Your Israel Column

On Jonah, Iran and Atonement

2015-07-08T11:26:00.001-04:00

The High Holy Days will soon be upon us. One of our readings for Yom Kippur is the Book of Jonah. God gave Jonah responsibility for travelling to Nineveh, to tell the people there that they must either repent for their wickedness or face God’s wrath. After attempting to run away and then spending three days in the belly of a large fish, Jonah begrudgingly and resentfully fulfilled his responsibility. Nineveh repented and was forgiven by God. Repentance and forgiveness makes this a fitting story for Yom Kippur. But there’s more to this story than three days in the belly of a fish and a universal message of forgiveness.

Jonah ran away from his responsibility to speak out against wrong doing. He was angry about losing a tree that he felt entitled to, even though he didn’t work for it or cultivate it. Losing the shade of the tree, Jonah was exposed to the heat of the sun. It’s those elements of the story that contain a message for us in these times.

We are living in some of the best times in the history of our people. For the past 7 decades we’ve had the luxury to live in the comfort of the shade cast for the Jewish people by the tree of life known as the State of Israel. And our people have flourished.

Yet for the past several years Israel has been under unprecedented attack. It is on the defensive, not only militarily, but for its very legitimacy, including its right to defend itself from those who seek to destroy it. Israel has been weakened and made more vulnerable than ever on the international stage. The tree that shelters us from the raging heat of anti-Semitism is itself straining under the heat of being the Jew among the nations.

At the same time, and in no coincidence, anti-Semitism is raging across the globe. It is a rising tide of hate that seeks the destruction of Israel and the destruction of the Jewish People. Run a search on Google news with the term “anti-Semitism” and you’ll see a distressing stream of headlines.

Attacks on Israel coincide with attacks on Jews everywhere. Weakening of Israel weakens the Jewish People. We are inextricably connected.

Jonah turned away from his responsibility to speak out, and was angry when he lost a comfort that he took for granted and felt entitled to.

What obligation or responsibility to speak out have we turned away from? What respite from the heat do we take for granted?

We are not simply entitled to shelter from the heat. We are obligated to work for it. The relief from the heat of anti-Semitism, that we have enjoyed these last six decades, is the result of words and actions by people who believed that our right, Lihyot ‘am chofshi be’artzeinu, to be a free people in our land, Eretz-Tziyon v’yerushalayim, the land of Zion and Jerusalem, was not merely a dream, but our need and our destiny. If we and our children expect to continue to have shelter from the heat of anti-Semitism we must also work for it with words and action.

But we are not sufficiently using our voices in service to each other and in keeping with the obligation that God bestows upon us as Jews. Instead, many of us are like Jonah, literally running in the opposite direction, distancing ourselves from Israel and from the Jewish People. And like Jonah we may find ourselves without respite from the heat.

We must speak out against anti-Semitism. We must speak out against anti-Zionism. We must speak out against the denial of Israel to self-defense, we must speak out against the attacks, military attacks, terror attacks and political attacks, that require constant self-defense, and we must speak out against a deal that will lead to a nuclear Iran.

In the coming days or weeks, Congress will have the chance to examine the terms of an agreement with Iran to ensure that it advances U.S. interests and that it blocks every Iranian path to a nuclear weapon. This is a crucial decision for the United States and a survival issue for Israel. You must speak out and express your opinions about this deal to Congress.

It’s easier than ever to make your voice heard to our president, to our senators and to our representatives in Congress. Send an email. Write a letter. Make a phone call. Donate to strengthen Jewish and Israeli causes. Attend a rally.

However you choose, you must speak and act. If we are to continue to enjoy shelter from the heat we must work for it.

Jonah was one person. His one voice turned a nation and a king. One voice alone is not powerless, many voices together are powerful. Many voices united in purpose and message can turn politicians. Presidents and dictators alike.

God waited for Jonah to say his piece before passing judgment on Nineveh. There is still time for us to make our voices heard, but time is of the essence.

I pray we must never atone for our own inaction.

By the way, Jonah has not disappeared from the pages of history. Neither has Nineveh. Jonah is mentioned in the Koran and recognized as a prophet in Islam. Nineveh is part of the city of Mosul in a country we still call Iraq. It was the home of a site recognized as the Tomb of Jonah. On July 24, 2014 Jonah’s tomb was destroyed by the Islamic State.

