Ezra Yakhin, An Israeli War Hero, Interviewed

He fought. He killed. He conquered. He was a normal Jewish man who led what seemed to be a normal, even boring life in pre-state Israel. But Ezra Yakhin was anything but. As a young man, Yakhin was a postman by day, a LECHI fighter by night.

The British labeled him a 'terrorist'.

Ezra Yakhin tells of his time growing up very poor in Israel what was then called Palestine. Though he lived in Jerusalem, the home he lived in didn't have a toilet, he had to leave his apartment to use a common bathroom for the building. Not having a kitchen in his house, his mother had to cook on a primus stove burner in the back yard of the building. Yet, Yakhin says he never felt like he was poor as a child because his friends and neighbors lived that way as well, so he didn't feel any different. Life was difficult, but there was a growing sense of the revival of the Jewish People in their home, Israel. The dream of statehood had taken hold since the end of WWI when the British, now with its troops in the Middle East, had promised, then reneged, on allowing the Jews to establish their homeland.





It was oppressive living under British occupation who clearly favored the Arab nations. The Jews were not allowed to protect themselves against Arab theft, violence or pograms. Curfews were common and the obvious preference of the Arabs by Britain made it impossible for Jews to live and practice their Judaism freely.

Ezra Yakhin tells the story of how he wanted to help fight for the freedom of the Jewish nation. He had read about the actions of the mysterious heroes in the LECHI (Lochamei Herut Israel – Israel Freedom Fighters) underground. He yearned to join up but he didn't know who to approach. All members were recruited secretly, so he had to try to send out hints to his neighbors and friends to let them know he wanted to be recruited, without making it too obvious, where someone might snitch on him to the British. Sometimes he would wait at night to see if he could spot the newer members of the LECHI whose job it was to paste posters up on lamp posts and city walls urging people to throw off British rule and gain independence. But these newly recruited members were also impossible to find. They had to be good at being invisible, because getting caught by the British putting up 'freedom posters' was a crime. All LECHI members were considered terrorists. They could be caught, imprisoned and tortured for information. Yakhin, so much wanting to join up to fight for Jewish independence, would wait at night to try to find anyone hanging up posters. However, even he couldn't spot them. One moment there was nothing out of the ordinary, and the next, there would be a newly pasted up poster nearby, without a trace of anyone having been there.

Ezra Yakhin, still a youth, knew that his working at the post office would help the LECHI. British headquarters were at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem and he knew the area well delivering mail and telegrams. Photos in his book, ELNAKAM, show the streets in Jerusalem near British headquarters filled with barbed wire. Apparently, the British were very fearful of the Jewish underground groups and protected themselves by keeping nearby streets 'no man's land'.

Yakhin tells how he finally succeeded in being recruited into the LECHI underground, the secret ways he used his job at the post office as a delivery boy to help with LECHI intelligence, and how he finally was trained for real military missions against the British occupation forces in Palestine. He also tells about the first time he had to kill.

Obtaining weapons for defensive purposes and for driving out British forces from the Land of Israel was one of the greatest challenges for the underground. Yakhin describes one of his attempts to steal a gun from a British soldier. In the scuffle, he was shot and wounded. Limping away and bleeding, he tried to find safety and help, but it was impossible to go to a hospital because there he would have been found by the British. He also describes the fate of his fellow freedom fighters who were either killed by the British mandate troops or the Jew-hating Arabs.

Idealistic and also in the throws of youthful love, he shares with us the story of the girl he fell in love with who was also a LECHI member - and what happened to her.

After WWII, the British were even more lustful in finding Jewish underground members because of their aiding Holocaust survivors trying to make it to the shores of the Land of Israel. The British were strict with their policy of curtailing Jewish immigration to Israel. In his book, Elnakam, Yakhin shows notices sent out by the underground which stated: "Since the arrival of the immigrant ship, 'Exodus 1947' and the banishment of its immigrants, the Israel Freedom Fighters have begun a systematic campaign against the enemy forces, its vehicles and installations." The notice then goes on to show a list of strikes against British army patrols and bases. It is an impressive list of actions and Yakhin describes many of the scenes that could be scenes in a real action movie.



Yakhin also relates the heart wrenching story of his best friend who was kidnapped in broad daylight by the British and never seen or heard from again. British denials of any wrong doing filled and fueled news paper articles for quite some time. It wasn't until much later that the truth came out that he had been murdered by the British who tried to cover it up.

