometers has been a wake-up call to Europe and beyond.  

Iraq would be allowed to get their house in order without Iranian meddling.

So who would be the losers from a regime change in Iran? Clearly Syria, whose regime is on its way out anyway. Syria was the key to Iran’s negative influence in the Arab world.

Hizbollah would be a major loser of both Assad and the Iranian regime fall. They would be reduced to a barking dog whose teeth have been pulled. As a result Nasrallah’s terrorists would be isolated and contained, even if their huge weapon stockpiles could be used to defend themselves from internal and external threats. The fall of the regime in Tehran could lead to the fall of the regime in Beirut.

Hamas has thrived through three channels. The moral support of radical pro-Palestinian activists give them comfort and encouragement to continue their extremist declarations and deeds against the Jewish state. The misuse of European funds, the work of UNWRA, and Israel opening its border to the flow of good and aid into the Gaza Strip, has allowed Hamas to develop a social economy in Gaza which strengthens their popularity there and removes the last vestiges of Fatah-Palestinian Authority influence in the Gaza Strip. But the main sponsor to the strengthening of Hamas has been Iran. The fall of the regime would put an end to this conduit of financial and weapon oxygen. This is not to say that Hamas would shrivel up and die. They now have a fresh supply source to take up the slack with the newly elected Muslim Brotherhood Egyptian government. They are, literally, brothers in arms.

The Western media pumps out non-stop exhortations to encourage the removal of the Assad regime, just as they did to remove the Mubarak-regime and the Gaddafi-regime, and many others before them. They echo the same message emanating around the Arab and Muslim world.  

If regime change has become mainstream then surely it must apply against the mad mullahs of Tehran?  To do so by Western forces must not be seen as a war between the West and Islam. It is not. The leaders of Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt, must lead the call to their Muslim constituents that a nuclear Iran threatens them all, and a change of regime in Iran is a vital necessity for regional peace and stability. Such a call would head off the false accusation that it is a Western and Zionist plot against the Islamic world. Indeed, Saudi and Gulf forces must join the Coalition forces to head off such an accusation as was done in Iraq. Iran will not turn into another Iraq. The people of Iran will ensure this will not happen. We are not talking about the instability of sectarian and ethnic divisions when considering a future peaceful and non-threatening Iran. 

An attack should target the political and military heads of the regime, not the nuclear facilities. It should target all the main bases and weapon storage facilities of the Iranian Republican Guard. It should degrade any retaliatory capability to prevent the Iranians from striking back at Western and regional targets.  Calls should be made to the people of Iran to rise up and take control of their country. They should be helped by all mean possible. A militia of the peoples opposition should be armed and trained. If this was legitimate in Libya, and is being spoken about with regard to Syria, so it should be done in Iran. 

Everything must be done to ensure that an Iranian peoples’ revolt succeeds and that they bring their oppressors to justice. 

The world can be confident that, of all the Middle East countries that have experienced an uprising in the last few years, Iran will be the one that will introduce proper democratic institutions and true democratic freedoms to their people. The new Iran can be the beacon of example to other regional nations.

With such a people, the world can be assured that they will be the ones that will dismantle and remove the military nuclear facilities and turn them into peaceful civil use, and the world will applaud and assist them in their efforts on the road back to democracy and prosperity.

THE FIGHT FOR OUR RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL MORALS IN ISRAEL AND ABROAD.

I was asked to give a sermon in my synagogue on the Shabbat of the Bible and Haftorah readings of "Beshallach". 

As someone who has devoted myself to speaking up for Israel internationally I found great resonance in the stories of this particular portion of our Bible as metaphors to what has been unfolding within Israeli and Jewish society.

Here is what I had to say;

IN OUR MILITARY AND IN OUR SOCIETY, IN ISRAEL AND ABROAD, WE SEE AN INCREASING BODY OF JEWS WHO FIGHT AGAINST US, OR DIVIDE US IN THE NAME OF JUDAISM.

THOSE THAT DON’T SERVE IN THE IDF, AND SOME THAT DO. THOSE WHO ACT AGAINST US IN THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY FROM NATUREI KARTA TO RABBIS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS. AND THOSE THAT MAKE STUPID STATEMENTS OR ABUSIVE ACTS IN THE NAME OF JUDAISM.