Why Israel is an amazing place for a holiday, and far more than a bible story

2013-12-22T18:17:00.001-05:00

The Holy Land has never been more accessible. It's a must-see for 2014!

Temple Mount Sifting Project Suffers Major Damage from Snow Storm

2013-12-21T16:29:00.001-05:00

The heavy snow storm in Israel caused major destruction to the Sifting Project site. The greenhouse frame structure could not hold the weight of the snow and it collapsed. Much of the equipment and infrastructure installations were destroyed.

Renown Israeli archaeologist and Sifting Project founder Dr. Gabriel Barkay toured the US and Canada from September through November, giving over 40 presentations about the importance and findings of the Sifting Project.

Whether you attended one of his the presentation and saw the value in the unique work of the Temple Mount Sifting Project, or have just read about it for the first time, now is the time to offer your support for this important work.

Donations to support the project can be made online at www.gabrielbarkay.com/donate.html or templemount.wordpress.com/contributions-to-the-sifting-project.

Visit the Sifting Project web site to learn more.

Fundamental Rights Agency spotlights rising anti-Semitism, then buries its own working definition of anti-Semitism

2013-12-07T10:01:00.001-05:00

Europe’s Fundamental Rights Agency, which last month released a study on rising anti-Semitism in Europe has now discarded its own definition of anti-Semitism and removed the definition from its website.

The FRA study reported that:

76% of survey respondents said the situation had deteriorated over the last five years
66% consider anti-Semitism to be a major problem in their country
38 % said they avoid displaying symbols identifying them as Jews in public
23 % said that they occasionally avoid visiting Jewish events or sites because they do not feel safe there or the way there because they are Jewish
Fear of rising anti-Semitism in Europe has prompted nearly a third of European Jews to consider emigration because they do not feel safe in their home country

“We are not aware of any official definition [of anti-Semitism],” Blanca Tapia of the EU’s Fundamental Rights Agency told JTA after the definition was removed from the FRA website.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry called on the EU’s Fundamental Rights Agency to return the working definition of anti-Semitism to its website.

With European Jews facing increasing difficulty, the Jerusalem Post published an editorial in October calling on Israel to “prepare both operationally and conceptually to absorb thousands of European Jews.”

A paper published in March by JPPI titled European Jewry – Signals and Noise, reported on the situation and trends facing European Jewry and proposed ways to improve Israeli capabilities to welcome and absorb large numbers of Jews fleeing Europe.

You don’t have to visit Washington to lobby your government – do it now

2013-12-03T09:40:00.001-05:00

If you’d like to express your displeasure to your elected representatives about the low state of US relations with Israel and Saudi Arabia, the proposed (there appears to be some confusion about whether the agreement was actually signed) agreement with Iran that would allow it to maintain its nuclear capabilities in exchange for reduced US sanctions, the deal allowing the Syrian government to continue is massacre, or Egypt’s turn to Russia for a new military alliance, you can do it right from your telephone and your computer. Find your Representative in the House and find your Senators, then email, write, fax or call their offices. Here’s a suggested letter that you are free to use:

Dear <Senator or Congressperson’s name>
Please support the Nuclear Weapon Free Iran Act.
I am deeply concerned about the way the President and Secretary of State have been damaging US relationships with our allies in the Middle East. They have betrayed Israel and Saudi Arabia and other allies in negotiations with Iran. I urge you to pass new and stronger sanctions against Iran, and I urge you to call this administration to account for turning back the clock on over 50 years of American diplomacy.
Why is our country sacrificing its relationships with its allies so that it can free Iran to at the very least always remain on the edge of nuclear weapons development, and at worst develop a stockpile of nuclear weapons? Have we learned nothing from Pakistan and North Korea?
Why have we turned Egypt, a critical ally for peace in the Middle East, back to an alliance with Russia that last ended in the 1970s?
Why in Syria have we redeemed a war criminal who used poison gas from punishment, while at the same time allowing him to continue his massacre by other means?
You must work with Congress to act before it is too late. Before Iran has the capacity to develop nuclear weapons. Before other countries in the Middle East embark on a nuclear arms race to counter Iran.
Sincerely,
<your name>

