Saddam's Death, 108 (december 2017)
attempt to destroy political holism in the middle east

See also: Page 107: nov-dec 2017 and Page 109: dec 2017-part 2
Israel & The Temple Revolution & Unesco & the Temple

Regime Change in Iraq - Overview 2002/2003
Trump & the Pisces Messiah - Kennedy Speech 1961 - Eisenhower's Social Gospel
"I Have, I Rule and I will Destroy" - Iran & the dialogue of civilizations
Netanyahu & Infantilization of Israel
Jesus & Pophet Muhammed: "Be a stranger in the world" - Ideological Warfare Center
Jewish fundamentalism in the State of Palestine - Palestinian Martyrs and Jewish Heroes
The Balfour Declaration - Trump's move on Jerusalem (2017)
Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was born April 28, 1937 and died December 30, 2006. He was the fifth President of Iraq, holding that position from July 16, 1979 until 9 April 2003. He was one of the leading members of the revolutionary Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party, and afterward, the Baghdad-based Ba’ath Party and its regional organization Ba’ath Party, Iraq Region, which advocated ba’athism, an ideological marriage of Arab nationalism with Arab socialism. (Patricia Ramos, july 2013)

"The national security of America and the security of the world could be attained if the American leaders [..] become rational, if America disengages itself from its evil alliance with Zionism, which has been scheming to exploit the world and plunge it in blood and darkness, by using America and some Western countries.
What the American peoples need mostly is someone who tells them the truth, courageously and honestly as it is.
They don’t need fanfares and cheerleaders, if they want to take a lesson from the (sept. 11) event so as to reach a real awakening, in spite of the enormity of the event that hit America.
But the world, including the rulers of America, should say all this to the American peoples, so as to have the courage to tell the truth and act according to what is right and not what to is wrong and unjust, to undertake their responsibilities in fairness and justice, and by recourse to reason..."

Saddam Hussein, INA 15-9-2002

"The despot thinks he is just as God... What a nadir and mean fate!
The despot, as represented in this age, in our day, imagines he can enslave the people..
But they were born free. They were freed by God’s will through prophets and messengers, to be slaves only to Him and not to anyone of the people." Saddam Hussein, Iraq Daily 4-3-2003

A person with a God Complex may refuse to admit the possibility of their error or failure, even in the face of irrefutable evidence, intractable problems or difficult or impossible tasks.
The person is also highly dogmatic in their views, meaning the person speaks of their personal opinions as though they are unquestionably correct.
Someone with a god complex may exhibit no regard for the conventions and demands of society, and may request special consideration or privileges.

"That is the issue that will continue in this country... It is the eternal struggle between these two principles -- right and wrong -- throughout the world. They are the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time, and will ever continue to struggle.
The one is the common right of humanity and the other the divine right of kings." Abraham Lincoln (October 15, 1858 Debate at Alton, Illinois)

"Happy day, when, all appetites controlled, all poisons subdued, all matter subjected, mind, all conquering mind, shall live and move the monarch of the world. Glorious consummation! Hail fall of Fury! Reign of Reason, all hail!" Abraham Lincoln (February 22, 1842 Temperance Address)

"...To be a human being among human beings, and remain one forever, no matter what misfortunes befall, not to become depressed, and not to falter - this is what life is, herein lies its task." Fyodor Dostoevsky (to his brother Mikhail, Dec. 22, 1849)

All mankind is from Adam and Eve. An Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over black nor a black has any superiority over white except by piety and good action.
Learn that every Muslim is a brother to every Muslim and that the Muslims constitute one brotherhood. Nothing shall be legitimate to a Muslim which belongs to a fellow Muslim unless it was given freely and willingly.
“Do not therefore do injustice to yourselves. Remember one day you will meet Allah and answer your deeds. So beware, do not astray from the path of righteousness after I am gone." Prophet Muhammad, Last Sermon

“Human beings are members of a whole,
In creation of one essence and soul.
If one member is afflicted with pain,
Other members uneasy will remain.
If you have no sympathy for human pain,
The name of human you can not retain.”

Saadi Shirazi
(Persian poet & humanist, born in Shiraz, Iran, c. 1210)










"Holism is the most fundamental discovery of 20th century science. It is a discovery of every science from astrophysics to quantum physics to environmental science to psychology to anthropology.
It is the discovery that the entire universe is an integral whole, and that the basic organizational principle of the universe is the field principle: the universe consists of fields within fields, levels of wholeness and integration that mirror in fundamental ways, and integrate with, the ultimate, cosmic whole...."
"For many thinkers and religious teachers throughout this history, holism was the dominant thought, and the harmony that it implies has most often been understood to encompass cosmic, civilizational, and personal dimensions. Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha, Lord Krishna, Lao Tzu, and Confucius all give us visions of transformative harmony, a transformative harmony that derives from a deep relation to the holism of the cosmos."

About political holism

Political holism is based on the recognition that "we" are all members of a single whole. There's no "they," even though "we" are not all alike. Because "we" are all part of the whole, and therefore interdependent, we benefit from cooperating with each other. Political holism is a way of thinking about human cultures and nations as interdependent.
Political holists search for solutions other than war to settle international disagreements. Their model of the world is one in which cooperation and negotiation, even with the enemy, even with the weak, promotes political stability more than warfare.
In an overpopulated world with planet-wide environmental problems, the development of weapons of mass destruction has rendered war obsolete as an effective means to resolve disputes.

Political dualists consider political holists unpatriotic for questioning the necessity to defeat "them." In times of impending war, political dualists tend to measure patriotism by the intensity of one's hostility to the country's immediate enemy.
Naturally, they would view as disloyalty any suggestion that the enemy is not evil, any call for cooperation with the enemy, any criticism of one's own country.
To political dualists, cooperation with the enemy means capitulation, relinquishment of the nation's position of dominance.
At its extreme, political dualism is essentially tribalism. (Betty Craige, 16-8-1997)


Desmond Tutu & Ubuntu

"A person with Ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, based from a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed."
"We think of ourselves far too frequently as just individuals, separated from one another, whereas you are connected and what you do affects the whole World.
When you do well, it spreads out; it is for the whole of humanity." (Ubuntu info)

International Human Rights Day
Rudaw News, 10-12-2017

“This year's commemoration of Human Rights Day marks the beginning of a year-long celebration of seven decades since the adoption of one of the world's most profound and far-reaching international agreements,” read a press release from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights establishes the equality and dignity of every human being and stipulates that every government has a core duty to enable all people to enjoy all their inalienable rights and freedoms,” he added.
The launch of the campaign by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, along with the mayor of Paris, will take place at Palais Chailot on Sunday, where the declaration was originally adopted on October 10, 1948.

On Monday (december 11), Guterres will appear in New York to launch the campaign with a special guest, Eleanor Roosevelt portrayed by actress Susan Marie Frontczak, who will give a speech regarding the UDHR as well as answer questions from participants.
Eleanor Roosevelt, the late First Lady and wife of America’s 32nd president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, acted as chair of the UN Human Rights Commission and was the driving force of the liberties charter, which will always remain her legacy.



In the press release, Guterres stated that “human rights have been one of the three pillars of the UN, along with peace and development.”
“While human rights abuses did not end when the Universal Declaration was adopted, the Declaration has helped countless people to gain greater freedom and security,” he said.
The release acknowledged that the world still witnesses “rising hostility towards human rights and those who defend them by people who want to profit from exploitation and division,” including “hatred, intolerance, atrocities and other human crimes.”
The UN Secretary-General urged people and world leaders everywhere to stand up for human rights including “civil, political, economic, social and cultural” rights. “For the values that underpin our hopes for a fairer, safer and better world for all,” he added.


UN Security Council Members Condemn Trump’s Jerusalem Move
Haley Says Meeting Proves Anti-Israel Bias
Jason Ditz, antiwar.com, december 8, 2017

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley sees Friday’s emergency meeting on President Trump’s Jerusalem declaration as vindication of decades of US claims that the UN is inherently biased against Israel.
Yet while Israel was the topic, at least tangentially, the real focus of the meeting was on Trump himself, and what pretty much everyone else in the Security Council agreed was a reckless unilateral declaration that Jerusalem, a contested city under partial military occupation, is the capital of Israel.
Trump’s declaration has been roundly criticized worldwide, with Israel seemingly the only nation to endorse it. Even there, the declaration sparked massive protests among the Palestinian population under Israeli occupation, who see Trump’s move as effectively ending the peace process and certainly ending the pretense that the United States can be an impartial arbiter.
The UN members broadly agreed that the US move undermines the peace process, with Egypt warning the move would ignite anger across the Muslim and Arab world, and Jordan adding that there needs to be an assurance that freedom of religious practice is upheld within Jerusalem.
Haley insisted Trump’s declaration was just “common sense,” because Israel sees Jerusalem as their own capital and has all their government buildings there.

Saudi human rights society says Jerusalem integral part of Palestine
Arab News | Sunday 10 December 2017

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) on Saturday released a statement denouncing US decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
The NSHR called the move “a blatant violation of the rights of the Palestinian people [..] and of international conventions and resolutions related to the Palestinian cause.”
The statement said: “This decision is illegal and contravenes the resolutions of international legitimacy, particularly Security Council resolutions and the UN General Assembly, which affirm the illegality of Israeli laws on Jerusalem, and call on countries with diplomatic missions in Jerusalem to close them.”
The society stressed that the rights of the Palestinian people have been recognized and supported by the international community..
The NSHR added that Jerusalem is an integral part of the Palestinian territories which have been occupied since 1967.
It demanded that Israel comply with UN resolutions, which affirmed the nullity of all its legislative and administrative procedures and the confiscation of land and property aimed at changing the legal status of Jerusalem.
The statement also demanded that Israel comply with the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, and with UN Security Council Resolution 465 of 1980.
The statement also affirmed that East Jerusalem should be the capital of the State of Palestine and called on the international community to provide the necessary support to the Palestinian people to enable them to face the measures aimed at the confiscation of their rights.