I WAS STRUCK HOW MUCH OF THIS WEEK’S SEDRA IS LINKED TO TODAY’S PROBLEMS.

IT WOULD BE EASY FOR ME TO TALK ABOUT OUR REDEMPTION FROM EGPYT AND OUR STRUGGLE TO REACH OUR PROMISED LAND AND LEAVE YOU WITH A “FEEL GOOD” FEELING.

TODAY, I WANT TO STIMULATE AND PERHAPS MAKE YOU THINK DEEPLY ABOUT SOME RECENT EVENTS IN ISRAEL THAT TROUBLE ME A LOT.

IS THE BIBLE OUR GUIDE TO BEHAVIOUR? OR SHOULD OUR SOCIAL CONDITION BE ACCORDING TO WHAT THESE PEOPLE TELL US TODAY? DOES OUR ANCIENT HISTORY HAVE ANY RELEVANCE TO US TODAY? I BELIEVE THAT THE METAPHORS WE READ TODAY SHOULD BE THE GUIDELINES TO OUR BEHAVIOUR RATHER THAN THE ILL ADVICE OF THOSE WHO WEAKEN US, OR DESTROY US. 

IN THIS WEEK’S PORTION WE ARE TOLD WHY GOD FORCED THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL TO WANDER THE WILDERNESS FOR A GENERATION INSTEAD OF TAKING THE SHORT DIRECT ROUTE TO THE LAND PROMISED TO US. NOTICE I SAY “US” AND NOT “THEM”.  WE HAVE RECLAIMED THAT LAND.

THAT REASON HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH NOT DAVENING (PRAYING) ENOUGH, OR NOT BEING RELIGIOUS ENOUGH. GOD SAW THAT THE ISRAELITES WERE NOT MENTALLY, OR SPIRITUALLY, READY TO FIGHT THE PHILISTINES WHO STOOD IN OUR WAY. DESPITE THE FACT THAT WE WENT OUT OF EGYPT ARMED (HAMUSHIM) WE WEREN’T READY TO FIGHT OR ACT FOR OUR SELF DETERMINATION IN THE LAND THAT GOD CHOSE FOR US. WE WERE LAZY AND COWARDS. WE COMPLAINED.  THAT IS NOT HOW YOU BUILD A PEOPLE OR A NATION.

SO, INSTEAD, HE LED US INTO THE WILDERNESS TO STRENGTHEN OUR RESOLVE AND TO FORGE US INTO A PEOPLE WILLING TO FIGHT AND ACT FOR OUR SURVIVAL AND OUR RIGHT TO OUR SOVEREIGN LAND. TO MAKE US A NATION.

HE PUT THE AMALEKITES IN OUR WAY TO TEST US AND PREPARE US FOR THE BATTLES AHEAD.

MANY WANTED TO GO BACK AND LIVE AMONG OUR ENEMY, THE EGYPTIANS, RATHER THAN FIGHT AND STRUGGLE FOR THEIR OWN PEOPLE.

THIS STORY REPEATS ITSELF IN THIS WEEK’S HAFTORAH. WE READ OF ANOTHER BATTLE.

THIS BATTLE, AT MOUNT TABOR, WHICH IS NORTH OF AFULA, WAS THE MOMENT WHEN ISRAEL REGAINED SOVEREIGNTY IN OUR LAND.  HAD WE LOST THIS BATTLE WE, VERY LIKELY, WOULD NOT BE HERE IN ISRAEL TODAY. THAT’S HOW DECISIVE IT WAS. IT WAS TRULY A TURNING POINT IN OUR HISTORY.  WE WERE BADLY OUTNUMBERED AT THE BATTLE. ISN’T THAT ALWAYS THE CASE? NUMBERS COULD HAVE COUNTED.

