The Kabbalah Center is in the news.

The JPost is reporting some cult-like management behaviors at the Kabbalah Center.

Nothing surprising there.

In the end, I expect that all that will be left is the Chillul Hashem the Berg's created with their pop-Kabbalah fraud.

MK Danny Danon (Likud) is proposing a bill that would require any organization which petitions the Israeli Supreme Court to simultaneously supply the court with a list of their donors from the past 3 years.

YNet reports the details of this interesting bill:

The bill was proposed as an amendment to Basic Law: The Judiciary. It states that the High Court will only accept petitions making claims in the name of organizations based in Israel and operating mainly in the Jewish state.

It also states that just one petition at a time can be filed in the name of the injured party, and that it must be related to a fundamental infringement of basic state order, a fundamental flaw in the operations of the civil administration against the public, or any matter of an outstanding public nature.

...any organization petitioning the High Court will have to present the court with a list of all donations and funds it has received in the past three years. The organization will have to outline the identity of the donor as well as the sum and aim of the funds.

This law sounds quite fair and balanced to me. It doesn't target any group specifically. It sets down reasonable ground rules regarding who can petition the Supreme Court and why.

Yet for some reason the Left is already up in arms claiming that this law targets them.

So let's examine that claim.

The organizations must be Israel based and work primarily in Israel.
I would assume if an organization claims to be an Israeli organization, then shouldn't it meet these qualifications?

I can imagine if Green Peace wanted to petition Israel, then it would have to be the Israeli offices of Green Peace that do it.

So why would this threaten Leftwing organizations in Israel?

just one petition at a time can be filed in the name of the injured party
This is actually a two-parter. First of all, that means no throwing petition after petition at the Supreme Court simultaneously in order to hope one sticks.

Is this a tactic the Left regularly uses that will be blocked?

Second, it requires there actually be an injured party.

Certainly an interested party needs to be required (it didn't use to be that way, and any Leftwing group would bring a petition, but now they have to typically find an Arab who claims to have been affected (an interested party), if I understand this correctly, it actually requires for there to be an injured party, not just an interested one.

Is this a tactic the Left uses that will be blocked?

a list of all donations and funds...
Shouldn't the judges have all the information at hand as to who is behind the petition? Is it really the petitioner and an Israeli organization? Or perhaps it is a foreign government trying to interfere in Israeli politics working through a shell organization.

Would exposure of this knowledge be detrimental to the way the Israeli Left works?

Assuming these answers are 'yes', it's clear why these Leftist organizations are afraid of this bill, it would expose them for what they really are, and block their attempts to alter Israeli democracy through non-democratic means.

The AJC released a Press Release that criticized the Knesset for holding a hearing on J-Street, as to whether J-Street is "pro-Israel" as it claims to be, and whether it is harming Israel with its actions.

The hearing was called because there are many that believe that J-Street actions, statements, and activities are actually quite dangerous to Israel and helping our enemies.

AJC criticized the Knesset, stating that the Knesset is not the proper forum for discussing if an organization is harming Israel.

Strange, because I am sure the AJC is busy criticizing the Knesset in this press release.

If I understand Ed Rettig correctly, it is OK for the AJC and J-Street to criticize Israel and the Knesset, but it is not OK for the Knesset to defend itself against these criticism.

Got it?

And Isabel his wife said to him, now you will have kingdom over Israel, arise, eat bread and satiate your heart and I will give you the vineyard of Navot the Jezreelite. And she wrote decrees in the name of Achav and she signed them with his seal and she sent the decrees to the elders and to the Horim in his city, who dwelled with Navot. And she wrote in the decrees, declare a fast and seat Navot at the head of the people.
(Kings II, 21:7-9)

And he sent royal decrees to all the states of the king, each state in its form of writing and each nation in its language, so that every man would rule in his home and speak the language of his nation.
(The Scroll of Esther 1:22)

What do the decrees of Isabel and Ahashverosh have in common? In both cases, they are an attempt to squelch justified disobedience. In both cases, the decrees are based on "the law."

Navot the Jezreelite is unwilling to sell his family inheritance. Vashti is unwilling to embarrass herself in public. In the face of disobedience that is obviously just, all that a king can use is the most corrupt of tools: The rule of law.

It is impossible to miss the similarity in style. They make laws, sign them with the royal seal and send them throughout the kingdom. It is reminiscent of the Evacuation/Compensation law, enacted with careful attention to the letter of the law. This was not a criminal act, heaven forbid. It was the product of an orderly legislative process that encompasses everyone!

When the assassination plot of Bigtan and Teresh is exposed, there is no need for all this. Everyone understands that they will receive the death penalty. But when justice is not with the king, he can always pull the "rule of law" act out of his hat.

Shabbat Shalom and Happy Purim,
Moshe Feiglin

In the town of Neve Tzuf where the Fogel family is sitting Shiva an Arab taxi zoomed to the gate of the Yishuv. Soldiers discovered that inside was an Arab woman who had just given birth and the newborn baby was dying because the umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck, endangering both the baby and mother.


The taxi driver and mother decided that the best solution to save their lives was to find some radical settlers and occupying IDF soldiers.

They were right.