Iraq declares victory over ISIL
The National (UAE), December 9, 2017

Iraq on Saturday declared its war on ISIL was over after more than three years of combat operations drove the extremists from all of the territory they once held.
Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi said Iraqi forces were in full control of the country's border with Syria, the last area with any significant presence of the extremist group's fighters, and his spokesman said the development marked the end of the military fight against ISIL. A senior military commander confirmed that combat operations had been completed.
"All Iraqi lands are liberated from terrorist Daesh gangs and our forces completely control the international Iraqi-Syrian border," Lt Gen Abdul-Amir Rasheed Yar Allah said in a statement released shortly after Mr Al Abadi's remarks. Iraqi forces retook the last town held by ISIL — Rawah, near the border with Syria — in November. Over the following weeks Iraqi forces continued to clear patches of the country's vast western deserts.

ISIL fighters overran nearly a third of Iraqi territory, including Mosul, the country's second largest city, in the summer of 2014.
Since then Iraqi ground forces have retaken all of that territory. However, ISIL fighters remain capable of carrying out insurgent attacks in Iraq, and the group has recovered from past setbacks.


Islam has been hijacked
A new religious discourse is needed to restore Islam’s original meaning
Ammar Ali Hassan, Al-Ahram Weekly (nov-dec 2017 issue)

A beard doesn't make you a 'holy man'

Mohamed, the visionary, as a young man
(Iran, poster 1990)
Does Islam need to be reformed, some might ask in surprise. Yet, if they took the trouble to think and study some history, Islamic theology and jurisprudence, sociology and anthropology and, perhaps above all, comparative religion, they would realise that Islam has been hijacked. What we have today is a far cry from the Islam of the time of the Prophet Mohamed.
Its essence, founded on two cardinal values — the unity of God and his mercy — has been transformed over the ages into political ideologies, myths and legends, folklore, commerce and medical and psychological cure-alls.
It has been utilised by institutions and individuals throughout history. It has been encumbered with successive layers of accretions, the accumulated mass of which has shrouded its major wellsprings and altered its nature and essence, as has occurred with other religions. It is for these reasons that Islam needs reform.

Salafis may leap up and say, “we’ll take charge of that.” After all, they claim to want to return to fundamentals. But they lack scientific method and the critical approach that seeks to unearth the objective truth...
The Salafist methodology for going back to the “source” is a man-made process characterised by a loosely linked chain of figures like Ibn Hanbal, Ibn Taimeya and Ibn Abdel-Wahab with various others in between.
If the Salafis held that the works of these individuals were no more than individual theological conceptions and opinions, then there would be no problem. However, instead they see them as infallible and sacred.

Many say that everything is to be found in the Quran, the “founding text” of Islam. As long as we have that, we can go back to the origin as revealed to the prophet. However, this assertion overlooks four main issues:

-- First, the true approach to the Quran has been forgotten with time, meaning that it has become something that is read and recited in order to acquire divine blessings, rather than a book to be contemplated, studied, and probed for its deeper meanings and truths using modern methods of critical analysis.
-- The second problem is that we always read or recite the text piecemeal or selectively. We never look at it as a whole.
This obscures its real and natural value in our lives. It also makes it easier for extremists and others with agendas of their own to utilise it in order to justify their own warped behaviour...
-- Third, the Quran has interacted with the lives of Muslims across the ages. Some of them have exploited it from the time of the arbitration between Ali and Muaweya in the early days of Islam to the ways that extremist groups exploit it today.
-- Fourth, the Quran is not treated as a text distinct from the circumstances of its time and place of creation
Some people perpetually claim to understand its meaning. It is impossible to say how often they have misrepresented it by clinging to its literal meaning, so intent are they on this rather than on its deeper substance.

For all the above reasons we need religious reform... It should be stressed that religious reform does not mean changing the faith. It means rethinking the many forms of religiosity and the many pieties that transform religion into a political ideology, a folklore, a mode of commerce or a palliative.

There can be no progress towards enlightenment unless we accept five basic principles.

-- The first is that faith is a personal matter.
No one should stand between the worshipper and his Lord. [..] Any action to the contrary is antithetical to the essence of faith and turns religion into a source of hardship, hypocrisy and exploitation.
-- The second principle is that the exercise of the intellect complements revelation.
Conventional religious attitudes sometimes treat the mind as an adversary to the Quranic revelation. The intellect is regarded either with suspicion or it is regarded with disdain...
-- The third principle is that moral awareness, not rites and rituals, is the essence of faith.
Current religious outlooks are conspicuously short on moral awareness... Islamic jurisprudence and law overshadowed moral philosophy and independent human conscience, and outward religiosity and ostentatious pietism prevailed over faith and piety, none of which helped develop or disseminate a systematic and internally coherent Islamic moral philosophy capable of being universalised.
-- The fourth principle is the separation of religion from political authority.
Linking religion to the latter reduces it to a political ideology and a means of acquiring power, justifying the ways in which power is used, rallying support for strengthening or extending power, and silencing any opposition (damned as “heretics” or “blasphemers” and so on in the takfiri lexicon).
The utilisation of religion for worldly gain, especially in the realm of politics, has always been associated with deceit, fraud, underhandedness, dishonesty and treachery.
-- Lastly, there is the need to modernise.
Many believe that the lack of sufficient effort on the part of rationalists and the persecution of the advocates of enlightenment were what forestalled genuine religious reform in the Arab region. However, this is only one side of the story, and it is the easier and less critical side. The other side is the absence of the objective economic and social conditions necessary for that enlightenment and rationalism to take hold, flourish and manifest themselves in our lives. There can be no enlightenment without modernisation.

In the end, we could say that the core principle of Islam is mercy. I suggest that we search for this and that wherever we find it we will find true Islam, regardless of the hair-splitting of those who have claimed to be the guardians of Islam in the course of its long history.

How to Become a Visionary Person
Martina McGowan

1. Appreciate people. This means ALL people. Not just certain people you care about. Each and every person on Earth has a special mission or a unique purpose in life.
2. Accept responsibility. You should never accept the position that you’re a victim of circumstance. You alone are responsible for the things you experience, the choices you make, and the outcomes of those choices and experiences.
3. Strive to learn and improve. You should know and understand that the job of self-improvement is never ending. It is a continuous cycle, and it revolves consistently as we advance through life. Working to improve yourself, the lives of those around you and the world will make you one of the top visionaries that the world has ever seen!
4. Discover the positive effect of challenges. You must understand and approach all situations as if they are the lesson and you should always strive to learn something from them.
5. Take action to make your dreams come true. Last, but not least, if you’re seeking to become a visionary, you must be both a dreamer and a doer.


Libyans must work in national interest Egyptian president tells Serraj
By Libya Herald reporters, Tunis/Alexandria, 10 December 2017

"Nationalism is the basis for the survival of nations. Nations whose nationalism is destroyed are subject to ruin.
Minorities, which are one of the main political problems in the world, are the outcome.
They are nations whose nationalism has been destroyed and which are thus torn apart." Muamar Gaddafi, in his Green Book
Egyptian President Abdul Fateh El-Sisi has called on all Libyans to ignore their own narrow interests and to instead work towards a unified, stable Libya. He made the call during talks today with Presidency Council head Faiez Serraj.
The Egyptian President has on many occasions stressed that a political solution remains the only the way forward in Libya and he again underlined this point of view today. He also warned of the growing threat from so-called Islamic State fighters fleeing Iraq and Syria to Libya and Egypt.
For his part, Serraj who flew from Tripoli last night, updated Sisi on the latest UN efforts to address the on-going political stalemate, the spokesman of the Egyptian President, Bassam Radi said. In the hour-long meeting, according to a Presidency Council statement. Serraj also said he hoped to draw from the “successful” election experience that Egypt had undergone,

Cairo has been hosting talks in an effort to unify Libya’s various military bodies. According to Radi, Serraj thanked Sisi for this. Yesterday, an array of Libyan military leaders from the east and the west of the country were in Cairo in for the fourth round of talks to bring about a unified army.
Libyan National Army spokesman Ahmed Mismari, one of those taking part, said “we have made excellent understanding to reactivate the military establishment.”
“The Cairo meetings demonstrate the ability of the Libyan armed forces to confront the current crisis,” he added.
Mismari was insistent that, while he supported the current political process, it was still vital that efforts to unify and strengthen the army were carried on regardless of it.


Rouhani: Trump's Jerusalem decision
adds fuel to Mideast tensions
Press TV, Sun Dec 10, 2017

Flashback 2002: Sharon's provocations

"The Palestine National Authority (PNA) considers Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon as being responsible for the cycle of terror. Sharon’s army is continuing its policy of destruction, killing and collective punishment, to paralyze the Palestinian society...
We call upon all forces inside Israel, who oppose this continuation of the cycle of terror, to join ranks with each other, so that we can put an end to terror, violence and mainly to policies that are behind them and provoke them." (PalestineChronicle, 31-7-2002)

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has lashed out at his American counterpart for making an "incorrect" decision to recognize Jerusalem al-Quds as the "capital" of Israel, warning that the move adds fuel to tensions in the Middle East.
"The regional situation is such that one should not fan the flames and the US president's recent decision to move the country's embassy to al-Quds was an incorrect decision and was [like] pouring gasoline on the flames in the region," Rouhani said in a meeting with British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson in Tehran on Sunday.
Johnson arrived in Tehran on Saturday for an official two-day visit to meet with senior Iranian officials.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Rouhani said Iran sought to establish sustainable peace and stability, help end war and bloodshed, and uproot terrorism in the region, adding that Tehran-London talks could lead to the development of regional stability.
It is clear that Iran's constructive role saved two regional countries from the threat of terrorism, he said, adding, "No one can doubt Iran's positive measures in the region."
Backed by popular groups and Iranian military advisors, armed forces in Iraq and Syria have managed to flush Daesh militants out of their last strongholds in both countries, declaring full victory over the notorious terror group.