AND YET, CLOSE TO THE SCENE OF THE BATTLE WAS THE TOWN OF MEROZ. IT WAS POPULATED BY ISRAELITES,  JEWS  WHO, UNBELIEVABLY, REFUSED TO COME TO THE AID OF OUR PEOPLE. OR MAYBE IT’S NOT SO UNBELIEVABLE WHEN WE SEE JEWS TODAY FAVOUR OUR ENEMIES RATHER THAN THE JEWISH STATE OF ISRAEL.

THEY REFUSED TO LIFT A FINGER TO HELP THEIR PEOPLE, OUR PEOPLE, AT A CRITICAL TIME IN OUR HISTORY. AND WHAT DOES THIS WEEK’S SEDRA SAY ABOUT THEM?

 JUDGES v: 23 SAYS “CURSE YOU, MEROZ. CURSE YOUR INHABITANTS BECAUSE YOU DID NOT COME TO THE HELP OF THE LORD.”

IT SAYS "HELP THE LORD" NOT "HELP THE PEOPLE".  GOD DEMANDS OF US TO FIGHT FOR OUR LAND. THIS MESSAGE REPEATS ITSELF THROUGHOUT THE BIBLE AND EVEN IN OUR MODERN HISTORY.

IN THIS FIGHT, WE MUST WELCOME AND BLESS THOSE THAT HELP US EVEN IF THEY ARE NOT JEWISH, AND CURSE THOSE WHO DON’T, ESPECIALLY IF THEY ARE JEWISH.

THE REAL HERO, OR MORE ACCURATELY HEROINE, OF THE BATTLE OF TABOR WAS A WOMAN, YAEL. SHE RISKED HER LIFE WHEN SHE KILLED CICERA, THE ENEMIES GENERAL AND CHIEF OF STAFF. HER BRAVE ACT WAS THE TURNING POINT IN THIS IMPORTANT BATTLE FOR ISRAEL.

WHAT WAS SO SPECIAL AND UNUSUAL ABOUT YAEL?  WE LEARN THAT SHE WASN’T AN ISRAELITE. SHE WASN’T EVEN JEWISH. YET SHE WARRANTS PRIDE OF PLACE IN OUR BIBLE. 

ISN’T THAT STRANGE? NOT REALLY. IN NEXT WEEK’S SEDRA WE WILL LEARN ABOUT JETHRO, AND HE WASN’T JEWISH EITHER, AT LEAST UNTIL HE CONVERTED, BUT HE, LIKE YAEL, HAD A DEEP RESPECT AND LOVE FOR ISRAEL AND THE JEWISH PEOPLE.

WHAT IS CRYSTAL CLEAR FROM THIS WEEK'S BIBLE READING IS THAT GOD WANTS US, IN FACT HE INSISTS, THAT WE FIGHT FOR OUR LAND AND OUR INHERITANCE.  

ON THE SUBJECT OF RELIGION AND BATTLES, ELI YISHAI, THE LEADER OF THE SHAS RELIGIOUS PARTY, RECENTLY TOLD US THAT THE REASON WE DID NOT ERADICATE HAMAS IN OPERATION CAST LEAD WAS BECAUSE OUR SOLDIERS DID NOT DAVEN (PRAY) ENOUGH. HE COMPARED THAT BATTLE WITH THE SIX DAY WAR IN WHICH WE WON DECISIVELY. HE CLAIMED OUR SOLDIERS WERE MORE RELIGIOUS THEN. I’VE GOT NEWS FOR ELI YISHAI. HE IS WRONG.

THE IDF DURING THE SIX DAY WAR WAS LED BY SECULAR OFFICERS. MOST OF THE SOLDIERS IN THE SPECIAL UNITS CAME FROM SECULAR KIBBUTZIM.

OUR MILITARY LEADERS IN THAT WAR, MOSHE DAYAN, YIZCHAK RABIN, MOTA GUR WERE ALL SECULAR MEN.

AND YET, THEY LED OUR FORCES TO A VICTORY OF BIBLICAL PROPORTIONS WHEN WE LIBERATED JERUSALEM.

