Levitt Letter Extra News

www.IsraelToday.co.il

 In stark contrast to the overly cautious tone being sounded by U.S. President Barack Obama, Israeli President Shimon Peres on Sunday cheered on Iranians protesting the results of the recent presidential election in the Islamic Republic, and urged them to continue until they are freed from the clutches of the current regime.

 In remarks carried by the Israeli press, Peres said Iranians need to “raise their voice of freedom” until the oppressive and dangerous government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad disappears.

 In an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the demonstrations across Iran had finally unmasked the repressive nature of not only the Ahmadinejad regime, but the ayatollah-ruled theocratic system of government as a whole.

 On Monday, Netanyahu told German newspaper Bild he has no doubt that given the opportunity, the Iranian people would choose a totally different system of government and would ultimately make peace with Israel.

 ”There is no conflict between the Iranian and Israeli people and under a different regime, the peaceful relations that existed in the past could be reestablished,” said Netanyahu.

 In the U.S., Obama is under growing pressure from both Republicans and Democrats in Congress to express greater support for Ahmadinejad’s opponents in Iran.

 But last week, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak cautioned that backing Iranian presidential challenger Mir Moussavi would not be enough, since he shares many of the same dangerous views and policies as Ahmadinejad.

www.jta.org

JERUSALEM (JTA) — American voters’ support for Israel has dropped 20 percent in the past nine months, a new survey found.

Some 49 percent of American voters call themselves supporters of Israel, down from 69 percent last September, according to the poll conducted for The Israel Project.

The number of voters who called themselves undecided rose during that same period, and the number of Palestinian supporters remained steady at 7 percent. The number of Israel supporters hit a low of 38 percent immediately following the 2005 disengagement from Gaza, with an equal rise in undecided voters.

The poll was conducted among 800 registered voters on June 2 and 3 by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research. It has not been officially released by The Israel Project, but was leaked to the media by someone who received the numbers the day after the poll was completed.

According to the poll, some 44 percent of voters believe the United States should support Israel, down from 69 percent a year ago. Some 5 percent of voters believe the United States should support the Palestinians, with 32 percent undecided.

Some 23 percent of voters believed that Israel should return all lands captured in 1967, with 57 percent saying some should be retained for security.

Some 66 percent of those polled do not believe that Israeli support of a two-state solution — including establishing an independent Palestinian state and stopping the expansion of settlements — will  bring lasting peace to the region, with 22 percent saying it will. In addition, 48 percent believe the Israeli support would not end Palestinian terrorism; 39 percent said it would.

Some 85 percent of respondents believe that Iran is a serious threat to Israel, with only 7 percent saying it is not — figures that have remained virtually unchanged over the past year.

By Gerald A. Honigman, www.IsraelNationalNews.com

It was a moment in time never to be forgotten—July 4, 1976.

I was watching those spectacular tall sailing ships from numerous countries passing under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in Brooklyn in salute to America’s two hundredth birthday. Tears of pride were in many of our eyes that day.

I was there with my best friend Arie, who is from Israel. At almost the very same moment that those tall ships were sailing by, something else was happening which would link Israel and America together in many a mind forever after.

During the night before and the early morning hours of July 4, 1976, Israel launched Operation Thunderball AKA Operation Entebbe AKA Operation Yonatan.

On June 27, Air France Flight 139 was hijacked by Arabs and some European soul mates. The plane was taken to Idi Amin’s Uganda, where the hijackers were met with open arms.

The passengers were soon asked to form two lines—one for Jews, the other for gentiles. Most of the latter were freed, but the Jews became Idi Amin’s “guests.” Amin’s buddies next announced that the Jews would be killed if demands were not met.

This is an amazing, true story that sired several movies and accounts. Look it up on the Internet or rent one of the movies.

But what you need to know is that on July 4, 1976, Israel raided Entebbe, freed the hostages and showed the world that it was possible to defeat terror—a lesson some still need to learn today. It was a wonderful present commemorating America’s own liberty as well.

There was one Israeli combat fatality.

Lieutenant Colonel Yonatan Netanyahu, of Israel’s elite Sayeret Matkal, had commanded the strike force and was killed by a Ugandan soldier. Yoni was a Dean’s List Harvard scholar who returned to Israel to resume his combat role during the stressful years leading up to the 1973 Yom Kippur War. He was a remarkable human being—both a man of the world, as well as a true son of Zion reborn.

When my own son was born, we named him Jonathan, in honor of King Saul’s son, Prince Yonatan—King David’s closest friend—and in honor of Yoni Netanyahu.

Today, the mainstream media would portray Yoni as a right-wing extremist. Just look at how most of it has dealt with Israel going after the non-stop terror machine and its willing supporters in Gaza. Any Jew who refuses to stick his head in the sand regarding what the Arabs’ true intentions are regarding the Jew of the Nations is branded this way.

Arabs claim twenty-one states to date in their Arab League, on over six million square miles of territory, forcibly Arabized from mostly non-Arab peoples; but how dare Jews claim a sole, minuscule, resurrected one of their own—practically invisible on a world map?