The Iranian president stressed the importance of boosting cordial relations between Tehran and London after the implementation of the landmark nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), reached between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries in 2015.
The British foreign secretary, for his part, said that London did not regard Trump's recognition of Jerusalem al-Quds as an appropriate move. He said the JCPOA was a positive accord, which should be upheld in a way that the Iranian nation could take advantage of its economic benefits. Johnson also expressed Britain's willingness to participate in Iran's investment projects.

Flashback: Iranian capital to host international conference on Palestine
Press TV, Mon Feb 20, 2017

The Iranian capital, Tehran, is set to host a two-day international conference on Palestine in a show of solidarity with the oppressed nation in the face of Israel occupation and atrocities.
The 6th International Conference in Support of the Palestinian Intifada (uprising) will open in Tehran on Monday, with 80 delegations from around the world expected to be in attendance. Around 700 foreign guests and representatives of the pro-Palestinian organizations are slated to take part in the event...

In an interview with Al Mayadeen news channel, Abbas Zaki, a senior member of the Palestinian Fatah movement, praised the upcoming forum in Tehran as a “real victory for the Palestinian nation.”
The official criticized the Arab governments for their failure in dealing the Israeli regime’s occupation of Palestinian lands.
The conference will be held in Tehran amid ongoing tensions between Palestinians and the Israeli military in the occupied West Bank. The tensions are viewed as the third intifada against Israel.
The first intifada took place between 1987 and 1993, and the second one in the 2000s.




"Then if they should be inclined to make peace, do thou incline towards it also,
and put thy trust in Allah." Quran, 8:62, cited by Yasser Arafat in his Nobel Lecture, 1994

"Time is not working against us", Ariel Sharon 2002

- If an agreement on ending the conflict with the Palestinians is not possible and if a peace agreement with the Syrians is dangerous, what alternative are you proposing? What hope?
- "From the strategic point of view, I think that it's possible that in another 10 or 15 years the Arab world will have less ability to strike at Israel than it has today. That is because Israel will be a country with a flourishing economy, whereas the Arab world may be on the decline.
True, there is no guarantee of this, but it is definitely possible that because of technological and environmental developments, the price of oil will fall and the Arab states will find themselves in a crisis situation, while Israel will be strengthened
The conclusion is that time is not working against us and therefore it is important to achieve solutions that will take place across a lengthy period..." (Interview met Ariel Sharon, Ha'aretz - Ari Shavit)

Jesus, the anti-Zionist
& True Worshipers

“Woman,” Jesus said, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain [Gerizim] nor in Jerusalem..
A time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.
God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” John 4:21

Netanyahu, the Zionist, & The Bible
Jason Ditz, antiwar.com, 11-12-2017

Visiting Brussels on Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not only defended President Donald Trump’s decision to declare Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, but pressed all European nations to follow his example.




Donald Trump:
"Who the f.ck is Jesus?"

Netanyahu cited 'the Bible' [NOT the New Testament] as proof of the position, saying that the Bible makes it clear Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, saying it was “absurd” of European officials not to accept that position out of hand.
The status of Jerusalem, in reality, is intensely contested, because it is religiously significant to multiple religions, and is claimed as the cpaital of not just Israel, but of Palestine as well. That Israel has expanded the definition of “Greater Jerusalem” to include large amounts of Palestine only makes such declarations more controversial.
Indeed, the occupation is a big reason why up Trump’s declaration, no nation had accepted Israel’s claim of Jerusalem as a capital, and everyone had their embassies in Tel Aviv. The rest of the world largely maintains that such a position will remain until the resolution of the occupation and the establishment of permanent borders.


Donald Trump wishes the Jewish people a happy Hanukkah
Arutz Sheva Staff, 12/12/2017

U.S. President Donald Trump wished the Jewish people a happy Hanukkah as the Festival of Lights gets underway at sundown on Tuesday. “Hanukkah is a time for Jewish families around the world to come together around the lighting of the menorah and celebrate the miracles of the past and promises of the future...” Trump said in a statement.
The miracle of Hanukkah began more than 2,000 years ago, when the practice of Judaism was made punishable by death. A small band of Jewish patriots rose up and reclaimed their Jewish identity by vanquishing a mighty army. In their pursuit to rededicate their holy temple, the Jewish heroes found only enough oil to light the temple's menorah for one night. However, a miracle occurred and with God's grace the oil lasted for eight days.”
“On this holiday, we are proud to stand with the Jewish people who shine as a light to all nations...” he concluded.

Hannukah & Zealotism

Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights, Feast of Dedication, is an eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt against the Hellenist Seleucid Empire of the 2nd century BCE.
The Seleucid Empire was a major center of Hellenistic culture that maintained the preeminence of Greek customs.


The Maccabees: Heroes or Fanatics?
By Michele Alperin (My Jewish Learning)

Although celebrated as heroes who saved Jewish practice and Torah law from suppression and abrogation by the Syrian Greeks, the Maccabees are portrayed in the First Book of Maccabees as religious zealots, murdering coreligionists who had chosen the path of Hellenism.

Hellenism: an enlightened worldview

Central to any assessment of the Maccabees is an evaluation of the role of Hellenism, an ideology whose universalistic outlook was based on Greek ideas and athletic prowess.
Following in the footsteps of Alexander the Great, Hellenism became a political tool used by the Syrian Greeks to consolidate their power among the wealthy bourgeoisie. In turn, the aristocratic elites who embraced Hellenism gained access to the social and economic perquisites flowing to citizens of a Greek polis, including the right to mint coins, to take part in international Hellenistic events, and to receive protection from the city’s founding ruler.
But Hellenism encompassed more than a pragmatic relationship between the ruler and local economic elites; it also represented an "enlightened" worldview considered by many to be the way of the future.

Nations who shut themselves off and did not confront the challenge of Hellenism were falling by the wayside. Because it was viewed as the wave of the future, the pressure to acculturate to Hellenism was quite intense in Judea.
Therefore, the people of Judea had to decide whether the universalistic focus of Hellenism constituted a danger to their ancestral religion and its God or whether it simply represented a more modern and "progressive" way of life that could be merged with Jewish practice.

Was the appropriate response, then, to reform Judaism in the spirit of Hellenism or to assume a stance protective of traditional Jewish values by "liberating" Judea from the Syrian Greeks?
The Jewish Hellenists chose the reform path; they wanted to move beyond separatism and assimilate the positive aspects of Greek culture into Judaism.
As First Maccabees recounts, "In those days there emerged in Israel lawless men [Jewish Hellenists] who persuaded many, saying, ‘Let us go and make a covenant with the nations that are around us; for since we separated ourselves from them, many evils have come upon us’" (I Maccabees 1:11).

When evaluating the Maccabees’ role, one must ask whether the Hellenist Jews, deemed apostates by the Maccabees and their supporters, had the right to assimilate their Jewish observance to the surrounding Greek culture.
The Maccabees answered with a resounding "no".


Maccabees 4
41 Then Judas appointed certain men to fight against those that were in the fortress, until he had cleansed the sanctuary.
42 So he chose priests of blameless conversation, such as had pleasure in the law:
47 They took whole stones according to the law, and built a new altar according to the former; 48 And made up the sanctuary, and the things that were within the temple, and hallowed the courts.
49 They made also new holy vessels, and into the temple they brought the candlestick, and the altar of burnt offerings, and of incense, and the table.
50 And upon the altar they burned incense, and the lamps that were upon the candlestick they lighted, that they might give light in the temple..

Trump's Recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's Capital
The step results from 3 fresh faces breaking with a stale past
by Daniel Pipes, December 11, 2017

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met at his office in Jerusalem with senior White House adviser and son-in-law to U.S. President Donald Trump, Jared Kushner, Trump Special Representative to International Negotiations Jason D. Greenblatt, and U.S. Ambassador to Israel David M. Friedman (21-6-2017).
Question: On December 6, 2017, US President Donald Trump made a statement recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital and declaring that his administration will immediately begin the process of building an embassy in Jerusalem. What does Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital mean?

Answer: The move of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem brings on a flood of thoughts. Briefly: This completes the UN creation of Israel on Nov. 29, 1947. Coincidentally, it came 70 years and 7 days after the UN vote. Also of note, it came 3 days shy of the centenary of British conquest of Jerusalem from the Ottomans. As a specialist on the Middle East, I hate to admit it, but this step results from fresh faces breaking with a stale past.

The move sends exactly the right to the Palestinians: your continued attempt to eliminate the Jewish state of Israel will cost you.

The Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim obsession with Jerusalem stems not from a religious interest in the city but a desire to control it. Put differently, where Zionists tread, Palestinians follow.
Trump's December 2017 moving the embassy neatly checks and refutes Obama's December 2016 abstaining from U.N. Security Council resolution 2334.


