It's about time a leading Rabbi gave a public statement on the Jewish outlook on war.

Rav Mordechai Eliyahu (former Chief Rabbi) in a letter to Olmert explicitely stated that their is no cause to worry about enemy civilian casualties in a war to protect Israel.

Furthermore he said it is forbidden to risk the live of Jewish civilians and soldiers for fear of killing enemy civilians (such as what Israel did in Chomat Magen and Lebanon).

He said that the Palestinians can and do maintain a collective responsibility for what goes on in their own cities.

'In the letter, Eliyahu quoted from Psalms. "I will pursue my enemies and apprehend them and I will not desist until I have eradicated them."'

From the JP:
“A group of internationally renowned Israeli authors and university presidents demanded Wednesday that Israel grant Palestinian students from the Gaza Strip free movement to superior universities in the West Bank.”

Listen, I fully understand what they are saying.

First of all, how long is the expected life span of an engineering student in Gaza? Not very long when you factor in work accidents and guided missiles. West Bank students clearly face fewer life challenges when it comes to dodging Apache copters.

Of course, then there is the other consideration.

The typical West Bank student suffers from a shortage of apprenticeship prospects, not to mention the lack of “on the job training” opportunities in the field. With all the IDF raids, no one seems to be able to graduate to central Israel, nor pick up even the most basic skills needed to start making Kassams and better road side bombs.

So for your average Gazan and West Banker free movement for educational purposes would provide everyone with wonderful opportunities.

Gazan engineering students would get to live a little longer, and West Bank engineering students would get to learn from their more experienced co-educationalists.

I fully agree. Let’s open the floodgates.

Idiots.

It’s strange. There was a time when the Golan was almost completely in the national consensus. Except for the extreme left, and their short-sighted political adventurist/opportunist, no one questioned our right or need for the Golan or the Hermon mountain.

Yet, here we are, with Olmert, Peres and their followers both publicly and anonymously announcing on a near daily basis that we must be rid of the Golan if we want to prop up a third world repressive regime (I mean Syria, not Israel), and the idea, quite scarily, is gaining momentum.

I don’t think it has to do with the Jewish artifacts, archeology, and history that is being uncovered all the time on the Golan. Though God forbid we should find more links to our past.

It couldn’t be because the percentage of Religious Jews (compared to non-religious Jews) living on the Golan might be higher than that of even Judea and Samaria.

To be honest, I don’t know why.

But Ha’aretz is reporting on a new hiking trail that was just inaugurated for the Golan.

So you are probably saying to yourself, see JoeSettler is wrong. Israel does want the Golan.

Except you would be wrong.

You see this trail was developed by the Golan Tourism Association in response to the not so subtle snub they got from Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel.

You see, the SPNI has an important and defining hiking trail that traverses Israel called “Shvil Yisrael” or the “Israel Trail. If you go to the map though you’ll notice that it is rather selective as to where it goes.

Obviously it would never go into Judea or Samaria, but there was a conscious decision to not include the Golan as part of the “Israel Trail” for political reasons!

So while the SPNI helped develop and mark the Golan Trail, it is done as a completely separate track.

While the SPNI has the right to define their trails however they want, and while they obviously do have trails in the Golan, and along the Jordan River, you have to admit that purposely not including the Golan as part of the Israel Trail is about as political a statement as you can make.

That I would bump into, none other than, Jameel and his son (and the rest of the Muqata clan - all armed to the teeth mind you)...


It seems that son number 2 (of 18) from wife # 1 (of 4) was putting on his tefillin for the first time. After some mumbled explanation as to what I was doing at the Tomb of the Patriarchs (I obviously couldn't mention the secret meeting with Baruch Marzel) I was invited to daven with Muqata clan.

With me at the Pow-Wow was one of my extended relatives (who we'll call Aleph).

Aleph

Aleph's grandmother and great-uncles were prominent members of the Hebron community until 1929, owning homes and property going back to "time immemorial".

During the 1929 Arab massacre of the Jewish community of Hebron the family managed to escape through a series of miracles.

But, the family got separated in the turmoil of the massacre.

Aleph’s grandfather made it to Jerusalem, while Aleph’s grandmother and some of her brothers couldn’t manage to sneak past the marauding Arabs and found themselves trapped.

Suddenly, an Arab neighbor (whom they had good relations with) grabbed them and hid them inside the Maarat Hamachpela. After hours of hiding, some British soldiers extracted them and brought them to Jerusalem.