On July 4, 1976, Yonatan Netanyahu re-sent America and the entire world a message that Jews have been delivering for thousands of years.

Rabbi Hillel, who lived during the Roman occupation of Judaea, restated already ancient Jewish teachings when he proclaimed: “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am not for others, what am I?”

Israel has tried very hard to come to fair accommodations with current “others”, who see the entire region as merely purely Arab patrimony. Justice, through Arab eyes only. That’s what Darfur and the south of the Sudan is about; that’s what gassed, massacred and subjugated Kurds, Copts, Berbers, and so forth, is about as well.

The compromises Israel has sought with the Arabs are light years beyond what Arabs have offered to the scores of millions of non-Arabs with whom they have clashed and competed themselves. But nothing will really change until the Arab mindset changes. Until then, Israel must concentrate on the first part of Hillel’s famous quote.

Given this reality check, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must send the same message his elder brother Yoni sent over three decades ago. He must demand—not beg—empathy for live Jews, not crocodile tears of sympathy for dead ones.

What would over three hundred million Americans in a three thousand mile wide America do given the true nature of the beast Israel faces? If I am not for myself, who will be for me….?

www.haaretz.com

Honored guests, citizens of Israel,

Peace was always the desire of our people. Our prophets had a vision of peace; we greet each other with peace; our prayers end with the word peace. This evening we are in the center named for two leaders who were groundbreakers for peace —Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat — and we share their vision.

Two and a half months ago, I was sworn in at the Knesset as the prime minister of Israel. I promised that I would establish a unity government, and did so. I believed, and still believe, that we need unity now more than ever before.

We are currently facing three tremendous challenges: The Iranian threat, the financial crisis, and the promotion of peace.

The Iranian threat still is before us in full force, as it became quite clear yesterday [when Iran held presidential elections]. The greatest danger to Israel, to the Middle East, and to all of humanity, is the encounter between extremist Islam and nuclear weapons. I discussed this with President Obama on my visit to Washington, and will be discussing it next week on my visit with European leaders. I have been working tirelessly for many years to form an international front against Iran arming itself with nuclear armaments.

With the world financial crisis, we acted immediately to bring about stability to the Israeli economy. We passed a two-year budget in the government and will pass it through the Knesset very soon.

The second challenge, rather, the third so very important challenge facing us today is promoting peace. I discussed this also with President Obama. I strongly support the idea of regional peace that he is advancing. I share the President of the U.S.A.’s desire to bring about a new era of reconciliation in our region.

I discussed this in my meetings with President Mubarak in Egypt and with King Abdullah in Jordan to obtain the assistance of these leaders in the effort to expand the circle of peace in our region.

I appeal tonight to the leaders of the Arab countries and say: Let us meet. Let us talk about peace. Let us make peace. I am willing to meet at any time, at any place, in Damascus, in Riyadh, in Beirut, and in Jerusalem as well. (Applause)

I call upon the leaders of the Arab countries to join together with the Palestinians and with us to promote economic peace. Economic peace is not a substitute for peace, but it is a very important component in achieving it. Together we can advance projects that can overcome the problems facing our region: for example, water desalinization. And we can utilize the advantages of our region, such as maximizing the use of solar energy, or utilizing its geographical advantages to lay pipelines—pipelines to Africa and Europe.

Together we can realize the initiatives that I see in the Persian Gulf, which amaze the entire world and also amaze me. I call upon the talented entrepreneurs of the Arab world to come and invest here, to assist the Palestinians and us, to give the economy a jump-start. Together we can develop industrial zones, we can create thousands of jobs and foster tourism that will draw millions—people who want to walk in the footsteps of history, in Nazareth and Bethlehem, in the heights of Jericho and on the walls of Jerusalem, on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, and at the baptismal site of the Jordan. There is a huge potential for the development of tourism potential here. If you only agree to work together.

I appeal to you, our Palestinian neighbors, and to the leadership of the Palestinian Authority. Let us begin peace negotiations immediately, without prior conditions. Israel is committed to international agreements and expects all sides to fulfill their obligations.

I say to the Palestinians: We want to live with you in peace, quiet, and good neighborly relations. We want our children and your children to ‘know war no more.’

We do not want parents and wives, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters to know the sorrow of bereavement. We want our children to dream of a better future for humankind. We want us and our neighbors to devote our efforts to ‘plowshares and pruning hooks’ and not to swords and spears. I know the terror of war; I participated in battles; I lost good friends who fell [in battle]; I lost a brother. I saw the pain of bereaved families from up close very many times. I do not want war. No one in Israel wants war. (Applause)

Let us join hands and work together in peace, together with our neighbors. There is no limit to the flourishing growth that we can achieve for both peoples — in the economy, in agriculture, in commerce, tourism, education — but, above all, in the ability to give our younger generation hope to live in a place that’s good to live in, a life of creative work, a peaceful life with much of interest, with opportunity and hope.