WHEN MOTA GUR SENT THAT MESSAGE ‘THE TEMPLE MOUNT IS IN OUR HANDS!’  THE WORLD JOINED WITH ISRAEL IN APPRECIATING A DIVINE, GOD GIVEN, MOMENT WHEN GOD’S PROMISE TO THE JEWISH PEOPLE CAME TRUE. JEWS, RELIGIOUS AND NON-RELIGIOUS, PRAYED TOGETHER AND GAVE THANKS FOR THIS MOMENT IN TIME. THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL, AND THE JEWS OF THE WORLD, SHARED THIS MOMENT KNOWING IT WAS HOLY, IT WAS WHAT GOD INTENDED FOR US, AND THAN GOD’S HAND WAS IN OUR VICTORY.

I HAVE NOTHING AGAINST DAVENING. I HAVE BEEN KNOWN TO DO IT FROM TIME TO TIME. BUT THERE ARE TIMES, AS IN THE STORIES OF "BESHALLACH", WHEN GOD WANTS US TO ACT, NOT PRAY. WHEN THE ISRAELITES ARRIVED AT THE RED SEA, HOTLY PURSUED BY THE EGYPTIAN ARMY, THEY CRIED AND ORDERED MOSES TO PRAY TO GOD ON THEIR BEHALF.  TO PARAPHRASE EXODUS xiv:15, GOD SAID TO MOSES, ‘’WHY ARE YOU CRYING TO ME. STOP IT. DON’T PRAY. ACT!”

THERE ARE TIMES, LIKE TODAY WHEN WE ARE BEING DEMONISED AND DELEGITIMISED, THAT CALLS UPON US TO ACT, NOT TO COMPLAIN TO OUR LEADERS, OR TO GOD, BUT TO ACT AND DO IT FOR THE SAKE OF OUR NATION.

SO HERE WE HAVE REPEATED INSTANCES WHERE GOD INSISTS THAT WE FIGHT THE BATTLES FOR THE LAND HE HAS GIVEN TO US – WHERE HE SAW WE WERE NOT FIT TO FIGHT THE PHILISTINES, WHERE WE TOOK ON THE AMELEKITES, WHERE HE GUIDED US TO VICTORY OVER THE CANAANITES AT TABOR, EVEN BROUGHT US TO LIBERATE JERUSALEM IN THE SIX DAY WAR SO THAT THE PRAYER “NEXT YEAR IN JERUSALEM" BECAME A REALITY. 

SO WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THE NAME OF RELIGION IN OUR NATION TODAY?

I REFUSE TO TOLERATE A COUNTRY, OR A RELIGION, WHERE WOMEN ARE FORCED TO SIT AT THE BACK OF A BUS BECAUSE RELIGIOUS MEN DICTATE IT. IF OUR WOMEN ARE BRAVE ENOUGH TO DRIVE OUR TANKS, FLY OUR FIGHTER JETS AND, YES, DRIVE OUR BUSES, THEY SHOULD BE ABLE TO SIT ANYWAY THEY CHOOSE. AND IF THE MEN DON’T LIKE IT, LET THEM WALK. 

I  REFUSE TO ACCEPT THIS IS ABOUT PURITY OF THE SOUL. NO IT ISN’T. I CAN LOOK AT THE WOMEN IN OUR SYNAGOGUE AND APPRECIATE THEIR BEAUTY, THEIR CHARM, THEIR INTELLIGENCE WITHOUT IMPURE THOUGHTS. WHAT IS IT ABOUT THESE MEN? IT IS, IN MY OPINION, ABOUT CONTROL. THEY ARE COMING OUT OF THEIR GHETTO AND IMPOSING THEMSELVES ON US WITH AN INCREASINGLY RADICAL IDEOLOGY.

WE SHOULDN’T TOLERATE A SOCIETY WHERE WOMEN HAVE TO WALK ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STREET, OR ENTER A SHOP THROUGH A DIFFERENT ENTRANCE. SOON THEY WILL WANT TO CLOAK OUR WOMEN IN A BURKHA. IS THAT WHAT WE WANT? IS THAT TRUE JUDAISM?  I  DON’T THINK SO. 

IF OUR SYNAGOGUE IS TO CONTINUE TO BE THE WONDERFUL LIBERAL COMMUNITY IT HAS BECOME, WE SHOULD ALL BE OUTRAGED BY THIS.