David Friedman, the US ambassador to Israel, lit the menorah at the Western Wall in Jerusalem for the second night of Hanukkah. (Jerusalem Times, 14 December 2017)

Three Fresh Faces

1. Trump’s Orthodox son-in law is serving as a senior adviser to the president. Jared Kushner, the 36-year-old scion of a prominent real estate family from New Jersey, will not receive a salary and will focus on the Middle East and Israel.
2. Jason Greenblatt, the longtime chief legal officer for the Trump Organization, is working as special representative for international negotiations focusing on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, US-Cuba relations and American trade agreements with other countries. An Orthodox Jew and Yeshiva University graduate, Greenblatt studied at a West Bank yeshiva in the mid-1980s and did armed guard duty there.
3. David Friedman, a bankruptcy expert and longtime Trump attorney, was tapped as the US ambassador to Israel. A statement by Trump’s transition team in December said Friedman, who speaks Hebrew, would serve from Jerusalem. Friedman is the son of a Conservative rabbi with a family history of ties to Republican presidential candidates. (Times of Israel, 28-1-2017)


Muslim leaders reject Trump's decision on Jerusalem
Al-Jazeera, 13-12-2017

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has rejected the United States' decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, the group's secretary general announced.
Yousef al-Othaimeen, speaking on Wednesday at the opening of an OIC summit in Istanbul, urged Muslim leaders to work together to present a united response to the move.
"The OIC rejects and condemns the American decision," he said. "This is a violation of international law ... and this is a provocation of the feelings of Muslims within the world.."
Speaking ahead of Othaimeen, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the US has "disqualified" itself from future Israel-Palestine peace talks after proving its "bias in favour of Israel".
"We shall not accept any role for the United States in the peace process, they have proven their full bias in favour of Israel," he said. "Jerusalem is and always will be the capital of Palestine."
Palestinians envisage East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state, while Israel says Jerusalem, which is under Israeli occupation, cannot be divided.

The extraordinary OIC summit was called for by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan following Trump's announcement.
Al Jazeera's Mohammed Adow, reporting from Istanbul, said Erdogan was seeking to "unite the Muslim world" and "come up with a concerted response" to the US' move.
"He faces a daunting task," our correspondent said. "In the hall that he was addressing, there were countries who are not willing to go beyond rhetoric opposition at the expense of sacrificing their relationship with the United States..."

"The U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, above all, means punishing Palestinians who have proven numerous times that they side with peace instead of violence", President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said during the Organization of Islamic Cooperation summit that convened in Istanbul.
He called upon "all just countries" to protect Jerusalem as Palestine's capital, adding that Muslim countries would never give upon the sovereignty and independence of Palestine.
"While the occupying state is being recognized, there is no logical reason for the party that wants peace, that lives in one fifth of historical Palestine to not be recognized." (Daily Sabah, 13-12-2017)


In 2002 all of the 57 states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (Iran, Iraq, Libya, Yemen included!) expressed their support for the Arab Peace Initiative.


Who is Netanyahu?

Father-Jabotinski-Irgun: "From the pit of decay and dust - With blood and sweat - Shall arise a race - Proud generous and cruel - Captured Betar, Yodefet, Masada - Shall arise again in all their strength and glory.."
"[Sarah Netanyahu] regards employees as “slaves”, preferring highly religious women from the ultra-Orthodox community, whom it suggests she believes to be harder working, as well as more introverted and compliant." (The Guardian, Claim against Sarah N., 27-10-2017)

Netanyahu: Those who threaten us risk being destroyed. Arutz Sheva, 24/04/2017

Netanyahu: OIC Jerusalem statement
fails to impress us
Al-Jazeera, 14-12-2017

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected a declaration by Muslim leaders that East Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine.
In reaction to the declaration by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Wednesday, Netanyahu said that "all these statements fail to impress us".
"The truth will win in the end and many countries will certainly recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and also move their embassies," he added in response to the comments made by Muslim leaders during the OIC's emergency summit in Istanbul.
Netanyahu added: "Not only is it the capital of Israel but in Jerusalem we uphold freedom of worship for all faiths and it is we who are making this promise in the Middle East even though no one else does."
"The Palestinians would do well to recognise reality and work toward peace, not extremism, and acknowledge an additional fact regarding Jerusalem," he said.

On Monday, Netanyahu met with European Union leaders in Brussels and expressed his hope that "all or most" of the European states would move their embassies to Jerusalem.
The EU shunned his call, saying the two-state solution remains the only path in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.


Labor hopeful says Israel should ‘kick out’ Palestinians in future war
By Raoul Wootliff, Times of Israel, 13 December 2017

Appearing to call for ethnic cleansing, a retired IDF general seeking to become a key figure in the Labor [Zionist Union] party said that if the Palestinians continue to violate their agreements with Israel, the military should “tear them apart” in a future war and forcibly transfer them to “the other side of the Jordan River.”
Amiram Levin criticized longstanding left-wing policies, espoused the expansion of Jewish settlements and called for the rejection of the 1967 borders, in excerpts published Wednesday from an interview with the Maariv daily set to appear on Friday.

The Palestinians caused the occupation. They didn’t accept the borders of the partition plan [after the 1948 War of Independence], and they started the war [of 1967]. We were right to take Judea and Samaria,” he said, referring to the West Bank.
“We need to engage in tough negotiations that do not take us back to the ’67 borders,” Levin said of Israel’s pre-Six Day War borders, which negotiators have generally agreed will form the basis for partitioning the land under a future peace agreement.
We will give [the Palestinians] a carrot in the form of a state, and if they don’t want it, we will tear them apart,” he said. “I have said many times in the past that next time we have a war, they will no longer remain here, we will kick them out to the other side of the Jordan River. That’s how we need to fight. We were too nice in ’67.

Levin ran an aborted campaign in July’s Labor leadership race, and has since been touted as one of the party’s security experts by new leader Avi Gabbay. In a sign of his unofficial status in the party, last month Levin escorted Gabbay on a trip with Labor lawmakers to the Gaza border. The retired general said in the interview that he supported ending Israeli control over the millions of Palestinians living in the West Bank, but not out of concern for the Palestinians.
They don’t deserve anything,” he said. “The problem is that controlling them corrupts us; it is a threat to us and I want to save our society.”
Levin’s comments were rejected vehemently by Arab Israeli lawmakers.
MK Jamal Zahalka of the Joint List said the comments “expose the true face of the Labor party that is overtaking Likud from the right.” “This is a party that is trying to be extremist in order to gain power,” fellow Joint List MK Hanin Zoabi echoed.

Last week Labor party chief Avi Gabbay said preserving a “united” Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty was more important than clinching a peace deal with the Palestinians.


More Palestinian news here: The electronic intifada


Ze'ev Elkin: Netanyahu doesn't represent us
Nitzan Keidar, Arutz Sheva, 15/12/2017

Jerusalem Affairs Minister Ze'ev Elkin said that Israel needs to acclimate the international community to the idea of Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria following US President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and to relocate the US embassy in Israel to the capital.
Minister Elkin said in an interview with Arutz Sheva that Trump's speech recognizing Jerusalem "has the meaning of a statement by the world's greatest superpower and a recognition of the simple reality that Jerusalem is the capital of the State of Israel, and no president has done so before Trump, so it certainly has significance."

-- Trump also spoke of the two-state solution.
-- "It is true that unfortunately Trump mentioned the two-state solution, but he made reservations by saying that it should be acceptable to both sides, which is a major change in the American approach and the European approach that we heard this week during the prime minister's visit.
I personally strongly oppose the establishment of a Palestinian state, and do not think that this is a viable solution."

-- But the prime minister's official position has not changed with regard to support for two states.
-- "This is a position of his own, not of the Likud movement and not of the Israeli government."


Read also: Putin & Berdjajew

In Berdyaev's view, the only way of escape from the many forms of slavery (spiritual, economic, political) lies in the fuller realization of personality, as he defines it.

Gilad Atzmon, 12-12-2017:

"Zionism was a promise to bring about a new civilised Jew. It vowed to make Jews people like all other people.
Zionism failed and its failure is a window into the core essence of Jewishness.
My study of Jewishness suggests that there is no collective remedy for the Jewish question.
If you care enough; break out, run for your life. Search for the universal, the ordinary, the bread, the butter and brotherhood."

Putin orders withdrawal of Russian troops from Syria
RT Russia, 11-12-2017

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the withdrawal of Russian troops from Syria. He gave the command during a surprise visit to Khmeimim Airbase in Syria’s Latakia province on Monday morning.
The Russian president was met by his Syrian counterpart, Bashar al-Assad, and Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu at the airbase, which houses Russian forces assisting Syria in the battle against Islamic State terrorists (IS, formerly ISIS).
I order the defense minister and chief of the general staff to start the withdrawal of Russian troops to the site of their permanent deployment," Putin stated, speaking in front of Russian military personnel at Khmeimim.
The Russian leader said that in the space of two years the Russian and Syrian militaries have “defeated the most battle-hardened grouping of international terrorists.”


syria 2013-2015: al-qaeda and isis terrorism

Putin added that he had made the decision that a significant number of the Russian military contingent in Syria should return to Russia.
He warned that should the terrorists try to “rear their heads” in Syria again, Russia will strike them as “they have never seen before.”
The Russian leader added that the conditions for a political settlement under the auspices of the United Nations had been created in Syria, and that refugees were returning home.
Putin said that the Russian Reconciliation Center for Syria would continue its work, and that Russia would continue to use Khmeimim Airbase and the Syrian port of Tartus, which provides technical support for the Russian Navy.
After a short visit to Syria, the Russian president headed for Cairo, where he is scheduled to hold talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

During his meeting with Assad and several Russian and Syrian military commanders, the Russian President praised the leader of the Syrian Army’s Tiger Forces division, Major General Suheil Al-Hassan, for his heroics on the battlefield, as well his impressive results against the terrorist groups inside Syria.


