Twenty children were killed at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, a tragedy as the enemies of our Constitution push for gun confiscation.  The depth of the Sandy Hook murders is spotlighted with pictures of little faces, alternating with the pictures of assault rifles and handguns and the propaganda is being pushed to the point that it should be questioned as to the motive.

It is true that the American public has been conditioned to quickly digest the most heinous acts as they are sucked through the news cycle.  Only last month, November 14th through November 21st, Israeli war planes and field artillery caused the murder of 28 little Palestinian children, but the incident was pushed into the annals of history and forgotten within a week.

I wonder how the American people’s opinion of the murderous Zionists in Israel might have been altered had the mainstream gotten pictures of the dead Palestinian children and ran them ad nauseum, alternating with pictures of hail fire missiles and field artillery.  But of course this would never happen as the Zionists exercise complete control over US mainstream media.  We haven’t even had a look at the little children who survived the Gaza bombing but were left without arms and legs.

If we Americans are going to judge one another and the other peoples of the world, via videos and pictures, shouldn’t we demand to see them all?  Because if we are only seeing what the Zionists choose to show us, are they not effectually controlling our emotions and opinions?  How could the deaths of little children in Connecticut affect a person while the deaths of little children in Palestine do not even register?  Were they not all God’s children?  Is it any less evil to brutally murder a child in Palestine than it is to do the same in Connecticut?  In consideration of the blatant false flag Sandy Hook has turned out to be, would it not seem reasonable to consider that maybe the same Zionists are responsible for both events?

Who would kill little children?  We have heard the question asked and re-asked and the answer is simple in that the Zionists have never had a problem with slaughtering little children, so long as they are non-Jews.  Their Talmud teaches that the children of the Gentiles, our children, are not but soulless animals whose lives, such as they are, are for nothing more than to serve Zion.

Would disarming the American people, the majority of which have identified Zion for what it is and are determined that there will be no more wars for Zion, be an advantage?  Make no mistake.  If the Zionists could disarm the American people we would see our children slaughtered by the score as sacrifice to the Zionist god and we would learn firsthand what it is like to be a Palestinian in the Gaza Strip.

We cannot surrender one weapon.  We outnumber the Zionists thousands to one and with the reality of the internet it is the Zionists that face annihilation this time around.  It has come to the point that all they have left is their deceit, which they have overused to the point that their intent is made clear.

God help us to find the courage to destroy Zion.

(Before It"s News)

by Henry Makow Ph.D.

What other holidays are there? 

Their PC rationales are absurd.  For example, to be “inclusive” we need to exclude anything pertaining to Christianity, the self-declared faith of 73% of Americans.

Like a scorpion that paralyses its victim’s mental faculties, the Illuminati have convinced Christians that celebrating their faith is in bad taste. All in the name of tolerance? 

Christians, where is your zeal? Do you need Muslims to show you how to worship? ( Why are Christians such Wimps?) 

This year even “The War Against Christmas” debate is gone. There is a tacit acceptance of some bland meaningless event called the “the holidays.” 

THE COMMUNIST HOAX

It’s no secret that Communism was used to manipulate people. Appeals to social justice and equality were a hoax. The “dictatorship of the proletariat” disguised the iron fist of the Illuminati Jewish bankers. Striking workers were mowed down. (This may be the most important video you ever watch.)

Books like “The God that Failed” document this fraud. Millions of idealists who championed Communism died for nothing.

Socialists, zionists, liberals and feminists are now being used to institute the Communist NWO. They are goaded by media Commissars like Jon Stewart (nee Liebowitz) to clamor for gun control. They too will be betrayed and cast aside if patriots are outgunned.

Don’t kid yourself: we have been enslaved by Cabalist bankers and their Masonic pawns. Their goal is total control. 

2012-12-23 18:02:48

Source: http://www.henrymakow.com/society-gripped-by-christ-hating-cult.html

alternet.org 

An Indiana man who pleaded guilty yesterday to setting an Ohio mosque on fire told a judge he was motivated by media accounts – specifically those on Fox News – suggesting Muslims were threatening Americans and were in control of parts of the federal government.

Details made public at the plea hearing also revealed that the arsonist, Randolph Linn, was carrying a pistol when he entered the Islamic Center of Greater Toledo on September 30, only minutes after several worshippers had left, and that he had more guns in his car.

Linn, a 52-year-old truck driver from St. Joe, Ind., expressed no remorse when he admitted trying to burn down the third largest mosque in the United States. Under the terms of a plea agreement, prosecutors and Linn’s defense attorney will recommend a prison term of 20 years when he is sentenced early next year.

Accounts of the federal court hearing were provided to Hatewatch by Mahjabeen Islam, president of the mosque, who was present along with 10 other members of the mosque.

When U.S. District Judge Jack Zouhary asked Linn about his motivation, he responded that he was spurred on by newspaper, radio and Fox News accounts suggesting Muslims were killing “us” and were in control of the Department of Homeland Security and the White House, Islam recounted.

“When asked if he knew any Muslims or about the Islamic faith, he said he did not; he knew only what he got from Fox News, and he did know that ‘they don’t believe in Jesus Christ as the savior,’” Islam said.

“Randy Linn’s statements clearly incriminate the media,” Islam said. “We call on print, Internet and broadcast media to educate the public about various cultures and religions and promote the strength of diversity, rather than whipping up hatred that leads to such destruction. Fox News, in particular, needs to reset its course and policies very quickly.”

The fire caused an estimated $1 million worth of damages.

“We are grateful that no one was injured or killed when Randy Linn came to the Islamic Center,” Islam said. That kind of tragedy, she said, “was a major possibility” because Linn entered the mosque carrying a gun in his hand and had three other firearms in his car.

“The prospect of Randy Linn finding anyone in the Islamic Center is spine-chilling, and we appeal for attention and action on the easy availability of these deadly weapons,” Islam said.

Court documents say Linn left his Indiana home on Sept. 30 in a red four-door Chevrolet Sonic, stopping at a gas station near Perrysburg, Ohio, to fill three gas cans he had in the vehicle, before driving on to the Islamic Center of Greater Toledo. The mosque in Perrysburg is the third largest in the United States, a 70,000-square-foot landmark, visible for miles, with 3,000 members who celebrated the center’s 32nd anniversary in October.

