Our perspective of a situation can actually change our reality.
By Yehoshua Leib Ha Kohen
It is empowering to recognize that it is up to us to determine our experiences. We may not be able to change facts or situations, but we can absolutely change how we view them. We determine if we want to see something as a punishment or a challenge, an annoyance or an opportunity.
We are in the month of Kislev, the month of dreams. All the dreams in the Torah are read in the Torah portions during this month. There is a lot of discussion in Jewish thought as to the meaning of our dreams and how much weight we should give to them. And one of the interpretations is that it is up to us to interpret our dreams and spin them in a positive way.
We are taught that hakol holech acharei hapeh, that everything follows the mouth. This means that what we say creates reality. This is one of the important ways in which we “…are created in His Image.” We can create something by calling forth. If you think positively, you will speak positively and if you speak positively you are more likely to act positively and through these actions, bring HaShem’s Light into the world. This is our job as all points’ maintainers and ‘tikkunists’ (cosmic repairmen) of the ‘Olam’ world (all worlds.)
So let’s ensure especially in this month of dreams, that we have an outlook that creates the positive actions toward the life we all want to be living. And let’s start taking our positive dreams, the ones we have when are asleep and those when we are awake, and make them come true!
Yehoshua Leib ha Kohen is a Religious Zionist whose vision is to speak to all peoples, as the Torah commands - 'To be a Lamp unto Their Feet.' He is a Ph.D. psychologist and brings messages to guide and inspire the understanding of the wisdom of G-d's Light and the Way to Him and a joyous faith-based life.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Two Is One
The Torah tells us that Adam was created as a unibeing. One side of his head had a male face and the other side a female face. When G-d saw Adam alone in the garden it was the first time he uttered the words “Lo tov” “Not good.” It is not good for man to be alone. And He took one ‘side’ of Adam out of him and separated Chava. He called her an ‘ezer-kenegdo’ which means a ‘help-mate-over-against-you’ which our Sages, of Blessed memory, have explained thus: If the man is doing what he should in following G-d’s ways, his wife will be a help-mate. Meaning she will support him, help him and stand by his side.
But if, on the other hand, he is not following the ways that G-d has shown him, not living a life based upon the three pillars of Torah; That is - Charity =Giving of one’s Self, one’s Money, and one’s compassion. Service =Prayer, Mitzvot and Study of Torah, and bringing this into his life and his community, and practicing these actions for his wife and children, then she shall be ‘over-against’ him to bring him back on track. We see good women doing just this in and outside of the religious community. This is the way G-d created women to be.
We learn from this many things. First that it is the duty of a man to provide for his wife as it says in the Jewish marriage contract (Ketuba.) This consists of two kinds of provision: The first is material provision, food, clothing and shelter. The second is spiritual provision. He must go out and seek knowledge of Torah and especially the parts of Torah that he can bring to his wife, to inspire her, and in turn that she can teach them to, and inspire her children. The duty of a woman is to join with and receive from the man and perform the necessary actions with the intentions to transform what he has brought. These are the functions that are natural to a woman.
What do I mean that are natural to a woman? There are functions that are hard-wired biologically, hormonally and chemically in a man and in a woman. They are different, corresponding and complimentary. The simplest and analogical (meaning it obtains on all levels) example is the function of each during the act of physical union.
During this act the man is erect and thrusting. The woman is receptive and accommodating. At the culmination of the act, the man deposits a substance inside of the woman. She then, in receiving this substance, has all the necessary functions and apparatus for this substance to find its way to her particular receptor cell and join with it, in much the same way as how Adam and Chava were joined at their creation. We start as a unibeing too.
In the ‘Image-of-G-d’ they begin the process of co-creation with Him, of another human being. But it is not just this joining function that the woman provides, but the entire magically-mystical and biologically perfect environment needed for this new life to grow and develop. She spends nine very important months nurturing and tending this being in her belly.
During this precious time it is the function of the man to protect her from any outside threats or stresses, so that her process of creation may thrive. He must also provide even more at this time. He needs to provide for her nourishment physically, emotionally and spiritually. She feeds the child inside and he feeds her.
This creational process, in its functions is replicated as a man and wife create their home and family. The Torah says that the only times a man may leave his wife is to go in search of parnassah (livelihood) or in search of spiritual knowledge (Torah.) His function is to acquire these, bring both of these and to deposit them unto his wife. The raw materials of food he brings and she transforms this into a meal. The spiritual substance he brings, she transforms into stories and education for their children. And thus they each perform their functions.
Look deeply and you will see that the Torah does not know of man and woman as separate beings. Each act is performed once through a single body—a body that in our world appears as two, but which the Torah sees as one. On the contrary, for both to do the same mitzvah would be redundant, for why should one half of the body do what the other has already done?
They are a single whole, whether they know of and have found one another yet or not. Where does a woman put on tefillin or wear tzitzit? On the body of her male counterpart.
Yehoshua Leib ha Kohen is a Religious Zionist whose vision is to speak to all peoples, as the Torah commands - 'To be a Lamp unto Their Feet.' He is a Ph.D. psychologist and brings messages to guide and inspire the understanding of the wisdom of G-d's Light and the Way to Him and a joyous faith-based life.
But if, on the other hand, he is not following the ways that G-d has shown him, not living a life based upon the three pillars of Torah; That is - Charity =Giving of one’s Self, one’s Money, and one’s compassion. Service =Prayer, Mitzvot and Study of Torah, and bringing this into his life and his community, and practicing these actions for his wife and children, then she shall be ‘over-against’ him to bring him back on track. We see good women doing just this in and outside of the religious community. This is the way G-d created women to be.
We learn from this many things. First that it is the duty of a man to provide for his wife as it says in the Jewish marriage contract (Ketuba.) This consists of two kinds of provision: The first is material provision, food, clothing and shelter. The second is spiritual provision. He must go out and seek knowledge of Torah and especially the parts of Torah that he can bring to his wife, to inspire her, and in turn that she can teach them to, and inspire her children. The duty of a woman is to join with and receive from the man and perform the necessary actions with the intentions to transform what he has brought. These are the functions that are natural to a woman.
What do I mean that are natural to a woman? There are functions that are hard-wired biologically, hormonally and chemically in a man and in a woman. They are different, corresponding and complimentary. The simplest and analogical (meaning it obtains on all levels) example is the function of each during the act of physical union.