Putin drafts bill for expansion of Russian navy base in Syria
RT Russia, 13 Dec, 2017

Russian President Vladimir Putin has submitted to the lower house of Russia’s parliament an agreement to transform the Tartus navy refueling facility in Syria into a fully-fledged navy base, capable of harboring nuclear-powered ships.
The development would be for a term of 49 years and would grant the Russian Navy access to the territorial waters and to various ports of the Syrian Arab Republic. The revamped Tartus navy base would be able to accept up to 11 ships at once, including nuclear-powered vessels.
The document also acknowledges that military and technical cooperation between Russia and Syria is strictly defensive in character and does not target any other nations.
Former chief of staff of the Russian Navy, Admiral Viktor Kravchenko, told Interfax that the expanded base would contribute to the navy’s “operative capabilities” in the Mediterranean Sea and Middle East as a whole. He also said that the developed navy base would be much larger than the current facility, which is used for refueling and technical support of ships.
The base should be stretched over a decent tract of land, with all necessary security and defense facilities. The base can accept all ships, up to missile cruisers, allowing them to replenish all supplies and give some rest to the crew,” the admiral said.
Lower House MP Dmitry Belik told RIA Novosti that the Russian navy group that is currently stationed off the coast of Syria would maintain its current strength of over 10 combat ships and support vessels.
Russian ships are a sea-front, created for fighting international terrorism. We cannot exclude that Islamic State terrorists would attempt a landing operation and, in such situation, the Russian navy remains a powerful containment factor.."


Lavrov: They try to obstruct a new polycentric world order
MOSCOW, December 15, 2017, TASS

The collapse of agreements on the Iranian nuclear program will send a wrong signal to those who hope to solve the crisis over North Korea, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the upper house of parliament, the Federation Council, on Friday.
According to Lavrov, the root cause of the current tensions in the world is the "consistent egoistic and cynical policy of a number of countries led by the United States."
The Western countries, which believe in their superiority and impeccability and that their approaches must be perceived as the ultimate truth, "try to obstruct a natural process of building a new more fair and democratic polycentric world order," Lavrov said.
"Those who disagree are subject to a broad range of repressions, including blackmail, the introduction of unilateral sanctions and direct meddling in their domestic affairs," he said.

The deal on Iran’s nuclear program, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was reached between Iran and six international mediators (the United Kingdom, Germany, China, Russia, the United States, and France) on July 14, 2015.
In October, US President Donald Trump announced Washington’s new strategy against Tehran.
Thus, it says that the United States will seek to offset Iran’s destabilizing influence and will call on the international community to get consolidated to exert pressure on Iran’s Revolutionary Guard (Iran's most powerful security and military organization).
Apart from that, the US leader refused to recertify the Iran nuclear deal and pledged Washington would seek to amend the JCPOA.

Flashback: "That what is sacred in the world is man"
General Mufti of the Syrian Arabic Republic, Ahmad Badreddin Hassoun

"You are human beings from among those He has created.
He forgives whom He wills, and He punishes whom He wills.
And to Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth and whatever is between them.
And to Him is the [final] destination. (Surah Al-Maidah, 5:18)

Turning to education, Dr Hassoun said, "Let us teach our school pupils that what is sacred in the world is man" since man "is the creation of the creator".
If we want peace, starting for example with Palestine and Israel, he suggested that rather than building walls, "let us build bridges of peace".
He also argued that "we must create states on a civil basis, not a religious basis", adding "I don't impose my religion on you, nor do you impose your religion on me". (European parlement, 15-1-2008)

Christian-Muslim Summit: We reject the Judaization of Jerusalem
by Naharnet Newsdesk, 14-12-2017

Christian and Muslim spiritual leaders meeting in Bkirki (Lebanon) warned that U.S. President Donald Trump's declaration on Jerusalem represents “a provocation against over three billion people which targets the core of their faith.” The spiritual leaders “reject this decision and demand its reversal,” the summit's closing statement said.
Trump's decision “violates international laws and conventions and insults the symbolism of the city of Jerusalem as a unifying spiritual city,” the statement added.
The summit was called by Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi, who said in opening remarks that the U.S. declaration is “an unjust decision against Palestinians, Arabs, Christians and Muslims.”
“It violates U.N. resolutions and international law,” al-Rahi lamented. “We categorically reject the Judaization of [Jerusalem],” he added.


Policy of occupation an affront to humanity in the 21st century
İbrahim Kalın, Daily Sabah (Turkey), 15-12-2017

U.S. President Donald Trump administration's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to that city [..] led to worldwide condemnation and rejection. The United States still has a chance to rescind its decision and accept East Jerusalem as the capital of the state of Palestine. This is the only way that the peace process can be revitalized.

One of the good things that has come out of the misguided Trump decision is that while the Palestinian question has been left in oblivion since the start of the Arab Spring movements and the rise of Daesh terrorism, the U.S. decision has put it back at the center of the global agenda again.
This new momentum should now be utilized to find a fair and lasting peace.
Over the past several years, Palestinians have done more than their fair share to lay the groundwork for the peace process.
Earlier this year, Hamas unveiled a new political document that accepted the formation of a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders and made an important distinction between the religion of Judaism and the Zionist project.
In October, Palestinian political parties Hamas and Fatah signed a reconciliation deal to engage in negotiations as one. Yet again, they lack a true and serious counterpart on the Israeli side to move the process forward.

Israelis and their American and European supporters must realize that the troubles in the Holy Land will not go away until the Israeli occupation ends...
The U.S.-Israeli 'might makes right' approach is self-defeating and the biggest threat to peace and security.
Jerusalem is not up for trading in populism and unilateralism, and it is certainly not for sale for any price.
If the Trump administration is serious about peace in the Middle East, it must urge Israel to end its decades-long policy of occupation, humiliation and dispossession, a policy that must be condemned and rejected as an affront to humanity in the 21st century.


Abbas: UN instead of the US
Saudi Gazette Editorial, 15-12-2017

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called for the United Nations to replace the United States as the No 1 mediator between the Palestinians and Israelis... At least in the UN, the Palestinians would find a party that shows concern over their plight.
Since its founding in 1948, the Security Council has adopted over 80 resolutions directly related to the Arab–Israeli conflict, most of them on the side of the Palestinians.
In the last five decades, the UN has endorsed several resolutions regarding Jerusalem, including resolutions 465, 476, 478 and 2334 that emphasized that any unilateral measures taken to change the historic or legal status of Jerusalem would be null and void.
The UN has also sponsored several peace negotiations between the parties and has maintained a central role in the region, especially by providing support for Palestinian refugees and by providing a platform for Palestinian political claims.

All resolutions issued by the UN Security Council insisting that Palestinians had a right to self-determination and should not be forcibly removed from their lands were simply ignored by Israel.
With the US using its veto power in the Security Council, Israel was shielded from any accountability and provided cover to continue its illegal occupation and crimes against the Palestinian people.
Which is why the claim by US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley that the US will not allow the UN to “bully” Israel anymore, defies logic.
Israel has been allowed to turn the position upside down.


The Muslim world's opposing stance is not a retaliation,
but rather, a "struggle for justice."
Daily Sabah (Turkey), 15-12-2017

Turkey is starting initiatives at the United Nations to annul a decision by the United States to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, a move which has faced strong opposition from the international community, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Friday (dec 15).
"We have shown that our brothers in al-Quds (Jerusalem) are not alone.
We are launching new initiatives at the U.N for the annulment of the U.S. decision. No country in the world is above international laws," Erdoğan said, and continued by adding that the Muslim world's opposing stance is not a retaliation, but rather, a "struggle for justice."
"Separately, we are starting initiatives to increase [the number of] states who recognize the state of Palestine," he stressed.
Erdoğan also said that Muslim countries will start new funds to protect Palestinian families, "preventing Israel's seizure of neighborhoods, houses, and workplaces belonging to Muslims."
Jerusalem remains at the heart of the Israel-Palestine conflict, with Palestinians hoping that East Jerusalem -- now occupied by Israel -- might eventually serve as the capital of a Palestinian state.

Miko Peled: Get ready for ‘de-Arabization of Jerusalem'
RT America, interview, 6 december 2017

Miko Peled (born 1961 in Jerusalem) is an Israeli-American activist. He has written one book, The General’s Son: Journey of an Israeli in Palestine.
He has described his 2012 book, The General’s Son: Journey of an Israeli in Palestine, as an account of how he, "the son of an Israeli General and a staunch Zionist, came to realize that "the story upon which I was raised ... was a lie."
The book, he said, is based largely on long conversations with his mother, on a thorough reading of "everything my dad had ever written," and on material about his father's career in the Israeli army archives.

Peled wrote in a June 2012 op-ed for the Los Angeles Times that, “Israel is faced with two options: Continue to exist as a Jewish state while controlling the Palestinians through military force and racist laws, or undertake a deep transformation into a real democracy where Israelis and Palestinians live as equals in a shared state, their shared homeland.."

The Judaization of Jerusalem
Wikipedia info

At the conclusion of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Jordan occupied the Eastern part of Jerusalem while Israel controlled the Western part, resulting in a division of the city.
On 2 August 1948, by declaration of the Minister of Defence, Israel applied its laws to the areas of Jerusalem under its control.
Almost 33% of the land in West Jerusalem in the pre-mandate period had been owned by Palestinians, a fact which made it hard for the evicted Palestinians to accept Israeli control in the West.
Displaced peoples, both Arabs and Jews, were not allowed to cross the armistice lines to return to vacated homes.
Jewish Israelis took possession of many of the vacant homes in Western Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees populated the Jewish quarter until they were evicted in the 1960s and 1970s.