Friends, with the advantages of peace so clear, so obvious, we must ask ourselves, “Why is peace still so far from us, even though our hands are extended for peace? Why has the conflict going on for over 60 years?” To bring an end to it, there must be a sincere, genuine answer to the question: What is the root of the conflict? In his speech at the Zionist Congress in Basel, in speaking of his grand vision of a Jewish homeland for the Jewish People, Theodor Herzl, the visionary of the State of Israel, said: “This is so big, we must talk about it only in the simplest words possible.”

I now am asking that when we speak of the huge challenge of peace, we must use the simplest words possible, using person-to-person terms. Even with our eyes on the horizon, we must have our feet on the ground, firmly rooted in truth. The simple truth is that the root of the conflict has been—and remains—the refusal to recognize the right of the Jewish People to its own state in its historical homeland.

In 1947, when the United Nations proposed the Partition Plan for a Jewish state and an Arab state, the entire Arab world rejected the proposal, while the Jewish community accepted it with great rejoicing and dancing. The Arabs refused any Jewish state whatsoever, with any borders whatsoever.

Whoever thinks that the continued hostility to Israel is a result of our forces in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza is confusing cause and effect. The attacks on us began in the 1920s, became an overall attack in 1948 when the state was declared, continued in the 1950s with the fedayeen attacks, and reached their climax in 1967 on the eve of the Six-Day War, with the attempt to strangle Israel. All this happened nearly 50 years before a single Israeli soldier went into Judea and Samaria.

To our joy, Egypt and Jordan left this circle of hostility. They signed peace agreements with us, which ended their hostility to Israel. It brought about peace.

To our deep regret, this is not happening with the Palestinians. The closer we get to a peace agreement with them, the more they are distancing themselves from peace. They raise new demands. They are not showing us that they want to end the conflict.

A great many people are telling us that withdrawal is the key to peace with the Palestinians. But the fact is that all our withdrawals were met by huge waves of suicide bombers.

We tried withdrawal by agreement, withdrawal without an agreement; we tried partial withdrawal and full withdrawal. In 2000, and once again last year, the government of Israel, based on good will, tried a nearly complete withdrawal in exchange for the end of the conflict, and were twice refused.

We withdrew from the Gaza Strip to the last centimeter; we uprooted dozens of settlements and turned thousands of Israelis out of their homes. In exchange, what we received were missiles raining down on our cities, our towns, and our children. The argument that withdrawal would bring peace closer did not stand up to the test of reality.

With Hamas in the south and Hezbollah in the north, they keep on saying that they want to ‘liberate’ Ashkelon in the south and Haifa and Tiberias.

Even the moderates among the Palestinians are not ready to say the most simple of things: The State of Israel is the national homeland of the Jewish People and will remain so. (Applause)

Friends, in order to achieve peace, we need courage and integrity on the part of the leaders of both sides. I am speaking today with courage and honesty. We need courage and sincerity not only on the Israeli side; we need the Palestinian leadership to rise and say simply, “We have had enough of this conflict. We recognize the right of the Jewish People to a state of its own in this Land. We will live side by side in true peace.” I am looking forward to this moment.

We want them to say the simplest things to our people and to their people. This will then open the door to solving other problems, no matter how difficult. The fundamental condition for ending the conflict is the public, binding, and sincere Palestinian recognition of Israel as the national homeland of the Jewish People. (Applause)

For this to have practical meaning, we need a clear agreement to solve the Palestinian refugee problem outside of the borders of the State of Israel. For it is clear to all, that the demand to settle the Palestinian refugees inside of Israel contradicts the continued existence of the State of Israel as the state of the Jewish People. We must solve the problem of the Arab refugees. And I believe that it is possible to solve it because we have proven that we ourselves solved a similar problem: Tiny Israel took in the hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees from Arab countries who were uprooted from their homes.

Therefore, justice and logic dictate that the problem of the Palestinian refugees must be solved outside the borders of the State of Israel. There is broad national agreement on this. (Applause)

I believe that with good will and international investment we can solve this humanitarian problem once and for all.

Friends, up to now, I have been talking about the need for the Palestinians to recognize our rights. Now I will talk about the need for us to recognize their rights.

The connection of the Jewish People to the Land has been in existence for more than 3,500 years. Judea and Samaria — the places where our forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob walked, our forefathers David, Solomon, Isaiah, and Jeremiah — this is not a foreign land: This is the Land of our Forefathers. (Applause)

The right of the Jewish People to a state in the Land of Israel does not arise from the series of disasters that befell the Jewish People over 2,000 years — persecutions, expulsions, pogroms, blood libels, murders—which reached a climax in the Holocaust, an unprecedented tragedy in the history of nations. There are those who say that without the Holocaust the State would not have been established. But I say that if the State of Israel had been established in time, the Holocaust would not have taken place. (Applause) The tragedies that arose from the Jewish People’s helplessness show very sharply that we need a protective state.

The right to establish our sovereign state here, in the Land of Israel, arises from one simple fact: Eretz Israel is the birthplace of the Jewish People. (Applause)

As the first PM, David Ben Gurion, said in the declaration of the State: the State of Israel was established here in Eretz Israel, where the People of Israel created the Book of Books and gave it to the world.

