Jerusalem News (9 January, 2015, 18 Tevet, 5775)
Contents:
1. Interesting Clip. What makes the Israeli soldier the best in the world?
2. Israeli College takes freedom of expression too Far! Sapir College's Exhibit 'Incites People to Murder Jews'
3. Op-Ed: To Anti-Semitic Christians, Israel is an Usurper by Giulio Meotti
4. Role of Iran in Arming Kurds and Saving Iraq from ISIS
5. Sweden: Democrats reject anti-Semitism
6.The German Left's Palestine Problem
7. How Has One Organization Saved the Lives of 60,000 Babies?
Veteran Efrat volunteer tells Arutz Sheva how her organization has saved 60,000 babies from unnecessary abortions.
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1. Interesting Clip. What makes the Israeli soldier the best in the world?
http://www.jewsnews.co.il/2015/01/05/what-makes-the-israeli-soldier-the-best-in-the-world-2/
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2. Israeli College takes freedom of expression too Far! Sapir College's Exhibit 'Incites People to Murder Jews'
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/313028
by Ido Ben Porat, Cynthia Blank
Extracts.
Former Im Tirzu head Dr. Ronen Shoval has filed a complaint, through his campaign operatives, against Sapir Academic College with the Israel Police.
Shoval accuses the school, located in the northwestern Negev desert near Sderot, of stirring up incitement by displaying their current exhibit.
The exhibit features works of art containing the expressions: "Kill the Jews," "Daash [Islamic State]," and "With blood and fire we will redeem Palestine."
Sapir Academic College responded to Shoval, saying "The exhibition 'Power of the Word' shown at the new gallery at the School of Art includes works by some of the best artists in Israel."
..."The artists whose works were included in this exhibition received institutional, governmental, and public recognition. Their works are well known to the art-loving public and have been exhibited and acquired by museums and collectors throughout the country."
Sapir Academic College's statement continued: "These artists express their opinions and produce works that raise conflict and public discourse. Therefore, this exhibit opens discussion about the disagreements [in our public] and the art reflects the opinions of both sides."
"Free speech and free thought exist at Sapir Academic College in an effort to foster pluralism and tolerance. We expose to the faculty and students a variety of public opinions as part of their education."
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3. Op-Ed: To Anti-Semitic Christians, Israel is an Usurper
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/16253#.VKwKK5td4dU
Published: Monday, January 05, 2015 5:50 AM
by
Giulio Meotti
Extracts:
The Presbyterian Church USA is considering banning the word 'Israel' from its prayers. That anti-Semitic resolution was meant to "distinguish between the biblical terms that refer to the ancient land of Israel and the modern political State of Israel".
It has happened.before. In his war against the Jews, Adolf Hitler instructed Christian theologians to rewrite the Bible, in a bid to remove all mention of the Jews. Their barbaric spirit is living on in the Palestinolatry of these liberal Christians.
Located in Eisenach - the city where another anti-Semite, Martin Luther, translated the Bible, Â the Institute for the Study and Eradication of Jewish Influence on German Church Life published treatises arguing not only that Jesus descended from non-Semitic stock, but that his mission had been directed against the Jewish people. The lead figure was Walter Grundmann (1906-76), a seminal figure in the effort to de-Judaize Christianity and marry the faith to Nazism.
These Nazified Christians vied for influence in German Protestantism with liberal figures like Martin Niemoeller and Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
In 1940, while Jews in Eastern Europe were already being deported to a certain death, Grundmann and his associates published their version of the Bible. Missing from it were the Old Testament and all references to the Jews.
It is not a coincidence that Grundmann rose to high positions in the East German Communist Protestant Church after the war.
The Nazi declared war on the Untermenschen Jews, the Jews without roots. Today the new Christian anti-Semitism is meant to strip the State of Israel of its history and roots in the land to better extinguish the Jews. Israel can easily become an usurper and an imposter.
From the PLO to Hamas, from Hanan Ashrawi to Sheikh Yassin, Arab rejectionists have been able to present the Palestinian Arabs as 'the true descendants' of the biblical Israelites because of this Christian rewriting of history.
A few days ago, Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar had an interview with NY Times kapo Roger Cohen. "Israel will be eliminated because it is a foreign body that does not belong to our area, or history or religion," Zahar said. Referring to Israeli Jews, he continued, "Why should they come from Ethiopia, or Poland, or America?".
These are just one of the consequences of the Christian replacement theology.