Israel, the Pilgrims and the Maccabees

2013-12-01T20:13:00.001-05:00

Israel, the Pilgrims and the Maccabees - Caroline Glick

The Festival of Lights is a celebration of Jewish religious freedom and national liberation. The Maccabees freed the Jews from the tyranny of Greece, the world’s greatest superpower, which denied them their right to remain Jewish. The Maccabees, a small band of heroically tenacious Jews who suffered extraordinary hardship in their war against the far superior Greek forces, took strength and comfort in their faith. It was their faith in God that empowered them to face impossible odds and emerge victorious. It was their faith in God that gave them the ability to stand up not only to the Greeks, but to the Jewish elites who preached submission and appeasement as the better part of virtue, castigating them as warmongering zealots for refusing to bow before false gods.

Fitch revises Israel rating outlook to positive | Reuters

2013-12-01T20:01:00.001-05:00

Fitch revises Israel rating outlook to positive | Reuters

The issue ratings on Israel's senior unsecured foreign and local currency bonds have also been affirmed at 'A' and 'A+' respectively. The Outlook on the Long-term foreign currency IDR has been revised to Positive from Stable. The Outlook on the Long-term local currency IDR is Stable. The Country Ceiling has been affirmed at 'AA-' and the Short-term foreign currency IDR at 'F1'.

In Israel, a Dream Made Real

2013-11-30T09:52:00.001-05:00

Ari Shavit: In Israel, a Dream Made Real - WSJ.com

Against all odds, Zionism has allowed an almost extinguished people to renew itself

In Israel, centuries of pain have burst out into gaiety and creation. Here is the demography of hope: an almost extinguished people renewing itself. Unlike the affluent societies of Europe, Israel's affluent society reproduces and grows—we have babies in great numbers.

Israel is no utopia, but it is an amazing expression of vitality.

Once one steps back from the ongoing friction of a conflict reported daily around the world, one can see the transformation of the Jews in the Zionist century. We had to come here, and once we came, we did wonders.

The Jewish nation state has brought neither peace nor peace of mind to the Jews. But it has provided us with the intensity of life on the edge—the adrenaline rush of living dangerously. Threatened with death, we have built a spectacle of life. We have converged on this shore and cling to this shore, come what may.

'Washington Post': White House omitting facts about Iran nuclear deal

2013-11-29T10:57:00.001-05:00

The Washington Post's editorial board says The White House is omitting key facts about the nuclear deal signed with Iran. According to the Post's Editorial Board, "the United States and its partners have already agreed that Iranian enrichment activity will continue indefinitely. In contrast, a long-standing US demand that an underground enrichment facility be closed is not mentioned." According to the editorial, the most troubling aspect of the Geneva interim deal is that Iran could return to uranium enrichment and plutonium production at some point in the future after sanctions have been removed.

Read the analysis on the Jerusalem Post and The Washington Post's full editorial.

2013-11-22T17:17:00.001-05:00

Quiet revolution afoot as reforms sail through Knesset

A slow-moving legislative revolution is taking place that may dramatically change how Israelis live their lives. Electoral change, pay equality, raised marriage age, rabbinical competition — a stream of liberal legislation is moving with unexpected ease through the Knesset.

Netanyahu proves that he is not only the Prime Minister of Israel, but is also the Prime Minister of the Jewish People

2011-05-22T09:15:00.001-04:00

Prime Minister Netanyahu, speaking to President Obama and the press in the oval office, took charge against Obama’s assertions that Israel should acquiesce to among other things Palestinian demands for 1967 borders and said very plainly that it’s “not going to happen.”

Here are links to the video on YouTube, as well as a transcript of the exchange.

Israel on the verge of energy sector revolution

2011-03-11T12:02:00.001-05:00

New data suggests Israel may not only have much larger gas resources than believed, but also the 3rd largest deposit of oil shale in the world.

The Tamar field, which should begin production in 2013, is expected to supply all of Israel’s domestic requirements for at least 20 years. The Economist suggested in November 2010 that the recently discovered Leviathan field, which has twice the gas of Tamar, could be completely devoted to exports.

All the undersea gas fields together have about 25 trillion cubic feet of gas, but the potential for further discoveries is considerably greater, given that the US Geological Survey estimates that there are 122 trillion cubic feet of gas in the whole Levant Basin, most of which is within Israel’s jurisdiction.