The book ends with his telling how he was fighting in the streets of Jerusalem in one of the major battles for the Old City, the area of Jerusalem where the Temple once stood and the Western Wall continues to stand. It is the holiest place in the world for the Jewish people. In this fierce battle to liberate Jerusalem and at great losses of his friends and other (now) Israeli fighters, an explosive shell was fired in front of him and exploded. As he turned to shield himself, shrapnel cut though his helmet going through the back of his neck up through, and out of his eye. Rushed with the other wounded fighters to the hospital, he had to have surgery without being given anethstesia. Throughout the several hour ordeal, awake on the operating table as they worked on him, he kept repeating to himself in the grips of immense pain, "A LECHI Man doesn't groan". He ended up losing an eye from his massive head wound and has a glass eye until this day.

Yakhin is still active to this day. Though over 80 years old, he lives in an old Jewish neighborhood which, since the Jordanian occupation of eastern Jerusalem, is now occupied by hostile Arabs. The apartment building he lives in is inhabited by a group of Jewish families and married couples who aren't afraid to re-establish their Jewish roots there.

An excerpt from his book, Elnakam:

"No sleep for you tonight," says Tanchum. "You're to go to the Abu-el Bassal quarter and mark the movements of the army there. What we need is information about the movements of military vehicles in the path joining the Beit Yaakov and Zichron Yoseph quarters."

We went to look for the place best suited for the look-out base, finally choosing the brick factory in Sadoff's yard, where I could hide all night behind a pile of bricks and observe the movements of the vehicles on the path. I didn't go home this time to tell my parents that I was "sleeping at a friend's place," I simply couldn't face the fearful look in their eyes, knowing full well how anxious they would be. Obviously, they would not be slow in making a connection between my absence and the acts against the Brits, and their feelings, when I failed to return that night were not hard to imagine. On the other hand if I didn't let them know in advance, they might comfort themselves with the thought that I had been caught breaking curfew and arrested. This wasn't pleasant, but implied a fine at the most.

So – no going home. As curfew time approached I was ensconced behind my pile of bricks. Each of the neighbors nearby took a last look at the yard before lowering their shutters and locking their doors, and they all saw me there. To avoid their worried glances I slipped around to the other side of the pile, making myself fully visible to the patrols enforcing the curfew. Only after everybody was shut inside the houses did I slip back – only to be cordially invited by someone peeping through the shutters to go in and stay till the morning. Ignoring the invitation I waited tensely for darkness to fall.



The noise of army vehicles touring the area filled the night. Sometimes they would stop to permit a foot patrol to get out. At times, some men talking English, approached my brick pile, and I couldn't tell whether they were just loitering or going straight for me. Hearing a vehicle approaching I would raise my head to see it, risking being seen by a passing patrol. I could hear them but it was too dark to see them. Conversely, I realized that my dark figure could be easily made out on the background of white bricks, and I was just what the enemy was looking for. There…. They were coming, now! They had seen me and where could I hide? They were getting nearer. Their English fell painfully on my ear. No place to run…. " (source)

(VIDEO) Egyptian Cleric On Hamas TV: Our Generation Will "Be Martyred On The Threshold Of Jerusalem"

Egyptian Cleric Safwat Higazi: Our Generation Will Be the One to Liberate Jerusalem and "to Be Martyred on the Threshold of Jerusalem" - Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas/Gaza) - June 10, 2011

(VIDEO) Jerusalem: The Media Myth Of Two Cities

The history of Jerusalem did not start in 1967. Thousands of years of Jewish history took place in what is now called "Arab East Jerusalem."

Only when the Jewish residents were driven from their homes in 1948 was the city divided between East and West.

This video shows the reality of Jerusalem today and includes interviews from survivors of the fall of Jerusalem. To discuss the issue of Jerusalem, join our Facebook Group "The History of Jerusalem Did Not Start in 1967."

(VIDEO) C.A.M.E.R.A. Video Unveils BBC's Ethics: Lies About Jerusalem, Lies About Guidelines

The BBC revealed its complete disregard of its own Editorial Guidelines when it defended an egregiously one-sided and inaccurate documentary about Jerusalem. This video investigates the flouting of these guidelines by Panorama and the disingenuous ruling of the BBC Trust's Editorial Standards Committee in support of the January 2010 segment.





"In a new video expose posted online late last week, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) provides an extensive refutation of the reporting in a controversial 2010 BBC program on Jerusalem, as well as the BBC’s reporting ethics.