In 1988 the Anglican synod of New Zealand removed the words 'Zion' and 'Israel' from the Psalter. In a 2013 report titled 'The Inheritance of Abraham? The Promised Land,' the Church of Scotland said Israel does not belong to the Jewish people. 'Promises about the land of Israel were never intended to be taken literally, or as applying to a defined geographical territory,' it said. "The 'Promised Land' in the Bible is not a place, so much as a metaphor of how things ought to be among the people of God. This 'Promised Land' can be found, or built, anywhere." Â The New Testament, the report states, contains a 'radical re-interpretation' of the concepts of 'Israel,' 'temple,' 'Jerusalem,' and 'land.'
L'Osservatore Romano, the official Vatican daily, 'welcomed' the proclamation of the State of Israel on May 14, 1948 with these words: 'Modern Israel is not the true heir of Biblical Israel". The same was proclaimed during the Vatican's synod in 2010, when some bishops called to abolish the concept of "Promised Land" and "Chosen People".
For these Christians, the 'Jewish peril' of pre- Shoah Christianity is reincarnated for post-Shoah Christianity in the State of Israel, with its corollary of the sacralization of the Arab Palestinians, Â Jihad and the demonization of 'the Zionists.'
In the Nazi rewriting of history and religious books, mention of Jerusalem was replaced with the words "Eternity, the Divine city of light." Now it is the turn of the Al Quds' lie instead of Yerushalaim and the the Dome of the Rock instead of the Temple Mount.
Today's most important defining question is: are the Jews the God's chosen people? I believe so. Because the entire conflict, Israel's legitimacy and Jewish sovreignty over the holy land, is all about this question.
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4. Role of Iran in Arming Kurds and Saving Iraq from ISIS
Excerpts:
SOURCE: Naharnet (Lebanon) 6 Jan.I raq MP: Iran Top General Saved Baghdad from Falling to IS, Agence France Presse
An Iraqi Shiite militia leader and lawmaker has credited Tehran and a powerful Iranian general with saving the Baghdad government during last summer's offensive by Islamic State group militants. Hadi al-Ameri, a former minister who commands the Badr militia, said support from Iran and General Qassem Suleimani had been crucial after Iraqi government forces collapsed in the face of the IS assault. "If it were not for the cooperation of the Islamic republic of Iran and General Suleimani, we would not today have a government headed by Haider al-Abadi in Baghdad," Ameri told a memorial service south of Tehran Monday[5 Jan.]... The general, who reportedly landed in Baghdad hours after IS overran the Iraqi city of Mosul in June and led the anti-jihadist counter-attack, has become the public face of Iran's deep military involvement in Iraq. Abadi took over as Iraq's prime minister after Nuri al-Maliki, a fellow Shiite with close ties to Tehran, reluctantly stood down following the IS surge into northern Iraq. Iran moved swiftly by arming Iraqi Kurdish fighters and supporting Baghdad with military advisers. It has also provided training for Shiite militias in a counter-offensive against the Sunni extremist group. But Tehran has consistently denied having troops on the ground and was never invited to join the U.S.-led military coalition that is carrying out air strikes against IS in Syria and Iraq. Predominantly Shiite Iran has a strong interest in defending Iraq, where IS's declared aim is to topple a regime dominated by Shiites, who are regarded by the jihadists as heretics. Source Agence France Presse
www.imra.org.il
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5. Sweden: Democrats reject anti-Semitism
Forwarded by Orjan Svensson
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Sweden-Democrats-reject-anti-Semitism-386751
There has been recent controversy over accusations that a 'Swedish politician calls for Jews to abandon their faith,' Â which was the headline of an article in The Jerusalem Post on December 18. It is part of a wider series of claims made against my party by journalists and political opponents.
In a biased article in one of Sweden's largest newspapers, Dagens Nyheter (DN: Daily News), some of my statements were dramatically taken out of context to erroneously credit me with opinions that do not correspond with reality. Politically biased journalists and political opponents have further distorted the statements, resulting in a presentation virtually the complete opposite of my actual statements and opinions. This is now distributed in the international press, such as in the Post, which therefore necessitates a clarification on my part.
I represent the Sweden Democrats, a social conservative party on a nationalistic/patriotic foundation which views value conservatism and the maintenance of a solidarity-based welfare model as the most important tools in building a well-functioning society. We are also Sweden's most ardent pro-Israel party, strongly opposed to Sweden's recognition of a Palestinian state as well as any aid to the Palestinian Authority, as we do not wish to be associated with financially aiding terrorism in any way.