Israel established West Jerusalem as its capital in 1950.
In 1967, during the Six-Day War Israel captured East Jerusalem, which had been under Jordanian military occupation and annexation since 1948-49.
Via the Jerusalem Law, Israel united the city and expanded the city limits to include adjacent parts of the West Bank. Israeli law was applied to the areas and the inhabitants of the lands annexed by Israel. This action was immediately condemned in a Security Council Resolution.
Palestinian refugees were disallowed return by both Jordan and Israel, and Jewish Israelis occupied many of the homes left by the refugees.
In 1980, the Israeli government annexed East Jerusalem and reunified the city but the international community disputed this.

The Israeli government is attempting to Judaise East Jerusalem, and maintain a Jewish majority against the demographic threat of a higher Palestinian birth rate. Despite the rapid grow of the Jewish population since 1967, its relative size has decreased due to a higher growth rate among the Arab population.
The Government has sought to increase the Jewish population by establishing Jewish neighborhoods, viewed by International Community, and Left-Wing Parties and NGOs within Israel as illegal Israeli settlements, in and around Jerusalem.
Surrounding Arab villages, who traditionally have close cultural and economic connections with Jerusalem, are cut off from the city by the Israeli West Bank barrier. At the same time, the wall tightens major Jewish population centres to Jerusalem.
Another major aspect of Israel's effort to Judaize Jerusalem was to replace the Arabic names of streets, quarters and historical sites with Hebrew names.
The Jordanian newspaper, al-Ra'i, published a list of such names and accused the Israeli government of changing the Arab names systematically to erase Arab heritage in Jerusalem and prevent the reassertion of Arab sovereignty over the city.
The attempts to Judaize Jerusalem, in the words of Jeremy Salt, "to obliterate its Palestinian identity" and thicken 'Greater Jerusalem' to encompass much of the West Bank, have continued under successive Israeli governments.

The United Nations has criticised Israel's efforts to change the demographic makeup of Jerusalem in several resolutions.
All legislative and administrative measures taken by Israel, which have altered or aimed to alter the character, legal status and demographic composition of Jerusalem, are described by the UN as "null and void" and having "no validity whatsoever".
The European Union considers that Israel is "actively pursuing the illegal annexation" of East Jerusalem. According to the EU, Israeli actions increase Jewish Israeli presence in East Jerusalem and weaken the Palestinian community in the city.
The EU says that the fourth Geneva convention prevents an occupying power extending its jurisdiction to occupied territory, such as East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians claim as the capital of their future state.

Fatah calls for protests during Pence visit
Ben Ariel, Arutz Sheva, 17/12/2017

Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction on Saturday called for a massive demonstration next week to protest against a visit to Jerusalem by U.S. Vice President Mike Pence.
"We call for angry protests at the entrances to Jerusalem and in its Old City to coincide with the visit on Wednesday of U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and to protest against Trump's decision," Fatah said in a statement quoted by AFP.
"We will not accept any changes to the 1967 border of east Jerusalem," Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for Abbas, said Saturday. "This American position proves once again that the current U.S. administration is completely out of the peace process," he added.

Saturday’s statements also came a day after a senior official in Washington said the U.S. expects the Western Wall in Jerusalem to be part of Israel.
“We cannot envision any situation under which the Western Wall would not be a part of Israel. But as the President said, the specific boundaries of sovereignty of Israel are going to be part of the final status agreement,” the official told Israeli public broadcaster Kann. The official also noted that Pence’s visit to the Western Wall as part of his upcoming trip to Israel will be an official visit and not a private one.

Meanwhile on Saturday, Egypt circulated a draft resolution that would affirm that any change to the status of Jerusalem has no legal effect and must be rescinded.
Diplomats said the council could vote on the proposal as early as Monday, with the United States expected to use its veto power to block it but with most, if not all, of the 14 other council members backing the measure.
Israel Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon slammed the resolution, saying, "In these days, when the Jewish nation is celebrating when Jerusalem was liberated thousands of years ago, the Palestinians continue to try and reinvent history.”
"No vote or discussion will change the clear facts: Jerusalem is and has always been the capital of 'Israel'. This time, too, we will continue to defend our historical truth, together with our allies," he added.

History of Canaan|Palestine

In 168 the Maccabean Revolt established a small Jewish state in the area. Aside from the Israeli clans of the pre-Assyrian period, this was the only premodern Jewish state to have Jerusalem as a capital.
The capital of the 'Northern (Phoenician) Kingdom of Israel', under queen Jezebel connected with the (Phoenician) city-state of Tyre - was Samaria.
To the Samaritans - hated by the Jews in Jesus' time - Mt. Gerizim is their "Jerusalem". Shechem was the main settlement of the Samaritans. In A.D. 6, Shechem was annexed to the Roman Province of Syria.
Genesis 33:19 tells us that Abraham bought a parcel of a field in Shalem, a city of Shechem, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem's father, for an hundred pieces of money.

Jerusalem was Roman/ Byzantine until 614 CE, when the Iranian Sasanid Empire again conquered it. In 629 the Byzantines took it back. The capital of Roman/Byzantine Palestine was not Jeruzalem, but Ceasarea.

Ceasarea was built by Herod the Great about 25–13 BCE as the port city Caesarea Maritima. It served as an administrative center of Judaea Province of the Roman Empire, and later the capital of Palestine during the classic period.
Following the Muslim conquest in the 7th century, in which it was the last city to fall to the Arabs, the city had an Arab majority until Crusader conquest. It was abandoned after the Mamluk conquest. It was re-populated in 1884 by Bosniak immigrants.


The Muslims conquered Jerusalem in 638 and ruled it until 1099, when the Crusaders conquered it. The Muslims under Saladin took it back in 1187 CE and allowed Jews to return. Muslims then ruled it until the end of World War I, or altogether over a millennium. Jerusalem during that time was not a Jewish city, but a Muslim city.

Pope Francis says bias & disinformation ‘a grave sin’
News should encourage a healthy critical sense
RT Russia, 17-12-2017

Sensationalism is a grave sin, Pope Francis has warned. News should encourage a healthy critical sense, the pontiff said.
We must not fall prey to the ‘sins of communication’: disinformation – that is, giving just one side of the argument – slander, which is sensationalistic, or defamation, looking for outdated and old things, and bringing them to light today,” the pontiff said, addressing members of the Italian Periodical Press Union on Saturday.
So doing constitutes a “grave sin” which damages “the heart of the journalist” and harms people, the Pope said, adding that journalists have a very important mission which is to inform correctly and to offer everyone “a version of the facts conforming as closely as possible to reality.”
And now media is often dominated “by the drive for sensationalism” and “overheating of emotion” rather than “thoughtful reflection.”

The world needs “reliable information, with verified data and news, which does not aim to amaze and excite, but rather to make readers develop a healthy critical sense, enabling them to ask themselves appropriate questions and reach justified conclusions.”


Ahead of visit by VP Pence, Netanyahu hails Washington
for its defense of 'the truth of Israel'
By Times of Israel staff, 17-12-2017

netanyahu: the messiah is a wordly king and he will fight the wars of god...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday praised US President Donald Trump and his administration for “pushing back” against United Nations efforts to criticize Israel.
He was apparently referring to an impending Egypt-sponsored UN Security Council resolution to undermine the US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, which Washington was expected to veto.
At the weekly cabinet meeting, the prime minister hailed the US for its “leadership and determination in the defense of the truth of Israel,” the “decisiveness with which they are pushing back on the efforts to use the United Nations as a stage against Israel,” and for its public support. In his address to the cabinet, Netanyahu also heaped praise on US Vice President Mike Pence, who is due to visit Israel later this week. Pence, he said, is a “great friend of Israel and of Jerusalem.”

His statement followed a report by the Reuters news agency on Saturday that the UN Security Council was considering a draft resolution that would nullify Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital earlier this month.
The text, drafted by Egypt, “affirms that any decisions and actions which purport to have altered the character, status or demographic composition of Jerusalem have no legal effect, are null and void and must be rescinded in compliance with relevant resolutions of the Security Council,” Reuters reported.
It also calls upon all states not to establish diplomatic missions in Jerusalem, demanding that “all states comply with Security Council resolutions regarding Jerusalem” and not recognize “any actions or measures contrary to those resolutions.”
In December 2016 the Security Council voted through a resolution that “underlines that it will not recognize any changes to the 4 June 1967 lines, including with regard to Jerusalem, other than those agreed by the parties through negotiations.” Bitterly opposed by Israel, the vote passed 14-0 with the US abstaining.


US vetoes UN call for withdrawal of Trump Jerusalem decision
Netanyahu to Trump: "You spoke like a Maccabi.."
YNet News|Reuters, Itamar Eichner, 18.12.2017

The United States was further isolated on Monday over President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital when it blocked a United Nations Security Council call for the declaration to be withdrawn.
The remaining 14 council members voted in favor of the Egyptian-drafted resolution, which did not specifically mention the United States or Trump but which expressed "deep regret at recent decisions concerning the status of Jerusalem."
The UN draft resolution affirmed that any decisions and actions which purport to have altered the character, status or demographic composition of Jerusalem have no legal effect, are null and void and must be rescinded in compliance with relevant resolutions of the Security Council.