During this act the man is erect and thrusting. The woman is receptive and accommodating. At the culmination of the act, the man deposits a substance inside of the woman. She then, in receiving this substance, has all the necessary functions and apparatus for this substance to find its way to her particular receptor cell and join with it, in much the same way as how Adam and Chava were joined at their creation. We start as a unibeing too.
In the ‘Image-of-G-d’ they begin the process of co-creation with Him, of another human being. But it is not just this joining function that the woman provides, but the entire magically-mystical and biologically perfect environment needed for this new life to grow and develop. She spends nine very important months nurturing and tending this being in her belly.
During this precious time it is the function of the man to protect her from any outside threats or stresses, so that her process of creation may thrive. He must also provide even more at this time. He needs to provide for her nourishment physically, emotionally and spiritually. She feeds the child inside and he feeds her.
This creational process, in its functions is replicated as a man and wife create their home and family. The Torah says that the only times a man may leave his wife is to go in search of parnassah (livelihood) or in search of spiritual knowledge (Torah.) His function is to acquire these, bring both of these and to deposit them unto his wife. The raw materials of food he brings and she transforms this into a meal. The spiritual substance he brings, she transforms into stories and education for their children. And thus they each perform their functions.
Look deeply and you will see that the Torah does not know of man and woman as separate beings. Each act is performed once through a single body—a body that in our world appears as two, but which the Torah sees as one. On the contrary, for both to do the same mitzvah would be redundant, for why should one half of the body do what the other has already done?
They are a single whole, whether they know of and have found one another yet or not. Where does a woman put on tefillin or wear tzitzit? On the body of her male counterpart.
Yehoshua Leib ha Kohen is a Religious Zionist whose vision is to speak to all peoples, as the Torah commands - 'To be a Lamp unto Their Feet.' He is a Ph.D. psychologist and brings messages to guide and inspire the understanding of the wisdom of G-d's Light and the Way to Him and a joyous faith-based life.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
The Sanctity of Human Life
By Yehoshua Leib ha Kohen October 18, 2009
One of the great teachings of Judaism is that human life is sacred. The biblical account of the creation of Adam and Eve "in the Divine image" (Genesis 1:26-27) introduces the idea that human life is special.
It is true that from this perspective all existence is special. Light, sea, dry land; sun, moon, and stars; vegetation, fish, birds, animals, insects — all is the amazing handiwork of the Creator. Yet there is still something extra about a human being.
One difference we see in the account of creation is that while all other living creatures were created in large numbers, the first human being, Adam, was created alone. Adam combined within himself Eve. G-d divided them and they produced offspring who eventually filled the whole world. It is further stated in the Talmud (Sanhedrin 37a) that the fact that Adam was created alone is to teach us the significance of each individual: "Anyone who destroys a human life is considered as if he had destroyed an entire world, and anyone who preserves a human life is considered to have preserved an entire world."
The unique aspect of human beings is of course our power of free will. Everything else that G-d created is simply subject to His built-in program, what we call “nature.” The flower grows in the sunlight; the bird of prey swoops on a field-mouse. The human being too has an inner “nature” which in some ways is not very different from that of an animal, desiring the same kinds of things: food, territory, satisfaction of instinctive passion. But a human being is also confronted with Divine commands, a higher teaching and free will which impel and command him toward ‘good’ and transform his or her animal nature. The choice that each person has, whether to follow his higher aspirations or one’s simple animal nature, gives us our identity as human beings.
As such, our actions have an immense effect. Maimonides the tenth century philosopher and sage presents the idea(Laws of Repentance 3:4) that we should consider the entire world to be equally balanced between good and bad, and that each of us as an individual is equally balanced between good and bad. Then, it is clear that if one does one good action, one tips the balance for oneself and for the entire world to the side of good, “bringing salvation to the world.”
These mysterious creations, human men and women, are important. Because man was created alone the message is that every single individual existentially stands alone and at the same time, acts as a representative of all mankind. Each life is precious and cannot be thrown away. Murder is forbidden for both Jew and non-Jew.
However, if a person tragically is trying to destroy others, and if despotic leaders persuade their people to engage in and to support acts of destruction, one must defend oneself, even preemptively. “If someone comes to kill you, rise early to kill him first,” says the Talmud (Sanhedrin 72a). The Lubavitcher Rebbe adds that your clear readiness to defend yourself could save your enemy’s life as well as your own.
Today, in Israel and elsewhere, we, the Jewish people, are under threat. So too is the concept of the sanctity of life, and indeed civilization as we know it. For the sake of humanity, we must defend ourselves. If we at least recognize this truth, then hopefully others will too. Recognizing the sanctity of life and being ready to do something to preserve it is an important step towards living up to our role as Jews and as human beings, with the power to tip the balance for a world of good.
Yehoshua Leib ha Kohen is a Religious Zionist whose vision is to speak to all peoples, as the Torah commands - 'To be a Lamp unto Their Feet.' He is a Ph.D. psychologist and brings messages to guide and inspire the understanding of the wisdom of G-d's Light and the Way to Him and a joyous faith-based life.
One of the great teachings of Judaism is that human life is sacred. The biblical account of the creation of Adam and Eve "in the Divine image" (Genesis 1:26-27) introduces the idea that human life is special.
It is true that from this perspective all existence is special. Light, sea, dry land; sun, moon, and stars; vegetation, fish, birds, animals, insects — all is the amazing handiwork of the Creator. Yet there is still something extra about a human being.
One difference we see in the account of creation is that while all other living creatures were created in large numbers, the first human being, Adam, was created alone. Adam combined within himself Eve. G-d divided them and they produced offspring who eventually filled the whole world. It is further stated in the Talmud (Sanhedrin 37a) that the fact that Adam was created alone is to teach us the significance of each individual: "Anyone who destroys a human life is considered as if he had destroyed an entire world, and anyone who preserves a human life is considered to have preserved an entire world."
The unique aspect of human beings is of course our power of free will. Everything else that G-d created is simply subject to His built-in program, what we call “nature.” The flower grows in the sunlight; the bird of prey swoops on a field-mouse. The human being too has an inner “nature” which in some ways is not very different from that of an animal, desiring the same kinds of things: food, territory, satisfaction of instinctive passion. But a human being is also confronted with Divine commands, a higher teaching and free will which impel and command him toward ‘good’ and transform his or her animal nature. The choice that each person has, whether to follow his higher aspirations or one’s simple animal nature, gives us our identity as human beings.