Corporal Haim Levin led the save, supported by the local medical team of the Yishuv.

Both the mother and baby were saved by the the evil settlers and IDF soldiers.

This is where the remnants of the massacred Fogel family are sitting shiva. I'm sure I don't need to point out the juxtaposition.

The mother named the baby Jude.

source: YNET

Imagine a world where Israel was respected, a world where US Jews want to make Aliyah to Israel.

There’s a fascinating article by Dore Gold in today’s Jerusalem Post.

He states that Dr. Yuval Bartov, chief geologist for Israel Energy Initiatives, at the yearly symposium of the prestigious Colorado School of Mines claims that Israel has 250 billion barrels of oil reserved locked in oil shale. That, to top off 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.

The study places Israel as the world’s third largest holder of oil shale reserves.

Dore Gold tells us that Israel is working on technology that will not only cleanly extract the oil from shale, but provide water while doing so.

Gold tells us that these technologies are being tested right now.

Dore Gold is not a man led to exaggeration. If he’s telling us this, then there is strong basis for it in fact. Updated studies this coming year will tell us more about the extent of these finds and technologies.

That's not to say that the idea doesn't have its Green detractors.

But aren't environmentalist always party poopers? They'd prefer to fly in their jets, while the rest of us give up our cars.

Anyway, back to the subject on hand..

When I read this, my first thought was that as a primary supplier of global oil for the next few decades, this would completely alter the way the world deals with Israel.

When I told this to my wife, her first response was that American Jews might actually decide to make Aliyah to a wealthy country like Israel.

Imagine…

Snow didn't fall in Jerusalem (yet) as they predicted, but there is ice, at the new ice skating rink that just opened in Kikar Safra for the next month.

A pick-up hockey was just announced for this evening in fact.

I plan to check it out and report back on it sometime in the near future.

The Battalion 9 of the 401st armored brigade made military history today.

The "Windbreaker" (Me'il Ruach) anti-tank missile defense system (aka Trophy) designed by Rafael that was installed in unit's tanks back in 2009 was automatically activated by a tank in/near Gaza that came under missile attack today.


The defense system properly recognized and defended the tank against the anti-tank missile.

The tank crew subsequently took out the hostile enemy forces.

Not only is this the first time the system was used in a combat situation in Israel, it is the first time a system like this has been successfully deployed anywhere in the world.

It is simply a game changer when it comes to tank warfare.

Trophy/Windbreaker is an active protection system that works by spraying a blast of small projectiles in the direction of the incoming anti-tank missile.

Watch the video to learn more:

The Knesset just passed legislation (40-34) that will require all NGOs to reveal their foreign funding, and declare on their website and advertisements that they receive money from foreign governments.

This is a different law than the one that would have called for investigations of primarily leftwing groups, based on their attacks on IDF soldiers or actions taken on behalf of foreign governments.

(It's perhaps not as tough as US laws for foreign agent funding reporting for NGOs to the government, but it's a good start).


I'm sure Israel's citizens will be smart enough to understand that when it says on their ads and websites that these NGO are supported by foreign governments it means these NGOs are actually acting as foreign agents for these foreign governments who are interfering with our internal politics.

That's good enough for me.

The downside of this legislation, as I understand it so far, is that it is limited to funding from foreign governments. It's possibly leaves open a gaping loophole of funneling in money first through local intermediaries (even though it does seem to imply that ignorance of the true source will be no excuse). I'll try to find out more about this.



Regarding the delayed investigation legislation, the Leftwing NGOs (and MKs) are opposing it because they claim it exclusively targets Leftwing NGOs by demanding investigations into their funding based on their anti-Israeli activities.

In reality the law is in effect targeting foreign governments who are using local Israeli citizens as agents to infiltrate and influence internal politics. The NGOs are simply the tool being used to investigate and expose how these foreign governments are attacking Israel. The investigation would show they are tools, and not true grassroots organizations.


Speaking of targeted legislation, I'm quite uncomfortable with the talk of trying to pass a law that gives Rabbis immunity for their Torah-connected statements.

Yes, there are those that feel its necessary because only Rabbis are being called in for investigations of their statements and writings, while Leftist professors, artists, journalist and writers who openly incite against settlers, Rabbis, chareidim, or others they disagree with are completely ignored by the authorities.

But the solution isn't a special law for Rabbis.

The solution is explaining to (and retraining) the authorities so they understand what the concept of free speech actually means.

No one group should have special protection under the law for free speech. Everyone should have it - equally and fully.

The headline for this post is a bit misleading, but potentially true none the less.

Scientists have been studying villagers of a town in Ecuador. Many of the residents have a genetic mutation that results in dwarfism.

But the mutation that causes their short stature also prevents them from getting cancer or diabetes. They apparently don't produce enough of a hormone called IGF-1 and their cells have a defective growth hormone receptor.

In laboratory experiments on mice, this defect results in extended lifespans.

Studying these villagers has helped pharmaceutical companies produce a drug (called Pegvisomant or Somavert) for helping treat a disease called acromegaly - and it might also extend lifespan.

And the Jewish connection?

Apparently these villagers are descendants of Sephardi Conversos from Portugal and Spain!