"What we witnessed here in the Security Council is an insult. It won’t be forgotten," US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said after the vote.
It was the first veto cast by the United States in the Security Council in more than six years, Haley said. "We do it with no joy, but we do it with no reluctance," she said. "The fact that this veto is being done in defense of American sovereignty and in defense of America’s role in the Middle East peace process is not a source of embarrassment for us; it should be an embarrassment to the remainder of the Security Council."
The draft UN resolution had also called upon all countries to refrain from establishing diplomatic missions in Jerusalem.
"The United States has a sovereign right to determine where and whether we establish an embassy," Haley said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked US President Donald Trump and Ambassador Haley on social media for their continued support.
"Thank you, Ambassador Haley. On Hanukkah, you spoke like a Maccabi... Thank you, @nikkihaley," he tweeted.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki said in response to the veto that they willl call for an emergency meeting of the UN General Assembly.
"We are moving within 48 hours ... to call for an emergency meeting of the General Assembly," al-Maliki told reporters in Ramallah. He said the international community would "consider the decision by president Trump as null and void."


Maccabean Revolt: Hellenized Jews wanted to abolish Jewish practices
and adopt Greek ways; opposed by Traditional Jews.


"The battle for liberty must be repeated. There was a first century struggle found in the New Testament for spiritual liberty. Legalism is an ongoing issue and we must be aware. It is as relevant today as at any time."

The Curse of the Law
Law and Legalism

Iranian Navy Keen to Expand Cooperation with Friendly States
FARS News Agency, 18-12-2017

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Hossein Khanzadi underlined his country's willingness to further broaden ties and cooperation with the friendly states in different military fields.
"The Iranian navy declares its preparedness to develop interactions in training, exchange of information and visits by fleets of warships with all friendly states with the aim of establishing sustainable security in the sea," Rear Admiral Khanzadi said, addressing a meeting with foreign military attaches of 25 countries in Tehran.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran's Armed Forces want cooperation and expansion of military ties with the friendly and neighboring countries," he added.
Rear Admiral Khanzadi also underlined that Iran believes security in the region is established by the neighboring and regional states and in absence of trans-regional troops.

Rouhani: "We are proud of our Iranian nationality and Islamic culture" Press TV, Apr 30, 2015

The Gate of All Nations, the Gate of Xerxes. This gate bears a trilangual inscription: Great is Ahura Mazda, God, who created this Earth, who created the heavens, who created humanity, who created happiness for humanity."

Iranophobia at heart of accusations
by Saudi Arabia, West
Press TV, Mon Dec 18, 2017

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has rejected accusations that Iran was in a quest to resurrect the Persian Empire, saying the accusations are in line with the Iranophobia project.
“The narrative and formatting of some media and writings that Iran is seeking to revive its ancient empire and expand its territorial sphere of influence is all the false and groundless presumptions that have been concocted to be knit into the Iranophobia project,” he said Monday.
Zarif made the remarks during his address to a conference held in Tehran on the history of Iran’s foreign relations, which was attended by a number of foreign diplomats and ambassadors as well as researchers.

Last month, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian echoed during a joint news conference with his Saudi counterpart Adel al-Jubeir Riyadh’s accusations that Iran had “hegemonic” intentions in the region.
Zarif told the “international and regional rabble-rousers to read a bit about the history of the Iranian people’s resistance.”
“The Islamic Republic of Iran emphasizes the territorial integrity of the countries of the region and their independence. We see our interests in a powerful, advanced and stable region,” he said.
Zarif outlined Iran’s foreign policies, saying the country should always maintain “distrust in arrogant powers and friendship and engagement with neighbors.”

Western powers and their allies in the region are worried about what they call an Iranian “arc of influence” stretching from Lebanon and Syria in the Levant, to Iraq and Bahrain on the Persian Gulf, to Yemen on the Red Sea.


President al-Assad receives Russian official delegation
Syrian Arab News Agency, 18 December 2017

President Bashar al-Assad received on Monday a Russian official and economic delegation headed by Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Dmitry Rogozin.
President al-Assad said that the continuous victories achieved in the fight against terrorism in Syria provide the necessary conditions for accelerating and strengthening the process of reconstructing what has been destroyed by terrorism in many Syrian regions, which should open wide economic prospects and further opportunities for cooperation between Syria and Russia.
He added that in view of the historical relations between the two friendly countries and peoples and the honorable positions adopted by Russia towards Syria and its people, which have been consolidated in the framework of confronting the terrorist war against Syria, it is natural for Russia to be an important partner in the process of reconstruction in various sectors.

For his part, Rogozin underlined the significant progress in Syrian-Russian economic cooperation and the efforts exerted by the Syrian-Russian Joint Committee for expanding this cooperation further to benefit the peoples of the two countries.
He stressed that Russian government and companies are always ready to provide all support and expertise available to contribute effectively to the process of rebuilding Syria and supporting the Syrian people to achieve their aspirations of progress and prosperity.


President al-Assad: Those who support terrorism
do not have the right to talk about peace
Syrian Arab News Agency, 18 December 2017

Damascus, SANA – President Bashar al-Assad said that the war on terrorism will only end when the last terrorist in Syria is eliminated, affirming that significant strides have been made in the war on terror by eliminating the main hotbeds of Daesh (ISIS).
He stressed that the war on terrorism isn’t over yet; it is still ongoing, but significant strides have been made in it by eliminating the main hotbeds of Daesh, which constitutes a significant victory.
President al-Assad noted that the world is focusing on Daesh alone in order to distract attention from the fact that terrorism – represented mainly by Jabhat al-Nusra – still exist and is supported by the West, so Daesh doesn’t represent the entirety of terrorism; it is just a part of it.
He asserted that war on terrorism will only end when the last terrorist in Syria is eliminated, at which point there can be realistic talk of victory.

Regarding de Mistura and France holding the Syrian Arab Republic delegation responsible for the lack of progress in the most recent round of Geneva talks, the President said that it’s natural for them to do so because they don’t want to hold groups that work for them responsible, adding that these comments by France or other Western countries prove that those groups work for them, and not for the sake of Syria’s interests.
They are vocal groups that work for dollars, meaning that if you give them a dollar, they will make a sound, and if you give them ten dollars, they will make various tunes of sounds according to how much dollars you give them...
Regarding France, President al-Assad said “Since the beginning, France has been the spearhead of supporting terrorism in Syria.
France’s hands are covered in Syrian blood and it has no right to evaluate any peace conference. Those who support terrorism do not have the right to talk about peace, let alone the right to interfere in the Syrian affairs. All there statements mean nothing to us and have no value.”

"I have a friend in France"
Film Depicts Bernard-Henri Lévy's Role in Libya
By Mathieu von Rohr, Spiegel 4-4-2012

What does this man in a suit and open-collared shirt want from me? That seems to be the question that Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, leader of the Libyan rebels, was asking himself the first time he sat across from the French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy.
The surreal scene took place on March 5, 2011 in Benghazi, only hours before the Libyan National Transitional Council was officially constituted, and two weeks before French fighter jets began bombing Libyan tanks....

Next to Abdul-Jalil, the Frenchman looks as out of place as a well-dressed philosopher with long, wavy hair can look in a war zone. The Libyan looks skeptical. He has no idea who this man is.
"Mr. Abdul-Jalil," Lévy says solemnly, speaking French. "I am no politician. I am no man of action. I am merely a writer. But like you, I believe that it is better to act than to speak."
A man off-screen translates, while another man asks impatiently: "Do you have a letter from the international community?"
"Give me five minutes!" Lévy replies. Then he continues in English: "Since my arrival, I have recognized that we can provide you with three things," which he then proceeds to list: First, a no-fly zone, and second, the bombardment of the airports in Sabha and Sirt, and of then Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's bunker in Tripoli. Third, Lévy says, Gadhafi can no longer be accepted as Libya's representative internationally, which Abdul-Jalil and his Transitional Council will do in the future.
Abdul-Jalil listens motionlessly. Lévy is improvising the speech of his life. "Now, I have a friend -- in France," he says. "Who is Mr. Sarkozy. I'm not a partisan of Sarkozy, but we are friends. Personal friends.
We will take the plane tomorrow, we are in Paris Monday morning and President Sarkozy will receive you and with all the others -- or your representatives -- at Palais de l'Élysée. This is the first step toward recognition. France will be the first country to officially receive the head of your council."

On March 19, hardly 48 hours after the United Nations Security Council had adopted its resolution on Libya, French jets attacked Gadhafi's tanks.
A philosopher in a white Dior shirt had led the West into war...



Flashback 2012: "Assad doesn’t deserve to be on this earth" (Laurent Fabius)

Webster Griffin Tarpley (Press TV 17-8-2012): Assad was supposed to be brought down in July, I think July 18th...: terror attacks to decapitate the Syrian armed forces, the shipping in of thousands and thousands of new death squad members from many other countries, an attack on the currency, the television warfare in its entire campaign... That has now failed. The death squads are losing and the Syrian government is still there...
The US, the British, the French and indeed the Israelis are now apoplectic. That’s what you see with [French Foreign Minister Laurent] Fabius. I would call attention to the language he decided when he says ‘the Syrian regime should be smashed fast and that Assad doesn’t deserve to be on this earth’. This is a language we haven’t heard in Europe since the fascist era....