As such, our actions have an immense effect. Maimonides the tenth century philosopher and sage presents the idea(Laws of Repentance 3:4) that we should consider the entire world to be equally balanced between good and bad, and that each of us as an individual is equally balanced between good and bad. Then, it is clear that if one does one good action, one tips the balance for oneself and for the entire world to the side of good, “bringing salvation to the world.”
These mysterious creations, human men and women, are important. Because man was created alone the message is that every single individual existentially stands alone and at the same time, acts as a representative of all mankind. Each life is precious and cannot be thrown away. Murder is forbidden for both Jew and non-Jew.
However, if a person tragically is trying to destroy others, and if despotic leaders persuade their people to engage in and to support acts of destruction, one must defend oneself, even preemptively. “If someone comes to kill you, rise early to kill him first,” says the Talmud (Sanhedrin 72a). The Lubavitcher Rebbe adds that your clear readiness to defend yourself could save your enemy’s life as well as your own.
Today, in Israel and elsewhere, we, the Jewish people, are under threat. So too is the concept of the sanctity of life, and indeed civilization as we know it. For the sake of humanity, we must defend ourselves. If we at least recognize this truth, then hopefully others will too. Recognizing the sanctity of life and being ready to do something to preserve it is an important step towards living up to our role as Jews and as human beings, with the power to tip the balance for a world of good.
Yehoshua Leib ha Kohen is a Religious Zionist whose vision is to speak to all peoples, as the Torah commands - 'To be a Lamp unto Their Feet.' He is a Ph.D. psychologist and brings messages to guide and inspire the understanding of the wisdom of G-d's Light and the Way to Him and a joyous faith-based life.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Jewish Justice or no Justice
By Moshe Feiglin27 Elul, 5769 (Sept. 16, '09)
"Today the world is being born, today all the creations of all the worlds stand in judgment." "And it will be determined for the countries, which for the sword and which for peace."
(Rosh Hashanah liturgy)
As we enter the gates of our synagogues this Rosh Hashanah, it looks like we will also be entering the gates of the International Court in The Hague. This is the inevitable destination of a nation that insists on detaching its Judaism from its national life. If we are not interested in Jewish justice in Jerusalem, we will be treated to Western, Christian justice in Spain, England or The Hague.
When a Swedish newspaper reported that Israel's soldiers slaughtered "Palestinians" so that they could sell their organs, we didn't believe that anybody would take the bizarre story seriously. But it is actually making quite a few waves. Soon an international investigative committee will be established to reveal "the truth." After all, such serious charges must be investigated thoroughly. And who, if not the judges of enlightened Europe, are more worthy to reveal the truth with clarity and complete objectivity?
Blood libels are nothing new. There is nothing more logical about selling "Palestinian" organs than about slaughtering Christian children to use their blood to bake matzahs. So how do these absurd claims become legitimate? It is not really a matter of legal fact. It is a matter of the location of the judicial body.
When a Jew is in exile and the Christians are the judicial authority, the blood libel becomes a possibility. The question is not if the Jews slaughtered Christian children to use their blood to bake matzahs. The question is if the issue is justiciable. In the Christian courts of the Middle Ages the answer was affirmative. Likewise, in the current organ harvest story, there is no question of revealing the truth. The only question is if the judicial tribunal that we have accepted upon ourselves will decide to judge these ludicrous accusations. Then – in the days of the blood libels, the Jews did not have the option to choose which judicial authority they would accept. They lived under the dominion of the judicial authority that considered these libels fact. But today, the Jews willingly surrendered their own judicial authority. They chose, of their own free will, to forgo their ethical sovereignty and to deposit it in the hands of the Western world and the International Court in The Hauge.
"What is the problem in Azoun?" my frustrated neighbor asked me the other day, after a steady stream of rocks and firebombs has continued to emanate from this 'peaceful' Arab village. "They bring in an entire IDF division and they still can't stop the violence? Wouldn't it just be easier to cut off their electricity?" Technically, my neighbor is right. We could easily leave the reserve soldiers at home and enjoy quiet nonetheless. But the State of Israel and the IDF are fettered to the Christian judicial dominion that we have brought upon ourselves.
As the Beijing Olympics approached, I wrote that the State of Israel, as the representative of the Jewish Nation, should boycott the games. The Chinese have established concentration camps for opponents of the radically leftist regime there. Next to the concentration camps there are "medical centers" that specialize in supplying human organs by order. No lines, no problems finding the proper match, any organ can be supplied; kidneys, corneas, hearts – the organs are always fresh and plentiful. They belong to "criminals" who have been executed but who, at the last minute repented and donated their organs as an act of atonement. How noble. In reality, the organs are harvested while the victims are still alive. That is probably the best way to keep them fresh.
I claimed that Israel - the representative of the Jewish Nation, the People of the Book who herald the ethics of the prophets – must see itself as a lighthouse of morality for the world and should not lend legitimacy to the regime of horrors in China by attending the Olympic Games. The reactions that I received were more or less: "America, England and France are not boycotting the Olympics, and you expect Israel to boycott them?" In other words, it cannot be that we bear a more fundamentally ethical insight than the Western world. Furthermore, we are so small, so who are we to boycott the Chinese giant if the US and Europe are not doing so? In other words, morality is measured in square kilometers and the size of a country's population and army.
When charges of organ harvesting by Israel's soldiers began to emerge, I thought that it was quite "measure for measure." We rejected our universal role and refused to take a stand on the Chinese organ harvesting issue, and got it right back in our own collective face.
We are the children of the King. We do not have the privilege to stand passively at the sidelines and to be "just another country." We have only two options: One is to judge the world according to Jewish justice – the ethical justice of the prophets that must be restored to Jerusalem. The second option is, right after Rosh Hashanah, to re-lock our universal responsibility safely in our synagogues and to leave Judaism strictly in the domain of religion. If that is the option we choose, we will not be judging the world according to the ethics of the prophets. The world will judge us – in the International Court in The Hague.
"Today the world is being born, today all the creations of all the worlds stand in judgment." "And it will be determined for the countries, which for the sword and which for peace."