Linn made numerous efforts to enter the Islamic Center before finally gaining entry, walking through several rooms with a pistol in his left hand before exiting and then returning with a gas can, the court documents disclosed. He entered the mosque’s prayer room on the second floor and poured gasoline on the prayer rug used by worshippers during prayer services. Linn then set fire to the rug and fled. His actions were caught on surveillance cameras, and he was arrested a few days later after the photos received media coverage.

Islam said attending the hearing and seeing Linn left her “numb and overcome.”

“At no point during the hearing did Randy Linn reveal any remorse for what he had done,” she said. “He pled guilty to all three counts but took no responsibility.”

Linn pleaded to intentionally defacing, damaging and destroying religious real property because of the religious character of that property; using fire to commit a felony; and using and carrying a firearm to commit a crime of violence.

“His guilty plea, acceptance of a binding plea agreement with no chance for appeal and a prison sentence of 20 years, sends out a clear message to future criminals that our society will not accept hate and violence,” she said.

Islam’s comments were echoed by U.S. Attorney Steven M. Dettelbach of the Northern District of Ohio, who said, “Religious freedom is at the core of our country, and we will continue to aggressively prosecute such hate crimes whenever and wherever the evidence warrants. This was a true joint effort to seek justice for these victims.”

Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez said the freedom to worship in the manner of one’s choosing is one of our most fundamental rights as Americans.

“The Department of Justice and the Civil Rights Division will continue to aggressively prosecute hate-based attacks on houses of worship,” Perez said in a statement. “I commend the cooperative efforts of local and federal law enforcement officials to ensure justice in this case.”

By Jonathan Cook in Nazareth

Israel’s large Palestinian minority is often spoken of in terms of the threat it poses to the Jewish majority.

Palestinian citizens’ reproductive rate constitutes a “demographic time bomb”, while their main political programme – Israel’s reform into “a state of all its citizens” – is proof for most Israeli Jews that their compatriots are really a “fifth column”.

But who would imagine that Israeli Jews could be so intimidated by the innocuous Christmas tree?

This issue first came to public attention two years ago when it was revealed that Shimon Gapso, the mayor of Upper Nazareth, had banned Christmas trees from all public buildings in his northern Israeli city.

Upper Nazareth is a Jewish town and all its symbols are Jewish. As long as I hold office, no non-Jewish symbol will be presented in the city. (Shimon Gapso, Jewish Mayor of Upper Galilee)

“Upper Nazareth is a Jewish town and all its symbols are Jewish,” Gapso said. “As long as I hold office, no non-Jewish symbol will be presented in the city.”

The decision reflected in part his concern that Upper Nazareth, built in the 1950s as the centrepiece of the Israeli government’s “Judaization of the Galilee” programme, was failing dismally in its mission.

Far from “swallowing up” the historic Palestinian city of Nazareth next door, as officials had intended, Upper Nazareth became over time a magnet for wealthier Nazarenes who could no longer find a place to build a home in their own city. That was because almost all Nazareth’s available green space had been confiscated for the benefit of Upper Nazareth.

Instead Nazarenes, many of them Palestinian Christians, have been buying homes in Upper Nazareth from Jews – often immigrants from the former Soviet Union – desperate to leave the Arab-dominated Galilee and head to the country’s centre, to be nearer Tel Aviv.

The exodus of Jews and influx of Palestinians have led the government to secretly designate Upper Nazareth as a “mixed city”, much to the embarrassment of Gapso. The mayor is a stalwart ally of far-right politician Avigdor Lieberman and regularly expresses virulently anti-Arab views, including recently calling Nazarenes “Israel-hating residents whose place is in Gaza” and their city “a nest of terror in the heart of the Galilee”.
Although neither Gapso nor the government has published census figures to clarify the city’s current demographic balance, most estimates suggest that at least a fifth of Upper Nazareth’s residents are Palestinian. The city’s council chamber also now includes Palestinian representatives.

Christmas trees “offensive to Jewish eyes”

But Gapso is not alone in his trenchant opposition to making even the most cursory nod towards multiculturalism. The city’s chief rabbi, Isaiah Herzl, has refused to countenance a single Christmas tree in Upper Nazareth, arguing that it would be “offensive to Jewish eyes”.

That view, it seems, reflects the official position of the country’s rabbinate. In so far as they are able, the rabbis have sought to ban Christmas celebrations in public buildings, including in the hundreds of hotels across the country.

A recent report in the Haaretz newspaper, on an Israeli Jew who grows Christmas trees commercially, noted in passing: “Hotels – under threat of losing kashrut certificates – are prohibited by the rabbinate from decking their halls in boughs of holly or, heaven forbid, putting up even the smallest of small sparkly Christmas tree in the corner of the lobby.”

In other words, the rabbinate has been quietly terrorizing Israeli hotel owners into ignoring Christmas by threatening to use its powers to put them out of business. Denying a hotel its kashrut (kosher) certificate would lose it most of its Israeli and foreign Jewish clientele.

Few mayors or rabbis find themselves in the uncomfortable position of needing to go public with their views on the dangers of Christmas decorations. In Israel, segregation between Jews and Palestinians is almost complete. Even most of the handful of mixed cities are really Jewish cities with slum-like ghettoes of Palestinians living on the periphery.

Apart from Upper Nazareth, the only other “mixed” place where Palestinian Christians are to be found in significant numbers is Haifa, Israel’s third largest city. Haifa is often referred to as Israel’s most multicultural and tolerant city, a title for which it faces very little competition.

Non-Jewish New Year celebrations “seriously forbidden”

It is a seriously forbidden to hold any event at the end of the calendar year that is connected with or displays anything from the non-Jewish festivals. (Letter from Haifa rabbinate)

But the image hides a dirtier reality. A recent letter from Haifa’s rabbinate came to light in which the city’s hotels and events halls were reminded that they must not host New Year’s parties at the end of this month (the Jewish New Year happens at a different time of year). The hotels and halls were warned that they would be denied their kashrut licences if they did so.

