Who's Afraid of Hamas?

Cries of dismay could be heard simultaneously from all directions when the PA announced that Hamas would be permitted to run in both local and parliamentary elections. In protest, Israel barred voting from taking place in Jerusalem, and the US and EU threatened to withhold funding if Hamas is permitted to participate. Security officials in Israel and abroad warn about the dire situation that will occurr if Hamas is allowed to take over an that there is a real fear of them winning a majority in Gaza and other major cities in the West Bank.

It has always puzzled me that Hamas has continually been a taboo subject for both Israelis and world leaders. Arafat and his successors in the PLO have been deemed "partners in peace". Convicted mass murderer Marwan Barghouti is a "legitimate candidate" and there are even calls to release him from jail so that he can campaign, Azmi Bishara and Ahmed Tibi regularly call for the destruction of Israel from WITHIN the Israeli Knesset and no one says a word, but Heaven Forfend Hamas should be permitted to run!

It doesn't take much research or critical thought to realize that there is NO negotiable difference between the PA. Hamas, Fatah, Islamic Jihad, or Hizbollah, the Israeli Arab political parties or any other Arab terror group. All of these organizations are directly involved in terrorism, the routine murder of Jews and work towards the eventual destruction of the State of Israel. The time has come to stop whitewashing arch terrorist Arafat and his good old boys and treat them as what they are- wolves in sheep's clothing. Are we really supposed to trust Abu Mazen, whose PHD dissertation was a flamboyant piece of holocaust revisionism? Does Fatah, or the Al-Aksa brigades, the official military wing of the PA, have any less blood on its hands than its radical rivals in green? Was Arafat not directly responsible for killing the most number of Jews since Hitler and Stalin? It is time to take the wool off of our eyes and call a spade a spade. The PA is no better than Hamas and their goals are the same. The only difference is their tactics and willingness to use deception to achieve them.

There is however, ONE major difference between Hamas and the PA. The PA is rife with corruption and is in essence nothing more than a government sanctioned mafia. A party which has completely lost touch with the will of the people, has been stealing their money for years and is widely viewed as willing to sacrifice ideology for money power and prestige. Hamas on the other hand, is seen as the honest ideological party, the "party of the people" so to speak, and that is why they are becoming more and more popular. This is not only in theory, they managed to do very well in many municipal elections especially in big cities such as Schem.

If Hamas were merely some marginal fringe party the powers that be would have no problem with them running and showing poorly in the polls. The fact is that they have a very good chance at winning, or at least taking a significant percentage of the electorate. This is why they are so feared and why there is so much pressure to exclude them from the elections.

But why should we be afraid of Hamas? Haven't we already established that from a standpoint of terrorism or ideology they are no worse than the current regime? Wouldn't their victory mean a major decrease in corruption and mishandling of funds which are meant to go to the "Palestinian people"? Why are the very people who for so long demanded free elections in Palestine, now attempting to censor the ballot? Don't "free elections" and the democratic process trump every other political concern? Shouldn't the "Palestinian People" be permitted to vote for whomever they choose, not a pre-decided set of candidates who will maintain the status quo?

The real reason that there is so much international opposition to Hamas is obvious: If they are permitted to run and then win or do well at the polls it will unequivocally prove to the world once and for all that the "Palestinian People" = Hamas. The Emperor will be naked and the lies that have been fed to us since the Oslo accords about the "moderate peace loving majority" of the "Palestinian People" will finally be exposed as complete fabrications and political sophistry. It will show that in a TRUE free election, the Palestinians will not vote for peace or compromise, they will vote for HAMAS, in essence a vote to continue the campaign of murder and mayhem until no Jew is left on Palestinian soil. They will vote for radical Islam and not Western Democracy or Liberalism. They will choose the battlefield over the negotiating table and the sick game we have been playing will finally be over. In the end, the "Palestinians will not even settle for the trojan horse, "jack in a box" called the PA, who is more discrete about its goals and tactics. They want the real thing -Hamas -Terrorism no holds barred.....