(Rosh Hashanah liturgy)
As we enter the gates of our synagogues this Rosh Hashanah, it looks like we will also be entering the gates of the International Court in The Hague. This is the inevitable destination of a nation that insists on detaching its Judaism from its national life. If we are not interested in Jewish justice in Jerusalem, we will be treated to Western, Christian justice in Spain, England or The Hague.
When a Swedish newspaper reported that Israel's soldiers slaughtered "Palestinians" so that they could sell their organs, we didn't believe that anybody would take the bizarre story seriously. But it is actually making quite a few waves. Soon an international investigative committee will be established to reveal "the truth." After all, such serious charges must be investigated thoroughly. And who, if not the judges of enlightened Europe, are more worthy to reveal the truth with clarity and complete objectivity?
Blood libels are nothing new. There is nothing more logical about selling "Palestinian" organs than about slaughtering Christian children to use their blood to bake matzahs. So how do these absurd claims become legitimate? It is not really a matter of legal fact. It is a matter of the location of the judicial body.
When a Jew is in exile and the Christians are the judicial authority, the blood libel becomes a possibility. The question is not if the Jews slaughtered Christian children to use their blood to bake matzahs. The question is if the issue is justiciable. In the Christian courts of the Middle Ages the answer was affirmative. Likewise, in the current organ harvest story, there is no question of revealing the truth. The only question is if the judicial tribunal that we have accepted upon ourselves will decide to judge these ludicrous accusations. Then – in the days of the blood libels, the Jews did not have the option to choose which judicial authority they would accept. They lived under the dominion of the judicial authority that considered these libels fact. But today, the Jews willingly surrendered their own judicial authority. They chose, of their own free will, to forgo their ethical sovereignty and to deposit it in the hands of the Western world and the International Court in The Hauge.
"What is the problem in Azoun?" my frustrated neighbor asked me the other day, after a steady stream of rocks and firebombs has continued to emanate from this 'peaceful' Arab village. "They bring in an entire IDF division and they still can't stop the violence? Wouldn't it just be easier to cut off their electricity?" Technically, my neighbor is right. We could easily leave the reserve soldiers at home and enjoy quiet nonetheless. But the State of Israel and the IDF are fettered to the Christian judicial dominion that we have brought upon ourselves.
As the Beijing Olympics approached, I wrote that the State of Israel, as the representative of the Jewish Nation, should boycott the games. The Chinese have established concentration camps for opponents of the radically leftist regime there. Next to the concentration camps there are "medical centers" that specialize in supplying human organs by order. No lines, no problems finding the proper match, any organ can be supplied; kidneys, corneas, hearts – the organs are always fresh and plentiful. They belong to "criminals" who have been executed but who, at the last minute repented and donated their organs as an act of atonement. How noble. In reality, the organs are harvested while the victims are still alive. That is probably the best way to keep them fresh.
I claimed that Israel - the representative of the Jewish Nation, the People of the Book who herald the ethics of the prophets – must see itself as a lighthouse of morality for the world and should not lend legitimacy to the regime of horrors in China by attending the Olympic Games. The reactions that I received were more or less: "America, England and France are not boycotting the Olympics, and you expect Israel to boycott them?" In other words, it cannot be that we bear a more fundamentally ethical insight than the Western world. Furthermore, we are so small, so who are we to boycott the Chinese giant if the US and Europe are not doing so? In other words, morality is measured in square kilometers and the size of a country's population and army.
When charges of organ harvesting by Israel's soldiers began to emerge, I thought that it was quite "measure for measure." We rejected our universal role and refused to take a stand on the Chinese organ harvesting issue, and got it right back in our own collective face.
We are the children of the King. We do not have the privilege to stand passively at the sidelines and to be "just another country." We have only two options: One is to judge the world according to Jewish justice – the ethical justice of the prophets that must be restored to Jerusalem. The second option is, right after Rosh Hashanah, to re-lock our universal responsibility safely in our synagogues and to leave Judaism strictly in the domain of religion. If that is the option we choose, we will not be judging the world according to the ethics of the prophets. The world will judge us – in the International Court in The Hague.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Obama prepares to throw Israel under the bus
Jewish World Review May 7, 2009 / 13 Iyar 5769
By Melanie Phillips
A sobering view by one of Britain's most respected columnists
Read and forward via our "e-mail a friend feature"
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com
Barak Obama is attempting to throw Israel under the Islamist bus, and he’s getting American Jews to do his dirty work for him. White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel reportedly told the Israel lobbying group AIPAC on Sunday that efforts to stop Iran hinged on peace talks with the Palestinians. General James Jones, National Security Adviser to Obama, reportedly told a European foreign minister a week ago that unlike the Bush administration, Obama will be ‘forceful’ with Israel. Ha’aretz reports:
Jones is quoted in the telegram as saying that the United States, European Union and moderate Arab states must redefine ‘a satisfactory endgame solution.’ The U.S. national security adviser did not mention Israel as party to these consultations.
Of course not. If you are going to throw a country under the bus, you don’t invite it to discuss the manner of its destruction with the assassins who are co-coordinating the crime. As I said here months ago, the appointment of Jones and the elevation of his post of National Security Adviser at the expense of the Secretary of State was all part of the strategy to centralize power in the hands of those who want to do Israel harm.
On Tuesday, Vice-President Joe Biden and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry turned the thumbscrews tighter, telling Israel to stop building more settlements, dismantle existing outposts and allow Palestinians freedom of movement.
This is all not only evil but exceptionally stupid. The idea that a Palestine state will help build a coalition against Iran is demonstrably absurd. The Arab states are beside themselves with anxiety about Iran. They want it to be attacked and its nuclear program stopped. They are desperately fearful that the Obama administration might have decided that it can live with a nuclear Iran.
The idea that if a Palestine state comes into being it will be easier to handle Iran is the opposite of the case: a Palestine state will be Iran, in the sense that it will be run by Hamas as a proxy for the Islamic Republic. The idea that a Palestine state will not compromise Israel’s security is ludicrous.
It is of course, by any sane standard, quite fantastic that America is behaving as if it is Israel which is holding up a peace settlement when Israel has made concession after concession – giving up Sinai, giving up Gaza, offering all the territories to the Arabs in return for peace in 1967, offering more than 90 per cent of them ditto in 2000, ditto again to Mahmoud Abbas in the past year -- only to be attacked in return by a Palestinian terrorist entity, backed in its continued aggression, let us not forget, by the countries of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, which has made no concessions at all and is not being pressured to do so.