Interview given by M. Laurent Fabius, Minister of Foreign Affairs
Consulate General of France in New York

Clinton-Fabius Bashar al-Assad is the murderer of his people. He must leave power – the sooner the better. Until now, the actions taken to that end have come up against two obstacles.
The first derives from the lack of consensus at the UN Security Council, because of the Russians and Chinese. The second is military: the Syrian army is powerful. No state is ready today to contemplate a ground operation. The risks of regional contagion would be dreadful, particularly in Lebanon.
In this context, France is adopting a three-pronged approach. Firstly, toughening sanctions.. Secondly, we must work with Russia, who plays a decisive role. .. Finally, we must encourage the Syrian opposition to come together.



terror in syria 2012

Palestinians no longer trust US, the unfair mediator
Ali Al-Ghamdi, Saudi Gazette, 19-12-2017

The United States imposed itself as mediator between the Palestinians and Israelis, but it has never behaved as an honest broker but has vetoed all UN resolutions that condemn Israel and its crimes against the Palestinians.
Trump’s decision is the latest of such actions on the part of the US administration in supporting Israel over all its unjust acts and atrocities against the Palestinians and their occupied homeland.
Analysts are of the view that President Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel is no less dangerous than the shameful Balfour Declaration made by the British Foreign Secretary a hundred years ago to make Palestine a national homeland for the Jews. Both men gave something that is not in their possession to those who do not deserve it.

Following the Balfour Declaration, the Palestinians and the Arabs were not ready to give up their cause but made a great effort to defeat the plan. However, the British plot against Jerusalem and Palestine succeeded in planting the State of Israel in the heart of the Arab world.
The Arabs lost the 1948 war due to their differences plus the conspiracies of the Western powers. Then they lost the 1967 war for the same reason. Later, they managed to achieve an incomplete victory in the 1973 war.
Egypt’s signing of a peace agreement with Israel after breaking away from the ranks of the Arab world was the first nail in the coffin of the Palestinian cause. Subsequently, Jordan signed a peace treaty with Israel, following the Oslo Accords inked between the Palestinians and Israel.
The signing of the Oslo Accords achieved nothing for the Palestinians because Israel does not want peace and seeks negotiations only for the sake of negotiations. Israel also wants to buy enough time to continue Judaizing Jerusalem and building settlements in the West Bank.

The Palestinian position, declared by President Mahmoud Abbas, provides no role for the United States of America in the peace process, as the Palestinians no longer trust it to help resolve the issue. This was after their full realization that the US is an unfair mediator as it is biased in favor of Israel, which continues its occupation of the Palestinian territories and its persecution of the unarmed Palestinian people.

High time for the world in general and the United States in particular
to come forward to stand by justice and truthfulness
Ali Al-Ghamdi, Al-Arabiya, 26-10-2017

Where are American values and human rights? Where is the respect for law on the part of the US?
Why does it stand by Israel’s false claims? Did not Israel excavate for half a century in the vicinity of Al-Aqsa Mosque and did it find any single piece of evidence that gives it the right for any claim on the holy mosque?
Are not all the claims of Israel based on myths and lies that do not amount to historical and archaeological facts? ..
The world knows the facts and stands by them. It knows Israel’s lies, racism and injustice to the Palestinian people. The world also knows the falsity of Israel’s democracy and its practice of abhorrent apartheid against the Palestinian people, no less than the apartheid practiced by the white minority in South Africa. International pressure led to the abolition of apartheid in South Africa and its replacement with democracy with the participation of all the people of the country.
It is high time for the world in general and the United States in particular to come forward to stand by justice and truthfulness in the case of the Palestinians.

" Excavations in Jerusalem [...] undermined the fantasies about the glorious past [and] failed to find any traces of an important tenth-century kingdom, the presumed time of David and Solomon.
No vestige was ever found of monumental structures, walls or grand palaces, and the pottery found there was scanty and quite simple."

Shlomo Sand, Prof. Emeritus, Tel Aviv University
in: 'Invention of the Jewish people'

"All the old gentile religions of the world will disappear"
'Christian' America, Donald Trump & Chabad Messianism

The White House released a proclamation designating April 7, 2017, as Education and Sharing Day, U.S.A, in honor of the 115th anniversary of birth of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory. The proclamation was signed by President Donald J. Trump. Chabad.org, April 6, 2017

Menachem Mendel Schneerson (April 18, 1902 OS – June 12, 1994 ), known to many as the Rebbe, was a Russian Empire-born American Orthodox Jewish rabbi, and the last Lubavitcher Rebbe.

Chabad message: What is the true key to salvation?

Ivanka Trump and and her husband Jared Kushner joined 'The Shul' of the Nation's Capital, a synagogue run by international Jewish community organization Chabad; among the Shul's congregants are former senator Joe Lieberman and Jack Lew.. (YNet News, jan. 2017)

Hannan Ashrawi: Kushner cannot broker peace with Israel

Those who return to the Jewish Law and who assist the Jewish people (Isaiah 60, 61, 66) will be saved and will participate in the miracles and revelations, including worshipping in the Third Temple, under the kingship of the Messiah.
As described in many places, including Jeremiah 16:19-21 and Zechariah 8:20-23, all the old gentile religions of the world will disappear, and their followers will turn to the Jews for spiritual leadership. Until then, Christians are spiritually blinded, and cannot yet understand G-d's wisdom in the Bible.

Ours is the last generation of the era of sin and evil and the first of the Messianic Era. Indeed, for the first time in history, there is a growing consensus of leading rabbis willing to name the man most suited to be the Messiah, and they are agreeing that he is the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson.
The man known today as "Jesus" is a false prophet. He became a "king" (over the Christian church) who changed the original Law, doing away with the Hebrew calendar and the Biblical holidays (Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkos the Festival of Tabernacles, Passover, etc.).
He disregarded the one, infinite G-d of the Hebrew Bible in favor of a new "trinity" that included himself. And he repeatedly broke the Law by committing terrible sins, while openly challenging the G-d-given authority of the rabbis of the Sanhedrin.

-- Question: I was accosted at the beach today by a guy from Jews for Jesus. He offered me a New Testament in Yiddish and said that many Jews have been "saved" by accepting Jesus as the messiah. I just ignored him. Then I saw a big ad in the newspaper from the same people. My question: Can a Jew believe in Jesus?
-- Answer: Of course a Jew can believe in Jesus. Just like a vegetarian can enjoy a rump steak, a peace activist can join a violent demonstration, and a dictator who preaches martyrdom can surrender himself to his enemies. As long as logic and clear thinking are suspended, anything makes sense! I think your response to that missionary was the best one - to ignore him. (
chabad.org)

During the Messianic Era, the Moshiach will serve a dual role. He will be a monarch, ruling over all of humanity and upholding the law of the Torah—613 commandments for the Jews, and seven for the non-Jews. He will also be the ultimate teacher.. (chabad.org)

Never under any circumstances does a knowledgeable Jew ever turn to That Man
Sharon Allen, Chabad & Jesus

I received a phone call from Rabbi Duchman. He told me about an internationally known deprogrammer, Rabbi J. Immanuel Schochet (member of the Chabad movement), who would be speaking soon at my daughter’s Yeshiva.
That night proved to be a turning point in my search for the truth. The rabbi’s speech centered on the generalities of Jewish home life and the problems facing the family. After the rabbi completed his talk, he asked for questions.
Someone expressed his concern about missionaries who wanted to teach his children about Jesus and then a man asked what he should do when his child comes home asking him about Scriptures with which he, as a Jewish parent, is not familiar.
At this point, Rabbi Schochet grabbed the sides of the podium and shouted to the audience, “Never under any circumstances does a knowledgeable Jew ever turn to That Man!” (“That Man” being a name that Jews call Jesus when they don’t want to say His name.)

I felt the rabbi was talking directly to me so I raised my hand and asked, “Rabbi, what do you tell someone like me who knows Yiddishkeit, follows Judaism, has a Jewish home and yet when I read the Jewish Bible, I see ‘That Man’?”
My question hit like a bombshell and for the few next hours we discussed Yiddishkeit, Jewish customs, the Bible, and other subjects. When midnight approached, the rabbi was anxious to close the meeting, so he said what he considered to be the words that would show me and all the others in the room why Jesus could not be the promised Messiah.
He shouted to the audience that Jesus committed blasphemy from the cross. Then in an angry, mocking tone, the rabbi quoted Jesus saying, “…My God, my God, Why hast Thou forsaken me?” Matthew 27:46.
I was horrified at Rabbi Schochet’s tone of voice and accusation that Jesus had committed blasphemy.
I found it amazing that in his anger, he apparently forgot that the statement Jesus made on the cross was first said by our own beloved King David in Psalm 22. Would any Jew dare to say that David committed blasphemy?
That night I told my husband and daughter, “I have no more doubts … Jesus is my Jewish Messiah.”


Guardian Opinion cartoons

Freedom: "Whose ever bread one eats, his language one speaks"
Trump threatens to cut aid to UN members over Jerusalem vote
Reuters, Wednesday 20 Dec 2017

US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said in a letter to several US allies ahead of the upcoming UNGA meeting that Trump will closely follow the vote on the status of Jerusalem and asked her to inform him about countries who vote against the United States. According to Haley, Trump would “take this vote personally.”
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki has slammed the US over “threatening” the UN General Assembly members ahead of a vote condemning President Donald Trump’s controversial decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of the Zionist entity.
According to al-Maliki, the US leadership is “committing another mistake when they have distributed this famous letter trying to threaten countries, [and] threaten their sovereign decision to choose how to vote.”

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened to cut off financial aid to countries that vote in favor of a draft United Nations resolution against his decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
"They take hundreds of millions of dollars and even billions of dollars, and then they vote against us. Well, we're watching those votes. Let them vote against us. We'll save a lot. We don't care," Trump told reporters at the White House.
The 193-member UN General Assembly will hold a rare emergency special session on Thursday at the request of Arab and Muslim countries on the controversial U.S. decision.