At that point they learned that one of Aleph’s many uncles (a baby at the time) was left behind in one of their homes!

So a rescue mission was organized by the family and they then snuck back into Hevron during the massacre, got to the house, found the baby and snuck back into Jerusalem –again through another series of miracles.

On the way out we drove by Beit HaShalom – the building recently acquired by the Jewish Hebron Community.

I was in Sanhendria yesterday. Had dinner with the family at "Pizza City".

I would rank their pizza at being as good as pizza in New York (which is, of course, my highest ranking).

Check it out.

Tell them JoeSettler sent you.

The JP is reporting that corporations from Allied countries have been selling advanced nuclear technology to Iran.

Though it seems that after an explosion in January at one of the nuclear facilities, Iran is beginning to realize that the materials sold to them may have been purposefully flawed and “manipulated” by those companies.

It reminds me of a movie JerusalemCop once pointed out to me called “Deterrence”.

Isn't that just the height of hypocrisy?

Hamas leaders are worried that Israel may target the Hamas leaders, and suddenly there is talk from them that the Kassam attacks may subside or end.

It’s not even that these guys are cowards (which they obviously are). It’s how they openly demand martyrdom from their followers, but when given the opportunity themselves, they run, hide, and surrender.

Hypocrisy.

Of course this doesn’t mean that Israel wins.

It just means that Hamas will manage to diffuse a stronger attack against them, while leaving the window open to launch attacks against us using an alternative strategy (before returning again to the Kassams) such as suicide bombers.

I really hope I am not the only blogger writing about this.

There were a number of articles today describing the freedoms the Shin Bet is permitting itself in infringing on the rights of citizens.

Utilizing the term “subversive” as their permit, the Shin Bet says it is allowed to use all means such as wiretaps (without a warrant obviously) and other information gathering tools (such as reading your emails before they reach you) to invade your privacy.

No need to prove anything to a judge, no need for “ticking bombs”, just whatever the S”B decides by themselves as being “subversive” is all that is needed.

Great, so not only do we have corrupt politicians running the country, now we have enforcement agencies with no limits, restrictions, or watchdogs, taking on some serious extralegal powers.

A perfect match.


I wish I could meet an Israeli who knew the definition of the word democracy and what civil rights really means.

The Kosher Internet issue is really small fry compared to the current discussions in Chareidi circles on Kosher Cellphones.

I'll be honest, I don't know what exactly they are selling with the Kosher Phone. I've heard some of my Chareidi relatives swear by it, "it's a must, if you are frum", and I've heard some Chareidi relatives swear at it, "the idea is idiotic".

Yet, the notion is now seriously infiltrating the Chareidi world (yes, I know the product is over a year old, but now you see advertisements all over the Chareidi neighborhoods as it makes serious inroads) and will soon become a basic obligation.

I used to think that all the Chumras in America were a result of not living in Israel and the need to do "more" in order to feel religious. Yet, with discussions and proclamations going on here, I am no longer so sure about that theory.

I honestly don’t understand the need for “certification”. If you don’t want 3G features on your phone, then don’t buy a 3G phone. I’m still not sure how SMS isn’t kosher, but I’m sure someone will explain it to me. And from what I recall, legislation passed blocking immediate access to certain numbers unless you explicitly ask for them to be unblocked (or not, I don’t remember for sure) – but either way it certainly requires a conscious decision to make that phone call.

Yet I’ve already heard of Bnei Brak schools not accepting children in if their parents don’t have only Kosher cellphones.

Moving back to the internet issue, CNN has an interesting article on a study done of 40 countries (and the PA) regarding internet censorship (excluding Bnei Brak, Elad, Beitar, Kiryat Sefer, etc.).

The one thing that the PA and Israel have in common is that neither government has censorship/filtering on internet access. Of course we both have internal censorship/filtering and that is what I am discussing now.

So going back to Kosher Internet, I would agree that unlike cellphones, the “risk” is not just of “accidentally” visiting problematic sites, but having those sites forced onto your computer by mistyping, pop-ups and junk mail - which is far more likely, real and realistic scenario – not to mention the wholesale downloading of movies – a not so secret problem in the Chareidi community.


IMHO, the mounting edicts to have computers and internet thrown out of the house are extreme, as there are perfectly fine technical solutions that can solve the problem (and I am not against self-controlled/maintained censorship).


