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Make no mistake about it. The attempt to deny our history in this land is an attempt to deny our future in this land. That is why to defend our past is to defend our future.
Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, March 8, 2010
Welcome to Jerusalem, the undivided, eternal capital of the Jewish state and the Jewish people.
Your presence here today represents a profound transformation in the relationship between Christians and Jews. This transformation has its roots in the 19th century when the early Christian Zionists came to the Land Israel and when they began exploring the land of the Bible, when they began to yearn for the Jewish restoration in this land, the restoration of our numbers, the restoration of our sovereignty.
In fact, Christian Zionism preceded modern Jewish Zionism, and I think enabled it. But it received a tremendous impetus several decades ago when leading American clergymen, among them most notably, Pastor John Hagee, a dynamic pastor and leader from Texas, began to say to their congregations and to anyone who listened, it’s time to take a stand with Israel. It was time to take a stand with the sole democracy in the Middle East. It was time to take a stand against the lies and the slander and the vilifications. It was time to defend the Jewish state’s right to defend itself.
Today, Christians by the thousands, by the tens of thousands, by the hundreds of thousands, by the millions, by the tens of millions – today they have heard this call, and they stand with Israel. I salute you, the people of Israel salute you, the Jewish people salute you.
Time after time, through thick and thin, you have stood shoulder to shoulder with our state, and I have come here tonight to thank you for your unwavering friendship. And today that friendship is more important than ever because Israel faces unprecedented challenges to its security and its legitimacy. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Judaism, Middle East Report, News Articles, Recent Posts on March 10, 2010 - כ"ד אדר תש"ע at 12:11 pm
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by Gil Zohar, Jewish Journal, March 9, 2010
After four years of construction, the Jewish Quarter’s landmark Hurva Synagogue – built by Polish Jews in 1701, destroyed by Arab creditors two decades later, rebuilt in 1864 by followers of the Vilna Gaon, and dynamited in 1948 by Jordan’s Arab Legion – is being re-dedicated this Sunday and Monday (March 15-16, 2010). All the rest is commentary.
During a media tour this week, a beaming Nissim Arazi, who since 2003 has served as the CEO of the Company for the Reconstruction and Development of the Jewish Quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem Ltd. (the JQDC), showed off the venerable if controversial NIS 43 million project which has been his dream for nearly a decade.
Arazi follows a distinguished list of public servants, starting in 1969 with then Prime Minister Levi Eshkol, who have served as either chairman or director of the government agency charged with rebuilding the Old City’s Jewish Quarter. That historic job had largely been completed when Arazi stepped onto the scene. But the new CEO resisted calls for the JQDC to be disbanded as redundant, instead pressing ahead with the Hurva project and protecting his fiefdom. (In Jerusalem, Nov. 2, 2007)
As the Hurva’s construction crane was being taken down, Arazi launched into the synagogue’s convoluted story, hailing the many figures responsible for the rebuilding. In 1999, he explained, a public committee was formed by then Minister of Housing, Rabbi Yitzhak Levi and headed by Rabbi Simha Hacohen Kook with the intention of recreating the building whose famous dome once dominated the skyline of the Jewish Quarter. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Islam, Judaism, Middle East, Monotheistic Religions, News Articles, Recent Posts on March 9, 2010 - כ"ג אדר תש"ע at 10:57 am
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Iraq’s second parliamentary election since the 2003 invasion has been hit by multiple attacks, with at least 35 people being killed.
Two buildings were destroyed in Baghdad and dozens of mortars were fired across the capital and elsewhere.
Despite the violence, there were long queues of voters at polling stations in a number of cities.
Polls closed at 1700 (1400 GMT) but people already in line were allowed to cast their votes.
An immense security operation was mounted, involving more than 500,000 Iraqi security personnel.
The border with Iran was closed, thousands of troops were deployed, and vehicles were banned from roads.
Prime Minister Nouri Maliki had called on voters to turn out in large numbers, saying that participation would boost democracy.
“ I am not scared and I am not going to stay put at home ”
Baghdad voter
In Washington US President Barack Obama issued a statement after polls had closed, saying Iraqis had chosen "to shape their future through the political process".
"We mourn the tragic loss of life today, and honour the courage and resilience of the Iraqi people who once again defied threats to advance their democracy," he said.
Multiple attacks
There were mortar, grenade and bomb attacks in Baghdad and in other cities, including Mosul, Falluja, Baquba and Samarra.