So why not let the Arab inhabitants of Israel finally vote their conscience? Why not allow them to have a truly free and unencumbered election? Why not once and for all allow them to show their true colors to the world publicly embarrassing the EU, UN, US State Department and most of all the Israeli Left who for so long have tried to cover up their atrocities, squarely placing the blame on Israel's shoulders? There is an old expression in Yiddish "A good enemy is better than a bad friend." We all know where Hamas stands, wouldn't we be in a far better position dealing with them than a lying cheating PA who says one thing in English and the opposite in Arabic? Why not finally let the truth come out; that the Arabs of Israel actively seek its destruction and MUST be treated like enemies of the State instead of "partners in peace". They must be fought against and expelled not given more concessions and "confidence building measures". Because if they will be allowed to vote, their "confidence" in Hamas and radical Islamic terrorism will be as clear as day and no amount of rationalization or political maneuvering will be able to cover that up. Let Hamas run, let the Arabs once and for all show their true intentions. And if they run I hope they win, because as strange as it may sound, A Victory for Hamas is a Victory for Israel!

Down With Hanukah!!!

Down With Hanukah!!!
By Rabbi Meir Kahane HY"D
One of my favorite articles of all time written by the Rav--KRebbe


If I were a Reform rabbi; if I were a leader of the establishment whose money and prestige have succeeded in capturing for himself the leadership and voice of American Jewry; if I were one of the members of the Israeli Government's ruling group; if I were an enlightened sophisticated, modern Jewish intellectual, I would climb the barricades and join in battle against that most dangerous of all Jewish holidays - Hanukah.

It is a measure of the total ignorance of the world Jewish community that there is no holiday that is more universally celebrated than the "Feast of Lights," and it is an equal measure of the intellectual dishonesty and hypocrisy of Jewish leadership that it plays along with the lie. For if ever there was a holiday that stands for everything that the masses of world Jewry and their leadership has rejected - it is this one. If one would find an event that is truly rooted in everything that Jews of our times and their leaders have rejected and, indeed, attacked - it is this one. If there is any holiday that is more "un-Jewish" in the sense of our modern beliefs and practices - I do not know of it.

The Hanukah that has erupted unto the world Jewish scene in all its childishness, asininity, shallowness, ignorance and fraud is not the Hanukah of reality. The Hanukah that came into vogue because Jewish parents - in their vapidness needed something to counteract Christmas; that exploded in a show of "we-have-lights-just-as-our- goyisha-neighbors" and in an effort to reward our spoiled children with eight gifts instead of the poor Christian one; the Hanukah that the Temple, under its captive Rabbi, turned into a school pageant so that the beaming parents might think that the Religious School is really successful instead of the tragic joke and waste that it really is; the Hanukah that speaks of Jewish Patrick Henrys giving-me- liberty-or-death and that pictures the Maccabees as great liberal saviors who fought so that the kibbutzim might continue to be free to preach their Marx and eat their ham, that the split-level dwellers of suburbia might be allowed to violate their Sabbath in perfect freedom and the Reform and Conservative Temples continue to fight for civil rights for Blacks, Puerto Ricans and Jane Fonda, is not remotely connected with reality.

This is not the Hanukah of our ancestors, of the generations of Jews of Eastern Europe and Yemen and Morocco and Spain and Babylon. It is surely not the Hanukah for which the Maccabees themselves died. Truly, could those whom we honor so munificently, return and see what Hanukah has become, they might very well begin a second Maccabean revolt. For the life that we Jews lead today was the very cause, the real reason, for the revolt of the Jews "in those days in our times."

What happened in that era more than 2000 years ago? What led a handful of Jews to rise up in violence against the enemy? And precisely who was the enemy? What were they fighting for and who were they fighting against?

For years the people of Judea had been the vassals of Greece. True independence as a state had been unknown for all those decades and, yet, the Jews did not rise in revolt. It was only when the Greek policy shifted from mere political control to one that attempted to suppress the Jewish religion that the revolt erupted in all its bloodiness. It was not mere liberty that led to the Maccabean uprising that we so passionately applaud. What we are really cheering is a brave group of Jews who fought and plunged Judea into a bloodbath for the right to observe the Sabbath, to follow the laws of kashrut, to obey the laws of the Torah. In a world where everything about Hanukah that we commemorate, and teach our children to commemorate, are things we consider to be outmoded, medieval and childish!

At best, then, those who fought and died for Hanukah were naive and obscurantist. Had we lived in those days we would certainly not have done what they did, for everyone knows that the laws of the Torah are not really Divine but only the products of evolution and men (do not the Reform, Reconstructionist, and large parts of the Conservative movements write this daily?) Surely we would not have fought for that which we violate every day of our lives. No, at best Hanukah emerges as a needless holiday if not a foolish one. Poor Hannah and her seven children; poor Mattathias and Judah; poor well meaning chaps all - but hopelessly backward and utterly unnecessary sacrifices.