It is not the aggressor here but the victim of aggression that America is now choosing to beat up. In any sane world, one might think the Americans would be piling the pressure on the Palestinians to renounce their genocidal ambitions against Israel, to stop teaching and training their children to hate and kill Jews, to adhere to the primary requirement in the Road Map that they must dismantle their infrastructure of violence as the first step in the peace process; one might think, indeed, that they would view Mahmoud Abbas’s repeated statements that the Palestinians will never accept Israel as a Jewish state to be the main impediment to peace.
But no. The repeated professions that America will never jeopardize Israel’s security are stomach churning when Obama is actually blaming Israel for measures it has taken to safeguard its security – the settlements were always first and foremost a security measure, and the travel restrictions are there solely to prevent more Israelis being murdered – and trying to force it to abandon them. Now comes further news that Obama will also try to force Israel to give up its nuclear weapons – which it only has as a last ditch insurance against the attempt to annihilate it to which several billion Arabs remain pledged.
Of course Obama doesn’t care that Hamas would run any Palestinian state. Of course he doesn’t care that Israel would be unable to defend itself against such a terrorist state. Because he regards Israel as at best totally expendable, and at worst as a running sore on the world's body politic that has to be purged altogether. His administration is proceeding on the entirely false analysis that a state of Palestine is the solution to the Middle East impasse and the route to peace in the region. What that state will look like or do is something to which at best the administration's collective mind is shut and at worst makes it a potential cynical accomplice to the unconscionable. So Israel is to be forced out of the West Bank. Far from building a coalition against Iran, Obama is thus doing Iran’s work for it.
None of this, however, should come as the slightest surprise to anyone who paid any attention to Obama’s background, associations and friendships before he became President and to the cabal of Israel-bashers, appeasers and Jew-haters he appointed to his administration, with a few useful idiots thrown in for plausible deniability.
American Jews, meanwhile, are reacting as predicted – with a total absence of spine. As IsraelMatzav reports, AIPAC was sending delegates to visit Congress to 'convince' Representatives and Senators to sign a petition calling for a two-state solution. Inspired! Almost eighty per cent of American Jews voted for Obama despite the clear and present danger he posed to Israel. They did so because their liberal self-image was and is more important to them than the Jewish state whose existence and security cannot be allowed to jeopardize their standing with America’s elite.
But the ordinary American people are a different matter. They do value and support Israel. They do understand that if Israel is thrown under that bus, the west is next. And it is they to whom Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu must now appeal, over the heads of the politicians and the media and certainly America’s Jews and everyone else. He must tell the American people the terrible truth, that America is now run by a man who is intent on sacrificing Israel for a reckless and amoral political strategy which will put America and the rest of the free world at risk.
This is shaping up to be the biggest crisis in relations between Israel and America since the foundation of Israel six decades ago. Those who hate Israel and the Jews will be gloating. This after all is precisely what they hoped Obama would do. To any decent person looking on aghast, this is where the moral sickness of the west reaches the critical care ward.
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JWR contributor Melanie Phillips is a British journalist and author of, most recently, Londonistan. She is best known for her controversial column about political and social issues which currently appears in the Daily Mail. She was awarded the Orwell Prize for journalism in 1996
By Melanie Phillips
A sobering view by one of Britain's most respected columnists
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Barak Obama is attempting to throw Israel under the Islamist bus, and he’s getting American Jews to do his dirty work for him. White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel reportedly told the Israel lobbying group AIPAC on Sunday that efforts to stop Iran hinged on peace talks with the Palestinians. General James Jones, National Security Adviser to Obama, reportedly told a European foreign minister a week ago that unlike the Bush administration, Obama will be ‘forceful’ with Israel. Ha’aretz reports:
Jones is quoted in the telegram as saying that the United States, European Union and moderate Arab states must redefine ‘a satisfactory endgame solution.’ The U.S. national security adviser did not mention Israel as party to these consultations.
Of course not. If you are going to throw a country under the bus, you don’t invite it to discuss the manner of its destruction with the assassins who are co-coordinating the crime. As I said here months ago, the appointment of Jones and the elevation of his post of National Security Adviser at the expense of the Secretary of State was all part of the strategy to centralize power in the hands of those who want to do Israel harm.
On Tuesday, Vice-President Joe Biden and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry turned the thumbscrews tighter, telling Israel to stop building more settlements, dismantle existing outposts and allow Palestinians freedom of movement.
This is all not only evil but exceptionally stupid. The idea that a Palestine state will help build a coalition against Iran is demonstrably absurd. The Arab states are beside themselves with anxiety about Iran. They want it to be attacked and its nuclear program stopped. They are desperately fearful that the Obama administration might have decided that it can live with a nuclear Iran.
The idea that if a Palestine state comes into being it will be easier to handle Iran is the opposite of the case: a Palestine state will be Iran, in the sense that it will be run by Hamas as a proxy for the Islamic Republic. The idea that a Palestine state will not compromise Israel’s security is ludicrous.
It is of course, by any sane standard, quite fantastic that America is behaving as if it is Israel which is holding up a peace settlement when Israel has made concession after concession – giving up Sinai, giving up Gaza, offering all the territories to the Arabs in return for peace in 1967, offering more than 90 per cent of them ditto in 2000, ditto again to Mahmoud Abbas in the past year -- only to be attacked in return by a Palestinian terrorist entity, backed in its continued aggression, let us not forget, by the countries of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, which has made no concessions at all and is not being pressured to do so.
It is not the aggressor here but the victim of aggression that America is now choosing to beat up. In any sane world, one might think the Americans would be piling the pressure on the Palestinians to renounce their genocidal ambitions against Israel, to stop teaching and training their children to hate and kill Jews, to adhere to the primary requirement in the Road Map that they must dismantle their infrastructure of violence as the first step in the peace process; one might think, indeed, that they would view Mahmoud Abbas’s repeated statements that the Palestinians will never accept Israel as a Jewish state to be the main impediment to peace.