The BBC program at issue, entitled “A Walk in the Park,” was filmed at the end of 2009 and aired in January of 2010 on BBC channel Panorama. The program drew criticism from viewers, who brought it to CAMERA’s attention, for what seemed to be a dramatic lack of even-handedness. The program put forward that Israelis are engaged in “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians, that there is no Jewish connection to the Temple Mount, and that violence in Jerusalem is exclusively at the hands of Israelis, among other allegations.

CAMERA filed a complaint with the BBC over the lack of impartiality in the program, which went through numerous appeals over the course of 2010 until reaching the BBC’s Editorial Standards Committee. The committee ruled that there had been no violation of the BBC’s Editorial Standards in “A Walk in the Park.”

A previous, similar appeal on a segment by Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen several years ago, researchers at CAMERA recounted, was addressed with good faith, as experts from both sides of the political spectrum were brought in as consultants and ruled that the Bowen report was not impartial and was inaccurate in certain respects.

With the ruling on the Bowen case, which led to public BBC rebuke, CAMERA senior research analyst Gilead Ini told The Jerusalem Post, the BBC “did get some push-back from the anti-Israel elite in the UK, including Robert Fisk, a prominent anti-Israel journalist who didn’t like that the BBC admitted to problems in [the Bowen] report.”

The BBC appeal on "A Walk In The Park" was decided in December 2010, with its ruling being made public in January 2011. According to BBC documents, the appeals committee found that there were no violations whatsoever of the BBC's guidelines on accuracy or impartiality.

These findings applied to all of CAMERA's complaints as to the subjects of home demolitions, charges of ethnic cleansing, discrepancies in awards of building permits, takeovers of homes in East Jerusalem, concerns over Israeli archaeology and Israeli/Arab violence in Jerusalem.

For example, in the Panorama segment, a man's allegation that Israel is engaged in ethnic cleansing is met without comment or questioning from the program's host, which CAMERA deemed poor journalism. To this claim, the BBC appeal committee responded in its papers, "The context in which “ethnic cleansing” is referred to is key: This was clearly not an official statement made by a Palestinian politician, but clearly an emotional cry by one man in the midst of a house being demolished ... at no stage did (the reporter) give any sense that Mr Siyam was correct to hold this view." CAMERA also ventured the complaint that the program did not depict any instances of Arab-on-Israeli violence, rather focusing on settler violence against Palestinians. "The manner in which the programme presented an Arab victim of an Israeli shooting was consistent with the pattern of unquestioningly accepting Palestinian claims while minimising or ignoring Israeli concerns," the CAMERA appeal is cited and summarized in the BBC response. "While the evidence is in dispute, in that the Israeli shooter claims he was acting in self defence, the entire segment dwelt on emotive interviews with the Arab victim and his son. Their accounts were accepted as fact and no one from the Israeli side was interviewed. The incident was presented as an example of “the suffering” that “both sides” endure but no equivalent example of Israeli suffering was provided. The complainants cited three possible examples, including the 2008 massacre of eight teenagers at a religious seminary." "While the programme focused on only one incident, it was clearly stated that there is growing tension in the area," the BBC appeals committee succinctly replied.

In summarizing its findings, the BBC committee wrote, "Looking at the program overall, the Committee noted that the film had been a report of events at a particular moment in time in the context of a complex and controversial dispute. It noted it would almost always be possible for those with strong feelings and a particular perspective on the dispute to take issue with the detail of any report on this subject. However, the Committee further noted that it was bound to consider the program as the generality of Panorama viewers might have done; it was from this viewpoint that it considered the film, overall, had been duly accurate and impartial." In all likelihood, Ini conjectured, the BBC “wanted to avoid controversy, or thought they would avoid controversy, by refusing to take this [“A Walk In The Park”] complaint seriously.” BBC Editorial Guidelines, available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/guidelines/editorialguidelines/, are meant to apply to all works produced by the BBC.

“We felt that this [program] was such an obvious example of a violation of the editorial standards and impartiality they claim to uphold, as well as values of accuracy,” CAMERA senior research analyst Ricki Hollander told the Post. “We felt that the public should know about the fact that they completely abandoned their own editorial guidelines.”

In response to the BBC’s findings on “A Walk In The Park,” CAMERA researchers created a 15 minute video expose entitled, “BBC Ethics Unveiled: Lies About Jerusalem, Lies About Guidelines,” currently available on YouTube. The CAMERA video goes through both factual inaccuracies in the program and the BBC’s responses to CAMERA’s inquiries.