“It is a seriously forbidden to hold any event at the end of the calendar year that is connected with or displays anything from the non-Jewish festivals,” the letter states.

After the letter was publicized on Facebook, Haifa’s mayor, Yona Yahav, moved into damage limitation mode, overruling the city’s rabbinical council on 23 December and insisting that parties would be allowed to go ahead. Whether Yahav has the power to enforce his decision on the notoriously independent-minded rabbinical authorities is still uncertain.

But what is clear is that there is plenty of religious intolerance verging on hatred being quietly exercised against non-Jews, mostly behind the scenes so as not to disturb Israel’s “Jewish and democratic” image or outrage the millions of Christian tourists and pilgrims who visit Israel each year.

By Jehanzeb Dar

Because of modern alarmist reactions to the word “Palestine,” many non-Arabs and non-Muslims take offense when it is argued that Jesus was a Palestinian (peace be upon him).

Jesus’ ethnicity, skin color, and culture often accompany this conversation, but few people are willing to acknowledge the fact he was non-European. A simple stroll down the Christmas aisle will show you the dominant depiction of Jesus: a blonde-haired, blue-eyed, white man.

Islamophobia and anti-Arab propaganda have conditioned us to view Palestinians as nothing but heartless suicide bombers, “terrorists,” and “enemies of freedom and democracy.” Perpetual media vilification and demonization of Palestinians, in contrast to the glorification of Israel, obstructs us from seeing serious issues such as the Palestinian refugee crisis, the victims of Israel’s atrocious three-week assault on Gaza during the winter of 2008-2009, the tens of thousands of homeless Palestinians, and many other struggles that are constantly addressed by human rights activists around the world.

To speak from the perspective of the Palestinians, especially in casual non-Arab and non-Muslim settings, generates controversy because of the alignment between Palestinians and violent stereotypes. So, how could Jesus belong to a group of people that we’re taught to dehumanize?

When I’ve spoken to people about this, I’ve noticed the following responses: “No, Jesus was a Jew,” or “Jesus is not Muslim.” The mistake isn’t a surprise to me, but it certainly is revealing. Being a Palestinian does not mean one is Muslim or vice versa. Prior to the brutal and unjust dispossession of indigenous Palestinians during the creation of the state of Israel, the word “Palestine” was a geographic term applied to Palestinian Muslims, Palestinian Christians, and Palestinian Jews. Although most Palestinians are Muslim today, there is a significant Palestinian Christian minority who are often overlooked, especially by the mainstream Western media.

That dominant narrative not only distorts and misrepresents the Palestinian struggle as a religious conflict between “Muslims and Jews,” but consequentially pushes the lives of Palestinian Christians into “non-existence.” That is, due to the media’s reluctance to report the experiences and stories of Palestinian Christians, it isn’t a surprise when white Americans are astonished by the fact that Palestinian and Arab Christians do, in fact, exist. One could argue that the very existence of Palestinian Christians is threatening, as it disrupts the sweeping and overly-simplistic “Muslim vs. Jew” Zionist narrative. To learn about many Palestinian Christians opposing Israeli military occupation, as well as Jews who oppose the occupation, is to reveal more voices, perspectives, and complexities to a conflict that has been immensely portrayed as one-sided, anti-Palestinian, and anti-Muslim.

Yeshua (Jesus’ real Aramaic name) was born in Bethlehem, a Palestinian city in the West Bank and home to one of the largest Palestinian Christian communities. The Church of the Nativity, one of the oldest churches in the world, marks the birthplace of Jesus and is sacred to both Christians and Muslims. While tourists from the around the world visit the site, they are subject to Israeli checkpoints and roadblocks. The Israeli construction of the West Bank barrier also severely restricts travel for local Palestinians. In April of 2010, Israeli authorities barred Palestinian Christians from entering Jerusalem and visiting the Church of Holy Sepulchre during Easter. Yosef Zabaneh, a Palestinian Christian merchant in Ramallah, said: “The Israeli occupation in Gaza and the West Bank doesn’t distinguish between us, but treats all Palestinians with contempt.”

Zabaneh’s comments allude to the persistent dehumanization of Palestinians, as well as the erasure of Palestinians, both Christians and Muslims. By constantly casting Palestinians as the villains, even the term “Palestine” becomes “evil.” There is refusal to recognize, for example, that the word “Palestine” was used as early as the 5th century BCE by the ancient Greek historian Herodotus. John Bimson, author of “The Compact Handbook of Old Testament Life,” acknowledges the objection to the use of “Palestine”:

The term ‘Palestine’ is derived from the Philistines. In the fifth century BC the Greek historian Herodotus seems to have used the term Palaistine Syria (= Philistine Syria) to refer to the whole region between Phoenicia and the Lebanon mountains in the north and Egypt in the south… Today the name “Palestine” has political overtones which many find objectionable, and for that reason some writers deliberately avoid using it. However, the alternatives are either too clumsy to be used repeatedly or else they are inaccurate when applied to certain periods, so “Palestine” remains a useful term…

Deliberately avoiding the use of the name “Palestine” not only misrepresents history, but also reinforces anti-Palestinian racism as acceptable. When one examines the argument against Jesus being a Palestinian, one detects a remarkable amount of hostility aimed at both Palestinians and Muslims. One cannot help but wonder, is there something threatening about identifying Jesus as a Palestinian? Professor Jack D. Forbes writes about Jesus’ multi-cultural and multi-ethnic environment:

When the Romans came to dominate the area, they used the name Palestine. Thus, when Yehoshu’a [Jesus] was born, he was born a Palestinian as were all of the inhabitants of the region, Jews and non-Jews. He was also a Nazarene (being born in Nazareth) and a Galilean (born in the region of Galilee)… At the time of Yehoshu’a"s birth, Palestine was inhabited by Jews-descendants of Hebrews, Canaanites, and many other Semitic peoples-and also by Phoenicians, Syrians, Greeks, and even Arabs.

Despite these facts, there are those who use the color-blind argument: “It does not matter what Jesus’ ethnicity or skin color was. It does not matter what language he spoke. Jesus is for all people, whether you’re black, white, brown, yellow, etc.” While this is a well-intentioned expression of inclusiveness and universalism, it misses the point.