But there is more. Not only is Hanukah really a foolish and unnecessary holiday, it is also one that is dangerously fanatical and illiberal. The first act of rebellion, the first enemy who fell at the hands of the brave Jewish heroes whom our delightful children portray so cleverly in their Sunday and religious school pageants, was not a Greek. He was a Jew.

When the enemy sent his troops into Modin to set up an idol and demand its worship, it was a Jew who decided to exercise his freedom of pagan worship and who approached the altar to worship Zeus. (After all, what business was it of anyone what this fellow worshiped?) And it was this Jew, this apostate, this religious traitor who was struck down by the brave, glorious, courageous, (are these not the words all our Sunday schools use to describe him) Mattathias, as he shouted: "Whoever is for G-d, follow me!"

What have we here? What kind of religious intolerance and bigotry? What kind of a man is this for the anti-religious Ha'shomer Ha'tzair, the graceful temples of suburbia, the sophisticated intellectuals, the liberal, open-minded Jews and all the drones who have wearied us unto death with the concept of Judaism as a humanistic, open-minded, undogmatic, liberal, universalist (if not Marxist) religion, to honor? What kind of nationalism is this for Shimon Peres (he who rejects the 'Galut' and speaks of the proud, free Jew of ancient Judea and Israel)?

And to crush us even more (we who know that Judaism is a faith of peace which deplores violence), what kind of Jews were these who reacted to oppression with force? Surely we who so properly have deplored Jewish violence as fascistic, immoral and (above all) un- Jewish, stand in horror as we contemplate Jews who declined to picket the Syrian Greeks to death and who rejected quiet diplomacy for the sword, spear and arrow (had there been bombs in those days, who can tell what they might have done?) and "descended to the level of 'evil'" thus rejecting the ethical and moral concepts of Judaism.

Is this the kind of a holiday we wish to propagate? Are these the kinds of men we want our moral and humanistic children to honor? Is this the kind of Judaism that we wish to observe and pass on to our children? Where shall we find the man of courage, the lone voice in the wilderness to cry out against Hanukah and the Judaism that it represents - the Judaism of our grandparents and ancestors?

Where shall we find the man of honesty and integrity to attack the Judaism of medievalism and outdated foolishness; the Judaism of bigotry that strikes down Jews who refuse to observe the Law; the Judaism of violence that calls for Jewish force and might against the enemy? When shall we find the courage to proudly eat our Chinese food and violate our Sabbaths and reject all the separateness, nationalism and religious maximalism that Hanukah so ignobly represents? Down with Hanukah! It is a regressive holiday that merely symbolizes the Judaism that always was; the Judaism that was handed down to us from Sinai; the Judaism that made our ancestors ready to give their lives for the L-rd; the Judaism that young people instinctively know is true and great and real. Such a Judaism is dangerous for us and our leaders. We must do all in our power to bury it.

No Jews or Dogs!!

I have been following the recent saga in the Red Cross with growing disgust. For those of you who are not familiar with the issues at hand, Israel and its official relief agency Magen David Adom (Red Star of David) has traditionally been rejected membership as an official member of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies because of its refusal to adopt either a cross or crescent as its official symbol. When Israel suggested allowing the additional symbol of the Red Magen David in 1949, the organization rejected the request for the reason that "They don't want to have too many symbols." Contrast this to the refusal of the Muslim world to display a cross on their equipment, and the almost immediate acceptence of the Red Crescent as an official symbol. Since that initial refusal, the Arab countries have fought tooth an nail to keep Israel out of the organization; that is until today.

Yes ladies and gentlemen, today is an historic day for the State of Israel, the Jewish People and Magen David Adom. Finally, after over 50 years of ongoing struggle, despite the current objections of Syria, the governing body of the International Red Cross/Crescent societies have approved Israel's membership. Oh, there's just one more thing. In order to join Israel must adopt the newly created alternative symbol the "Red Crystal" and hereby refrain from using the Red Star of David.

Before you get excited, it is not as bad as it sounds. If MDA wants they can continue to use the Magen David INSIDE the red crystal on DOMESTIC and fundraising missions and even on foreign relief missions where the host country is not "offended" by the symbol. How magnanimous of them. Where do I sign?