“The public needs to understand what is happening here,” Ini said. “The BBC claims to have solid and noble editorial guidelines. If they’re making this claim, but not enforcing them, then they’re just a fig leaf.”

The “BBC Ethics Unveiled” video takes viewers step by step on how the Panorama program views “everything through the lens of Palestinian grievances,” “hectoring Israelis while accepting Arab allegations uncritically and even underscoring them” in the voice of the presenter, Jane Corbin.

Excerpts from the program are shown in the CAMERA video, which also elaborates as to omissions in the video’s recounting of the struggle over Jerusalem. The CAMERA video points out that there is no mention made of either deadly attacks on Jews in Jerusalem, or of any acts of Palestinian incitement. The video highlights particular elements of Corbin’s reporting, noting that, for example, Corbin only examined demolition of homes in the days she was there, as opposed to looking at the larger picture.

“The BBC Trust still has to defend itself, generally, to its constituents,” Hollander said. “We’re hoping that if there is enough reaction to the abandonment of the BBC editorial guidelines in this situation, the BBC trust will take this seriously. If people let them know that this is not acceptable, they will react in the context of future programs.”

“Looking forward, we hope the BBC will understand that violations of their guidelines won’t go unanswered,” Ini said." (source)

(BLOG) Is Jerusalem Sacred For Muslims?

"By Hagai Mazuz & Harold Rhode: Israel and the Palestinians are once again negotiating their future relationship. One of the most difficult issues they confront is the status of Jerusalem.

On September 22, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton congratulated Saudi King Abdullah on the occasion of his country's national day. She reserved special praise for Abdullah's support of the Arab Peace Initiative (API), which calls for an Israeli withdrawal from all territories gained in 1967 and for East Jerusalem to be the capital of a Palestinian state. She suggested that this plan would serve as a philosophical basis for the ongoing talks. 'As we continue working to support direct talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians, the principles enshrined in the Arab Peace Initiative are more important than ever,' Clinton wrote.



Jews and Christians know that Israel's claim to Jerusalem is rooted in the ancient Jewish connection to that city. Israel's declaration of independence speaks of both 'natural and historic right.' Jerusalem is the centerpiece of that historic right.

What about the Muslim claim?

For Muslims, Jerusalem is thought to be sacred for two reasons: First, Muslims were initially commanded to pray toward Jerusalem. But when the Jews refused to convert to Islam, Muhammad changed the prayer direction toward Mecca. Second, Muslims believe that Muhammad ascended to heaven and back from 'the Rock' which much later after his death was interpreted to mean what is today the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem.

Interestingly, Islamic sources from the first 50 years or so after Muhammad's death make clear that Jerusalem had absolutely no holy status for Muslims.

Some centuries later, Ibn Taymiyya (1263–1328) another important Muslim cleric with an encyclopedic knowledge of the Koran and Hadith, wrote extensively about Jerusalem, and how there were only two holy cities in Islam – Mecca and Medina. He eventually became the intellectual godfather of Wahhabism, the dominant Islamic doctrine of the Saudi government. He claimed that Muslims must rid themselves of all non-Muslim innovations and return to the early Islam of Muhammad and the first four caliphs. The rulers of Ibn Taymiyya's time saw him as a threat and imprisoned him. Even so, he did not recant.

Ibn Taymiyya went to great lengths to explain that the veneration of Jerusalem in nothing more than the 'Judaization' of Islam. He wrote that after the second caliph 'Umar conquered Jerusalem in 637 he and his aide Ka'b al-Aḥbār [a Jewish convert to Islam], went up to view the Temple Mount. 'Umar asked his aide: 'Where do you think I should build a place of prayer for Muslims?' Ka'b replied: 'Build it behind (i.e., north of) the Rock.' Angrily, Umar said to Ka'b: 'Oh you son of a Jew, is your Jewishness dominating your view?' 'Umar was accusing Ka'b of Judaizing Islam by saying that they should build a place to pray north of the Rock where the Jewish Temple had once stood. If they had done so, they would have been bowing down both towards the Rock and Mecca. That is why 'Umar decided to build the place to pray on the southern part of the Temple Mount – the place today known as the Aqsa Mosque. 'Umar's choice of location meant that the Muslims bowed down only to Mecca and that their backs (rear ends) were facing the Rock.