When we see so many depictions of Jesus as a Euro-American white man, the ethnocentrism and race-bending needs to be called out. In respect to language, for instance, Neil Douglas-Klotz, author of “The Hidden Gospel: Decoding the Spiritual Message of the Aramaic Jesus,” emphasizes the importance of understanding that Jesus spoke Aramaic, not English, and that his words, as well as his worldview, must be understood in light of Middle Eastern language and spirituality. Douglas-Klotz provides an interesting example which reminds me of the rich depth and meaning of Arabic, Urdu, and Farsi words, especially the word for “spirit”:

Whenever a saying of Jesus refers to spirit, we must remember that he would have used an Aramaic or Hebrew word. In both of these languages, the same word stands for spirit, breath, air, and wind. So ‘Holy Spirit’ must also be ‘Holy Breath.’ The duality between spirit and body, which we often take for granted in our Western languages falls away. If Jesus made the famous statement about speaking or sinning against the Holy Spirit (for instance, in Luke 12:10), then somehow the Middle Eastern concept of breath is also involved.

Certainly, no person is superior to another based on culture, language, or skin color, but to ignore the way Jesus’ whiteness has been used to subjugate and discriminate against racial minorities in the West and many other countries is to overlook another important aspect of Jesus’ teachings: Love thy neighbor as thyself. Malcolm X wrote about white supremacists and slave-owners using Christianity to justify their “moral” and “racial superiority” over blacks. In Malcolm’s own words, “The Holy Bible in the White man’s hands and its interpretations of it have been the greatest single ideological weapon for enslaving millions of non-white human beings.” Throughout history, whether it was in Jerusalem, Spain, India, Africa, or in the Americas, white so-called “Christians” cultivated a distorted interpretation of religion that was compatible with their racist, colonialist agenda.

And here we are in the 21st century where Islamophobia (also stemming from racism because the religion of Islam gets racialized) is on the rise; where people calling themselves “Christian” fear to have a black president; where members of the KKK and anti-immigration movements behave as if Jesus were an intolerant white American racist who only spoke English despite being born in the Middle East. It is astonishing how so-called “Christians” like Ann Coulter call Muslims “rag-heads” when in actuality, Jesus himself would fit the profile of a “rag-head,” too. As would Moses, Joseph, Abraham, and the rest of the Prophets (peace be upon them all). As William Rivers Pitt writes:

The ugly truth which never even occurs to most Americans is that Jesus looked a lot more like an Iraqi, like an Afghani, like a Palestinian, like an Arab, than any of the paintings which grace the walls of American churches from sea to shining sea. This was an uncomfortable fact before September 11. After the attack, it became almost a moral imperative to put as much distance between Americans and people from the Middle East as possible. Now, to suggest that Jesus shared a genealogical heritage and physical similarity to the people sitting in dog cages down in Guantanamo is to dance along the edge of treason.

Without acknowledging Jesus as a native Middle Eastern person — a Palestinian — who spoke Aramaic — a Semitic language that is ancestral to Arabic and Hebrew — the West will continue to view Islam as a “foreign religion.” Hate crimes and discriminatory acts against Muslims, Arabs, and others who are perceived to be Muslim will persist. They will still be treated as “cultural outsiders.” Interesting enough, Christianity and Judaism are never considered “foreign religions,” despite having Middle Eastern origins, like Islam. As Douglas-Klotz insists, affirming Jesus as a native Middle Eastern person “enables Christians to understand that the mind and message” of Jesus arises from “the same earth as have the traditions of their Jewish and Muslim sisters and brothers.”

Jesus would not prefer one race or group of people over another. I believe he would condemn today’s demonization and dehumanization of the Palestinian people, as well as the misrepresentations of him that only fuel ignorance and ethnocentrism. As a Muslim, I believe Jesus was a prophet of God, and if I were to have any say about the Christmas spirit, it would be based on Jesus’ character: humility, compassion, and Love. A love in which all people, regardless of ethnicity, race, culture, religion, gender, and sexual orientation are respected and appreciated.

And in that spirit, I wish you a merry Christmas. Alaha Natarak (Aramaic: God be with you). 

The author blogs at Muslim Reverie. He recently wrote a chapter in “Teaching Against Islamophobia” on the demonization of Muslims and Arabs in mainstream American comics.

thenational.ae

Christmas was just days away when Mira begged her parents to flee their hometown of Aleppo, which has become a major battleground in Syria’s civil war.

But her parents refused to join her in Lebanon. They are, however, taking one simple precaution inside their besieged city. For the first time, her parents will not put up a Christmas tree this year for fear their religion might make them a target.

“They want to stay to guard the property so nobody takes it,” said Mira, 40, who spoke on condition that only her first name be published, out of concern for her family.

“They cannot celebrate Christmas properly. It’s not safe. They are in a Christian area, but they don’t feel secure to put a tree, even inside their apartment.”

Christians, who make up about 10 per cent of Syria’s population of more than 22 million, say they are particularly vulnerable to the violence that has been sweeping the country since March 2011. They are fearful that Syria will become another Iraq, with Christians caught in the crossfire between rival Islamist groups.

Hundreds of thousands of Christians fled Iraq after their community and others were targeted by militants in the chaotic years after dictator Saddam Hussein was ousted in 2003.

During the Syria conflict, Christians have largely stuck by president Bashar Al Assad, in large part because they fear the rising power of Muslim hard-liners and groups with Al Qaeda-style ideologies within the uprising against his rule. Many Christians worry they will be marginalised or even targeted if the country’s Sunni majority, which forms the majority of the opposition, takes over.

The rebel leadership has sought to portray itself as inclusive, promising no reprisals if Mr Al Assad falls. But some actions by fighters on the ground have been less reassuring.

This week, the commander of one rebel brigade threatened to storm two predominantly Christian towns in central Syria – Mahrada and Sqailbiyeh – saying regime forces were using the towns to attack nearby areas.

The commander, Rashid Abul Fidaa, of the Ansar Brigade in Hama province demanded the towns’ residents “evict Assad’s gangs” or be attacked.