As any parent knows, one can buy software filters that prevent everything and anything from reaching your child (even AOL has children accounts that filter things out before they reach your home), and I am not against “Kosher” ISPs (and they exist) that automatically provide such services.

Of course there is a problem with Kosher ISPs as “Kosher” sites can also (inadvertently) get blocked and you are at the whim of the ISP who decides what you can or can’t have access to – and that might even include basic, required reading sites like the Jerusalem Post or JoeSettler!

(Now, an ISP that gave you a checklist of what to filter out would be very interesting).

But still, it comes back to that ugly problem that it is not you who is controlling your access and limitations when it comes to the internet, but rather an external social structure that forces you to follow them to their farthest extremes if you want to remain an “acceptable” member of the general community.

One of the biggest problems facing the Chareidi community is the social pressure that a few key individuals are able to place on the community as a whole.

I know quite a number of Chareidim who (privately) completely disagree with these pronouncements but feel forced to go along if they want to keep their kids in their schools, or not be social outcasts (and I know others who think these are wonderful ideas).

On the other hand, knowing the severity of the movie download issue in the Chareidi community – perhaps they do have a point there.

But still, it comes down to the fringe in the community doing the policing and creating rulings rather than the mainstream community.

As I said, the Chareidi community has a big problem in that even the nonconformists need to conform.

You would be surprised to learn that certain families/individual carry a lot of weight, not because they are “Big Rabbis”, but simply by their key position as school headmasters (i.e. Beis Yaakov’s such as Wolf and Kahaneman to name two large ones in B”B), and if you want your kid in a good (or the right) school then you must conform to their demands - (“good” and “right” having shidduch connotations).

Who would dare lead a revolution or even a minor disagreement in such a closed knit community knowing that your kid could be expelled and his or her future destroyed, not to mention becoming a social outcast among your friends (who secretly agree with you, but don’t want the same to happen to them)?

Perhaps in a future post I will discuss other closed mostly homogenous communities such as Ramat Aviv and Kibbutzim and how they damage both themselves and the rest of the country, and whether such ideologically closed communities are a good idea or not, but certainly everyone has a right to assemble and live in a community that reflects your value system - but what happens when that community become too closed and also happen to control or have influence in key societal/government positions?

(Kosher) Food for thought.

Jameel claims that the drums of war are beginning to beat.

I'm going to go out on a limb here, when I say I am very skeptical that we will reach that point in the immediate future.

Yeah, Sderot is being bombarded, and sure we even sent in a few tanks and did an airstrike or two, but a full out (or even partial) war?

My gut, right at this moment, just keeps saying that it won't happen.

Sure, it would be an easy way for both Olmert and Peretz to rehabilitate their images, but I think they were wishing/hoping for at least a few more months till they had to even begin to think of war, and right now they are frozen in the headlights.

They face another problem, and they know it.

What would be the goal of the war, and how would they achieve it?

The first is obvious, fewer rocket strikes per day - no more grandiose claims by Olmert that he will stop them completely - which relates to the second part of the question.

The only way to achieve absolute quiet is to liberate Gaza again.

And there in lies the crux of the problem.

Targeted strikes have only limited effect, and just like last year they should be used to soften up the targets to let the ground troops go in.

But, Olmert won't let the ground troops in, because the only way to maintain the quiet is to stay inside - something he doesn't want.

So Olmert is stuck, he has only one hope, and that is that someone in the PA will gain more control and lower the rocket rates.

In the meantime he will continue with targeted attacks of limited value, to create an illusion that he is doing something (just like they do with the wall), and the attacks will escalate.

The real questions are, what do the Arabs need to hit, and how many need to die before Olmert finds himself forced to act in a serious manner? And how far will he then be willing to go once he commits.

But like I said, short of a major (and I mean major - increased volleys on Sderot don't count) disaster, I just don't see this escalating to the level where Israel is prepared to wipe out the terrorist infrastructure once and for all.


There is an alternative which is just as scary.

Olmert will go for a short war, with the goal of forcing a UN or multinational peacekeeping force into Gaza - just like Lebanon.

It's an easy solution, because then the weapons and infrastructure buildup that will go on under UN observation will delay the inevitable - but delay it enough so that it will at least be someone else's problem.


As a final thought, can anyone explain to me the Left's infatuation with Barak? You would think after last summer, everyone would realize how dangerous this man is to Israel's security - yet here he is - a front runner.

Short memories is just too easy an answer.