Ibn Taymiyya wondered how Muslim clerics could have accepted Ka'b's attempts to incorporate Jewish traditions into Islam, because Ka'b did not cite any of Muhammad's companions as the source of his claim.



Ibn Taymiyya also accused Ka'b of fabricating Muslim traditions and incorporating Jewish writings, i.e., the Bible, Talmud, etc., into Islam. Ibn Taymiyya admitted that the original prayer direction was Jerusalem but he emphasized that Muhammad and the Muslims abandoned that tradition in order to differentiate themselves from the Jews.

Later, Ibn Taymiyya discussed the first caliphs and showed that when they ruled over today's Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Israel, neither they nor any of the early governors nor any clerics made any attempt to build any structure over the Rock on the Temple Mount. This demonstrated, according to Ibn Taymiyya, that they did not attach any importance to it; as the early rulers and companions of Muhammad knew his views and his religion better than later generations of Muslims, no later scholar could disagree with them nor with the traditions they observed. They clearly did not attach any Islamic significance to today's Aqsa Mosque nor to the Temple Mount in general. How then, Ibn Taymiyya reasoned, could we who never knew them nor Muhammad have the right to disagree? There is no way we could know more about Islam than they. We therefore have no right to sanctity al-Aqsa because they did not do so.

In order to further strengthen his argument against Jerusalem's sanctity, Ibn Taymiyya wrote that during Muhammad's night journey to heaven from Jerusalem, there is no mention of the (Temple) Rock in the story. Therefore, since the Rock is not even mentioned, it has no importance in Islamic tradition.

So we see that according to the intellectual godfather of the Saudis, the Aqsa Mosque and the Temple Rock have absolutely no Islamic religious significance. As he proved, these are nothing more than Judaic traditions that have penetrated Islam, and, as non-Muslim innovations, must be expunged from Islam.

So how did Jerusalem become holy in Islam? In the 680s, a civil war erupted among the Muslims. The caliph who ruled from Damascus wanted to put down a revolt by the people who controlled Mecca, the place of pilgrimage. In order to weaken them, he decided to build a counter-pilgrimage site and at the very least siphon off people who during the pilgrimage might have decided to take up the rebel's cause. He therefore chose to build a dome over the Rock in Jerusalem and to encourage people to make pilgrimages there instead of to Mecca. That is when Jerusalem became holy in Islam. So in essence, Jerusalem's sanctity to Muslims stems from a local revolt which occurred some 50-plus years after Muhammad's death.

The Saudi regime follows Ibn Taymiyya to a tee. Those who disagree with his philosophy do so at their own peril. When a Saudi editor published an article questioning something that Ibn Taymiyya had written, he was quickly fired on the orders of the information minister. So it is rather curious that the Saudis have included, as one of the basic principles of their plan for peace between Israel and the Arabs, the idea that East Jerusalem must be the capital of a Palestinian state. Why have they rejected their godfather's stance on Jerusalem? Ibn Taymiyya must be turning over in the grave." (source)

(VIDEO) 2008: Arabs Stoning A Car In Jerusalem

Do you think this is acceptable behavior for the "religion of peace" or for anyone in fact? Unprovoked stoning of a vehicle with an intent to harm or kill the passengers inside!

(BLOG) Obama’s Jerusalem Apartheid

"By Daniel Greenfield: When Obama attacked Israel for building housing on Jewish owned land in Jerusalem, he was doing more than just pandering to his Muslim hosts with an obligatory dose of Israel bashing. He was diving once again into the ugly pool of bigotry, that first surfaced when he used Joe Biden as a proxy to launch a hate campaign against Israel over the same issue back in March.

And what it comes down to is Apartheid. Plain and simple.



Obama does not object to Arab Muslims living in Jerusalem. He objects only to Jews living in Jerusalem. The issue is not about 'Israelis', as the media likes to present it, because Jerusalem Arabs and Jews are all citizens of Israel. What distinguishes them is race and religion.

The media and the administration only attack the municipal authorities of Jerusalem and the Israeli government for providing housing for its citizens—when those citizens happen to be Jewish. If they are Arab and Muslim, then there’s no problem. If they’re Jewish on the other hand, then the alarm bells go off and the politicians and the press denounce them as enemies of peace. How does one describe that as other than 'Apartheid'? What else is it, other than the belief that one group of people should be segregated by race and religion. Forbidden from living in places that are deemed to be the sole property of their Muslim conquerors.