After the Leviathan discovery these numbers could go up further. Perhaps for that reason, Greece has been talking to Israel about creating a transportation hub for distributing gas throughout Europe from the Eastern Mediterranean that will come from undersea pipelines.

What is less well-known, but even more dramatic, is the work being done on this country’s oil shale. The British-based World Energy Council reported in November 2010 that Israel had oil shale from which it is possible to extract the equivalent of 4 billion barrels of oil. Yet these numbers are currently undergoing a major revision internationally.

A new assessment was released late last year by Dr. Yuval Bartov, chief geologist for Israel Energy Initiatives, at the yearly symposium of the prestigious Colorado School of Mines. He presented data that our oil shale reserves are actually the equivalent of 250 billion barrels (that compares with 260 billion barrels in the proven reserves of Saudi Arabia).

See How Israel could revolutionize the global energy sector from the Jerusalem Post

Love Without Peace: Accepting Israel For What It Is

2011-02-19T11:43:00.001-05:00

The question for all concerned observers should now be whether or not American Jews are capable of resting their affections for Israel on the more solid footings of the 3,000-year connection of the Jewish people to their ancestral homeland and their natural right to modern self-determination within it. As supposedly informed observers like Remnick should be able to easily grant, even in the most ideal projections a lasting peace between Israel and the Arabs remains years in the distance. But no one ever claimed that national independence would be easy, or that a lack of peace should turn anyone away from his people’s homeland.

Love Without Peace: Accepting Israel For What It Is | The Jewish Week

Israeli economy booms in fourth quarter

2011-02-16T18:52:00.001-05:00

Israel's GDP rose at an unprecedented pace of 7.8%,on an annualized, seasonally adjusted basis, in the fourth quarter of 2010, the Central Bureau of Statistics reported today. GDP rose by an annualized 5.4% in the second half of last year, after rising 5% in the first half, and 3.4% in the second half of 2009.

Israeli economy booms in fourth quarter - Globes

The hope of two thousand years – A speech for Yom HaAtzma’ut, Israel Independence Day

2011-02-09T22:28:00.001-05:00

The hope of two thousand years,

Lih'yot am chofshi be'artzeinu

Eretz tzion viyerushalayim

To be a free people in our land

The land of Zion and Jerusalem

Yom HaAtzma’ut is the day that we celebrate the reestablishment of the State of Israel, the day we became am chofshi be'artzeinu, a free people in our land.

Hatikvah ^[¹^] speaks of the two thousand year longing for freedom and return to the land, but it does not speak of peace. Maybe it’s implied, or maybe the writers were just being realistic. Looking at the long Jewish history it must have been clear that once you are living in your own land, whether you live as a free and democratic people is up to you. But living in peace often depends on others.

Our history over the last two millennia is largely one with neither freedom nor peace. It’s easy to summarize its repetitiveness. Limitations on the practice of Judaism, often done in hiding. Pogroms. Forced labor. Inquisition. Forced conversion. Repeated expulsions. Limitations on where we could live. Mass murders by governments and by our neighbors. Even during what is called the Golden Age of Islam, when Spain was ruled under Sharia law and Muslims, Christians and Jews are said to have lived in peace, we were third class citizens known as dhimmi. If we avoided the punishment of torture or death under rules that make Jim Crow look like the Bill of Rights, then there was peace. It was said that we ate the blood of Christian children. And In what I’m sure is one of history’s greatest ironies, we were accused as killers of Christ, when it was us who died century after century, by the thousands and by the millions, because of the sins of the world.

In 1948 the river of our history changed course. In a miracle we prevailed over the onslaught of our neighbors. We were free to govern ourselves as a sovereign nation. The timeless dream became reality. We were finally am chofshi b’artzenu, a free people in our land.

But we must remember that at that same time Jews were not free everywhere. There were still Jews living in displaced persons camps in Europe, unable to return home or recover their property, let alone their families. A million of us would be expelled from our homes in Muslim countries ^[²^], waiting in the night to be rescued in dramatic airlifts to Israel ^[³^{] [}⁴^]. Millions of other Jews became locked behind the Iron Curtain for decades more ^[⁵^]. In the US we were still restricted from places like universities and exclusive clubs. We can only speculate about how things would have continued for us around the world without the reestablishment of Israel. Who knows how the world would have dealt with its Jewish problem.