Christians and other minorities have generally supported Mr Al Assad’s regime in the past because it promoted a secular ideology that was seen as giving minorities a degree of protection.

The regime and ruling elite are dominated by the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiism. Mr Al Assad is Alawite, but the regime has brought Christians and other minorities – as well as Sunnis – into senior positions.

Christians have flourished under the Assad regime, which came to power four decades ago under Mr Al Assad’s father, Hafez. The regime divided economic privileges among minorities and certain Sunni families in exchange for giving up political power.

The threat of Islamist extremism resonates deeply in Syria, a country with many ethnic and religious minorities, and the regime has used their worries to try to keep their support. Mr Al Assad has warned repeatedly that the country’s turmoil will throw Syria into chaos, religious extremism and sectarian divisions.

Still, Christian activists have also figured prominently among the opposition to Mr Al Assad, advocating an end to autocratic rule in the country. Christians were among the numerous political opponents that the regime jailed alongside Muslims over the years.

Aya, a Christian artist who has been campaigning against the regime for years, predicted prison won’t be enough in the eyes of the rebels to balance the perception of Christian support for Mr Al Assad. She fears score-settling if the regime falls.

“Many Christians think that this regime is good for us,” said Aya, 51. She fled from Aleppo to Beirut in October. “They think that if they keep quiet, Assad will stay, and protect us. But this is an illusion.”

When the government deployed fighter jets to Aleppo to drive back rebel advances in the northern city, they did not spare Christians in the city, Aya said.

“We all got hit, but it’s too late now for Christians to change their minds about this regime,” Aya said. “I am afraid that now we will pay the price for being silent about this terrible regime all these years.”

Even for those who support the rebels, the nature of the opposition has caused ripples of apprehension. As the fight to overthrow Mr Al Assad drags on, the rebels’ ranks are becoming dominated by Islamists, raising concerns that the country’s potential new rulers will marginalise them or establish an Islamic state.

Al Qaeda-inspired groups have become the most organised fighting units, increasingly leading battles for parts of Aleppo or assaults on military installations outside the city.

“Most [Christians] want to return [to Syria], but they want to wait until the fighting is over and see who will be ruling Syria after the war,” Mira said.

Aleppo’s schools are closed. Food and electricity are scarce. Most stores have been shut for months. Even though some areas of the city – including the predominantly Christian district along Faisal Street – are still controlled by government forces, the streets are unsafe, she said.

Aya lamented that it’s nearly impossible to imagine the country going back to what it was. In the weeks before she fled for good, she said, the violence overwhelmed her.

“There was so much shooting, such terrible bombings, and I could not take it,” she said. “In two weeks I slept for 10 hours, I did not eat and I cried all the time, because my city was turning into ruins, and I saw it with my own eyes.”

Times Of Israel

On a wintry day at a small Iowa shul in November of 2003, John Kerry got all verklempt.

The man whose opponents had taken to depicting as aloof and patrician, whose campaign for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination had been all but written off by that point, leapt onto the dais at Tifereth Israel synagogue in Des Moines. Kerry delivered an emotional account of his then-recent discovery that his grandfather was Jewish and recalled how, on a visit to Israel standing atop Masada, he had cried out, “Am Yisrael Chai!”

The bond Kerry has forged with the Jewish community because of his roots and because of his interest in the Middle East has helped smooth over rough patches when he has criticized Israel.

“We’ve had disagreements in the past, but on the whole he’s a staunch advocate and defender of the US-Israel relationship and Israeli security,” the Anti-Defamation League’s national director, Abraham Foxman, told JTA in a telephone interview from Israel, where he was meeting with Israeli leaders.

Kerry rallied to win the 2004 nomination but lost the presidency, felled in part by images of him windsurfing and tales of high-society living with his heiress wife, Teresa Heinz.

He won big among Jews, however — 75 percent of their vote, in large part because of a connection based on shared liberalism.

Staff close to Kerry’s campaign at the time said the discovery by the Boston Globe of his Jewish antecedents — and the knowledge that relatives had perished in the Holocaust — deeply affected him.

His brother, Cameron Kerry, converted to Judaism before marrying a Jewish woman, Kathy Weinman. Cameron is active in the Jewish communities in Boston and Washington, where he is general counsel at the Commerce Department.

Jay Footlik, who ran the Kerry campaign’s Jewish outreach, recalled that Kerry would take time out to be briefed on every new wrinkle in matters affecting Israel.

“He took a deep interest in the US-Israel relationship,” Footlik said. “The community ought to be thrilled.”

These connections are helping Kerry win Jewish support for his nomination to replace Hillary Clinton as US secretary of state. President Obama made the announcement that Kerry was his new choice on December 21, after the candidacy of Susan Rice, currently the US ambassador to the United Nations, was derailed by opponents.

In welcoming the nomination, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested an emotional bond with Kerry.

“John Kerry and I have been friends for many years,” Netanyahu said. “I very much appreciated the fact that six months ago, after my father passed away, he came to visit me during the week of mourning.”

As chairman of the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, Kerry often has acted as an advance man for Obama’s foreign policy, touting ideas the administration might not be ready to fully embrace. In March 2009, he called for a settlement freeze months before it became the centerpiece of tensions between the Obama and Netanyahu governments.

“Over these many years, John has earned the respect and confidence of leaders around the world,” Obama said last week at a White House appearance alongside Kerry. “He is not going to need a lot of on-the-job training.”

In a statement, the ADL noted, “Kerry has consistently been an effective advocate for Israel’s security in a dangerous region and demonstrated his commitment to fighting against anti-Semitism and bigotry all over the world.” The statement said that Kerry’s first visit to Israel was in an ADL congressional mission in May 1986.

Kerry’s nomination also earned kudos from J Street, the liberal Jewish group that advocates for more US involvement in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations and encourages US pressure on Israel to stop West Bank settlement expansion.

“Kerry would be well positioned to play a leading role should President Obama move to revive peace efforts aimed at achieving a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” J Street said in a statement. “Kerry understands that peace is not only essential for Israel’s survival, but also a fundamental US interest.”