Mohammed’s last act was to ethnically cleanse Jews and Christians from lands under his control. That is why you will find a shortage of synagogues and churches in Mecca and Medina. Today there are hardly any Jews left in territories under Muslim rule, and the number of Christians is dwindling year by year. In 1948, Jordanian forces invaded and ethnically cleansed all Jews from the parts of Jerusalem under their control. In 1967, Israel reclaimed the entire city, but now Obama and his media backers would like to turn the clock back to 1948.

According to Obama and the media, Muslims have a right to build a mosque near Ground Zero, but Jews don’t have the right to live in apartments in their own city. How do you reconcile the two? Easy. Apartheid. Muslims can do anything they want, anywhere they want. If Muslims are offended by the odor of pork from a nearby restaurant, then the restaurant has to comply. If Muslims want exclusive use of municipal swimming pools, then they get them. If Muslims don’t want a city that they conquered and ethnically cleansed to be filled with 'dirty Jews', then Obama insists that they should get what they want.

And if they don’t, it’s an obstacle to peace. 'Peace' being the condition in which Muslims finally stop blowing people up in the name of Allah. Anything that might serve as a justification for them to keep blowing people up, is an 'obstacle to peace'.

But this is not peace. It’s bloody blackmail. It’s an open invitation for Muslims to impose their hateful and bigoted demands on the rest of the world. And where exactly does it end? When the Jordanian conquered half of Jerusalem is as ethnically cleansed of Jews, as the villages and towns of Hamas ruled Gaza. And where next? Muslim persecution of minorities, including Jews, has gone on for over a thousand years. Surrendering to it will not bring 'peace', only temporary hudnas, truces under which Muslims will agree to temporarily tolerate the Jews, before something makes them fly off the handle in a murderous rage again.

And among people who seriously believe that Israel laces chewing gum with aphrodisiacs, that it releases snakes and 'super-rats' to terrorize them, or trains migrating eagles to spy on them, drops poisoned candies in front of schools or uses strippers in riot control—just about any imaginary thing will set them off. And the victims will be held the blame.

Because there’s no point in pandering to the victims. You always pander to the murderers. They’re the ones with the real power. Even when they’re on the wrong side of a technological and military disparity, their willingness to commit senseless acts of violence puts them in the driver’s seat. The willingness to kill means power. Particularly when employed against those who are unwilling to kill.



In a nutshell, that is what Obama’s trip is really about. Why are we so desperate to improve relations with the Muslim world? For all the nonsense about Islam being a 'Religion of Peace', or rather the 'Religion of Submit and We’ll Stop Killing You'... it all comes down to a plea for mercy. Here, we’ll give you a bunch of scholarships, some trade deals, foreign aid and praise for your insane book consisting of the 7th century homicidal fantasies of a megalomaniac—and in return, maybe you’ll stop killing us. Or at least kill us less.

In 1957, Golda Meir spoke at the National Press Club and opined that, 'Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us.' But such a form of love contradicts the expressed will of the Koran, that Muslims put Jihad above their own families. As long as Muslims continue to follow the Koran, there can be no peace. Because the need to subjugate non-Muslims will always be important than their own welfare and prosperity. That is the fullest measure of Islam.

But the lies continue. Newspaper stories now routinely describe Jerusalem as a 'settlement', a thoroughly Orwellian appellation for one of the oldest cities in the world. To describe the Har Homa neighborhood in Jerusalem as a settlement, is akin to calling the Bronx a settlement.

The Administration predictably cloaks its bigotry in talk of 'creating facts on the ground', but when Arab Muslims occupy and demolish Jewish holy sites, there is no concern about creating facts on the ground. When Western leftists, from groups such as Rabbis for Human Rights, arrive to help Arab Muslims terrorize Jewish farmers in order to drive them off their land, again nothing to be seen here. When the Qatari government, which funds Hamas and Al Qaeda, underwrites an entire new city for Arab Muslims—the same international community which goes into a slavering fit over an Israeli house, applauds the project.

The term 'Settlements' has now become completely meaningless, because it is being applied to housing in one of the oldest cities in the world. There can be no reasonable standard under which housing in Jerusalem is a settlement, and housing in Tel Aviv is not. After all Jerusalem is an ancient city whose very name comes from Hebrew. Tel Aviv is a fairly modern city. But in a twist of Orwellian logic, 'settlement' is now a generic term for any place that Jews aren’t supposed to be living. It has become a more genteel way to say 'ethnic cleansing', to confine Jewish Israelis to a new Pale of Settlement, under a new Czar, in their own land.