The more our enemies fought to get rid of Israel the more miracles occurred. In 1967 “next year” finally came. Colonel Motta Gur of the IDF said: “The Temple Mount is in our hands!” ^[⁶^] and Jews returned to Jerusalem, where we are still rebuilding from the destruction of Jewish sites by the Jordanian army ^[⁷^]. Each time Israel was attacked it was able to push the enemy armies farther and farther away. The West Bank, Golan, Sinai, southern Lebanon. It was through victory that Israel achieved a modicum of peace.

But the peace is cold. Egypt allows weapons to be smuggled into Gaza for use against Israeli civilians ^[⁸^]. Jordan revokes Jordanian citizenship from Palestinians to keep them pressed against Israel ^[⁹^]. Other countries fund terrorist armies bent on the killing of Jews and the destruction of Israel. Their reach has extended to attack Jews around the world as we’ve seen in South America and Europe and India. I think it’s fair to say that a good portion of the world, including the 57 nations that belong to the Organization of the Islamic Conference, still will not accept that the Jewish state is here to stay. They have changed the point of their spear, but land for peace is like the emperor with no clothes. The only thing concessions have done for Israel since the treaties with Egypt and Jordan is return enemy armies to its borders. The still freshly gained freedom of Israel and the freedom of Jews everywhere must not be dealt away for a false peace.

Israel has gone and continues to go to extraordinary lengths for peace. The question is not whether Israel wants peace. It’s so called partners refuse to return to the negotiating table.

The real question is this: do we believe things have changed so much that if we let them put the blade to our neck they won’t cut off our heads? If the world has changed, why is Israel the only nation that cannot have a seat on the UN security council ^[¹⁰^]? Why are dictators that deny freedom to billions allowed a seat at the table but not Israel? Why is Israel the focus of condemnation by the UN human rights council when there is so much oppression in so many countries? Why are there over one hundred UN resolutions that speak of Arab refugees but none that speak of the nearly one million Jewish refugees who were forced out of the Muslim countries where their communities lived for 2,000 years? Why must lands that Israel turns over to its enemies in the name of peace immediately become Judenrein, cleansed of Jews? Why have anti-Semitism and anti-Israelism become chic again? Why is Israel held to high standards when others are held to none? Why do President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton, who both once told voters they believed that Jerusalem must forever remain the undivided capital of Israel^[¹¹^{] [}¹²^{] [}¹³^{] [}¹⁴^{] [}¹⁵^]now say that Jews should not build homes in Jerusalem^[¹⁶^{] [}¹⁷^{] [}¹⁸^]? Why is Jerusalem the focus of their Middle East policy when there are real barriers to peace like rocket fire from the Gaza Strip and the funding of Hamas and Hizbullah? Why is Israel under increasing attack by our President, who now says that Israeli policies are responsible for the deaths of American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan^[19] ? Why is Mahmoud Abbas referred to as a moderate without ever a reference to his PhD thesis in which he denies the holocaust ever happened, or to his follow-up book titled “The Other Side: The Secret Relationship Between Nazism and the Zionist Movement,”^[²⁰^] which purports to refute “the fantastic lie that six million Jews were killed” in the Holocaust. Abbas wrote that the German gas chambers were never used to kill Jews, but only to disinfect them. And to the extent that Jews did die in World War Two Abbas wrote that this was a joint effort between Jewish leaders and the Nazis. These were the result of three years of study for his PhD. Why is someone like that called “a man of peace”? Why is no other country treated like Israel? Why, why, why. The list is as endless as it is shameful.

I was going to read from parts from Israel’s Declaration of Independence tonight but I decided instead to read something else. These are the words of one of America’s founding fathers which speak so well for the state of affairs facing Israel today. He said:

“We have done everything that could be done to avert the storm which is now coming on. We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne. Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned with contempt. If we wish to be free we must fight!

I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided; and that is the lamp of experience. What terms shall we find which have not already been exhausted? The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?”

He went on to say:

“Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!”

The words of Patrick Henry.