WE SHOULD NOT TOLERATE THE BEHAVIOUR OF A JEW, ESPECIALLY A RELIGIOUS JEW, SPITTING ON AND ABUSING A YOUNG GIRL IN RAMAT BET SHEMESH, OR HAVE OUR MINISTER OF HEALTH WALK OUT ON AN AWARDS CEREMONY BECAUSE THE SCIENTIST THAT WENT ON THE STAGE TO RECEIVE THE PRIZE WAS A WOMAN.

IT IS INTOLERABLE THAT ANY WOMAN IS BROUGHT TO THE POINT OF TEARS AND FEAR IN THE NAME OF RELIGION. THIS, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, IS NOT MY RELIGION.

AND I ALSO REFUSE TO TOLERATE THE NOTION THAT IS WRONG TO HEAR WOMEN SOLDIERS SING. THE INTRODUCTION OF THIS MODERN DAY PERVERSION OF OUR RELIGION GOES AGAINST EVERYTHING THAT OUR BIBLE TELLS US.

LOOK AT THIS WEEK’S BIBLE PORTION, FOR HEAVEN’S SAKE! YES, FOR HEAVEN’S SAKE. THIS WEEK’S READING CLEARLY PROVES THAT THIS NONSENSE HAS NO PLACE IN JUDAISM.

ONE PERSON WENT SO FAR TO SAY HE WOULD RATHER FACE A FIRING SQUAD THAN HEAR A GIRL SOLDIER SING AT AN IDF CEREMONY. MY GOD, WHAT HAVE WE COME TO?

WHAT WOULD THESE SOLDIERS HAVE DONE WHEN OUR PEOPLE MADE IT TO THE SAFETY OF THE FAR BANK OF THE RED SEA AND MIRIAM TOOK OUT HER MUSICAL INSTRUMENT AND LED THE ISRAELITE WOMEN IN SONG AND DANCE? CLOSED THEIR EARS? CLOSED THEIR EYES? SHOT THEMSELVES?

THE BIBLE TELLS US THAT THE MEN JOINED IN THE CELEBRATION, AND THAT’S HOW IT SHOULD BE.

MIRIAM’S SONG WAS A SONG OF NATIONAL TRIUMPH AS IT IS TODAY AT OUR IDF CEREMONIES. 

IF GOD WAS PLEASED THEN, HE IS EQUALLY PLEASED TODAY. I WILL TAKE MY RULING FROM HIM AND NOT FROM SOMEBODY LIVING IN ONE OF THE GHETTOS WHO DEVISES MAN-MADE LAWS IN CONTRADICTION TO WHAT WE READ IN OUR HOLY BOOK.

AS FURTHER PROOF OF THIS, THIS WEEK’S HAFTORAH TELLS US OF THE SONG OF DEBORAH AFTER THE BATTLE OF TABOR. THE MEN AGAIN JOINED IN THE CELEBRATION. THEY DID NOT TURN AWAY, OR PUT A TENTPEG IN THEIR FOREHEAD.  WHAT FURTHER PROOF DO WE NEED THAT THIS NEW PHENOMENON IS WRONG?

LADIES!  I’M WITH YOU. I WILL BE ONE OF YOUR CHAMPIONS. WE CANNOT HAVE OUR RELIGION, AND OUR COUNTRY, DICTATED TO BY PEOPLE WHO WILL REDUCE US TO THE LEVEL OF THE TALIBAN OR THE IMPOSITION OF A JEWISH-STYLE SHARIAH LAW. 

WE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE A LIBERAL, ENLIGHTENED, PEOPLE. SURELY WE ARE NOT FOLLOWING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE ISLAMISTS?

IF ISRAEL WAS, AND IS TO BE, THE NATION OF MIRIAMS, DEBORAHS, AND YAELS, WE NEED TO FIGHT TO KEEP IT THAT WAY.

THIS IS WHAT GOD WANTS. THIS IS WHAT WE DESERVE.      

SHABBAT SHALOM!

Barry Shaw

Author of ISRAEL - RECLAIMING THE NARRATIVE.

www.israelnarrative.com