What does one call a situation in which one race is permitted to build houses, but another is not? What else but Apartheid. Obama and the EU are not making this distinction based on citizenship. They are making it based on race and religion. While accusing Israel of doing the same.

We exist now in a land beyond history. A state of being adrift from fact and reason, governed not by historical events or realities, but hate and fear. By the Muslim hatred of the Jews. And civilization’s fear of Islam. In the face of that hate and fear, words have lost their meanings and laws have lost their force. There is only the panicked imperative to appease the murderers of one’s own country, with the land and freedom of others. To satiate the crocodile with another’s flesh.

This is not about peace. It is not about fair negotiations. It is not about being an equal partner. It is about the same thing as in the UK or Australia or Canada or India. It is about giving Muslims what they want, at the expense of non-Muslims in the hopes of preventing Muslim violence. It’s about Apartheid." (source)

(NEWS) PA Detains Hamas Members Planning Jerusalem Suicide Bombing

"Operatives also planned to undermine political stability and Fatah control in W. Bank, Ma'an reports.

Palestinian Authority security forces arrested several members of Hamas’s armed wing, Izzadin Kassam, who were planning to carry out a suicide bombing in Jerusalem, the Palestinian Ma’an news agency reported on Wednesday.

The operatives had planned to undermine political stability and Fatah control in the West Bank, and to kill Nablus Mayor Adly Yaish, the report said."

(VIDEO) Fatah Member: "The Jews Have No History Here [In Jerusalem]"

Interview with Hatem Abd Al-Qader, responsible for Fatah's Jerusalem portfolio:

Abd Al-Qader: "The Jews have no history here [in Jerusalem], therefore I think the inauguration of [the Hurva] synagogue will not create a historical or religious right for Jews in Jerusalem."

(NEWS) WWII Veteran, 91, Celebrates Bar Mitzva In Jerusalem

"Kotel ceremony arranged by retired Israeli ambassador who met Hans De Leeuw at war veterans event where he expressed interest in the ritual.

A 91-year-old Dutch Jew who fought the Nazis in World War II has marked his bar mitzvah, the Jewish coming-of-age ceremony — decades after the traditional date.

Hans De Leeuw says he was 'shaking' during the service — usually meant for 13-year-olds — at Jerusalem's Western Wall on Sunday."

(NEWS) Arabs Stone University Students, MDA Ambulance In Isawiya

"The group was visiting a friend near Mount Scopus when they were met with heavy rock throwing; police believe attack was planned in advance.

Youth from Isawiya threw stones at a car carrying four students who took a wrong turn out of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and found themselves lost in the Arab neighborhood on Friday night.

The students, from the Central region, reportedly asked a teenage resident for directions to Ben-Yehuda street in downtown Jerusalem, and the youth told them to keep driving straight."

(ARTS) Jerusalem Outdoor International Arts Music & Crafts Fair 2010

Celebrating Arts & Craft in Jerusalem - For two weeks every August, Sultan's Pool, the valley beneath the walls of Jerusalem's Old City, thrums with the full spectrum of culture.

An annual event for 35 years, Jerusalem's International Arts and Crafts Festival, taking place in Sultan's Pool below the Old City walls, is the largest cultural event in the country, showcasing arts, crafts, music, theater and food - from Israel and all over the world.



The International Pavilion boasts arts and crafts from more than 30 countries and a small stage for performances from attending countries.

In the Israel section, the wares of more than 150 artists and craftspeople are offered for sale. Secrets of various trades are revealed, like those on display at the annual glass blowing demonstration. There are workshops for children as well. This year's highlight was a workshop all about bees, with a glass-encased beehive transported to the festival as an irresistible draw.

Small stages and wandering performers abound throughout the festival grounds, and there's a main stage where top Israeli performers appear over the two weeks, such as Noa, David Broza, Aviv Gefen and internationally renowned hip hop band Hadag Nahash (SnakeFish).

It's easy to see why Jerusalemites who first visited the festival as children return year after year, until they're coming with children of their own.

(NEWS) PA Shooter Nabbed Just Hours After Attack

"Israeli security forces have nabbed a Palestinian Authority terrorist who tried to murder a Jewish couple on Saturday night. The arrest took place on Saturday night shortly after the attack, and was cleared for publication on Sunday evening.

The terrorist opened fire on a couple from Har Gilo in Jerusalem as they drove south of the city. The ambush took place near the Arab village of Walajeh.