Yes my friends, you have heard correctly. Jews may finally join the Red Cross/Crescent but only on the condition that they stop being Jewish. The benevolent nations of the world will allow us to join their "club" and participate in relief missions saving THEIR citizens from disasters, but only on the condition that we never G-d forbid reveal from whence we came.

I am not old enough to remember this myself, but I have heard many first hand accounts that in the recent past, even in "Jewish New York", hotels, businesses and places of entertainment used to prominently display signs in the entranceway that said "No Jews or Dogs!!" There was many a country club in the Northeastern US which did not allow any minorities including Jews to join. They still unofficially exist today on Long Island and New England although at least today (unlike the Red Cross), they have the decency to hide their "eligibility requirements". Of course, as Jews look similar to their WASP neighbors, they would often "make an exception" and let you in as long as you paid an "extra" membership fee and promised never to reveal the fact that you were Jewish.

We need to ask ourselves, what does Israel or MDA gain from this newly found "acceptance"? The "privilege" to go and save the lives of people who hate us and won't even allow us to display a non offensive symbol of Judaism on our uniforms and ambulances? Is it really a positive thing that we try so hard to join a club that proudly displays a sign on its front gate "No Jews or Dogs"? Do we need to risk our lives and send our brave men and women over to countries who won't even acknowledge our existence as a people? People who are so repulsed by a non political historic symbol of the Jewish people, that they would rather die than accept aid from "dirty Jews"? Even if this new arrangement will allow Israel to benefit from extra funding, is it really worth the self-denigration that is required to be eligible to receive it?

The Torah records a prophetic blessing given to the Jewish People "Behold it is a nation that dwells alone and is not counted among the other nations" (Numbers 23:9).

How many of us remember this verse in our daily lives and really consider it to be a blessing? We dedicate our lives to being accepted by the world at large and the harder we try the more they remind us that "No Jews or Dogs" are allowed! Sure there is one way to gain their acceptance, and there always has - Stop being Jewish. Maybe we should once and for all, make Jewish history, take the last shred of dignity that we have left as a people, and tell the Red Cross and all other Anti-Semitic organizations of the world what they can do with their membership cards!

Sharon Government to Disengage from Netanya Mall

It has just been announced that for the sake of Israel's security, and as a result of pressure by the American Government and the UN, the Sharon government will immediately be "disengaging" from the Netanya Mall, the site of repeated terror attacks against Israeli civilians. All shopkeepers will be expelled from the mall and given monetary compensation and be provided with alternative stores in the (not so) near future in a yet to be decided location. As the government is unsure as to where to relocate the shopkeepers, they will be temporarily be placed in hotel lobbies across Israel. For the sake of expediency, all of the contents of these stores will be placed in storage in an unsecured location open to thieves and looters, and only be made available to the expelees when a new permanent location is found.

The cabinet decision was made as a result of the latest murderous terrorist attack at the Sharon Mall in Netanya, where a moderate peace-loving Islamic Jihad suicide bomber snuck under the nose of the IDF, bypassed all the security checkpoints in the Northern West bank and somehow managed to cross the "impenetrable" separation wall which PM Ariel Sharon had solemnly sworn would keep suicide bombers from entering "green line" Israel. Apparantly all of Israel's security experts did not take into consideration that the clandestine tactic of hitchikng across the green line might be employed. In addition, the terrorist was spotted by security guards and police officers who were guarding the entrance to the mall, forcing him to explode himself outside killing at least one guard and injuring many others. As this was not the first time that a security guard was killed or injured defending the mall, outgoing Meretz Leader Yosi Sarid condemned the "arrogant shoppers at the Netanya mall" and asked how many good security guards and policeman must die defending them while they "frivolously squander money in peace and security at the expense of our soldiers". "Why can't they shop in a safer place?", Sarid asked. How many of our children must be placed in danger in order to protect these shoppers? The four mothers organization and Peace Now have threatened to pickett the mall until it is closed. Islamic Jihad and Hamas issued a joint statement calling for Israel to immediately withdraw from all malls and shopping centers built after 1967 and promised that there would be continued bloodshed until the Palestinian People are granted equal shopping rights as their Israeli counterparts.