If we are serious about the Jewish people remaining free then it is the responsibility of each of us to protest the current state of affairs loudly and clearly. We must write and call our senators and representatives, our secretary of state and our president, and let them know that the singling out of Israel as the Jew among the nations is unacceptable. We must let them know that our support for them is conditional based on a change of treatment and policy toward Israel. Silence is acquiescence. If we do not speak up now we are enabling a potentially fatal assault on the security of the Jewish state. We are now bearing witness to the beginning of that assault. A generation from now Jews will be asking, “what did you do to protect Israel?” I pray we all have a good answer.

Coming just off of Passover and Yom HaShoah, we must also remember everything in between and everything since as if we ourselves went forth. Our present and our future are illuminated by the light of our past. We must never forget our history, we must never forget our connection to all other Jews, we must never forget our connection to the land of Israel. We must never forget to tell our children.

Because we are still finding our way out of mitzrayim. Because Amalek is still attacking. Because in every generation there really are those who rise up to destroy us. Because the security of Israel is the security the Jewish people the world over. Because the freedom of Israel is the freedom of our children and our grandchildren. Because the world shows us week after week that after 2 millennia and a Holocaust we must still wait for change we can believe in.

That is why I pray, that Israel and all Jews, will always love freedom more than peace, so that we will forever remain am chofshi b’artzenu, a free people in our land, and a free people everywhere.

Chag Sameach

Association of Reform Zionists of America (ARZA) launches initiative to inform Reform Jews about efforts to delegitimize Israel

2011-02-06T07:59:00.001-05:00

ARZA, the Union for Reform Judaism’s (URJ) Zionist arm, is launching an initiative to make members of Reform synagogues aware of the war without guns that is being waged against Israel, and the details of particular anti-Israel efforts.

It will begin distributing a series of articles to its congregations that describe efforts to delegitimize Israel including boycott, divestiture and sanctions (BDS) campaigns.

This follows on other recent ARZA and URJ statements supporting Israel. Just last week ARZA and the URJ called on its members to write to President Obama to urge him to put an end to a proposed UN resolution condemning Israel and its building on disputed territory.

In January URJ President Eric Yoffie and ARZA President Rabbi Robert Orkand, along with over five hundred “religious and communal leaders representative of the broad spectrum of the American faith community” signed their names to a letter to President Obama seeking clemency for Jonathan Pollard.

Two months ago ARZA issued a statement criticizing UNESCO’s declaration that Rachel’s Tomb is a mosque and a PA study denying the Jewish history of the Temple Mount.

Israel offers Gaza help with development of offshore natural gas and other economic projects, Blair praises “important breakthrough”

2011-02-06T07:43:00.001-05:00

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made the offer along with other steps to help improve the overall economic well-being of the Palestinians.

Mr. Netanyahu also outlined new electricity, water-desalinization and sewage projects intended to make Gaza's 1.5 million people independent of Israeli utilities.

"Clearly there are many items to be worked out, but this is an important breakthrough for the Palestinian Authority, the people of Gaza and the broader region," said Tony Blair, the international peace envoy.

Read more at The Wall Street Journal and Reuters.

Read the full published statements by Netanyahu and Blair.

Opposition to Proposed UN Security Council Resolution Condemning Israeli Settlements Grows, Union for Reform Judaism and ARZA Issue Statement Urging Opposition to the Resolution

2011-01-29T08:26:00.001-05:00

Following on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s opposition to Palestinian efforts to have the UN Security Council condemn Israeli settlements, the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) and it’s Zionist arm the Association of Reform Zionists of America (ARZA) have issued a statement opposing passage of the draft resolution, which was submitted by Lebanon.

The URJ and ARZA “support the official statement by the United States that the UN Security Council is not the proper forum for discussions of the peace process, and that the proposed resolution would not be a "productive step." The URJ and ARZA call upon the United States to stop this proposed resolution from being brought to the Security Council for a vote and, if this fails, to use veto power to prevent passage of this resolution.” The statement goes on to say:

“Our collective voice may be strong, but it is stronger when backed up with the voices of people in the pews! Send President Obama a message from the contact page on the White House website: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact. Please make the following points:

Thank you for standing up for Israel

Please continue to prevent the proposed Lebanese Resolution condemning Israel from coming to the UN Security Council

If the resolution does get to the Council, please use our veto to prevent passage of the resolution”

In an editorial published on January 26th in the Wall Street Journal, Alan Dershowitz writes the following about the proposed resolution:

“There is a big difference between a government action being unwise, which the Israeli policy is, and being illegal, which it is not. Indeed, the very Security Council resolution on which proponents of the condemnation rely makes it clear that the legal status of Israel's continued occupation isn't settled.”