Such agreement in the Jewish community on Kerry’s nomination stands in contrast to another rumored Obama nomination: former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) for defense secretary.

Little of substance distinguishes Kerry and Hagel, insiders say. Each has advocated outreach to pariah nations like Iran and Syria, and each has issued sharp criticism of Israel — Hagel in 2006 during the Second Lebanon War and Kerry in 2010, against what he saw as the gratuitous excesses of Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip.

What differentiates Kerry from Hagel, pro-Israel officials say, is his willingness to engage even when he disagrees, and his familiarity with the issues.

“Will we always agree? No,” Foxman said. “But we’re going to have in place someone who is knowledgeable, and that always works well for us.”

Daniel Mariaschin, who directs B’nai B’rith International, said he hoped that as secretary of state Kerry would show awareness of the uncertainties roiling the region, particularly in Egypt, where the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood has asserted control, and in Syria, which is mired in civil war.

“I would hope that as secretary of state, at least on questions related to Israel, he would take into account the fast-moving variables,” Mariaschin said.

Even before Obama’s announcement, Kerry had the backing of Senate colleagues, Republicans as well as Democrats. He has a longstanding friendship with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz); both men are Vietnam veterans and in the 1980s paved the way to reconciliation between the United States and Vietnam.

The pick earned quick plaudits from a leading pro-Israel stalwart in the US House of Representatives, Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), the senior Democrat on the Appropriations Committee.

“As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he has worked to marshal support for tough sanctions against Iran and defend our ally Israel, and played a critical role as an envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan,” Lowey said in a statement.

Kerry has a solid voting record on issues favored by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, but rarely has taken the lead on legislation AIPAC favors.

Kerry was a leader in the 1980s on Soviet Jewry issues in Congress, and he has maintained close ties with the successors to the Soviet Jewry advocacy movement, said Mark Levin, who directs NCSJ: Advocates on Behalf of Jews in Russia, Ukraine, the Baltic States and Eurasia.

“For the last 20 years he’s been intimately involved in every issue impacting the U.S.-Russia relationship,” Levin said. “He’s had an open door on Russia when it comes to xenophobia and anti-Semitism.”

thestate.com

Israel has advanced the process of building 942 more settler homes in east Jerusalem under a new fast-track plan to tighten its grip on the territory, which the Palestinians claim as the capital of a future state.

A government planning committee on Monday moved the project to the advanced stage of asking contractors to submit bids to build them, the Interior Ministry said Tuesday. Once a bid is awarded, construction can begin on the project in the Gilo area, though it can take months, if not longer, to reach that point.

An additional 300 units can be built after further planning, said attorney Daniel Seidemann, an expert on Jerusalem construction who sees the building as an obstacle to peacemaking. About 40,000 Israelis live in Gilo.

Israeli police cordon off the area next to the site of an attempted attack outside a police station in Jabel Mukaber, in east Jerusalem, Sunday, Dec. 23, 2012. According to Israeli police spokesman and Palestinian sources an Arab taxi driver tried to drive into the police station and was prevented by border policemen who fired shots to stop the vehicle. Both the driver and a police officer were lightly injured in the incident.

“With God’s help, we will continue to live and build in Jerusalem, which will remain united under Israeli sovereignty,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the campaign launch event of his Likud Party. “We will continue to strengthen the settlements.” Israeli elections are set for Jan. 22.

Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said the new Israeli announcement was a “red line” that would block the chance for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in which a Palestinian state would be established alongside Israel.

“The Palestinian Authority will take all the possible means available to respond to this,” said Abu Rdeneh. The statement was posted on the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.

The newly-approved homes are among more than 5,000 new settler homes in east Jerusalem that Israel pressed ahead over the past week. Palestinians do not recognize Israel’s 1967 annexation of the territory and say any Israeli construction there undermines their claims to it. The international community has not recognized Israel’s 1967 annexation of east Jerusalem.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched a settlement construction push to punish the Palestinians after the United Nations recognized a de facto Palestinian state in east Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip last month. Israel says the Palestinians can achieve a state only through negotiations with the Israeli government, and regards the U.N. bid as a maneuver to sidestep talks.

The Palestinians have said they hope the upgraded status will allow them to return to the negotiating table with a stronger hand. Talks stalled four years ago, primarily over settlement construction.

The construction push in east Jerusalem has drawn international condemnation, as have plans to build thousands of more settler homes in the adjacent West Bank.

Israel captured both areas and Gaza in 1967.

It withdrew settlers and soldiers from Gaza in 2005, but blocks most access to the territory and retains control over the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

Also Tuesday, the Gaza Strip’s ruling Hamas announced that Palestinian journalists there have been banned from working for Israeli media outlets.

The official statement from the Hamas Cabinet called Israeli outlets “hostile entity media institutions.”

Israeli media have no permanent correspondents in the Gaza Strip, but Israeli TV channels and newspapers often employ local Palestinian journalists as stringers. The Gaza journalists do not generally identify themselves to others as working for Israeli outlets because of a taboo against cooperating with Israel.

Israel bans Israeli journalists from entering the Gaza Strip, saying their presence in Gaza would pose a risk to their security.

news.yahoo.com

Israel’s prime minister has instructed a quasi-governmental Jewish organization to find a solution for non-Orthodox Jewish female groups wishing to pray at one of Judaism’s holiest sites.

An official said Tuesday Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked Natan Sharansky, chairman of the Jewish Agency, to look into the matter. The official spoke anonymously according to government regulations.

Last week Israeli police detained women from a liberal Jewish group who approached the Western Wall in Jerusalem carrying prayer shawls. Orthodox Jews insist those are for men only. The women seek to worship at the site without such restrictions.

Jewish Agency spokesman Benjamin Rutland said Netanyahu told Sharansky that the Western Wall “must remain a source of Jewish unity rather than division.” The wall is a remnant of the biblical Jewish Temple compound.

Times of Israel

The Israeli army is preparing to deal Hamas “a heavier blow” than it sustained in last month’s Operation Pillar of Defense, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a television interview broadcast on Saturday night.