But, friends, we must state the whole truth here. The truth is that in the area of our homeland, in the heart of our Jewish Homeland, now lives a large population of Palestinians. We do not want to rule over them. We do not want to run their lives. We do not want to force our flag and our culture on them. In my vision of peace, there are two free peoples living side by side in this small land, with good neighborly relations and mutual respect, each with its flag, anthem, and government, with neither one threatening its neighbor’s security and existence.

These two facts—our link the Land of Israel, and the Palestinian population who live here—have created deep disagreements within Israeli society. But the truth is that we have much more unity than disagreement.

I came here tonight to talk about the agreement and security that are broad consensus within Israeli society. This is what guides our policy. This policy must take into account the international situation. We have to recognize international agreements, but also principles important to the State of Israel. I spoke tonight about the first principle — recognition. Palestinians must truly recognize Israel as the state of the Jewish people. The second principle is demilitarization. Any area in Palestinian hands has to be demilitarization, with solid security measures. Without this condition, there is a real fear that there will be an armed Palestinian state which will become a terrorist base against Israel, as happened in Gaza. We do not want missiles on Petah Tikva or Grads on the Ben-Gurion International Airport. We want peace. (Applause)

And to ensure peace, we don’t want them to bring in missiles or rockets, or have an army, or control of airspace, or make treaties with countries like Iran, or Hezbollah. There is broad agreement on this in Israel. We cannot be expected to agree to a Palestinian state without ensuring that it is demilitarized. This is crucial to the existence of Israel: we must provide for our security needs.

This is why we are now asking our friends in the international community, headed by the U.S.A., for what is necessary for our security: that in any peace agreement, the Palestinian area must be demilitarized. No army, no control of air space. Real, effective measures to prevent arms coming in, not what’s going on now in Gaza. The Palestinians cannot make military treaties.

Without this, sooner or later, we will have another Hamastan. We can’t agree to this. Israel must govern its own fate and security. I told President Obama in Washington: if we get a guarantee of demilitarization, and if the Palestinians recognize Israel as the Jewish state, we are ready to agree to a real peace agreement, a demilitarized Palestinian state side by side with the Jewish State. (Applause)

Whenever we discuss a permanent arrangement, Israel needs defensible borders with Jerusalem remaining the united capital of Israel. (Applause)

The territorial issues will be discussed in a permanent agreement. Till then, we have no intention to build new settlements or set aside land for new settlements. But there is a need to have people live normal lives and let mothers and fathers raise their children like everyone in the world. The settlers are not enemies of peace. They are our brothers and sisters. (Applause)

Friends, unity among us is, to my view, vital, and unity will help with reconciliation with our neighbors. Reconciliation must begin now. A strong Palestinian government will strengthen peace. If they truly want peace, and educate their children for peace and stop incitement, we for our part will make every effort, allow them freedom of movement and accessibility, making their lives easier, and this will help bring peace.

But above all, they must decide: the Palestinians must decide between the path of peace and the path of Hamas. They must overcome Hamas. Israel will not sit down at a conference table with terrorists who seek to destroy it. (Applause)

Hamas is not willing even to let the Red Cross visit our abducted soldier Gilad Shalit who has been in captivity three years, cut off from his family and his country. We want to bring him back whole and well.

With help of the international community, there is no reason why we can’t have peace. With help of U.S.A., we can do we can do the unbelievable. In 61 years, with constant threats to our existence, we have achieved so much. Our microchips power the world’s computers—unbelievable! We have found cures for incurable diseases! Israeli drip irrigation waters barren lands throughout the world! Israeli researchers are making worldwide breakthroughs! If our neighbors will only work for peace, we can achieve peace. (Applause)

I call upon Arab leaders and Palestinian leaders: Let’s go in the path of Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat, Yitzhak Rabin and King Hussein. Let’s go in the path of Prophet Isaiah, who spoke thousands of years ago: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares and know war no more.”

Let us know war no more. Let us know peace.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, center, with Noam, right, and Aviva Shalit, parents of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit

By Rebecca Dube, www.forward.com

Asked how he and his wife managed to cope as they approach the three-year anniversary of their son’s kidnapping by Hamas, Noam Shalit was characteristically blunt.

“We don’t,” he said, his arms tightly crossed and his expression stony. “You cannot get used to this situation. It’s a continuous nightmare.”

Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, now 22, has been the focus of a diplomatic tug of war since he was seized by Palestinian militants on a cross-border raid June 25, 2006. Hamas has not allowed the Red Cross, or any other outside observers, to see Shalit since his kidnapping. The conditions of his captivity and the state of his health are unknown.

The new Israeli government announced on May 31 that Haggai Hadas, a former senior Mossad intelligence agency operative, would take charge of negotiations for Shalit’s freedom. The post had been vacant for a month.

And yet, Noam Shalit, who spoke to the Forward while in New York for the annual Salute to Israel parade, has trouble getting excited about the news. His hopes have been raised by apparent progress — and dashed — too many times before.