The intended victims were not hurt in the attack. Their car was hit. An initial investigation found that the terrorist used a Kalashnikov in the assault."





Related Article:

• West Bank Terrorists Open Fire On Israeli Vehicle

(DISCOVER) Mahane Yehuda: Jerusalem's Ever-Evolving Market

"Video below: The Mahane Yehuda 'suk' in Jerusalem has been changing with the times for over a hundred years and shows no sign of slowing down.

When people in Jerusalem say they're going to the suk, they can only mean that they're on their way to the Mahane Yehuda open-air market.



Harvey Stein wended his way through Jerusalem's 100-year-old colorful and intoxicating market for ISRAEL21c and found one-of-a-kind boutiques proffering clothes and accessories alongside juice bars, pungent spices, candy and halva, exotic cheeses, fish, meat, poultry and Judaica.

There's also the 'etrog man', selling juice as well as creams, sprays, lotions and potions made from the sweet-scented etrog, or citron.

At the end of the 19th century the first merchants sold their wares in the area on an empty lot and in the 1920s, the British cleaned up the market, building the first permanent stalls and roofing.

The neighborhood around the market is filled with history, and still contains many old buildings and pilgrimage sites.

Jerusalem's Light Rail train, scheduled to begin operation in spring 2011, will stop right outside the Jaffa Street entrance to the market.

In addition to the clothing, artists cooperatives and trendy café chains have joined the traditional fresh fruits and vegetables so that today, the shopping experience in Jerusalem's suk has evolved into a leisure outing." (source)

(NEWS) Silwan: Arab Boys Hurl Rocks At Police

"Nearly two dozen youths have been arrested in the past two weeks for throwing stones in Silwan.

Four youngsters threw rocks at Border Police officers in southeast Jerusalem’s Silwan neighborhood on Monday morning and were arrested.

The patrol was able to disperse the remaining rock-throwers."

(NEWS) Palestinians Hurl Stones At Travelers In Silwan; Tourist Injured

"Palestinians hurled stones at a group of Israeli travelers in the Silwan neighborhood in east Jerusalem. A tourist standing nearby sustained head injuries and was taken to the Hadassah Mount Scopus Hospital in Jerusalem after being treated at the scene. Stones were also hurled at a house. No injuries or damage were reported.

A spokesman on behalf of the Elad foundation said that a group of left-wing activists encouraged the Palestinians to act against the settlers." (source)

(NEWS) Fatah Considering 'Stone Intifada' In Jerusalem

"On backdrop of stalemate in peace talks with Israel, Palestinian source says President Abbas' movement discussing option of resuming violent struggle against Israel.

Will the failure of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians spark a new wave of violence in the region? A Fatah source told Ynet on Sunday that following the resumption of settlement construction and the stalemate in the direct negotiations with Israel, many organization activists believe it is time to renew the violent struggle in the form of a 'stone intifada.'

On the backdrop of the explosive political situation, Fatah's leadership has been weighing its alternatives in the past few weeks. According to the source, the movement will consider returning to a struggle in some of Fatah's districts, including Jerusalem."

(NEWS) Rightist Plans To Settle 10 New Jewish Families In East Jerusalem Neighborhood

"Delivers eviction orders to families living in Sheikh Jarrah and to the south of the neighborhood.

Right-wing activist Aryeh King intends to settle 10 new Jewish families in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, he announced yesterday, offering compensation to the Palestinian families who will subsequently be evicted.

King spoke at a press conference called to discuss a recent Supreme Court ruling which determined that several Palestinian homes in Sheikh Jarrah belonged to the heirs of the Jews who built the neighborhood in the late 19th century."

(FUNNY) Hebrew University Of Jerusalem Lipdub

Check out this amazing video! Dozens of Hebrew University students participated in the unofficial production of the Queen song "Somebody to Love" performed by the cast of the hit series "GLEE." This incredible video, filmed in a single shot, is how Hebrew University students kicked off the start of the school year on 10.10.10!

(NEWS) Silwan: Stones Thrown At Touring Knesset Members

"Knesset's State Control Committee members get rude welcome while touring east Jerusalem neighborhood; Internal Security Minister also visits area at same time, vows to put end to stone-throwing incidents.

A minivan carrying members of the Knesset's State Control Committee returning from a tour of the east Jerusalem Silwan neighborhood was stoned by Arabs Tuesday.

A large rock hit the front window of the vehicle, but no one was injured. Border Guard troops who were securing the area were informed and dispersed the attackers."