But no. The repeated professions that America will never jeopardize Israel’s security are stomach churning when Obama is actually blaming Israel for measures it has taken to safeguard its security – the settlements were always first and foremost a security measure, and the travel restrictions are there solely to prevent more Israelis being murdered – and trying to force it to abandon them. Now comes further news that Obama will also try to force Israel to give up its nuclear weapons – which it only has as a last ditch insurance against the attempt to annihilate it to which several billion Arabs remain pledged.
Of course Obama doesn’t care that Hamas would run any Palestinian state. Of course he doesn’t care that Israel would be unable to defend itself against such a terrorist state. Because he regards Israel as at best totally expendable, and at worst as a running sore on the world's body politic that has to be purged altogether. His administration is proceeding on the entirely false analysis that a state of Palestine is the solution to the Middle East impasse and the route to peace in the region. What that state will look like or do is something to which at best the administration's collective mind is shut and at worst makes it a potential cynical accomplice to the unconscionable. So Israel is to be forced out of the West Bank. Far from building a coalition against Iran, Obama is thus doing Iran’s work for it.
None of this, however, should come as the slightest surprise to anyone who paid any attention to Obama’s background, associations and friendships before he became President and to the cabal of Israel-bashers, appeasers and Jew-haters he appointed to his administration, with a few useful idiots thrown in for plausible deniability.
American Jews, meanwhile, are reacting as predicted – with a total absence of spine. As IsraelMatzav reports, AIPAC was sending delegates to visit Congress to 'convince' Representatives and Senators to sign a petition calling for a two-state solution. Inspired! Almost eighty per cent of American Jews voted for Obama despite the clear and present danger he posed to Israel. They did so because their liberal self-image was and is more important to them than the Jewish state whose existence and security cannot be allowed to jeopardize their standing with America’s elite.
But the ordinary American people are a different matter. They do value and support Israel. They do understand that if Israel is thrown under that bus, the west is next. And it is they to whom Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu must now appeal, over the heads of the politicians and the media and certainly America’s Jews and everyone else. He must tell the American people the terrible truth, that America is now run by a man who is intent on sacrificing Israel for a reckless and amoral political strategy which will put America and the rest of the free world at risk.
This is shaping up to be the biggest crisis in relations between Israel and America since the foundation of Israel six decades ago. Those who hate Israel and the Jews will be gloating. This after all is precisely what they hoped Obama would do. To any decent person looking on aghast, this is where the moral sickness of the west reaches the critical care ward.
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JWR contributor Melanie Phillips is a British journalist and author of, most recently, Londonistan. She is best known for her controversial column about political and social issues which currently appears in the Daily Mail. She was awarded the Orwell Prize for journalism in 1996
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
1922 Congressional Stand on the Establishment of a Jewish State
The U.S. 2009: "Two-state solution is the only solution"
Eli E. Hertz - Apr 20, 2009
The current U.S. administration that is so persistent on the need to honor `past agreements` seems to ignore unwavering support for reconstructing the Jewish national home in Palestine by our past presidents and both Houses of Congress:
U.S. Resolution 322: A joint resolution of both Houses of Congress unanimously endorsed the "Mandate for Palestine," confirming the irrevocable right of Jews to settle in the area of Palestine - anywhere between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. June 30, 1922.
President Woodrow Wilson: "I am persuaded that the Allied nations, with the fullest concurrence of our own government and people, are agreed that in Palestine shall be laid the foundation of a Jewish Commonwealth." March 3, 1919.
President Warren G. Harding: Signed the Lodge-Fish joint resolution of approval to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine. September 21, 1922.
President Calvin Coolidge: Signed the Convention between the United States and Great Britain in respect to British rights in Palestine. The convention was ratified by the Senate on February 20, 1925, and by the president on March 2, 1925. The Convention was proclaimed on December 5, 1925. The convention`s text incorporated the "Mandate for Palestine " text, including the preamble. By doing so, the U.S. government recognized and confirmed the irrevocable right of Jews to settle in the area of Palestine - anywhere between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea – as is spelled out in the Mandate document.
The following text was selected from the U.S. Congressional Record (1922) and exhibits the powerful sense of the Member of Congress in favor of reestablishing the Jewish national home in Palestine:
"Palestine of to-day, the land we now know as Palestine, was peopled by the Jews from the dawn of history until the Roman era. It is the ancestral homeland of the Jewish people. They were driven from it by force by the relentless Roman military machine and for centuries prevented from returning.
"At different periods various alien people succeeded them, but the Jewish race had left an indelible impress upon the land. To-day it is a Jewish country. Every name, every landmark, every monument, and every trace of whatever civilization remaining there is still Jewish. And it has ever since remained a hope, a longing, as expressed in their prayers for these nearly 2,000 years. No other people has ever claimed Palestine as their national home. No other people has ever shown an aptitude or indicated a genuine desire to make it their homeland. The land has been ruled by foreigners. Only since the beginning of the modern Zionist effort may it be said that a creative, cultural, and economic force has entered Palestine . The Jewish Nation was forced from its natural home. It did not go because it wanted to. A perusal of Jewish history, a reading of Josephus, will convince the most skeptical that the grandest fight that was ever put up against an enemy was put up by the Jew. He never thought of leaving Palestine.
"But he was driven out. But did he, when driven out, give up his hope of getting back? Jewish history and Jewish literature give the answer to that question. The Jew even has a fast day devoted to the day of destruction of the Jewish homeland. Never throughout history did they give up hope of returning there. I am told that 90 per cent of the Jews to-day are praying for the return of the Jewish people to its own home. The best minds among them believe in the necessity of reestablishing the Jewish land. To my mind there is something prophetic in the fact that during the ages no other nation has taken over Palestine and held it in the sense of a homeland; and there is something providential in the fact that for 1,800 years it has remained in desolation as if waiting for the return of its people."
U.S. Congressional Records 9801 (1922)
Eli Hertz is a recognized pioneer in the personal computer industry, Founder, CEO and President of Hertz Technology Group.
Hertz has authored and published many industry-related articles and books. Most notably Now That I Have OS/2 2.0 On My Computer, What Do I Do Next? (Co-authored 1994, Van Reinhold(70,000 copies sold). In 1982 he started Hertz Computer Corporation, which has won numerous awards for design excellence, outstanding performance and exceptional support from such prestigious industry publications as BYTE Magazine, PC Magazine, PC World and Computer Buyer’s Guide.