“It’s about time,” he said.

Hadas replaces Ofer Dekel, who resigned in April after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took office. Dekel coordinated a failed attempt to negotiate a prisoner exchange for Shalit through Egyptian mediation. Hamas is demanding that Israel free hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Shalit.

Noam Shalit said he is heartened by the support he feels from American Jews, especially the crowds who cheered him at the Salute to Israel parade on May 31. He and his wife, Aviva, spoke briefly with Mayor Michael Bloomberg and gave him a button bearing their son’s photograph.

“He sympathized with us, and expressed his solidarity and his support,” Shalit said. The brief moments with Bloomberg were a nice “photo op,” Shalit said, but he knows the main arena for advocacy for his son is Israel. Still, he’s willing to go almost anywhere and try almost anything if he thinks it will help Gilad.

“We are trying every channel, in every possible way. You never know what will be effective,” Shalit said.

A reserved man, naturally quiet like his son, the role of family spokesman does not come easily to Shalit. But he regularly speaks to Israeli, Palestinian, American and European journalists to ensure that Gilad is not forgotten. In Israel, he said the support of everyday Israelis gives him comfort — people on the street, taxi drivers, store clerks recognize him and tell him to stay strong.

Despite the news media appearances and occasional meeting with politicians, the Shalits’ days are very much the same.

“We get up in the morning and think, ‘What can we do today that was not done yesterday?’ Shalit said. “That is basically our days.”

Shalit, an engineer, has scaled back his work to part-time at Iscar, a metal cutting-tool manufacturer owned by American investor Warren Buffet, who met with Shalit when he visited Israel in September of 2006. It can be hard to concentrate at work, he said, but at least it keeps him busy. He and his wife have two other children: an older son who is finishing his university degree, and a younger daughter who just graduated from high school and is preparing to enter the Army.

Celebrations of happy events, like graduations, still go on in the Shalit family, but the shadow of Gilad’s absence is always present, Noam Shalit said.

“The main idea is to keep on with our lives and to combine two things: not to give up the regular life and not to give up the battle for Gilad,” he said.

By Jonathan S. Tobin, www.aish.com

So much of the American press is steeped in sheer ignorance. Debunking these misconceptions with facts is a good start.

Sixty-one years after the birth of the State of Israel, the Jewish state continues to be assailed by its enemies. From the halls of the United Nations to the classrooms of major universities and in the pressrooms of major newspapers and magazines, attacks on the legitimacy of every move by Israel — and even of the state’s existence itself — continue to be made.

What lies behind the calumnies and canards that are constantly thrown at the one Jewish state on the planet? In the Arab and Islamic world, the notion that any portion of the Middle East could be placed under Jewish sovereignty is anathema. Elsewhere, some of the brickbats thrown Israel’s way stem from prejudice and hatred rooted in classic anti-Semitism.

But what about the American press, much of which is Jewish, and other American opinion-makers for whom the anti-Semitic tag doesn’t really apply? The reasons for much of the slanted commentaries about the Middle East and biased news coverage has less to do with the ancient hatreds based in Europe than it does with sheer ignorance.

For all too many members of the press (as well as other Americans who like to think of themselves as being informed about the great issues of the day), lack of knowledge about the underlying facts of the Middle East conflict is commonplace. Myths about the State of Israel, its origins, and its actions have found their way into general discourse in the academy and the media. Those who seek to stand up for Israel need to recognize that many of the problems that Israel has in getting its case across stem from a failure to debunk these myths and to answer them with the truth.

So here is a list of the top ten myths about Israel and the Middle East conflict. This list is by no means comprehensive, but it is a good start to understanding the heart of the problem.

Myth #1: Jews have no historic connection to Israel/Palestine.

A key element of Arab and anti-Zionist attacks on Israel is the notion that the Jewish presence in the country is a remnant of 19th century imperialism in which Europeans colonized and exploited parts of the third world. But far from being outsiders there, the Jewish ties date back 4,000 years to the very beginning of Jewish history recounted in the Bible and verified by much of the evidence of archeology that has been discovered.

Though the Romans expelled most of the Jewish population from the country, Jewish settlement continued without interruption throughout the last 2,000 years. In all this time, the Land of Israel remained a constant in the thoughts and the hearts of Jews throughout the world, as it was remembered in their daily prayers and in their dreams.

Myth #2: Jews have no unique claim to the ancient and holy city of Jerusalem.

Though both Christianity and Islam have holy sites in the city, the Jewish ties predate that of any other existing religion. King David made Jerusalem the capital of Israel 3,000 years ago — 1,700 years before Islam was even founded. Jerusalem never served as even a provincial capital during the centuries of Muslim rule. The entire city is sacred to Jews; only the Dome of the Rock has religious significance to Muslims. Moreover, in the modern era, Jews have been the majority of the population of the city since the 1840s.

As for freedom of worship, the only period during which all faiths have been free to worship in peace has been since 1967 when the city became unified under Israeli sovereignty.

Myth #3: The Zionist movement was never prepared to share the land.