“I’d suggest that Hamas not celebrate” any ostensible victory in the wake of that eight-day operation, Netanyahu told Channel 10, indicating that Israel was not finished yet with Hamas, which fired 1,500 rockets at Israel during that campaign. “We inflicted a very heavy blow” on Gaza’s Islamist government, he said. “We destroyed almost all of their long-range rockets,” he noted. “But I’m telling you that the IDF is preparing to strike a still-heavier blow. Our account with Hamas is not closed.”

In wide-ranging interviews with Israeli TV stations over the weekend, a confident Netanyahu indicated he expected to win next month’s elections but stressed he sought to do so with “a big party” behind him — calling for the public to vote for his Likud-Beytenu, which is currently polling at about 36 seats.

“The public knows who will deal best with the security, regional and economic challenges,” he told Channel 10. “The public wants a strong prime minister with a strong party behind him.”

In an interview with Channel 2, Netanyahu said he believed that “on election day, the citizens of Israel will send a message not just inside the country, but to the whole world.” He explained that come election day, “Ahmadinejad, Nasrallah and Mashaal will want to know one thing: has the prime minister become stronger or weaker? Because to them, it means that Israel has gotten either stronger or weaker. And they understand very well that the deciding factor is whether or not the prime minister’s party has gotten larger or smaller. If it has gotten larger, Israel has gotten stronger, and that is the message that I expect and believe the citizens of Israel will send to our enemies around the world on election day.”

He acknowledged differences with the US over building beyond the Green Line in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, but denied having taken sides in the US elections by favoring failed challenger Mitt Romney over President Barack Obama. If anyone in the administration believes that he did take sides, “they’re wrong,” he said.

Netanyahu stressed that the recent announcement concerning settlement construction was a response to the Palestinians’ appeal for observer status at the UN. “They were the ones who simply tore all the agreements with us to shreds; going [to the UN] unilaterally — my friends, we are not going to just stand back and do nothing,” he said. “Would I go and give away land so that Iran takes it over? I’m not prepared to do that.”

He noted that Israel had built over the Green Line for decades, and claimed that if Israel had capitulated to international pressure, “Tel Aviv would not have risen. Nor would Kfar Saba.”

He vowed to continue building new neighborhoods, noting that he had established East Jerusalem’s Har Homah Jewish neighborhood in the face of heavy international objections. In recent weeks — in part as what he said was punitive action for the Palestinian Authority’s successful bid for UN General Assembly nonmember observer state status — his government has announced plans for thousands of new homes in disputed territory, including in the highly sensitive E1 corridor between Jerusalem and the Ma’aleh Adumim settlement to the east.

“What kind of future does Israel have if it cannot built in Gilo and Ramot?” he asked his Channel 2 interviewers. “The Western Wall is not occupied territory … We will build in Jerusalem because that is our right,” he said.

Asked if Israeli policy under his leadership had made the country seem more war-mongering than peace-faring, Netanyahu responded that “if there were a partner who was willing to accept the principle of recognizing the Jewish state, and if the territory given to him were demilitarized using real security measures on the ground – by all means, let’s talk about it.” The Palestinian Authority, he said, had not exhibited any willingness to make peace during his four-year tenure as prime minister, setting preconditions for negotiations rather than proceeding with them. “When [PA President Mahmoud] Abbas goes and embraces Hamas, speaks about reconciliation with Hamas and allows Hamas demonstrations calling for the destruction of Israel in Nablus, I ask myself – is he a partner for peace?”

Overall, Netanyahu said, the US-Israel relationship was firm and strong, and coordination in the areas of intelligence, on Iran, on Syria, on Egypt and more, he said, was profound.

Facing repeated questions about the high cost of living, Netanyahu noted that to reduce the price of housing, “I need a strong Likud-Beytunu bloc.” Apparently blaming his ultra-Orthodox Shas coalition partners for failing to solve the housing crisis, he said that in the outgoing coalition the Likud had not controlled the Housing Ministry, but that Likud-Beytenu would run that ministry in the next government.

“We’ve turned education around. We’ve stopped the infiltration of economic migrants,” he noted. “We’ve cut some taxes… What we’ve done here economically is a miracle. We had 9% unemployment and now it’s 7%. We’ve added 400,000 jobs… And we gave teachers, police and social workers pay rises.”

jpost.com

WASHINGTON – Israel has received approval to participate in NATO activities in 2013 that had been held up amid tensions with Turkey, Israeli officials told The Jerusalem Post.

The officials said the approval had come as Turkey’s request that NATO station Patriot missile batteries along its border with Syria was granted, leading them to assess that NATO was using the deployment as leverage to induce Ankara to thaw its relations with Israel.

Israel is a NATO partner and has accordingly participated in seminars, exercises and training as part of that status. But over the course of the past year, as new NATO activities were planned for cooperating countries such as Israel, Turkey objected to their going forward, according to Israeli sources.

NATO is a consensus-based organization where any one of its 28 full members can veto a proposal, though often opposition is conveyed through informal channels.

However, as Turkey’s request for the Patriot systems was approved by NATO and deployment began, a NATO work plan for 2013 that would include Israeli participation in a range of courses and conferences went through.

Israeli officials don’t think the timing was a coincidence.

“At the last minute – and I think it was dependent on the Patriots – it was approved,” said one Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

He said that NATO’s joint exercise plans for 2013 had not yet been worked out apart from its activity in Afghanistan, an operation in which Israel has never participated.

A NATO official, also speaking anonymously, didn’t address the specifics of the arrangements with Israel or the decision to grant Turkey Patriot batteries but said of Israel’s connecting them: “This is their assessment of how elements are linked.”

Turkish diplomatic sources told the Post that “Turkey’s position did not change on this matter.”

The Israeli official stressed that the improvement at NATO “is not a total solution” to the rupture with Ankara and its adverse impact on the role Israel can play at the alliance.

Despite a slight easing of opposition to certain types of Israeli participation in NATO, Israel doesn’t see Turkey as having changed its overall policy toward the Jewish state. Israel hopes to establish closer ties with NATO, but Jerusalem still believes Turkey would continue to block such upgrades in its status.