Hertz received an MBA and BS in Management Science and Economics from Long Island University, and an advanced degree in Manpower Management from the Technion, the Israeli Institute of Technology.
Prior to his arrival in the U.S. in 1974, Hertz served nearly seven years in the Israeli Defense Force as a paratrooper and was honorably discharged at the rank of Captain.
Eli E. Hertz - Apr 20, 2009
The current U.S. administration that is so persistent on the need to honor `past agreements` seems to ignore unwavering support for reconstructing the Jewish national home in Palestine by our past presidents and both Houses of Congress:
U.S. Resolution 322: A joint resolution of both Houses of Congress unanimously endorsed the "Mandate for Palestine," confirming the irrevocable right of Jews to settle in the area of Palestine - anywhere between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. June 30, 1922.
President Woodrow Wilson: "I am persuaded that the Allied nations, with the fullest concurrence of our own government and people, are agreed that in Palestine shall be laid the foundation of a Jewish Commonwealth." March 3, 1919.
President Warren G. Harding: Signed the Lodge-Fish joint resolution of approval to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine. September 21, 1922.
President Calvin Coolidge: Signed the Convention between the United States and Great Britain in respect to British rights in Palestine. The convention was ratified by the Senate on February 20, 1925, and by the president on March 2, 1925. The Convention was proclaimed on December 5, 1925. The convention`s text incorporated the "Mandate for Palestine " text, including the preamble. By doing so, the U.S. government recognized and confirmed the irrevocable right of Jews to settle in the area of Palestine - anywhere between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea – as is spelled out in the Mandate document.
The following text was selected from the U.S. Congressional Record (1922) and exhibits the powerful sense of the Member of Congress in favor of reestablishing the Jewish national home in Palestine:
"Palestine of to-day, the land we now know as Palestine, was peopled by the Jews from the dawn of history until the Roman era. It is the ancestral homeland of the Jewish people. They were driven from it by force by the relentless Roman military machine and for centuries prevented from returning.
"At different periods various alien people succeeded them, but the Jewish race had left an indelible impress upon the land. To-day it is a Jewish country. Every name, every landmark, every monument, and every trace of whatever civilization remaining there is still Jewish. And it has ever since remained a hope, a longing, as expressed in their prayers for these nearly 2,000 years. No other people has ever claimed Palestine as their national home. No other people has ever shown an aptitude or indicated a genuine desire to make it their homeland. The land has been ruled by foreigners. Only since the beginning of the modern Zionist effort may it be said that a creative, cultural, and economic force has entered Palestine . The Jewish Nation was forced from its natural home. It did not go because it wanted to. A perusal of Jewish history, a reading of Josephus, will convince the most skeptical that the grandest fight that was ever put up against an enemy was put up by the Jew. He never thought of leaving Palestine.
"But he was driven out. But did he, when driven out, give up his hope of getting back? Jewish history and Jewish literature give the answer to that question. The Jew even has a fast day devoted to the day of destruction of the Jewish homeland. Never throughout history did they give up hope of returning there. I am told that 90 per cent of the Jews to-day are praying for the return of the Jewish people to its own home. The best minds among them believe in the necessity of reestablishing the Jewish land. To my mind there is something prophetic in the fact that during the ages no other nation has taken over Palestine and held it in the sense of a homeland; and there is something providential in the fact that for 1,800 years it has remained in desolation as if waiting for the return of its people."
U.S. Congressional Records 9801 (1922)
Eli Hertz is a recognized pioneer in the personal computer industry, Founder, CEO and President of Hertz Technology Group.
Hertz has authored and published many industry-related articles and books. Most notably Now That I Have OS/2 2.0 On My Computer, What Do I Do Next? (Co-authored 1994, Van Reinhold(70,000 copies sold). In 1982 he started Hertz Computer Corporation, which has won numerous awards for design excellence, outstanding performance and exceptional support from such prestigious industry publications as BYTE Magazine, PC Magazine, PC World and Computer Buyer’s Guide.
Hertz received an MBA and BS in Management Science and Economics from Long Island University, and an advanced degree in Manpower Management from the Technion, the Israeli Institute of Technology.
Prior to his arrival in the U.S. in 1974, Hertz served nearly seven years in the Israeli Defense Force as a paratrooper and was honorably discharged at the rank of Captain.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Cut off Relief Agency
By Ileana Ros-Lehtinen et al.
COMMENTARY: Cut Off Relief Agency UNRWA
Thursday, March 26, 2009
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/mar/26/cut-off-relief-agency/
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida is the senior Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. John A. Boehner of Ohio is the House Republican leader. Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia is the House Republican whip. Mike Pence of Indiana is chairman of the House Republican Conference. Thaddeus McCotter of Michigan is chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee
For six decades, the United States has voluntarily contributed billions of dollars to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which was created strictly to provide humanitarian assistance to Palestinian refugees.
In return for our generous investment, UNRWA subverts our laws, aids violent Islamist extremists, propagandizes against our ally Israel and in favor of Hamas, and works with banks targeted by the United States for money laundering and terrorist financing.
As our nation faces growing economic challenges, Congress must cut off funding to UNRWA and use our foreign aid to advance, rather than undermine, American interests and values.
Existing U.S. law already restricts funding for UNRWA, requiring it to “take all possible measures” to ensure that our contributions do not aid those who have received training by militant groups or have “engaged in any act of terrorism.” But though the United States remains the largest single contributor to UNRWA, the agency has cavalierly disregarded our standards, and we have not held it accountable.
As a recent report by UNRWA`s former general counsel concluded, the agency has continually failed to properly vet staff members and humanitarian aid recipients for ties to foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs). UNRWA does not ask personnel or aid recipients if they are members of FTOs, and it screens staff names through a U.N. list that does not include members of Hamas, Fatah`s al-Aqsa Brigades or other groups Palestinian extremists would be most likely to join.
UNRWA Commissioner-General Karen AbuZayd has stated that the agency does not consider those groups to be of concern. Her predecessor, Peter Hansen, proclaimed in 2004, “I am sure that there are Hamas members on the UNRWA payroll and I don`t see that as a crime.” A number of UNRWA staffers were discovered to be members of FTOs - Awad al-Qiq, a now-deceased rocket-builder, even served as headmaster of a UNRWA school.