From the very start of the Jews’ return to their historic homeland in the late 19th century, it has never been the goal of the Zionist movement to uproot the Arab population or to create a state where only Jews could live. In 1922, the League of Nations’s Mandate for Palestine was partitioned by Britain, with the east bank of the Jordan River reserved for Arab rule (it eventually become the Kingdom of Jordan), and the area between the Mediterranean and the Jordan being designated as the Jewish National Home. Dating back to the 1930s, every subsequent peace plan that has been proposed involved some sort of partition of the western portion of Palestine. Though all of these schemes involved painful concessions for the Jews, the leadership of the Zionist movement, and subsequently the Jewish state, always accepted this principle of sharing the country.

Myth #4: The lack of an independent Palestinian Arab state is the fault of the Zionists.

In 1947, the United Nations approved the partition of Palestine between a Jewish state and an Arab state. The response of the Palestinian Arabs, as well as the rest of the Arab and Muslim world, was a categorical rejection of any scheme that allowed a Jewish state on any part of the land, no matter what its borders might be. No effort was made to set up an independent Arab state in the part of Palestine allotted for that purpose. In the aftermath of Israel’s War of Independence, in which it repelled the invasion by five Arab armies, the West Bank, Gaza, and half of Jerusalem were left in Arab hands. But for the next 19 years when these territories remained under Arab control, there was never any consideration given to creating an Arab state there. On the contrary, the focus of the Arab world was on extinguishing the fledgling state of Israel that existed in the truncated borders left by the 1949 armistice lines.

In the years after the 1967 war, Israel has maintained a willingness to negotiate a peace deal based on the concept of “land for peace.” Indeed, at Camp David in July 2000 and the following January at Taba, Egypt, Israel offered the Palestinians a state in these lands as well as part of Jerusalem. The answer from Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was “no,” and he followed up that refusal by launching a terrorist war of attrition that resulted in over a thousand Jewish deaths and even more suffering on the part of his own people.

Myth #5: The plight of Palestinian refugees is a special case of dispossession that must be redressed by international action.

In the aftermath of World War II, millions of refugees were created by the partition of India, the re-drawing of the map of Europe, as well as by the war brought on by the Arab refusal to accept the UN’s partition of Palestine. Only in the case of Palestinians who fled their home during the course of Israel’s War of Independence was there a failure to re-settle the refugees. The Palestinian refugees, whose exit from the country was caused more by a general fear of the war sweeping over the land than by any action on the part of the Israelis, were the only refugees who were kept in camps and not allowed to integrate into the populations of the Arab countries that received them. They were kept homeless as a means of maintaining the illusion that the creation of Israel could be undone. Subsequent generations of this population have been raised in these camps and inculcated in an irredentist ideology whose premise is the rejection of any Jewish state. They remain the wards of a UN agency (the United Nations Relief Works Agency) that is devoted to perpetuating their status as refugees at a cost of billions of dollars in international aid.

On the other hand, several hundred thousand Jews living in Arab countries were evicted from their homes during this same era and forced to flee to safety in Israel or the West — where they were integrated into society.

Myth #6: The occupation of eastern Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza, and the Golan Heights in 1967 was the result of an Israeli war of aggression.

In May 1967, Egypt launched a blockade of Israel’s southern port of Eilat. Egyptian and Syrian forces massed on Israel’s borders. Egypt demanded, and got, the UN peacekeeping force that separated its army from Israel in the Sinai, to withdraw. Egyptian dictator Gamal Abdul Nasser and other Arab leaders told their peoples that they would soon launch a battle of annihilation that would result in Israel’s destruction. When international diplomacy failed to get the Arabs to back down, Israel decided that it would not wait to be attacked, and launched a defensive war to forestall the Arab assault.

After the war ended in a sweeping Israeli victory, Israel stated its willingness to make peace, but an Arab summit conference a month later answered with three no’s. No peace. No recognition. No negotiations.

Myth #7: Jewish settlements are the main, if not the sole, obstacle to peace in the Middle East.

Though many legal sources claim that Jewish settlements in the West Bank are illegal, the fact remains that the right of Jewish settlement in those lands was guaranteed by the Mandate for Palestine of the League of Nations. This territory was never part of any other sovereign state and its final legal status is subject to negotiations that must be concluded between the competing parties. Until such time as there is a peace accord that gives one side or the other sovereignty in this territory, it is inaccurate to refer to this land as belonging to one side or another.

Twice before, Israel has shown a willingness to uproot Jewish communities for the sake of peace: in the Sinai (given back to Egypt in the 1979 Peace Treaty) and in Gaza (from which Israel withdrew unilaterally in 2005). The existence of settlements in these areas is no bar to a peace deal under which they might be withdrawn.

Myth #8: The failure of the Oslo peace process was the result of actions by hard-line Israeli governments.