Sharon admitted that although the withdrawal from the Netanya Mall was a "painful concession" and would undoubtedly be perceived as a victory for Terror, encouraging terrorists to attack other malls across Israel, that the "historic step" was necessary for the security of Israel and that nothing would stop him from carrying out the disengagement. "The withdrawal from the Netanya Mall will allow shoppers in all other malls across Israel to shop in peace", Sharon said. He, however, neglected to explain how or why that would be the case. Sharon continued by explaining that "Israel cannot spare the resources to defend every mall and shopping center in the country, it has been decided that any area which has been the target of multiple terrorist attacks or even failed attempts will be immediately evacuated and relocated." "Nobody, loves to shop more than me", exclaimed Sharon, "but for the good of Israel and for the sake of our security forces we must leave the Netanya Mall at once" Sharon reassured Israeli shoppers that worst case scenario, if all the malls in Israel needed to be evacuated, people could always still shop online.

It is still unclear whether the mall will be demolished, or be purchased by the World Bank to serve as a shopping mall for nearby Palestinians from the West Bank. If that is the case, Israel has promised to provide free bus and train service between all major West Bank cities and the Netanya Mall, which would be named after the late PLO chairman Yassir Arafat and proudly fly a Palestinian flag.

Sounds absolutely absurd doesn't it? But when push comes to shove, what is preventing the Israeli government from enacting such an insane policy? After all, people are dying, and are all the malls in the world really worth even one human life? If Israel could "disengage" from Gaza, expelling over 8000 residents who built their homes and made the land blossom with their own blood sweat and tears, why not Netanya also, or Tel Aviv, or Haifa? Are the heroes of Gush Katif worth less than the heroes of the 1948 War of Independence (or subsequent wars) who gave their lives defending Israel from decimation? Once we decide to "retreat" from insecure areas and set unilateral borders where do we draw the line? Are places like Netanya really safe? What will we do when we run out of places to retreat?

Attacks like today's reveal the complete farce of the Sharon regime and the danger of his policies. Sharon promised that building the "Separation Wall", an obscene ugly cement barrier that literally cuts Israel in half, once again relegating Jews to ghettos, would prevent terrorists from infiltrating Israel. Sharon promised that withdrawing from Gaza would usher in a new era of peace and security to all of Israel. Ironically or not, a short time after today's bombing, Kassam rockets were launched from Gaza and struck several Negev communities. Sharon insists he committed to further withdrawals, and following the Road Map religiously, further endangering Israel's security. He has promised to provide free bus and rail links between Gaza and the West Bank. He has opened the Gaza/Egyptian border to anyone who wants to come in, and has invited foreign soldiers to patrol Israel's border. He has joined forced with Shimon Peres and is enthusiastic about keeping alive his suicidal legacy. What did we receive in return? 5 dead Jews in Netanya.

When will Israel learn that there is only one way to bring peace in the Middle East? That building and cowering behind ghetto walls and making concession after concession only exacerbates the situation? That the Arabs are not merely interested in gaining control over the West Bank and Gaza but over every last inch of Israel including the Netanya Mall? Why are security guards trained and policemen ordered to "restrain" and "tackle" suicide bombers instead of shooting them on sight? Why does the IDF allow Arab terrorists so much freedom of movement that they can easily hitchhike their way into Israel in the name of "human rights and compassion" Why is it acceptable for security forces to die repeatedly in Netanya but not Kfar Darom or Karnei Shomron?

Rabbi Kahane presented the solution to all of Israel's problems decades ago. He was not a prophet or fortune teller, he merely saw where Israel's suicidal polices were going to lead us and presented the only solution, the Torah solution. "And you shall expel the inhabitants of the land..." - Jewish Disengagement. How can this be done? For starters by maintaining a Jewish army which operates according to Torah ideology, not compassion for the enemy and a sick distorted concept of "purity of arms". By deciding once and for all that Israel will be a State for Jews ONLY and that Jews and Jews alone will be the masters of our own fate. A State based on Torah and Halacha, not Western Liberalism and Democracy for all citizens.

We didn't listen then and we still refuse to listen now. As long as hostile Arabs are allowed to roam freely in Israel, Jews WILL die. Retreating will not help, nor will building walls, or hiding in underground bunkers. We must stand up and make a decision- Do we want to maintain the existence of a Jewish Israel, or not? If we answer positively the solution is right in front of our eyes and has been since the Torah was given on Mount Sinai. "And you shall expel the inhabitants of the Land..." Arabs OUT, OUT, OUT!!!!
If we refuse, you might actually see the above news story, in the not so distant future, as the Torah continues "But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then shall those that you let remain will be as thorns in your eyes, and as pricks in your sides, and they shall harass you in the land where you will dwell. And it shall come to pass, that as I thought to do to them, I will do to you."

G-d save us.