UNRWA officials also have compromised their agency`s purely humanitarian mission by publicly agitating against Israel and for Hamas. On Dec. 30, Ms. AbuZayd said only that Israel was responsible for the most recent conflict in Gaza, and in mid-January, a UNRWA spokesman called for an investigation on whether Israel had committed a “war crime.”
UNRWA has found even more ways to undermine the integrity of U.S. contributions. Its home page provides a donation portal listing UNRWA accounts at several financial institutions, including the Arab Bank and the Commercial Bank of Syria (CBS), both targeted by the United States for their roles in financing violent extremists.
The Arab Bank reportedly is at the center of U.S. investigations into how tens of millions of dollars have reached Palestinian militant groups that used some of those funds to pay off suicide bombers who have killed Americans in Israel. In 2005, the Arab Bank reportedly agreed to pay the United States $24 million in fines for violating American laws combating terrorist financing.
Worse yet is the CBS. The Treasury Department has designated the bank as an institution “of primary money laundering concern.” Treasury stated in a 2004 press release that “CBS had been used by terrorists and their sympathizers” and that “numerous transactions that may be indicative of terrorist financing and money laundering have been transferred through CBS, including two accounts at CBS that reference a reputed financier for [Osama] bin Laden.”
Despite UNRWA`s appalling record, U.S. taxpayer funds continued to flow freely to that agency, including about $185 million for 2008 and almost $100 million authorized so far for 2009. On March 2, the administration announced a further pledge of $900 million in assistance for Gaza and the Palestinian Authority, including $160 million to UNRWA and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
This spending spree must not continue. The United States must withhold all contributions through and to UNRWA until that agency meets a number of conditions to comply with U.S. law and its humanitarian mandate.
We have had enough. American taxpayers deserve better.
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida is the senior Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. John A. Boehner of Ohio is the House Republican leader. Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia is the House Republican whip. Mike Pence of Indiana is chairman of the House Republican Conference. Thaddeus McCotter of Michigan is chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee.
I encourage everyone to support this bill!!!!
If you would like to write to your U.S. House Represntative and your Senators to support this effort you can access the appropriate information at this link (it is an interacive link & will do most of the work for you):
http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/
COMMENTARY: Cut Off Relief Agency UNRWA
Thursday, March 26, 2009
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/mar/26/cut-off-relief-agency/
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida is the senior Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. John A. Boehner of Ohio is the House Republican leader. Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia is the House Republican whip. Mike Pence of Indiana is chairman of the House Republican Conference. Thaddeus McCotter of Michigan is chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee
For six decades, the United States has voluntarily contributed billions of dollars to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which was created strictly to provide humanitarian assistance to Palestinian refugees.
In return for our generous investment, UNRWA subverts our laws, aids violent Islamist extremists, propagandizes against our ally Israel and in favor of Hamas, and works with banks targeted by the United States for money laundering and terrorist financing.
As our nation faces growing economic challenges, Congress must cut off funding to UNRWA and use our foreign aid to advance, rather than undermine, American interests and values.
Existing U.S. law already restricts funding for UNRWA, requiring it to “take all possible measures” to ensure that our contributions do not aid those who have received training by militant groups or have “engaged in any act of terrorism.” But though the United States remains the largest single contributor to UNRWA, the agency has cavalierly disregarded our standards, and we have not held it accountable.
As a recent report by UNRWA`s former general counsel concluded, the agency has continually failed to properly vet staff members and humanitarian aid recipients for ties to foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs). UNRWA does not ask personnel or aid recipients if they are members of FTOs, and it screens staff names through a U.N. list that does not include members of Hamas, Fatah`s al-Aqsa Brigades or other groups Palestinian extremists would be most likely to join.
UNRWA Commissioner-General Karen AbuZayd has stated that the agency does not consider those groups to be of concern. Her predecessor, Peter Hansen, proclaimed in 2004, “I am sure that there are Hamas members on the UNRWA payroll and I don`t see that as a crime.” A number of UNRWA staffers were discovered to be members of FTOs - Awad al-Qiq, a now-deceased rocket-builder, even served as headmaster of a UNRWA school.
UNRWA officials also have compromised their agency`s purely humanitarian mission by publicly agitating against Israel and for Hamas. On Dec. 30, Ms. AbuZayd said only that Israel was responsible for the most recent conflict in Gaza, and in mid-January, a UNRWA spokesman called for an investigation on whether Israel had committed a “war crime.”
UNRWA has found even more ways to undermine the integrity of U.S. contributions. Its home page provides a donation portal listing UNRWA accounts at several financial institutions, including the Arab Bank and the Commercial Bank of Syria (CBS), both targeted by the United States for their roles in financing violent extremists.
The Arab Bank reportedly is at the center of U.S. investigations into how tens of millions of dollars have reached Palestinian militant groups that used some of those funds to pay off suicide bombers who have killed Americans in Israel. In 2005, the Arab Bank reportedly agreed to pay the United States $24 million in fines for violating American laws combating terrorist financing.
Worse yet is the CBS. The Treasury Department has designated the bank as an institution “of primary money laundering concern.” Treasury stated in a 2004 press release that “CBS had been used by terrorists and their sympathizers” and that “numerous transactions that may be indicative of terrorist financing and money laundering have been transferred through CBS, including two accounts at CBS that reference a reputed financier for [Osama] bin Laden.”
Despite UNRWA`s appalling record, U.S. taxpayer funds continued to flow freely to that agency, including about $185 million for 2008 and almost $100 million authorized so far for 2009. On March 2, the administration announced a further pledge of $900 million in assistance for Gaza and the Palestinian Authority, including $160 million to UNRWA and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
This spending spree must not continue. The United States must withhold all contributions through and to UNRWA until that agency meets a number of conditions to comply with U.S. law and its humanitarian mandate.
We have had enough. American taxpayers deserve better.
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida is the senior Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. John A. Boehner of Ohio is the House Republican leader. Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia is the House Republican whip. Mike Pence of Indiana is chairman of the House Republican Conference. Thaddeus McCotter of Michigan is chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee.
I encourage everyone to support this bill!!!!
If you would like to write to your U.S. House Represntative and your Senators to support this effort you can access the appropriate information at this link (it is an interacive link & will do most of the work for you):
http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/
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