The Oslo process was embraced by Israel in the hope that an offer of land would be met with genuine peace. However, the result of years of negotiations and various Israeli withdrawals has not been peace. From the start of Palestinian Authority rule in the West Bank and Gaza in 1994, Palestinian leadership has encouraged terrorism against Israel and fomented hatred against the Jewish state — while “peace education” is promulgated in Israeli schools. Throughout the 1990s as Israel signed several agreements that gave the Palestinians more autonomy, the corrupt PA leadership continued to tolerate and even fund terror groups. In 2000, Yasser Arafat refused Israel’s offer of a Palestinian state in virtually all of the West Bank and Gaza as well as part of Jerusalem — and launched the terror offensive known as the Second Intifada.

Though all Israeli governments have, at times, been forced to reply with force to terrorist attacks from Gaza, Lebanon, and the West Bank, all have stated a willingness to negotiate a peace. Today the Palestinians are split between the Palestinian Authority led by Mahmoud Abbas, which is too weak to make peace, and Hamas, the rulers of Gaza, who reject it under any circumstances. Both factions reject the legitimacy of a Jewish state.

Myth #9: The Arab-Israeli conflict is the key to all of America’s political, diplomatic, and military problems in the Middle East.

The battle over Israel/Palestine is but one of many disputes in the Middle East. The rivalry between the two great Muslim religious strains, Shia and Sunni, has been the source of more wars and more bloodshed than any battle between Arabs and Jews. Similarly, the tensions between Persians (modern day Iran with its Islamist rulers and nuclear ambitions) and Arabs is another perennial conflict that predates the renewal of Jewish sovereignty in the region.

Even more to the point, the conflict between radical Islamists who seek to impose their religious and political views on the rest of the Muslim world, and those who oppose them in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere, has nothing to do with Israel or the Palestinians. It is this schism that is at the core of the rise of al-Qaeda and the Taliban. It is this battle for the soul of Islam that gave the impetus to the 9/11 attacks, not the dispute over the borders of the Jewish state.

Though Israel’s foes claim that resentment over its creation fuels Arab and Islamic resentment of the West, such sentiments long predate the rise of Zionism. The clash of civilizations between Islam and the West was the cause of wars between European nations and Muslim countries for centuries, with no Jewish involvement. Linking world peace to a resolution of the Palestinian conflict is just another tactic of rejectionist groups bent on perpetuating the conflict and diverting attention from the real issues.

Myth #10: American support for Israel is the result of the manipulations of the U.S. government by Jews.

Support for the return of the Jews to their ancient homeland dates back to the very beginning of American history. Sympathy for the idea of a renewed Jewish state is rooted in the faith of most Americans, as well as in their belief that the persecuted Jewish people were entitled to find a new life in their old home. From the very beginnings of the Zionist movement, it found both a welcome and support from large numbers of Americans. In the aftermath of the Holocaust that support became even greater.

Today, the overwhelming majority of Americans of all faiths and both major political parties see Israel as a friend and an ally. They need no prodding from a Jewish lobby to understand that the alliance with the Jewish state is based on common values and a shared belief in democracy. While Israel’s supporters in Washington are vocal and proud of it, their financial clout is dwarfed by that of an oil industry and other factions with a vested interest in appeasing Arab dictators and monarchs. But the American people’s identification with Israel and their sense of solidarity with it have prevailed because these ideas are rooted deeply in American history and tradition.

For even more information about myths and facts about Israel go to jewishvirtuallibrary.com.

Below are the lyrics for Israel’s entry into the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 and a link to watch a performance.

See a write-up posted on May 5 for more information on this unique duet.

Enjoy!

Lyrics

Eurovision Song Contest 2009 Semi-Final (1)
Israel (IBA)

Performer: Noa & Mira Awad
Song title: There Must Be Another Way
Song writer(s): Noa, Mira Awad, Gil Dor
Song composer(s): Noa, Mira Awad, Gil Dor

There must be another, must be another way
עינייך אחות
כל מה שליבי מבקש אומרות
עברנו עד כה
דרך ארוכה
דרך כה קשה
יד ביד
והדמעות זולגות זורמות לשוא
כאב ללא שם
אנחנו מחכות
רק ליום שיבוא אחרי
There must be another way
There must be another way
عينيك بتقول
راح ييجي يوم وكل الخوف يزول
بعينيك اصرار
انه عنا خيار
نكمل هالمسار
مهما طال
لانه ما في عنوان وحيد للاحزان
بنادي للمدى, للسما العنيده
There must be another way
There must be another way
There must be another, must be another way
דרך ארוכה נעבור
דרך כה קשה
יחד אל האור
عينيك بتقول
كل الخوف يزول<
And when I cry I cry for both of us
My pain has no name
And when I cry I cry to the merciless sky and say
There must be another way
והדמעות זולגות זורמות לשוא
כאב ללא שם
אנחנו מחכות
רק ליום שיבוא אחרי
There must be another way
There must be another way
There must be another, must be another way

http://www.eurovision.tv/event/artistdetail?song=24719&event=1482

By David Lev, www.IsraelNationalNews.com

Mordechai Limon, who was one of the pioneers and first commander of the Israel Navy, passed away over the Jewish Sabbath at age 85. Limon, who immigrated to Israel in 1932 from Poland, was at the nexus of two of the most important naval episodes in the course of Israel’s history: The smuggling of immigrants from British detention camps in Cyprus after the Holocaust, and the retrieval from France of five warships that Israel had bought and paid for, but which French President Charles de Gaulle sought not to deliver to Israel.