The once close Turkish- Israeli relationship, which began to strain after the Islamist AKP Party took power in Ankara, fractured during the Mavi Marmara flotilla incident in 2010 that left several Turkish citizens dead after Israel Navy commandos boarded the ship trying to break the Gaza blockade.

NATO officials have been pushing for a reconciliation between the two important Mediterranean nations for the benefit of the alliance.

“We have a lot of common interests with Israel,” said another NATO official, pointing to the country’s expertise in counterterrorism, cyber security, missile defense and more. Yet as “Turkey has made no secret” of its opposition to upgrading Israeli involvement after the break between the two countries, he said the issue ultimately needs to be resolved at the country-tocountry level.

“We would like the issue to be resolved sooner rather than later,” he said. “For the time being we’re trying to find ways to keep the conversation going with Israel.”

Matthew Mark Horn, a former Pentagon official who worked on NATO issues and started the NATO-Israel program for the American Jewish Congress, said there’s frustration with Turkey among NATO members for blocking Israeli participation, but there’s also respect for Turkey given its important strategic and geographic position.

Horn said Israel’s approval for participation in the 2013 work plan and other traditional NATO activities was “an extremely positive sign” of an improvement in Israel’s position.

But ultimately, Horn emphasized, Turkey and Israel would have to fix their relationship in a bilateral rather than multilateral framework.

“It is incumbent on both sides to sit down and to resolve any differences,” he said.

vosizneias.com

The District Prosecutor’s Office filed an indictment against former chief Sephardi rabbi Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron on Monday for allegedly fraudulently ordaining IDF and police officers while he was the chief rabbi.

The IDF and police officers who were fraudulently ordained went on to receive pay increases, Army Radio reported.

The rabbi was indicted for receiving payment of various sorts under aggravated circumstances for his alleged central role in the affair, according to the report.

Rabbi Bakshi-Doron’s legal counsel responded to the indictment with dismissal, saying there is no basis to try him on criminal charges.

“To put the 72-year-old rabbi on trial is a grave injustice against the only person who fought against the phenomenon of fraudulent certifications,” Army Radio reported.

In November 2007, 10 indictments were handed down over the incident, in which 1,500 members of the IDF and police force received false certificates of rabbinic ordination entitling them to an extra NIS 2,000 to NIS 4,000 a month in wages. The allegations against Doron relate to his activities during his tenure as Sephardi chief rabbi from 1998 to 2003.

t that time, a Higher Religious Education diploma accompanied by rabbinic ordination enabled security personnel to receive additional pay of NIS 2,000 to NIS 4,000 a month. Numerous educational facilities were set up to train security personnel as rabbis, and students at these schools were ordained by the Chief Rabbinate, making them eligible for the salary benefits.

The seminaries where the studies took place received registration fees for the classes, and the security personnel studied for five to 10 hours a week for a period of one to two-and-a-half years at most, but received certification that they had taken a five-year yeshiva program, enabling them to receive the pay bonus.

Approximately 1,500 certificates of Higher Religious Education were issued under the instructions of Doron, through Ohana, from 1999 to 2003.

ynet 

WASHINGTON – A senior American official told National Journal magazine on Sunday that it was “fair” to say that President Barack Obama is considering candidates other than Chuck Hagel for defense secretary, in particular Michele Flournoy, who was under secretary of defense for policy in Obama’s first term, and Ashton Carter, the current deputy defense secretary.

A week ago it was reported that the former Republican senator was Obama’s top choice, but the National Journal said he “appears to be following the path of Susan Rice as a trial-balloon nominee who finds himself quickly losing altitude in Washington. And as happened with Rice, the White House is now signaling that it may soon puncture Hagel’s hopes.

“Just as occurred with Rice, the UN ambassador whose prospective nomination as secretary of state—leaked to the media—flamed out in the face of widespread criticism of her, President Obama appears to be rethinking his choice for defense secretary,” according to the report.

The news magazine said the White House was reassessing Hagel’s position following a “particularly discouraging” series of comments on the Sunday-morning talk shows. Outgoing Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, an independent, told CNN’s “State of the Union” that it would be “a very tough confirmation process,” while on NBC’s “Meet the Press” former fellow Republican in the Senate, Lindsey Graham, said Hagel’s would be “a challenging nomination.” Graham added: “I don’t think he’s going to get many Republican votes.”

The National Journal said that while much of the criticism centers on questions of whether Hagel has been a “strong enough supporter of Israel and tough enough on Iran – as well as past comments he made about gay people – he is also paying, in part, for his bluntness and bravery in advocating unpopular positions during his 12 years in the Senate.

“Hagel’s gutsy and prescient stand against his own party and President George W. Bush in the run-up to the Iraq invasion – and his criticism of the war’s management afterwards – all but cost him his political career, turning him from a possible GOP presidential contender into a pariah within his party,” according to the magazine.

According to the report, Obama may be calculating that the “political cost of pushing through a Hagel nomination at a time of critical talks over fiscal issues may be too high.”

Opponents point to Hagel’s votes against sanctions on Iran and letters that he signed, along with ones he declined to add his name to, many of those favored by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the powerful pro-Israel lobby. In August 2006, Hagel refused to sign a letter pressing the European Union to declare Hezbollah a terrorist organization, one of 12 senators who balked. In 2007, he sent a letter to Bush urging talks with Iran.

Hagel, a decorated Vietnam War veteran, has favored diplomacy over military action with Iran, and criticized talk of a strike by either the United States or Israel against Iran.

Lieberman said sanctions are the only way to change Tehran’s behavior “short of war.” Lieberman said that Hagel had “some very outlying votes” against economic penalties on Iran over its nuclear program.

Georgia Republican U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson said on ABC’s “This Week” that he’ll “reserve any judgment until after the hearings we have on confirmation if in fact he is nominated.” Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., was non-committal about Hagel, saying she’ll see “what happens with these hearings.”

Hagel once made reference to the “Jewish lobby” in the United States, a comment that Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., called “inappropriate.”

“There’s no such thing as a Jewish lobby,” McCain said. “There’s an Armenian lobby, there’s not a Jewish lobby. There’s an Israeli lobby. It’s called AIPAC, very influential.”