But the capital was hardest hit, with dozens of mortar shells falling in several neighbourhoods. Twenty-five people were killed in one explosion that destroyed a residential building in the north of the city.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Islam, Middle East, News Articles, Recent Posts on March 7, 2010 - כ"א אדר תש"ע at 2:42 pm
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Adar 18, 5770, 04 March 10
by Gil Ronen, Arutz Sheva
(Israelnationalnews.com) The Palestinian Authority (PA) is continuing to enforce a boycott of goods made in the Jewish communities of Judea and Samaria. The PA-based WAFA news agency reported that PA customs agents confiscated 20 tons of nylon sheeting intended for wrapping food, and destroyed it.
"We destroyed 20 tons of nylon that were seized in a warehouse in Nablus [Shechem], and are manufactured in the settlement of Naaran near Jericho,” the chief customs official in the Shechem area said. Naaran is a kibbutz, or cooperative community, in the Jordan Valley.
The government of the PA under Prime Minister Salam Fayyad recently launched a high-profile boycott of goods made in Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria. PA-government inspectors have reportedly begun combing PA marketplaces in search of goods made in the Jewish communities.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Islam, Middle East Report, News Articles, Recent Posts on March 5, 2010 - י"ט אדר תש"ע at 8:54 am
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Mind Matters - March 2, 2010
By John Kelley, Scientific American
Answer: Yes!
In my view, both these statements are true: Antidepressants do work. And antidepressants don’t work. Not to put too fine a Clintonian point on it, but determining whether antidepressants work depends on the definition of the word “work.”
A controversial article just published in the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association concluded that antidepressants are no more effective than placebos for most depressed patients. Jay Fournier and his colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania aggregated individual patient data from six high-quality clinical trials and found that the superiority of antidepressants over placebo is clinically significant only for patients who are very severely depressed. For patients with mild, moderate, and even severe depression, placebos work nearly as well as antidepressants.
There have been at least four other review articles published in the last eight years that have come to similar conclusions about the limited clinical efficacy of antidepressants, and one of the study authors, psychologist Irving Kirsch, has recently published a book on the topic, provocatively entitled The Emperor’s New Drugs: Exploding the Antidepressant Myth.
The recent review articles questioning the clinical efficacy of antidepressants run counter to the received wisdom in the psychiatric community that antidepressants are highly effective. Indeed, it wasn’t so long ago that psychiatrist Peter Kramer wrote in his best-selling book Listening to Prozac that this miracle drug made patients “better than well.” Prozac was a Rock Star. Its extraordinary success even led to a photograph of the green and white capsule on the cover of Newsweek Magazine in 1990.
The essential facts about antidepressant efficacy are not in dispute. In double-blind, randomized controlled trials – meaning that patients are randomly assigned to receive either drug or placebo, and neither patient nor clinician knows who gets what – antidepressants show a small but statistically significant advantage over placebos. The debate is over the interpretation of these findings, and it revolves around the distinction between clinical significance and statistical significance. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Health Sciences, Mental Health, News Articles, Recent Posts, Science on March 3, 2010 - י"ז אדר תש"ע at 7:29 am
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Reprinted from Daily Alert, March 2, 2010
Fayyad Is Inciting Anti-Israel Violence in West Bank
- Yaakov Katz and Tovah Lazaroff
Palestinian Authority officials headed by Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad are inciting anti-Israel violence in the West Bank, Israeli defense officials charged on Sunday. Senior PA officials, and specifically Fayyad, are encouraging Palestinian youth to partake in anti-Israel demonstrations on Fridays near security fence construction in Ni’lin and Bi’lin as well as in Hebron. “Fayyad is actively encouraging Palestinians to use popular resistance against Israel,” one official said. Israel believes Fayyad wants to continue cooperating with Israel on economic issues, but at the same time has made a strategic decision to retain the right to use violence against Israel.
There is concern within the IDF that the PA security forces could turn their weapons against settlers and IDF soldiers in the West Bank. Recent incidents include the stabbing of a soldier at the Tapuah Junction by a PA policeman as well as the involvement of PA security officers in the shooting of Rabbi Meir Chai last year. (Jerusalem Post)
See also PA Escalating Tensions with Israel
- Khaled Abu Toameh
The Palestinian Authority is once again trying to divert attention from its problems at home by escalating tensions with Israel. To distract attention from charges of financial corruption and embarrassing sexual scandals, the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank has stepped up its anti-Israel rhetoric. Allegations of “ethnic cleansing,” “destruction and desecration of Islamic religious sites,” and “apartheid” are directed every day toward Israel by Abbas and his top officials, often backed up by threats to launch a “third intifada” or to resume suicide bombings against Israel. (Hudson Institute New York)
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Islam, Middle East Report, News Articles, Recent Posts on March 3, 2010 - י"ז אדר תש"ע at 7:22 am
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By Karin Kloosterman, Israel 21C
February 28, 2010
Peace in the Middle East may seem elusive, but Jews and Arabs across Israel are working hard to create bridges though business. ISRAEL21c brings you a list of Israel’s top ten coexistence business ventures.