Along with a Jewish colleague, on a trip to Israel in the spring of 2012 I visited among other places Samaria and the Golan Heights to obtain an understanding about the situation for the Jewish people in Israel. I also visited the Knesset and met several Israeli politicians. Those who know me are well familiar with my strong commitment to the State of Israel and the Jewish people. To then be accused of the direct opposite is outright insulting.
The Sweden Democrats advocate a policy of assimilation, which means that immigrants coming to Sweden should be expected to adapt to Swedish society. In my conversation with the DN journalist I discussed the fact that Sweden currently recognizes five national minorities, which are exempt from these requirements.
These minorities are Sami, Roma, Sweden Finns, Tornedalers and Jews.
Common to these minority groups is that they have lived in Sweden for a prolonged period of time and represent groups with a pronounced affinity. They even have a religious, linguistic or cultural background and a desire to preserve this identity of theirs. They thus constitute their own nations within the Swedish state.
We distinguish between nationhood and citizenship. For this I have been criticized, but I am certain that you in Israel make this same distinction.
Of course not all Israeli citizens are Jewish, and the same certainly applies in Sweden.
Naturally there are some people from these minority nations who have, partly or fully, joined the Swedish nation by adopting a Swedish identity. I have relatives who have Sami and Jewish backgrounds but who would not consider themselves as anything other than Swedes.
When asked whether one can be simultaneously Jewish and Swedish, I did not respond 'no,' though this is exactly how it was portrayed in the Swedish press. I replied that I believe most people of Jewish origin that have become Swedes (as in becoming a part of the Swedish nation) may have partly abandoned their Jewish identity in some cases. I emphasized, however, that whether they do or not, it does not pose a problem since they have lived in Sweden for so long and that they are in fact part of a recognized minority. This enables them to continue living here in Sweden with their Jewish nationhood and Swedish citizenship. The same applies to the other recognized minority groups.
Some Jews in Sweden are Jewish strictly in a religious sense while others are also Jewish in a national and cultural sense.
I have defended our recognized minority groups, including the Jews, as having the right to maintain this unique societal position, as compared to other minority groups in the country. To this end I have now been attributed various political viewpoints that are foreign to me.
The author is secretary-general for the Sweden Democrats and second deputy speaker of the Swedish Parliament.
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6.The German Left's Palestine Problem
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2014/12/the-germans-lefts-palestine-problem/
Leandros Fischer - Jacobin - he history of the German left’s attitude to Israel/Palestine is truly complex and for the uninitiated foreign leftist, perplexing and occasionally shocking. In the 1950`s Israel was seen as a progressive Socialist society. In the 1960`s and 1970`s, conversely, left-wing German students, like their peers elsewhere, felt strong solidarity with the Palestinians. Later, however, came the so-called "anti-German" intellectual and political current whose opposition to and rejection of German Nationalism took the perverse form of uncritical support for Israel and Israeli policies. The influence of such "anti-German" activists is perceptible in the present controversy convulsing Gregor Gysi`s Die Linke, the main political expression of the German Left. [ak]
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7. How Has One Organization Saved the Lives of 60,000 Babies?
Veteran Efrat volunteer tells Arutz Sheva how her organization has saved 60,000 babies from unnecessary abortions.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/189596#.VK-GFptd4dU
By Yoni Kempinski and Arutz Sheva Staff
Extracts:
Ruth Tidhar, EFRAT's chief social worker, told Arutz Sheva what it's like to be on the other side.
"Women come to us when the're at the most dramatic time possible in their lives," she said of the often emotionally-charged situations she has dealt with in the past.
But she claimed that in her experience, deep down most women leaning towards abortion are actually looking for a way out.
"A lot of the women who come to us have the feeling already that if they had the abortion they are going to be really sorry about it," she said.
"I never try to convince anybody. I say look, here's the facts: we know that women who undergo abortions are sorry about it, (but) out of 60,000 women that Efrat has helped... not one has told us 'I'm sorry that I didn't have the abortion' - not one!"
Tidhar notes that external pressure is usually a key element in pushing pregnant women to seek an abortion, and urged "men all over the world" to "open their eyes" to the fact that in the majority of cases it's pressure from the man in the relationship.
"Where are all the feminist organizations?" she asked. "What about empowering women to do what they want for their life and their body?"