During World War II, Limon joined the Haganah (predecessor to Israel Defense Forces), where he subsequently helped establish the organization’s naval unit, and conducted training courses for young soldiers. He decided he needed more experience at sea, and joined the British Merchant Marine and sailed the world. At the end of the war, he returned to the Middle East, disembarking at Alexandria. After his return to Mandatory Palestine, Limon commanded several ships smuggling in stateless Jews from detention camps in Cyrus. Altogether, Limon successfully brought 5,000 Jews to the Land of Israel before the establishment of the State.

During the War of Independence, Limon commanded several vessels, and, among other battles, participated in the Helino Incident, in which a Czech ship filled with weapons bound for Egypt was confiscated. In 1950, Limon was named Commander of the newly established Israel Navy, with the rank of general – at age 26, the youngest officer in the IDF’s history to be promoted to that rank.

In 1954, Limon left the Navy and studied business administration in the United States. He returned to Israel and began working in a number of capacities for the Defense Ministry, and in 1962 was chosen to head Israel’s procurement office in Paris, then the most important source for Israel of foreign-manufactured weapons. Limon was able to put together many important weapons deals for the IDF in that post and built up excellent working relations with French government and military officials.

In 1965, Israel negotiated the manufacture and purchase of advanced missile boats at a ship foundry in Cherbourg, France. In the wake of the 1967 Six Day War, French President Charles de Gaulle placed an embargo on Israeli arms purchases from France – including the Cherbourg boats, for which Israel had already paid. The ships, some of which were ready to sail and already manned by Israeli crews, were forced to remain anchored in Cherbourg.

In order to redeem the ships, Limon and other Israeli officials clandestinely established a Norwegian company, which “purchased” the ships from Israel, with the sale approved by French authorities. The Norwegian company was ostensibly to use the ships for oil exploration in the North Sea, but Israeli officials began preparing them for the long journey to Israel, equipping them with spare fuel. At the same time, Israeli sailors, posing as Norwegian staff, began manning the ships. On December 24, 1969, as residents of Cherbourg were celebrating Christmas, the ships left port, arriving in Israel on December 31.

The French, meanwhile, became aware of what happened only after the ships left port, and in retaliation booted Limon out of the country. When he returned to Israel in 1970, he was greeted by the top brass of the IDF and the Defense Ministry, and hailed as a hero for his role in rescuing the ships.

Limon subsequently retired from official life, and became a private businessman.

Speaking Saturday night, President Shimon Peres mourned Limon, saying that his contributions to the State “were as deep and important as they were quiet. He knew how to handle crises, such as in the Cherbourg Affair. The nation has an obligation to salute the man, his personality, his actions, and his contributions.”

Intense silence and seriousness Photo: AP

Israeli memory a constant argument between absence and presence
Sara K. Eisen, www.YNetNews.com

Today we think of who we do not have and why, and then what that lack demands of us.

Tomorrow, about how we celebrate being alive to meet those demands.

Today is Memorial Day in Israel, honoring fallen soldiers and victims of terror, observed here a day before Independence Day. The connection is essential since it is widely recognized that without the former, celebrating the latter would be impossible, while always hoping that one day, this will not be the case. That there will be no more names on next year’s list of the fallen. It is, in other words, a sacred day we wish with all our hearts we didn’t need to observe, and in fact grapple with its necessity all the time.

In any event, Israel is not quite Western and also has a very small population – death by war is not something distant and abstract, since everyone has either lost someone or knows someone who has. As such, there are no Memorial Day sales and no Memorial Day home games and no Memorial Day picnics. There are, instead (not in addition,) countless public ceremonies, school observances, lots of sad TV documentaries (and little else on) and public moments of silence when traffic stops all along the nation’s highways. It’s not a case where some of the country mourns its fallen sons and daughters and some of the country shops or watches baseball.

Memory is pervasive around here, fraught. It is as much something as it is a lack of something.

The mood shifts dramatically sometime around 5 pm, as people get ready for Independence Day, an out and out celebration, complete with picnics, barbecues, parties, fireworks, etc. Much like the Fourth of July.

(But stores: Still closed.)

It seems that Israeli memory is about a conscious decision to always be remembering and forgetting all the time, in the same instant, a constant argument between absence and presence that sometimes results in the type of massive virtual memory overload that can causes one to freeze. Independence Day is, to continue that metaphor, like one big national reboot.

In truth, I sometimes miss the days of memory being something you celebrate at Macy’s, unless, of course, you had someone die in Vietnam or Iraq, in which case your day might look a little Israeli.

In any event, this silence and seriousness and restraint and celebration of life that nearly everyone does around here is very intense and it makes me want to hide some days.

But then I forget that I need to. Memory is like that.