Making peace in the Middle East will never be an easy task, but what many people don’t realize is that even in the midst of conflict, there are thousands upon thousands of Israeli people working dedicatedly for coexistence and the promise of a better life.
Some of the most effective of these peace projects are those based on business. Peace through prosperity is not a new concept, but as Yoav Stern, director of the Business and Economics Department at the Peres Center for Peace, admits, projects like these help building confidence.
It’s a “win-win-win game,” says Stern, who helped ISRAEL21c compile this top 10 list. “I think that what’s unique in these kind of businesses is the fact that the interests are clear for all sides. In order to have a sound business project you must identify the interests of all sides, not just the Israelis not just Palestinians.
“They are very good ideas when you want to build confidence measures,” he adds. “The business community is a very good engine for the peace train and without its commitment and involvement peace will not come,” he asserts. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Middle East Report, News Articles, Recent Posts, Science and Technology on March 2, 2010 - ט"ז אדר תש"ע at 9:50 pm
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We will defeat the terrorists. Our security is backed up by democracy and a strong economy
The Guardian, Monday 1 March 2010
When I was elected president more than a year ago, Pakistan was in a grave condition, strained by terrorism and a ravaged economy. Countering the effects of a decade of dictatorship requires bold actions, some of which are unpopular. I am working with parliament to run a country, not a political campaign. The goal of our democratic government is to implement policies that will dramatically improve the lives of Pakistanis. In time, good policies will become good politics.
Our economic crisis demanded an unprecedented response. On taxes, education, agriculture and energy, we have shown that we must adapt, reform and become self-sufficient. Terrorists do not want Pakistan to succeed. They want to distract us from preparing for a stable and prosperous future. But militants underestimate us. Just as our people refuse to be terrorised, our government refuses to be derailed from its course of fiscal responsibility, social accountability and financial transparency.
The war against terrorism has cost Pakistan not just in lives but also in economic terms, freezing international investment and diverting priorities from social and other sectors. Despite constant challenges on multiple fronts, we took the political hits and stuck with reform. Pakistan even met IMF criteria last month to receive the “fourth tranche”, or £0.79bn, of its loan funding – no easy feat during a global recession. Corrupt governments don’t reach this level of IMF partnership. The World Bank, the European Union and the US have all applauded our accomplishments. This praise may be little reported, but it’s far more important than the chimera of polls. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Islam, Middle East Report, News Articles, Recent Posts on March 2, 2010 - ט"ז אדר תש"ע at 7:42 am
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Google News, February 28, 2010
Editor’s Note: Despite all the disasters, strife, conflicts, struggles, and injustices going on in the world, Israel is still condemned for its defensive actions necessary for its survival. These articles were compiled from today’s World News from Google.
Compiled by Israel Zwick, CN Publications
BBC News – Islam Online – Radio Netherlands – Wikinews
Monsters and Critics.com – DAWN.com – Catholic Online – ChristianExaminer
Voice of America – Aljazeera.net – The Guardian – Detroit Free Press
AngolaPress – Sudan Tribune – News24 – Bernama
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Judaism, Middle East, News Articles, Recent Posts on February 28, 2010 - י"ד אדר תש"ע at 2:45 pm
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By DAN BILEFSKY, NY Times, February 27, 2010
WARSAW — When Pawel looks into the mirror, he can still sometimes see a neo-Nazi skinhead staring back, the man he was before he covered his shaved head with a skullcap, traded his fascist ideology for the Torah and renounced violence and hatred in favor of God.
“I still struggle every day to discard my past ideas,” said Pawel, a 33-year-old ultra-Orthodox Jew and former truck driver, noting with little irony that he had to stop hating Jews in order to become one. “When I look at an old picture of myself as a skinhead, I feel ashamed. Every day I try and do teshuvah,” he said, using the Hebrew word for repentance. “Every minute of every day. There is a lot to make up for.”
Pawel, who also uses his Hebrew name Pinchas, asked that his last name not be used for fear that his old neo-Nazi friends could harm him or his family.
Twenty years after the fall of Communism, Pawel is perhaps the most unlikely example of the Jewish revival under way in Poland, of a moment in which Jewish leaders here say the country is finally showing solid signs of shedding the rabid anti-Semitism of the past.
Before 1939, Poland was home to more than three million Jews, more than 90 percent of whom were killed by the Nazis. Most who survived emigrated. Of the fewer than 50,000 who remained in Poland, many abandoned or hid their Judaism during decades of Communist oppression in which political pogroms against Jews persisted.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Judaism, Monotheistic Religions, News Articles, Recent Posts on February 27, 2010 - י"ג אדר תש"ע at 9:31 pm
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