Dershowitz continued:

“The current draft of the proposed resolution condemns "all Israeli settlement activities." Read literally, this condemnation would extend to the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem, the Western Wall, and those areas that even the Palestinian Authority concedes must remain under Israeli control. Israel will not, and should not, return "all" such territories. The U.S. does not believe it should, nor do reasonable Palestinians.

So what then is the purpose of the utterly unrealistic resolution now under consideration? It simply gives cover to those Palestinians who do not want to sit down and negotiate directly with Israel. It is also a stalking horse for the Palestinian effort to secure a further U.N. resolution unilaterally declaring Palestinian statehood—a result that neither Israel nor the U.S. would recognize.”

Other groups calling for opposition to the proposed resolution include Stand With Us, which has published a sample letter for use in writing to President Obama and other elected officials.

Intel increases investment in Israel

2011-01-26T22:12:00.001-05:00

Intel has confirmed plans to invest $2.7 billion to upgrade its Kiryat Gat facility in southern Israel to produce new technology for semiconductors. The investment will boost the facility's workforce by approximately 1,000 jobs over the coming year. Intel currently employs over 7,000 people in Israel. Kiryat Gat is about a 20 minute drive from Sderot, Ashkelon and Ashdod. Click here for more details.

Israel in your next computer

2011-01-21T17:21:00.000-05:00

Intel released the next generation of its computer chips (Core i3/i5/i7) that will power new laptop and desktop computers. Much of the development took place at Intel’s facilities in Haifa in a project that at its peak included more than 1,000 software engineers. This is the second time that the capabilities of Intel's Israeli development center has been at the heart of a strategic development of such a scale. Click here to read more.

Sign up and speak out for Gilad Shalit

2011-01-20T17:20:00.000-05:00

Magen David Adom has launched a series of initiatives worldwide to gain Red Cross access to Gilad Shalit. It has set up an online petition to highlight his plight and demand the basic human right, as set out in the Geneva Convention, for Shalit to be visited immediately by the International Red Cross. Sign the petition and forward it to as many people as possible.

Rocket fire from Gaza on Israeli civilians continues

2011-01-19T17:19:00.000-05:00

By the second week of 2011 more than 20 rockets, missiles and mortar shells had been fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel's southern communities. During 2010, over 235 Grad missiles, Kassam rockets and mortar shells were fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel.

Help Israel recover from its worst forest fire

2011-01-19T04:22:00.000-05:00

Always a time for planting in Israel, the Jewish New Year for the Trees, Tu B'Shvat, served as a symbolic start to bringing the devastated Carmel forest back to life after the early December fire that led to 44 deaths and destroyed about five million trees along with many plants and creatures. It will take massive manpower and money to restore the nature reserve, fix damaged buildings and infrastructure, and care for residents traumatized or left homeless by the worst forest fire in Israel's history. Israel needs your help with this effort. The JNF is collecting funds to help with the recovery.

UN Votes for Durban III

2011-01-17T17:09:00.001-05:00

In the ongoing campaign to delegitimize Israel the UN voted to authorize Durban III with a General Assembly session planned for September 2011 to commemorate the original Durban conference. The Israeli government issued an official response. The first conference in 2001 titled the “UN World Conference Against Racism” became a focus for hateful anti-Jewish rhetoric and anti-Israel political agendas, prompting both Israel and the United States to withdraw their delegations from the conference. Participants revived the charge that "Zionism is Racism" and copies of the anti-Semitic work The Protocols of the Elders of Zion were sold on conference grounds. Read more about the original conference here. Canada and Israel have announced that they will boycott Durban III. There were 22 other countries that voted against having the conference. Among the countries abstaining were Austria, Belgium, France, Greece, Hungary and Spain. To help understand the international campaign to delegitimize Israel read FAQ: The campaign to defame Israel.

Israel: Best Economy in the West

2010-12-31T10:25:00.001-05:00

Israel's Gross National Product grew by 4.5% in 2010, compared with only 2.7% in the other 33 countries of the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD). Israel became an OECD member this past September.

Israel’s unemployment rate, at 6.7%, is also lower than other OECD countries.

More details at Arutz Sheva.